when we broached the subject of our treasure hunting expedition to master ficklin the next day at his house, he would not hear of it. he examined the parchment with interest, but pooh-poohed the tale because, forsooth, it had no legal standing and was couched in the language of the sea rather than in the dry verbiage of the law. he pointed out that he had only succeeded in saving this last two thousand pounds of my lady’s fortune because he had skillfully concealed its existence from sir geoffrey, foreseeing that all that he could come at would be recklessly flung away in the baronet’s mad battle with fortune. he felt, he admitted to us, some compunctions of conscience about having hidden this little remainder from his friend and patron, and then he pleaded artfully that as he had gone against his sense of right for the sake of preserving this money, his[70] wishes as to the spending of it ought to be respected, especially when they concerned so intimately the welfare of my lady; for, he asked pertinently, what would happen to her when all was gone and she had found no treasure, the very existence of which he affected to disbelieve?
a very hard-headed, practical person was master ficklin. he was not cut out for an adventurer, that was patent. still his statements and propositions were entitled to the highest consideration. his arguments, indeed, appealed to my better judgment and i seconded them to the best of my ability in spite of my own desires. i was born with a roving spirit, and in my own blood ran something of the gambling strain, and the longer i dwelt upon possible treasure the more alluring grew the prospect of searching for it, and the more certain i became that it was there. it is so easy to persuade ourselves of what we wish.
besides, even if there were no treasure, i luxuriated in spirit at the thought of the long months’ intimate companionship at sea with my little mistress. it is true she already honored me with her friendship, but in no other way[71] could i hope to enjoy much of her society in the future. she was too young and too beautiful for obscurity. sooner or later true men would love her, the gay world would seek her out, she would enter upon her proper station again, and then where would i be? selfish! aye, but i am frankly telling the truth in these rambling recollections, even to my own discredit, though my lady will not have it so.
but i had stern ideas of duty, too, and master ficklin’s good sense ever appealed to me. yet when did mere good sense serve to persuade a woman against her wish? my lady would fain challenge fortune on her own account. she was of age and what she had left was absolutely in her control, but had she been but sixteen i make no doubt she would have had her way. she has ever had that way and ever will have it, so far as i am concerned. worthy master ficklin has gone to his well-earned rest these many years as i write, but i am quite warranted, i am sure, in saying the same thing for him.
well, the end of it was she made over her two thousand pounds to me without requiring me to give any bond, which master ficklin would fain[72] have insisted upon. this would have been embarrassing indeed for me for my bond would have been my own capital which i was going to embark in the enterprise in secret. i had saved up that money with no one knows what foolish dreams. i now realized these dreams possibly would come to nought. well, what difference? i had no one dependent upon me, brother or sister i had never been blessed with, and father and mother were both dead long since. i was alone in the world. what need had i for the money?
i could always get a berth on a good ship as mate, or perhaps as master, for which i was fully qualified; and i could always earn enough for my needs and to spare. let her have it whose need was great and whose desire was greater.
i might have bargained for a share of the treasure did we find any, but i scorned to do it. i would fain give all and expect nothing. there was a certain salve to my pride in becoming a benefactor to the woman i—but i must not anticipate in my story, trouble came soon enough, as you shall see.
[73]at any rate, not being in too great a hurry, although i was constantly urged to action by my lady, who could scarce possess her soul in patience before she began her treasure hunting once she was resolved upon it, i looked about a good deal in order to get just what i wanted. finally from a merchant of plymouth i purchased a stout little ship of three hundred and fifty tons burden called the rose of devon, which had been engaged in the west indian and the american colonial trade. the name caught my fancy, too, for was not my little mistress the rose of devon herself? you that read may laugh at me for my posying thought if you will; i care not, for it is true.
it was my first design to have gone as master of her myself and my lady would fain have had it so, but after reflection i decided it were better to have a much older man than i to command so long as she went as passenger, so i engaged a worthy seaman, one samuel matthews, old enough to be my father, with whom i had often sailed, in fact the man under whom i made my first cruise. i did engage myself as mate, however, and i even tried to induce master ficklin[74] and his sister to go with us, whereat that worthy couple held up their hands in horror, preferring the one his musty parchments and suits at law, and the other her well ordered house and spacious garden. i was not sorry for their decision. i wanted to be alone on that ship with mistress wilberforce, with what vague idea or aspiration i dared not admit even to myself.
