CHAPTER XIV.
"As when a lion in his den, Hath heard the hunters' cries, And rushes forth to meet his foes, So did the Douglas rise--" _Percy_.
Alice Dunscombe did not find the second of the prisoners buried, likeGriffith, in sleep, but he was seated on one of the old chairs thatwere in the apartment, with his back to the door, and apparently lookingthrough the small window, on the dark and dreary scenery over which thetempest was yet sweeping in its fury. Her approach was unheeded, untilthe light from her lamp glared across his eyes, when he started from hismusing posture, and advanced to meet her. He was the first to speak.
"I expected this visit," he said, "when I found that you recognized myvoice; and I felt a deep assurance in my breast, that Alice Dunscombewould never betray me."
His listener, though expecting this confirmation of her conjectures,was unable to make an immediate reply, but she sank into the seat he hadabandoned, and waited a few moments, as if to recover her powers.
"It was, then, no mysterious warning! no airy voice that mocked my ear;but a dread reality!" she at length said. "Why have you thus braved theindignation of the laws of your country? On what errand of fell mischiefhas your ruthless temper again urged you to embark?"
"This is strong and cruel language, coming from you to me, AliceDunscombe," returned the stranger, with cool asperity, "and the timehas been when I should have been greeted, after a shorter absence, withmilder terms."
"I deny it not; I cannot, if I would, conceal my infirmity from myselfor you; I hardly wish it to continue unknown to the world. If I haveonce esteemed you, if I have plighted to you my troth, and in myconfiding folly forgot my higher duties, God has amply punished me forthe weakness in your own evil deeds."
"Nay, let not our meeting be embittered with useless and provokingrecriminations," said the other; "for we have much to say before youcommunicate the errand of mercy on which you have come hither. I knowyou too well, Alice, not to see that you perceive the peril in whichI am placed, and are willing to venture something for my safety. Yourmother--does she yet live?"
"She is gone in quest of my blessed father," said Alice, covering herpale face with her hands; "they have left me alone, truly; for he, whowas to have been all to me, was first false to his faith, and has sincebecome unworthy of my confidence."
The stranger became singularly agitated, his usually quiet eye glancinghastily from the floor to the countenance of his companion, as he pacedthe room with hurried steps; at length he replied:
"There is much, perhaps, to be said in explanation, that you do notknow. I left the country, because I found in it nothing but oppressionand injustice, and I could not invite you to become the bride of awanderer, without either name or fortune. But I have now the opportunityof proving my truth. You say you are alone; be so no longer, and tryhow far you were mistaken in believing that I should one day supply theplace to you of both father and mother."
There is something soothing to a female ear in the offer of evenprotracted justice, and Alice spoke with less of acrimony in her tones,during the remainder of their conference, if not with less of severityin her language.
"You talk not like a man whose very life hangs but on a thread that thenext minute may snap asunder. Whither would you lead me? Is it to theTower at London?"
"Think not that I have weakly exposed my person without a sufficientprotection," returned the stranger with cool indifference; "there aremany gallant men who only wait my signal, to crush the paltry force ofthis officer like a worm beneath my feet."
"Then has the conjecture of Colonel Howard been true I and the manner inwhich the enemy's vessels have passed the shoals is no longer a mystery!you have been their pilot!"
"I have."
"What! would ye pervert the knowledge gained in the springtime of yourguileless youth to the foul purpose of bringing desolation to the doorsof those you once knew and respected! John! John! is the image of themaiden whom in her morning of beauty and simplicity I believe you didlove, so faintly impressed, that it cannot soften your hard heart to themisery of those among whom she has been born, and who compose her littleworld?"
"Not a hair of theirs shall be touched, not a thatch shall blaze, norshall a sleepless night befall the vilest among them--and all for yoursake, Alice! England comes to this contest with a seared conscience,and bloody hands, but all shall be forgotten for the present, when bothopportunity and power offer to make her feel our vengeance, even in hervitals. I came on no such errand."
"What, then, has led you blindly into snares, where all your boasted aidwould avail you nothing? for, should I call aloud your name, even here,in the dark and dreary passages of this obscure edifice, the cry wouldecho through the country ere the morning, and a whole people would befound in arms to punish your audacity."
