Sir Ludar

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

  HOW LUDAR SAILED NORTH AND I SOUTH.

  The next day (it was Saturday), I was hovering near Captain Desmond'squarters on some excuse to enquire after my comrade, when there came asummons for hands forward, and a general stir as of something untowardafoot.

  So far as I could judge, we were bowling along before a smart westerlybreeze with all canvas set, just about where the Channel straitensbetwixt Dover on the English side and Calais on the French. Though wewere towards the French side, we could clearly see the white cliffs ofEngland to our left, and betwixt us and them, scarcely a mile to rear ofus, hovered a certain number of English craft which had not followedtheir greater ships into Dover. To our right the towers and steeples ofCalais town rose up clear and bright, while straight ahead of us thelong line of the Armada, of which we closed in the rear, swept forwardas though they would dart clean past the Straits and make for theDutchman's land beyond.

  But as I went forward I marked a rapid passing of signals along theline, and a crowding on each ship at the forecastle. The great anchorsof the _Rata_ were swung in readiness over the prow, and a score of menstood by to pay out the cable. Then, as we strained our eyes eagerlyahead, we could see the tall masts of the Duke's ship, and of all theships betwixt him and us, suddenly swing round into the wind's eye.There was a great flapping of canvas, a rattle of chains, and a plungingof anchors, and then, as if by magic, the great Armada stood still, atbay.

  It was easy to guess the object of this strange movement, and as Ilooked away towards the English fleet, I felt uneasy. For so suddenlywas the Spanish fleet halted, and so near upon its heels were thepursuers, that, unless these could halt as suddenly, they wouldassuredly slip past, and so give the Spaniard--what he so greatlydesired and longed for--the wind of them.

  Already the young nobles on the _Rata_ were laughing at the smart policyof their Admiral, and rejoicing in the near prospect of a turning of thetables--(for could they once get the Englishman betwixt them and theDuke of Parma's fleet, which was waiting on the Dutch coast, they wouldcrumple him up like chaff between two mill-stones)--already, I say, theywere counting on seeing the enemy run past them, down the wind; when,lo, with a derisive shot or two into the air, the Englishmen put aboutquietly, and after hovering a little, and running a little in the teethof the wind to get a nice distance from us, they dropped anchor too, andturned every one his broad-stern upon us, so that we might all have aneye full of the Queen's ensigns which floated there.

  I confess I lifted my hat in joy and loyalty to see how cunningly theDon had been out-reached. And the Spanish oaths which hissed out from ahundred lips, as they saw the same thing, sounded to me (Heaven forgiveme!) like music.

  So overjoyed was I, that without leave I went off, laughing, to tellLudar the news. But alack! at the very entrance to the officer'squarters, whom should I run against but Don Alonzo himself? So smartlydid I come against him, that, had I not caught him roughly by the arm,he might have fallen backwards.

  When he saw who it was, his brow darkened (and little wonder!) and hesaid something in Spanish that I was glad I did not know the meaning of.He recovered himself, however, and drew up coldly a moment after.

  "This eternal printer!" said he. "The way to the main-mast you knowalready, sirrah. Take with you this time to the top three days'rations. If you are found lower than the top-mast yard before then, youswing at the bowsprit."

  I was sorely tempted to retort then--so put about was I--that there wasless chance of my countrymen seeing me if I swung at his bowsprit thanif I swung at his stern. But I prudently forebore.

  "Sire," said I, "permit me first--"

  He turned on me with such a look that I ventured no more parley; and sadat heart, wondering what Ludar would think of me for not coming to him,and wishing this cursed sea-fight was at an end, I went to the hold forbiscuits and a bottle of water, and, with no better armour than this,crawled miserably aloft.

  Little I guessed what a revenge I was to have on the Dons before mythree days were over!

  For a while, not a little of my pleasure in seeing her Majesty's shipson the right side of the wind was lost by this untoward accident. Andsince the wind freshened increasingly during the day, and the Channel inthose Straits is wickedly rough, I was soon too ill and out of humour tothink of anything at all. I had more than one mind to venture anescape, and perhaps swim to the French coast. Yet, so long as Ludar wason the ship, I could not do it; and he in his grandee's quarters was asclose a prisoner from me as if he had still been in the Tower.

  I was growing tired of the Invincible Armada, and thought with longingof the snug parlour in the printing house without Temple Bar, where Ihad sat of old, listening to the music of a certain sweet voice whichnow seemed all but lost to me in the howling of winds and booming ofguns and grinding of Spanish teeth.

