To get the men on shore, however, was no easy task; many had been sick, all were pierced with cold; the promiscuity2 and disorder3 on board had shaken their discipline; the movement of the ship and the darkness of the night had cowed their spirits. They made a rush upon the pier; my lord, with his sword drawn4 on his own retainers, must throw himself in front; and this impulse of rabblement was not restrained without a certain clamour of voices, highly to be regretted in the case.
When some degree of order had been restored, Dick, with a few chosen men, set forth5 in advance. The darkness on shore, by contrast with the flashing of the surf, appeared before him like a solid body; and the howling and whistling of the gale6 drowned any lesser7 noise.
He had scarce reached the end of the pier, however, when there fell a lull8 of the wind; and in this he seemed to hear on shore the hollow footing of horses and the clash of arms. Checking his immediate9 followers10, he passed forward a step or two alone, even setting foot upon the down; and here he made sure he could detect the shape of men and horses moving. A strong discouragement assailed11 him. If their enemies were really on the watch, if they had beleaguered12 the shoreward end of the pier, he and Lord Foxham were taken in a posture13 of very poor defence, the sea behind, the men jostled in the dark upon a narrow causeway. He gave a cautious whistle, the signal previously14 agreed upon.
It proved to be a signal far more than he desired. Instantly there fell, through the black night, a shower of arrows sent at a venture; and so close were the men huddled15 on the pier that more than one was hit, and the arrows were answered with cries of both fear and pain. In this first discharge, Lord Foxham was struck down; Hawksley had him carried on board again at once; and his men, during the brief remainder of the skirmish, fought (when they fought at all) without guidance. That was perhaps the chief cause of the disaster which made haste to follow.
At the shore end of the pier, for perhaps a minute, Dick held his own with a handful; one or two were wounded upon either side; steel crossed steel; nor had there been the least signal of advantage, when in the twinkling of an eye the tide turned against the party from the ship. Someone cried out that all was lost; the men were in the very humour to lend an ear to a discomfortable counsel; the cry was taken up. “On board, lads, for your lives!” cried another. A third, with the true instinct of the coward, raised that inevitable16 report on all retreats: “We are betrayed!” And in a moment the whole mass of men went surging and jostling backward down the pier, turning their defenceless backs on their pursuers and piercing the night with craven outcry.
One coward thrust off the ship’s stern, while another still held her by the bows. The fugitives17 leaped, screaming, and were hauled on board, or fell back and perished in the sea. Some were cut down upon the pier by the pursuers. Many were injured on the ship’s deck in the blind haste and terror of the moment, one man leaping upon another, and a third on both. At last, and whether by design or accident, the bows of the Good Hope were liberated18; and the ever-ready Lawless, who had maintained his place at the helm through all the hurly-burly by sheer strength of body and a liberal use of the cold steel, instantly clapped her on the proper tack19. The ship began to move once more forward on the stormy sea, its scuppers running blood, its deck heaped with fallen men, sprawling20 and struggling in the dark.
Thereupon, Lawless sheathed21 his dagger22, and turning to his next neighbour, “I have left my mark on them, gossip,” said he, “the yelping23, coward hounds.”
Now, while they were all leaping and struggling for their lives, the men had not appeared to observe the rough shoves and cutting stabs with which Lawless had held his post in the confusion. But perhaps they had already begun to understand somewhat more clearly, or perhaps another ear had overheard, the helmsman’s speech.
Panic-stricken troops recover slowly, and men who have just disgraced themselves by cowardice24, as if to wipe out the memory of their fault, will sometimes run straight into the opposite extreme of insubordination. So it was now; and the same men who had thrown away their weapons and been hauled, feet foremost, into the Good Hope, began to cry out upon their leaders, and demand that someone should be punished.
This growing ill-feeling turned upon Lawless.
“’Tis sooth,” cried another. “Nay, we are betrayed for sure.”
And they all began to cry out in chorus that they were betrayed, and in shrill27 tones and with abominable28 oaths bade Lawless go about-ship and bring them speedily ashore29. Lawless, grinding his teeth, continued in silence to steer30 the true course, guiding the Good Hope among the formidable billows. To their empty terrors, as to their dishonourable threats, between drink and dignity he scorned to make reply. The malcontents drew together a little abaft31 the mast, and it was plain they were like barnyard cocks, “crowing for courage.” Presently they would be fit for any extremity32 of injustice33 or ingratitude34. Dick began to mount by the ladder, eager to interpose; but one of the outlaws35, who was also something of a seaman36, got beforehand.
“Lads,” he began, “y’ are right wooden heads, I think. For to get back, by the mass, we must have an offing, must we not? And this old Lawless—”
Someone struck the speaker on the mouth, and the next moment, as a fire springs among dry straw, he was felled upon the deck, trampled37 under the feet, and despatched by the daggers38 of his cowardly companions. At this the wrath39 of Lawless rose and broke.