"My name has been sounded, and that in no gentle strains," returned thePilot, scornfully, "when a whole people have quailed at it, the cravencowardly wretches flying before the man they had wronged. I have livedto bear the banners of the new republic proudly in sight of the threekingdoms, when practised skill and equal arms have in vain struggled topluck it down. Ay! Alice, the echoes of my guns are still roaringamong your eastern hills, and would render my name more appalling thaninviting to your sleeping yeomen."
"Boast not of the momentary success that the arm of God has yielded toyour unhallowed efforts," said Alice; "for a day of severe and heavyretribution must follow: nor flatter yourself with the idle hopethat your name, terrible as ye have rendered it to the virtuous, issufficient, of itself, to drive the thoughts of home, and country, andkin, from all who hear it.--Nay, I know not that even now, in listeningto you, I am not forgetting a solemn duty, which would teach me toproclaim your presence, that the land might know that her unnatural sonis a dangerous burden in her bosom."
The Pilot turned quickly in his short walk; and, after reading hercountenance, with the expression of one who felt his security, he saidin gentler tones:
"Would that be Alice Dunscombe? would that be like the mild, generousgirl whom I knew in my youth? But I repeat, the threat would fail tointimidate, even if you were capable of executing it. I have said thatit is only to make the signal, to draw around me a force sufficient toscatter these dogs of soldiers to the four winds of heaven."
"Have you calculated your power justly, John?" said Alice, unconsciouslybetraying her deep interest in his safety. "Have you reckoned theprobability of Mr. Dillon's arriving, accompanied by an armed band ofhorsemen, with the morning's sun? for it's no secret in the abbey thathe is gone in quest of such assistance."
"Dillon!" exclaimed the Pilot, starting; "who is he? and on whatsuspicion does he seek this addition to your guard?"
"Nay, John, look not at me, as if you would know the secrets of myheart. It was not I who prompted him to such a step; you cannot for amoment think that I would betray you! But too surely he has gone; and,as the night wears rapidly away, you should be using the hour of graceto effect our own security."
"Fear not for me, Alice," returned the Pilot proudly, while a faintsmile struggled around his compressed lip: "and yet I like not thismovement either. How call you his name? Dillon! is he a minion of KingGeorge?"
"He is, John, what you are not, a loyal subject of his sovereignlord the king; and, though a native of the revolted colonies, he haspreserved his virtue uncontaminated amid the corruptions and temptationsof the times."
"An American! and disloyal to the liberties of the human race! ByHeaven, he had better not cross me; for if my arm reach him, it shallhold him forth as a spectacle of treason to the world."
"And has not the world enough of such a spectacle in yourself? Are yenot, even now, breathing your native air, though lurking throughthe mists of the island, with desperate intent against its peace andhappiness?"
A dark and fierce expression of angry resentment flashed from the eyesof the Pilot, and even his iron frame seemed to shake with emotion, ashe answered:
"Call you his dastardly and self
ish treason, aiming, as it does, toaggrandize a few, at the expense of millions, a parallel case to thegenerous ardor that impels a man to fight in the defence of sacredliberty? I might tell you that I am armed in the common cause of myfellow-subjects and countrymen; that though an ocean divided us indistance, yet are we a people of the same blood, and children of thesame parents, and that the hand which oppresses one inflicts an injuryon the other. But I disdain all such narrow apologies. I was born onthis orb, and I claim to be a citizen of it. A man with a soul not tobe limited by the arbitrary boundaries of tyrants and hirelings, but onewho has the right as well as the inclination to grapple with oppression,in whose name so ever it is exercised, or in whatever hollow andspecious shape it founds its claim to abuse our race."
"Ah! John, John, though this may sound like reason to rebellious ears,to mine it seemeth only as the ravings of insanity. It is in vain yebuild up your new and disorganizing systems of rule, or rather misrule,which are opposed to all that the world has ever yet done, or ever willsee done in peace and happiness. What avail your subtleties and falsereasonings against the heart? It is the heart which tells us where ourhome is, and how to love it."
"You talk like a weak and prejudiced woman, Alice," said the Pilot, morecomposedly; "and one who would shackle nations with the ties that bindthe young and feeble of your own sex together."
