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SEP 7 ~ 1974 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
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" WHY DON'T YOU END IT?" (page 209) 
 

 TO HAVE AND 
 TO HOLD 
 
 BY 
 
 MARY JOHNSTON 
 
 AUTHOR OF "PRISONERS OF HOPE" 
 I 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 o\ 
 
 BOSTON AND KEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 AT CHAPEL Hill 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1899, 1900, BY MARY JOHNSTON 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVENTH THOUSAND 
 
TO 
 
 THE MEMORY OF 
 MY MOTHER 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://archive.org/details/tohavetoholdjohn 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OHAPTBE PAGE 
 
 I. In which I throw Ambs-ace .... 1 
 
 II. In which I meet Master Jeremy Sparrow 9 
 
 III. In which I marry in Haste .... 18 
 
 IV. In which I am like to repent at Leisure . 27 
 V. In which a Woman has her Way . . 39 
 
 VI. In which we go to Jamestown ... 47 
 
 VII. In which we prepare to fight the Spaniard 57 
 
 VIII. In which enters my Lord Carnal . . 67 
 
 IX. In which Two drink of One Cup ... 78 
 
 X. In which Master Pory gains Time to Some 
 
 Purpose 92 
 
 XL In which I meet an Italian Doctor . . 100 
 XII. In which I receive a Warning and repose 
 
 a Trust Ill 
 
 XIII. In which the Santa Teresa drops Down- 
 
 stream 118 
 
 XIV. In which we seek a Lost Lady . . . 126 
 XV. In which we find the Haunted Wood . 133 
 
 XVI. In which I am rid of an Unprofitable Ser- 
 vant 142 
 
 XVII. In which my Lord and I play at Bowls . 152 
 
 XVIII. In which we go out into the Night . 164 
 
 XIX. In which we have Unexpected Company . 174 
 
 XX. In which we are in Desperate Case . 183 
 
 XXI. In which a Grave is digged .... 193 
 
 XXII. In which I change my Name and Occupation 202 
 
 XXIII. In which we write upon the Sand . . 213 
 
 XXIV. In which we choose the Lesser of Two 
 
 Evils 224 
 
 XXV. In which my Lord hath his Day . . 234 
 
 XXVI. In which I am brought to Trial . . . 244 
 
 XXVII. In which I find an Advocate . . . 252 
 
 XX VIII. In which the Springtime is at Hand . . 264 
 
 XXIX. In which I keep Tryst 275 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XXX. In which we start upon a Journey . . 289 
 
 XXXI. In which Nantauquas comes to our Rescue 299 
 
 XXXII. In which we are the Guests of an Emperor 318 
 
 XXXIII. In which my Friend becomes my Foe . 326 
 
 XXXIV. In which the Race is not to the Swift . 338 
 XXXV. In which I come to the Governor's House 347 
 
 XXXVI. In which I hear III News .... 358 
 
 XXXVII. In which my Lord and I part Company . 369 
 
 XXXVIII. In which I go upon a Quest . . . 378 
 
 XXXIX. In which we listen to a Song ., « 388 
 
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN WHICH I THROW AMBS-ACE 
 
 The work of the day being over, j^gat down upon 
 my doorstep, pipe in hand, to rest awhile in the cool 
 of the evening. Death is not more still than is this 
 Virginian land in the hour when the sun has sunk 
 away, and it is black beneath the trees, and the stars 
 brighten slowly and softly, one by one. The birds 
 that sing all day have hushed, and the horned owls, 
 the monster frogs, and that strange and ominous fowl 
 (if fowl it be, and not, as some assert, a spirit igj^ 
 damned) which w e English o aH the whippoorwill, are n 7 6 
 yet silent. Later the wolf will howl and the panther 
 scream, but now there is no sound. The winds are 
 laid, and the restless leaves droop and are quiet. The ffcnk 
 low lap of the water among the reeds is like the 
 breathing of one who sleeps in his watch beside the 
 dead. 
 
 I marked the light die from the broad bosom of the 
 river, leaving it a dead man's hue. Awhile ago, and 
 for many evenings, it had been crimson, — a river of • 
 blood. A week before, a great meteor had shot 
 through the night, blood-red and bearded, drawing a 
 slow-fading fiery trail across the heavens ; and the 
 moon had risen that same night blood-red, and upon 
 
2 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 its disk there was drawn in shadow a thing most mar- 
 velously like a scalping knife. Wherefore, the fol- 
 lowing day being Sunday, good Mr. Stockham, our 
 minister at Weyanoke, exhorted us to be on our 
 guard, and in his prayer besought that no sedition or 
 rebellion might raise its head amongst the Indian 
 subjects of the Lord's anointed. Afterward, in the 
 churchyard, between the services, the more timorous 
 began to tell of divers portents which they had ob- 
 served, and to recount old tales of how the savages 
 distressed us in the Starving Time. The bolder 
 spirits laughed them to scorn, but the women began 
 to weep and cower, and I, though I laughed too, 
 thought of Smith, and how he ever held the savages, 
 and more especially that Opechancanough who was 
 now their emperor, in a most deep distrust ; telling us 
 that the red men watched while we slept, that they 
 might teach wiliness to a Jesuit, and how to bide its 
 time to a cat crouched before a mousehole. I thought 
 of the terms we now kept with thes e heathen ; of how 
 they came and went familiarly amongst us, spying out 
 our weakness, and losing the salutary awe which that 
 noblest captain had struck into their souls; of how 
 many were employed as hunters to bring down deer 
 for lazy masters ; of how, breaking the law, and that 
 not secretly, we gave them knives and arms, a sol- 
 dier's bread, in exchange for pelts and pearls ; of how 
 their emperor was forever sending us smooth mes- 
 sages ; of how their lips smiled and their eyes frowned. 
 That afternoon, as I rode home through the lengthen- 
 ing shadows, a hunter, red-brown and naked, rose 
 from behind a fallen tree that sprawled across my 
 path, and made offer to bring me my meat from the 
 moon of corn to the moon of stags in exchange for a 
 
IN WHICH I THROW AMBS-ACE 3 
 
 gun. There was scant love between the savages and 
 myself, — it was answer enough when I told him my 
 name. I left the dark figure standing, still as a 
 carved stone, in the heavy shadow of the trees, and, 
 spurring my horse (sent me from home, the year be- 
 fore, by my cousin Percy), was soon at my house, — 
 a poor and rude one, but pleasantly set upon a slope 
 of green turf, and girt with maize and the broad leaves 
 of the tobacco. When I had had my supper, I called 
 from their hut the two Paspahegh lads bought by me 
 from their tribe the Michaelmas before, and soundly 
 flogged them both, having in my mind a saying of my / 
 ancient captain's, namely, "He who strikes first oft-/ 
 times strikes last." 
 
 Upon the afternoon of which I now speak, in the 
 midsummer of the year of grace 1621^ as I sat upon 
 my doorstep, my long pipe between my teeth and my 
 eyes upon the pallid stream below, my thoughts were 
 busy with these matters, — so busy that I did not see 
 a horse and rider emerge from the dimness of the for- 
 est into the cleared space before my palisade, nor 
 knew, until his voice came up the bank, that my good 
 friend, Master John Rolfe, was without and would 
 speak to me. 
 
 I went down to the gate, and, unbarring it, gave 
 him my hand and led the horse within the inclosure. 
 
 " Thou careful man ! " he said, with a laugh, as he 
 dismounted. " Who else, think you, in this or any 
 other hundred, now bars his gate when the sun goes 
 down ? " 
 
 " It is my sunset gun," I answered briefly, fastening 
 his horse as I spoke. 
 
 He put his arm about my shoulder, for we were old 
 friends, and together we went up the green bank to 
 
4 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 the house, and, when I had brought him a pipe, sat 
 down side by side upon the doorstep. 
 
 " Of what were you dreaming ? " he asked presently, 
 when we had made for ourselves a great cloud of 
 smoke. " I called you twice." 
 
 " I was wishing for Dale's times and Dale's laws." 
 
 He laughed, and touched my knee with his hand, 
 white and smooth as a woman's, and with a green 
 jewel upon the forefinger. 
 
 " Thou Mars incarnate ! " he cried. " Thou first, 
 last, and in the meantime soldier! Why, what wilt 
 thou do when thou gettest to heaven ? Make it too 
 hot to hold thee ? Or take out letters of marque 
 against the Enemy ? " 
 
 " I am not there yet," I said dryly. " In the mean- 
 time I would like a commission against — your rela- 
 tives." 
 
 He laughed, then sighed, and, sinking his chin into 
 his hand and softly tapping his foot against the ground, 
 fell into a reverie. 
 
 " I would your princess were alive," I said presently. 
 
 " So do I," he answered softly. " So do I." Lock- 
 ing his hands behind his head, he raised his quiet face 
 to the evening star. " Brave and wise and gentle," 
 he mused. " If I did not think to meet her again, be- 
 yond that star, I could not smile and speak calmly, 
 Ralj^h, as I do now." 
 
 " 'T is a strange thing," I said, as I refilled my pipe. 
 " Love for your brother-in-arms, love for your com- 
 mander if he be a commander worth having, love for 
 your horse and dog, I understand. But wedded love ! 
 I to tie a burden around one's neck because 't is pink 
 I and white, or clear bronze, and shaped with elegance f 
 1 Fauffh ! " 
 
IN WHICH I THROW AMBS-ACE 5 
 
 " Yet I came with half a mind to persuade thee to 
 that very burden ! " he cried, with another laugh. 
 
 " Thanks for thy pains," I said, blowing blue rings 
 into the air. 
 
 " I have ridden to-day from Jamestown," he went 
 on. " I was the only man, i' faith, that cared to leave 
 its gates ; and I met the world — the bachelor world 
 — flocking to them. Not a mile of the way but I en- 
 countered Tom, Dick, and Harry, dressed in their Sun- 
 day bravery and making full tilt for the city. And 
 the boats upon the river ! I have seen the Thames 
 less crowded." 
 
 " There was more passing than usual," I said ; " but 
 I was busy in the fields, and did not attend. What 's 
 the lodestar ? " 
 
 " The star that draws us all, — some to ruin, some 
 to bliss ineffable, — woman." 
 
 " Humph ! The maids have come, then ?" 
 
 He nodded. "There's a goodly ship down there, I fc> * 
 with a goodly lading." -K*^ 
 
 " Videlicet, some fourscore waiting damsels and 
 milkmaids, warranted honest by my Lord Warwick," 
 I muttered. 
 
 " This business hath been of Edwyn Sandys' man- 
 agement, as you very well know," he rejoined, with 
 some heat. " His word is good : therefore I hold them 
 chaste. That they are fair I can testify, having seen 
 them leave the ship." 
 
 " Fair and chaste," I said, " but meanly born." 
 
 " I grant you that," he answered. " But after all, 
 what of it ? Beggars must not be choosers. The 
 land is new and must be peopled, nor will those who 
 come after us look too curiously into the lineage of 
 those to whom a nation owes its birth. What we in 
 
6 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 these plantations need is a loosening of the bonds 
 which tie ns to home, to England, and a tightening o£ 
 those which bind us to this land in which we have cast 
 our lot. We put our hand to the plough, but we turn 
 our heads and look to our Egypt and its fleshpots. 
 'T is children and wife — be that wife princess or 
 peasant — that make home of a desert, that bind a 
 man with chains of gold to the country where they 
 abide. Wherefore, when at midday I met good Master 
 Wickham rowing down from Henricus to Jamestown, 
 to offer his aid to Master Bucke in his press of busi- 
 ness to-morrow, I gave the good man Godspeed, and 
 thought his a fruitful errand and one pleasing to the 
 Lord." 
 
 " Amen," I yawned. " I love the land, and call it 
 home. My withers are unwrung." 
 
 He rose to his feet, and began to pace the green- 
 sward before the door. My eyes followed his trim 
 figure, richly though sombrely clad, then fell with a 
 sudden dissatisfaction upon my own stained and frayed 
 apparel. 
 
 " Ralph," he said presently, coming to a stand 
 before me, " have you ever an hundred and twenty 
 pounds of tobacco in hand ? If not, I " — 
 
 " I have the weed," I replied. " What then ? " 
 
 "Then at dawn drop down with the tide to the 
 city, and secure for thyself one of these same errant 
 damsels." 
 
 I stared at him, and then broke into laughter, in 
 which, after a space and unwillingly, he himself joined. 
 When at length I wiped the water from my eyes it 
 was quite dark, the whippoorwills had begun to call, 
 and Rolfe must needs hasten on. I went with him 
 down to the gate. 
 
IN WHICH I THROW AMBS-ACE 7 
 
 " Take my advice, — it is that of your friend," 
 he said, as he swung himself into the ..addle. He 
 gathered up the reins and struck spurs into his horse, 
 then turned to call back to me : " Sleep upon my 
 words, Ralph, and the next time I come I look to see 
 a farthingale behind thee ! " 
 
 " Thou art as like to see one upon me," I answered. 
 
 Nevertheless, when he had gone, and I climbed the 
 bank and reentered the house, it was with a strange 
 pang at the cheerlessness of my hearth, and an angry 
 and unreasoning impatience at the lack of welcoming f& 
 face or voice. In God's name, who was there to wel- A***' 
 come me ? None but my hounds, and the flying 
 squirrel I had caught and tamed. Groping my way 
 to the corner, I took from my store two torches, lit 
 them, and stuck them into the holes pierced in the 
 mantel shelf ; then stood beneath the clear flame, and 
 looked with a sudden sick distaste upon the disorder 
 which the light betrayed. The fire was dead, and 
 ashes and embers were scattered upon the hearth ; 
 fragments of my last meal littered the table, and upon 
 the unwashed floor lay the bones I had thrown my 
 dogs. Dirt and confusion reigned ; only upon my 
 armor, my sword and gun, my hunting knife and dag- 
 ger, there was no spot or stain. I turned to gaze upon 
 them where they hung against the wall, and in my 
 soul I hated the piping times of peace, and longed 
 for the camp fire and the call to arms. 
 
 With an impatient sigh, I swept the litter from the 
 table, and, taking from the shelf that held my meagre 
 library a bundle of Master Shakespeare's plays (gath- ~~( ((,*Ll 
 <ered for me by Rolfe when he was last in London), I 
 began to read ; but my thoughts wandered, and the 
 feale seemed dull and oft told. I tossed it aside, and, 
 
& TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 taking dice from my pocket, began to throw. As I 
 cast the bits of bone, idly, and scarce caring to ob- 
 serve what numbers came uppermost, I had a vision of 
 the forester's hut at home, where, when I was a boy, 
 in the days before I ran away to the wars in the Low 
 Countries, I had spent many a happy hour. Again 
 I saw the bright light of the fire reflected in each 
 well-scrubbed crock and pannikin ; again I heard the 
 cheerful hum of the wheel ; again the face of the for- 
 ester's daughter smiled upon me. The old gray manor 
 
 { .j;t"Y' /(house, where my mother, a stately dame, sat ever at 
 her tapestry, and an imperious elder brother strode to 
 and fro among his hounds, seemed less of home to 
 me than did that tiny, friendly hut. To-morrow would 
 be my thhiy-sixth birthday. All the numbers that 
 I cast were high. " If I throw ambs-ace," I said, 
 with a smile for my own caprice, " curse me if I do 
 not take Rolfe's advice ! " 
 
 I shook the box and clapped it down upon the table, 
 then lifted it, and stared with a lengthening face at 
 
 \ ;M what it had hidden ; which done, I diced no more, but 
 
 put out my lights and went soberly to bed. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 IN WHICH I MEET MASTER JEREMY SPARROW 
 
 Mine are not dicers' oaths. The stars were yet 
 shining when I left the house, and, after a word with 
 my man Diccon, at the servants' huts, strode down 
 the bank and through the gate of the palisade to the 
 wharf, where I loosed my boat, put up her sail, and 
 turned her head down the broad stream. The wind 
 was fresh and favorable, and we went swiftly down 
 the river through the silver mist toward the sunrise. 
 The sky grew pale pink to the zenith ; then the sun | j 
 rose and drank up the mist. The river sparkled and 
 shone ; from the fresh green banks came the smell of 
 the woods and the song of birds ; above rose the sky, 
 bright blue, with a few fleecy clouds drifting across 
 it. I thought of the day, thirteen years before, when \u 
 for the first time white men sailed up this same river, 
 and of how noble its width, how enchanting its shores, 
 how gay and sweet their blooms and odors, how vast 
 their trees, how strange the painted savages, had 
 seemed to us, storm-tossed adventurers, who thought 
 we had found a very paradise, the Fortunate Isles at 
 least. How quickly were we undeceived ! As I lay 
 back in the stern with half-shut eyes and tiller idle 
 in my hand, our many tribulations and our few joys 
 passed in review before me. Indian attacks ; dissen- 
 sion and strife amongst our rulers ; true men per- 
 secuted, false knaves elevated ; the weary search for 
 
)M*~ 
 
 10 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 gold and the South Sea ; the horror of the pestilence 
 and the blacker horror of the Starving Time ; the 
 arrival of the Patience and Deliverance, whereat we 
 wept like children ; that most joyful Sunday morning 
 when we followed my Lord de la Warre to church; 
 the coming of Dale with that stern but wholesome 
 martial code which was no stranger to me who had 
 fought under Maurice of Nassau ; the good times that 
 followed, when bowl-playing gallants were put down, 
 cities founded, forts built, and the gospel preached ; 
 the marriage of Rolfe and his dusky princess ; Argall's 
 expedition, in which I played a part, and Argall's in- 
 iquitous rule ; the return of Yeardley as Sir George, 
 and the priceless gift he brought us, — all this and 
 much else, old friends, old enemies, old toils and 
 strifes and pleasures, ran, bitter-sweet, through my 
 memory, as the wind and flood bore me on. Of what 
 was before me I did not choose to think, sufficient 
 unto the hour being the evil thereof. 
 
 The river seemed deserted : no horsemen spurred 
 along the bridle path on the shore ; the boats were 
 few and far between, and held only servants or In- 
 dians or very old men. It was as Rolfe had said, 
 and the free and able-bodied of the plantations had 
 put out, posthaste, for matrimony. Chaplain's Choice 
 appeared unpeopled ; Piersey's Hundred slept in the 
 sunshine, its wharf deserted, and but few, slow-moving 
 figures in the tobacco fields ; even the Indian villages 
 looked scant of all but squaws and children, for the 
 braves were gone to see the palefaces buy their wives. 
 Below Paspahegh a cockleshell of a boat carrying a 
 great white sail overtook me, and I was hailed by 
 young Hamor. 
 
 " The maids are come ! " he cried. " Hurrah ! " 
 and stood up to wave his hat. 
 
IN WHICH I MEET MASTER SPARROW 11 
 
 " Humph ! " I said. " I guess thy destination by 
 thy hose. Are they not ' those that were thy peach- 
 colored ones ' ?" 
 
 " Oons ! yes ! " he answered, looking down with 
 complacency upon his tarnished finery. " Wedding 
 garments, Captai n EfiCGjfr wedding garments ! " 
 
 I laughed. " Thou art a tardy bridegroom. I 
 thought that the bachelors of this quarter of the globe 
 slept last night in Jamestown." 
 
 His face fell. " I know it," he said ruefully ; " but 
 my doublet had more rents than slashes in it, and 
 Martin Tailor kept it until cockcrow. That fellow 
 rolls in tobacco ; he hath grown rich off our impover- 
 ished wardrobes since the ship down yonder passed 
 the capes. After all," he brightened, " the bargain- 
 ing takes not place until toward midday, after solemn 
 service and thanksgiving. There 's time enough!" 
 He waved me a farewell, as his great sail and narrow 
 craft carried him past me. 
 
 I looked at the sun, which truly was not very high, 
 with a secret disquietude ; for I had had a scurvy 
 hope that after all I should be too late, and so the 
 noose which I felt tightening about my neck might 
 unknot itself. Wind and tide were against me, and 
 an hour later saw me nearing the peninsula and mar- 
 veling at the shipping which crowded its waters. It 
 was as if every sloop, barge, canoe, and dugout be- 
 tween Point Comfort and Henricus were anchored off 
 its shores, while above them towered the masts of the 
 Marmaduke and Furtherance, then in port, and of 
 the tall ship which had brought in those doves for 
 sale. The river with its dancing freight, the blue 
 heavens and bright sunshine, the green trees waving 
 in the wind, the stir and bustle in the street and mar- 
 ket place thronged with gayly dressed gallants, made 
 
12 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 a fair and pleasant scene. As I drove my boat in be- 
 tween the sloop of the commander of Shirley Hundred 
 and the canoe of the Nansemond werowance, the two 
 bells then newly hung in the church began to peal 
 and the drum to beat. Stepping ashore, I had a rear 
 view only of the folk who had clustered along the 
 banks and in the street, their faces and footsteps be- 
 ing with one accord directed toward the market place. 
 I went with the throng, jostled alike by velvet and 
 dowlas, by youths with their estates upon their backs 
 and naked fantastically painted savages, and tram- 
 pling the tobacco with which the greedy citizens had 
 planted the very street. In the square I brought up 
 before the Governor's house, and found myself cheek 
 by jowl with Master Pory, our Secretary, and Speaker 
 of the Assembly. 
 
 " Ha, Ralph Percy ! " he cried, wagging his gray 
 head, " we two be the only sane younkers in the plan- 
 tations ! All the others are horn-mad! " 
 
 "I have caught the infection," I said, "and am one 
 of the bedlamites." 
 
