The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 8

  CHAPTER IV

  THE "GOOD HOPE"

  An hour thereafter, Dick was back at the "Goat and Bagpipes," breakinghis fast, and receiving the report of his messengers and sentries.Duckworth was still absent from Shoreby; and this was frequently thecase, for he played many parts in the world, shared many differentinterests, and conducted many various affairs. He had founded thatfellowship of the Black Arrow, as a ruined man longing for vengeance andmoney; and yet among those who knew him best, he was thought to be theagent and emissary of the great King-maker of England, Richard, Earl ofWarwick.

  In his absence, at any rate, it fell upon Richard Shelton to commandaffairs in Shoreby; and as he sat at meat his mind was full of care, andhis face heavy with consideration. It had been determined, between himand the Lord Foxham, to make one bold stroke that evening, and, by bruteforce, to set Joanna free. The obstacles, however, were many; and as oneafter another of his scouts arrived, each brought him morediscomfortable news.

  Sir Daniel was alarmed by the skirmish of the night before. He hadincreased the garrison of the house in the garden; but, not content withthat, he had stationed horsemen in all the neighbouring lanes, so thathe might have instant word of any movement. Meanwhile, in the court ofhis mansion, steeds stood saddled, and the riders, armed at every point,awaited but the signal to ride.

  The adventure of the night appeared more and more difficult ofexecution, till suddenly Dick's countenance lightened.

  "Lawless!" he cried, "you that were a shipman, can ye steal me a ship?"

  "Master Dick," replied Lawless, "if ye would back me, I would agree tosteal York Minster."

  Presently after, these two set forth and descended to the harbour. Itwas a considerable basin, lying among sandhills, and surrounded withpatches of down, ancient ruinous lumber, and tumble-down slums of thetown. Many decked ships and many open boats either lay there at anchor,or had been drawn up on the beach. A long duration of bad weather haddriven them from the high seas into the shelter of the port; and thegreat trooping of black clouds, and the cold squalls that followed oneanother, now with a sprinkling of dry snow, now in a mere swoop of wind,promised no improvement, but rather threatened a more serious storm inthe immediate future.

  The seamen, in view of the cold and the wind, had for the most partslunk ashore, and were now roaring and singing in the shoreside taverns.Many of the ships already rode unguarded at their anchors; and as theday wore on, and the weather offered no appearance of improvement, thenumber was continually being augmented. It was to these deserted ships,and, above all, to those of them that lay far out, that Lawless directedhis attention; while Dick, seated upon an anchor that was half embeddedin the sand, and giving ear, now to the rude, potent, and boding voicesof the gale, and now to the hoarse singing of the shipmen in aneighbouring tavern, soon forgot his immediate surroundings and concernsin the agreeable recollection of Lord Foxham's promise.

  He was disturbed by a touch upon his shoulder. It was Lawless, pointingto a small ship that lay somewhat by itself, and within but a little ofthe harbour mouth, where it heaved regularly and smoothly on theentering swell. A pale gleam of winter sunshine fell, at that moment, onthe vessel's deck, relieving her against a bank of scowling cloud; andin this momentary glitter Dick could see a couple of men hauling theskiff alongside.

  "There, sir," said Lawless, "mark ye it well! There is the ship forto-night."

  Presently the skiff put out from the vessel's side, and the two men,keeping her head well to the wind, pulled lustily for shore. Lawlessturned to a loiterer.

  "How call ye her?" he asked, pointing to the little vessel.

  "They call her the _Good Hope_, of Dartmouth," replied the loiterer."Her captain, Arblaster by name. He pulleth the bow oar in yon skiff."

  This was all that Lawless wanted. Hurriedly thanking the man, he movedround the shore to a certain sandy creek, for which the skiff washeading. There he took up his position, and as soon as they were withinearshot, opened fire on the sailors of the _Good Hope_.

  "What! Gossip Arblaster!" he cried. "Why, ye be well met; nay, gossip,ye be right well met, upon the rood! And is that the _Good Hope_? Ay, Iwould know her among ten thousand!--a sweet shear, a sweet boat! Butmarry, come up, my gossip, will ye drink? I have come into mine estate,which doubtless ye remember to have heard on. I am now rich; I have leftto sail upon the sea; I do sail now, for the most part, upon spiced ale.Come, fellow; thy hand upon 't! Come, drink with an old ship-fellow!"

  Skipper Arblaster, a long-faced, elderly, weather-beaten man, with aknife hanging about his neck by a plaited cord, and for all the worldlike any modern seaman in his gait and bearing, had hung back in obviousamazement and distrust. But the name of an estate, and a certain air oftipsified simplicity and good-fellowship which Lawless very wellaffected, combined to conquer his suspicious jealousy; his countenancerelaxed, and he at once extended his open hand and squeezed that of theoutlaw in a formidable grasp.

