R. D. Blackmore - Lorna Doone

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"Well," said I, "no doubt but I am, and all the better for me. Although
I heard a deal of them; for everybody was talking, and ready to come to
blows; if only it could be done without danger. But one said this, and
one said that; and they talked so much about Birminghams, and Tantivies,
and Whigs and Tories, and Protestant flails and such like, that I was
only too glad to have my glass and clink my spoon for answer."

"Right, John, thou art right as usual. Let the King go his own gait. He
hath too many mistresses to be ever England's master. Nobody need fear
him, for he is not like his father: he will have his own way, 'tis true,
but without stopping other folk of theirs: and well he knows what women
are, for he never asks them questions. Now heard you much in London town
about the Duke of Monmouth?"

"Not so very much," I answered; "not half so much as in Devonshire: only
that he was a hearty man, and a very handsome one, and now was banished
by the Tories; and most people wished he was coming back, instead of the
Duke of York, who was trying boots in Scotland."

"Things are changed since you were in town. The Whigs are getting up
again, through the folly of the Tories killing poor Lord Russell; and
now this Master Sidney (if my Lord condemns him) will make it worse
again. There is much disaffection everywhere, and it must grow to an
outbreak. The King hath many troops in London, and meaneth to bring
more from Tangier; but he cannot command these country places; and the
trained bands cannot help him much, even if they would. Now, do you
understand me, John?"

"In truth, not I. I see not what Tangier hath to do with Exmoor; nor the
Duke of Monmouth with Jeremy Stickles."

"Thou great clod, put it the other way. Jeremy Stickles may have much to
do about the Duke of Monmouth. The Whigs having failed of Exclusion, and
having been punished bitterly for the blood they shed, are ripe for any
violence. And the turn of the balance is now to them. See-saw is the
fashion of England always; and the Whigs will soon be the top-sawyers."

"But," said I, still more confused, "'The King is the top-sawyer,'
according to our proverb. How then can the Whigs be?"

"Thou art a hopeless ass, John. Better to sew with a chestnut than to
teach thee the constitution. Let it be so, let it be. I have seen a
boy of five years old more apt at politics than thou. Nay, look not
offended, lad. It is my fault for being over-deep to thee. I should have
considered thy intellect."

"Nay, Master Jeremy, make no apologies. It is I that should excuse
myself; but, God knows, I have no politics."

"Stick to that, my lad," he answered; "so shalt thou die easier. Now,
in ten words (without parties, or trying thy poor brain too much), I am
here to watch the gathering of a secret plot, not so much against the
King as against the due succession."

"Now I understand at last. But, Master Stickles, you might have said all
that an hour ago almost."

"It would have been better, if I had, to thee," he replied with much
compassion; "thy hat is nearly off thy head with the swelling of brain I
have given thee. Blows, blows, are thy business, Jack. There thou art in
thine element. And, haply, this business will bring thee plenty even
for thy great head to take. Now hearken to one who wishes thee well,
and plainly sees the end of it--stick thou to the winning side, and have
naught to do with the other one."

"That," said I, in great haste and hurry, "is the very thing I want
to do, if I only knew which was the winning side, for the sake of
Lorna--that is to say, for the sake of my dear mother and sisters, and
the farm."

"Ha!" cried Jeremy Stickles, laughing at the redness of my face--"Lorna,
saidst thou; now what Lorna? Is it the name of a maiden, or a
light-o'-love?"

"Keep to your own business," I answered, very proudly; "spy as much as
e'er thou wilt, and use our house for doing it, without asking leave or
telling; but if I ever find thee spying into my affairs, all the King's
lifeguards in London, and the dragoons thou bringest hither, shall not
save thee from my hand--or one finger is enough for thee."

Being carried beyond myself by his insolence about Lorna, I looked
at Master Stickles so, and spake in such a voice, that all his daring
courage and his spotless honour quailed within him, and he shrank--as if
I would strike so small a man.