The Good Hope was, at that moment, trembling on the summit of a swell42. She subsided43, with sickening velocity44, upon the farther side. A wave, like a great black bulwark45, hove immediately in front of her; and, with a staggering blow, she plunged46 headforemost through that liquid hill. The green water passed right over her from stem to stern, as high as a man’s knees; the sprays ran higher than the mast; and she rose again upon the other side, with an appalling47, tremulous indecision, like a beast that has been deadly wounded.
Six or seven of the malcontents had been carried bodily overboard; and as for the remainder, when they found their tongues again, it was to bellow41 to the saints and wail48 upon Lawless to come back and take the tiller.
Nor did Lawless wait to be twice bidden. The terrible result of his fling of just resentment49 sobered him completely. He knew, better than any one on board, how nearly the Good Hope had gone bodily down below their feet; and he could tell, by the laziness with which she met the sea, that the peril50 was by no means over.
Dick, who had been thrown down by the concussion51 and half drowned, rose wading52 to his knees in the swamped well of the stern, and crept to the old helmsman’s side.
“Lawless,” he said, “we do all depend on you; y’ are a brave, steady man, indeed, and crafty53 in the management of ships; I shall put three sure men to watch upon your safety.”
“Bootless, my master, bootless,” said the steersman, peering forward through the dark. “We come every moment somewhat clearer of these sandbanks; with every moment, then, the sea packeth upon us heavier, and for all these whimperers, they will presently be on their backs. For, my master, ’tis a right mystery, but true, there never yet was a bad man that was a good shipman. None but the honest and the bold can endure me this tossing of a ship.”
“Nay, Lawless,” said Dick, laughing, “that is a right shipman’s byword, and hath no more of sense than the whistle of the wind. But, prithee, how go we? Do we lie well? Are we in good case?”
“Master Shelton,” replied Lawless, “I have been a Grey Friar—I praise fortune—an archer54, a thief, and a shipman. Of all these coats, I had the best fancy to die in the Grey Friar’s, as ye may readily conceive, and the least fancy to die in John Shipman’s tarry jacket; and that for two excellent good reasons: first, that the death might take a man suddenly; and second, for the horror of that great, salt smother55 and welter under my foot here”—and Lawless stamped with his foot. “Howbeit,” he went on, “an I die not a sailor’s death, and that this night, I shall owe a tall candle to our Lady.”
“Is it so?” asked Dick.
“It is right so,” replied the outlaw. “Do ye not feel how heavy and dull she moves upon the waves? Do ye not hear the water washing in her hold? She will scarce mind the rudder even now. Bide56 till she has settled a bit lower; and she will either go down below your boots like a stone image, or drive ashore here, under our lee, and come all to pieces like a twist of string.”
“Why, master,” answered Lawless, “if ever a man had an ill crew to come to port with, it is I—a renegade friar, a thief, and all the rest on’t. Well, ye may wonder, but I keep a good hope in my wallet; and if that I be to drown, I will drown with a bright eye, Master Shelton, and a steady hand.”
Dick returned no answer; but he was surprised to find the old vagabond of so resolute58 a temper, and fearing some fresh violence or treachery, set forth upon his quest for three sure men. The great bulk of the men had now deserted59 the deck, which was continually wetted with the flying sprays, and where they lay exposed to the shrewdness of the winter wind. They had gathered, instead, into the hold of the merchandise, among the butts60 of wine, and lighted by two swinging lanterns.
Here a few kept up the form of revelry, and toasted each other deep in Arblaster’s Gascony wine. But as the Good Hope continued to tear through the smoking waves, and toss her stem and stern alternately high in air and deep into white foam61, the number of these jolly companions diminished with every moment and with every lurch62. Many sat apart, tending their hurts, but the majority were already prostrated63 with sickness, and lay moaning in the bilge.
Greensheve, Cuckow, and a young fellow of Lord Foxham’s whom Dick had already remarked for his intelligence and spirit, were still, however, both fit to understand and willing to obey. These Dick set, as a body-guard, about the person of the steersman, and then, with a last look at the black sky and sea, he turned and went below into the cabin, whither Lord Foxham had been carried by his servants.
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1
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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promiscuity
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| n.混杂，混乱；（男女的）乱交 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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4
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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7
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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8
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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9
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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10
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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11
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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12
beleaguered
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| adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰 | |
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13
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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14
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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15
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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16
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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19
tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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20
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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21
sheathed
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| adj.雕塑像下半身包在鞘中的；覆盖的；铠装的；装鞘了的v.将（刀、剑等）插入鞘( sheathe的过去式和过去分词 )；包，覆盖 | |
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22
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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23
yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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24
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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outlaw
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| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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26
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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27
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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28
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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29
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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30
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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31
abaft
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| prep.在…之后；adv.在船尾，向船尾 | |
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32
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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33
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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34
ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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35
outlaws
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| 歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯 | |
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36
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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37
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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38
daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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39
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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40
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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41
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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42
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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43
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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44
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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45
bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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46
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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47
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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48
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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49
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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50
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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51
concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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52
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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53
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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54
archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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55
smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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56
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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57
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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58
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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59
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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60
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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61
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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62
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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63
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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