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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1933-01-26, Page 6T HAVE d4L w. Johnson. (Continued from last week.) CHAPTER XVIPIa • an Which We Go Out Into the Night The guest house was aflame with. lights. As I neared at there was 'borne to •sny ears a burst of drunken 'shouts accompanied by a volley of musketry. My lord was pursuing with a vengeance our senseless fashion of 'wasting in drinking bouts powder that would have been better spent against the Indians. The noise increas- ed, The door was flung apen, and there issued a tide of drawers and ser- vants headed by mine host .himself, and followed by a hail of such minor breakables as the house contained and by Olympian laughter. 1 made my way past the indi.gnlrtt host and his staff and standing upon the threshold looked at the riot with- in. The long room was thick with the smoke of tobacco and the smoke of powder, through which the many torches burned yellow, Upon the great table wine had been spilt, and` dripped to swell a red pool upon the floor. Underneath the table, still grasp- ing his empty tankard, lay the first of my lord's guests to fall, an up -river Burgess with white hair. The rest of the company were fast reeling to a like fate. Young Hamar had a fiddle, and, one foot upon a settle, the other) upon the table, drew across it a fast and furious bow. Master Pory, arriv- ed at the maudlin stage, alternately sang, a slow and melancholy ditty and wiped tears from his eyes with elab- orate care. Master Edward Sharpless, now in a high voice, now in an undis- tinguiehable murmur, argued some imaginary ease. Peaceable Sherwood was drunk, and Giles Allen and Pet- tiplace Clause. Captain John Martin, sitting with outstretched legs, called now for a fresh tankard, which he emptied at a gulp; naw for his pis- tols, which, as fast as my lord's serv- ants brought them to him new prim- ed, he discharged at the ceiling, The loud wind rattled doors and windows, and made the flame of the torches stream sideways. The music grew madder and madder, the shots more frequent, the drunken voices thicker and louder, The master of the feast carried his wine better than did his guests, or Thad drunk less, but his spirit too was quite without bounds. A color burned in his cheeks, a wicked light in his eyes; he laughed to himself. 'In the gray smoke cloud he saw me not, or saw me only as one of the many who thronged the doorway and stared ae the revel within, He raised his silver cup with a slow and ,wavering hand. "Drink, you dogsl" he chanted. "Drink to the Santa 'Teresa! Drink to to -morrow night) Drink to a proud lady within my arms and an enemy in. my power!" The wine that had maddened him had maddened those others, also. In that hour they were dead to honor, With shameless laughter and as little spilling as might be, they raised their tankards as my lord raised his, A stone thrown. by same one behind me struck the cup from my lord's hand, sending it clattering to the floor and dashing hint with the red wine, Mas- ter Pory roared with .drunken laugh- ter. "Cup and Hp missed that time," ,he cried. The man who had thrown the stone was Jeremy;S'panrow, For ine instant a saw his great figure, and the wra'tlt- eel face beneath his shock of grizzled hair; the next he had made his way through the .crowd of gaping menials and was gone. My lord stared foolishly at the stains upon his hands, at the fallen :goblet and the stone beside it. 'Cogg- ed dice," he said thickly, "or I had not lostthat throw! I'll drink that toast Iby myself to -morrow night, when the ship doesn't rock like this d—d floor, and the sea has no stone's to throw. (More wine, Giles! To my Lord High Admiral; gentlemen! To his Grace of Buckingham! May he shortly howl in hell, and looking back to Whitehall see me upon the King's bosom! The' THE SEAFORTH NEWS. THURS'D'AY, JA•N'UAR'Y 26, 1933. save poor slilysouls I was a player. Sbu'thahnpton writes that, because of Once I played . the King's ghost in the urgent' entreaty of Sir George Will Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', and then Yeardley, he wilt do for you all 'that 1 warrant you, I spoke front the cel- halt' in his power, but that if you 'arage indeed: 1 .frigh'ted players and prove .not yourself c.cn'foamabie, there playgoers that they swore it VMS w'i11 be little that any can do." witchcraft, and Burbage's knees di'd "When will the mars'hall he here? .knock together in dead earnest. But d demanded. to the matter i'n hand. When 1 had "Directly. The Governor was, send - thrown yonder stone, I wasllked quiet- Snug for him when I left the wind'dw, ly down to bhe 'Governor's house and Master Rolfe spoke vehemently for looked' through the window, The GOv- you, 'and would have left the Council ernor hath the Company's letters, and to come to you; but the Governor, he and the Council --all save the rep- swearing that the 'Oo'irnpan'y should robate Pory—sit there staring at them not be betray'ed by its officer's, con - and drumming with their fingers on, strained hien to rennin. I'.m not the the table." ;Company's:officer, so 0 may tell its "Is Rolfe Of the Counicil?" I asked. orders if I p'leas'e.'I moslte'rdes's man "Ay; he was sipealking;-for you, I may speak without fear or favor. d su'ppose, though 1 heard not the have told yon all I ,know." 