 He stared, then broke into a roar of laughter. 
 " Art in earnest ? " he asked, holding his fat sides. 
 " Is Saul among the prophets ? " 
 
 " Yes," I answered. " I diced last night, — yea or 
 no ; and the ' yea ' — plague on 't — had it." 
 
 He broke into another roar. " And thou callest 
 that bridal attire, man ! Why, our cow-keeper goes 
 in flaming silk to-day ! " 
 
 I looked down upon my suit of buff, which had in 
 truth seen some service, and at my great boots, which 
 I had not thought to clean since I mired in a swamp, 
 coming from Henricus the week before ; then shrugged 
 my shoulders. 
 
IN WHICH I MEET MASTER SPARROW 13 
 
 " You will go begging," he continued, wiping his 
 eyes. " Not a one of them will so much as look at 
 
 you." 
 
 "Then will they miss seeing a man, and not a pop- 
 injay," I retorted. " I shall not break my heart." 
 
 A cheer arose from the crowd, followed by a crash- 
 ing peal of the bells and a louder roll of the drum. 
 The doors of the houses around and to right and left 
 of the square swung open, and the company which 
 had been quartered overnight upon the citizens began 
 to emerge. By twos and threes, some with hurried 
 steps and downcast eyes, others more slowly and with 
 free glances at the staring men, they gathered to the 
 centre of the square, where, in surplice and band, 
 there awaited them godly Master Bucke and Master 
 Wickham of Henricus. I stared with the rest, though 
 I did not add my voice to theirs. 
 
 Before the arrival of yesterday's ship there had 
 been in this natural Eden (leaving the savages out 
 of the reckoning) several thousand Adams, and but 
 some threescore Eves. And for the most part, the 
 Eves were either portly and bustling or withered and 
 shrewish housewives, of age and experience to defy 
 the serpent. These were different. Ninety slender 
 figures decked in all the bravery they could assume ; 
 ninety comely faces, pink and white, or clear brown 
 with the rich blood showing through ; ninety pair of 
 eyes, laughing and alluring, or downcast with long- 
 fringes sweeping rounded cheeks ; ninety pair of ripe 
 red lips, — the crowd shouted itself hoarse and would 
 not be restrained, brushing aside like straws the staves 
 of the marshal and his men, and surging in upon the 
 line of adventurous damsels. I saw young men, pant- 
 ing, seize hand or arm and strive to pull toward them 
 
14 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 some reluctant fair ; others snatched kisses, or fell on 
 their knees and began speeches out of Euphues; 
 others commenced an inventory of their possessions, 
 — acres, tobacco, servants, household plenishing. 
 All was hubbub, protestation, frightened cries, and 
 hysterical laughter. The officers ran to and fro, 
 threatening and commanding ; Master Pory alternately 
 cried " Shame ! " and laughed his loudest ; and I 
 plucked away a jackanapes of sixteen who had his 
 hand upon a girl's ruff, and shook him until the 
 breath was well-nigh out of him. The clamor did but 
 increase. 
 
 " Way for the Governor ! " cried the marshal. 
 " Shame on you, my masters ! Way for his Honor 
 and the worshipful Council ! " 
 
 The three wooden steps leading down from the 
 door of the Governor's house suddenly blossomed into 
 crimson and gold, as his Honor with the attendant 
 Councilors emerged from the hall and stood staring 
 at the mob below. 
 
 The Governor's honest moon face was quite pale 
 with passion. " What a devil is this ? " he cried 
 wrathfully. "Did you never see a woman before? 
 Where 's the marshal ? I '11 imprison the last one of 
 you for rioters ! " 
 
 Upon the platform of the pillory, which stood in 
 the centre of the market place, suddenly appeared a 
 man of a gigantic frame, with a strong face deeply 
 lined and a great shock of grizzled hair, — a strange 
 thing, for he was not old. I knew him to be one 
 Master Jeremy Sparrow, a minister brought by the 
 Southampton a month before, and as yet without a 
 charge* but at that time I had not spoken with him. 
 Without word of warning he thundered into a psalm 
 
IN WHICH I MEET MASTER SPARROW 15 
 
 of thanksgiving, singing it at the top of a powerful 
 and yet sweet and tender voice, and with a fervor and 
 exaltation that caught the heart of the riotous crowd. 
 The two ministers in the throng beneath took up the 
 strain ; Master Pory added a husky tenor, eloquent 
 of much sack ; presently we were all singing. The 
 audacious suitors, charmed into rationality, fell back, 
 and the broken line re-formed. The Governor and 
 the Council descended, and with pomp and solemnity 
 took their places between the maids and the two min- 
 isters who were to head the column. The psalm 
 ended, the drum beat a thundering roll, and the pro- 
 cession moved forward in the direction of the church. 
 
 Master Pory having left me, to take his place 
 among his brethren of the Council, and the mob of 
 those who had come to purchase and of the curious 
 idle having streamed away at the heels of the marshal 
 and his officers, I found myself alone in the square, 
 save for the singer, who now descended from the pil- 
 lory and came up to me. 
 
 " Captain Ralph Percy, if I mistake not?" he said, 
 in a voice as deep and rich as the bass of an organ. 
 
 "The same," I answered. "And you are Master 
 Jeremy Sparrow ? " 
 
 " Yea, a silly preacher, — the poorest, meekest, and 
 lowliest of the Lord's servitors." 
 
 His deep voice, magnificent frame, and bold and 
 free address so gave the lie to the humility of his 
 words that I had much ado to keep from laughing. 
 He saw, and his face, which was of a cast most mar- 
 tial, flashed into a smile, like sunshine on a scarred 
 cliff. 
 
 "You laugh in your sleeve," he said good-hu- 
 moredly, "and yet I am but what I profess to be. 
 
16 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 In spirit I am a very Job, though nature hath seen fit 
 to dress me as a Samson. I assure you, I am worse 
 misfitted than is Master Yardstick yonder in those 
 Falstaffian hose. But, good sir, will you not go to 
 church ? " 
 
 " If the church were Paul's, I might," I answered. 
 " As it is, we could not get within fifty feet of the 
 door" 
 
 " Of the great door, ay, but the ministers may pass 
 through the side door. If you please, I will take you 
 in with me. The pretty fools yonder march slowly ; 
 if we turn down this lane, we will outstrip them 
 quite." 
 
 " Agreed," I said, and we turned into a lane thick 
 planted with tobacco, made a detour of the Governor's 
 house, and outflanked the procession, arriving at the 
 small door before it had entered the churchyard. 
 Here we found the sexton mounting guard. 
 
 " I am Master Sparrow, the minister that came in 
 the Southampton," my new acquaintance explained. 
 " I am to sit in the choir. Let us pass, good fellow." 
 
 The sexton squared himself before the narrow open- 
 ing, and swelled with importance. 
 
 " You, reverend sir, I will admit, such being my 
 duty. But this gentleman is no preacher; I may 
 not allow him to pass." 
 
 " You mistake, friend," said my companion gravely. 
 " This gentleman, my worthy colleague, has but just 
 come from the island of St. Brandon, where he 
 preaches on the witches' Sabbath : hence the disorder 
 of his apparel. His admittance be on my head: 
 wherefore let us by." 
 
 " None to enter at the west door save Councilors, 
 commander, and ministers. Any attempting to force 
 
IN WHICH I MEET MASTER SPARROW 17 
 
 an entrance to be arrested and laid by the heels if they 
 be of the generality, or, if they be of quality, to bt 
 duly fined and debarred from the purchase of anj 
 maid whatsoever," chanted the sexton. 
 
 " Then, in God's name, let 's on ! " I exclaimed 
 " Here, try this ! " and I drew from my purse, whict 
 was something of the leanest, a shilling. 
 
 " Try this," quoth Master Jeremy Sparrow, and | 
 knocked the sexton down. 
 
 We left the fellow sprawling in the doorway, sput- 
 tering threats to the air without, but with one covet- 
 ous hand clutching at the shilling which I threw 
 behind me, and entered the church, which we found 
 yet empty, though through the open great door we 
 heard the drum beat loudly and a deepening souno 
 of footsteps. 
 
 " I have choice of position," I said. " Yonder win 
 dow seems a good station. You remain here in tht 
 choir?" 
 
 " Ay," he answered, with a sigh ; " the dignity of my 
 calling must be upheld : wherefore I sit in high places, 
 rubbing elbows with gold lace, when of the very truth 
 the humility of my spirit is such that I would feel 
 more at home in the servants' seats or among the 
 negars that we bought last year." 
 
 Had we not been in church I would have laughed, 
 though indeed I saw that he devoutly believed his own 
 words. He took his seat in the largest and finest of 
 the chairs behind the great velvet one reserved for the 
 Governor, while I went and leaned against my win- 
 dow, and we stared at each other across the flower- 
 decked building in profound silence, until, with one 
 great final crash, the bells ceased, the drum stopped 
 beating, and the procession entered. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE 
 
 The long service of praise and thanksgiving was 
 well-nigh over when T first saw her. 
 
 She sat some ten feet from me, in the corner, and 
 so in the shadow of a tall pew. Beyond her was a 
 row of milkmaid beauties, red of cheek, free of eye, 
 deep-bosomed, and beribboned like Maypoles. I 
 looked again, and saw — and see — a rose amongst 
 blowzed poppies and peonies, a pearl amidst glass 
 beads, a Perdita in a ring of rustics, a nonparella of 
 all grace and beauty ! As I gazed with all my eyes, 
 I found more than grace and beauty in that wonderful 
 face, — found pride, wit, fire, determination, finally 
 shame and anger. For, feeling my eyes upon her, she 
 looked up and met what she must have thought the 
 impudent stare of an appraiser. Her face, which had 
 been without color, pale and clear like the sky about 
 the evening star, went crimson in a moment. She bit 
 her lip and shot at me one withering glance, then 
 dropped her eyelids and hid the lightning. When I 
 looked at her again, covertly, and from under my 
 hand raised as though to push back my hair, she was 
 pale once more, and her dark eyes were fixed upon the 
 water and the green trees without the window. 
 
 The congregation rose, and she stood up with the 
 other maids. Her dress of dark woolen, severe and 
 unadorned, her close ruff and prim white coif, would 
 
IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE 19 
 
 have cried " Puritan," had ever Puritan looked like 
 this woman, upon whom the poor apparel had the 
 seeming of purple and ermine. 
 
 Anon came the benediction. Governor, Councilors, 
 commanders, and ministers left the choir and paced 
 solemnly down the aisle ; the maids closed in behind ; 
 and we who had lined the walls, shifting from one 
 heel to the other for a long two hours, brought up 
 the rear, and so passed from the church to a fair green 
 meadow adjacent thereto. Here the company dis- 
 banded ; the wearers of gold lace betaking themselves 
 to seats erected in the shadow of a mighty oak, and the 
 ministers, of whom there were four, bestowing them- 
 selves within pulpits of turf. For one altar and one 
 clergyman could not hope to dispatch that day's busi- 
 ness. 
 
 As for the maids, for a minute or more they made 
 one cluster ; then, shyly or with laughter, they drifted 
 apart like the petals of a wind-blown rose, and silk 
 doublet and hose gave chase. Five minutes saw the 
 goodly company of damsels errant and would-be 
 bridegrooms scattered far and near over the smiling 
 meadow. For the most part they went man and maid,, 
 but the fairer of the feminine cohort had rings of 
 clamorous suitors from whom to choose. As for me, 
 I walked alone ; for if by chance I neared a maid, she 
 looked (womanlike) at my apparel first, and never 
 reached my face, but squarely turned her back. So 
 disengaged, I felt like a guest at a mask, and in some 
 measure enjoyed the show, though with an uneasy 
 consciousness that I was pledged to become, sooner or 
 later, a part of the spectacle. I saw a shepherdess 
 fresh from Arcadia wave back a dozen importunate 
 gallants, then throw a knot of blue ribbon into their 
 
20 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 midst, laugh with glee at the scramble that ensued, 
 and finally march off with the wearer of the favor. I - 
 saw a neighbor of mine, tall Jack Pride, who lived 
 twelve miles above me, blush and stammer, and bow 
 again and again to a milliner's apprentice of a girl, 
 not five feet high and all eyes, who dropped a curtsy 
 -\t each bow. When I had passed them fifty yards or 
 more, and looked back, they were still bobbing and 
 bowing. And I heard a dialogue between Phyllis 
 and Corydon. Says Phyllis, " Any poultry ? " 
 
 Corydon. " A matter of twalve hens and twa 
 cocks." 
 
 Phyllis. " A cow ? " 
 
 Corydon. " Twa." 
 
 Phyllis. " How much tobacco ? " 
 
 Corydon. " Three acres, hinny, though I dinna 
 drink the weed mysel". I 'm a Stewart, woman, an' 
 the King's puir cousin." 
 
 Phyllis. " What household plenishing? " 
 
 Corydon. " Ane large bed, ane flock bed, ane 
 trundle bed, ane chest, ane trunk, ane leather cairpet, 
 sax cawfskin chairs an' twa-three rush, five pair o' 
 sheets an' auchteen dowlas napkins, sax alchemy 
 spunes " — 
 
 Phyllis. " I '11 take you." 
 
 At the far end of the meadow, near to the fort, I 
 met young Hamor, alone, flushed, and hurrying back 
 to the more populous part of the field. 
 
 "Not yet mated?" I asked. "Where are the 
 maids' eyes? " 
 
 " By ! " he answered, with an angry laugh. 
 
 " If they 're all like the sample I 've just left, I '11 
 buy me a squaw from the Paspaheghs ! " 
 
 I smiled. " So your wooing has not prospered?" 
 
IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE 21 
 
 His vanity took fire. " I have not wooed in ear- 
 nest," he said carelessly, and hitched forward his 
 cloak of sky-blue tuftaffeta with an air. " I sheered 
 off quickly enough, I warrant you, when I found the 
 nature of the commodity I had to deal with." 
 
 " Ah ! " I said. " When I left the crowd they were 
 going very fast. You had best hurry, if you wish to 
 secure a bargain." 
 
 " I 'm off," he answered ; then, jerking his thumb 
 over his shoulder, " If you keep on to the river and 
 that clump of cedars, you will find Termagaunt in ruff 
 and farthingale." 
 
 When he was gone, I stood still for a while and 
 watched the slow sweep of a buzzard high in the blue, 
 after which I unsheathed my dagger, and with it tried 
 to scrape the dried mud from my boots. Succeeding 
 but indifferently, I put the blade up, stared again at 
 the sky, drew a long breath, and marched upon the 
 covert of cedars indicated by Hamor. 
 
 As I neared it, I heard at first only the wash of 
 the river ; but presently there came to my ears the 
 sound of a man's voice, and then a woman's angry 
 " Begone, sir ! " 
 
 " Kiss and be friends," said the man. 
 
 The sound that followed being something of the 
 loudest for even the most hearty salutation, I was not 
 surprised, on parting the bushes, to find the man 
 nursing his cheek, and the maid her hand. 
 
 " You shall pay well for that, you sweet vixen ! " 
 he cried, and caught her by both wrists. 
 
 She struggled fiercely, bending her head this way 
 and that, but his hot lips had touched her face before 
 I could come between. 
 
 When I had knocked him down he lay where he 
 
22 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 fell, dazed by the blow, and blinking up at me with 
 his small ferret eyes. I knew him to be one Edward 
 Sharpless, and I knew no good of him. He had been 
 a lawyer in England. He lay on the very brink of 
 the stream, with one arm touching the water. Flesh 
 and blood could not resist it, so, assisted by the toe of 
 my boot, he took a cold bath to cool his hot blood. 
 
 When he had clambered out and had gone away, 
 cursing, I turned to face her. She stood against 
 the trunk of a great cedar, her head thrown back, a 
 spot of angry crimson in each cheek, one small hand 
 clenched at her throat. I had heard her laugh as 
 Sharpless touched the water, but now there was only 
 defiance in her face. As we gazed at each other, a 
 burst of laughter came to us from the meadow behind. 
 I looked over my shoulder, and beheld young Hamor, 
 — probably disappointed of a wife, — with Giles 
 Allen and Wynne, returning to his abandoned quarry. 
 She saw, too, for the crimson spread and deepened 
 and her bosom heaved. Her dark eyes, glancing here 
 and there like those of a hunted creature, met my 
 own. 
 
 " Madam," I said, " will you marry me ? " 
 
 She looked at me strangely. " Do you live here ? " 
 she asked at last, with a disdainful wave of her hand 
 toward the town. 
 
 " No, madam," I answered. " I live up river, in 
 Weyanoke Hundred, some miles from here." 
 
 " Then, in God's name, let us be gone ! " she cried, 
 with sudden passion. 
 
 I bowed low, and advanced to kiss her hand. 
 
 The finger tips which she slowly and reluctantly 
 resigned to me were icy, and the look with which she 
 favored me was not such an one as poets feign for like 
 
IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE 23 
 
 occasions. I shrugged the shoulders of my spirit, but 
 said nothing. So, hand in hand, though at arms' 
 length, we passed from the shade of the cedars into 
 the open meadow, where we presently met Hamor and 
 his party. They would have barred the way, laugh- 
 ing and making unsavory jests, but I drew her closer 
 to me and laid my hand upon my sword. They stood 
 aside, for I was the best swordsman in Virginia. — **** 
 
 The meadow was now less thronged. The river, 
 up and down, was white with sailboats, and across 
 the neck of the peninsula went a line of horsemen, 
 each with his purchase upon a pillion behind him. 
 The Governor, the Councilors, and the commanders 
 had betaken themselves to the Governor's house, 
 where a great dinner was to be given. But Master 
 Piersey, the Cape Merchant, remained to see the 
 Company reimbursed to the last leaf, and the four 
 ministers still found occupation, though one couple 
 trod not upon the heels of another, as they had done 
 an hour agone. 
 
 " I must first satisfy the treasurer," I said, coming 
 to a halt within fifty feet of the now deserted high 
 places. 
 
 She drew her hand from mine, and looked me up 
 and down. 
 
 " How much is it ?" she asked at last. " I will pay 
 it." 
 
 I stared at her. 
 
 " Can't you speak? " she cried, with a stamp of her 
 foot. " At what am I valued ? Ten pounds — fifty 
 pounds " — 
 
 "At one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco, 
 madam," I said dryly. " I will pay it myself. To 
 what name upon the ship's list do you answer?" 
 
24 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " EatafiBSS " VyV^V' she replied. 
 
 I left her standing there, and went upon my errand 
 with a whirling brain. Her enrollment in that com- 
 pany proclaimed her meanly born, and she bore her- 
 self as of blood royal ; of her own free will she had 
 crossed an ocean to meet this day, and she held in pas- 
 sionate hatred this day and all that it contained ; she 
 was come to Virginia to better her condition, and the 
 purse which she had drawn from her bosom was filled 
 with gold pieces. To another I would have advised 
 caution, delay, application to the Governor, inquiry; 
 for myself I cared not to make inquiries. 
 
 The treasurer gave me my receipt, and I procured, 
 from the crowd around him, Humfrey Kent, a good 
 man and true, and old Belfield, the perfumer, for wit- 
 nesses. With them at my heels I went back to her, 
 and, giving her my hand, was making for the nearest 
 minister, when a' voice at a little distance hailed me, 
 crying out, " This way, Captain Percy ! " 
 
 I turned toward the voice, and beheld the great 
 figure of Master Jeremy Sparrow sitting, cross-legged 
 like the Grand Turk, upon a grassy hillock, and beck- 
 oning to me from that elevation. 
 
 " Our acquaintance hath been of the shortest," he 
 said genially, when the maid, the witnesses, and I had 
 reached the foot of the hillock, " but I have taken a 
 liking to you and would fain do you a service. More- 
 over, I lack employment. The maids take me for a 
 hedge parson, and sheer off to my brethren, who truly 
 are of a more clerical appearance. "Whereas if they 
 could only look upon the inner man ! You have been 
 long in choosing, but have doubtless chosen " — He 
 glanced from me to the woman beside me, and broke 
 off with open mouth and staring eyes. There wa& 
 
IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE 25 
 
 excuse, for her beauty was amazing. " A paragon," 
 lie ended, recovering himself. 
 
 " Marry us quickly, friend," I said. " Clouds are 
 gathering, and we have far to go." 
 
 He came down from his mound, and we went and 
 stood before him. I had around my neck the gold 
 chain given me upon a certain occasion by Prince 
 Maurice, and in lieu of other ring I now twisted off 
 the smallest link and gave it to her. 
 
 "Your name?" asked Master Sparrow, opening his 
 book. 
 
 " Ralph Percy, Gentleman." 
 
 "And yours?" he demanded, staring at her with a 
 somewhat too apparent delight in her beauty. 
 
 She flushed richly and bit her lip. 
 
 He repeated the question. 
 
 She stood a minute in silence, her eyes upon the 
 darkening sky. Then she said in a low voice, " Joce- 
 lyn Leigh." ~ / 
 
 It was not the name I had watched the Cape Mer- % 
 chant strike off his list. I turned upon her and made 
 her meet my eyes. " What is your name ? " I de- 
 manded. " Tell me the truth ! " 
 
 " I have told it," she answered proudly. " It is 
 Jocelyn Leigh." 
 
 I faced the minister again. " Go on," I said 
 briefly. 
 
 " The Company commands that no constraint be 
 put upon its poor maids. Wherefore, do you marry 
 this man of your own free will and choice? " 
 
 " Ay," she said, " of my own free will." 
 