it seemed proper, in venturing among islands filled according to common report with savage peoples, to make ready for fighting; therefore, after consulting with captain matthews, whom i fully acquainted with the entire project in all its details, i shipped a crew of thirty men and i provided in the equipment plenty of muskets, pistols, and cutlasses with the necessary powder and ball and, in addition, a small brass cannon which i mounted on the forecastle. nor did our cargo lack means for friendly trading and barter among the natives should such be found practicable.
naturally, the unusualness of these preparations attracted some little attention and although captain matthews and i kept the destination of the ship and the purpose of the cruise strictly[75] private, we were overwhelmed with applications from adventurous men who desired to make the voyage, surmising that it was after treasure of some sort and that it would be vastly different from the monotony of an ordinary merchant trading cruise. clearance papers were got out for the south seas, which added the touch of romance that those waters always have, for an appeal.
being so engaged with these larger matters, perforce i left the work of signing on a crew to captain matthews. he had as boatswain a veteran seaman named pimball in whom he placed great confidence. he was a villainous looking man with a white scar running from his left eye across his cheek, caused by a cut he had received in some fight, and the line of white showing against the bronzed, weather-beaten cheek he sported, did not improve his appearance. but that he was a prime seaman was evident. captain matthews reposed much trust in him, somewhat to my surprise, for i was not prepossessed by his appearance, but the contrary. in answer to my objections he pointed out that many a man’s looks belied his character, and although[76] pimball was certainly ugly, he was undoubtedly able. he had cruised several voyages with captain matthews and had always shown himself both experienced and dependable, so i let it go and he and pimball selected the rest of the crew. it had been better for us in the end if i had got rid of the man as i wished. or would it? well, it would certainly have been better for master pimball and his friends.
to anticipate, when we boarded the ship i liked the crew not much better than the boatswain. i will say this for them, however, that a smarter, quicker set of seamen never hauled on brace or lay out on yardarm. it was not their skill or strength or courage that i misliked, no man could fault that, but they were not the sort of men i would have sought for a ship of my own; and the presence of my lady and her maid, a worthy woman, a long time servant at the castle, who had elected to follow her fortunes, perhaps made me unduly timorous; yet i was not unusually or extremely apprehensive. i had a sublime confidence in my own ability to deal with any man or any group of men. i had no doubt that captain matthews and i would[77] be able to master them and bend their wills to ours at the cost of a few hard words backed by a ready rope’s end or a well-used marlinspike or belaying pin.
i did not stint the outfitting of the ship, and when i finished, having left nothing out of her manifest that either mine own or captain matthew’s experience or imagination could suggest, including everything conceivable for the comfort of my lady, there remained of our joint funds enough to pay the wages of the officers and of the men out and back and no more. that is allowing a year for the round voyage. the lines of the rose of devon were unusually good; she had a reputation for being a speedy vessel, and that was more time than enough. it was my purpose to go on around the world with her rather than retrace our course about cape horn after we reached the island, if we ever reached it. so we staked everything we had on the future. if my lady had possessed the least knowledge of the value of ships, she would have seen how little way her two thousand pounds had gone, but she was as guileless as any other woman on that subject, and master ficklin was[78] not much better. i lied to them both, although with a somewhat uneasy conscience. yet it was for her sake. my family had followed hers for i know not how many centuries. they had spent themselves for hers. i was only keeping up the traditions in placing all that i had at her service.
but one thing which happened before we embarked occurs to me as worthy to be chronicled. when all was ready and everything aboard, i went back to master ficklin’s in tavistock, which was an easy day’s journey from plymouth sound, where the rose of devon lay, to fetch my lady and her maid. master ficklin’s house was a somewhat large one for an attorney and was surrounded by a walled garden, perhaps two acres in extent, which ran from the back of the house to a little brook which bounded the village. there were a number of fine old trees in it and much shrubbery and it was a pleasant place in which mistress wilberforce and i had spent some, to me, very delightful hours in perfecting the plans for our great undertaking.