"And by what holier or better bond can they be united?" said Alice. "Arenot the relations of domestic life of God's establishing, and have notthe nations grown from families, as branches spread from the stem, tillthe tree overshadows the land? 'Tis an ancient and sacred tie that bindsman to his nation; neither can it be severed without infamy."
The Pilot smiled disdainfully, and throwing open the rough exteriorof his dress, he drew forth, in succession, several articles, while aglowing pride lighted his countenance, as he offered them singly to hernotice.
"See, Alice!" he said, "call you this infamy! This broad sheet ofparchment is stamped with a seal of no mean importance, and it bears theroyal name of the princely Louis also! And view this cross! decorated asit is with jewels, the gift of the same illustrious hand; it is not aptto be given to the children of infamy, neither is it wise or decorousto stigmatize a man who has not been thought unworthy to consort withprinces and nobles by the opprobrious name of the 'Scotch Pirate.'"
"And have ye not earned the title, John, by ruthless deeds and bitteranimosity? I could kiss the baubles ye show me, if they were a thousandtimes less splendid, had they been laid upon your breast by the handsof your lawful prince; but now they appear to my eyes as indelible blotsupon your attainted name. As for your associates, I have heard of them;and it seemeth that a queen might be better employed than encouragingby her smiles the disloyal subjects of other monarchs, though evenher enemies. God only knows when His pleasure may suffer a spirit ofdisaffection to rise up among the people of her own nation, and thenthe thought that she has encouraged rebellion may prove both bitter andunwelcome."
"That the royal and lovely Antoinette has deigned to repay my serviceswith a small portion of her gracious approbation is not among the leastof my boasts," returned the Pilot, in affected humility, while secretpride was manifested even in his lofty attitude. "But venture not asyllable in her dispraise, for you know not whom you censure. She isless distinguished by her illustrious birth and elevated station,than by her virtues and loveliness. She lives the first of her sex inEurope--the daughter of an emperor, the consort of the most powerfulking, and the smiling and beloved patroness of a nation who worship ather feet. Her life is above all reproach, as it is above all earthlypunishment, were she so lost as to merit it; and it has been the will ofProvidence to place her far beyond the reach of all human misfortunes."
"Has it placed her above human errors, John? Punishment is the naturaland inevitable consequence of sin; and unless she can say more than hasever fallen to the lot of humanity to say truly, she may yet be madeto feel the chastening arm of One, to whose eyes all her pageantry andpower are as vacant as the air she breathes--so insignificant must itseem when compared to his own just rule! But if you vaunt that you havebeen permitted to kiss the hem of the robes of the French queen, andhave been the companion of high-born and flaunting ladies, clad in theirrichest array, can ye yet say to yourself, that amid them all ye havefound one whose tongue has been bold to tell you the truth, or whoseheart has sincerely joined in her false professions?"
"Certainly none have met me with the reproaches that I have this nightreceived from Alice Dunscombe, after a separation of six long years,"returned the Pilot.
"If I have spoken to you the words of holy truth, John, let them notbe the less welcome, because they are strangers to your ears. Oh! thinkthat she who has thus dared to use the language of reproach to one whosename is terrible to all who live on the border of this island, is led tothe rash act by no other motive than interest in your eternal welfare."
"Alice! Alice! you madden me with these foolish speeches! Am I a monsterto frighten unprotected women and helpless children? What mean theseepithets, as coupled with my name? Have you, too, lent a credulous earto the vile calumnies with which the policy of your rulers has everattempted to destroy the fair fame of those who oppose them, and thosechiefly who oppose them with success? My name may be terrible to theofficers of the royal fleet, but where and how have I earned a claim tobe considered formidable to the helpless and unoffending?"
Alice Dunscombe cast a furtive and timid glance at the Pilot, whichspoke even stronger than her words, as she replied:
"I know not that all which is said of you and your deeds is true. I haveoften prayed, in bitterness and sorrow, that a tenth part of that whichis laid to your charge may not be heaped on your devoted head at thegreat and final account. But, John, I have known you long and well, andHeaven forbid, that on this solemn occasion, which may be the last, thelast of our earthly interviews, I should be found wanting in Christianduty, through a woman's weakness. I have often thought, when I haveheard the gall of bitter reproach and envenomed language hurled againstyour name, that they who spoke so rashly, little understood the man theyvituperated. But, though ye are at times, and I may say almost always,as mild and even as the smoothest sea over which ye have ever sailed,yet God has mingled in your nature a fearful mixture of fierce passions,which, roused, are more like the southern waters when troubled with thetornado. It is difficult for me to say how far this evil spirit may leada man, who has been goaded by fancied wrongs to forget his country andhome, and who is suddenly clothed with power to show his resentments."