 Well, we were married, and Master Jeremy Sparrow 
 wished us joy, and Kent would have kissed the bride 
 had I not frowned him off. He and Belfield strode 
 
 % 
 
26 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 away, and I left her there, and went to get her bundle 
 from the house that had sheltered her overnight. Re- 
 turning, I found her seated on the turf, her chin in 
 her hand and her dark eyes watching the distant play 
 of lightning. Master Sparrow had left his post, and 
 was nowhere to be seen. 
 
 I gave her my hand and led her to the shore ; then 
 loosed my boat and helped her aboard. I was push- 
 ing off when a voice hailed us from the bank, and the 
 next instant a great bunch of red roses whirled past 
 me and fell into her lap. " Sweets to the sweet, you 
 know," said Master Jeremy Sparrow genially. " Good- 
 wife Allen will never miss them." 
 
 I was in two minds whether to laugh or to swear, 
 — for I had never given her flowers, — when she 
 .settled the question for me by raising the crimson 
 / mass and bestowing it upon the flood. 
 
 A sudden puff of wind brought the sail around, 
 hiding his fallen countenance. The wind freshened, 
 coming from the bay, and the boat was off like a 
 startled deer. When I next saw him he had recov- 
 ered his equanimity, and, with a smile upon his 
 rugged features, was waving us a farewell. I looked 
 at the beauty opposite me, and, with a sudden move- 
 ment of pity for him, mateless, stood up and waved 
 to him vigorously in turn. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 m WHICH I AM LIKE TO EEPENT AT LEISTJKE 
 
 When we had passed the mouth of the Chicka- 
 hominy, I broke the silence, now prolonged beyond 
 reason, by pointing to the village upon its bank, 
 and telling her something of Smith's expedition up 
 that river, ending by asking her if she feared the 
 savages. 
 
 When at length she succeeded in abstracting her 
 attention from the clouds, it was to answer in the 
 negative, in a tone of the supremest indifference, 
 after which she relapsed into her contemplation of 
 the weather. 
 
 Further on I tried again. " That is Kent's, yonder. 
 He brought his wife from home last year. What 
 a hedge of sunflowers she has planted ! If you love 
 flowers, you will find those of paradise in these woods." 
 
 No answer. 
 
 Below Martin-Brandon we met a canoe full of 
 Paspaheghs, bound upon a friendly visit to some one 
 of the down-river tribes ; for in the bottom of the boat 
 reposed a fat buck, and at the feet of the young men 
 lay trenchers of maize cakes and of late mulberries. 
 I hailed them, and when we were alongside held up 
 the brooch from my hat, then pointed to the purple 
 fruit. The exchange was soon made ; they sped away, 
 and I placed the mulberries upon the thwart beside 
 her. 
 
28 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " I am not hungry," she said coldly. "Take them 
 away." 
 
 I bit my lip, and returned to my place at the tiller. 
 This rose was set with thorns, and already I felt 
 their sting. Presently she leaned back in the nest 
 I had made for her. " I wish to sleep," she said 
 haughtily, and, turning her face from me, pillowed 
 her head upon her arms. 
 
 I sat, bent forward, the tiller in my hand, and 
 stared at my wife in some consternation. This was 
 not the tame pigeon, the rosy, humble, domestic crea- 
 ture who was to make me a home and rear me chil- 
 dren. A sea bird with broad white wings swooped 
 down upon the water, now dark and ridged, rested 
 there a moment, then swept away into the heart of 
 the gathering storm. She was liker such an one. 
 Such birds were caught at times, but never tamed 
 and never kept. 
 
 The lightning, which had played incessantly in 
 pale flashes across the low clouds in the south, now 
 leaped to higher peaks and became more vivid, and 
 the muttering of the thunder changed to long, boom- 
 ing peals. Thirteen years before, the Virginia storms 
 had struck us with terror. Compared with those of 
 the Old World we had left, they were as cannon to 
 the whistling of arrows, as breakers on an iron coast 
 to the dull wash of level seas. Now they were nothing 
 to me, but as the peals changed to great crashes as 
 of falling cities, I marveled to see my wife sleeping 
 so quietly. The rain began to fall, slowly, in large 
 sullen drops, and I rose to cover her with my cloak. 
 Then I saw that the sleep was feigned, for she was 
 gazing at the storm with wide eyes, though with no 
 fear in their dark depths. When I moved they closed, 
 
1 AM LIKE TO REPENT AT LEISURE 29 
 
 and wher I reached her the lashes still swept her 
 cheeks, aid she breathed evenly through parted lips. 
 But, against her will, she shrank from my touch as I 
 put the cloak about her ; and when I had returned to 
 my seat, I bent to one side and saw, as I had expected 
 to see, that her eyes were wide open again. If she 
 had been one whit less beautiful, I would have wished 
 her back at Jamestown, back on the Atlantic, back at 
 whatever outlandish place, where manners were un- 
 known, that had owned her and cast her out. Pride j C*~i*-'* u ' 
 and temper! I set my lips, and vowed that she p* ^ </ " 
 should find her match. ^ 
 
 The storm did not last. Ere we had reached Pier- 
 sey's the rain had ceased and the clouds were break- 
 ing ; above Chaplain's Choice hung a great rainbow ; 
 we passed Tants Weyanoke' in the glory of the sunset, 
 all shattered gold and crimson. Not a word had been 
 spoken. I sat in a humor grim enough, and she lay 
 there before me, wide awake, staring at the shifting 
 banks and running water, and thinking that I thought 
 she slept. 
 
 At last my own wharf rose before me through the 
 gathering dusk, and beyond it shone out a light ; for 
 I had told Diccon to set my house in order, and to 
 provide fire and torches, that my wife might see I 
 wished to do her honor. I looked at that wife, and 
 of a sudden the anger in my heart melted away. It 
 was a wilderness vast and dreadful to which she had 
 come. The mighty stream, the towering forests, the 
 black skies and deafening thunder, the wild cries of 
 bird and beast, the savages, uncouth and terrible, — 
 for a moment I saw my world as the woman at my 
 feet must see it, strange, wild, and menacing, an evil 
 land, the other side of the moon. A thing that I had 
 
30 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 forgotten came to my mind : how that, after our land- 
 ing at Jamestown, years before, a boy whoir we had 
 with us did each night fill with cries and lamentations 
 the hut where he lay with my cousin Percy, Gosnold, 
 and myself, nor would cease though we tried both 
 crying shame and a rope's end. It was not for home- 
 sickness, for he had no mother or kin or home ; and 
 at length Master Hunt brought him to confess that it 
 was but pure panic terror of the land itself, — not of 
 the Indians or of our hardships, both of which he 
 faced bravely enough, but of the strange trees and 
 the high and long roofs of vine, of the black sliding 
 earth and the white mist, of the fireflies and the whip- 
 poorwills, — a sick fear of primeval Nature and her 
 tragic mask. 
 
 This was a woman, young, alone, and friendless, 
 unless I, who had sworn to cherish and protect her, 
 should prove myself her friend. Wherefore, when, a 
 few minutes later, I bent over her, it was with all 
 gentleness that I touched and spoke to her. 
 
 " Our journey is over," I said. " This is home, my 
 dear." 
 
 She let me help her to her feet, and up the wet and 
 slippery steps to the level of the wharf. It was now 
 quite dark, there being no moon, and thin clouds ob- 
 scuring the stars. The touch of her hand, which I 
 perforce held since I must guide her over the long, 
 narrow, and unrailed trestle, chilled me, and her 
 breathing was hurried, but she moved by my side 
 through the gross darkness unfalteringly enougho 
 Arrived at the gate of the palisade, I beat upon it 
 with the hilt of my sword, and shouted to my men to 
 open to us. A moment, and a dozen torches came 
 flaring down the bank. Diccon shot back the bolts. 
 
I AM LIKE TO REPENT AT LEISURE 31 
 
 and we entered. The men drew up and saluted ; for 
 I held my manor a camp, my servants soldiers, and 
 myself their captain. 
 
 I have seen worse favored companies, but doubtless 
 the woman beside me had not. Perhaps, too, the red 
 light of the torches, now flaring brightly, now sunk 
 before the wind, gave their countenances a more vil- 
 lainous cast than usual. They were not all bad. 
 Diccon had the virtue of fidelity, if none other ; there 
 were a brace of Puritans, and a handful of honest 
 fools, who, if they drilled badly, yet abhorred mutiny. 
 But the half dozen I had taken off Argall's hands ; 
 the Dutchmen who might have been own brothers to 
 those two Judases, Adam and Francis ; the thief and 
 the highwayman I had bought from the precious crew 
 sent us by the King the year before ; the negro and 
 the Indians — small wonder that she shrank and cow- 
 ered. It was but for a moment. I was yet seeking 
 for words sufficiently reassuring when she was herself 
 again. She did not deign to notice the men's awk- 
 ward salute, and when Diccon, a handsome rogue 
 enough, advancing to light us up the bank, brushed 
 by her something too closely, she drew away her skirts 
 as though he had been a lazar. At my own door I 
 turned and spoke to the men, who had followed us up 
 the ascent. 
 
 " This lady," I said, taking her hand as she stood 
 beside me, " is my true and lawful wife, your mistress, 
 to be honored and obeyed as such. Who fails in re- 
 verence to her I hold as mutinous to myself, and will 
 deal with him accordingly. She gives you to-morrow 
 for holiday, with double rations, and to each a mea- 
 sure of rum. Now thank her properly." 
 
 They cheered lustily, of course, and Diccon, step- 
 
32 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 ping forward, gave us thanks in the name of them all, 
 and wished us joy. After which, with another cheer, 
 they backed from out our presence, then turned and 
 made for their quarters, while I led my wife within 
 the house and closed the door. 
 
 Diccon was an ingenious scoundrel. I had told him 
 to banish the dogs, to have the house cleaned and lit, 
 and supper upon the table ; but I had not ordered the 
 floor to be strewn with rushes, the walls draped with 
 flowering vines, a great jar filled with sunflowers, and 
 an illumination of a dozen torches. Nevertheless, it 
 looked well, and I highly approved the capon aud 
 maize cakes, the venison pasty and ale, with which the 
 table was set. Through the open doors of the two 
 other rooms were to be seen more rushes, more flowers, 
 and more lights. 
 
 To the larger of these rooms I now led the way, de- 
 posited her bundle upon the settle, and saw that Dic- 
 con had provided fair water for her face and hands ; 
 which done, I told her that supper waited upon her 
 convenience, and went back to the great room. 
 
 She was long in coming, so long that I grew impa- 
 tient and went to call her. The door was ajar, and so 
 I saw her, kneeling in the middle of the floor, her 
 head thrown back, her hands raised and clasped, on 
 her face terror and anguish of spirit written so large 
 that I started to see it. I stared in amazement, and, 
 had I followed my first impulse, would have gone to 
 her, as I would have gone to any other creature in so 
 dire distress. On second thoughts, I went noiselessly 
 back to my station in the great room. She had not 
 seen me, I was sure. Nor had I long to wait. Pre- 
 sently she appeared, and I could have doubted the 
 testimony of my eyes, so changed were the agonized 
 
I AM LIKE TO REPENT AT LEISURE 33 
 
 face and figure of a few moments before. Beautiful 
 and disdainful, she moved to the table, and took the 
 great chair drawn before it with the air of an empress 
 mounting a throne. I contented myself with the stool. 
 
 She ate nothing, and scarcely touched the canary I 
 poured for her. I pressed upon her wine and viands, 
 — in vain ; I strove to make conversation, — equally 
 in vain. Finally, tired of " yes " and " no " uttered 
 as though she were reluctantly casting pearls before 
 swine, I desisted, and applied myself to my supper in 
 a silence as sullen as her own. At last we rose from 
 table, and I went to look to the fastenings of door 
 and windows, and returning found her standing in 
 the centre of the room, her head up and her hands 
 clenched at her sides. I saw that we were to have it 
 out then and there, and I was glad of it. 
 
 " You have something to say," I said. " I am quite 
 at your command," and I went and leaned against the 
 chimneypiece. 
 
 The low fire upon the hearth burnt lower still 
 before she broke the silence. When she did speak 
 it was slowly, and with a voice which was evidently 
 controlled only by a strong effort of a strong will. 
 She said : — 
 
 " When — yesterday, to-day, ten thousand years 
 ago — you went from this horrible forest down to that 
 wretched village yonder, to those huts that make your 
 London, you went to buy you a wife ? " 
 
 " Yes, madam," I answered. " I went with that 
 intention." 
 
 " You had made your calculation ? In your mind 
 you had pitched upon such and such an article, with 
 such and such qualities, as desirable ? Doubtless you 
 meant to get your money's worth? " 
 
34 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Doubtless," I said dryly. 
 
 " Will you tell me what you were inclined to con- 
 sider its equivalent ? " 
 
 I stared at her, much inclined to laugh. The in- 
 terview promised to be interesting. 
 
 " I went to Jamestown to get me a wife," I said at 
 length, " because I had pledged my word that I would 
 do so. I was not over-anxious. I did not run all 
 the way. But, as you say, I intended to do the best 
 I could for myself ; one hundred and twenty pounds 
 of tobacco being a considerable sum, and not to be 
 lightly thrown away. I went to look for a mistress 
 for my house, a companion for my idle hours, a rosy, 
 humble, docile lass, with no aspirations beyond clean- 
 liness and good temper, who was to order my house- 
 hold and make me a home. I was to be her head 
 and her law, but also her sword and shield. That is 
 what I went to look for." 
 
 " And you found — me ! " she said, and broke into 
 strange laughter. 
 
 I bowed. 
 
 " In God's name, why did you not go further?" 
 
 I suppose she saw in my face why I went no fur- 
 ther, for into her own the color came flaming. 
 
 " I am not what I seem ! " she cried out. " I was 
 not in that company of choice ! " 
 
 I bowed again. " You have no need to tell me that, 
 madam," I said. " I have eyes. I desire to know 
 why you were there at all, and why you married me." 
 
 She turned from me, until I could see nothing but 
 the coiled wealth of her hair and the bit of white 
 neck between it and the ruff. We stood so in silence, 
 she with bent head and fingers clasping and unclasp- 
 ing, I leaning against the wall and staring at her, for 
 
I AM LIKE TO REPENT AT LEISURE 35 
 
 what seemed a long time. At least I had time to 
 grow impatient, when she faced me again, and all my 
 irritation vanished in a gasp of admiration. 
 
 Oh, she was beautiful, and of a sweetness most 
 alluring and fatal ! Had Medea worn such a look, 
 sure Jason had quite forgot the fleece, and with those 
 eyes Circe had needed no other charm to make men 
 what she would. Her voice, when she spoke, was no 
 longer imperious ; it was low pleading music. And 
 she held out entreating hands. 
 
 "Have pity on me," she said. "Listen kindly, 
 and have pity on me. You are a strong man and 
 wear a sword. You can cut your way through trouble 
 and peril. I am a woman, weak, friendless, helpless. 
 I was in distress and peril, and I had no arm to save, 
 no knight to fight my battle. I do not love deceit. 
 Ah, do not think that I have not hated myself for the 
 lie I have been. But these forest creatures that you 
 take, — will they not bite against springe and snare ? 
 Are they scrupulous as to how they free themselves ? 
 I too was in the toils of the hunter, and I too was not 
 scrupulous. There was a thing of which I stood in 
 danger that would have been bitterer to me, a thou- 
 sand times, than death. I had but one thought, to 
 escape ; how, I did not care, — only to escape. I had 
 a waiting woman named Patience Worth. One night 
 she came to me, weeping. She had wearied of ser- 
 vice, and had signed to go to Virginia as one of Sir 
 Edwyn Sandys' maids, and at the last moment her 
 heart had failed her. There had been pressure brought 
 to bear upon me that day, — I had been angered to 
 the very soul. I sent her away with a heavy bribe, 
 and in her dress and under her name I fled from — 
 I went aboard that ship. No one guessed that I was 
 
36 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 not the Patience Worth to whose name I answered. 
 No one knows now, — none but you, none but you." 
 
 " And why am I so far honored, madam ? " I said 
 bluntly. 
 
 She crimsoned, then went white again. She was 
 trembling now through her whole frame. At last she 
 broke out : " I am not of that crew that came to 
 marry ! To me you are the veriest stranger, — you 
 are but the hand at which I caught to draw myself 
 from a pit that had been digged for me. It was my 
 hope that this hour would never come. When I fled, 
 mad for escape, willing to dare anything but that 
 which I left behind, I thought, ' I may die before that 
 ship with its shameless cargo sets sail.' When the 
 ship set sail, and we met with stormy weather, and 
 there was much sickness aboard, I thought, ' I may 
 drown or I may die of the fever.' When, this after- 
 noon, I lay there in the boat, coming up this dreadful 
 river through the glare of the lightning, and you 
 thought I slept, I was thinking, ' The bolts may strike 
 me yet, and all will be well.' I prayed for that death, 
 but the storm passed. I am not without shame. I 
 know that you must think all ill of me, that you must 
 feel yourself gulled and cheated. I am sorry — that 
 is all I can say — I am sorry. I am your wife — I 
 was married to you to-day — but I know you not and 
 love you not. I ask you to hold me as I hold myself, 
 a guest in your house, nothing more. I am quite at 
 your mercy. I am entirely friendless, entirely alone. 
 I appeal to your generosity, to your honor " — 
 
 Before I could prevent her she was kneeling to me, 
 and she would not rise, though I bade her do so. 
 
 I went to the door, unbarred it, and looked out into 
 the night, for the air within the room stifled me. It 
 
I AM LIKE TO REPENT AT LEISURE 37 
 
 was not much better outside. The clouds had gath- 
 ered again, and were now hanging thick and low. 
 From the distance came a rumble of thunder, and the 
 whole night was dull, heavy, and breathless. Hot 
 anger possessed me : anger against Rolfe for suggest- 
 ing this thing to me ; anger against myself for that 
 unlucky throw ; anger, most of all, against the woman 
 who had so cozened me. In the servants' huts, a hun- 
 dred yards away, lights were still burning, against 
 rule, for the hour was late. Glad that there was 
 something I could rail out against, I strode down 
 upon the men, and caught them assembled in Diccon's 
 cabin, dicing for to-morrow's rum. When I had 
 struck out the light with my rapier, and had rated 
 the rogues to their several quarters, I went back 
 through the gathering storm to the brightly-lit, flower- 
 decked room, and to Mistress Percy. 
 
 She was still kneeling, her hands at her breast, and 
 her eyes, wide and dark, fixed upon the blackness 
 without the open door. I went up to her and took 
 her by the hand. 
 
 " I am a gentleman, madam," I said. " You need 
 have no fear of me. I pray you to rise." 
 
 She stood up at that, and her breath came hurriedly 
 through her parted lips, but she did not speak. 
 
 " It grows late, and you must be weary," I contin- 
 ued. " Your room is yonder. I trust that you will 
 sleep well. Good-night." 
 
 I bowed low, and she curtsied to me. " Good- 
 night," she said. 
 
 On her way to the door, she brushed against the 
 rack wherein hung my weapons. Among them was 
 a small dagger. Her quick eye caught its gleam, and 
 I saw her press closer to the wall, and with her right 
 
38 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 hand strive stealthily to detach the blade from its 
 fastening. She did not understand the trick. Her 
 hand dropped to her side, and she was passing on, 
 when I crossed the room, loosened the dagger, and 
 offered it to her, with a smile and a bow. She flushed 
 scarlet and bit her lips, but she took it. 
 
 " There are bars to the door within," I said. 
 " Again, good-night." 
 
 " Good-night," she answered, and, entering the 
 room, she shut the door. A moment more, and I 
 heard the heavy bars drop into place. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IN WHICH A WOMAN HAS HER WAT 
 
 Ten days later, Rolfe, going down river in his 
 barge, touched at my wharf, and finding me there 
 walked with me toward the house. 
 
 " I have not seen you since you laughed my advice 
 to scorn — and took it," he said. "Where's the far- 
 thingale, Benedick the married man ? " 
 
 " In the house." 
 
 " Oh, ay ! " he commented. " It 's near to supper 
 time. I trust she 's a good cook ? " 
 
 " She does not cook," I said dryly. " I have hired 
 old Goody Cotton to do that." 
 
 He eyed me closely. " By all the gods ! a new 
 doublet ! She is skillful with her needle, then ? " 
 
 " She may be," I answered. " Having never seen 
 her with one, I am no judge. The doublet was made 
 by the tailor at Flowerdieu Hundred." , 
 
 By this we had reached the level sward at the top 
 of the bank. " Roses ! " he exclaimed, — "a long 
 row of them new planted ! An arbor, too, and a seat 
 beneath the big walnut ! Since when hast thou turned 
 gardner, Ralph ? " 
 
 " It 's Diccon's doing. He is anxious to please his 
 mistress." 
 
 " Who neither sews, nor cooks, nor plants ! What 
 does she do ? " 
 
 " She pulls the roses," I said. " Come in." 
 
40 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 When we had entered the house he stared about 
 him ; then cried out, " Acrasia's bower ! Oh, thou 
 sometime Guyon ! " and began to laugh. 
 
 It was late afternoon, and the slant sunshine stream- 
 ing in at door and window striped wall and floor with 
 gold. Floor and wall were no longer logs gnarled and 
 stained : upon the one lay a carpet of delicate ferns 
 and aromatic leaves, and glossy vines, purple-berried, 
 tapestried the other. Flowers — purple and red and 
 yellow — were everywhere. As we entered, a figure 
 started up from the hearth. 
 
 " St. George ! " exclaimed Rolfe. " You have never 
 married a blackamoor ? " 
 
 " It is the negress, Angela," I said. " I bought 
 her from William Pierce the other day. Mistress 
 Percy wished a waiting damsel." 
 
