CHAPTER X. SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT
In another minute, after Mr. Stendhal had read my note, I was
skinning off my clothes in an upper bedroom. Within three minutes
I was dressed like a Dutch boy, in huge baggy striped trousers
belonging to Stendhal's son. In four minutes the swift Mr.
Stendhal had walked me across the wharf in sabots to one of the
galliots in the canal, which he ordered under way at once, to
pick up Argyle at sea. So that when my pursuers rode up to Mr.
Stendhal's door in search of me, I was a dirty little Dutch boy
casting off a stern-hawser from a ring bolt. They seemed to storm
at Mr. Stendhal; but I don't know what they said; he acted the
part of surprised indignation to the life. When I looked my last
on Mr. Stendhal he was at the door, begging a search party to
enter to see for themselves that I was not hidden there. The
galliot got under way, at that moment, with a good deal of crying
out from her sailors. As she swung away into the canal, I saw the
handsome lady idly looking on. She was waiting at the door with
the other riders. She was the only woman there. To show her that
I was a skilled seaman I cast off the stern-hawser nimbly, then
dropped on to the deck like one bred to the trade. A moment later
I was aloft, casting loose the gaff-topsail. From that fine
height as the barge began to move I saw the horsemen turning away
foiled. I saw the lady's leathered hat, making a little dash of
green among the drab of the riding coats. Then an outhouse hid
them all from sight. I was in a sea-going barge, bound out, under
all sail, along a waterway lined with old reeds, all blowing down
with a rattling shiver.
Now I am not going to tell you much more of my Holland
experiences. I was in that barge for about one whole fortnight,
during which I think I saw the greater part of the Dutch canals.
We picked up Argyle at sea on the first day. After that we went
to Amsterdam with a cargo of hides. Then we wandered about at the
wind's will, thinking that it might puzzle people, if any one
should have stumbled on the right scent. All that fortnight was a
long delightful picnic to me. The barge was so like an Oulton
wherry that I was at home in her. I knew what to do, it was not
like being in the schooner. When we were lying up by a wharf, I
used to spend my spare hours in fishing, or in flinging fiat
pebbles from a cleft-stick at the water-rats. When we were under
sail I used to sit aloft in the cross-trees, looking out at the
distant sea. At night, after a supper of strong soup, we all
turned in to our bunks in the tiny cabin, from the scuttle of
which I could see a little patch of sky full of stars.
A boy lives very much in the present. I do not think that I
thought much of the Duke's service, nor of our venture for the
crown. If I thought at all of our adventures, I thought of the
handsome woman with the grey, fierce eyes. In a way, I hoped that
might have another tussle with her, not because I liked
adventure, no sane creature does, but because I thought of her
with liking. I felt that she would be such a brave, witty person
to have for a friend. I felt sad somehow at the thought of not
seeing her again. She was quite young, not more than twenty, if
her looks did not belie her. I used to wonder how it was that she
had come to be a secret agent. I believed that the sharp-faced
horsey man had somehow driven her to it against her will.
Thinking of her at night, before I fell asleep, I used to long to
help her. It is curious, but I always thought tenderly of this
woman, even though she had twice tried to kill me. A man's bad
angel is only his good angel a little warped.
On the second of May, though I did not know it then, Argyle set
sail for Scotland, to raise the clans for a foray across the
Border. On the same day I was summoned from my quarters in the
barge to take up my King's service. Late one evening, when it was
almost dark night, Mr. Jermyn halted at the wharf-side to call me
from my supper. "Mount behind me, Martin," he said softly,
peering down the hatch. "It's time, now." I thought he must mean
that it was time to invade England. You must remember that I knew
little of the rights of the case, except that the Duke's cause
was the one favoured by my father, dead such a little while
before. Yet when I heard that sudden summons, it went through me
with a shock that now this England was to be the scene of a
bloody civil war, father fighting son, brother against brother. I
would rather have been anywhere at that moment than where I was,
hearing that order. Still, I had put my hand to the plough. There
was no drawing back. I rose up with my eyes full of tears to say
good-bye to the kind Dutch bargemen. I never saw them again. In a
moment I was up the wharf, scrambling into the big double saddle
behind Mr. Jermyn. Before my eyes were accustomed to the darkness
we were trotting off into the night I knew not whither.