The Pilot listened with rooted attention, and his piercing eye seemed toreach the seat of those thoughts which she but half expressed; stillhe retained the entire command of himself, and answered, more in sorrowthan in anger:
"If anything could convert me to your own peaceful and unresistingopinions, Alice, it would be the reflections that offer themselves atthis conviction, that even you have been led by the base tongues of mydastardly enemies, to doubt my honor and conduct. What is fame, when aman can be thus traduced to his nearest friends? But no more of thesechildish reflections! they are unworthy of myself, my office, and thesacred cause in which I have enlisted!"
"Nay, John, shake them not off," said Alice, unconsciously laying herhand on his arm; "they are as the dew to the parched herbage, and mayfreshen the feelings of your youth, and soften the heart that has grownhard, if hard it be, more by unnatural indulgence than its own baseinclinations."
"Alice Dunscombe," said the Pilot, approaching her with solemnearnestness, "I have learnt much this night, though I came not in questof such knowledge. You have taught me how powerful is the breath of theslanderer, and how frail is the tenure by which we hold our good names.Full twenty times have I met the hirelings of your prince in openbattle, fighting ever manfully under that flag which was first raised tothe breeze by my own hands, and which, I thank my God, I have never yetseen lowered an inch; but with no one act of cowardice or private wrongin all that service can I reproach
myself; and yet, how am I rewarded!The tongue of the vile calumniator is keener than the sword of thewarrior, and leaves a more indelible scar!"
"Never have ye uttered a truer sentiment, John, and God send that ye mayencourage such thoughts to your own eternal advantage," said Alice, withengaging interest "You say that you have risked your precious life intwenty combats, and observe how little of Heaven's favor is bestowedon the abettors of rebellion! They tell me that the world has neverwitnessed a more desperate and bloody struggle than this last, for whichyour name has been made to sound to the furthermost ends of the isle."
"'Twill be known wherever naval combats are spoken of!" interrupted thePilot, the melancholy which had begun to lower in his countenance givingplace to a look of proud exultation.
"And yet its fancied glory cannot shield your name from wrong, nor arethe rewards of the victor equal, in a temporal sense, to those whichthe vanquished has received. Know you that our gracious monarch, deemingyour adversary's cause so sacred, has extended to him his royal favor?"
"Ay! he has dubbed him knight!" exclaimed the Pilot with a scornfuland bitter laugh: "let him be again furnished with a ship, and mewith another opportunity, and I promise him an earldom, if being againvanquished can constitute a claim!"
"Speak not so rashly, nor vaunt yourself of possessing a protectingpower that may desert you, John, when you most need it, and least expectthe change," returned his companion; "the battle is not always to thestrong, neither is the race to the swift."
"Forget you, my good Alice, that your words will admit of a doublemeaning? Has the battle been to the strong! Though you say not wellin denying the race to the swift. Yes, yes, often and again have thedastards escaped me by their prudent speed! Alice Dunscombe, you knownot a thousandth part of the torture that I have been made to feel, byhigh-born miscreants, who envy the merit they cannot equal, and detractfrom the glory of deeds that they dare not attempt to emulate. Howhave I been cast upon the ocean, like some unworthy vessel that iscommissioned to do a desperate deed, and then to bury itself in the ruinit has made! How many malignant hearts have triumphed as they beheld mycanvas open, thinking that it was spread to hasten me to a gibbet, or toa tomb in the bosom of the ocean! but I have disappointed them!"
The eyes of the Pilot no longer gazed with their piercing and settledmeaning; but they flashed with a fierce and wild pleasure, as hecontinued, in a louder voice:
"Yes, bitterly have I disappointed them! Oh! the triumph over my fallenenemies has been tame to this heartfelt exultation which places meimmeasurably above those false and craven hypocrites! I begged, Iimplored, the Frenchmen, for the meanest of their craft, which possessedbut the common qualities of a ship of war; I urged the policy andnecessity of giving me such a force, for even then I promised to befound in harm's way; but envy and jealousy robbed me of my just dues,and of more than half my glory. They call me pirate! If I have claim tothe name, it was furnished more by the paltry outfit of my friends, thanby any act towards my enemies!"