'Before I word's. 'They all ,listened, but they all ,co•uld .speak he was go'n'e, closing the shook their heads." door heavily 'behind him, ""We shaft kndw in the morning," I 0 turned to the Kin'g''s ward, Slhe said. "The' night grows wilder, and had risen frolm the chair,' and now honest folks should be abed. Na'trtau- stood in the centre of the ,room, one quas, ,good-nighit. When will you have hand at her b'os'om, the other derma - tamed your panther?" ed at her side, her head thrown up.' "It is now the moon of cohonks," She lo'oked as she lead looked at WsY answered the I.udian. , "W'h'en: the anoke, that fnret ni'ghlt. moon at blossoms is here, the panther '"Madam," I said under my breath. shall roll at the beaubifful lady's feet," ,Slhe turned ,her face Upon nee, 'T'he moon of blosennes1" I- said. you think," she asked in a low, even "The moon orf ,blossoms is a long way voice,—"did you think that I would off. I have ,pan'th'ers myself to tame be- ever set 'foot upon that '•sIh•ip,—thet 'fore it comes. This wild night gives ship on the river there? One ship' one wild thoughts, Master Sparrow. brought me here upon a shameful ler The loud wind, and the 's'ound of the rand; another shall not take me upon water, and the hurrying cloud's -who one more s'h'almefuil s'ti'll." knows if we shall ever see the moon She took her hand from her bosom; ,of b'lossom's?" I broke off with a laugh in it ,gleaned .in the fi'religh't the sm'a11 at my own •weakness. "Pt's mot often dagger I had given her that .night. that a soldier thinks of death," I said. 'S'h'e laid it on the table, but kept her "Cam'e te, bed, reverend sir. N'amtau- hand upon it, "You will choose for quas, again, good -night, and may you are, sir," she '• declared. tame your panther!" II weret 10 the door and looked out. IIn the great room of the minister's "I't is a wild night," I said. "I can house I paced up and down; now suit it with a wild enterprise. Make pausing at the window, to look out a bundle of your warmest clothing, upon the fast darkening houses of the 'madam, and wrap your mantle about town, the ever thickening clouds, and you. Will you take Angela?" the bending trees; now speaking to 'No," she answered. "I will not my wife, who sat in the chair I had have her Peril too npon me." drawn for her before . the fire, her As she stood there, her hand no head thrown back against the wood, longer upon the dagger, the large her face white and still, with wide tears welded into her eyes and fell dark eyes. We waited for we knew not 'slowly over ber white cheeks. "It is what, but the light still burned in the for nine honor, sir," she said. "I Govern'or's house, and we could not know that I ask your death." sleep and leave it there. iI could not bear to see ;her weep, :It grew later and later. The wind and so I spoke roughly. "I have told howled down the chimney, and I heaped more wood upon the fire. The town lay in darintess now; only in the distance burned like an angry star the light in the Governor's house. In the lull between the blasts of wind it was so very stili that ;the sound of my footfalls upon the floor, the dropping of the cleaved wood upon the hearth, the tapping of the withered vines without the window, jarred Ince thun- der. 'Suddenly madam leaned forward in her chair. 'There is some one at the door," she said, As she spoke the latch rose and same one pushed heavily against the door. I had drawn the bars across. "Who is it?" I demanded, going to it. "It is Diccon, sir," replied a guarded voice outside. "I beg of you, for the lady's sake, to let me speak to you." II opened the door and he crossed the threshold. I had .uo•t seen him since the night he would have played the assassin. I had heard of hien as be- ing in Martin's Hundred, with which plantation and its turbulent somntan'd- er the debtor and the outlaw often found sanctuary. "What is it, sirrah?" I inquired sternly. ll - stood with his eyes upon the floor, twirling his cap in his hands, He had looked once at madam when he