A Gentleman-at-Arms: Being Passages in the Life of Sir Christopher Rudd, Knight

  headpiece to Fourth Part]

  *I*

  It has never been my lot to hold great place, whether in the employmentof Queen Bess, or of her successor, King James; and when I think howsorely fortune hath buffeted some noble persons that served thosemonarchs, I count myself lucky in my obscurity.

  Of all the noble men with whom I ever had to do, Sir Walter Raleigh wasin my computation beyond compare the noblest. It frets me still, afterforty years, that I was not of his company on that famous voyage toCadiz when, as he writes in his History, "we stayed not to pick anylock, but brake open the doors, and, having rifled all, threw the keyinto the fire"; by the which figure he signifies the capture anddestruction of that great town, with vast spoils both of merchandise andmoney. I was stayed but by accident, or, more truly, by the hand ofGod, who had other work for me, as you shall hear.

  It chanced that one day, about Easter of the year 1596, I had been tovisit Sir Walter in his house at Mile End, where he then lived to takethe country air, and because, being out of favour with the Queen, hislodging in her great house by the Thames was not much to his liking. Inname he was still Captain of the Guard and Warden of the Stannaries, butthe former office was performed by one Master John Best, and the latterwas, I think, in abeyance. He had but lately returned from his voyageto Guiana, and was even then occupied with the writing of the bookwherein he relates his doings there, together with certain wonders thatI must hold to be fables. It is clean against nature that men shouldhave eyes in their shoulders and mouths in their breasts.

  I had visited him, I say, and sat talking very late, finding him wraptup in his project against Cadiz, where a Spanish fleet was fitting outwith the intent to invade Ireland. It was understood, when I left him,that I should be one of his company in the _Warspright_, provided Icould obtain leave from the Queen to quit my place in the royal Guardfor a season. I rode back to Westminster, and, having stabled my horse,was proceeding on foot to my lodging, in a little mean street by theriver, when it seemed to me on a sudden that I heard footsteps, as ofone dogging me. It was very late, as I said; all honest folks (myselfexcepted) were abed; and having a modest love of myself, I halted andwhipped out my sword, peering into the darkness, and stretching my earsfor the sound that had brought me to a check. But all was silent as thegrave, and I laughed a little when it came into my mind thatperadventure 'twas no more than the echo of my own footsteps. WhereuponI put up my sword and went on, my thoughts being busy with the mattersof Sir Walter's glowing discourse.

  While I was thus rapt away, building, I doubt not, fantastical castlesin Spain, on a sudden I was set upon by a hulking fellow that threwhimself upon me out of a dark alley-way. The first warning I had of himwas a sharp crack as the bludgeon he aimed at me struck a shop-sign thathung low over the street; but for this, without question I had suffereda broken skull. Even so I lacked time to draw sword or dagger, for theman flung aside his club and sprang upon me, grappling me to himselfwith a grip of iron. For a moment I yielded, out of policy, to hisembrace, being careful, nathless, to maintain my footing; then, beingvery well practised in wrestling, and having good command of my breath,I dipt my arms about his middle and, with an ease that amazed me, gavehim the backfall. Down he went upon the cobbles, and I stood over himwhile he lay and groaned.

  DOWN HE WENT UPON THE COBBLES, AND I STOOD OVER HIM WHILEHE LAY AND GROANED]

  At this hour of the night it were vain to look for any help from thewatch, and I was in the mind to leave the fellow where he lay. Yethaving a certain curiosity to see what manner of man he was, I felt inmy fob for the steel and flint I was wont to carry, and when I foundthem not, only then remembered that I had left them on Sir Walter'stable; he had borrowed them of me to light his pipe of tobacco, thewhich was a wondrous strange thing in those days. (That is Sir Walter'spipe, yonder in my cabinet; he gave it me for a keepsake a little whileere he died.) Having no light at command I resolved to bring the man tomy own door, but a few steps distant; wherefore I stooped and hoistedhim to his feet, and then took him by the collar with one hand, and withthe other held my naked sword to his posteriors, and so marched himbefore me up the street. When we came to my door, and my servant openedto my knock, I thrust the man in front of me so that he stood within thelight of the lamp.

