CHAPTER IV A man that apprehends death to be no more dreadful but as a drunken sleep, careless, reckless, and fearless of what's past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal.
--Measure for Measure.
Glossin had made careful minutes of the information derived from theseexaminations. They threw little light upon the story, so far as heunderstood its purport; but the better-informed reader has receivedthrough means of this investigation an account of Brown's proceedings,between the moment when we left him upon his walk to Kippletringan andthe time when, stung by jealousy, he so rashly and unhappily presentedhimself before Julia Mannering, and well-nigh brought to a fataltermination the quarrel which his appearance occasioned.
Glossin rode slowly back to Ellangowan, pondering on what he had heard,and more and more convinced that the active and successful prosecution ofthis mysterious business was an opportunity of ingratiating himself withHazlewood and Mannering to be on no account neglected. Perhaps, also, hefelt his professional acuteness interested in bringing it to a successfulclose. It was, therefore, with great pleasure that, on his return to hishouse from Kippletringan, he heard his servants announce hastily, 'thatMac-Guffog, the thief-taker, and twa or three concurrents, had a man inhands in the kitchen waiting for his honour.'
He instantly jumped from horseback, and hastened into the house. 'Send myclerk here directly, ye'll find him copying the survey of the estate inthe little green parlour. Set things to rights in my study, and wheel thegreat leathern chair up to the writing-table; set a stool for Mr. Scrow.Scrow (to the clerk, as he entered the presence-chamber), hand down SirGeorge Mackenzie "On Crimes"; open it at the section "Vis Publica etPrivata," and fold down a leaf at the passage "anent the bearing ofunlawful weapons." Now lend me a hand off with my muckle-coat, and hangit up in the lobby, and bid them bring up the prisoner; I trow I'll sorthim; but stay, first send up Mac-Guffog. Now, Mac-Guffog, where did yefind this chield?'
Mac-Guffog, a stout, bandy-legged fellow, with a neck like a bull, a facelike a firebrand, and a most portentous squint of the left eye, began,after various contortions by way of courtesy to the Justice, to tell hisstory, eking it out by sundry sly nods and knowing winks, which appearedto bespeak an intimate correspondence of ideas between the narrator andhis principal auditor. 'Your honour sees I went down to yon place thatyour honour spoke o', that's kept by her that your honour kens o', by thesea-side. So says she, "What are you wanting here? ye'll be come wi' abroom in your pocket frae Ellangowan?"--So says I, "Deil a broom willcome frae there awa, for ye ken," says I, "his honour Ellangowan himsellin former times--"'
'Well, well,' said Glossin, 'no occasion to be particular, tell theessentials.'
'Weel, so we sat niffering about some brandy that I said I wanted, tillhe came in.'
'Who?'
'He!' pointing with his thumb inverted to the kitchen, where the prisonerwas in custody. 'So he had his griego wrapped close round him, and Ijudged he was not dry-handed; so I thought it was best to speak proper,and so he believed I was a Manks man, and I kept ay between him and her,for fear she had whistled. And then we began to drink about, and then Ibetted he would not drink out a quartern of Hollands without drawingbreath, and then he tried it, and just then Slounging Jock and DickSpur'em came in, and we clinked the darbies on him, took him as quiet asa lamb; and now he's had his bit sleep out, and is as fresh as a Maygowan, to answer what your honour likes to speir.' This narrative,delivered with a wonderful quantity of gesture and grimace, received atthe conclusion the thanks and praises which the narrator expected.
'Had he no arms?' asked the Justice.
'Ay, ay, they are never without barkers and slashers.'
'Any papers?'
'This bundle,' delivering a dirty pocket-book.
'Go downstairs then, Mac-Guffog, and be in waiting.' The officer left theroom.
The clink of irons was immediately afterwards heard upon the stair, andin two or three minutes a man was introduced, handcuffed and fettered. Hewas thick, brawny, and muscular, and although his shagged and grizzledhair marked an age somewhat advanced, and his stature was rather low, heappeared, nevertheless, a person whom few would have chosen to cope within personal conflict. His coarse and savage features were still flushed,and his eye still reeled under the influence of the strong potation whichhad proved the immediate cause of his seizure. But the sleep, thoughshort, which Mac-Guffog had allowed him, and still more a sense of theperil of his situation, had restored to him the full use of hisfaculties. The worthy judge and the no less estimable captive looked ateach other steadily for a long time without speaking. Glossin apparentlyrecognised his prisoner, but seemed at a loss how to proceed with hisinvestigation. At length he broke silence.--'Soh, Captain, this is you?you have been a stranger on this coast for some years.'