  "Nay," he said, "I cannot mind you. But what o' that? I would drink withany man, gossip, and so would my man Tom.--Man Tom," he added,addressing his follower, "here is my gossip, whose name I cannot mind,but no doubt a very good seaman. Let's go drink with him and his shorefriend."

  Lawless led the way, and they were soon seated in an alehouse, which, asit was very new, and stood in an exposed and solitary station, was lesscrowded than those nearer to the centre of the port. It was but a shedof timber, much like a block-house in the backwoods of to-day, and wascoarsely furnished with a press or two, a number of naked benches, andboards set upon barrels to play the part of tables. In the middle, andbesieged by half a hundred violent draughts, a fire of wreck-wood blazedand vomited thick smoke.

  "Ay, now," said Lawless, "here is a shipman's joy--a good fire and agood stiff cup ashore, with foul weather without and an off-sea galea-snoring in the roof! Here's to the _Good Hope_! May she ride easy!"

  "Ay," said Skipper Arblaster, "'tis good weather to be ashore in, thatis sooth--Man Tom, how say ye to that?--Gossip, ye speak well, though Ican never think upon your name; but ye speak very well. May the _GoodHope_ ride easy! Amen!"

  "Friend Dickon," resumed Lawless, addressing his commander, "ye havecertain matters on hand, unless I err? Well, prithee be about themincontinently. For here I be with the choice of all good company, twotough old shipmen; and till that ye return I will go warrant these bravefellows will bide here and drink me cup for cup. We are not likeshore-men, we old tough tarry-Johns!"

  "It is well meant," returned the skipper. "Ye can go, boy; for I willkeep your good friend and my good gossip company till curfew--ay, and bySt. Mary, till the sun get up again! For, look ye, when a man hath beenlong enough at sea, the salt getteth me into the clay upon his bones;and let him drink a draw-well, he will never be quenched."

  Thus encouraged upon all hands, Dick rose, saluted his company, andgoing forth again into the gusty afternoon, got him as speedily as hemight to the "Goat and Bagpipes." Thence he sent word to my Lord Foxhamthat, so soon as ever the evening closed, they would have a stout boatto keep the sea in. And then leading along with him a couple of outlawswho had some experience of the sea, he returned himself to the harbourand the little sandy creek.

  The skiff of the _Good Hope_ lay among many others, from which it waseasily distinguished by its extreme smallness and fragility. Indeed,when Dick and his two men had taken their places, and began to put forthout of the creek into the open harbour, the little cockle dipped intothe swell and staggered under every gust of wind, like a thing upon thepoint of sinking.

  The _Good Hope_, as we have said, was anchored far out, where the swellwas heaviest. No other vessel lay nearer than several cables' length;those that were the nearest were themselves entirely deserted; and asthe skiff approached, a thick flurry of snow and a sudden darkening ofthe weather further concealed the movements of the outlaws from allpossible espial. In a trice they had leaped upon the heaving deck, andthe skiff was dancing at the stern. The _Good Hope_ was captured.


  She was a good stout boat, decked in the bows and amidships, but open inthe stern. She carried one mast, and was rigged between a felucca and alugger. It would seem that Skipper Arblaster had made an excellentventure, for the hold was full of pieces of French wine; and in thelittle cabin, besides the Virgin Mary in the bulkhead which proved thecaptain's piety, there were many lockfast chests and cupboards, whichshowed him to be rich and careful.

  A dog, who was the sole occupant of the vessel, furiously barked, andbit the heels of the boarders, but he was soon kicked into the cabin,and the door shut upon his just resentment. A lamp was lit and fixed inthe shrouds to mark the vessel clearly from the shore; one of the winepieces in the hold was broached, and a cup of excellent Gascony emptiedto the adventure of the evening; and then, while one of the outlawsbegan to get ready his bow and arrows and prepare to hold the shipagainst all comers, the other hauled in the skiff and got overboard,where he held on, waiting for Dick.

  "Well, Jack, keep me a good watch," said the young commander, preparingto follow his subordinate. "Ye will do right well."

  "Why," returned Jack, "I shall do excellent well indeed, so long as welie here; but once we put the nose of this poor ship outside theharbour----. See, there she trembles! Nay, the poor shrew heard thewords, and the heart misgave her in her oak-tree ribs. But look, MasterDick! how black the weather gathers!"

  The darkness ahead was, indeed, astonishing. Great billows heaved up outof the blackness, one after another; and one after another the _GoodHope_ buoyantly climbed, and giddily plunged upon the farther side. Athin sprinkle of snow and thin flakes of foam came flying, and powderedthe deck; and the wind harped dismally among the rigging.