 The creature, one of the five females of her kind 
 then in Virginia, looked at us with large, rolling eyes. 
 She knew a little Spanish, and I spoke to her in that 
 tongue, bidding her find her mistress and tell her that 
 company waited. When she was gone I placed a jack 
 of ale upon the table, and Rolfe and I sat down to 
 discuss it. Had I been in a mood for laughter, I 
 could have found reason in his puzzled face. There 
 were flowers upon the table, and beside them a litter 
 of small objects, one of which he now took up. 
 
 " A white glove," he said, " perfumed and silver- 
 fringed, and of a size to fit Titania." 
 
 I spread its mate out upon my palm. " A woman's 
 hand. Too white, too soft, and too small." 
 
 He touched lightly, one by one, the slender fingers 
 of the glove he held. " A woman's hand, — strength 
 in weakness, veiled power, the star in the mist., guid- 
 ing, beckoning, drawing upward 3 " 
 
IN WHICH A WOMAN HAS HER WAY 41 
 
 I laughed and threw the glove from me. " The 
 star, a will-of-the-wisp ; the goal, a slough," I said. 
 
 As he sat opposite me a change came over his face, 
 — a change so great that I knew before I turned that 
 she was in the room. 
 
 The bundle which I had carried for her from James- 
 town was neither small nor light. Why, when she 
 fled, she chose to burden herself with such toys, or 
 whether she gave a thought to the suspicions that 
 might be raised in Virginia if one of Sir Edwyn's 
 maids bedecked herself in silk and lace and jewels, I 
 do not know, but she had brought to the forest and 
 the tobacco fields the gauds of a maid of honor. The 
 Puritan dress in which I first saw her was a thing of 
 the past ; she clothed herself now like the parrakeets 
 in the forest, — or liker the lilies of the field, for ver- 
 ily she toiled not, neither did she spin. 
 
 Eolfe and I rose from our seats. " Mistress Percy," 
 I said, " let me present to you a right worthy gen- 
 tleman and my very good friend, Master John 
 Rolfe." 
 
 She curtsied, and he bowed low. He was a man of 
 quick wit and had been at court, but for a time he 
 could find no words. Then : " Mistress Percy's face { . 
 is not one to be forgotten. I have surely seen it i y)*?- 
 before, though where " — ' 
 
 Her color mounted, but she answered him indiffer- 
 ently enough. " Probably in London, amongst the 
 spectators of some pageant arranged in honor of the 
 princess, your wife, sir," she said carelessly. " I had 
 twice the fortune to see the Lady Rebekak passing 
 through the streets." 
 
 " Not in the streets only," he said courteously. " I 
 remember now : 't was at my lord bishop's dinner. 
 
42 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 A very courtly company it was. You were laugh- 
 ing with my Lord Eich. You wore pearls in your 
 hair" — 
 
 She met his gaze fully and boldly. " Memory plays 
 us strange tricks at times," she told him in a clear, 
 slightly raised voice, " and it hath been three years 
 since Master Rolfe and his Indian princess were in 
 London. His memory hath played him false." 
 
 She took her seat in the great chair which stood in 
 the centre of the room, bathed in the sunlight, and the 
 negress brought a cushion for her feet. It was not 
 until this was done, and until she had resigned her 
 fan to the slave, who stood behind her slowly waving 
 the plumed toy to and fro, that she turned her lovely 
 face upon us and bade us be seated. 
 
 An hour later a whippoorwill uttered its cry close 
 to the window, through which now shone the crescent 
 moon. Rolfe started up. " Beshrew me ! but I had 
 forgot that I am to sleep at Chaplain's to-night. I 
 must hurry on." 
 
 I rose, also. " You have had no supper ! " I cried. 
 " I too have forgotten." 
 
 He shook his head. " I cannot wait. Moreover, I 
 have feasted, — yea, and drunk deep." 
 
 His eyes were very bright, with an exaltation in 
 them as of wine. Mine, I felt, had the same light. 
 Indeed, we were both drunk with her laughter, her 
 beauty, and her wit. When he had kissed her hand, 
 and I had followed him out of the house and down the 
 bank, he broke the silence. 
 
 " Why she came to Virginia I do not know " — 
 
 " Nor care to ask," I said. 
 
 "Nor care to ask," he repeated, meeting my gaze. 
 " And I know neither her name nor her rank. But 
 
IN WHICH A WOMAN HAS HER WAY 43 
 
 as I stand here, Ralph, I saw her, a guest, at that 
 feast of which I spoke ; and Edwyn Sandys picked 
 not his maids from such assemblies." 
 
 I stopped him with my hand upon his shoulder. 
 " She is one of Sandys' maids," I asserted, with delib- 
 eration, " a waiting damsel who wearied of service and 
 came to Virginia to better herself. She was landed 
 with her mates at Jamestown a week or more agone, 
 went with them to church and thence to the courting 
 meadow, where she and Captain Ralph Percy, a gen- 
 tleman adventurer, so pleased each other that they 
 were married forthwith. That same day he brought 
 her to his house, where she now abides, his wife, and 
 as such to be honored by those who call themselves his 
 friends. And she is not to be lightly spoken of, nor 
 comment passed upon her grace, beauty, and bearing 
 (something too great for her station, I admit), lest 
 idle tales should get abroad." 
 
 "Am I not thy friend, Ralph?" he asked with 
 smiling eyes. 
 
 " I have thought so at times," I answered. 
 
 " My friend's honor is my honor," he went on. 
 " Where his lips are sealed mine open not. Art con- 
 tent?" 
 
 " Content," I said, and pressed the hand he held 
 out to me. 
 
 We reached the steps of the wharf, and descending 
 them he entered his barge, rocking lazily with the 
 advancing tide. His rowers cast loose from the 
 piles, and the black water slowly widened between us. 
 From over my shoulder came a sudden bright gleam 
 of light from the house above, and I knew that Mis- 
 tress Percy was as usual wasting good pine knots. I 
 had a vision of the many lights within, and of the 
 
44 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 beauty whom the world called rny wife, sitting erect, 
 bathed in that rosy glow, in the great armchair, v :th 
 the turbaned negress behind her. I suppose Rolfe 
 saw the same thing, for he looked from the light to 
 me, and I heard him draw his breath. 
 
 " Ralph Percy, thou art the very button upon the 
 cap of Fortune," he said. 
 
 To myself my laugh sounded something of the bit- 
 terest, but to him, I presume, it vaunted my return 
 through the darkness to the lit room and its resplend- 
 ent pearl. He waved farewell, and the dusk swal- 
 lowed up him and his boat. I went back to the house 
 and to her. 
 
 She was sitting as we had left her, with her small 
 feet crossed upon the cushion beneath them, her hands 
 folded in her silken lap, the air from the waving fan 
 blowing tendrils of her dark hair against her delicate 
 standing ruff. I went and leaned against the window, 
 facing her. 
 
 " I have been chosen Burgess for this hundred," I 
 said abruptly. " The Assembly meets next week. I 
 must be in Jamestown then and for some time to 
 come." 
 
 She took the fan from the negress, and waved it 
 lazily to and fro. "When do we go?" she asked at 
 last. 
 
 " We ! " I answered. "I had thought to go alone." 
 
 The fan dropped to the floor, and her eyes opened 
 wide. " And leave me here ! " she exclaimed. " Leave 
 me in these woods, at the mercy of Indians, wolves, 
 and your rabble of servants ! " 
 
 I smiled. " We are at peace with the Indians ; it 
 would be a stout wolf that could leap this palisade ; 
 the servants know their master too well to care 
 
IN WHICH A WOMAN HAS HER WAY 45 
 
 to offend their mistress. Moreover, I would leave 
 Diccon in charge." 
 
 " Diccon ! " she cried. " The old woman in the 
 kitchen hath told me tales of Diccon ! Diccon Bravo ! 
 Diccon Gamester ! Diccon Cutthroat ! " 
 
 "Granted," I said. "But Diccon Faithful as well. 
 I can trust him." 
 
 " But I do not trust him ! " she retorted. " And 
 I wish to go to Jamestown. This forest wearies me." 
 Her tone was imperious. 
 
 " I must think it over," I said coolly. " I may 
 take you, or I may not. I cannot tell yet." 
 
 " But I desire to go, sir ! " 
 
 " And I may desire you to stay." 
 
 " You are a churl ! " 
 
 I bowed. " I am the man of your choice, madam." 
 
 She rose with a stamp of her foot, and, turning her 
 back upon me, took a flower from the table and com- 
 menced to pull from it its petals. I unsheathed my 
 sword, and, seating myself, began to polish away a 
 speck of rust upon the blade. Ten minutes later I 
 looked up from the task, to receive full in my face 
 a red rose tossed from the other side of the room. 
 The missile was followed by an enchanting burst of 
 laughter. 
 
 " We cannot afford to quarrel, can we ? " cried 
 Mistress Joceiyn Percy. " Life is sad enough in this 
 solitude without that. Nothing but trees and water 
 all day long, and not a sc speak to ! And I am 
 
 horribly afraid of the Ivj .ans ! What if they were 
 to kill me while you were away ? You know you 
 swore before the minister to protect me. You won't 
 leave me to the mercies of the savages, will you? 
 And I may go to Jamestown, may n't I ? I want to 
 
46 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 go to church. I want to go to the Governor's house. 
 I want to buy a many things. I have gold in plenty, 
 and but this one decent dress. You '11 take me with 
 you, won't you? " 
 
 "There's not your like in Virginia," I told her. 
 " If you go to town clad like that and with that bear- 
 ing, there will be talk enough. And ships come and 
 go, and there are those besides Rolfe who have been 
 to London." 
 
 For a moment the laughter died from her eyes and 
 lips, but it returned. " Let them talk," she said. 
 " What care I ? And I do not think your ship cap- 
 tains, your traders and adventurers, do often dine 
 with my lord bishop. This barbarous forest world 
 and another world that I wot of are so far apart that 
 the inhabitants of the one do not trouble those of the 
 other. In that petty village down there I am safe 
 enough. Besides, sir, you wear a sword." 
 
 " My sword is ever at your service, madam." 
 
 " Then I may go to Jamestown ? " 
 
 " If you will it so." 
 
 With her bright eyes upon me, and with one hand 
 softly striking a rose against her laughing lips, she 
 extended the other hand. 
 
 " You may kiss it, if you wish, sir," she said de- 
 murely. 
 
 I knelt and kissed the white fingers, and four days 
 later we went to Jamestown. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN WHICH WE GO TO JAMESTOWN 
 
 It was early morning when we set out on horse- 
 back for Jamestown. I rode in front, with Mistress 
 Percy upon a pillion behind me, and Diccon on the 
 brown mare brought up the rear. The negress and 
 the mails I had sent by boat. 
 
 Now, a ride through the green wood with a noble 
 horse beneath you, and around you the freshness of 
 the morn, is pleasant enough. Each twig had its 
 row of diamonds, and the wet leaves that we pushed 
 aside spilled gems upon us. The horses set their 
 hoofs daintily upon fern and moss and lush grass. In 
 the purple distances deer stood at gaze, the air rang 
 with innumerable bird notes, clear and sweet, squir- 
 rels chattered, bees hummed, and through the thick 
 leafy roof of the forest the sun showered gold dust. 
 And Mistress Jocelyn Percy was as merry as the 
 morning. It was now fourteen days since she and I 
 had first met, and in that time I had found in her 
 thrice that number of moods. She could be as gay 
 and sweet as the morning, as dark and vengeful as the 
 storms that came up of afternoons, pensive as the 
 twilight, stately as the night, — in her there met a 
 hundred minds. Also she could be childishly frank 
 — and tell you nothing. 
 
 To-day she chose to be gracious. Ten times in an 
 hour Diccon was off his horse to pluck this or that 
 
4& TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 flower that her white forefinger pointed out. She wove 
 the blooms into a chaplet, and placed it upon her 
 head ; she rilled her lap with trailers of the vine that 
 swayed against us, and stained her fingers and lips 
 with the berries Diccon brought her ; she laughed at 
 the squirrels, at the scurrying partridges, at the tur- 
 keys that crossed our path, at the fish that leaped 
 from the brooks, at old Jocomb and his sons who fer- 
 ried us across the Chickahominy. She was curious 
 concerning the musket I carried ; and when, in an 
 open space in the wood, we saw an eagle perched upon 
 a blasted pine, she demanded my pistol. I took it 
 from my belt and gave it to her, with a laugh. " I 
 will eat all of your killing," I said. 
 
 She aimed the weapon. " A wager ! " she declared. 
 " There be mercers in Jamestown ? If I hit, thou 'It 
 buy me a pearl hatband ? " 
 
 "Two." 
 
 She fired, and the bird rose with a scream of wrath 
 and sailed away. But two or three feathers came float- 
 ing to the ground, and when Diccon had brought them 
 to her she pointed triumphantly to the blood upon 
 them. " You said two ! " she cried. 
 
 The sun rose higher, and the heat of the day set in. 
 Mistress Percy's interest in forest bloom and creature 
 flagged. Instead of laughter, we had sighs at the 
 length of way ; the vines slid from her lap, and she 
 took the faded flowers from her head and cast them 
 aside. She talked no more, and by and by I felt her 
 L&ad droop against my shoulder. 
 
 " Madam is asleep," said Diccon's voice behind me. 
 
 " Ay," I answered. " She '11 find a jack of mail 
 but a hard pillow. And look to her that she does not 
 fall." 
 
IN WHICH WE GO TO JAMESTOWN 49 
 
 *' I had best walk beside you, then," he said. 
 
 I nodded, and he dismounted, and throwing the 
 mare's bridle over his arm strode on beside us, with 
 his hand upon the frame of the pillion. Ten minutes 
 passed, the last five of which I rode with my face over 
 my shoulder. " Diccon ! " I cried at last, sharply. 
 
 He came to his senses with a start. " Ay, sir ? " he 
 questioned, his face dark red. 
 
 " Suppose you look at me for a change," I said. 
 " How long since Dale came in, Diccon ? " 
 
 " Ten years, sir." 
 
 " Before we enter Jamestown we '11 pass through 
 a certain field and beneath a certain tree. Do you 
 remember what happened there, some years ago ? " 
 
 " I am not like to forget, sir. You saved me from 
 the wheel." 
 
 " Upon which you were bound, ready to be broken 
 for drunkenness, gaming, and loose living. I begged 
 your life from Dale for no other reason, I think, than 
 that you had been a horse-boy in my old company in 
 the Low Countries. God wot, the life was scarcely 
 worth the saving ! " 
 
 " I know it, sir." 
 
 " Dale would not let you go scot-free, but would 
 sell you into slavery. At your own entreaty I bought 
 you, since when you have served me indifferently well. 
 You have showed small penitence for past misdeeds, 
 and your amendment hath been of yet lesser bulk. 
 A hardy rogue thou wast born, and a rogue thou wilt 
 remain to the end of time. But we have lived and 
 hunted, fought and bled together, and in our own 
 fashion I think we bear each other good will, — even 
 some love. I have winked at much, have shielded 
 you in much, perhaps. In return I have demanded 
 
50 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 one tiling, which if you had not given I would have 
 found you another Dale to deal with." 
 
 " Have I ever refused it, my captain ? " 
 
 " Not yet. Take your hand from that pillion and 
 hold it up ; then say after me these words : ' This 
 lady is my mistress, my master's wife, to be by me 
 reverenced as such. Her face is not for my eyes nor 
 her hand for my lips. If I keep not myself clean of 
 all offense toward her, may God approve that which 
 my master shall do ! ' " 
 
 The blood rushed to his face. I watched his fingers 
 slowly loosening their grasp. 
 
 " Tardy obedience is of the house of mutiny," I 
 said sternly. " Will you, sirrah, or will you not? " 
 
 He raised his hand and repeated the words. 
 
 " Now hold her as before," I ordered, and, straight- 
 ening myself in the saddle, rode on, with my eyes 
 once more on the path before me. 
 
 A mile further on, Mistress Percy stirred and raised 
 her head from my shoulder. " Not at Jamestown 
 yet? " she sighed, as yet but half awake. " Oh, the 
 endless trees! I dreamed I was hawking at Windsor, 
 and then suddenly I was here in this forest, a bird, 
 happy because I was free ; and then a falcon came 
 swooping down upon me, — it had me in its talons, 
 and I changed to myself again, and it changed to — 
 What am I saying? I am talking in my sleep. Whc 
 is that singing ? " 
 
 In fact, from the woods in front of us, and not a 
 bowshot away, rang out a powerful voice : — 
 
 " ' In the merry month of May, 
 In a morn hy break of day, 
 With a troop of damsels playing 
 Forth I went, forsooth, a-maying ; ' " 
 
IN WHICH WE GO TO JAMESTOWN 51 
 
 and presently, the trees thinning in front of us, we 
 came upon a little open glade and upon the singer. 
 He lay on his back, on the soft turf beneath an oak, 
 with his hands clasped behind his head and his eyes 
 upturned to the blue sky showing between leaf and 
 branch. On one knee crossed above the other sat a ^jr 
 squirrel with a nut in its paws, and half a dozen 
 others scampered here and there over his great body, 
 like so many frolicsome kittens. At a little distance 
 grazed an old horse, gray and gaunt, springhalt and 
 spavined, with ribs like Death's own. Its saddle and 
 bridle adorned a limb of the oak. 
 The song went cheerfully on : — 
 
 " ' Much ado there was, God wot : 
 He would love and she would not ; 
 
 She said, " Never man was true." 
 He said, " None was false to you." ' " 
 
 " Give you good-day, reverend sir ! : ' I called. 
 " Art conning next Sunday's hymn ? " 
 
 Nothing abashed, Master Jeremy Sparrow gently 
 shook off the squirrels, and getting to his feet ad- 
 vanced to meet us. 
 
 " A toy," he declared, with a wave of his hand, " a 
 trifle, a silly old song that came into my mind un- 
 awares, the leaves being so green and the sky so blue. 
 Had you come a little earlier or a little later, you 
 would have heard the ninetieth psalm. Give you 
 good-day, madam. I must have sung for that the 
 very queen of May was coming by." 
 
 " Art on your way to Jamestown ? " I demanded. 
 " Come ride with us. Diccon, saddle his reverence's 
 horse." 
 
 " Saddle him an thou wilt, friend," said Master 
 Sparrow, " for he and I have idled long enough, but 
 
52 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 I fear I cannot keep pace with this fair company. 1 
 and the horse are footing it together." 
 
 "He is not long for this world," I remarked, eyeing 
 his ill-favored steed, " but neither are we far from 
 Jamestown. He '11 last that far." 
 
 Master Sparrow shook his head, with a rueful 
 countenance. " I bought him from one of the French 
 vignerons below Westover," he said. " The fellow 
 was astride the poor creature, beating him with a 
 club because he could not go. I laid Monsieur Cra- 
 paud in the dust, after which we compounded, he for 
 my purse, I for the animal ; since when the poor beast 
 and I have tramped it together, for I could not in 
 conscience ride him. Have you read me -ZEsop his 
 fables, Captain Percy ? " 
 
 " I remember the man, the boy, and the ass," I re- 
 plied. " The ass came to grief in the end. Put thy 
 scruples in thy pocket, man, and mount thy pale 
 horse." 
 
 " Not I ! " he said, with a smile. " 'T is a thousand 
 pities, Captain Percy, that a small, mean, and squeam- 
 ish spirit like mine should be cased like a very Guy 
 of Warwick. Now, if I were slight of body, or even 
 if I were no heavier than your servant there " — 
 
 " Oh ! " I said. " Diccon, give his reverence the 
 mare, and do you mount his horse and bring him 
 slowly on to town. If he will not carry you, you can 
 lead him in." 
 
 Sunshine revisited the countenance of Master Jer- 
 emy Sparrow ; he swung his great body into the 
 saddle, gathered up the reins, and made the mare to 
 caracole across the path for very joy. 
 
 " Have a care of the poor brute, friend ! " he cried 
 genially to Diccon, whose looks were of the sulkiest, 
 
IN WHICH WE GO TO JAMESTOWN 53 
 
 " Bring him gently on, and leave him at Master 
 Bucke's, near to the church." 
 
 " What do you do at Jamestown ? " I asked, as we 
 passed from out the glade into the gloom of a pine 
 wood. " I was told that you were gone to Henricus, 
 fco help Master Thorpe convert the Indians." 
 