"Martin," said Mr. Jermyn, half turning in his saddle, "talk in a
low voice. There may be spies anywhere."
"Yes, sir," I answered, meekly. For a while after that we were
silent; I was waiting for him to tell me more.
"Martin," he said at length, "we're going to send you to England,
with a message."
"Yes, sir?" I answered.
"You understand that there's danger, boy?"
"Yes, sir."
"Life is full of danger. But for his King a Christian man must be
content to run risks. You aren't afraid, Martin?"
"No, sir," I answered bravely. I was afraid, all the same. I
doubt if any boy my age would have felt very brave, riding in the
night like that, with danger of spies all about.
"That's right, Martin," he said kindly. "That's the kind of boy I
thought you." Again we were quiet, till at last he said:
"You're going in a barquentine to Dartmouth. Can you remember
Blick of Kingswear?"
"Blick of Kingswear," I repeated. "Yes, sir."
"He's the man you're to go to."
"Yes, sir. What am I to tell him?"
"Tell him this, Martin. Listen carefully. This, now. King Golden
Cap. After Six One."
"King Golden Cap. After Six One," I repeated. "Blick of
Kingswear. King Golden Cap. After Six One."
"That's right," he said. "Repeat it over. Don't forget a word of
it. But I know you're too careful a lad to do that." There was no
fear of my forgetting it. I think that message is burned in into
my brain under the skull-bones.
"There'll be cipher messages, too, Martin. They're also for Mr.
Blick. You'll carry a little leather satchel, with letters sewn
into the flap. You'll carry stockings in the satchel. Or
school-books. You are Mr. Blick's sister's son, left an orphan in
Holland. You'll be in mourning. Your mother died of low-fever,
remember, coming over to collect a debt from her factor. Your
mother was an Oulton fish-boat owner. Pay attention now. I'm
going to cross-examine you in your past history."
As we rode on into the gloom, in the still, flat, misty land,
which gleamed out at whiles with water dykes, he cross-examined
me in detail, in several different ways, just as a magistrate
would have done it. I was soon letter-perfect about my mother. I
knew Mr. Blick's past history as well as I knew my own.
"Martin," said Mr. Jermyn suddenly. "Do you hear anything?"
"Yes, sir," I answered. "I think I do, sir."
"What is it you hear, Martin?"
"I think I hear a horse's hoofs, sir."
"Behind us?"
"Yes, sir. A long way behind."
"Hold on then, boy. I'm going to pull up."
We halted for an instant in the midst of a wide fiat desert, the
loneliest place on God's earth. For an instant in the stillness
we heard the trot trot of a horse's hoofs. Then the unseen rider
behind us halted, too, as though uncertain how to ride, with our
hoofs silent.
"There," said Mr. Jermyn. "You see. Now we'll make him go on
again." He shook the horse into his trot again, talking to him in
a little low voice that shook with excitement. Sure enough, after
a moment the trot sounded out behind us. It was as though our
wraiths were riding behind us, following us home. "I'll make
sure," said Mr. Jermyn, pulling up again.
"You're a cunning dog," he said gently. "You heard that?" Indeed,
it sounded uncanny. The unseen rider had feared to pull up,
guessing that we had guessed his intentions. Instead of pulling
up he did a much more ominous thing, he slowed his pace
perceptibly. We could hear the change in the beat of the
horse-hoofs. "Cunning lad," said Mr. Jermyn. "I've a good mind to
shoot that man, Martin. He's following us. Pity it's so dark. One
can never be sure in the dark like this. But I don't know. I'd
like to see who it is."