  He was a sorry knave, now that I beheld him clearly: a very raggedRobin, as foul in person as ever I saw. But I understood now the reasonwhy I had so easily thrown him, for his countenance, so much of it as Icould discern through a thick and tangled beard, was wan and sunken; hiseyes shone with that glitter which bespeaks famine or fever; and hisbody, goodly in its proportions, was bent and shrunken together. Ingood sooth I had no cause to be vain of my prowess, and when the fellowturned his burning eyes upon me, regarding me sullenly, yet with notouch of fear, I was seized with compassion, and bade my servant gofetch meat and drink. He went about my bidding sluggishly, halting everand anon to cast a backward glance, as though doubting the policy ofplaying good Samaritan to so uncouth and villainous an oaf. While he wasabsent I told the man that since he would surely be hanged for hisattempt upon me, 'twere well he should eat and so fortify himselfagainst his destiny. What I said in jest he took in earnest; butwhether it be true or not, as I have heard tell, that with the hangman'snoose dangling before him a criminal has no relish for food, certainlythis man fell with very keen tooth upon my viands, and cleaned theplatter with marvellous celerity.

  Having dispatched my servant to bed, I sat me on the table andquestioned the man, why he had waylaid me. He was loth to speak, but bylittle and little I drew from him his history, which he related not asone seeking to move pity, but by way of recompense, so it seemed to me,for the hospitality he had received. With his first words I own myheart warmed to him, for his speech smacked of my own country in thewest, though intermixed with many quaint outlandish terms. His story Iwill relate in brief.

  His name was William Stubbs, and he was born at Winterbourne Abbas, nota great way from my own birthplace. He had gone young to sea, and madeseveral voyages with Master Cavendish, having indeed served as boatswainin the _Desire_ with that worthy seaman and commander. He had roved theSpanish Main, and I proved his veracity in that particular by putting tohim sundry questions begotten of my own knowledge. 'Twas plain that hehad the common fault of seamen, spending his gains more quickly then heearned them, roistering it on shore while his money lasted, and when allwas spent going to sea again in quest of more. But I perceived as heproceeded in his discourse that he was better than most in natural wit,and had made more profit of his adventures, in knowledge if not in pelf.He had a passable facility in both the French and the Spanish tongues,and his head was stuffed with a great quantity of curious information,which made me wonder that he had sunk so low as to become a commonfootpad.

  The reason of that I learnt in order. Being on board the _Revenge_ inthat unlucky voyage of Sir Richard Grenville, he fell with many of hiscomrades into the hands of the Spaniards, who dealt with him veryscurvily, as their custom is, and finally condemned him to the galleys.For three long years he was chained to an oar, and suffered all themiseries of unhappy prisoners in the like case. But it befell one daythat the galley wherein he rowed fell foul of a Dutch vessel, whichopened upon it with valorous broadsides, and after making havoc as wellamong the slaves as the crew, finally rammed it with great vehemency andstove a hole in its side. In the hottest of the fight, a round shotbroke the chain that held Stubbs to his oar, and, seizing the momentwhen the Dutchman rammed and all was confusion, he leapt overboard andswam to that vessel, whose side he clambered up by the main chains. Hecame very near perishing at the hands of the crew, who at first supposedhim to be a rascal; but when they learnt his true condition, they hauledhim aboard with comfortable words, and brought him after many days totheir own country. Thence he contrived to reach London, only to fall onevil hap, for his sufferings in captivity had sapped his strength, and,when he sought employment in his own trad
e he found no master marinerwilling to accept him. Thus, reduced by sickness and famine, in hisdesperate strait he bethought him of conquering fortune on the highway,but was now ready to believe, seeing the unhappy issue of his firstessay in that line of life, that he was at odds with Fate, and mustneeds, as he said, "kick the beam and ha' done with it."

  When I heard this piteous story, and saw upon the man's neck and wriststhe scars that were full proof, to all that knew the Spaniards, of hishaving rowed in their galleys, my anger against him was wholly quenched.I told him heartily that he should not hang for me, and then, perceivingthat my good food had wrought upon his sickly frame, I bade him gethimself into a closet wherein my servant kept my boots and sleep therefor the night, promising to see him again in the morning, and perchancedo somewhat to set him on his feet. The man was clean staggered by thiskindness, as I could plainly see; but he did not thank me; and when hehad crept into the closet and flung himself down heedless upon thefloor, I turned the key in the lock for security's sake and went to mybed.

  My servant was in a pretty fret and fume when he found the man thereasleep in the morning, and eyed me with a disfavour that made me feelguilty towards him: a good servant hath in him something of the tyrant.When I bade him give my guest water for washing (whereof he was in greatneed), and meat and beer, his silence was a clear rebuke. But when hecame again after doing my bidding he had somewhat to tell me.

