Lord Foxham had been laid in a berth6 upon a fur cloak. A little lamp burned dim before the Virgin7 in the bulkhead, and by its glimmer8 Dick could see the pale countenance9 and hollow eyes of the hurt man.
“I am sore hurt,” said he. “Come near to my side, young Shelton; let there be one by me who, at least, is gentle born; for after having lived nobly and richly all the days of my life, this is a sad pass that I should get my hurt in a little ferreting skirmish, and die here, in a foul10, cold ship upon the sea, among broken men and churls.”
“Nay, my lord,” said Dick, “I pray rather to the saints that ye will recover you of your hurt, and come soon and sound ashore11.”
“How!” demanded his lordship. “Come sound ashore? There is, then, a question of it?”
“The ship laboureth—the sea is grievous and contrary,” replied the lad; “and by what I can learn of my fellow that steereth us, we shall do well, indeed, if we come dryshod to land.”
“Ha!” said the baron, gloomily, “thus shall every terror attend upon the passage of my soul! Sir, pray rather to live hard, that ye may die easy, than to be fooled and fluted12 all through life, as to the pipe and tabor, and, in the last hour, be plunged13 among misfortunes! Howbeit, I have that upon my mind that must not be delayed. We have no priest aboard?”
“None,” replied Dick.
“Here, then, to my secular14 interests,” resumed Lord Foxham: “ye must be as good a friend to me dead, as I found you a gallant15 enemy when I was living. I fall in an evil hour for me, for England, and for them that trusted me. My men are being brought by Hamley—he that was your rival; they will rendezvous16 in the long holm at Holywood; this ring from off my finger will accredit17 you to represent mine orders; and I shall write, besides, two words upon this paper, bidding Hamley yield to you the damsel. Will he obey? I know not.”
“But, my lord, what orders?” inquired Dick.
“Ay,” quoth the baron, “ay—the orders;” and he looked upon Dick with hesitation18. “Are ye Lancaster or York?” he asked, at length.
“I shame to say it,” answered Dick, “I can scarce clearly answer. But so much I think is certain: since I serve with Ellis Duckworth, I serve the house of York. Well, if that be so, I declare for York.”
“It is well,” returned the other; “it is exceeding well. For, truly, had ye said Lancaster, I wot not for the world what I had done. But sith ye are for York, follow me. I came hither but to watch these lords at Shoreby, while mine excellent young lord, Richard of Gloucester, [1] prepareth a sufficient force to fall upon and scatter19 them. I have made me notes of their strength, what watch they keep, and how they lie; and these I was to deliver to my young lord on Sunday, an hour before noon, at St. Bride’s Cross beside the forest. This tryst20 I am not like to keep, but I pray you, of courtesy, to keep it in my stead; and see that not pleasure, nor pain, tempest, wound, nor pestilence21 withhold22 you from the hour and place, for the welfare of England lieth upon this cast.”
“I do soberly take this up on me,” said Dick. “In so far as in me lieth, your purpose shall be done.”
“It is good,” said the wounded man. “My lord duke shall order you farther, and if ye obey him with spirit and good will, then is your fortune made. Give me the lamp a little nearer to mine eyes, till that I write these words for you.”
He wrote a note “to his worshipful kinsman23, Sir John Hamley;” and then a second, which he-left without external superscripture.
“This is for the duke,” he said. “The word is ‘England and Edward,’ and the counter, ‘England and York.’”
“And Joanna, my lord?” asked Dick.
“Nay, ye must get Joanna how ye can,” replied the baron. “I have named you for my choice in both these letters; but ye must get her for yourself, boy. I have tried, as ye see here before you, and have lost my life. More could no man do.”
By this time the wounded man began to be very weary; and Dick, putting the precious papers in his bosom24, bade him be of good cheer, and left him to repose25.
The day was beginning to break, cold and blue, with flying squalls of snow. Close under the lee of the Good Hope, the coast lay in alternate rocky headlands and sandy bays; and further inland the wooded hill-tops of Tunstall showed along the sky. Both the wind and the sea had gone down; but the vessel26 wallowed deep, and scarce rose upon the waves.
Lawless was still fixed27 at the rudder; and by this time nearly all the men had crawled on deck, and were now gazing, with blank faces, upon the inhospitable coast.
“Are we going ashore?” asked Dick.
“Ay,” said Lawless, “unless we get first to the bottom.”
And just then the ship rose so languidly to meet a sea, and the water weltered so loudly in her hold, that Dick involuntarily seized the steersman by the arm.