entered, but not at me, When he spoke there .was the old bravado in his voice, and he threw up his head with 'tile old .reckless gesture. "Though I am no longer your 'man, sir," he said, "yet I hope that one 'Christian may warn another. The m'ar'shal, with a dozen men at his heels, will be here '4500." "How do' you know?" • "Why, I was in the shadow by the Governor's window when the parson played eavesdropper. When he was gone I drew myself up to the ledge, and with my knife made a hole in the s'hutter that ;fi'tte'd my ear well enough. The Governor and the Council' sat there with the Company's le'tter's spread upon the -table. I heard the let- ters read. Sir George Y'eardley's peti- tion to be released fronn the governor- ship of Virginia is granted, but he will remain in office until the new Gover- nor, Sir Francis Wyatt, can arrive in Virginia, The Company is out of fa- vor. The King has sent ,Sir Edwyn 'Sandy's to ,the Tower. My Lord War- wick waxeth greater every day, The very life' of the Oanrpan,y depends' up- on the pleasure of the King, and it may not defy him, Y'ou are 'to be tak- en into custody within six hours. of the reading of the letter, to be kept straitly until the sailing of the Santa ]Teresa, and to be sent "tonne aboard her in iron's. The lady is to go also, with all honor, and with women to attend her., Upon reaching 'London, you are to be sent to the Tower, the lady to Whitehall: The Court of High 'Commission will take the matter un- der consideration at once MI Lord 'f !King's a golod.'-king, gentlemen! He gave me this ruby. D'ye know what 3 had of him last year? I" T turned and left the door and the house. I could •n'ot'thrust a fight upon a drunken nan. Ten yards away, suddenly and with- out any warning of his approach, S found 'beside me the Indian ,Nantau- quas, "I have been to the woods to hunt," he said, in the slow musical English Rolfe had taught him. "I knew where a panther lodged, and to- day I laid a snare, and took him in it. I brought him to my brother's house and caged him there, When I have tamed him, .I shall give him to the beautiful lady." He expected no answer, and I gave him none. There are times when an Indian is the best company in the world. Just before we reached the market place we had to pass the mouth of a narrow lane leading down to the riv- er. The night was very dark, though the stars still shone through Tiles in the ever moving clouds. The Indian and I walked rapidly on,—my foot- falls sounding clear and sharp on the frosty ground, he as noiseless as a shadow. We had reached the further tide of the lane, when ,lie put forth an arum and plucked from the blackness a small black figure, In the middle of the square was kept burning a great brazier filled with •pitched wood. It was the duty o'f the watch to keep it flaming from darkness to dawn. We found it freshly heaped with pine, and its red glare lit a goodly circle, The Indian, pin- ioning the wrists of Isis captive with his own hand of steel, dragged him with us into this circle of light. "Looking for simples once more, learned doctor?" I demanded. He mowed and jabbered, twisting this way and that in the grasp of the Indian. 'Loose him," I said to the latter, "but let him not come too near you. Why, worthy doctor, in so wild and threatening a night, when fire is burn- ing and wine flowing at the guest house, do you choose to crouch here' in the cold and darkness?" ale looked at me with his filmy eyes, and that faint smile that had more of menace fn it than a panther's snarl, "I laid in wait for you, it is true, noble sir," he said in his thin dreamy voice, "but it was for your good, I would give you warning, sir." iHe stood with his mean figure bent cringingly forward, and with his hat in his . hand, "A warning, sir," he went ramblingly on, "Maybe a certain one has made me .his enemy. Maybe I' cut myself loose from his service, Maybe I would do him an ill turn. I can tell you a secret, sir." He lowered his voice and looked around, as if in fear of eavesdroppers, "In your ear, sir," he said. I recoiled. ",Stand back," I cried, "or you will cull tra more simples this! side o'f hell!" "Hell!" he answered, "There's, no such place, I will not tell my secret aloud," "Nicole the Italian! Nicole the .Poisoners Nicolo the Black Death! I am coming for the soul you sold me. There is a bell!" 'The thundering voice carne from underneath our feet. With a sound that was not a groan and not ascreech the Italian reeled back against the heated iron of the brazier. Starting •from that fiery contact with an earth- ly shriek, he threw up his arms and dashed away into the darkness. The sound of his madly hurrying Foot- steps came back tows until the guest house had swallowed him and his guilty terrors. 