Then I left him, and went to work at the sacks upon the corn-floor, to
take my evil spirit from me before I should see mother. For (to tell the
truth) now my strength was full, and troubles were gathering round me,
and people took advantage so much of my easy temper, sometimes when
I was over-tried, a sudden heat ran over me, and a glowing of all
my muscles, and a tingling for a mighty throw, such as my utmost
self-command, and fear of hurting any one, could but ill refrain.
Afterwards, I was always very sadly ashamed of myself, knowing how poor
a thing bodily strength is, as compared with power of mind, and that it
is a coward's part to misuse it upon weaker folk. For the present there
was a little breach between Master Stickles and me, for which I blamed
myself very sorely. But though, in full memory of his kindness and
faithfulness in London, I asked his pardon many times for my foolish
anger with him, and offered to undergo any penalty he would lay upon me,
he only said it was no matter, there was nothing to forgive. When people
say that, the truth often is that they can forgive nothing.

So for the present a breach was made between Master Jeremy and myself,
which to me seemed no great loss, inasmuch as it relieved me from any
privity to his dealings, for which I had small liking. All I feared was
lest I might, in any way, be ungrateful to him; but when he would have
no more of me, what could I do to help it? However, in a few days' time
I was of good service to him, as you shall see in its proper place.

But now my own affairs were thrown into such disorder that I could
think of nothing else, and had the greatest difficulty in hiding my
uneasiness. For suddenly, without any warning, or a word of message,
all my Lorna's signals ceased, which I had been accustomed to watch for
daily, and as it were to feed upon them, with a glowing heart. The first
time I stood on the wooded crest, and found no change from yesterday, I
could hardly believe my eyes, or thought at least that it must be some
great mistake on the part of my love. However, even that oppressed me
with a heavy heart, which grew heavier, as I found from day to day no
token.

Three times I went and waited long at the bottom of the valley, where
now the stream was brown and angry with the rains of autumn, and the
weeping trees hung leafless. But though I waited at every hour of day,
and far into the night, no light footstep came to meet me, no sweet
voice was in the air; all was lonely, drear, and drenched with sodden
desolation. It seemed as if my love was dead, and the winds were at her
funeral.

Once I sought far up the valley, where I had never been before, even
beyond the copse where Lorna had found and lost her brave young cousin.
Following up the river channel, in shelter of the evening fog, I gained
a corner within stone's throw of the last outlying cot. This was a
gloomy, low, square house, without any light in the windows, roughly
built of wood and stone, as I saw when I drew nearer. For knowing it
to be Carver's dwelling (or at least suspecting so, from some words of
Lorna's), I was led by curiosity, and perhaps by jealousy, to have a
closer look at it. Therefore, I crept up the stream, losing half my
sense of fear, by reason of anxiety. And in truth there was not much to
fear, the sky being now too dark for even a shooter of wild fowl to make
good aim. And nothing else but guns could hurt me, as in the pride of my
strength I thought, and in my skill of single-stick.

[Illustration: 304.jpg Nevertheless, I went warily]

Nevertheless, I went warily, being now almost among this nest of
cockatrices. The back of Carver's house abutted on the waves of the
rushing stream; and seeing a loop-hole, vacant for muskets, I looked in,
but all was quiet. So far as I could judge by listening, there was no
one now inside, and my heart for a moment leaped with joy, for I
had feared to find Lorna there. Then I took a careful survey of the
dwelling, and its windows, and its door, and aspect, as if I had been
a robber meaning to make privy entrance. It was well for me that I did
this, as you will find hereafter.

Having impressed upon my mind (a slow but, perhaps retentive mind), all
the bearings of the place, and all its opportunities, and even the
curve of the stream along it, and the bushes near the door, I was much
inclined to go farther up, and understand all the village. But a bar of
red light across the river, some forty yards on above me, and crossing
from the opposite side like a chain, prevented me. In that second house
there was a gathering of loud and merry outlaws, making as much noise as
if they had the law upon their side. Some, indeed, as I approached, were
laying down both right and wrong, as purely, and with as high a sense,
as if they knew the difference. Cold and troubled as I was, I could
hardly keep from laughing.

Before I betook myself home that night, and eased dear mother's heart
so much, and made her pale face spread with smiles, I had resolved to
penetrate Glen Doone from the upper end, and learn all about my Lorna.
Not but what I might have entered from my unsuspected channel, as so
often I had done; but that I saw fearful need for knowing something more
than that. Here was every sort of trouble gathering upon me, here was
Jeremy Stickles stealing upon every one in the dark; here was
Uncle Reuben plotting Satan only could tell what; here was a white
night-capped man coming bodily from the grave; here was my own sister
Annie committed to a highwayman, and mother in distraction; most of
all--here, there, and where--was my Lorna stolen, dungeoned, perhaps
outraged. It was no time for shilly shally, for the balance of this and
that, or for a man with blood and muscle to pat his nose and ponder.
If I left my Lorna so; if I let those black-soul'd villains work their
pleasure on my love; if the heart that clave to mine could find no
vigour in it--then let maidens cease from men, and rest their faith in
tabby-cats.