  "The rogue asked me your name, sir," quoth he, "and when I told him, heasked further whether you were akin to one Master Christopher Rudd ofShirley."

  "And what said you?" I asked, knowing my servant.

  "I said, sir, that he were best wash himself."

  "A proper answer," said I, laughing. "When he has eaten, bring him tome."

  And when the man came before me, cleaned of his foulness and with hisbeard trimmed, I saw that he was a goodly fellow, and felt the moresorry for him.

  "You asked of one Master Christopher Rudd of Shirley," I said; "whathave you to do with him?"

  "Are you his kin, sir?" he asked doubtfully.

  "We are of one family," I said, "and now you will answer my question."

  And then he told me a story that filled me with as much trouble asamazement. Chained to him, on his galley, had been a young Frenchman,whom, even before their common misery had made them friends, he hadsurmised to be a man of rank. When they had learnt to trust each other,the Frenchman and he often talked together of the chances of escape, andeach promised the other that, should fortune favour him, he would usehis endeavours for behoof of him that was left. Stubbs said that, forhis part, he feared he could do little, being an Englishman; whereuponthe Frenchman told him that he had sundry good friends among theEnglish, notably Christopher Rudd, of whom indeed he had been a closecomrade in the service of King Henry of Navarre.

  At this I pricked up my ears, and inquired eagerly for the Frenchman'sname. Thereupon Stubbs rolled up his sleeves, and showed me, brandedupon his arm, the letters "R. de T.," confessing that he had forgot thename, which indeed did not come easily to his tongue. I needed no more,but knew instantly that the luckless galley-slave could be none otherthan Raoul de Torcy, who had been my boon fellow when I was in France,and my companion that time when I had the good hap to win King Henry'sfavour. I bade Stubbs describe with circumstance the look and characterof the Frenchman, and though he was unapt at such a task, his uncouthphrases gave me the assurance I sought, and I could have no manner ofdoubt that the man now swinking and sweating in one of the worsttortures ever devised by the wit of man was indeed my dear friend.

  I taxed Stubbs narrowly, to discover by what mishap Raoul, a gentlemanof France, had fallen to so pitiful an extremity, but on this point itappeared that Raoul himself was at a loss. He had been kidnapped oneday in Calais, cast on board a vessel, and carried to Cadiz: who werehis captors, and what moved them to it, were matters hidden from him.

  Cadiz being the place of Raoul's exile, I instantly bethought me of mytalk overnight with Sir Walter Raleigh, and saw in his projectedenterprise a means of wresting my friend from his bondage. AccordinglyI sent my servant for my horse, purposing to ride again to Mile End andacquaint Sir Walter with what I had heard. I gave money to Stubbswherewith to buy new raiment, bidding him return to my house and awaitme, and above all to avoid any debate with my servant, the which mighteasily end in broken heads.

  I found Sir Walter in his garden, smoking a pipe of tobacco, and settingpotatoes, the new root that he had brought from the Indies, in the earthin the manner they call dibbling. He heard me attentively, and let outa round oath or two, and said that assuredly I might make theenlargement of my friend my personal charge in the adventure.

  I FOUND SIR WALTER IN HIS GARDEN]

  "But you must know, Rudd," he said, "that the project is as yet asecret, and indeed there is no surety that the Queen will give consentthereto. Her Grace frowns on me most malevolently, and there are manyhindrances to surmount ere I come by her august approval. Were it notbetter to ransom your friend? I doubt not he hath kinsmen that areignorant of his plight, and would bestir themselves did they but knowit."

  I answered him that Raoul had spoken to me of an uncle, but as toransom, Raoul himself must have thought thereon. Without doubt he wouldhave acquainted the Spaniards with his rank, and their cupidity wouldnot have refused to bargain for his enlargement, unless, peradventure,they had weightier reasons for holding him a prisoner. To this SirWalter assented, and confessed that he saw nothing for it but to waituntil the Queen's pleasure in the matter of the intended voyage wasknown, and with that I had to be content.

  I returned to my lodging, sore downcast and perplexed. Stubbs wasalready there, new clothed in decent garments, and very personable. Ifell a-talking to him, and in the midst a thought came suddenly to me.I knew the strange waywardness of the Queen, how she would one momentconsent, the next deny her words with hearty swearing; it might bemonths, or even years, before Sir Walter had his way. It troubled mesorely to think that Raoul should endure his wretched lot while herHighness played see-saw, and I bethought me that I might at least voyageto France and see the kinsmen who were, I doubted not, mourning Raoul'sdisappearance, and might perchance devise with them some plan for hisdeliverance. And since the testimony of an eye-witness is ever moreeffectual than report at second-hand, I resolved to take my mariner withme, so as they might have from his own lips the tale he told me. Iforbore to ask consent of the Queen to my absence, being resolved tohazard my place rather than my design.