'Can the preacher play the devil too?" I asked as Sparrow carne up to us from the other side of the fire. "1 could have sworn that that voice came :from the bowels of the earth. "Tis the strangest gift!" "A mere trick," lie said, with his great laugh, "but it has served me well on more occasions than one. Itis not known in Virginia, sir, but before the ward of the Lord came to me to you 'before," I said, "that your honor is my honor. Do you think I would sleep to -morrow night, in the hold of the Santa Teresa, knowing that my wife supped with my Lord Carnal?" I crossed the room to tale my pis- tols from the rack, As I passed her she caught my hand in •hers, and bend- ing pressed her lips upon it. "You have been very good to me," she mur- mured. "Do not think me an ingrate," 'Five minutes later site came from her own room, hooded and mantled, and with a packet of clothing in her hand. I extinguished the torches, then opened the door. As ave crossed the threshold, we paused as by one im- pulse, and looked back into the firelit warmth of the room; their. I •closed the dpor softly behind us, and we went out into the night. CHASTER XIX In 'Which We Have Unexpected Company. you hearty thanks for your hospital- ity." As 1 spoke I would have talken the bundle prone hint, but ,he tucked it un- der his assn, and, passing us, ;opened the garden 'gate. "Did I forget to tell you," he said, "that worthy Master Backe is well o'f the fever, and re- turns, to his o'wn to -morrow? 'his. h'ouse and church axe no 'anger mine. it have pro charge anywhere. I ani free and footloose. 'May I not go, with you, Madura? 'There may he deagoirs to Slay, and two can guard a distressed princess better than oisc,' Will you take me for your squire, Captain Per- cy?" Ile held out his great hand, and af- ter a monletiit. I put my own in it. W'e left the garden and struck into alane. "The elver, then, instead all the tweet?" he asked in a low voice. a Ary," I answered. "Oaf the two evils it seems the lesser." "Haw about a boat?" "My own is fastened to the piles .of the oid deserted. wllharf."`• "You 'h'a've wvi'th'-pop •'neflther.0ood nor ,water." +"Bloch are in, ,the beat, 1I have kept. 'her'victu'aled dor 'a'w;ee'k or Mare." !He la'ug'hed in 'the,'d(aricness' and I: 'heard my wife beside ,me .utter 'a situp ed ex'c'lamation, The lane that ewe •were mew •in' ran parallel to 'the street 'fo'within 'fifty yards of the guest house, 'when it bent sh'ar'ply down to the river. 'W'e moved silen'tl'y and with caution, for some night 'bird Might 'accost Inc•or the 'watch come sep'on us. In the guest house all was daelcesess's'ave ,one carom, -the upper room, -from whicih'ca'me a very pale light. When we had turn- ed with the lane there were no 'h'o'uses to pass; only 'gaunt pines a'nd :copses of sumach. IL took 'my wife by the hand 'and 'hurried her ,on, iA 'hundred yards 'before us ran the river, dark and turbu'len't, and 'be'tw'een us and it rose an ;old, un's'afe and abandoeaed landing. 'Sparrow laid 'his 'hand upon limy arm. "Footsteps behind us," -'6e whispered. 'Without slackening pace 1I toned my 'head and looked. The clouds, thigh around the horizon, were thinning ov- erhead, and 'the moon, herself invis- ible, yet lightened the darkness ,be - law. The sandy lane stretched be- hind us like a ribbon o1 twilight, —nothing to be seen but it and 'the ebony amass of bush and 'tree lin- ing'it on either side, (We hastened on, IA minute later and •eec heard ,behind us a sound like the 'w'inding of a small horn, clear, s•h'rill, and sevee't. Sparrow and 'I wheeled—and saw no - ,thing. The trees ran down to 'the very edge of the wharf, upon whose rotten loosened and noisyboards we now tread, ;Suddenly the clouds above us 'broke, and the moon shone .forth, whitening the mountainous clouds, the ridged 'and angry river, •and the low, tree -fringed 'shore.' IBelow us, fastened :to the piles and, reeking with. the waves, eras the open 'boat in which' We were to e'm'bark. A few 'broken steps led 'fro'm the 'hoards above to the 'water 'below. !Descending these •I sprang into the boat 'and held out my arias far 'Mistress 'Percy. !Sparrow IThe wind, which had heretofore come in fierce blasts, was now steady- ing to .a gale. What with the flying of the heaped clouds, the slanting, groan- ing pines, and the rushing of the riv- er, the whole earth seemed a fugitive, fleeing to the :brea'thles's sea. From across the ,neck o'f land came the long drawn howl of wolves, and in the wood beyond the church a catamount screeched and screamed. 