 " Ay," he answered, " I did go. I had a call, — I 
 was sure I had a call. I thought of myself as a very 
 apostle to the Gentiles. I went from Henricus one 
 day's journey into the wilderness, with none but an 
 Indian lad for interpreter, and coming to an Indian 
 village gathered its inhabitants about me, and sitting 
 down upon a hillock read and expounded to them the 
 Sermon on the Mount. I was much edified by the 
 solemnity of their demeanor and the earnestness of 
 their attention, and had conceived great hopes for 
 their spiritual welfare, when, the reading and exhorta- 
 tion being finished, one of their old men arose and 
 made me a long speech, which I could not well under- 
 stand, but took to be one of grateful welcome to my- 
 self and my tidings of peace and good will. He then 
 desired me to tarry with them, and to be present at some 
 entertainment or other, the nature of which I could 
 not make out. I tarried ; and toward evening they 
 conducted me with much ceremony to an open space 
 in the midst of the village. There I found planted 
 in the ground a thick stake, and around it a ring of 
 flaming brushwood. To the stake was fastened an 
 Indian warrior, captured, so my interpreter informed 
 me, from some hostile tribe above the falls. His arms 
 and ankles were secured to the stake by means of 
 thongs passed through incisions in the flesh ; his body 
 was stuck over with countless pine splinters, each 
 burning like a miniature torch ; and on his shaven 
 
• 
 
 64 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 crown was tied a thin plate of copper heaped with 
 red-hot coals. A little to one side appeared another 
 stake and another circle of brushwood : the one with 
 nothing tied to it as yet, and the other still unlit. 
 My friend, I did not tarry to see it lit. I tore a branch 
 from an oak, and I became as Samson with the jaw 
 bone of the ass. I fell upon and smote those Philis^ 
 tines. Their wretched victim was beyond all human 
 help, but I dearly avenged him upon his enemies. 
 And they had their pains for naught when they 
 planted that second stake and laid the brush for their 
 hell fire. At last I dropped into the stream upon 
 which their damnable village was situate, and got 
 safely away. Next day I went to George Thorpe and 
 resigned my ministry, telling him that we were no- 
 where commanded to preach to devils ; when the Com- 
 pany was ready to send shot and steel amongst them, 
 they might count upon me. After which I came down 
 the river to Jamestown, where I found worthy Master 
 ~t Bucke well-nigh despaired of with the fever. Finally 
 *, he was taken up river for change of air, and, for lack 
 of worthier substitute, the Governor and Captain West 
 constrained me to remain and minister to the shep- 
 herdless flock. Where will you lodge, good sir ? " 
 
 " I do not know," I said. " The town will be full, 
 and the guest house is not yet finished." 
 
 " Why not come to me ? " he asked. " There are 
 none in the minister's house but me and Goodwife 
 Allen who keeps it. There are five fair large rooms 
 and a goodly garden, though the trees do too much 
 shadow the house. If you will come and let the sun- 
 shine in," — a bow and smile for madam, — "I shall 
 be your debtor." 
 
 His plan pleased me well. Except the Governor's 
 
IN WHICH WE GO TO JAMESTOWN 55 
 
 and Captain West's, the minister's house was the best 
 in the town. It was retired, too, being set in its 
 own grounds, and not upon the street, and I desired 
 privacy. Goodwife Allen was stolid and incurious. 
 Moreover, I liked Master Jeremy Sparrow. 
 
 I accepted his hospitality and gave him thanks. 
 He waved them away, and fell to complimenting Mis- 
 tress Percy, who was pleased to be gracious to us 
 both. Well content for the moment with the world 
 and ourselves, we fared on through the alternating 
 sunshine and shade, and were happy with the careless 
 inhabitants of the forest. Over soon we came to the 
 peninsula, and crossed the neck of land. Before us 
 lay the town : to the outer eye a poor and mean vil- 
 lage, indeed, but to the inner the stronghold and capi- 
 tal of our race in the western world, the germ from 
 which might spring stately cities, the newborn babe 
 which might in time equal its parent in stature, 
 strength, and comeliness. So I and a few besides, 
 both in Virginia and at home, viewed the mean 
 houses, the poor church and rude fort, and loved the 
 spot which had witnessed much suffering and small 
 joy, but which held within it the future, which was 
 even now a bit in the mouth of Spain, a thing in it- 
 self outweighing all the toil and anguish of our plant- 
 ing. But there were others who saw only the mean- 
 ness of the place, its almost defenselessness, its fluxes 
 and fevers, the fewness of its inhabitants and the 
 number of its graves. Finding no gold and no earthly 
 paradise, and that in the sweat of their brow they 
 must eat their bread, they straightway fell into the 
 dumps, and either died out of sheer perversity, or 
 went yelping home to the Company with all manner 
 of dismal tales, — which tales, through my Lord War- 
 
56 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 wick's good offices, never failed to reach the sacred 
 ears of his Majesty, and to bring the colony and the 
 Company into disfavor. 
 
 We came to the palisade, and found the gates wide 
 open and the warder gone. 
 
 " Where be the people ? " marveled Master Spar- 
 row, as we rode through into the street. In truth, 
 where were the people ? On either side of the street 
 the doors of the houses stood open, but no person 
 looked out from them or loitered on the doorsteps ; 
 the square was empty ; there were no women at the 
 well, no children underfoot, no gaping crowd before 
 gaol and pillory, no guard before the Governor's 
 house, — not a soul, high or low, to be seen. 
 
 " Have they all migrated ? " cried Sparrow. " Are 
 they gone to Croatan ? " 
 
 " They have left one to tell the tale, then," I said, 
 " for here he comes running." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 IN WHICH WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD 
 
 A man came panting down the street. " Captain 
 Ralph Percy ! " he cried. " My master said it was 
 your horse coming across the neck. The Governor 
 commands your attendance at once, sir." 
 
 " Where is the Governor ? Where are all the peo- 
 ple ? " I demanded. 
 
 " At the fort. They are all at the fort or on the 
 bank below. Oh, sirs, a woeful day for us all ! " 
 
 " A woeful day ! " I exclaimed. " What 's the 
 matter ? " 
 
 The man, whom I recognized as one of the com- 
 mander's servants, a fellow with the soul of a French 
 valet de chambre, was wild with terror. 
 
 " They are at the guns ! " he quavered. " Alacka- 
 day ! what can a few sakers and demiculverins do 
 against them ? " 
 
 " Against tuhom ? " I cried. 
 
 " They are giving out pikes and cutlasses ! Woe 's 
 me, the sight of naked steel hath ever made me 
 sick!" 
 
 I drew my dagger, and flashed it before him. 
 " Does 't make you sick ? " I asked. " You shall be 
 sicker yet, if you do not speak to some purpose." 
 
 The fellow shrank back, his eyeballs starting from 
 his head. 
 
 " It 's a tall ship," he gasped, " a very big ship I 
 
S8 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 It hath ten culverins, beside fowlers and murderers, 
 sakers, falcons, and bases ! " 
 
 I took him by the collar and shook him off his feet. 
 
 " There are priests on board ! " he managed to say 
 as I set him down. " This time to-morrrow we '11 
 all be on the rack ! And next week the galleys will 
 have us ! " 
 
 " It 's the Spaniard at last," I said. " Come on ! " 
 
 When we reached the river bank before the fort, it 
 was to find confusion worse confounded. The gates 
 of the palisade were open, and through them streamed 
 Councilors, Burgesses, and officers, while the bank 
 itself was thronged with the generality. Ancient 
 planters, Smith's men, Dale's men, tenants and ser- 
 vants, women and children, including the little eyases 
 we imported the year before, negroes, Paspaheghs, 
 French vignerons, Dutch sawmill men, Italian glass- 
 workers, — all seethed to and fro, all talked at once, 
 and all looked down the river. Out of the babel of 
 voices these words came to us over and over : " The 
 Spaniard!" "The Inquisition!" "The galleys!" 
 They were the words oftenest heard at that time, 
 when strange sails hove in sight. 
 
 But where was the Spaniard ? On the river, hug- 
 ging the shore, were many small craft, barges, shallops, 
 sloops, and pinnaces, and beyond them the masts of 
 the Truelove, the Due Return, and the Tiger, then in 
 port ; on these three, of which the largest, the Due 
 Return, was of but eighty tons burthen, the mariners 
 were running about and the masters bawling orders. 
 But there was no other ship, no bark, galleon, or man- 
 of-war, with three tiers of grinning ordnance, and the 
 hated yellow flag flaunting above. 
 
 I sprang from my horse, and, leaving it and Mis- 
 
WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD 59 
 
 tress Percy in Sparrow's charge, hastened up to the 
 fort. As I passed through the palisade I heard my 
 name called, and turning waited for Master Pory to 
 come up. He was panting and puffing, his jovial face 
 very red. 
 
 " I was across the neck of land when I heard the 
 news," he said. " I ran all the way, and am some- 
 what scant of breath. Here 's the devil to pay ! " 
 
 "It looks another mare's-nest," I replied. "We 
 have cried ' Spaniard ! ' pretty often." 
 
 " But this time the wolf 's here," he answered. " Da- 
 vies sent a horseman at a gallop from Algernon with 
 the tidings. He passed the ship, and it was a very 
 great one. We may thank this dead calm that it did 
 not catch us unawares." 
 
 Within the palisade was noise enough, but more 
 order than without. On the half-moons command- 
 ing the river, gunners were busy about our sakers, 
 falcons, and three culverins. In one place, West, the 
 commander, was giving out brigandines, jacks, skulls, 
 muskets, halberds, swords, and longbows ; in another, 
 his wife, who was a very Mary Ambree, supervised 
 the boiling of a great caldron of pitch. Each loop- 
 hole in palisade and fort had already its marksman. 
 Through the west port came a horde of reluctant in- 
 vaders, — cattle, swine, and poultry, — driven in by 
 yelling boys. 
 
 I made my way through the press to where I saw 
 the Governor, surrounded by Councilors and Bur- 
 gesses, sitting on a keg of powder, and issuing orders 
 at the top of his voice. " Ha, Captain Percy ! " he 
 cried, as I came up. " You are in good time, man ! 
 You 've served your apprenticeship at the wars. You 
 must teach us how to beat the dons." 
 
60 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " To Englishmen, that conies by nature, sir," I said. 
 "Art sure we are to have the pleasure?" 
 
 " Not a doubt of it this time," he answered. " The 
 ship slipped in past the Point last night. Davies 
 signaled her to stop, and then sent a ball over her; 
 but she kept on. True, it was too dark to make out 
 much ; but if she were friendly, why did she not stop 
 for castle duties ? Moreover, they say she was of at 
 least five hundred tons, and no ship of that size hath 
 ever visited these waters. There was no wind, and 
 they sent a man on at once, hoping to outstrip the 
 enemy and warn us. The man changed horses at 
 Basse's Choice, and passed the ship about dawn. All 
 he could tell for the mist was that it was a very great 
 ship, with three tiers of guns." 
 
 " The flag ? " 
 
 " She carried none." 
 
 '" Humph ! " I said. " It hath a suspicious look. 
 At least we do well to be ready. We '11 give them a 
 warm welcome." 
 
 " There are those here who counsel surrender," con 
 tinued the Governor. " There 's one, at least, who 
 wants the Tiger sent downstream with a white flag 
 and my sword." 
 
 " Where ? " I cried. " He 's no Englishman, I war- 
 rant ! " 
 
 " As much an Englishman as thou, sir ! " called out 
 a gentleman whom I had encountered before, to wit, 
 Master Edward Sharpless. " It 's well enough for 
 svvingebuckler captains, Low Country fire-eaters, to 
 talk of holding out againt a Spanish man-of-war with 
 twice our number of fighting men, and enough ord- 
 nance to batter the town out of existence. Wise men 
 know when the odds are too heavy ! " 
 
WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD 61 
 
 " It 's well enough for lily-livered, goose-fleshed law- 
 yers to hold their tongues when men and soldiers 
 talk," I retorted. " We are not making indentures 
 to the devil, and so have no need of such gentry." 
 
 There was a roar of laughter from the captains and 
 gunners, but terror of the Spaniard had made Master 
 Edward Sharpless bold to all besides. 
 
 " They will wipe us off the face of the earth ! " he 
 lamented. " There won't be an Englishman left in 
 America ! They '11 come close in upon us ! They '11 
 batter down the fort with their culverins ; they '11 turn 
 all their swivels, sakers, and falcons upon us ; they '11 
 throw into our midst stinkpots and grenades ; they '11 
 mow us down with chain shot ! Their gunners never 
 miss ! " His voice rose to a scream, and he shook as 
 with an ague. " Are you mad ? It 's Spain that 's to 
 be fought ! Spain the rich ! Spain the powerful ! 
 Spain the lord of the New World! " 
 
 "It's England that fights!" I cried. " For very 
 shame, hold thy tongue ! " 
 
 " If we surrender at once, they '11 let us go ! " he 
 whined. " We can take the small boats and get to 
 the Bermudas. They '11 let us go." 
 
 " Into the galleys," muttered West. 
 
 The craven tried another feint. " Think of the 
 women and children ! " 
 
 " We do," I said sternly. " Silence, fool ! " 
 
 The Governor, a brave and honest man, rose from 
 the keg of powder. " All this is foreign to the mat- 
 ter, Master Sharpless. I think our duty is clear, be 
 the odds what they may. This is our post, and we will 
 hold it or die beside it. We are few in number, but 
 we are England in America, and I think we will 
 remain here. This is the King's fifth kingdom, and 
 
62 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 we will keep it for him. We will trust in the Lord 
 and fight it out." 
 
 " Amen," I said, and "Amen," said the ring of 
 Councilors and Burgesses and the armed men beyond. 
 
 The hum of voices now rose into excited cries, and 
 the watchman stationed atop the big culverin called 
 out, " Sail ho ! " With one accord we turned our 
 faces downstream. There was the ship, undoubtedly. 
 Moreover, a strong breeze had sprung up, blowing 
 from the sea, filling her white sails, and rapidly less- 
 ening the distance between us. As yet we could only 
 tell that she was indeed a large ship with all sail set. 
 
 Through the gates of the palisade now came, pell- 
 mell, the crowd without. In ten minutes' time the 
 women were in line ready to load the muskets, the 
 children sheltered as best they might be, the men in 
 ranks, the gunners at their guns, and the flag up. I 
 had run it up with my own hand, and as I stood be- 
 neath the folds Master Sparrow and my wife came to 
 my side. 
 
 " The women are over there," I said to the latter, 
 " where you had best betake yourself." 
 
 " I prefer to stay here," she answered. " I am not 
 afraid." Her color was high, and she held her head 
 up. " My father fought the Armada," she said. 
 " Get me a sword from that man who is giving them 
 out." 
 
 From his coign of vantage the watch now called 
 out : " She 's a long ship, — five hundred tons, any- 
 how ! Lord ! the metal that she carries ! She 's rase- 
 decked ! " 
 
 " Then she 's Spanish, sure enough ! " cried the 
 Governor. 
 
 From the crowd of servants, felons, and foreigners 
 
WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD 63 
 
 rose a great clamor, and presently we made out 
 Sharpless perched on a cask in their midst and wildly 
 gesticulating. 
 
 " The Tiger, the Truelove, and the Due Return 
 have swung across channel ! " announced the watch. 
 " They 've trained their guns on the Spaniard ! " 
 
 The Englishmen cheered, but the bastard crew about 
 Sharpless groaned. Extreme fear had made the law- 
 yer shameless. " What guns have those boats ? " he 
 screamed. "Two falcons apiece and a handful of 
 muskets, and they go out against a man-of-war ! 
 She '11 trample them underfoot ! She '11 sink them 
 with a shot, apiece ! The Tiger is forty tons, and the 
 Truelove is sixty. You 're all mad ! " 
 
 " Sometimes quality beats quantity," said West. 
 
 " Didst ever hear of the Content ? " sang out a 
 gunner. 
 
 " Or of the Merchant Royal ? " cried another. 
 
 " Or of the Revenge ? " quoth Master Jeremy Spar- 
 row. " Go hang thyself, coward, or, if you choose, 
 swim out to the Spaniard, and shift from thy wet 
 doublet and hose into a sanbenito. Let the don come, 
 shoot if he can, and land if he will ! We '11 singe his 
 beard in Virginia as we did at Cales ! 
 
 ' The great St. Philip, the pride of the Spaniards, 
 Was burnt to the bottom and sunk in the sea. 
 But the St. Andrew and eke the St. Matthew 
 We took in fight manfully and brought away.' 
 
 And so we '11 do with this one, my masters ! We '11 
 sink her, or we '11 take her and send her against her 
 own galleons and galleasses ! 
 
 ' Dub-a-dub, dtib-a-dub, thus strike their drams, 
 Tantara, tantara, the Englishman comes 1 ' " 
 
64 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 His great voice and great presence seized and held 
 the attention of all. Over his doublet of rusty black 
 he had clapped a yet rustier back and breast ; on his 
 bushy hair rode a headpiece many sizes too small ; by 
 his side was an old broadsword, and over his shoulder 
 a pike. Suddenly, from gay hardihood his counte- 
 nance changed to an expression more befitting his 
 calling. " Our cause is just, my masters ! " he cried. 
 " We stand here not for England alone ; we stand for 
 the love of law, for the love of liberty, for the fear of 
 God, who will not desert his servants and his cause, 
 nor give over to Anti-Christ this virgin world. This 
 plantation is the leaven which is to leaven the whole 
 lump, and surely he will hide it in the hollow of his 
 hand and in the shadow of his wing. God of battles, 
 hear us ! God of England, God of America, aid the 
 children of the one, the saviors of the other ! " 
 
 He had dropped the pike to raise his clasped hands 
 to the blue heavens, but now he lifted it again, threw 
 back his shoulders, and flung up his head. He laid 
 his hand on the flagstaff, and looked up to the banner 
 streaming in the breeze. " It looks well so high 
 against the blue, doesn't it, friends?" he cried gen- 
 ially. " Suppose we keep it there forever and a day ! " 
 
 A cheer arose, so loud that it silenced, if it did not 
 convince, the craven few. As for Master Edward 
 | Sharpless, he disappeared behind the line of women. 
 
 The great ship came steadily on, her white sails 
 growing larger and larger, moment by moment, her 
 tiers of guns more distinct and menacing, her whole 
 aspect more defiant. Her waist seemed packed with 
 men. But no streamers, no flag. 
 
 A puff of smoke floated up from the deck of the 
 Tiger, and a ball from one of her two tiny falcons 
 
WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD 65 
 
 passed through the stranger's rigging. A cheer for 
 the brave little cockboat arose from the English. 
 " David and his pebble ! " exclaimed Master Jeremy 
 Sparrow. " Now for Goliath's twenty-pounders ! " 
 
 But no flame and thunder issued from the guns 
 aboard the stranger. Instead, from her deck there 
 came to us what sounded mightily like a roar of 
 laughter. Suddenly, from each masthead and yard 
 shot out streamers of red and blue, up from the poop 
 rose and flaunted in the wind the crosses of St. George 
 and St. Andrew, and with a crash trumpet, drum, and 
 fife rushed into 
 
 " Here 's to jolly good ale and old ! " 
 
 "By the Lord, she's English ! " shouted the Gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 On she came, banners flying, music playing, and 
 inextinguishable laughter rising from her decks. The 
 Tiger, the Truelove, and the Due Return sent no more 
 hailstones against her ; they turned and resolved them- 
 selves into her consort. The watch, a grim old sea 
 dog that had come in with Dale, swung himself down 
 from his post, and came toward the Governor at a 
 run. " I know her now, sir ! " he shouted. " I was 
 at the winning of Gales, and she 's the Santa Teresa, 
 that we took and sent home to the Queen. She was 
 Spanish once, sir, but she 's English now." 
 
 The gates were flung open, and the excited people 
 poured out again upon the river bank. I found my- 
 self beside the Governor, whose honest countenance 
 wore an expression of profound bewilderment. 
 
 " What d' ye make of her, Percy ? " he said. " The 
 Company does n't send servants, felons, 'prentices, or 
 maids in such craft ; no, nor officers or governors, 
 
66 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 either. It 's the King's ship, sure enough, but what is 
 she doing here ? — ■ that 's the question. What does 
 she want, and whom does she bring ? " 
 
 " We '11 soon know," I answered, " for there goes 
 her anchor." 
 
 Five minutes later a boat was lowered from the 
 ship, and came swiftly toward us. The boat had four 
 rowers, and in the stern sat a tall man, black-bearded, 
 high-colored, and magnificently dressed. It touched 
 the sand some two hundred feet from the spot where 
 Governor, Councilors, officers, and a sprinkling of 
 other sorts stood staring at it, and at the great ship 
 beyond. The man in the stern leaped out, looked 
 around him, and then walked toward us. As he 
 walked slowly, we had leisure to note the richness of 
 his doublet and cloak, — the one slashed, the other 
 lined with scarlet taffeta, — the arrogance of his mien 
 and gait, and the superb full-blooded beauty of his 
 face. 
 
 " The handsomest man that ever I saw ! " ejaculated 
 the Governor. 
 
 Master Pory, standing beside him, drew in his 
 breath, then puffed it out again. " Handsome enough, 
 your Honor," he said, " unless handsome is as hand- 
 some does. That, gentlemen, is my Lord Carnal, — = 
 that is the King's latest favorite." 
 
CHAPTER VTII 
 
 IN WHICH ENTERS MY LOED CARNAL 
 
 I FELT a touch upon my shoulder, and turned to 
 find Mistress Percy beside me. Her cheeks were 
 white, her eyes aflame, her whole frame tense. The 
 passion that dominated her was so clearly anger at 
 white heat that I stared at her in amazement. Her 
 hand slid from my shoulder to the bend of my arm 
 and rested there. " Remember that I am your wife, 
 sir," she said in a low, fierce voice, — " your kind 
 and loving wife. You said that your sword was 
 mine ; now bring your wit to the same service ! " 
 
 There was not time to question her meaning. The 
 man whose position in the realm had just been an- 
 nounced by the Secretary, and of whom we had all 
 heard as one not unlikely to supplant even Bucking- 
 ham himself, was close at hand. The Governor, 
 headpiece in hand, stepped forward ; the other swept 
 off his Spanish hat ; both bowed profoundly. 
 
 " I speak to his Honor the Governor of Virginia ? " 
 inquired the newcomer. His tone was offhand, his 
 hat already back upon his head. 
 
 " I am George Yeardley, at my Lord Carnal's ser- 
 vice," answered the Governor. 
 