'Stranger?' replied the other. 'Strange enough, I think; for hold me derdeyvil, if I been ever here before.'
'That won't pass, Mr. Captain.'
'That MUST pass, Mr. Justice, sapperment!'
'And who will you be pleased to call yourself, then, for the present,'said Glossin, 'just until I shall bring some other folks to refresh yourmemory concerning who you are, or at least who you have been?'
'What bin I? donner and blitzen! I bin Jans Jansen, from Cuxhaven; whatsall Ich bin?'
Glossin took from a case which was in the apartment a pair of smallpocket pistols, which he loaded with ostentatious care. 'You may retire,'said he to his clerk, 'and carry the people with you, Scrow; but wait inthe lobby within call.'
The clerk would have offered some remonstrances to his patron on thedanger of remaining alone with such a desperate character, althoughironed beyond the possibility of active exertion, but Glossin waved himoff impatiently. When he had left the room the Justice took two shortturns through the apartment, then drew his chair opposite to theprisoner, so as to confront him fully, placed the pistols before him inreadiness, and said in a steady voice, 'You are Dirk Hatteraick ofFlushing, are you not?'
The prisoner turned his eye instinctively to the door, as if heapprehended some one was listening. Glossin rose, opened the door, sothat from the chair in which his prisoner sate he might satisfy himselfthere was no eavesdropper within hearing, then shut it, resumed his seat,and repeated his question, 'You are Dirk Hatteraick, formerly of theYungfrauw Haagenslaapen, are you not?'
'Tousand deyvils! and if you know that, why ask me?' said the prisoner.
'Because I am surprised to see you in the very last place where you oughtto be, if you regard your safety,' observed Glossin, coolly.
'Der deyvil! no man regards his own safety that speaks so to me!'
'What? unarmed, and in irons! well said, Captain!' replied Glossin,ironically. 'But, Captain, bullying won't do; you'll hardly get out ofthis country without accounting for a little accident that happened atWarroch Point a few years ago.'
Hatteraick's looks grew black as midnight.
'For my part,' continued Glossin, 'I have no particular wish to be hardupon an old acquaintance; but I must do my duty. I shall send you off toEdinburgh in a post-chaise and four this very day.'
'Poz donner! you would not do that?' said Hatteraick, in a lower and morehumbled tone; 'why, you had the matter of half a cargo in bills onVanbeest and Vanbruggen.'
'It is so long since, Captain Hatteraick,' answered Glossin,superciliously, 'that I really forget how I was recompensed for mytrouble.'
'Your trouble? your silence, you mean.'
'It was an affair in the course of business,' said Glossin, 'and I haveretired from business for some time.'
'Ay, but I have a notion that I could make you go steady about and trythe old course again,' answered Dirk Hatteraick. 'Why, man, hold me derdeyvil, but I meant to visit you and tell you something that concernsyou.'
'Of the boy?' said Glossin, eagerly.
'Yaw, Mynheer,' replied the Captain, coolly.
'He does not live, does he?'
/> 'As lifelich as you or I,' said Hatteraick.
'Good God! But in India?' exclaimed Glossin.
'No, tousand deyvils, here! on this dirty coast of yours,' rejoined theprisoner.
'But, Hatteraick, this,--that is, if it be true, which I do notbelieve,--this will ruin us both, for he cannot but remember your neatjob; and for me, it will be productive of the worst consequences! It willruin us both, I tell you.'
'I tell you,' said the seaman, 'it will ruin none but you; for I am doneup already, and if I must strap for it, all shall out.'
'Zounds,' said the Justice impatiently, 'what brought you back to thiscoast like a madman?'
'Why, all the gelt was gone, and the house was shaking, and I thought thejob was clayed over and forgotten,' answered the worthy skipper.
'Stay; what can be done?' said Glossin, anxiously. 'I dare not dischargeyou; but might you not be rescued in the way? Ay sure! a word toLieutenant Brown, and I would send the people with you by thecoast-road.'