  Where now was she, and that fair maiden whom Ludar loved? What hopewere there of our ever meeting or hearing of one another's fate?

  The night passed, and as Sunday dawned, I could see the English shipsstill hovering not far to rearward; while across, toward the Englishcoasts, shone many white sails, as of the greater Queen's shipsreturning to join the fleet.

  The wind slackened, so that the anchorage of the Armada, which had beensore strained in the night, held good; and with the French town so closeon their flank, I thought, despite their loss of the wind, they rodesafely enough where they were, and would have leisure to say mass andcelebrate their popish rites without fear of disturbance that Sunday.

  So it fell out. All day long bells sounded instead of cannons, andinstead of powder the smoke of incense rose to where I perched.Moreover, I could guess, by the merry laughter which now and then camethe same way, that their Don-ships were in better heart than yesterday.Perchance the Duke of Parma was already on his way.

  As for the English, they lay quietly in their moorings, sparing powderand shot too, and, as it seemed, ready to wait on the Spaniard for thenext move.

  Towards nightfall, I seemed to detect a stir in their quarters; andpresently some seven or eight moderate sized craft fell out of the line,and, with sails set, bore down our way. I marvelled very much that ifan attack was to be made, it should be left to ill-armed craft likethese to make it, while the greater ships hung idle at a distance. ButI supposed it was but a device to take off the Spaniard's notice fromsomething else, and waited curiously to see the result.

  They came leisurely towards us, those eight ugly craft, about a cablelength apart, steering towards the very centre of our line. As theyapproached night fell rapidly. But still they held on. I could seetheir lights hoisted one by one, and strained my ears to catch the firstsound of a shot.

  Strange to say, they saved their powder. The last I saw of them, asnight closed in, they were bearing down full in the wind, each with hiscock-boat in tow, within a gunshot's distance of the centre of our line.One of the Spaniards there gave them a disdainful shot, by way ofchallenge; but they gave never an answer.

  Then, all of a sudden, there was a flare, and a roar of flame whichleapt up and lit the heavens; and eight blazing vessels drifted fullinto the middle of the Invincible Armada.

  Never shall I forget the scene that followed. There was a moment ofbewilderment and doubt; then a hurried random shot or two; then, as theburning masses, spreading before the wind, scattered their fires withinthe lines, a mighty shout, a rush of footsteps on deck, a hacking ofcables and running of chains, a frantic hauling round into the wind; andthen, amid panic cries, the galleons of Spain swung round, and, huddledtogether with tails turned, stood out for sea.

  The glare of the English fire-ships lit up the sea like a lake of hell,and amidst the roar of the flames, and the yells of the Spaniards, mightbe heard the crashing of bowsprits and tumbling of masts, as galleon raninto galleon in the race for safety. A few of them took fire from theEnglish fire-ships; some blew up; others, stove in by their ownconsorts, foundered miserably; some went ashore on the shall
ows; butmost got into the wind and fled for their lives out of the Straits.

  The _Rata_, being last of the line, escaped with little hurt; for allthe vessels ahead of her had cleared off before she got under weigh.

  That was a merry night for me up in my perch. I hallooed and cheered,and shouted "God save the Queen!" till I was hoarse. I jeered the Kingof Spain, and hooted his men. No one heard me; but it did me good.

  When day broke, there we were, the glorious Armada, like a scared flockof sheep, six miles away from Calais, looking round at one another withwhite faces, and counting the cost of that night's fireworks. A fewcharred hulks drifting in the distance were all that were left of theterrible brands which had routed the Don from his beauty sleep; whilemany a disabled galleon on our side told of the panic they had caused.Like sheep, at a safe distance, the Spaniards swung round cautiously toface the danger that had passed; and a cry presently arose, notunmingled with shame, of "Back to Calais!"

  But the cunning Englishmen had risen too early in the morning to permitthat. Already their sails crowded the western horizon and, as we lay ina long crooked line, waiting the Admiral's signal to beat up again forour lost anchorage, down they bore upon us--half of their sail swoopingon the right of our line, the other half on the left.