 The favorite raised his eyebrows. " I don't need 
 to introduce myself, it seems," he said. " You 've 
 found that I am not the devil, after all, — at least 
 not the Spanish Apollyon. Zooks ! a hawk above 
 
68 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 a poultry yard could n't have caused a greater com- 
 motion than did my poor little ship and my few poor 
 birding pieces ! Does every strange sail so put you 
 through your paces ? " 
 
 The Governor's color mounted. " We are not at 
 home," he answered stiffly. " Here we are few and 
 weak and surrounded by many dangers, and have 
 need to be vigilant, being planted, as it were, in the 
 very grasp of that Spain who holds Europe in awe, 
 and who claims this land as her own. That we are 
 here at all is proof enough of our courage, my lord." 
 
 The other shrugged his shoulders. " I don't doubt 
 your mettle," he said negligently. " I dare say it 
 matches your armor." 
 
 His glance had rested for a moment upon the bat- 
 tered headpiece and ancient rusty breastplate with 
 which Master Jeremy Sparrow was bedight. 
 
 " It is something antique, truly, something out of 
 fashion," remarked that worthy, — " almost as out of 
 fashion as courtesy from guests, or respect for digni- 
 ties from my-face-is-my-fortune minions and lords on 
 carpet considerations." 
 
 The hush of consternation following this audacious 
 speech was broken by a roar of laughter from the fa- 
 vorite himself. " Zounds ! " he cried, " your courage 
 is worn on your sleeve, good giant ! I '11 uphold you 
 to face Spaniards, strappado, rack, galleys, and all ! " 
 
 The bravado with which he spoke, the insolence of 
 his bold glance and curled lip, the arrogance witb 
 which he flaunted that King's favor which should be 
 a brand more infamous than the hangman's, his beauty, 
 the pomp of his dress, — all were alike hateful. I 
 II hated him then, scarce knowing why, as I hated him 
 II afterward with reason. 
 
IN WHICH ENTERS MY LORD CARNAL 69 
 
 He now pulled from the breast of his doublet a 
 packet, which he proffered the Governor. " From 
 the King, sir," he announced, in the half-fierce, half- 
 mocking tone he had made his own. " You may 
 read it at your leisure. He wishes you to further me 
 in a quest upon which I have come." 
 
 The Governor took the packet with reverence. 
 " His Majesty's will is our law," he said. " Anything 
 that lies in our power, sir ; though if you come for 
 gold " — 
 
 The favorite laughed again. " I 've come for a 
 thing a deal more precious, Sir Governor, — a thing 
 worth more to me than all the treasure of the Indies 
 with Manoa and El Dorado thrown in, — to wit, the 
 thing upon which I 've set my mind. That which I 
 determine to do, I do, sir ; and the thing I determine 
 to have, why, sooner or later, by hook or by crook, 
 fair means or foul, I have it ! I am not one to be 
 crossed or defied with impunity." 
 
 " I do not take your meaning, my lord," said the 
 Governor, puzzled, but courteous. " There are none 
 here who would care to thwart, in any honorable en- 
 terprise, a nobleman so high in the King's favor. I 
 trust that my Lord Carnal will make my poor house 
 his own during his stay in Virginia — What 's the 
 matter, my lord ? " 
 
 My lord's face was dark red, his black eyes afire, 
 his mustaches working up and down. His white 
 teeth had closed with a click on the loud oath which 
 had interrupted the Governor's speech. Honest Sir 
 George and his circle stared at this unaccountable 
 guest in amazement not unmixed with dismay. As 
 for myself, I knew before he spoke what had caused 
 the oath and fcfoe fierce triumph in that handsome 
 
70 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 face. Master Jeremy Sparrow had moved a little to 
 one side, thus exposing to view that which his great 
 body had before screened from observation, — namely, 
 Mistress Jocelyn Percy. 
 
 In a moment the favorite was before her, hat in 
 hand, bowing to the ground. 
 
 " My quest hath ended where I feared it but be- 
 gun ! " he cried, flushed and exultant. " I have found 
 my Manoa sooner than I thought for. Have you no 
 welcome for me, lady ? " 
 
 She withdrew her arm from mine and curtsied 
 to him profoundly ; then stood erect, indignant and 
 defiant, her eyes angry stars, her cheeks carnation, 
 scorn on her smiling lips. 
 
 " I cannot welcome you as you should be welcomed, 
 my lord," she said in a clear voice. " I have but my 
 bare hands. Manoa, my lord, lies far to the south- 
 ward. This land is quite out of your course, and you 
 will find here but your travail for your pains. My 
 lord, permit me to present to you my husband, Cap- 
 tain Ralph Percy. I think that you know his cousin, 
 my Lord of Northumberland." 
 
 The red left the favorite's cheeks, and he moved as 
 though a blow had been dealt him by some invisible 
 hand. Recovering himself he bowed to me, and I to 
 hisn, which done we looked each other in the eyes long 
 enough for each to see the thrown gauntlet. 
 
 " I raise it," I said. 
 
 " And I raise it," he answered. 
 
 " A l'outrance, I think, sir ? " I continued. 
 
 "A l'outrance," he assented. 
 
 " And between us two alone," I suggested. 
 
 His answering smile was not good to see, nor was the 
 tone in which he spoke to the Governor good to hear. 
 
IN WHICH ENTERS MY LORD CARNAL 71 
 
 "It is now some weeks, sir," he said, "since there 
 disappeared from court a jewel, a diamond of most 
 inestimable worth. It in some sort belong-ed to the 
 King, and his Majesty, in the goodness of his heart, 
 had promised it to a certain one, — nay, had sworn 
 by his kingdom that it should be his. Well, sir, that 
 man put forth his hand to claim his own — when lo ! 
 the jewel vanished ! Where it went no man could 
 tell. There was, as you may believe, a mighty run- 
 ning up and down and looking into dark corners, all 
 for naught, — it was clean gone. But the man to 
 whom that bright gem had been promised was not one 
 easily hoodwinked or baffled. He swore to trace it, 
 follow it, find it, and wear it." 
 
 His bold eyes left the Governor, to rest upon the 
 woman beside me ; had he pointed to her with his 
 hand, he could not have more surely drawn upon her 
 the regard of that motley throng. By degrees the 
 crowd had fallen back, leaving us three — the King's 
 minion, the masquerading lady, and myself — the 
 centre of a ring of staring faces ; but now she be- 
 came the sole target at which all eyes were directed. 
 
 In Virginia, at this time, the women of our own 
 race were held in high esteem. During the first years 
 of our planting they were a greater rarity than the 
 mocking-birds and flying squirrels, or than that weed 
 the eating of which made fools of men. The man 
 whose wife was loving and daring enough, or jealous 
 enough of Indian maids, to follow him into the wilder- 
 ness counted his friends by the score and never lacked 
 for company. The first marriage in Virginia was be- 
 tween a laborer and a waiting maid, and yet there was 
 as great s, 3eal of candy stuff as if it had been the 
 nuptials of a lieutenant of the shire. The brother of 
 
72 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 my Lord de la Warre stood up with the groom, the 
 brother of my Lord of Northumberland gave away 
 the bride and was the first to kiss her, and the Presi- 
 dent himself held the caudle to their lips that night. 
 Since that wedding there had been others. Gentle- 
 women made the Virginia voyage with husband or 
 father ; women signed as servants and came over, to 
 marry in three weeks' time, the husband paying good 
 tobacco for the wife's freedom ; in the cargoes of 
 children sent for apprentices there were many girls. 
 And last, but not least, had come Sir Edwyn's doves. 
 Things had changed since that day — at the memory 
 of which men still held their sides — when Madam 
 West, then the only woman in the town with youth and 
 beauty, had marched down the street to the pillory, 
 mounted it, called to her the drummer, and ordered 
 him to summon to the square by tuck of drum every 
 man in the place. Which done, and the amazed pop- 
 ulation at hand, gaping at the spectacle of the wife of 
 their commander (then absent from home) pilloried 
 before them, she gave command, through the crier, 
 that they should take their fill of gazing, whispering, 
 and nudging then and there, forever and a day, and 
 then should go about their business and give her leave 
 to mind her own. 
 
 That day was gone, but men still dropped their 
 work to see a woman pass, still cheered when a far- 
 thingale appeared over a ship's side, and at church 
 still devoted their eyes to other service than staring at 
 the minister. In our short but crowded history few 
 things had made a greater stir than the coming in of 
 Sir Edwyn's maids. They were married now, but 
 they were still the observed of all observers ; to be 
 pointed out to strangers, run after by children, gaped 
 
IN WHICH ENTERS MY LORD CARNAL 73 
 
 at by the vulgar, bowed to with broad smiles by Bur- 
 gess, Couucilor, and commander, and openly con- 
 temned by those dames who had attained to a husband 
 in somewhat more regular fashion. Of the ninety 
 who had arrived two weeks before, the greater num- 
 ber had found husbands in the town itself or in the 
 neighboring hundreds, so that in the crowd that had 
 gathered to withstand the Spaniard, and had stayed 
 to welcome the King's favorite, there were farthin- 
 gales not a few. 
 
 But there were none like the woman whose hand I 
 had kissed in the courting meadow. In the throng, 
 that day, in her Puritan dress and amid the crowd of 
 meaner beauties, she had passed without overmuch 
 comment, and since that day none had seen her save 
 Rolfe and the minister, my servants and myself ; and 
 when " The Spaniard ! " was cried, men thought of 
 other things than the beauty of women ; so that until 
 this moment she had escaped any special notice. Now 
 all that was changed. The Governor, following the 
 pointing of those insolent eyes, fixed his own upon 
 her in a stare of sheer amazement ; the gold-laced 
 quality about him craned necks, lifted eyebrows, and 
 whispered ; and the rabble behind followed their bet- 
 ters' example with an emphasis quite their own. 
 
 " Where do you suppose that jewel went, Sir Gov- 
 ernor," said the favorite, — " that jewel which was 
 overnice to shine at court, which set up its will against 
 the King's, which would have none of that one to 
 whom it had been given ? " 
 
 " I am a plain man, my lord," replied the Governor 
 bluntly. " An it please you, give me plain words." 
 
 My lord laughed, his eyes traveling round the ring 
 of greedily intent faces. " So be it, sir," he assented, 
 " May I ask who is this lady ? " 
 
74 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " She came in the Bonaventure," answered the Gov- 
 ernor. " She was one of the treasurer's poor maids." 
 
 " With whom I trod a measure at court not long 
 ago," said the favorite. " I had to wait for the honor 
 until the prince had been gratified." 
 
 The Governor's round eyes grew rounder. Young 
 Hamor, a-tiptoe behind him, drew a long, low whistle. 
 
 " In so small a community," went on my lord, 
 "sure you must all know one another. There can be 
 no masks worn, no false colors displayed. Everything 
 must be as open as daylight. But we all have a past as 
 well as a present. Now, for instance " — 
 
 I interrupted him. " In Virginia, my lord, we 
 live in the present. At present, my lord, I like not 
 the color of your lordship's cloak." 
 
 He stared at me, with his black brows drawn 
 together. "It is not of your choosing nor for your 
 wearing, sir," he rejoined haughtily. 
 
 " And your sword knot is villainously tied," I con- 
 tinued. " And I like not such a fh-e-new, bejeweled 
 scabbard. Mine, you see, is out at heel." 
 
 " I see," he said dryly. 
 
 " The pinking of your doublet suits me not, either," 
 I declared. " I could make it more to my liking," 
 and I touched his Genoa three-pile with the point of 
 my rapier. 
 
 A loud murmur arose from the crowd, and the Gov- 
 ernor started forward, crying out, " Captain Percy ! 
 Are you mad?" 
 
 " I was never saner in my life, sir," I answered. 
 " French fashions like me not, — that is all, — nor 
 Englishmen that wear them. To my thinking such 
 are scarcely true-born." 
 
 That thrust went home. All the world knew the 
 
IN WHICH ENTERS MY LORD CARNAL 75 
 
 story of my late Lord Carnal and the waiting woman 
 in the service of the French ambassador's wife. A 
 gasp of admiration went up from the crowd. My 
 lord's rapier was out, the hand that held it shaking 
 with passion. I had my blade in my hand, but the 
 point was upon the ground. " I '11 lesson you, you 
 madman ! " he said thickly. Suddenly, without any 
 warning, he thrust at me ; had he been less blind 
 with rage, the long score which each was to run up 
 against the other might have ended where it began. 
 I swerved, and the next instant with my own point 
 sent his rapier whirling. It fell at the Gqvernor'3 
 feet. 
 
 " Your lordship may pick it up," I remarked. 
 " Your grasp is as firm as your honor, my lord." 
 
 He glared at me, foam upon his lips. Men were 
 between us now, — the Governor, Francis West, Mas* 
 ter Pory, Hamor, Wynne, — and a babel of excited 
 voices arose. The diversion I had aimed to make had 
 been made with a vengeance. West had me by the 
 arm. " What a murrain is all this coil about, Ralph 
 Percy? If you hurt hair of his head, you are lost ! " 
 
 The favorite broke from the Governor's detaining 
 hand and conciliatory speech. 
 
 "You '11 fight, sir? " he cried hoarsely. 
 
 " You know that I need not now, my lord," I 
 answered. 
 
 He stamped upon the ground with rage and 
 shame ; not true shame for that foul thrust, but shame 
 for the sword upon the grass, for that which could be 
 read in men's eyes, strive to hide it as they might, 
 for the open scorn upon one face. Then, during the 
 minute or more in which we faced each other in silence, 
 he exerted to some effect that will of which he had 
 
?6 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 boasted. The scarlet faded from his face, his frame 
 steadied, and he forced a smile. Also he called to his 
 aid a certain soldierly, honest-seeming frankness of 
 speech and manner which lie could assume at will. 
 
 " Your Virginian sunshine dazzleth the eyes, sir," 
 he said. " Of a verity it made me think you on 
 guard. Forgive me my mistake." 
 
 I bowed. " Your lordship will find me at your ser- 
 vice. I lodge at the minister's house, where your 
 lordship's messenger will find me. I am going there 
 now with my wife, who hath ridden a score of miles 
 this morning and is weary. We give you good-day, 
 my lord." 
 
 I bowed to him again and to the Governor, then 
 gave my hand to Mistress Percy. The crowd opening 
 before us, we passed through it, and crossed the pa- 
 rade by the west bulwark. At the further end was a 
 bit of rising ground. This we mounted ; then, before 
 descending the other side into the lane leading to the 
 minister's house, we turned as by one impulse and 
 looked back. Life is like one of those endless Italian 
 corridors, painted, picture after picture, by a master 
 hand ; and man is the traveler through it, taking his 
 eyes from one scene but to rest them upon another. 
 Some remain a blur in his mind ; some he remembers 
 not ; for some he has but to close his eyes and he sees 
 them again, line for line, tint for tint, the whole 
 spirit of the piece. I close my eyes, and I see the 
 sunshine hot and bright, the blue of the skies, the 
 .sheen of the river. The sails are white again upon 
 boats long lost ; the Santa Teresa, sunk in a fight 
 with an Algerine rover two years afterward, rides at 
 anchor there forever in the James, her crew in the 
 waist and the rigging, her master and his mates cm 
 
IN WHICH ENTERS MY LORD CARNAL 77 
 
 the poop, above them the flag. I see the plain at our 
 feet and the crowd beyond, all staring with upturned 
 faces ; and standing out from the group of perplexed 
 and wondering dignitaries a man in black and scarlet, 
 one hand busy at his mouth, the other clenched upon 
 the newly restored and unsheathed sword. And I see, 
 standing on the green hillock, hand in hand, us two, 
 — myself and the woman so near to me, and yet so 
 far away that a common enemy seemed our only tie. 
 
 We turned and descended to the green lane and 
 the deserted houses. When we were quite hidden 
 from those we had left on the bank below the fort, 
 she dropped my hand and moved to the other side of 
 the lane ; and thus, with never a word to spare, we 
 walked sedately on until we reached the minister's 
 house. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 
 
 Waiting for us in the doorway we found Mastei 
 Jeremy Sparrow, relieved of his battered armor, his 
 face wreathed with hospitable smiles, and a posy in 
 his hand. 
 
 " When the Spaniard turned out to be only the 
 King's minion, I slipped away to see that all was in 
 order," he said genially. " Here are roses, madam, 
 that you are not to treat as you did those others." 
 
 She took them from him with a smile, and we went 
 into the house to find three fair large rooms, some- 
 thing bare of furnishing, but clean and sweet, with 
 here and there a bow pot of newly gathered flowers, 
 a dish of wardens on the table, and a cool air laden 
 with the fragrance of the pine blowing through the 
 open window. 
 
 " This is your demesne," quoth the minister. " I 
 have worthy Master Bucke's own chamber upstairs. 
 Ah, good man, I wish he may quickly recover his 
 strength and come back to his own, and so relieve me 
 of the burden of all this luxury. I, whom nature 
 meant for an eremite, have no business in kings' 
 chambers such as these." 
 
 His devout faith in his own distaste for soft living 
 and his longings after a hermit's cell was an edifying 
 spectacle. So was the evident pride which he took in 
 his domain, the complacence with which he pointed 
 
IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 79 
 
 out the shady, well-stocked garden, and bl&e delight 
 with which he produced and set upon the table a huge 
 pasty and a flagon of wine. 
 
 " It is a fast day with me," he said. " I may neither 
 eat nor drink until the sun goes down. The flesh 
 is a strong giant, very full of pride and lust of living, 
 and the spirit must needs keep watch and ward, seiz- 
 ing every opportunity to mortify and deject its adver- 
 sary. Goodwife Allen is still gaping with the crowd 
 at the fort, and your man and maid have not yet 
 come, but I shall be overhead if you need aught. 
 Mistress Percy must want rest after her ride." 
 
 He was gone, leaving us two alone together. She 
 stood opposite me, beside the window, from which she 
 had not moved since entering the room. The color 
 was still in her cheeks, the light in her eyes, and she 
 still held the roses with which Sparrow had heaped 
 her arms. I was moving to the table. 
 
 " Wait ! " she said, and I turned toward her again. 
 
 "Have you no questions to ask?" she demanded. 
 
 I shook my head. " None, madam." 
 
 " I was the King's ward ! " she cried. 
 
 I bowed, but spoke no word, though she waited 
 for me. 
 
 " If you will listen," she said at last, proudly, and 
 yet with a pleading sweetness, — " if you will listen, I 
 will tell you how it was that I — that I came to wrong 
 you so." 
 
 " I am listening, madam," I replied. 
 
 She stood against the light, the roses pressed to her 
 bosom, her dark eyes upon me, her head held high. 
 " My mother died when I was born ; my father, years 
 ago. I was the King's ward. While the Queen lived 
 she kept me with her, — she loved me, I think ; and 
 
80 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 ,the King too was kind, — would have me sing to him, 
 and would talk to me about witchcraft and the Scrip- 
 tures, and how rebellion to a king is rebellion to God. 
 When I was sixteen, and he tendered me marriage 
 with a Scotch lord, I, who loved the gentleman not, 
 never having seen him, prayed the King to take the 
 value of my marriage and leave me my freedom. He 
 was so good to me then that the Scotch lord was wed 
 elsewhere, and I danced at the wedding with a mind 
 at ease. Time passed, and the King was still my very 
 good lord. Then, one black day, my Lord Carnal 
 came to court, and the King looked at him oftener 
 than at his Grace of Buckingham. A few months, 
 and my lord's wish was the King's will. To do this 
 new favorite pleasure he forgot his ancient kindness 
 of heart ; yea, and he made the law of no account. I 
 was his kinswoman, and under my full age ; he would 
 give my hand to whom he chose. He chose to give it 
 to my Lord Carnal." 
 
 She broke off, and turned her face from me toward 
 the slant sunshine without the window. Thus far she 
 had spoken quietly, with a certain proud patience of 
 voice and bearing ; but as she stood there in a silence 
 which I did not break, the memory of her wrongs 
 brought the crimson to her cheeks and the anger 
 to her eyes. Suddenly she burst forth passionately : 
 " The King is the King ! What is a subject's will to 
 clash with his ? What weighs a woman's heart against 
 his whim? Little cared he that my hand held back, 
 grew cold at the touch of that other hand in which he 
 would have put it. What matter if my will was 
 against that marriage ? It was but the will of a girl, 
 and must be broken. All my world was with the 
 King ; I, who stood alone, was but a woman, young 
 
IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 81 
 
 and untaught. Oh, they pressed me sore, they angered 
 me to the very heart ! There was not one to fight my 
 battle, to help me in that strait, to show me a better 
 path than that I took. With all my heart, with all 
 my soul, with all my might, I hate that man which 
 that ship brought here to-day ! You know what I 
 did to escape them all, to escape that man. I fled 
 from England in the dress of my waiting maid and 
 under her name. I came to Virginia in that guise. 
 I let myself be put up, appraised, cried for sale, in 
 that meadow yonder, as if I had been indeed the 
 piece of merchandise I professed myself. The one 
 man who approached me with respect I gulled and 
 cheated. I let him, a stranger, give me his name. I 
 shelter myself now behind his name. I have foisted 
 on him my quarrel. I have — Oh, despise me, if 
 you will ! You cannot despise me more than I despise 
 myself ! " 
 
 I stood with my hand upon the table and my eyes 
 studying the shadow of the vines upon the floor. All 
 that she said was perfectly true, and yet — I had a 
 vision of a scarlet and black figure and a dark and 
 beautiful face. I too hated my Lord Carnal. 
 
