“Any bread this morning, sir?” he asked in French. “I have some good Yankee bread with raisins8 and sweetening.”
88 “Ah, but it’s good to have a sight of you, friend Allan!” exclaimed Conyngham, rushing up and grasping the imitation baker by both hands, that, to carry out the illusion, Allan had daubed with flour. “Aren’t you running great risks?” he asked.
“Risks?” laughed Allan. “Why, if the Frenchmen found out that I was bringing in food to their starving prisoners, I would be hung, drawn9, and quartered.”
“So you donned this disguise,” laughed Conyngham in reply, “and they never suspected you of such a thing. But news! news! my friend; that’s what I am starving for—it’s the heart and the soul of me that’s crying and not my stomach, for that the head jailer has looked after well. Are they going to hand us over to the Britishers?—that’s the first question.”
“They are and they aren’t,” replied Allan, “but this news I got this morning from Paris: ‘Tell Conyngham to sit tight and not worry. All is apparently10 going well.’ But the French are great people—they must do everything like a play or a spectacle. Here I was told that I should be allowed to see you if I applied11 to the commandant, and he informs me that I certainly can do so, but requests that I shall put on a disguise. I tried on three uniforms, but there were none that would button or allow me to sit down.”
“Which by the same token I haven’t asked you to do myself yet,” was Conyngham’s reply.
Allan seated himself in the big rush-bottom chair and placed his basket on the floor.
“The English expect that you are to be handed over for a certainty,” Allan continued. “They have prepared the sloop12 of war to receive you, and I understand that89 another is on its way. Instructions, too, have been sent to Portsmouth or Southampton, but we will disappoint them. The French Government is playing its little game of ‘wait a bit longer,’ and never letting their right hand see what their left hand is doing.”
“I knew that Dr. Franklin would take care of that,” returned Conyngham, “but how long is it going to last?”
“Have patience!” replied Allan, “it certainly will not be long. I am expecting Mr. Hodge to-morrow or the day after from Paris.”
“Have the crew been informed?”
“All but four of them escaped last night,” answered Allan.—“How careless these Frenchmen are!—There will be another row when the English hear of it; but I must be going, as they have spies by day watching the entrance to the prison and overlooking the yard, from the tall house next to the church.”
With that he picked up his basket, and after shaking hands went out into the yard, where the sentry13, evidently under orders, allowed him to proceed to another part in an endeavor to dispose of his wares14.
The next day Conyngham had another unexpected visitor, but it was not Mr. Hodge, and happened thus: He was out in the inclosure amusing himself and at the same time taking exercise by bounding a rubber ball back and forth15 against the high brick sides of the building, when one of the under jailers called to him from the entrance. At the same time a red-faced man who accompanied the jailer stepped forward, and telling the jailer to go, stood as if waiting for Conyngham to approach, but the latter paid no attention and went on with his game. At last the man drew near and spoke16.
90 “I am Captain Cuthbertson of his Majesty17’s sloop-of-war Alert. Your name is Conyngham,” he said.
“Now, somebody must have told you that,” returned Conyngham. “But it is my name, and I am captain of the armed cruiser the Surprise.”
“Which has been turned over to his Majesty’s Government with the other vessels18 that you piratically took off the coast of Holland,” replied the officer.
“Indeed?” was the reply, “That must be gratifying to his Majesty. But now, captain, won’t you take off your coat and have a game with me? It is a pleasant little occupation that two can play at better than one. I have little with me to wager20 but my shoe-buckles. I will play mine against yours. Or we’ll put up our wigs,” he continued.
“You’ve played for a larger stake than that and you’ve lost,” replied Captain Cuthbertson. “How can you, knowing that your very life is in jeopardy21, indulge in such pastimes?”
“If my life was in jeopardy, I am sure it would be in a good cause. I ask for no favors except a little more elbow room, for you’re standing just where I wish to begin playing.”
“Listen to me first,” spoke the officer, not noticing that a dangerous flash had come into Conyngham’s eyes. “His Majesty might be disposed to be lenient—aye, more than that—if you will listen to reason. Perhaps it might be possible to arrange a pardon for you—and more. You have once been a British subject. Return to your allegiance and loyalty22. I doubt not that it might be so arranged that a good place could be found for you in the naval23 establishment, and91 that with your talents a sure advancement24 would follow.”
Conyngham threw the ball into the air and caught it. “You may tell those who sent you,” he replied, “that his Majesty might offer me the position of an admiral of the blue, and I would tell him that I would rather spend my days in the hold of a prison-hulk than accept it. As you will not play with me, I shall have to ask you to stand aside again. Some day we may meet where the game will be played for larger stakes and there will be harder missiles flying. Good morning, sir.”
The officer stamped his foot and started to reply, then he changed his mind quickly and left the jail-yard without a word.
Conyngham stopped playing and went to his cell. Before an hour had passed another visitor was announced. It was Mr. Hodge. He was not disguised, but dressed in his usual habit, that of a merchant in prosperous circumstances.
“I expected to see you as a cat’s-meat man or a turbaned Turk, my dear sir,” was Conyngham’s greeting, “and yet here you come as if you were dropping into the tavern25 of our friend on the hill.”
Hodge smiled. “There is very little more trouble. I bore some instructions from Paris that have made the commandant of the prison a very subservient26 individual.”
“Then you have brought me my release!”
“No, not that, but it will follow in due time. In some way the commissioners27 have got the French ministry28 between the grindstones, or—a better simile29 perhaps—Dr. Franklin is about to checkmate de Vergennes and the latter is apparently glad to call the game a draw.92 Good news also has come from America, though no great victory has yet been won. Grand, our banker in Paris, has now another hundred thousand livres at the disposal of the commissioners. What we must do is to spend it in such a manner as will best benefit the cause.”
“Then force the hand of the French Government,” replied Conyngham. “Everything that you do to make them sever30 relations formed on any friendly basis with England, will lend more assistance than the capture of a dozen packets.”
“And how is it best to do that?” asked Mr. Hodge.
“I will answer that with a question first,” replied Conyngham. “How much longer shall I be detained in this ‘durance vile’? By the Powers, I’m tired of it.”
“Four or five days, perhaps a week.”
“That is right and will do well. You’re supposed by many to be an English merchant here, Mr. Hodge. I am, and will be for a little time, a prisoner. You did not figure in the purchase of the Surprise, but there is a fine two-masted craft of something over a hundred tons lying moored31 at the end of the long wharf32. She is for sale. Buy her at once.”
“And then what?”
“Fit her out with stores for a two months’ cruise. I will secure her armament and crew upon my release.”
“We shall surely be in trouble again.”
“Not much this time. To my thinking, the French Government will be glad to be rid of us. To the south of us lies Spain with its open market, to the west of England lies Ireland with many a well-provisioned port and friendly hand, and there is always our own country. Had my last vessel19 been big enough to have crossed safely and93 had we not taken those unlucky mails, it was for home that I would have headed the Surprise.”
“She lived up to the definition of her name; what would you call this one?”
“I would be after calling her,” replied Conyngham slyly and in the softest of brogues, “I’d be after calling her the Revenge.”
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1
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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raisins
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| n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 ) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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