  We set off next day, riding to Dover, where we embarked upon apacket-boat, and so came, after much tossing and discomfort, to Calais.This being the port where Raoul had been kidnapped three years before,as Stubbs told me, I made discreet inquiry among the harbour peoplewhether they knew aught of that villainy, being careful to name nonames. But none had any knowledge of the matter, whereupon we rode onat once to Dieppe, both because that was the nearest port to Raoul'schateau, and because our common friend Jean Prevost dwelt there, whom Ipurposed to take into my confidence.

  'Twas drawing towards evening when we came to the town and reined up atthe door of the _Belle Etoile_, a hostelry that I knew very well. Thehost, honest Jacques Aicard, remembered me, though it was near sevenyears since he last saw me, and welcomed me very heartily. Thegoodman's face was rueful when he ushered me to a room.

  "'Tis pity, monsieur," he said, "that I have no better chamber to offer,but my best room is bespoke. But if monsieur will be content with thisfor a night or two, be sure that he shall have the best when my othervisitor departs."

  I assured him that the room would do very well, since I did not purposeto make a long stay.

  "Ah, monsieur," he said, "that is sad news. I would that I had moreguests like monsieur," a piece of arrant flattery whereat I smiled.'Tis true that honest Jacques loved an Englishman.

  Having seen Stubbs also provided, I hastened forth, and by good luckfound Jean Prevost at home. He likewise welcomed me with greatheartines
s, and, after our salutations, as he set wine before me, heopened upon the very matter which had brought me to him.

  "Would that Raoul were with us!" he said. "How we three laughed! But Ifear me we shall never see him more."

  "He disappeared; that I know," said I. "Tell me how it befell."

  "Why, three years ago he rode to Calais, with the intent to sail to theLow Countries, and use his sword against the Spaniards. We have neverheard of him since. Whether he was wrecked, or fell in Flanders, weknow not. He vanished utterly away."

  "And what of his estate?" I asked.

  "His uncle holds it, the Count de Sarney. You have heard Raoul speak ofhim. He was a Leaguer, and there was a coldness between them. Indeed,though their chateaux lie but five miles apart, they had no dealings onewith the other for many years. But the breach was healed when Henrybecame king, and after that Raoul had disappeared none was so busy asthe Count in seeking for him. He sent emissaries at his own charges toFlanders to inquire diligently in all likely quarters, and 'twas a fullyear before he entered upon his heritage. He lives at Torcy, much byhimself, and we see little of him."

  "Raoul lugs an oar in a galley at Cadiz," I said with a very quietvoice.

  Jean leapt from his seat as though a wasp had stung him.

  "A galley-slave! Impossible! Incredible!" he cried.

  "Both credible and possible," I said, and then I told him all, as I havetold you.

  "Mon Dieu!" cried Jean, when I had made an end. "We must not wait whileyour Queen dallies. A ransom! I know a score of his friends who willgive bonds for goodly sums----"

  "Ay, truly," I said, interrupting him, "and the first of them should behis uncle and heir."

  Jean stopped in his restless pacing of the floor, and looked at me verystrangely.

  "Why yes," he said, "his uncle, to be sure. But the Count isclose-fisted; 'twas indeed a surprise to all the country-side when,after that he had entered into possession of Torcy--an estate of greaterworth than his own--he showed himself a very niggard."

  "Think you that he would refuse his mite in so good a cause?" I said.

  Again Jean looked strangely at me, and for a while was silent. Then hesaid slowly--

  "My friend, I ween we had best say nought to the Count de Sarney."

  "Nevertheless, I go to him to-morrow," I replied. "Miser he may be, and'tis clean against his interest, to be sure, to bring back the lawfulowner of Torcy, and thereby dispossess himself. Yet if his duty be putto him, as I shall put it, I doubt not he will comply."

  "I will go with you," said Jean.

  "Nay, I am minded to go alone, or rather with none but my mariner.'Twill be better so. Be assured I will acquaint you with the issue. AndI beg you, Jean," I said earnestly, "that you speak no word of what Ihave told you, at least for this present time."

  "I will be mute as a fish," said he, "but I shall think the more."