 " I do not despise you, madam," I said at last. 
 " What was done two weeks ago in the meadow yon- 
 der is past recall. Let it rest. What is mine is 
 yours : it 's little beside my sword and my name. The 
 one is naturally at my wife's service ; for the other, I 
 have had some pride in keeping it untarnished. It is 
 now in your keeping as well as my own. I do not fear 
 to leave it there, madam." 
 
 I had spoken with my eyes upon the garden outside 
 the window, but now I looked at her, to see that she 
 was trembling in every limb, — trembling so that I 
 
82 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 thought she would fall. I hastened to her. " The 
 roses," she said, — " the roses are too heavy. Oh, I 
 am tired — and the room goes round." 
 
 I caught her as she fell, and laid her gently upon 
 the floor. There was water on the table, and I dashed 
 some in her face and moistened her lips ; then turned 
 to the door to get woman's help, and ran against 
 Diccon. 
 
 " I got that bag of bones here at last, sir," he began. 
 " If ever I " — His eyes traveled past me, and he 
 broke off. 
 
 " Don't stand there staring," I ordered. " Go 
 bring the first woman you meet." 
 
 " Is she dead ? " he asked under his breath. " Have 
 you killed her ? " 
 
 "Killed her, fool!" I cried. "Have you never 
 seen a woman swoon ? " 
 
 " She looks like death," he muttered. " I 
 thought " — 
 
 "You thought!" I exclaimed. "You have too 
 many thoughts. Begone, and call for help ! " 
 
 " Here is Angela," he said sullenly and without 
 offering to move, as, light of foot, soft of voice, ox- 
 eyed and docile, the black woman entered the room. 
 When I saw her upon her knees beside the motionless 
 figure, the head pillowed on her arm, her hand busy 
 with the fastenings about throat and bosom, her dark 
 face as womanly tender as any English mother's bend- 
 ing over her nursling ; and when I saw my wife, with 
 a little moan, creep further into the encircling arms, 
 I was satisfied. 
 
 " Come away ! " I said, and, followed by Diccon, 
 went out and shut the door. 
 
 My Lord Carnal was never one to let the grass 
 
COME AWAY!" I SAID - jz^t^^ 
 
IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 83 
 
 grow beneath his feet. An hour later came his cartel, 
 borne by no less a personage than the Secretary of the 
 colony. 
 
 I took it from the point of that worthy's rapier. 
 It ran thus : " Sir, — At what hour to-morrow and at 
 what place do you prefer to die ? And with what f j 
 weapon shall I kill you ? " 
 
 " Captain Percy will give me credit for the pro- 
 found reluctance with which I act in this affair 
 against a gentleman and an officer so high in the es- 
 teem of the colony," said Master Pory, with his hand 
 upon his heart. " When I tell him that I once fought 
 at Paris in a duel of six on the same side with my late 
 Lord Carnal, and that when I was last at court my 
 Lord Warwick did me the honor to present me to the 
 present lord, he will see that I could not well refuse 
 when the latter requested my aid." 
 
 "Master Pory's disinterestedness is perfectly well 
 known," I said, without a smile. " If he ever chooses 
 the stronger side, sure he has strong reasons for so 
 doing. He will oblige me by telling his principal that 
 I ever thought sunrise a pleasant hour for dying, and 
 that there could be no fitter place than the field be- 
 hind the church, convenient as it is to the graveyard. 
 As for weapons, I have heard that he is a good swords- 
 man, but I have some little reputation that way my- 
 self. If he prefers pistols or daggers, so be it." 
 
 " I think we may assume the sword," said Master 
 Pory. 
 
 I bowed. 
 
 " You '11 bring a friend ? " he asked. 
 
 " I do not despair of finding one," I answered, 
 " though my second, Master Secretary, will put him- 
 self in some jeopardy." 
 
84= TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " It is combat a outrance, I believe ? " 
 
 " I understand it so." 
 
 " Then we 'd better have Bohun. The survivor may 
 need his services." 
 
 " As you please," I replied, " though my man Die- 
 con dresses my scratches well enough." 
 
 He bit his lip, but could not hide the twinkle in 
 his eye. 
 
 "You are cocksure," he said. " Curiously enough, 
 so is my lord. There are no further formalities to 
 adjust, I believe? To-morrow at sunrise, behind the 
 church, and with rapiers ? " 
 
 "Precisely." 
 
 He slapped his blade back into its sheath. " Then 
 that 's over and done with, for the nonce at least ! 
 Sufficient unto the day, etcetera. 'S life ! I 'm hot 
 and dry ! You 've sacked cities, Ralph Percy ; now 
 sack me the minister's closet and bring out his sher- 
 ris. I '11 be at charges for the next communion." 
 
 We sat us down upon the doorstep with a tankard 
 of sack between us, and Master Pory drank, and 
 drank, and drank again. 
 
 "How's the crop?" he asked. "Martin reports 
 it poorer in quality than ever, but Sir George will 
 have it that it is very Varinas." 
 
 " It 's every whit as good as the Spanish," I an- 
 swered. " You may tell my Lord Warwick so, when 
 next you write." 
 
 He laughed. If he was a timeserver and leagued 
 with my Lord Warwick's faction in the Company, he 
 was a jovial sinner. Traveler and student, much of 
 a philosopher, more of a wit, and boon companion to 
 any beggar with a pottle of ale, — while the drink 
 lasted, — we might look askance at his dealings, but 
 
IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 85 
 
 we liked his company passing well. If he took half 
 a poor rustic's crop for his fee, he was ready enough 
 to toss him sixpence for drink money ; and if he made 
 the tenants of the lands allotted to his office leave their 
 tobacco uncared for whilst they rowed him on his in- 
 numerable roving expeditions up creeks and rivers, 
 he at least lightened their labors with most side-split- 
 ting tales, and with bottle songs learned in a thousand 
 taverns. 
 
 " After to-morrow there '11 be more interesting news 
 to write," he announced. " You 're a bold man, Cap- 
 tain Percy." 
 
 He looked at me out of the corners of his little 
 twinkling eyes. I sat and smoked in silence. 
 
 " The King begins to dote upon him," he said ; 
 " leans on his arm, plays with his hand, touches his 
 cheek. Buckingham stands by, biting his lip, his 
 brow like a thundercloud. You '11 find in to-morrow's 
 antagonist, Ralph Percy, as potent a conjurer as your 
 cousin Hotspur found in Glendower. He '11 conjure 
 you up the Tower, and a hanging, drawing, and quar- 
 tering;. Who touches the Kind's favorite had safer 
 touch the King. It 's lese-majeste you contemplate." 
 
 He lit his pipe and blew out a great cloud of smoke, 
 then burst into a roar of laughter. " My Lord High 
 Admiral may see you through. Zooks ! there '11 be 
 a raree-show worth the penny, behind the church to- 
 morrow, — a Percy striving with all his might and 
 main to serve a Villiers ! Eureka ! There is some- 
 thing new under the sun, despite the Preacher ! " He 
 blew out another cloud of smoke. By this the tank- 
 ard was empty, and his cheeks were red, his eyes 
 moist, and his laughter very ready. 
 
 "Where's the Lady Jocelyn Leigh?" he asked. 
 
86 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " May I not have the honor to kiss her hand before 
 I go?" 
 
 I stared at him. " I do not understand you," I 
 said coldly. " There 's none within but Mistress 
 Percy. She is weary, and rests after her journey. 
 We came from Weyanoke this morning." 
 
 He shook with laughter. " Ay, ay, brave it out ! " 
 he cried. " It 's what every man Jack of us said you 
 would do ! But all 's known, man ! The Governor 
 read the King's letters in full Council an hour ago. 
 She 's the Lady Jocelyn Leigh ; she 's a ward of the 
 King's; she and her lands are to wed my Lord Car- 
 nal ! " 
 
 " She was all that," I replied. " Now she 's my 
 wife." 
 
 " You '11 find that the Court of High Commission 
 will not agree with you." 
 
 My rapier lay across my knees, and I ran my hand 
 down its worn scabbard. " Here 's one that agrees 
 with me," I said. " And up there is Another," and 
 I lifted my hat. 
 
 He stared. " God and my good sword ! " he cried. 
 " A very knightly dependence, but not to be men- 
 tioned nowadays in the same breath with gold and 
 the King's favor. Better bend to the storm, man; 
 sing low while it roars past. You can swear that you 
 did n't know her to be of finer weave than dowlas. 
 Oh, they '11 call it in some sort a marriage, for the 
 lady's own sake ; but they '11 find flaws enough to 
 crack a thousand such mad matches. The divorce is 
 the thing ! There 's precedent, you know. A fair 
 lady was parted from a brave man not a thousand 
 years ago, because a favorite wanted her. True, 
 Frances Howard wanted the favorite, whilst this 
 beauty of yours " — 
 
IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 87 
 
 " You will please not couple the name of my wife 
 witli the name of that adulteress ! " I interrupted 
 fiercely. 
 
 He started; then cried out somewhat hurriedly: 
 " No offense, no offense ! I meant no comparisons ; 
 comparisons are odorous, saith Dogberry. All at 
 20urt know the Lady Jocelyn Leigh for a very Brito- - 
 mart, a maid as cold as Dian ! " 
 
 I rose, and began to pace up and down the bit of 
 green before the door. " Master Pory," I said at 
 last, coming to a stop before him, " if, without breach 
 of faith, you can tell me what was said or done at the 
 Council to-day anent this matter, you will lay me 
 under an obligation that I shall not forget." 
 
 He studied the lace on his sleeve in silence for a 
 while ; then glanced up at me out of those small, sly, 
 merry eyes. " Why," he answered, " the King de- 
 mands that the lady be sent home forthwith, on the 
 ship that gave us such a turn to-day, in fact, with a 
 couple of women to attend her, and under the protec- 
 tion of the only other passenger of quality, to wit, my 
 Lord Carnal. His Majesty cannot conceive it possi- 
 ble that she hath so far forgotten her birth, rank, and 
 duty as to have maintained in Virginia this mad mas- 
 querade, throwing herself into the arms of any petty 
 planter or broken adventurer who hath chanced to 
 have an hundred and twenty pounds of filthy tobacco 
 with which to buy him a wife. If she hath been so 
 mad, she is to be sent home none the less, where she 
 will be tenderly dealt with as one surely in this sole 
 matter under the spell of witchci-aft. The ship is to 
 bring home also — and in irons — the man who mar- 
 ried her. If he swears to have been ignorant of her 
 quality, and places no straws in the way of the King's 
 
88 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Commissioners, then shall he be sent honorably back 
 to Virginia with enough in his hand to get him an- 
 other wife. Per contra, if he erred with open eyes, 
 and if he remain contumacious, he will have to deal 
 with the King and with the Court of High Commis- 
 sion, to say nothing of the King's favorite. That 's 
 the sum and substance, Ralph Percy." 
 
 " Why was my Lord Carnal sent ? " I asked. 
 
 " Probably because my Lord Carnal would come. 
 He hath a will, hath my Lord, and the King is more 
 indulgent than Eli to those upon whom he dotes. 
 Doubtless, my Lord High Admiral sped him on his 
 way, gave him the King's best ship, wished him a 
 favorable wind — to hell." 
 
 " I was not ignorant that she was other than she 
 seemed, and I remain contumacious." 
 
 " Then," he said shamelessly, " you '11 forgive me if 
 in public, at least, I forswear your company ? You 're 
 plague-spotted, Captain Percy, and your friends may 
 wish you well, but they must stay at home and burn 
 juniper before their own doors." 
 
 " I '11 forgive you," I said, " when you 've told me 
 what the Governor will do." 
 
 " Why, there 's the rub," he answered. " Yeardley 
 is the most obstinate man of my acquaintance. He 
 who at his first coming, beside a great deal of worth 
 in his person, brought only his sword hath grown to 
 be as very a Sir Oracle among us as ever I saw. It 's 
 ' Sir George says this,' and ' Sir George says that,' 
 and so there 's an end on 't. It 's all because of that 
 leave to cut your own throats in your own way that 
 he brought you last year. Sir George and Sir Ed- 
 wyn ! Zooks ! you had better dub them St. George 
 and St. Edwyn at once, and be done with it. Well, on 
 
IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 89 
 
 this occasion Sir George stands up and says roundly, 
 with a good round oath to boot : ' The King's com- 
 mands have always come to us through the Company. 
 The Company obeys the King ; we obey the Company. 
 His Majesty's demand (with reverence I speak it) is 
 out of all order. Let the Company, through the trea- 
 surer, command us to send Captain Percy home in 
 irons to answer for this passing strange offense, or to 
 return, willy nilly, the lady who is now surely his wife, 
 and we will have no choice but to obey. Until the 
 Company commands us we will do nothing ; nay we 
 can do nothing.' And every one of my fellow Coun- 
 cilors (for myself, I was busy with my pens) saith, 
 ' My opinion, Sir George.' The upshot of it all is 
 that the Due Return is to sail in two days with our 
 humble representation to his Majesty that though we 
 bow to his lightest word as the leaf bows to the zephyr, 
 yet we are, in this sole matter, handfast, compelled by 
 his Majesty's own gracious charter to refer our slight- 
 est official doing to that noble Company which owes 
 its very being to its rigid adherence to the terms of 
 said charter. Wherefore, if his Majesty will be gra- 
 ciously pleased to command us as usual through the 
 said Company — and so on. Of course, not a soul in 
 the Council, or in Jamestown, or in Virginia dreams 
 of a duel behind the church at sunrise to-morrow." 
 He knocked the ashes from his pipe, and by degrees 
 got his fat body up from the doorstep. " So there 's 
 a reprieve for you, Ralph Percy, unless you kill or 
 are killed to-morrow morning. In the latter case, the 
 problem 's solved ; in the former, the best service you 
 can do yourself, and maybe the Company, is to walk 
 out of the world of your own accord, and that as 
 quickly as possible. Better a cross-roads and a stake 
 
90 TO HAYE AND TO HOLD 
 
 through a dead heart than a hangman's hands upon a 
 live one." 
 
 " One moment," I said. " Doth my Lord Carnal 
 know of this decision of the Governor's ? " 
 
 " Ay, and a fine passion it put him into. Stormed 
 and swore and threatened, and put the Governor's 
 back up finely. It seems that he thought to 'bout 
 ship to-morrow, lady and all. He ref useth to go with- 
 out the lady, and so remaineth in Virginia until he 
 can have his will. Lord ! but Buckingham would be 
 a happy man if he were kept here forever and a day ! 
 My lord knows what he risks, and he 's in as black a 
 humor as ever you saw. But I have striven to drop 
 oil on the troubled waters. ' My lord,' I told him, 
 ' you have but to possess your soul with patience for 
 a few short weeks, just until the ship the Governor 
 sends can return. Then all must needs be as your 
 lordship wishes. In the meantime, you may find ex- 
 istence in these wilds and away from that good com- 
 pany which is the soul of life endurable, and perhaps 
 pleasant. You may have daily sight of the lady who 
 is to become your wife, and that should count for 
 much with so ardent and determined a lover as your 
 lordship hath shown yourself to be. You may have 
 the pleasure of contemplating your rival's grave, if 
 you kill him. If he kills you, you will care the less 
 about the date of the Santa Teresa's sailing. The 
 land, too, hath inducements to offer to a philosophi- 
 cal and contemplative mind such as one whom his 
 Majesty delighteth to honor must needs possess. Be- 
 side these crystal rivers and among these odoriferous 
 woods, my lord, one escapes much expense, envy, con- 
 tempt, vanity, and vexation of mind.' " 
 
 The hoary sinner laughed and laughed. When he 
 
IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP 91 
 
 had gone away, still in huge enjoyment of his own 
 mirth, I, who had seen small cause for mirth, went 
 slowly indoors. Not a yard from the door, in the 
 shadow of the vines that draped the window, stood the 
 woman who was bringing this fate upon me. 
 
 " I thought that you were in your own room," I 
 said harshly, after a moment of dead silence. 
 
 " I came to the window," she replied. " I listened. 
 I heard all." She spoke haltingly, through dry lips. 
 Her face was as white as her ruff, but a strange light 
 burned in her eyes, and there was no trembling. 
 " This morning you said that all that you had — your 
 name and your sword — were at my service. You 
 may take them both again, sir. I refuse the aid you 
 offer. Swear what you will, tell them what you 
 please, make your peace whilst you may. I will not 
 have your blood upon my soul." 
 
 There was yet wine upon the table. I filled a cup 
 and brought it to her. " Drink ! " I commanded. 
 
 " I have much of forbearance, much of courtesy, 
 to thank you for," she said. " I will remember it 
 when — ■ Do not think that I shall blame you " — 
 
 I held the cup to her lips. " Drink ! " I repeated. 
 She touched the red wine with her lips. I took it 
 from her and put it to my own. " We drink of the 
 same cup," I said, with my eyes upon hers, and 
 drained it to the bottom. " I am weary of swords 
 and courts and kings. Let us go into the garden and 
 watch the minister's bees." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 IN WHICH MASTER PORY GAINS TIME TO SOME 
 PURPOSE 
 
 Rolfe, coming down by boat from Varina, had 
 reached the town in the dusk of that day which had 
 seen the arrival of the Santa Teresa, and I had gone 
 to him before I slept that night. Early morning 
 found us together again in the field behind the church. 
 We had not long to wait in the chill air and dew- 
 drenched grass. When the red rim of the sun showed 
 like a fire between the trunks of the pines came my 
 Lord Carnal, and with him Master Pory and Dr. 
 Lawrence Bohun. 
 
 My lord and I bowed to each other profoundly. 
 Rolfe with my sword and Master Pory with my lord's 
 stepped aside to measure the blades. Dr. Bohun, 
 muttering something about the feverishness of the 
 early air, wrapped his cloak about him, and huddled 
 in among the roots of a gigantic cedar. I stood with 
 my back to the church, and my face to the red water 
 between us and the illimitable forest ; my lord oppo- 
 site me, six feet away. He was dressed again splen- 
 didly in black and scarlet, colors he much affected, 
 and, with the dark beauty of his face and the arro- 
 gant grace with which he stood there waiting for his 
 sword, made a picture worth looking upon. 
 
 Rolfe and the Secretary came back to us. " If you 
 kill him, Ralph," said the former in a low voice, as 
 
IN WHICH MASTER PORY GAINS TIME 93 
 
 he took my doublet from me, " you are to put your- 
 self in my hands and do as you are bid." 
 
 " Which means that you will try to smuggle me 
 north to the Dutch. Thanks, friend, but I '11 see the 
 play out here." 
 
 "You were ever obstinate, self-willed, reckless — 
 and the man most to my heart," he continued. " Have 
 your way, in God's name, but I wish not to see what 
 will come of it ! All 's ready, Master Secretary." 
 
 Very slowly that worthy stooped down and exam- 
 ined the ground, narrowly and quite at his leisure. 
 " I like it not, Master Rolfe," he declared at length. 
 " Here is a molehill, and there a fairy ring." 
 
 " I see neither," said Rolfe. " It looks as smooth 
 as a table. But we can easily shift under the cedars 
 where there is no grass." 
 
 " Here 's a projecting root," announced the Secre- 
 tary, when the new ground had been reached. 
 
 Rolfe shrugged his shoulders, but we moved again. 
 
 " The light comes jaggedly through the branches," 
 objected my lord's second. "Better try the open 
 again." 
 
 Rolfe uttered an exclamation of impatience, and 
 my lord stamped his foot on the ground. " What is 
 this foolery, sir?" the latter cried fiercely. "The 
 ground 's well enough, and there 's sufficient light to 
 die by." 
 
 " Let the light pass, then," said his second resign- 
 edly. " Gentlemen, are you read — Ods blood ! my 
 lord, I had not noticed the roses upon your lordship's 
 shoes ! They are so large and have such a fall that 
 they sweep the ground on either side your foot ; you 
 might stumble in all that dangling ribbon and lace. 
 Allow ine to remove them." 
 
94 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He unsheathed his knife, and, sinking upon his 
 knees, began leisurely to sever the threads that held 
 the roses to the leather. As he worked, he looked 
 neither at the roses nor at my lord's angry face, but 
 beneath his own bent arm toward the church and the 
 town beyond. 
 
 How long he would have sawed away at the threads 
 there is no telling ; for my lord, amongst whose virtues 
 patience was not one, broke from him, and with an 
 oath stooped and tore away the offending roses with 
 his own hand, then straightened himself and gripped 
 his sword more closely. " I 've learned one thing in 
 this d — d land," he snarled, " and that is where not 
 to choose a second. You, sir," to Eolfe, "give the 
 word." 
 
 Master Pory rose from his knees, unruffled and 
 unabashed, and still with a curiously absent expres- 
 sion upon his fat face and with his ears cocked in the 
 direction of the church. " One moment, gentlemen," 
 he said. " I have just bethought me " — 
 
 " On guard ! " cried Rolfe, and cut him short. 
 
 The King's favorite was no mean antagonist. Once 
 or twice the thought crossed my mind that here, where 
 I least desired it, I had met my match. The appre- 
 hension passed. He fought as he lived, with a fierce 
 intensity, a headlong passion, a brute force, bearing 
 down and overwhelming most obstacles. But that I 
 could tire him out I soon knew. 
 
 The incessant flash and clash of steel, the quick 
 changes in position, the need to bring all powers of 
 body and mind to aid of eye and wrist, the will to 
 win, the shame of loss, the rage and lust of blood, 
 — there was no sight or sound outside that trampled 
 circle that could force itself upon our brain or make 
 
IN WHICH MASTER PORY GAINS TIME 95 
 
 us glance aside. If there was a sudden commotion 
 amongst the three witnesses, if an expression of im- 
 mense relief and childlike satisfaction reigned in 
 Master Pory's face, we knew it not. We were both 
 bleeding, — I from a pin prick on the shoulder, he 
 from a touch beneath the arm. He made a desperate 
 thrust, which I parried, and the blades clashed. A 
 third came down upon them with such force that the 
 sparks flew. 
 