Rudely rolling these ideas in my heavy head and brain I resolved to let
the morrow put them into form and order, but not contradict them. And
then, as my constitution willed (being like that of England), I slept,
and there was no stopping me.

CHAPTER XXXVII

A VERY DESPERATE VENTURE

[Illustration: 306.jpg Illustrated Capital]

That the enterprise now resolved upon was far more dangerous than any
hitherto attempted by me, needs no further proof than this:--I went and
made my will at Porlock, with a middling honest lawyer there; not that I
had much to leave, but that none could say how far the farm, and all the
farming stock, might depend on my disposition. It makes me smile when I
remember how particular I was, and how for the life of me I was puzzled
to bequeath most part of my clothes, and hats, and things altogether
my own, to Lorna, without the shrewd old lawyer knowing who she was and
where she lived. At last, indeed, I flattered myself that I had baffled
old Tape's curiosity; but his wrinkled smile and his speech at parting
made me again uneasy.

"A very excellent will, young sir. An admirably just and virtuous will;
all your effects to your nearest of kin; filial and fraternal duty
thoroughly exemplified; nothing diverted to alien channels, except a
small token of esteem and reverence to an elderly lady, I presume: and
which may or may not be valid, or invalid, on the ground of uncertainty,
or the absence of any legal status on the part of the legatee. Ha, ha!
Yes, yes! Few young men are so free from exceptionable entanglements.
Two guineas is my charge, sir: and a rare good will for the money. Very
prudent of you, sir. Does you credit in every way. Well, well; we all
must die; and often the young before the old."

Not only did I think two guineas a great deal too much money for a
quarter of an hour's employment, but also I disliked particularly the
words with which he concluded; they sounded, from his grating voice,
like the evil omen of a croaking raven. Nevertheless I still abode in my
fixed resolve to go, and find out, if I died for it, what was become of
Lorna. And herein I lay no claim to courage; the matter being simply
a choice between two evils, of which by far the greater one was, of
course, to lose my darling.

The journey was a great deal longer to fetch around the Southern hills,
and enter by the Doone-gate, than to cross the lower land and steal in
by the water-slide. However, I durst not take a horse (for fear of
the Doones who might be abroad upon their usual business), but started
betimes in the evening, so as not to hurry, or waste any strength upon
the way. And thus I came to the robbers' highway, walking circumspectly,
scanning the sky-line of every hill, and searching the folds of every
valley, for any moving figure.

Although it was now well on towards dark, and the sun was down an hour
or so, I could see the robbers' road before me, in a trough of the
winding hills, where the brook ploughed down from the higher barrows,
and the coving banks were roofed with furze. At present, there was no
one passing, neither post nor sentinel, so far as I could descry; but
I thought it safer to wait a little, as twilight melted into night;
and then I crept down a seam of the highland, and stood upon the
Doone-track.

As the road approached the entrance, it became more straight and strong,
like a channel cut from rock, with the water brawling darkly along the
naked side of it. Not a tree or bush was left, to shelter a man from
bullets: all was stern, and stiff, and rugged, as I could not help
perceiving, even through the darkness, and a smell as of churchyard
mould, a sense of being boxed in and cooped, made me long to be out
again.

And here I was, or seemed to be, particularly unlucky; for as I drew
near the very entrance, lightly of foot and warily, the moon (which had
often been my friend) like an enemy broke upon me, topping the eastward
ridge of rock, and filling all the open spaces with the play of wavering
light. I shrank back into the shadowy quarter on the right side of the
road; and gloomily employed myself to watch the triple entrance, on
which the moonlight fell askew.

All across and before the three rude and beetling archways hung a
felled oak overhead, black, and thick, and threatening. This, as I heard
before, could be let fall in a moment, so as to crush a score of men,
and bar the approach of horses. Behind this tree, the rocky mouth was
spanned, as by a gallery with brushwood and piled timber, all upon a
ledge of stone, where thirty men might lurk unseen, and fire at any
invader. From that rampart it would be impossible to dislodge them,
because the rock fell sheer below them twenty feet, or it may be more;
while overhead it towered three hundred, and so jutted over that nothing
could be cast upon them; even if a man could climb the height. And
the access to this portcullis place--if I may so call it, being no
portcullis there--was through certain rocky chambers known to the
tenants only.