'T'he town 'before us lay as dark and as still as the grave; from the garden where we were we could not s,ee the Governor's house. "I will carry mad'am's bundle," said a voice behind us. It was the' minister who had spok- en, and he now stood beside us, There was a moment's silence, then I said with a laugh: "We are not going upon a summer jaunt, friend Sparrow. There is a warm fire in the great room, to which your reverence had best betake yourself out of this windy night." As he sande no movement to ,deport, but instead • possessed himself of Mis- tress Percy'.s bundle, I spoke again, with some impatience: ""We are no longer of your fold, reverend sir, but are bound for another parish. We give PROFESSIONAL CARDS Medical gave her to .me, and !I lifted .her down beside me; then turned 'to give 'w'hat aid d might to the sinister, who was ;halfway down the steps --and 'Faced my 'Lord (Carnal. (Continued Next Week). ;At a .lecture the speaker orated fer- vently.. "He drove straight to his goal, ,He looked neither to the right nor to the left, but pressed forward; moved by a definite purpose. Neither friend nor foe could delay him dor ttirn hum from his course. All who crossed his pa'th did so at their awn peril, What would you call such a man?'' "A truck driver," said a an in the audience. "I hear that Rose is to be married at last. Who is the' happy elan?" "'Her father." DR. H. H'UG'H RO'S'S, Physicisa and Surgeon. Late of London Hos- pital, London, England, Speciale attention to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Office and real deuce behind Dominion Bank. Office Phone No. 5; Residence Phone 104. IDR. F. J: BURROWS, Seaforth.'. Office and residence, Goderich street,' east of the United Church. Corlomec for the County of 'Huron. Telephone No., 46. D'R. F. J. R. b1GRISITER-Eye, Eee Nose and Throat, Graduate in Medi- cine, University of Toronto 1897. Late Assistant New York Ophthal- mic and Aural Institute, Moorefield'{. Eye, and Golden Square throat hospi- tals, London, England. At Comm- ercial Hotel, Seaforth, '3rd Monday is each month, from 11 a,m. to 3 p.m; DDR. W. C. SI1?IRIOA'T.—Graduate of Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London. Member of College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Ontario: Office fn rear of Aberhart's: drug store, Seaforth. Phone 90. Hours 1.30-4 p.m., 7.30 -9 p.m. O't'her hours by appointment. Dental DR. J. A. MLT'NIN, Successor to Dr. R. R. Ross, graduate of North- western University, Chicago, Irll. Li- centiate Royal College of, Dental. Sur- geons, Toronto. Office over Sine' hardware, Main St., Seaforth. Phone 151. DR. F. J. BECHELY, graduate Royal College of Dental Surgeons, Toronto. Office over W. R. Smith's. grocery, Main St., Seaforth. Phones, office 185W, residence 185J. Auctioneer. No better .protection .against wo•rm,s can be got than Miller's Worm Pow- ders. They consume worm's and ren- der the stomach and intes't'ines un- tenable to Ghent. They heal the sur- faces that have become inflamed by the attacks of 'the parasites and serve, to .restore the strength of the child that leas beenundermined by the. upon it. 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AND REID'S REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE AGENCY (Succssers to James 'Watson) MA'I'N S'T., SIEA'BiORTH, O'NT. All kinds of Insurance risks effect- ed at lowest rates in First -Class Companies. THE McKILLOP Mutual Fire Insurance Col tv FIARM A!NID I'SOLATE'D TOWN PROPERTY, 0 iN L Y, INSURED Officers — John Bennewies, Brod- hagen, President; Jas, Connolly, God- erich, Vice -Pres,; ID• F, McGregoe•, Seaforth No. 4, Sec.-Treas. Directors --'Geo. R. 'McCartney, Sea - forth No, 3; Alex. Broadifoot, ;Sea - forth No. 3; James Evans,:-'Seaforth No. 15; IRobt. Ferris, 'Blyth 'No. 1; Jas. Sholdice,,Wation No. 4; John Pepper, Brucefieid; William Knox, Landes- borough. Agents --'Jas. Watt,'B1yth No. 1; W. E. 'Hi'nchley, .Seaforth; J. A, Murray, Seaforth 'No, 3; W. J. Yeo, Clinton No, .3; R. G. 1Jarmuth, !Bornholm. Auditors Jas. 'Kerr, Seaforth' Thos, Moylan, 'Seaforth No. 5. Parties desirous bo effect insuraace or transactother business, will be promptly attended to by applications. to any of the above named officers ad- dressed to 'their respective post offices. The Man With Asthma, almost longs for death to eu'd .his suffering. He sees ahead only years of endless torment 'with intervals Of rest which are themselves ,fraught with never" ceasing fear of renewed ;attacks. Let him turn to Dr. J. D. Kelloggs' As- thina Remedy and knon.w what ocm plete relief it can :give, Let hint but use it faithfully' and he will find his a'sth'ma a thing of th'e past, Send us the names of your visitors,- Want and For 'Sale Ads, 3 times 50c.