'No, no! that won't do. Brown's dead, shot, laid in the locker, man; thedevil has the picking of him.
'Dead? shot? At Woodbourne, I suppose?' replied Glossin.
'Yaw, Mynheer.'
Glossin paused; the sweat broke upon his brow with the agony of hisfeelings, while the hard-featured miscreant who sat opposite coollyrolled his tobacco in his cheek and squirted the juice into thefire-grate. 'It would be ruin,' said Glossin to himself, 'absolute ruin,if the heir should reappear; and then what might be the consequence ofconniving with these men? Yet there is so little time to take measures.Hark you, Hatteraick; I can't set you at liberty; but I can put you whereyou may set yourself at liberty, I always like to assist an old friend. Ishall confine you in the old castle for to-night, and give these peopledouble allowance of grog. MacGuffog will fall in the trap in which hecaught you. The stancheons on the window of the strong room, as they callit, are wasted to pieces, and it is not above twelve feet from the levelof the ground without, and the snow lies thick.'
'But the darbies,' said Hatteraick, looking upon his fetters.
'Hark ye,' said Glossin, going to a tool chest, and taking out a smallfile,'there's a friend for you, and you know the road to the sea by thestairs.' Hatteraick shook his chains in ecstasy, as if he were already atliberty, and strove to extend his fettered hand towards his protector.Glossin laid his finger upon his lips with a cautious glance at the door,and then proceeded in his instructions. 'When you escape, you had bettergo to the Kaim of Derncleugh.'
'Donner! that howff is blown.'
'The devil! well, then, you may steal my skiff that lies on the beachthere, and away. But you must remain snug at the Point of Warroch till Icome to see you.'
'The Point of Warroch?' said Hatteraick, his countenance again falling;'what, in the cave, I suppose? I would rather it were anywhere else; esspuckt da: they say for certain that he walks. But, donner and blitzen! Inever shunned him alive, and I won't shun him dead. Strafe mich helle! itshall never be said Dirk Hatteraick feared either dog or devil! So I amto wait there till I see you?'
'Ay, ay,' answered Glossin, 'and now I must call in the men.' He did soaccordingly.
'I can make nothing of Captain Jansen, as he calls himself, Mac-Guffog,and it's now too late to bundle him off to the county jail. Is there nota strong room up yonder in the old castle?'
'Ay is there, sir; my uncle the constable ance kept a man there for threedays in auld Ellangowan's time. But there was an unco dust about it; itwas tried in the Inner House afore the Feifteen.'
'I know all that, but this person will not stay there very long; it'sonly a makeshift for a night, a mere lock-up house till fartherexamination. There is a small room through which it opens; you may lighta fire for yourselves there, and I 'll send you plenty of stuff to makeyou comfortable. But be sure you lock the door upon the prisoner; and,hark ye, let him have a fire in the strong room too, the season requiresit. Perhaps he'll make a clean breast to-morrow.'
With these instructions, and with a large allowance of food and liquor,the Justice dismissed his party to keep guard for the night in the oldcastle, under the full hope and belief that they would neither spend thenight in watching nor prayer.
There was little fear that Glossin himself should that night sleepover-sound. His situation was perilous in the extreme, for the schemes ofa life of villainy seemed at once to be crumbling around and above him.He laid himself to rest, and tossed upon his pillow for a long time invain. At length he fell asleep, but it was only to dream of his patron,now as he had last seen him, with the paleness of death upon hisfeatures, then again transformed into all the vigour and comeliness ofyouth, approaching to expel him from the mansion-house of his fathers.Then he dreamed that, after wandering long over a wild heath, he came atlength to an inn, from which sounded the voice of revelry; and that whenhe entered the first person he met was Frank Kennedy, all smashed andgory, as he had lain on the beach at Warroch Point, but with a reekingpunch-bowl in his hand. Then the scene changed to a dungeon, where heheard Dirk Hatteraick, whom he imagined to be under sentence of death,confessing his crimes to a clergyman. 'After the bloody deed was done,'said the penitent, 'we retreated into a cave close beside, the secret ofwhich was known but to one man in the country; we were debating what todo with the child, and we thought of giving it up to the gipsies, when weheard the cries of the pursuers hallooing to each other. One man alonecame straight to our cave, and it was that man who knew the secret; butwe made him our friend at the expense of half the value of the goodssaved. By his advice we carried off the child to Holland in our consort,which came the following night to take us from the coast. That man was--'
'No, I deny it! it was not I!' said Glossin, in half-uttered accents;and, struggling in his agony to express his denial more distinctly, heawoke.
