a week elapsed and the tragic dispute between merry jonathan and his ancient ally grew into a nine days’ wonder. that the new-come representative of law was responsible for their quarrel none doubted, for mr. bluett had arrived in an hour not auspicious from the smugglers’ standpoint. he was at daleham a fortnight earlier than most people expected him, and the presence of himself and his mates had threatened directly to interfere with greater matters than he guessed. yet the secret of a cargo, its arrival nigh daleham and the hour and place, now came frankly into robert bluett’s keeping, since old cramphorn—his friendship turned to gall under godbeer’s heavy hands—for once followed the unfamiliar paths of rectitude. so, at least, he declared to the exciseman, though even mr. bluett, whose mind was cast in simple mould, perceived that a private hatred and a private grudge were responsible for the patriarch’s treachery, rather than any desire to do right. it was mention of his former partner that always stung old johnny into passion, made his beard shake and his voice go shrill and cracked.
p. 339“a mighty haul of french fishes—brandy—baccy—lace an’ such like; an’ now i’m a changed man an’ shall take no part,” he explained to his new friend.
“theer’s foreign fal-lals ’bout that young woman to the inn,” said mr. bluett. “stuff that never comed honest about her neck, i’ll swear.”
“his gift. they’m tokened, though god send you’ll lay un by the heels an’ show her the mistake she’m makin’ in time. an’ now listen, for i doan’t want to be seen with you in public no more. when i quarrelled with the man,—godbeer,—i knowed he’d change the appointed date; an’ sure enough he did so. but theer’s wan hand of his crew—no call to name names—who be on my side; an’ he’ve told me the real date. which that is wednesday next, if this here northeast wind holds.”
“that’s the day i be taking my men to dartmouth.”
“d’you think merry jonathan doan’t know that? he knows everything. he knows i be talkin’ to ’e now; but he doan’t know what i’ve told ’e; and he’d be ravin’ mad if he did.”
“us mustn’t go to dartmouth then.”
“no fay! but you must let him think you have. you must start by day an’ get back after dusk an’ lie by the cliff roads—some of your chaps by each; for theer ban’t no other ways up. an’ the p. 340dartymouth cutter must slip out the moment after dimpsy light; an’ wi’ any luck you’ll take the frenchman tu. of course wednesday be the day cap’n wade always sails west wi’ the cutter. he’m such a man of method that the smugglers know to a mile wheer the fool be, so reg’lar as they know moon an’ tides.”
“i’ll change all that,” declared bluett.
“an’ best begin wednesday; an’ you must swear on your dying oath my name doan’t come out. for jonathan would swing for me, so cheerful as a flea, if he heard i’d informed.”
the officer regarded johnny with stern contempt.
“the dirty work of the world have got to be done; an’ your breed never dies,” he said; “you’re not nice, but you’re needful—like vultures an’ jackals as i’ve seed around foreign ports. no, i’ll not name you.”
“as to reward? theer’s my friend tu, as have told me the secret. ’tis right us should get our deserts for smashing that cowardly dog. an’ god, he knows how poor i be. but theer’ll be a thousand golden guineas in it for you, so like as not; an’ if you take the foreigner, her’ll be worth a jew’s-eye, for she’s a butivul thing by all accounts, though if the cutter catches her ’twill be by stealth, not sailin’.”
“’twould make a stir,” admitted the other, p. 341cautiously. then a sudden wave of suspicion crossed his mind.
“if you’re lying to me, you’ll repent it,” he said.
“judge by what i lose,” retorted the old man, almost tearfully. “to put this harvest into your hands is to rob my own pocket. baccy an’ winter drinkin’—i give up all for the hate i bear against that man. but take my word or leave it.”
old cramphorn’s bitterness of expression and the lean fist raised and shaken at merry jonathan’s empty boat hard by, went far to convince mr. bluett. that day he hired a horse and rode over to dartmouth and in the evening met his secret accomplice again among the usual crowd at the bar of the “golden anchor.” jonathan godbeer was not present, but the rest of the company now knew the officer by name and treated him with outward civility and respect.
the conversation ran on lady emma’s death-coach. even parson yates had been awakened from his abstracted existence by the reports of this singular apparition, for many had seen it of late and not a few fearfully approached their pastor upon the subject. that evening, indeed, the folk awaited news of some definite decision from daleham’s spiritual leader, because, as jenifer pearn told the exciseman, though certain ancient celebrities had objected to interference with a vision so historical, p. 342others held it a scandal that any patrician maiden’s spirit should thus continue to revisit the scenes of her life and taking off. greater matters occupied robert bluett’s mind, but, sailor-like, he loved a ghost, and his life had not changed the superstitious nature of him. he listened with the rest, therefore, while johnny related what had passed between himself and the clergyman.
