CHAPTER IV--How Judgment was Passed on the Dorset Smugglers
I soon accustomed myself to my new home. My Uncle George treated me withevery consideration--a fact that ill-disposed persons would haveattributed to the legacy left him under my father's will. Though farfrom being in needy circumstances--receiving as Clerk of the Survey atthe dockyard a salary of L50, paid with more or less irregularity--itwas evident that his brother-in-law's bounty did not come amiss.
I have already given a description of my uncle. His wife, my father'ssister, was tall, sparely built, and somewhat inclined to verbosity. Itdid not take me long to ascertain that the pair were ill-assorted, andwhen on certain occasions their dispute waxed hot, my uncle wasinvariably driven from the house by the unrestrained reproaches of hisspouse.
They had but two children, Maurice, a lad a year older than myself, andMercy, a child of nine years. I was soon on capital terms with both,though, boylike, I treated Mercy with that sort of contempt that mostboys of my age show their female relations.
I lost little time in telling my uncle the story of my adventures on theroad, and, happening to mention the name of Middleton, he exclaimed:
"Why, lad, you've made a good friend. 'Tis none other than ColonelThomas Middleton, lately appointed commissioner of this dockyard, and hewho rode with him is Admiral Montague, who comes to take the fleet toHolland."
This, then, was the gallant Montague, a man who, under the Commonwealth,had earned renown when fighting with Blake the fleets of Holland and ofSpain, and whose prompt action in co-operating with Monk and takingcommand of the fleet sent to fetch the king from Holland did much toearn the royal gratitude and favour.
On the morrow following my arrival I, in company with my cousin Maurice,was taken by my uncle to the dockyard.
Here all was activity and noise. Most of the fleet--amongst which werepointed out to me the _Yarmouth_, _Swiftsure_, _London_, and _Ruby_--layat anchor at some distance from the wharves, while close alongside werethe _Naseby_, her name being changed to the _Royal Charles_, and the_Montague_.
There was but one dry dock, and in it lay the _Providence_; and on aslip, being nearly fit for launching, stood a large ship of seventy-sixguns, her name having but recently been changed to the _Royal Oak_.
While we were looking on with astonishment at this busy scene, a short,thick-set man, whose portly body was ill supported by a pair of bandylegs, came towards the place where we stood. He wore a blue uniform,with three-cornered hat, and carried at his side a sword that trailedbehind him as he walked, and even threatened to become entangled betweenhis legs.
"Ha! Captain Duce of the _Lizard_! Stand aside, boys, while I havespeech with him."
The captain was in a rage.
"A pretty pass! Here lie I ready to weigh and make sail, but ne'er aloaf of bread aboard!"
"I cannot help you, Captain," replied my uncle. "I can only refer youto the Commissioner."
"Hang the Commissioner!" roared the irate officer. "First I am directedto apply to him; he sends me to you; you thereupon give me cold comfortby sending me again to the Commissioner. How can I take my ship to sealacking bread and flour? Ah! Here, sirrah!" he broke off, noticing aman passing by. "Here, sirrah! You're the person I want."
The man addressed came across to where the captain and my uncle weredebating. His calling was apparent, he being covered from head to footwith flour.
"Well, Hunt, how is it Captain Duce can get no supplies from you?"
The baker shook his head. "Over a thousand pounds are due to my partnerand me," said he. "We were to be paid monthly, but have received nothingsince September last. Verily, I am afraid to go abroad lest I amarrested by my creditors, whom I cannot pay, as the Navy Commissionerswill not pay me!"
Without waiting to hear further, for complaints of arrears of paymentwere a common occurrence, Maurice and I stole away and wandered towardsthe slip where the _Royal Oak_ was nearing completion.
A noble sight she made, this immense yellow-painted hull, with herdouble tier of gunports and her towering stern, richly ornamented withgilded quarter badges and richly carved galleries. Little did we knowthat a short seven years hence would see the ship, the pride of theking's navy, a battered and fire-swept wreck--but I anticipate.
In the midst of strange surroundings the time passed rapidly. Alreadythe Restoration was an accomplished fact. Charles II was again atWhitehall "in the twelfth year of his reign", as the crown document hasit. The gilded effigy of his sainted father was restored to its nichein the Square Tower at Portsmouth, where all persons passing wereordered to uncover. With few exceptions the townspeople welcomed thechange, the whole place being given up to unrestrained merrymaking.