We trotted on again at our usual pace. Presently,, something
occurred to me. Mr. Jermyn, I said; "would you like me to see who
it is? I could slip off as we go. I could lie down flat so that
he would pass against the sky. Then you could come back for me."
He did not like the scheme at first. He said that it would be too
dark for me to see anybody; but that when we were nearer to the
town it might be done., So we rode on at our quick trot for a
couple of more, hearing always behind us a faint beat of
upon the road, like the echo of our own hoofs. After a time they
stopped suddenly, nor did we hear them again.
"D'you know what he's done, Martin?" said Mr. Jermyn.
"No, sir," I answered.
"He's muffled his horse's hoofs with duffle shoes. A sort of
thick felt slippers. He was in too great a hurry to do that
before. There are the lights of the town."
"Shall I get down, sir?"
"If you can without my pulling up. Don't speak. But lay your head
on the road. You'll hear the horse, then, if I'm right."
"Then I'll lie still," I said, "to see if I can see who it is."
"Yes. But make no sign. He may shoot. He may take you for a
footpad. I'll ride back to you in a minute."
He slowed down the horse so that I could slip off unheard on to
the turf by the roadside. When he had gone a little distance, I
laid my ear to the road. Sure enough, the noise of the other
horse was faint but plain in the distance, coming along on the
road, avoiding the turf. The turf vas trenched in many drains, so
as to make dangerous riding at night. I lay down flat on the
turf, with my pistol in my hand. I was excited; but I remember
that I enjoyed it. I felt so like an ancient Briton lying in wait
for his enemy. I tried to guess the distance of this strange
horse from me. It is always difficult to judge either distance or
location by sound, when the wind is blowing. The horse hoofs
sounded about a quarter of a mile away. I know not how far they
really were. Very soon I could see the black moving mass coming
quietly along the road. The duffle hoof-wraps made a dull
plodding noise near at hand. Nearer the unknown rider came,
suspecting nothing. I could see him bent forward, peering out
ahead. I could even take stock of him, dark though it was. He was
a not very tall man, wearing a full Spanish riding cloak. It
seemed to me that he checked his horse's speed somewhere in the
thirty yards before he passed me. Then, just as he passed, just
as I had a full view of him, blackly outlined against the stars,
his horse shied violently at me, on to the other side of the
road. The rider swung him about on the instant to make him face
the danger. I could see him staring down at me, as he bent
forward to pat his horse's neck. I bent my head down so that my
face was hidden in the grass.
The stranger did not see me. I am quite sure that he did not see
me. He turned his horse back along the road for a few snorting
paces. Then with a sounding slap on his shoulder he drove him at
a fast pace along the turf towards me. I heard the brute whinny.
He was uneasy; he was trying to shy; he was twisting away, trying
to avoid the strange thing which lay there. I hid my head no
longer. I saw the horse above me. I saw the rider glaring down.
He was going to ride over me. I saw his face, a grey blur under
his hat. The horse seemed to be right on top of me. I started up
to my feet with a cry. The horse shied into the road, with a
violence which made the rider rock. Then, throwing up his head,
he bolted towards the town, half mad with the scare. Fifty yards
down the road he tore past Mr. Jermyn, who was trotting back to
pick me up. We heard the frantic hoofs pass away into the night,
growing louder as the duffle wraps were kicked off. Perhaps you
have noticed how the very sound of the gallop of a scared horse
conveys fear. That is what we felt, we two conspirators, as we
talked together, hearing that clattering alarm-note die away.
"Martin," said Mr. Jermyn. "That was a woman. She chuckled as she
galloped past me."
"Are you sure, sir?" I asked, half-hoping that he might be right.
I felt my heart leap at the thought of being in another adventure
with the lady.
"Yes," he said, "I'm quite sure. Now we must be quick, so as to
give her no time in the town." When I had mounted, we forced the
horse to a gallop till we were within a quarter of a mile of the
walls, where we pulled up at a cross-roads.