But the cleverest of their devices, and the most puzzling to an enemy,
was that, instead of one mouth only, there were three to choose from,
with nothing to betoken which was the proper access; all being pretty
much alike, and all unfenced and yawning. And the common rumour was
that in times of any danger, when any force was known to be on muster in
their neighbourhood, they changed their entrance every day, and diverted
the other two, by means of sliding doors to the chasms and dark abysses.

Now I could see those three rough arches, jagged, black, and terrible;
and I knew that only one of them could lead me to the valley; neither
gave the river now any further guidance; but dived underground with a
sullen roar, where it met the cross-bar of the mountain. Having no means
at all of judging which was the right way of the three, and knowing that
the other two would lead to almost certain death, in the ruggedness and
darkness,--for how could a man, among precipices and bottomless depths
of water, without a ray of light, have any chance to save his life?--I
do declare that I was half inclined to go away, and have done with it.

However, I knew one thing for certain, to wit, that the longer I stayed
debating the more would the enterprise pall upon me, and the less my
relish be. And it struck me that, in times of peace, the middle way was
the likeliest; and the others diverging right and left in their farther
parts might be made to slide into it (not far from the entrance), at the
pleasure of the warders. Also I took it for good omen that I remembered
(as rarely happened) a very fine line in the Latin grammar, whose
emphasis and meaning is "middle road is safest."

Therefore, without more hesitation, I plunged into the middle way,
holding a long ash staff before me, shodden at the end with iron.
Presently I was in black darkness groping along the wall, and feeling a
deal more fear than I wished to feel; especially when upon looking back
I could no longer see the light, which I had forsaken. Then I stumbled
over something hard, and sharp, and very cold, moreover so grievous to
my legs that it needed my very best doctrine and humour to forbear from
swearing, in the manner they use in London. But when I arose and felt
it, and knew it to be a culverin, I was somewhat reassured thereby,
inasmuch as it was not likely that they would plant this engine except
in the real and true entrance.

Therefore I went on again, more painfully and wearily, and presently
found it to be good that I had received that knock, and borne it with
such patience; for otherwise I might have blundered full upon the
sentries, and been shot without more ado. As it was, I had barely time
to draw back, as I turned a corner upon them; and if their lanthorn had
been in its place, they could scarce have failed to descry me, unless
indeed I had seen the gleam before I turned the corner.

There seemed to be only two of them, of size indeed and stature as all
the Doones must be, but I need not have feared to encounter them both,
had they been unarmed, as I was. It was plain, however, that each had a
long and heavy carbine, not in his hands (as it should have been), but
standing close beside him. Therefore it behoved me now to be exceedingly
careful, and even that might scarce avail, without luck in proportion.
So I kept well back at the corner, and laid one cheek to the rock
face, and kept my outer eye round the jut, in the wariest mode I could
compass, watching my opportunity: and this is what I saw.

The two villains looked very happy--which villains have no right to be,
but often are, meseemeth--they were sitting in a niche of rock, with
the lanthorn in the corner, quaffing something from glass measures, and
playing at push-pin, or shepherd's chess, or basset; or some trivial
game of that sort. Each was smoking a long clay pipe, quite of new
London shape, I could see, for the shadow was thrown out clearly; and
each would laugh from time to time, as he fancied he got the better of
it. One was sitting with his knees up, and left hand on his thigh; and
this one had his back to me, and seemed to be the stouter. The other
leaned more against the rock, half sitting and half astraddle, and
wearing leathern overalls, as if newly come from riding. I could see his
face quite clearly by the light of the open lanthorn, and a handsomer
or a bolder face I had seldom, if ever, set eyes upon; insomuch that it
made me very unhappy to think of his being so near my Lorna.

"How long am I to stand crouching here?" I asked of myself, at last,
being tired of hearing them cry, "score one," "score two," "No,
by--, Charlie," "By --, I say it is, Phelps." And yet my only chance of
slipping by them unperceived was to wait till they quarrelled more, and
came to blows about it. Presently, as I made up my mind to steal along
towards them (for the cavern was pretty wide, just there), Charlie, or
Charleworth Doone, the younger and taller man, reached forth his hand
to seize the money, which he swore he had won that time. Upon this,
the other jerked his arm, vowing that he had no right to it; whereupon
Charlie flung at his face the contents of the glass he was sipping,
but missed him and hit the candle, which sputtered with a flare of
blue flame (from the strength perhaps of the spirit) and then went out
completely. At this, one swore, and the other laughed; and before they
had settled what to do, I was past them and round the corner.