One morning in June I was called into our living-room, and found myselfconfronted by a gold-laced individual, who, drawing a paper from hispocket, read in a sonorous voice a summons for me to attend at thecourthouse as a witness against Dick Swyre and Caleb Keeping, presentedfor committing a murderous attack upon divers of the king's subjects onthe highway.
On the appointed day I attended the court, accompanied by my uncle.There were several cases dealt with before the one in which I had togive evidence, and, though it was in keeping with the times, theseverity of most of the sentences struck me as being most barbarous.
One poor woman, privileged to take chips from the dockyard, had beenapprehended in the act of stealing two iron bolts. Her punishment wasthat she "should return to the Gaol from whence she came, and thereremain until Saturday next between the hours of Eleven and Twelve of theClock in the forenoon, at which time she was to be brought to the publicWhipping-post, and there receive Twenty Lashes with a Cat-of-Nine-Tailsfrom the hands of the Common Beadle on her naked back till the sameshall be bloody, and then return to the said Gaol and remain until herfees be paid!"
If this were fitting punishment for a petty theft, what, thought I, willbe the corresponding penalty for these two highwaymen?
Presently Dick Swyre and Caleb Keeping were placed in the dock. Thefirst-named was the bearded ruffian who had so nearly settled my accountin the valley near Petersfield, and now, knowing full well that his neckwas already in the hangman's noose, his demeanour was one of sullenferocity, and, though he was heavily manacled, his appearance was likethat of a savage beast awaiting its opportunity to spring.
The other, Keeping, did not appear to be of the same debased kind as hiscompanion, though his matted red hair and sunburnt face and armsbetokened a villain whose existence had been of an out-door kind. Therewas a look of haunting terror in his face that turned the bronze of hiscomplexion into a pale-yellowish hue, while it could be seen that he hadgreat difficulty in keeping his limbs under control.
I was the first witness called, and on concluding my evidence, whichdealt solely with the first prisoner, Swyre leant across the front ofthe dock, raised his fettered hands, and with a terrible oath poured outthe most frightful imprecations against me, vowing that sooner or laterhis mates would doubly avenge themselves on my miserable carcass, tillat length, by dint of blows liberally bestowed by his custodians, he wasrestrained, though his low cursing and threats were distinctly audibleduring the rest of the trial.
Several of the soldiers of Colonel Middleton's party, including SergeantSedgewyke, having given evidence, it was thought that the case for theprosecution was concluded, but a shiver of excitement ran through thecourt when an order was given: "Call Joseph Hawkes".
The cry was taken up by the usher and repeated thrice ere there hobbledinto the well of the court an object that could scarce lay claim tobeing called a man. Yet there was no mistaking the fact that Hawkes wasor had been a sailor, for a strong odour of tar, which was a pleasantrelief to the fetid atmosphere of the crowded court, hovered around himlike a cloud. He was about fifty years of age, wizened and bent. Hisface, burnt by exposure to all weathers, was of a deep mahogany hue.One eye was covered with a patch, the other appeared to be fixed in itssocket, inasmuch as whenever he looked he h
ad to turn his head straightin that direction. A mass of lank hair, terminating in a greasypigtail, covered his head.
His left arm was missing, the empty sleeve being fastened to his coat;and, as if these deficiencies were not enough, his left leg had been cutoff at the knee joint, and was replaced by a wooden stump. The fingersof his right hand were dried like a mummy's, the nails being blackenedwith hard work at sea and the continual use of tobacco, and I noticedthat one of his fingers was also missing.
Having been administered the oath, his examination commenced.
"You are Joseph Hawkes?"
"Yes, your Honour."
"Do you know either of the prisoners?"
"Yes, saving your presence, that red-haired villain yonder!"
"Now, sirrah," exclaimed the prosecuting lawyer, addressing CalebKeeping, "methinks you know this witness!"
But the prisoner replied not, except to shake his head sheepishly.
"Proceed with your evidence, Master Hawkes."
The man hitched at his nether garments, pulled his forelock, and withoutfurther delay plunged into his story, which, stripped of itspeculiarities of dialect, was as follows:--
"Two years ago last May I shipped as mate of the bark _Speedie_, ofPoole, outward bound for the Tagus. The same night as we cleared Pooleharbour we were overtaken by a gale from the south'ard, and soon gotinto difficulties close to the Purbeck coast. Seven times did we 'boutship to try and claw off the shore, but at daybreak we struck close toAnvil Point."
Here the younger prisoner began to show signs of terrified interest--afact that most of those present were not slow to note.
"The masts went by the board, our boats were carried away, and the old_Speedie_ began to break up. One by one the crew were swept overboard,and at last a heavy sea took me, and I remember fighting for life in thewaves till I lost consciousness.