“’twas hard to shake sense into the old gen’leman. he doan’t want to believe it, though theer’s his open bible staring him in the face every day of his life. but a man’s reason be nought against the pull of conscience; so he’m gwaine up-along to see for hisself. then, if the things do appear to his sight, he’ll go forth in the name of the lord to quench ’em.”
“he’ll never do it—such a timorous man as him,” said mrs. pearn; but cramphorn assured her that the deed was done.
“he’ve gone to-night. i started along with un. ‘shall i come with ’e, your reverence?’ i axed him. an’ he said ‘no,’ though he’d have liked to say ‘ess.’ ‘who wants man’s aid if his hand be in his master’s?’ he sez to me. ‘not your reverence, that’s sartain,’ i sez to him. then he went up-along and i comed in here.”
conversation continued and then, some half an hour later, a little man in clerical costume, with tiny p. 343legs that shook beneath him, suddenly entered the inn. he was very pale and blinked at the blazing oil lamp above the bar.
“’tis his reverence’s self!” cried mrs. pearn.
“no less, my good woman, no less. a glass of your best brandy, please. i—i—”
“you’m gallied—you’m likewise skeered. i see it in your worshipful manner of shaking below the knee. i wish to god you had let me go along with ’e. but, my stars! you must have comed down red hill properly quick, if so be you went to the top of un.”
“i did descend quickly, john cramphorn. i have no hesitation in declaring that never have i come down that hill so fast before. the lord looked to it that i dashed not my foot against a stone. and, furthermore, this apparition is no mere conceit of ignorance or bucolic fancy; i myself, my friends, have seen it; and i heartily wish that i had not done so.”
“pass the glass to his reverence, jenifer, will ’e; an’ get you out of the armchair, toby, an’ let minister come by the fire. i’ve put in hot water an’ sugar an’ the brandy be—”
she stopped. all men knew the brandy of the “golden anchor,” but it was not considered good manners to criticise it.
mr. yates drank, then colour returned to his p. 344little grey face and he passed his glass for a second dose.
“i could discourse upon this theme at very considerable length,” he said; “but the matter calls for deeds rather than words, or perhaps i should say both.”
“no doubt, as a man of god, your duty do lie clear afore you, if i may say so respectful,” ventured robert bluett; and the pastor admitted that it was so.
“by the help of heaven these unhappy beings, that here dwell midway between earth and heaven, must be laid to rest,” he said. “thaumaturgy, or working of miracles, can only still subsist at the desire of jehovah, and if he wills that i liberate these funereal spirits to their rest, i can do it, not otherwise.”
“i lay you’ll do it, such a holy man as you,” foretold johnny cramphorn, genially.
“but, for god’s love, don’t mess it up,” added mr. bluett, “’cause if you make any error, they’ll rend ’e to tatters.”
“if heaven wills and my health permits, i go on tuesday night in all the dignity and power of my calling,” declared parson yates; “and now i will thank you to see me home, such among you as journey on my way.”
a few men departed with their pastor; p. 345cramphorn settled to his last pipe and glass beside the fire; and robert bluett went upon his nocturnal duties. for, since his arrival, things were mightily changed at daleham; keen eyes never closed on sea or land; most perfect cordons had been established and a sure system extended far to east and west. it was admitted that with such parole of cliffs and coombs, such searching scrutiny by night and day of every dark lane, lonely road and seaward-facing cavern, that not so much as a runlet of spirits could swim unrecorded into daleham or ride out of it.
how merry jonathan under these distracting circumstances could continue to be merry, his friends and neighbours wondered. indeed, twice within a week he had brought back from the sea pollock and conger—his legitimate objects of pursuit at this season. but that jonathan godbeer should sell fish was a significant sign of the times, and already folks said that mr. cramphorn was avenged.
