Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales

hisknowing anything about the matter. Five of us, among whom was BrandHallton, who had dependence on each other, then went on shore at night.We had been persuaded by Hallton that we had but one course to pursue,and we had promised to obey his directions. While we waited hiddenamong the rocks on the beach, at some short distance from Arnold'shouse, we sent word by a lad we took with us, that we wished to speak tohim about running another crop of goods. It was a dark night, with adrizzling rain, but perfectly calm, the only noise we could hear beingthe ripple of the water on the sand, while nothing could be seen but thehigh beetling cliff above us. For a long time we waited; the momentsseemed hours to me. We then thought he suspected something, and wouldnot come. At last we heard the sound of footsteps on the beach movingtowards us. My heart beat faster. I ground my teeth in my eagerness.I thought I was about to do an act of justice. That he might not bychance take alarm, one of our men went forward to welcome him as afriend. The stranger proved to be Arnold. Another then joined him, andbegan to talk about the business in hand. He took the bait eagerly, andoffered to lend us his assistance. As he came by where I, with theother men, lay hid, the first two put their pistols to his head, andthreatened to blow his brains out if he uttered a word, while we rushedon him, pinioned his arms, and gagged him, to make sure of his notgiving an alarm. Powerful man as he was, he trembled violently in everylimb, for he then felt that we were aware who had before betrayed us;and more than that, he well knew it and our _laws_; he knew that we werenot men to hesitate at punishing a traitor. From the moment we seizedhim we did not exchange a single word with each other; but, lashing hisfeet, we lifted him into our boat, which was close at hand. At the sametime, also, we lifted into her a large stone, with a rope made fast toit, and then shoved off from the shore.

  "We pulled off for a mile or more, and then laying on our oars, we toldthe miserable wretch what we were about to do, giving him one minute toprepare for death. In his struggles to free himself, as he heard hisdoom, he contrived to loosen one of his hands, and to slip the gag fromhis mouth. He shrieked out in an agony of fear, and, as he entreated usto let him live, he trembled as if every limb in his body would part.He talked of his wife and family, who would starve if he were taken awayfrom them; he promised, in the most abject terms, to be our slave--towork for us to the utmost of his power--to do all we could require ofhim; but we laughed at his offers; we reminded him that he had shown nopity to us--that he had caused the death of several of our friends andthe imprisonment of others, and that he must take the consequence of histreachery. Again, with groans and tears, he petitioned for mercy; hewas not a man much given in general to words, but now they flowed forth,like a torrent in winter, with prayers for life; but nothing, he couldsay could alter our determination. At first, he attempted to deny whathe had done, but we soon made him acknowledge his crime: he had brokenour laws, and must abide the penalty. At last, we got tired oflistening to him; we were eager for vengeance, and yet we felt apleasure in witnessing his agony.

  "`Come--we have had enough of this palaver,' said one of our people.`If you have got a bit of a prayer to say, be quick about it.'

  "`In a minute more you won't be in so great a hurry to open your mouth,'sneered another.

  "The miserable wretch saw we were in earnest, and I believe he did tryto say a prayer; but we were in a hurry to finish the job. I fullybelieve, indeed, that every one of us had thought we were going to do anact of strict justice; but when it came to the point, my mind misgaveme. There was, however, now no drawing back; I dared not even utter mythoughts to my companions. My hands trembled as I assisted to make therope, with the stone to it, fast round his feet; but the darknessprevented their seeing my agitation. We then let the stone hangoverboard, while we lifted our victim, thus bound hand and foot, on tothe gunwale of the boat. For a moment we let him remain there; and oh,what a cry of agony he gave as we tilted him up, and down he wentstraight into the deep sea!--the water closed over his head, and not amark remained to show that a moment before another living being had beenwith us in health and strength! We thought the sea would for ever hidethe deed from mortal eye, and that no one but ourselves would ever beable to tell how Arnold died. Ah! fools that we were to think to escapepunishment for work like that!