"Get down, Martin," he said. "We must enter the town by different
roads. Turn off here to the right. Then take the next two turns
to the left, which will bring you into the square. I shall meet
you there. Take your time. There's no hurry."
About ten minutes later, I was stopped in a dark quiet alley by a
hand on the back of my neck. I saw no one. I heard no noise of
breathing. In the pitch blackness of the night the hand arrested
me. It was like my spine suddenly stiffening to a rod of ice.
"Quiet," said a strange voice before I could scream. "Off with
those Dutch clothes. Put on these. Off with those sabots." I was
in a suit of English clothes in less than a minute. "Boots," the
voice said in my ear. "Pull them on." They were long leather
knee-boots, supple from careful greasing. In one of them I felt
something hard. My heart leapt as I felt it.
It was a long Italian stiletto. I felt myself a seaman indeed,
nay, more than a seaman, a secret agent, with a pair of such
boots upon me, "heeled," as the sailors call it, with such a
weapon. "Go straight on," said the voice.
As I started to go straight on, there was a sort of rustling
behind me. Some black figure seemed to vanish from me. Whoever
the man was that had brought me the clothes, he had vanished,
just as an Indian will vanish into grass six inches high.
Thinking over my strange adventures, I think that that changing
of my clothes in the night was almost the most strange of all. It
was so eerie, that he should be there at all, a part of Mr.
Jermyn's plan, fitting into it exactly, though undreamed of by
me. Would indeed that all Mr. Jermyn's plans had carried through
so well. But it was not to be. One ought not to grumble.
A few steps farther on, I came to a public square, on one side of
which (quite close to where I stood) was a wharf, crowded with
shipping. I had hardly expected the sea to be so near, somehow,
but seeing it like that I naturally stopped to look for the ship
which was to carry me. The only barquentine among the ships lay
apart from the others, pointing towards the harbour entrance. She
seemed to be a fine big vessel, as far as I could judge in that
light. I lingered there for some few minutes, looking at the
ships, wondering why it was that Mr. Jermyn had not met me. I was
nervous about it. My nerves were tense from all the excitement of
the night. One cannot stand much excitement for long. I had had
enough excitement that night to last me through the week. As I
stood looking at the ships, I began to feel a horror of the
wharf-side. I felt as though the very stones of the place were my
enemies, lying in wait for me. I cannot explain the feeling more
clearly than that. It was due probably to the loneliness of the
great empty square, dark as a tomb. Then, expecting Mr. Jermyn,
but failing to meet with him, was another cause for dread. I
thought, in my nervousness, that I should be in a fine pickle if
any enemies made away with Mr. Jermyn, leaving me alone, in a
strange land, with only a few silver pieces in my pocket. Still,
Mr. Jermyn was long in coming. My anxiety was almost more than I
could bear.
At last, growing fearful that I had somehow missed him at the
mouth of the dark alley, I walked slowly back in my tracks,
wishing that I had a thicker jacket, since it was beginning to
rain rather smartly. There was a great sort of inn on the side of
the square to which I walked. It had lights on the second floor.
The great windows of that story opened on to balconies, in what
is, I believe, the Spanish way of building. I remember feeling
bitterly how cheery the warm lights looked, inside there, where
the people were. I stood underneath the balcony out of the rain,
looking out sharply towards the alley, expecting at each instant
to see Mr. Jermyn. Still he did not come. I dared not move from
where I was lest I should miss him. I racked my brains to try to
remember if I had obeyed orders exactly. I wondered whether I had
come to the right square. I began to imagine all kinds of evil
things which might have happened to him. Perhaps that secret
fiend of a woman had been too many for him. Perhaps some other
secret service people had waylaid him as he entered the town.
Perhaps he was even then in bonds in some cellar, being examined
for letters by some of the usurper's men.