It was, however, conscience that had prepared this mental phantasmagoria.The truth was that, knowing much better than any other person the hauntsof the smugglers, he had, while the others were searching in differentdirections, gone straight to the cave, even before he had learned themurder of Kennedy, whom he expected to find their prisoner. He came uponthem with some idea of mediation, but found them in the midst of theirguilty terrors, while the rage which had hurried them on to murder began,with all but Hatteraick, to sink into remorse and fear. Glossin was thenindigent and greatly in debt, but he was already possessed of Mr.Bertram's ear, and, aware of the facility of his disposition, he saw nodifficulty in enriching himself at his expense, provided the heir-malewere removed, in which case the estate became the unlimited property ofthe weak and prodigal father. Stimulated by present gain and the prospectof contingent advantage, he accepted the bribe which the smugglersoffered in their terror, and connived at, or rather encouraged, theirintention of carrying away the child of his benefactor who, if leftbehind, was old enough to have described the scene of blood which he hadwitnessed. The only palliative which the ingenuity of Glossin could offerto his conscience was, that the temptation was great, and came suddenlyupon him, embracing as it were the very advantages on which his mind hadso long rested, and promising to relieve him from distresses which musthave otherwise speedily overwhelmed him. Besides, he endeavoured to thinkthat self-preservation rendered his conduct necessary. He was, in somedegree, in the power of the robbers, and pleaded hard with his consciencethat, had he declined their offers, the assistance which he could havecalled for, though not distant, might not have arrived in time to savehim from men who, on less provocation, had just committed murder.
Galled with the anxious forebodings of a guilty conscience, Glossin nowarose and looked out upon the night. The scene which we have alreadydescribed in the third chapter of this story, was now covered with snow,and the brilliant, though waste, whiteness of the land gave to the sea bycontrast a dark and livid tinge. A landscape covered with snow, thoughabstractedly it may be called beautiful, has, both from the associationof cold and barrenness and from its comparative infrequency, a wild,strange, and desolate appearance. Object
s well known to us in theircommon state have either disappeared, or are so strangely varied anddisguised that we seem gazing on an unknown world. But it was not withsuch reflections that the mind of this bad man was occupied. His eye wasupon the gigantic and gloomy outlines of the old castle, where, in aflanking tower of enormous size and thickness, glimmered two lights, onefrom the window of the strong room, where Hatteraick was confined, theother from that of the adjacent apartment, occupied by his keepers. 'Hashe made his escape, or will he be able to do so? Have these men watched,who never watched before, in order to complete my ruin? If morning findshim there, he must be committed to prison; Mac-Morlan or some otherperson will take the matter up; he will be detected, convicted, and willtell all in revenge!'
While these racking thoughts glided rapidly through Glossin's mind, heobserved one of the lights obscured, as by an opaque body placed at thewindow. What a moment of interest! 'He has got clear of his irons! he isworking at the stancheons of the window! they are surely quite decayed,they must give way. O God! they have fallen outward, I heard them clinkamong the stones! the noise cannot fail to wake them. Furies seize hisDutch awkwardness! The light burns free again; they have torn him fromthe window, and are binding him in the room! No! he had only retired aninstant on the alarm of the falling bars; he is at the window again, andthe light is quite obscured now; he is getting out!'
A heavy sound, as of a body dropped from a height among the snow,announced that Hatteraick had completed his escape, and shortly afterGlossin beheld a dark figure, like a shadow, steal along the whitenedbeach and reach the spot where the skiff lay. New cause for fear! 'Hissingle strength will be unable to float her,' said Glossin to himself; 'Imust go to the rascal's assistance. But no! he has got her off, and now,thank God, her sail is spreading itself against the moon; ay, he has gotthe breeze now; would to heaven it were a tempest, to sink him to thebottom!'
After this last cordial wish, he continued watching the progress of theboat as it stood away towards the Point of Warroch, until he could nolonger distinguish the dusky sail from the gloomy waves over which itglided. Satisfied then that the immediate danger was averted, he retiredwith somewhat more composure to his guilty pillow.