"When I came to I was lying on a flat ledge or platform of rock with thehot sun streaming down on me. The gale had now abated, but there wereplenty of signs of its results. Numbers of bales and barrels, that hadformed our cargo, were being collected on the platform by a number ofvillainous-looking, half-naked men. A slight tingling pain in my handmade me look down, and I saw that one of my fingers had been cut off, sothat one of the wretches could steal a paltry silver ring I was wearing.
"Just then I heard a shout, and, keeping perfectly still, I looked undermy half-closed eyelids and saw two of the wreckers dragging a body upthe rocks. It was the master of the _Speedie_, poor old John Cartridgeof Hamworthy. The wretches began to hack his fingers off, as they haddone mine, and even tore a pair of ear-rings forcibly from his ears.Old John wasn't dead, for this treatment revived him. Seeing this, oneof the men, who is none other than that red-haired devil yonder, plungeda knife into his back and toppled his body into the sea."
At this the younger prisoner yelled in a terror-stricken voice: "No, no!You are mistaken. 'Twill be my brother as done it. 'Twas not I."
"Liar!" retorted the old seaman. "I'll prove it. Let your men bare hisback, good sir, and if he hath not the sign of the Jolly Roger tattooedthere, I'll take back my word."
The justice nodded his assent, and the tip-staves proceeded to removethe clothing from the prisoner's back. Sure enough, there was adeath's-head and cross-bones indelibly impressed there.
"Continue your evidence, Master Hawkes."
"Well, your Honour, as I was a-saying, after they had rid themselves ofthe master's body, the wretches began to carry their plunder into a cavethat opened from the back of the flat rock. Presently one of them stopsby me. 'What shall us do with 'e?' he shouts. I kept very still,feigning death, yet expecting every moment to have a knife betwixt myribs. 'Is 'e done with?' asked another. 'Then overboard with 'im.'Next minute I felt myself being dragged across the platform and pushedoff the edge. I fell about a score of feet, striking the water with aheavy splash. When I came to the top I struck out, and found myselfclose to a shelf of rock which the overhanging ledge hid from thevillains above. Here I remained till the coast was clear, then Iscrambled up, in spite of my wounds, and made my way across some downstill I met with a kindly farmer, who took me to Wareham.
"When I reported the matter to the authorities a body of men were sentfrom Wareham and Poole; but though they discovered the caves, not atrace of the wreckers, their spoils, or the remains of the _Speedie_ wasto be found."
The rest of the evidence was soon concluded, proving without doubt thatboth men were members of a notorious band of Dorset smugglers, whosemisdeeds had caused the utmost consternation for years past; and thecase was settled by sending both prisoners to the assizes at Winchester.
It is unnecessary to dwell upon the account of my journey to Winton torepeat my evidence; but on the return journey (having heard both mensentenced to death), as we were passing through a wood between Twyfordand Waltham, a pistol was fired at our coach, the ball shattering theglass and passing close to my uncle's head.
This outrage was put down to the highwaymen of Waltham Chase; but in myown mind I attributed it to the vengeance of the smugglers' gang, whichsurmise I afterwards found was correct.
The two men suffered the extreme penalty of the law. I was taken to seethem gibbeted on Southsea beach. Such occasions are invariably regardedas a kind of holiday, and thousands of townsfolk and people from thesurrounding country came to see the sentence carried out.
Caleb Keeping died like an arrant coward, whining like a whipped cur asthe executioner bound him. Already half-dead with fear, he submitted tobeing compelled to mount the ladder, whence he was thrown violently, andin a few moments all was over. But with Dick Swyre it was different.Heedless of death, and accustomed to scenes of violence, he strove tothe last, cursing the crowd and endeavouring to burst his bonds.
While most of the onlookers jeered, it was evident that some of hisfriends were present, and at one time it looked as if a rescue was aboutto be attempted; but the soldiers kept back the press, and in spite ofhis violent struggles the prisoner was brought underneath the gallows,where a rope was deftly passed round his neck. Still cursing andstruggling, the wretch was hoisted, and five minutes elapsed ere hislast convulsive motions ceased.
Though the crowd looked upon this incident as a diversion, to me itseemed otherwise. True, two deep-dyed criminals had got their deserts;but I felt that my share in the affair had gained me many unknownenemies. This impression grew after an attempt had been made to burn myuncle's house, and I had been deliberately pushed from the quayside intothe Camber by a seaman; and these incidents so preyed upon my mind thatI was unfeignedly glad when I was asked if I should like to go to sea.