And then, like a giddy fool as I was, I needs must give them a
startler--the whoop of an owl, done so exactly, as John Fry had taught
me, and echoed by the roof so fearfully, that one of them dropped the
tinder box; and the other caught up his gun and cocked it, at least as
I judged by the sounds they made. And then, too late, I knew my madness,
for if either of them had fired, no doubt but what all the village would
have risen and rushed upon me. However, as the luck of the matter went,
it proved for my advantage; for I heard one say to the other,--

"Curse it, Charlie, what was that? It scared me so, I have dropped my
box; my flint is gone, and everything. Will the brimstone catch from
your pipe, my lad?"

"My pipe is out, Phelps, ever so long. Damn it, I am not afraid of an
owl, man. Give me the lanthorn, and stay here. I'm not half done with
you yet, my friend."

"Well said, my boy, well said! Go straight to Carver's, mind you. The
other sleepy heads be snoring, as there is nothing up to-night. No
dallying now under Captain's window. Queen will have nought to say to
you; and Carver will punch your head into a new wick for your lanthorn."

"Will he though? Two can play at that." And so after some rude jests,
and laughter, and a few more oaths, I heard Charlie (or at any rate
somebody) coming toward me, with a loose and not too sober footfall. As
he reeled a little in his gait, and I would not move from his way one
inch, after his talk of Lorna, but only longed to grasp him (if common
sense permitted it), his braided coat came against my thumb, and his
leathern gaiters brushed my knee. If he had turned or noticed it, he
would have been a dead man in a moment; but his drunkenness saved him.

So I let him reel on unharmed; and thereupon it occurred to me that I
could have no better guide, passing as he would exactly where I wished
to be; that is to say under Lorna's window. Therefore I followed him
without any especial caution; and soon I had the pleasure of seeing
his form against the moonlit sky. Down a steep and winding path, with
a handrail at the corners (such as they have at Ilfracombe), Master
Charlie tripped along--and indeed there was much tripping, and he must
have been an active fellow to recover as he did--and after him walked I,
much hoping (for his own poor sake) that he might not turn and espy me.

But Bacchus (of whom I read at school, with great wonder about his
meaning--and the same I may say of Venus) that great deity preserved
Charlie, his pious worshipper, from regarding consequences. So he led
me very kindly to the top of the meadow land, where the stream from
underground broke forth, seething quietly with a little hiss of bubbles.
Hence I had fair view and outline of the robbers' township, spread
with bushes here and there, but not heavily overshadowed. The moon,
approaching now the full, brought the forms in manner forth, clothing
each with character, as the moon (more than the sun) does, to an eye
accustomed.

I knew that the Captain's house was first, both from what Lorna had
said of it, and from my mother's description, and now again from seeing
Charlie halt there for a certain time, and whistle on his fingers, and
hurry on, fearing consequence. The tune that he whistled was strange to
me, and lingered in my ears, as having something very new and striking,
and fantastic in it. And I repeated it softly to myself, while I marked
the position of the houses and the beauty of the village. For the
stream, in lieu of any street, passing between the houses, and affording
perpetual change, and twinkling, and reflections moreover by its sleepy
murmur soothing all the dwellers there, this and the snugness of the
position, walled with rock and spread with herbage, made it look, in the
quiet moonlight, like a little paradise. And to think of all the inmates
there, sleeping with good consciences, having plied their useful trade
of making others work for them, enjoying life without much labour, yet
with great renown.

Master Charlie went down the village, and I followed him carefully,
keeping as much as possible in the shadowy places, and watching the
windows of every house, lest any light should be burning. As I passed
Sir Ensor's house, my heart leaped up, for I spied a window, higher than
the rest above the ground, and with a faint light moving. This could
hardly fail to be the room wherein my darling lay; for here that
impudent young fellow had gazed while he was whistling. And here my
courage grew tenfold, and my spirit feared no evil--for lo, if Lorna had
been surrendered to that scoundrel, Carver, she would not have been at
her grandfather's house, but in Carver's accursed dwelling.