  "In sooth, it looketh evilly," said Dick. "But what cheer! 'Tis but asquall, and presently it will blow over." But, in spite of his words, hewas depressingly affected by the bleak disorder of the sky and thewailing and fluting of the wind; and as he got over the side of the_Good Hope_ and made once more for the landing-creek with the best speedof oars, he crossed himself devoutly, and recommended to Heaven thelives of all who should adventure on the sea.

  At the landing-creek there had already gathered about a dozen of theoutlaws. To these the skiff was left, and they were bidden embarkwithout delay.

  A little farther up the beach Dick found Lord Foxham hurrying in questof him, his face concealed with a dark hood, and his bright armourcovered by a long russet mantle of a poor appearance.

  "Young Shelton," he said, "are ye for sea, then, truly?"

  "My lord," replied Richard, "they lie about the house with horsemen; itmay not be reached from the land side without alarum; and Sir Danielonce advertised of our adventure, we can no more carry it to a good endthan, saving your presence, we could ride upon the wind. Now, in goinground by sea, we do run some peril by the elements; but, what muchoutweigheth all, we have a chance to make good our purpose and bear offthe maid."

  "Well," returned Lord Foxham, "lead on. I will, in some sort, follow youfor shame's sake; but I own I would I were in bed."

  "Here, then," said Dick. "Hither we go to fetch our pilot."

  And he led the way to the rude alehouse where he had given rendezvous toa portion of his men. Some of these he found lingering round the dooroutside; others had pushed more boldly in, and, choosing places as nearas possible to where they saw their comrade, gathered close aboutLawless and the two shipmen. These, to judge by the distemperedcountenance and cloudy eye, had long since gone beyond the boundaries ofmoderation; and as Richard entered, closely followed by Lord Foxham,they were all three tuning up an old, pitiful sea-ditty, to the chorusof the wailing of the gale.

  The young leader cast a rapid glance about the shed. The fire had justbeen replenished, and gave forth volumes of black smoke, so that it wasdifficult to see clearly in the farther corners. It was plain, however,that the outlaws very largely outnumbered the remainder of the guests.Satisfied upon this point, in case of any failure in the operation ofhis plan, Dick strode up to the table and resumed his place upon thebench.

  "Hey?" cried the skipper tipsily, "who are ye, hey?"

  "I want a word with you without, Master Arblaster," returned Dick; "andhere is what we shall talk of." And he showed him a gold noble in theglimmer of the firelight.

  The shipman's eyes burned, although he still failed to recognise ourhero.

  "Ay, boy," he said, "I am with you.--Gossip, I will be back anon. Drinkfair, gossip"; and, taking Dick's arm to steady his uneven steps, hewalked to the door of the alehouse.

  As soon as he was over the threshold, ten strong arms had seized andbound him; and in two minutes more, with his limbs trussed one toanother, and a good gag in his mouth, he had been tumbled neck and cropinto a neighbouring hay-barn. Presently, his man Tom, similarly secured,was tossed beside him, and the pair were left to their uncouthreflections for the night.

  And now, as the time for concealment had gone by, Lord Foxham'sfollowers were summoned by a preconcerted signal, and the party, boldlytaking possession of as many boats as their numbers required, pulled ina flotilla for the light in the rigging of the ship. Long before thelast man had climbed to the deck of the _Good Hope_, the sound offurious shouting from the shore showed that a part, at least, of theseamen had discovered the loss of their skiffs.

  But it was now too late, whether for recovery or revenge. Out of someforty fighting men now mustered in the stolen ship, eight had been tosea, and could play the part of mariners. With the aid of these, a sliceof sail was got upon her. The cable was cut. Lawless, vacillating on hisfeet, and still shouting the chorus of sea-ballads, took the long tillerin his hands: and the _Good Hope_ began to flit forward into thedarkness of the night, and to face the great waves beyond the harbourbar.

  Richard took his place beside the weather rigging. Except for the ship'sown lantern, and for some lights in Shoreby town, that were alreadyfading to leeward, the whole world of air was as black as in a pit. Onlyfrom time to time, as the _Good Hope_ swooped dizzily down into thevalley of the rollers, a crest would break--a great cataract of snowyfoam would leap in one instant into being--and, in an instant more,would stream into the wake and vanish.

  Many of the men lay holding on and praying aloud; many more were sick,and had crept into the bottom, where they sprawled among the cargo. Andwhat with the extreme violence of the motion, and the continued drunkenbravado of Lawless, still shouting and singing at the helm, the stoutestheart on board may have nourished a shrewd misgiving as to the result.

  But Lawless, as if guided by an instinct, steered the ship across thebreakers, struck the lee of a great sandbank, where they sailed for awhile in smooth water, and presently after laid her alongside a rudestone pier, where she was hastily made fast, and lay ducking andgrinding in the dark.