master ficklin was at his office, although it was yet early in the morning when i called, intending[79] to fetch my lady to plymouth by coach, a special coach which i had engaged for her particular use, by the way. his sister said that mistress wilberforce was in the garden and that she had company. she offered to show me to her presence, but i said i knew the way and could go myself. i did not like the word company over much. her fine friends had more or less forgot her. one or two of the old families which had been associated with hers had offered her such hospitality and such comfort as they had, until she could decide otherwise; some of the women had called upon her, one or two men had sought her out, but she was a proud little woman, as you can divine, and would have none of them. she had dropped out of their lives and latterly no one had disturbed her, therefore i was perturbed at the tidings.
i passed though the hall, out of the back door and into the garden. the path to the brook wound and twisted so that you could not see the stream for the trees and shrubs. i stood a moment, hesitating, wondering whether after all i had the right or the privilege to break in upon such company as she might be entertaining, when[80] a scream which came faintly from the end of the garden, decided me.
i broke into a run and in a few moments came upon my lady struggling in the arms of a man. what man, do you ask? none other than his grace, the duke of arcester! he had his arms around her and although he was no great figure of a man, he was much stronger than the slight girl he was grappling so roughly. he held her tightly by the waist with one arm and with the other was trying to turn her head so that he could kiss her fairly on her lips.
i was upon them before either realized my arrival. in my fury i grasped the duke by the collar of his coat with my left hand and with my right i ruthlessly tore him away from my lady.
“thank god, you have come!” she cried, reeling and staggering, her face flushed, her hair disheveled, her dress in disarray.
i heard that much and then the duke was upon me. gritting his teeth and swearing frightful oaths, he got to his feet—i had thrown him prone—dragged out his sword and rushed at me.
“you dog!” he cried, “you have balked me[81] before and you interfere now. i have had enough of you, and the world has.”
he did not intend to give me any chance to defend myself apparently. my little mistress screamed. i heard her call my name and i suppose she thought i was done for, but sailors are proverbially quick-witted, footed, and handed, and i was not the least alert of seamen for all my size. i was wearing a hanger, a much heavier and more unwieldly weapon than the duke’s dress sword, but its weight was a matter of no moment to an arm like mine. i sprang aside as he lunged furiously at me, drew it, and the next moment our blades clashed in earnest. for myself, i rejoiced in the opportunity. some men of humble birth might have been disturbed at the thought of crossing swords with a great noble, but nothing of that occurred to me. i wanted to show my lady, i confess, that even with gentlemen’s weapons i was this man’s master. and so i fell to it eagerly.
now i am a good fighter and no mean fencer. i can cross blades with anyone on earth. i did not know all the niceties and refinements of the game. i lacked grace perhaps—but when it[82] came to attack and defense, there were few men who could beat me—certainly the duke was not one of them. my swift play must have looked to the duke as if i were surrounded by a wall of steel. therefore, he realized at once that his only chance lay in the energy and rapidity of his fence. he was as passionately incensed as i, if from a different cause. lunge succeeded lunge with lightning-like speed. i will admit that i was hard put to it for a time. the play of light on his blade fairly dazzled me. it was with the greatest difficulty that i parried. but my lord was not built for the long continuance of such violent exercise. sweat ran into his eyes, his thrusts grew less swift, less sure, if not less vicious in their intent. i could feel his growing weakness with my blade. after a few moments i saw that i had him. it was now my turn to attack. something of the berserk madness of my saxon ancestors suddenly filled my veins. i beat down his defense by a series of terrific blows and finally shivered his sword. he stood before me panting, weaponless, yet to give him his due, more or less undaunted. i raised my own blade.
[83]“would you strike a defenseless man, cur?” he cried haughtily, still not blenching.
“you had no scruple in attacking a defenseless woman,” i replied. “nay,” i thundered as he made a sudden movement, “stand where you are. what i shall do to you depends upon what i hear. if you move i swear to you that i will beat you down like the villain that you are.”
i was amazed afterward at my temerity in thus addressing a duke, but you will understand my feelings. without taking my eyes off of him, i next addressed myself to my lady, who had shrunk aside and watched us breathlessly.