  Then followed the biggest battle of all that great sea-fight. For,taking us on either flank, the Englishmen, coming for the first time toclose quarters, huddled our ships in towards the centre, sending us oneon the top of the other, so that for every ship they sank by their ownshot, another went down, stove in by her next neighbour. Where I was,the smoke was soon so dense that I could see but little clearly. Morethan once, I know, the _Rata_ was in the thick of the fight, poundingaway at the Englishmen, and receiving broadside after broadside inreturn, which crashed against the hull and shook me where I hung at themast-head. The sails round me were riddled with shot, and once or twiceI, coming suddenly into view, became a special target for the enemy'smarksmen.

  Little cared I! For at every shot that day the banner of Spain totteredlower and lower to its fall, and the flag of old England spread widerand more proudly in the breeze!

  Presently, I remember, an English ship named the _Vanguard_, slippedsuddenly in betwixt the _Rata_ and another tall Spaniard, so close thatwe swung there all three together, with our yards entangled, and blazingaway at one another, till I wondered if there could be a man left alivebelow.

  As for me, up where I was, I thanked Heaven that the smoke around merose in clouds and hid me. As it was, many a bullet, shot at random,whizzed through the cords to which I clung, and once a great boomingshot tore away the streamer at the mast-head. But so busy were all downbelow that no one troubled himself to look for the skulker aloft, whosat there, as it seemed, above the clouds, not even knowing, as the daywore on, whether the _Rata_ still belonged to the King of Spain or toher glorious Majesty.

  Suddenly, hard by, I heard a loud shout, and looking round, saw, on theyard-arm of the Englishman's ship, a smoke-bedimmed fellow, with hisknife betwixt his lips, crawling towards where, at every lurch, the poleon which I squatted swung across his own. I was in a sore strait when Isaw him. For how could I fight against my Queen? Yet, if I let him andthe fellows that swarmed up the tackle after him pass, what of my debtof honour to the King of Spain?

  The matter was settled for me; for, perceiving me as we swung together,the fellow made a wild grab at me, and, slashing with his knife at thehand by which I clung to the mast, forced me to quit my hold, and clutchat him instead. Then, as I did so, the masts swung asunder, and, lo andbehold, I was no longer on the _Rata_, but a prisoner of my own Queen.

  I made a dash to spring back to the Spanish ship, but it was too late.The Don was already hauling off, and every moment the gap between himand the English ship became wider. Half-a-dozen stout British handsheld me fast, and as many blades at my breast warned me that the gamewas up.

  "Hands-off, comrades!" I shouted; "I am an Englishman."

  At that they laughed, and bade me say my prayers, for my hour was come,and they had other work on hands.

  "God save her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and curse the King of Spain!"cried I.

  Then one or two of them stared round, and cursed me for a Jesuit.

  "I am no Jesuit, but a London 'prentice lad," said I, "and have brokenheads better than yours for my Queen before now, as I will prove to anytwo of you that like, even here."

  This pleased them better, and they bade me, as I loved my Queen, take amusket and slay them the first Spaniard I could spy on the enemy's deck.

  "Give me the gun," said I, with a laugh, "and bullets enough for everydog of them."

  At that moment the smoke below me drifted, so that I could just espy, asin a frame of cloud, a little spot on the deck of the _Rata_, wherestood a man. He was tall like a giant. The tawny hair waved carelesslyin the wind. He carried no weapon, but leaned with both hands heavilyon the rail, like a man wounded, and his face, when he turned it, waspale. There was a grim smile on his lips as he watched the panic-stricken sailors hauling off their ship; and once he turned and lookedup, not at me, but at where I had been.

  "Fire!" shouted the men at my side, "or we strike."

  I dropped the gun into the waves below, and with a mighty lump in mythroat, whipped out my knife and waited for what should follow.

  They fell back amazed at my madness, and, while they consulted what todo with me, I took my chance to grip the first of them by the throat andswing him off his perch.

  At that moment a shrill whistle came up from below.

  "You are wanted on deck, comrade," said I; "will you go down by themast, or a shorter way?"

  "The mast," he gasped.

  So I had my way, and we all went below together.

  The English captain--one Admiral Winter--swore roundly when he saw me;and, when he heard my story, said he had bellies enough to fill withouta great hulk of a fellow like me to eat more. And he promised me, if hecaught me idle at my work, he would trip me by the heels himself.Whereat I thanked him and went forward.

  But I was in doleful dumps. For I had lost my friend--perhaps for ever.

  "Come, haul away, land lubber that thou art," cried a voice at my side.Looking round, whom should I see but that same Will Peake, the mercer'sman of London Bridge, with whom I had had so many a merry bout in timespast.