  "As soon as all was over, for an instant we sat silent and stupefied,and then shipping our oars, we pulled towards the cutter as hard as wecould, away from the accursed spot. We had not pulled many strokes whena horror seized me. I could have shrieked aloud, but my fear was toogreat, for there, directly in our wake, was Arnold! Up he had risen--his body half out of the water--his countenance blue and livid--his eyesstarting from his head--his hair on end--his arms extended towards us,as if he would clasp the boat in his embrace, and carry us down with himto the dreadful place he had come from! Larger and larger he grew--apale flame seemed to play round his features, distorted with rage andagony! As fast as we could pull, he came hissing after us! We allshrieked with horror--we stretched every nerve to get away from him--butthe harder we pulled the faster he came along. We sent the water flyingfrom our bows, our oars bent and cracked; but nothing would do--on, onhe came! Oh, how I wished I had had nothing to do with the foul deed!We had shown no mercy to him--we knew he would show none to us. You donot believe what I am saying; but it is as true as that I am speaking toyou. See, sir!--see, there is his face at the farther end of the room--just as he appeared to me on that fatal night! He has never quitted mesince, and never will--he will be with me on the scaffold to-morrow,jeering and cursing me, and I shall meet him where I am hound to in theother world. Oh! why did I do that deed?

  "The dead man had got within a few fathoms of us, when, expecting everymoment to feel myself within his cold grasp, I could bear it no longer,and swooned away.

  "The pale, waning moon was shining on my face from out of the pure skywhen I came to my senses, and I found myself lying on the deck of thecutter, which was running briskly across the Channel. I got up andlooked around me; all that had passed seemed a horrid dream, but I knewit was too true. I was afraid to speak of what had happened, and, whenI once referred to it to one of my partners in crime, he reminded mewith a dreadful threat of my oath of secrecy. In vain I tried to banishthe thoughts of it from my own mind; every night did the accusingspectre recall it with terrible certainty, for no sooner did darknessappear, than, whenever I looked out on the sea, whether in storm orcalm, when the stars shone bright, or the sky was overcast, there, inthe wake of the ship, appeared the blue, livid figure of the wretchedArnold. It was very, very dreadful, sir. I dared not return to mynative place, nor to any neighbourhood where I was known, for I feltthat everybody would point at me as a murderer; I knew the mark of Cainwas on my brow. I grew weary of existence, even a smuggling life wastoo tame for me; I longed for a change of scene, for more excitement;and falling in with a French brig bound for the coast of Africa, Ishipped on board her. Her sails were loose and her anchor spread, as Ihanded my traps on deck, and, before I had time to see the faces of allher crew, we were standing with a strong breeze out of the harbour ofBordeaux.

  "My evil destiny still pursued me. There was one on board, whom ratherthan have met I would have jumped overboard and swam on shore again, hadit been possible. That man was Brand Hallton. He had been the first tolead me into crime, and I knew of so many black deeds he had done, thatI feared and hated him more than any man alive, though I could neverwithstand his evil persuasions. A short time passed before he came ondeck, as he had been attending to some duty below. I knew him in amoment, but he pretended not to recognise me, though he soon afterwardstook an opportunity to assure me that he would stand my friend if Iwould not attempt to claim his acquaintance. I found that he hadentered before the mast under an assumed name, but on what account hedid not choose to inform me, though I had little doubt it was for thesake of performing some piece of villainy or other. I dared not disobeyhim; indeed, I should have gained nothing if I had attempted to betrayhim, and thus we appeale
d by degrees to form an intimacy.

  "We had on board a freight of coloured cottons, beads, and othertrinkets, with hard dollars to exchange for slaves, with manacles tokeep them quiet when in our power. That coast of Africa is a deadly,burning place, as we had soon reason to know; but I cared not for heator for sickness--neither could increase the wretchedness of my ownmiserable fate. For some days after sailing I began to hope that I hadescaped from my tormentor, but one night, on going on deck to keep mywatch, as I looked over the side to observe how fast the ship was goingthrough the water, there, on the sea, a few fathoms only from her,appeared that dreadful figure. He has never since then quitted the shipI have sailed in. Sometimes, as the moonbeams played upon the waters, Ihave seen him following in our wake, with his arms spread out, leapingfrom the waves and making horrid faces at me. When I have been keepinga look-out ahead, he has