“will you tell me now, mistress lucy,” said i softly, “what this man proposed or said? i can see what he did, but what were his meaning and intent?”
“he—he—wanted—me to go with him,” faltered my lady.
“he renewed his offer of marriage?” i asked with a sudden sinking of heart.
i had a good deal of reverence for the nobility except in the heat of battle, and even as bad a man as arcester was nevertheless a duke and a great personage. that should mean something[84] to a woman. perhaps my lady might wish to marry him after all!
“no,” whispered the girl, and at her answer my blood burned for her.
“my god!” i cried, “did you dare to—”
“why should i marry a penniless baggage?” he sneered. it was a reckless thing to do, seeing his helpless position. “she would not go with me, she refused even to take my hand, the little fool, so i seized her. was it because she preferred you, yokel?” he added.
“for whatever reason she refused the proffered honor, she has had a lucky escape.”
“perhaps so, clodhopper, for i should have discarded and forgot her when her prettiness had faded, but you—”
“i shall ensure that you will remember all the days of your life what you tried to do; the insult that you put upon this lady,” i said quietly, although i was blazing inside.
“would you kill me?” he cried, and i believe i detected a note of alarm in his voice for the first time, as i stepped nearer to him.
“no,” said i, “that would be too quick and easy an end to your punishment. i will put my[85] mark upon you, her brand as a blackguard. everybody who sees you will ask you about it and you can explain it as you will. two persons at least will know what the mark signifies, my lady and myself.”
he stared at me absolutely uncomprehending, but before he could make a move i caught him around the breast, pinioned both his arms to his side with one arm and then i deliberately shortened my sword, holding it by the blade, and cut two long, deeply scored, rough gashes crosswise in his right cheek. he struggled and shrieked horribly as i did so and my lady screamed as well, but i held him close until i finished. he was a handsome man, but those two scars, roughly crisscrossed, would never be eradicated, for i had cut deep with deliberate purpose.
“now,” said i to my little mistress, “before i release him one more question. did he—did he kiss you?”
“no,” answered mistress wilberforce faintly.
“good,” i continued grimly, “had he done so i had marked the other cheek.”
after that assurance of hers i released him and he staggered back, trembling and shaking,[86] spitting blood, his cheek bleeding, a horrible looking object.
“that will be a lesson to your grace,” said i grimly, “not to insult an honest woman. i have no doubt there are many who would rejoice to see you now and to know why i have put my mark upon you.”
“i will have the law on you. i will have your life,” he sputtered out.
“you can have anything you want,” said i recklessly. “i am your master with the sword, and your master with everything else. now go.”
he turned and staggered away and that was the last i saw of him. i heard later that he had had the devil’s own time explaining those marks. he proclaimed that they had been inflicted by a madman, which was nearly the truth, but in some way the story leaked out and i should judge that my vengeance for the insult to my lady was as adequate as anything could be. he never lived down the tale, and i take it he was glad when he received a mortal wound in a duel from the hand of some other avenger of a woman’s wrong some years later.
[87]“master hampdon,” whispered mistress lucy, in an awe-struck voice, as we went together through the garden, while i wiped my sword with leaves, “why did you do that? ’twas horrible.”
“why, mistress,” said i, striving to speak formally, “when i saw you in his arms i could have killed him.”
“but to mark him thus forever—” she began.
“enough,” said i, with one of those flashes of imperiousness which always amazed me afterward and which really seemed to affect her strangely, “he only got his deserts.”
“but he will take his revenge on you,” she persisted.
“let him try,” said i indifferently. “but i am come to take you to the ship. we must get there tonight to sail with the beginning of the ebb tomorrow morning.”
“i am ready,” she said, putting her hand upon my arm with unwonted humility.
we went into the house and from there to the coach with her maid and her baggage, after making her farewells to her kind host and hostess. in the evening we got aboard the ship[88] where i saw her safely bestowed in the comfortable cabin i had arranged for her and for her woman. when day broke and she came on deck, we were under way for the island of the stairs. the great adventure had begun.