“By the mass!” cried Dick, as the bows of the Good Hope reappeared above the foam28, “I thought we had foundered29, indeed; my heart was at my throat.”
In the waist, Greensheve, Hawksley, and the better men of both companies were busy breaking up the deck to build a raft; and to these Dick joined himself, working the harder to drown the memory of his predicament. But, even as he worked, every sea that struck the poor ship, and every one of her dull lurches, as she tumbled wallowing among the waves, recalled him with a horrid30 pang31 to the immediate32 proximity33 of death.
Presently, looking up from his work, he saw that they were close in below a promontory34; a piece of ruinous cliff, against the base of which the sea broke white and heavy, almost overplumbed the deck; and, above that, again, a house appeared, crowning a down.
Inside the bay the seas ran gayly, raised the Good Hope upon their foam-flecked shoulders, carried her beyond the control of the steersman, and in a moment dropped her, with a great concussion35, on the sand, and began to break over her half-mast high, and roll her to and fro. Another great wave followed, raised her again, and carried her yet farther in; and then a third succeeded, and left her far inshore of the more dangerous breakers, wedged upon a bank.
“Now, boys,” cried Lawless, “the saints have had a care of us, indeed. The tide ebbs36; let us but sit down and drink a cup of wine, and before half an hour ye may all march me ashore as safe as on a bridge.”
A barrel was broached37, and, sitting in what shelter they could find from the flying snow and spray, the shipwrecked company handed the cup around, and sought to warm their bodies and restore their spirits.
Dick, meanwhile, returned to Lord Foxham, who lay in great perplexity and fear, the floor of his cabin washing knee-deep in water, and the lamp, which had been his only light, broken and extinguished by the violence of the blow.
“My lord,” said young Shelton, “fear not at all; the saints are plainly for us; the seas have cast us high upon a shoal, and as soon as the tide hath somewhat ebbed38, we may walk ashore upon our feet.”
It was nearly an hour before the vessel was sufficiently39 deserted40 by the ebbing41 sea; and they could set forth42 for the land, which appeared dimly before them through a veil of driving snow.
Upon a hillock on one side of their way a party of men lay huddled43 together, suspiciously observing the movements of the new arrivals.
“They might draw near and offer us some comfort,” Dick remarked.
“Well, an’ they come not to us, let us even turn aside to them,” said Hawksley. “The sooner we come to a good fire and a dry bed the better for my poor lord.”
But they had not moved far in the direction of the hillock, before the men, with one consent, rose suddenly to their feet, and poured a flight of well-directed arrows on the shipwrecked company.
“Back! back!” cried his lordship. “Beware, in Heaven’s name, that ye reply not.”
“Nay,” cried Greensheve, pulling an arrow from his leather jack44. “We are in no posture45 to fight, it is certain, being drenching46 wet, dog-weary, and three-parts frozen; but, for the love of old England, what aileth them to shoot thus cruelly on their poor country people in distress47?”
“They take us to be French pirates,” answered Lord Foxham. “In these most troublesome and degenerate48 days we cannot keep our own shores of England; but our old enemies, whom we once chased on sea and land, do now range at pleasure, robbing and slaughtering49 and burning. It is the pity and reproach of this poor land.”
The men upon the hillock lay, closely observing them, while they trailed upward from the beach and wound inland among desolate50 sand-hills; for a mile or so they even hung upon the rear of the march, ready, at a sign, to pour another volley on the weary and dispirited fugitives51; and it was only when, striking at length upon a firm high-road, Dick began to call his men to some more martial52 order, that these jealous guardians53 of the coast of England silently disappeared among the snow. They had done what they desired; they had protected their own homes and farms, their own families and cattle; and their private interest being thus secured, it mattered not the weight of a straw to any one of them, although the Frenchmen should carry blood and fire to every other parish in the realm of England.
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1
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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knell
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| n.丧钟声；v.敲丧钟 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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7
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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9
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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10
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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11
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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fluted
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| a.有凹槽的 | |
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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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14
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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15
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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accredit
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| vt.归功于，认为 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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tryst
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| n.约会；v.与…幽会 | |
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pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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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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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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36
ebbs
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| 退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退 | |
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37
broached
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| v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 )；打开并开始用；用凿子扩大（或修光）；（在桶上）钻孔取液体 | |
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38
ebbed
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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40
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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41
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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42
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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43
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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44
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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45
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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46
drenching
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| n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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47
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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48
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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49
slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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50
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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51
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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52
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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53
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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