  He was too busy just then to do aught but grin in my face and bid mehaul away. For the other Spanish ship had fared worse than the _Rata_,and was already heeling over on her side.

  "Haul away, you hulking lubber," yelled Will, "or she'll be on her beam-ends before we are clear."

  So, for five minutes, we and a parcel of other fellows worked might andmain to cut away tackle and clear ourselves of the doomed galleon, whichsettled over farther and farther, showing her whole broadside fromgunwale to keel, and blazing despairingly heavenward with her guns.

  "Why not give her a broadside to help her over?" asked one who workednear.

  "Because," said Will, wisely, "we have no shot left to do it."

  "What!" I asked, "are we in such a plight as that?"

  "'Tis true," said Will; "I heard it from the gun officer an hour ago.And not only are we at an end, but so is all her Majesty's fleet."

  "Then we are lost!" I said.

  "No doubt," replied he. "Yet we had merry sport with the Don while itlasted; and methinks he will run a bit without our help, before he findout that we fight him with one arm bound."

  So it turned out. The fight dragged on through the afternoon, and shipafter ship of the King of Spain went to her doom, or drifted helplesslyon the mud banks of Gravelines. But the English fire dropped shorterand shorter; and as evening closed (had the enemy but known it!) we hadscarce a broadside left among us.

  Yet Heaven remembered us in our extremity. For no sooner had our gunsbecome mute than the south wind came down on us with a burst, catchingus in the small of our backs, and sending the Don away in front of us,stagger
ing and reeling seaward, for his very life.

  'Twas a sad spectacle for me. I had long since lost sight of the_Rata_. In vain I scanned the smoke-laden horizon for a sight of her.I never saw her more. I could fancy Ludar stalking the deck, or scalingthe masts wildly, in search of me; and then, when he found me not, withthe cloud deep on his noble brow, crawling to his berth in the dark totell himself that I was dead.

  I wished that night he could have thought it truly!

  Will Peake, when the work of the day was done, was in vast great humourto find me of the ship's company. He had scarce known me at first, sochanged was I by the perils of the last weeks. A score or more ofswashbuckling 'prentices were on board the ship, he said; and,presently, when I saw them all, and heard their jests, and knocked someof their heads together, I could have believed myself in Cheapside.Having been some two weeks on board, they were mightily proud of theirseamanship, and delighted to call me (who had sailed as many seas asthey had ponds), landlubber.

  However, it mattered not, and we spent a merry night--at least theydid--scudding before the wind, and watching the Spanish lanthornsrocking uneasily in the darkness a mile ahead of us.

  When daylight came, there they were in a long disorderly line, neverlooking back, with canvas set, and still running. Some of our shipshung close on their heels, like dogs at a flying ox; but scarce a shotboomed, and never a tack did the Dons slack off their northward course.

  As for us, there were two good reasons why we, on the _Vanguard_, shouldnot keep up the chase. We had neither shot to fire nor food to eat.When I came forward that morning to receive my morsel of biscuit withthe rest, I understood how ill-pleased Master Winter had been to seeanother hungry body on board his ship. Even yesterday, as we had helpedthe bodies of the brave fellows who had fallen for their Queenoverboard, it was plain to see that there was something of consolationjoined to the pity we all felt for our lost comrades; and the sight ofmy beggarly rations when I received them made it clear what thatconsolation was.

  So when, after a day's chase, the word was given to put about, and beatup for Margate Roads, scarce a man among us had the stomach to grumble.

  'Twas a long, dismal voyage that, in the face of the tempest--with shortand tedious tacks that sometimes left us at the day's end little nearerour haven than at the beginning. And long before Margate was reachedhalf of our company was sick with famine.

  I think as brave as any men who fought in that great sea-fight were thefew fellows of Will Peake's sort who kept up heart and spirit on thatsorry voyage back to Margate. I know I myself had been tempted oftenenough to give over but for his cheery word in my ear; and if half thecrew remained loyal to their captain till we reached land, Master Winterowed it not a little to his 'prentice-sailors. As for me, I was plague-stricken before we passed the Thames mouth, and when at last we droppedanchor in Margate Roads, Will told me he doubted whether I was worth thelifting ashore.

  Yet he did as much for me and more. He nursed me like my own brother,and when, a week or two later, I was able to stand on my feet and setone foot before another Londonwards, I owed it to him that I foundmyself at last once more in the great city, and had life left in me tolook round and know where I stood.