"And do not these recollections prompt you to return to your allegiance,to your prince and native land, John?" said Alice, in a subdued voice.
"Away with the silly thought!" interrupted the Pilot, recalled tohimself as if by a sudden conviction of the weakness he had betrayed;"it is ever thus where men are made conspicuous by their works--but toyour visit--I have the power to rescue myself and companions from thispaltry confinement, and yet I would not have it done with violence, foryour sake. Bring you the means of doing it in quiet?"
"When the morning arrives, you will all be conducted to the apartmentwhere we first met.--This will be done at the solicitation of MissHoward, under the plea of compassion and justice, and with the professedobject of inquiring into your situations. Her request will not berefused; and while your guard is stationed at the door, you will beshown, by another entrance, through the private apartments of the wing,to a window, whence you can easily leap to the ground, where athicket is at hand; afterwards we shall trust your safety to your owndiscretion."
"And if this Dillon, of whom you have spoken, should suspect the truth,how will you answer to the law for aiding our escape?"
"I believe he little dreams who is among the prisoners," said Alice,musing, "though he may have detected the character of one of yourcompanions. But it is private feeling, rather than public spirit, thaturges him on."
"I have suspected something of this," returned the Pilot, with a smile,that crossed those features where ungovernable passions that had solately been exhibited, with an effect that might be likened to thelast glimmering of an expiring conflagration, serving to render thesurrounding ruin more obvious. "This young Griffith has led me from mydirect path with his idle imprudence, and it is right that his mistressshould incur some risk. But with you, Alice, the case is different; hereyou are only a guest, and it is unnecessary that you should be knownin the unfortunate affair. Should my name get abroad, this recreantAmerican, this Colonel Howard, will find all the favor he has purchasedby advocating the cause of tyranny necessary to protect him from thedispleasure of the ministry."
"I fear to trust so delicate a measure to the young discretion of myamiable friend," said Alice, shaking her head.
"Remember, that she has her attachment to plead in her excuse; but dareyou say to the world that you still remember, with gentle feelings, theman whom you stigmatize with such opprobrious epithets?"
A slight color gleamed over the brow of Alice Dunscombe, as she uttered,in a voice that was barely audible:
"There is no longer a reason why the world should know of such aweakness, though it did exist." And, as the faint glow passed away,leaving her face pale nearly as the hue of death, her eyes kindled withunusual fire, and she added: "They can but take my life, John; and thatI am ready to lay down in your service!"
"Alice!" exclaimed the softened Pilot, "my kind, my gentle Alice--"
The knock of the sentinel at the door was heard at this criticalmoment. Without waiting for a reply to his summons, the man entered theapartment; and, in hurried language, declared the urgent necessity thatexisted for the lady to retire. A few brief remonstrances were utteredby both Alice and the Pilot, who wished to comprehend more clearly eachother's intentions relative to the intended escape: but the fear ofpersonal punishment rendered the soldier obdurate, and a dread ofexposure at length induced the lady to comply. She arose, and wasleaving the apartment with lingering steps, when the Pilot, touching herhand, whispered to her impressively:
"Alice, we meet again before I leave this island forever?"
"We meet in the morning, John," she returned in the same tone of voice,"in the apartments of Miss Howard."
He dropped her hand, and she glided from the room, when the impatientsentinel closed the door, and silently turned the key on his prisoner.The Pilot remained in a listening attitude, until the light footstepsof the retiring pair were no longer audible, when he paced his confinedapartment with perturbed steps, occasionally pausing to look out at thedriving clouds and the groaning oaks that were trembling and rockingtheir broad arms in the fitful gusts of the gale. In a few minutes thetempest in his own passions had gradually subsided to the desperateand still calmness that made him the man he was; when he again seatedhimself where Alice had found him, and began to muse on the events ofthe times, from which the transition to projecting schemes of daringenterprise and mighty consequences was but the usual employment of hisactive and restless mind.