 " In the King's name ! " commanded the Governor. 
 
 We fell apart, panting, white with rage, staring at 
 the unexpected disturbers of our peace. They were 
 the Governor, the commander, the Cape Merchant, 
 and the watch. 
 
 "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
 peace ! " exclaimed Master Pory, and retired to the 
 cedar and Dr. Bohun. 
 
 "This ends here, gentlemen," said the Governor 
 firmly. "You are both bleeding. It is enough." 
 
 " Out of my way, sir ! " cried my lord, foaming at 
 the mouth. He made a mad thrust over the Govern- 
 or's extended arm at me, who was ready enough to 
 meet him. " Have at thee, thou bridegroom ! " he 
 said between his teeth. 
 
 The Governor caught him by the wrist. " Put up 
 your sword, my lord, or, as I stand here, you shall 
 give it into the commander's hands ! " 
 
 " Hell and furies ! " ejaculated my lord. " Do you 
 know who I am, sir ? " 
 
 " Ay," replied the Governor sturdily, " I do know. 
 It is because of that knowledge, my Lord Carnal, that 
 I interfere in this affair. Were you other than you 
 are, you and this gentleman might fight until dooms- 
 day, and meet with no hindrance from me. Being 
 
96 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 what you are, I will prevent any renewal of this duel, 
 by fair means if I may, by foul if I must." 
 
 He left my lord, and came over to me. " Since 
 when have you been upon my Lord Warwick's side, 
 Ralph Percy ? " he demanded, lowering his voice. 
 
 " I am not so," I said. 
 
 " Then appearances are mightily deceitful," he re- 
 torted. 
 
 " I know what you mean, Sir George," I answered. 
 " I know that if the King's darling should meet death 
 or maiming in this fashion, upon Virginian soil, the 
 Company, already so out of favor, might find some 
 difficulty in explaining things to his Majesty's satis- 
 faction. But I think my Lord Southampton and Sir 
 Edwyn Sandys and Sir George Yeardley equal to 
 the task, especially if they are able to deliver to his 
 Majesty the man whom his Majesty will doubtless con- 
 sider the true and only rebel and murderer. Let us 
 fight it out, sir. You can all retire to a distance and 
 remain in profound ignorance of any such affair. 
 If I fall, you have nothing to fear. If he falls, — 
 why, I shall not run away, and the Due Return sails 
 to-morrow." 
 
 He eyed me closely from under frowning brows. 
 
 " And when your wife 's a widow, what then ? " he 
 asked abruptly. 
 
 I have not known many better men than this simple, 
 straightforward, soldierly Governor. The manliness 
 of his character begot trust, invited confidence. Men 
 told him of their hidden troubles almost against their 
 will, and afterward felt neither shame nor fear, know- 
 ing the simplicity of his thoughts and the reticence of 
 his speech. I looked him in the eyes, and let him 
 read what I would have shown to no other, and felt no 
 
IN WHICH MASTER POKY GAINS TIME 97 
 
 shame. " The Lord may raise her up a helper," I 
 said. " At least she won't have to marry him.'''' 
 
 He turned on his heel and moved back to his 
 former station between us two. " My Lord Carnal," 
 he said, " and you, Captain Percy, heed what I say ; 
 for what I say I will do. You may take your choice : 
 either you will sheathe your swords here in my pre- 
 sence, giving me your word of honor that you will not 
 draw them upon each other before his Majesty shall 
 have made known his will in this matter to the Com- 
 pany, and the Company shall have transmitted it to 
 me, in token of which truce between you you shall 
 touch each other's hands ; or you will pass the time 
 between this and the return of the ship with the King's 
 and the Company's will in strict confinement, — you, 
 Captain Percy, in gaol, and you, my Lord Carnal, in 
 my own poor house, where I will use my best endea- 
 vors to make the days pass as pleasantly as possible 
 for your lordship. I have spoken, gentlemen." 
 
 There was no protest. For my own part, I knew 
 Yeardley too well to attempt any ; moreover, had I 
 been in his place, his course should have been mine. 
 For my Lord Carnal, — what black thoughts visited 
 that fierce and sullen brain I know not, but there was 
 acquiescence in his face, haughty, dark, and vengeful 
 though it was. Slowly and as with one motion we 
 sheathed our swords, and more slowly still repeated 
 the few words after the Governor. His Honor's coun- 
 tenance shone with relief. " Take each other by the 
 hand, gentlemen, and then let 's all to breakfast at 
 my own house, where there shall be no feud save with 
 good capon pasty and jolly good ale." In dead silence 
 my lord and I touched each other's finger tips. 
 
 The world was now a flood of sunshine, the mist on 
 
98 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 the river vanishing, the birds singing, the trees waving 
 in the pleasant morning air. From the town came 
 the roll of the drum summoning all to the week-day 
 service. The bells too began to ring, sounding sweetly 
 through the clear air. The Governor took off his hat. 
 " Let 's all to church, gentlemen," he said gravely. 
 " Our cheeks are flushed as with a fever and our 
 pulses run high this morning. There be some among 
 us, perhaps, that have in their hearts discontent, anger, 
 and hatred. I know no better place to take such pas- 
 sions, provided we bring them not forth again." 
 • We went in and sat down. Jeremy Sparrow was 
 in the pulpit. Singly or in groups the town folk 
 entered. Down the aisle strode bearded men, old 
 soldiers, adventurers, sailors, scarred body and soul ; 
 young men followed, younger sons and younger bro- 
 thers, prodigals whose portion had been spent, whose 
 souls now ate of the husks ; to the servants' benches 
 came dull laborers, dimly comprehending, groping in 
 the twilight ; women entered softly and slowly, some 
 with children clinging to their skirts. One came alone 
 and knelt alone, her face shadowed by her mantle. 
 Amongst the servants stood a slave or two, blindly 
 staring, and behind them all one of that felon crew 
 sent us by the King. 
 
 Through the open windows streamed the summer 
 sunshine, soft and fragrant, impartial and unquestion- 
 ing, caressing alike the uplifted face of the minister, 
 the head of the convict, and all between. The min- 
 ister's voice was grave and tender when he read and 
 prayed, but in the hymn it rose above the people's 
 like the voice of some mighty archangel. That tri- 
 umphant singing shook the air, and still rang in the 
 heart while we said the Creed. 
 
IN WHICH MASTER PORY GAINS TIME 99 
 
 When the service was over, the congregation waited 
 for the Governor to pass out first. At the door he 
 pressed me to go with him and his party to his own 
 house, and I gave him thanks, but made excuse to stay 
 away. When he and the nobleman who was his guest 
 had left the churchyard, and the townspeople too were 
 gone, I and my wife and the minister walked home 
 together through the dewy meadow, with the splendor 
 of the morning about us, and the birds caroling from 
 every tree and thicket. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 IN WHICH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR 
 
 The summer slipped away, and autumn came, with 
 the purple of the grape and the yellowing corn, the 
 nuts within the forest, and the return of the countless 
 wild fowl to the marshes and reedy river banks, and 
 still I stayed in Jamestown, and my wife with me, 
 and still the Santa Teresa rode at anchor in the river 
 below the fort. If the man whom she brought knew 
 that by tarrying in Virginia he risked his ruin with 
 the King, yet, with a courage worthy of a better 
 cause, he tarried. 
 
 Now and then ships came in, but they were small, 
 belated craft. The most had left England before the 
 sailing of the Santa Teresa ; the rest, private ventures, 
 trading for clapboard or sassafras, knew nothing of 
 court affairs. Only the Sea Flower, sailing from 
 London a fortnight after the Santa Teresa, and much 
 delayed by adverse winds, brought a letter from the 
 deputy treasurer to Yeardley and the Council. From 
 iiolfe I learned its contents. It spoke of the stir that 
 vvas made by the departure from the realm of th« 
 King's favorite. " None know where he hath gone. 
 The King looks dour; 't is hinted that the privy coun- 
 cil are as much at sea as the rest of the world ; my 
 Lord of Buckingham saith nothing, but his following 
 — which of late hath somewhat decayed — is so in- 
 creased that his antechambers cannot hold the throngs 
 
\ 
 
 IN WHICH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR 101 
 
 that come to wait upon him. Some will have it that 
 my Lord Carnal hath fled the kingdom to escape the 
 Tower ; others, that the King hath sent him on a mis- 
 sion to the King of Spain about this detested Spanish 
 match ; others, that the gadfly hath stung him and he 
 is gone to America, — to search for Raleigh's gold 
 mine, maybe. This last most improbable ; but if 't is 
 so, and he should touch at Virginia, receive him with 
 all honor. If indeed he is not out of favor, the Com- 
 pany may find in him a powerful friend ; of powerful 
 enemies, God knows, there is no lack ! " 
 
 Thus the worthy Master Ferrar. And at the bot- 
 tom of the letter, among other news of city and court, 
 mention was made of the disappearance of a ward of 
 the King's, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh. Strict search 
 had been made, but the unfortunate lady had not been 
 found. " 'T is whispered that she hath killed herself ; 
 also, that his Majesty had meant to give her in mar- 
 riage to my Lord Carnal. But that all true love and 
 virtue and constancy have gone from the age, one 
 might conceive that the said lord had but fled the 
 court for a while, to indulge his grief in some solitude 
 of hill and stream and shady vale, — the lost lady 
 being right worthy of such dole." 
 
 In sooth she was, but my lord was not given to such 
 fashion of mourning. 
 
 The summer passed, and I did nothing. What 
 was there I could do? I had written by the Due 
 Ueturn to Sir Edwyn, and to my cousin, the Earl 
 of Northumberland. The King hated Sir Edwyn as 
 he hated tobacco and witchcraft. " Choose the devil, 
 but not Sir Edwyn Sandys ! " had been his passionate 
 words to the Company the year before. A certain 
 fifth of November had despoiled my Lord of Northum- 
 
102 TO HAVE AND TO HOIO 
 
 berland of wealth, fame, and influence. Small hope 
 there was in those two. That the Governor and 
 Council, remembering old dangers shared, wished me 
 well I did not doubt, but that was all. Yeardley had 
 done all he could do, more than most men would have 
 dared to do, in procuring this delay. There was no 
 further help in him ; nor would I have asked it. Al- 
 ready out of favor with the Warwick faction, he had 
 risked enough for me and mine. I could not flee 
 with my wife to the Indians, exposing her, perhaps, 
 to a death by fierce tortures ; moreover, Opechanca- 
 nough had of late strangely taken to returning to the 
 settlements those runaway servants and fugitives from 
 justice which before we had demanded from him in 
 vain. If even it had been possible to run the gaunt- 
 let of the Indian villages, war parties, and hunting 
 bands, what would have been before us but endless 
 forest and a winter which for us would have had no 
 spring ? I could not see her die of hunger and cold, 
 or by the teeth of the wolves. I could not do what 
 I should have liked to do, — take, single-handed, that 
 King's ship with its sturdy crew and sail with her 
 south and ever southwards, before us nothing more 
 formidable than Spanish ships, and beyond them blue 
 waters, spice winds, new lands, strange islands of the 
 blest. 
 
 There seemed naught that I could do, naught that 
 she could do. Our Fate had us by the hands, and 
 held us fast. We stood still, and the days came and 
 went like dreams. 
 
 While the Assembly was in session I had my part 
 to act as Burgess from my hundred. Each day I 
 sat with my fellows in the church, facing the Gov- 
 ernor in his great velvet chair, the Council on either 
 
IN WHICH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR 103 
 
 hand, and listened to the droning of old Twine, the 
 clerk, like the droning of the bees without the win- 
 dow ; to the chant of the sergeant-at-arms ; to long 
 and windy discourses from men who planted better 
 than they spoke ; to remarks by the Secretary, witty, 
 crammed with Latin and traveled talk ; to the Gov- 
 ernor's slow, weighty words. At Weyanoke we had 
 had trouble with the Indians. I was one who loved 
 them not and had fought them well, for which rea- 
 son the hundred chose me its representative. In the 
 Assembly it was my part to urge a greater severity 
 toward those n nr natural enemies^ a, greater watch- 
 fulness on our part, the need for palisades and senti- 
 nels, the danger that lay in their acquisition of fire- 
 arms, which, in defiance of the law, men gave them 
 in exchange for worthless Indian commodities. This 
 Indian business was the chief matter before the As- 
 sembly. I spoke when I thought speech was needed, 
 and spoke strongly ; for my heart foreboded that 
 which was to come upon us too soon and too surely. 
 The Governor listened gravely, nodding his head ; 
 Master Pory, too, the Cape Merchant, and West were 
 of my mind ; but the remainder were besotted by 
 their own conceit, esteeming the very name of Eng- 
 lishman sentinel and palisade enough, or trusting in 
 the smooth words and vows of brotherhood poured 
 forth so plentifully by that red Apollyon, Opechan- 
 canough. 
 
 When the day's work was done, and we streamed 
 out of the church, — the Governor and Council first, 
 the rest of us in order, — it was to find as often as 
 not a red and black figure waiting for us among the 
 graves. Sometimes it joined itself to the Governor, 
 sometimes to Master Pory ; sometimes the whole party, 
 
104 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 save one, went off with it to the guest house, there to 
 eat, drink, and make merry. 
 
 If Virginia and all that it contained, save only that 
 jewel of which it had robbed the court, were out of 
 favor with the King's minion, he showed it not. Per- 
 haps he had accepted the inevitable with a good 
 grace ; perhaps it was but his mode of biding his 
 time ; but he had shifted into that soldierly frankness 
 of speech and manner, that genial, hail-fellow-well- 
 met air, behind which most safely hides a villain's 
 mind. Two daj 7 s after that morning behind the 
 church, he had removed himself, his French valets, 
 and his Italian physician from the Governor's house 
 to the newly finished guest house. Here he lived, 
 cock of the walk, taking his ease in his inn, elbowing 
 out all guests save those of his own inviting. If, 
 what with his open face and his open hand, his din- 
 ners and bear-baitings and hunting parties, his talef 
 of the court and the wars, his half hints as to the 
 good he might do Virginia with the King, extending 
 even to the lightening of the tax upon our tobacco 
 and the prohibition of the Spanish import, his known 
 riches and power, and the unknown height to which 
 they might attain if his star at court were indeed in 
 the ascendant, — if with these things he slowly, but 
 surely, won to his following all save a very few of 
 those I had thought my fast friends, it was not a thing 
 marvelous or without precedent. Upon his side was 
 good that might be seen and handled ; on mine was 
 only a dubious right and a not at all dubious danger. 
 I do not think it plagued me much. The going of 
 those who had it in their heart to wish to go left 
 me content, and for those who fawned upon him from 
 the first, or for the rabble multitude who flung up 
 
IN WHICH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR 105 
 
 their caps and ran at his heels, I cared not a doit. 
 There were still Rolfe and West and the Governor, 
 Jeremy Sparrow and Diccon. 
 
 My lord and I met, perforce, in the street, at the 
 Governor's house, in church, on the river, in the sad- 
 dle. If we met in the presence of others, we spoke 
 the necessary formal words of greeting or leave-tak- 
 ing, and he kept his countenance ; if none were by, 
 off went the mask. The man himself and I looked 
 each other in the eyes and passed on. Once we en- 
 countered on a late evening among the graves, and I 
 was not alone. Mistress Percy had been restless, and 
 had gone, despite the minister's protests, to sit upon 
 the river bank. When I returned from the assembly 
 and found her gone, I went to fetch her. A storm 
 was rolling slowly up. Returning the long way through 
 the churchyard, we came upon him sitting beside a 
 sunken grave, his knees drawn up to meet his chin, 
 his eyes gloomily regardful of the dark broad river, 
 the unseen ocean, and the ship that could not return 
 for weeks to come. We passed him in silence, — I 
 with a slight bow, she with a slighter curtsy. An 
 hour later, going down the street in the dusk of the 
 storm, I ran against Dr. Lawrence Bohun. " Don't 
 stop me ! " he panted. " The Italian doctor is away 
 in the woods gathering simples, and they found my 
 Lord Carnal in a fit among the graves, half an hour 
 agone." My lord was bled, and the next morning 
 went hunting. 
 
 The lady whom I had married abode with me in the 
 minister's house, held her head high, and looked the 
 world in the face. She seldom went from home, but 
 when she did take the air it was with pomp and cir- 
 cumstance. When that slender figure and exquisite 
 
106 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 face, set oft" by as rich apparel as could be bought 
 from a store of finery brought in by the Southampton, 
 and attended by a turbaned negress and a serving 
 man who had been to the wars, and had escaped the 
 wheel by the skin of his teeth, appeared in the street, 
 small wonder if a greater commotion arose than had 
 been since the days of the Princess Pocahontas and 
 her train of dusky beauties. To this fairer, more 
 imperial dame gold lace doffed its hat and made its 
 courtliest bow, and young planters bent to their sad- 
 dlebows, while the common folk nudged and stared 
 and had their say. The beauty, the grace, the pride, 
 that deigned small response to well-meant words, — 
 all that would have been intolerable in plain Mistress 
 Percy, once a waiting maid, then a piece of merchan- 
 dise to be sold for one hundred and twenty pounds 
 of tobacco, then the wife of a poor gentleman, was 
 pardoned readily enough to the Lady Jocelyn Leigh, 
 the ward of the King, the bride to be (so soon as 
 the King's Court of High Commission should have 
 snapped in twain an inconvenient and ill-welded fet- 
 ter) of the King's minion. 
 
 So she passed like a splendid vision through the 
 street perhaps once a week. On Sundays she went 
 with me to church, and the people looked at her 
 instead of at the minister, who rebuked them not, 
 because his eyes were upon the same errand. 
 
 The early autumn passed and the leaves began 
 to turn, and still all things were as they had been, 
 save that the Assembly sat no longer. My fellow Bur- 
 gesses went back to their hundreds, but my house at 
 Weyanoke knew me no more. In a tone that was 
 apologetic, but firm, the Governor had told me that 
 he wished my company at Jamestown. I was pleased 
 
IN WH T CH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR 107 
 
 enough to stay, I assured him, — as indeed I was. At 
 Weyanoke, the thunderbolt would fall without warn- 
 ing; at Jamestown, at least I could see, coming up 
 the river, the sails of the Due Return or what other 
 ship the Company might send. 
 
 The color of the leaves deepened, and there came a 
 season of a beauty singular and sad, like a smile left 
 upon the face of the dead summer. Over all things, 
 near and far, the forest where it met the sky, the 
 nearer woods, the great river, and the streams that 
 empty into it, there hung a blue haze, soft and dream- 
 like. The forest became a painted forest, with an 
 ever thinning canopy and an ever thickening carpet 
 of crimson and gold ; everywhere there was a low 
 rustling underfoot and a slow rain of color. It was 
 neither cold nor hot, but very quiet, and the birds 
 went by like shadows, — a listless and forgetful 
 weather, in which we began to look, every hour of 
 every day, for the sail which we knew we should not 
 see for weeks to come. 
 
 Good Master Bucke tarried with Master Thorpe at 
 Henricus, recruiting his strength, and Jeremy Spar- 
 row preached in his pulpit, slept in his chamber, and 
 worked in his garden. This garden ran down to the 
 green bank of the river ; and here, sitting idly by the 
 stream, her chin in her hand and her dark eyes watch- 
 ing the strong, free sea birds as they came and went, 
 I found my wife one evening, as I came from the fort, 
 where had been some martial exercise. Thirty feet 
 away Master Jeremy Sparrow worked among the dy- 
 ing flowers, and hummed : — 
 
 " There is a garden in her face, 
 Where roses and white lilies grow." 
 
 He and 1 had agreed that when I must needs be ab- 
 
108 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 sent he should be within call of her ; for I believed 
 ray Lord Carnal very capable of intruding himself 
 into her presence. That house and garden, her move- 
 ments and mine, were spied upon by his foreign hire- 
 lings, I knew perfectly well. 
 
 As I sat down upon the bank at her feet, she turned 
 to me with a sudden passion. " I am weary of it all ! " 
 she cried. " I am tired of being pent up in this house 
 and garden, and of the watch you keep upon me. 
 And if I go abroad, it is worse ! I hate all those 
 shameless faces that stare at me as if I were in the 
 pillory. I am. pilloried before you all, and I find the 
 experience sufficiently bitter. And when I think that 
 that man whom I hate, hate, hate, breathes the air 
 that I breathe, it stifles me ! If I could fly away like 
 those birds, if I could only be gone from this place 
 for even a day ! " 
 
 " I would beg leave to take you home, to Weya- 
 noke," I said after a pause, " but I cannot go and 
 leave the field to him." 
 
 " And I cannot go," she answered. " I must watch 
 for that ship and that King's command that my Lord 
 Carnal thinks potent enough to make me his wife. 
 King's commands are strong, but a woman's will is 
 stronger. At the last I shall know what to do. But 
 now why may I not take Angela and cross that strip 
 of sand and go into the woods on the other side? 
 They are so fair and strange, — all red and yellow, — 
 and they look very still and peaceful. I could walk 
 in them, or lie down under the trees and forget 
 awhile, and they are not at all far away." She looked 
 at me eagerly. 
 
 " You could not go alone," I told her. " There 
 would be danger in that. But to-morrow, if you 
 
IN WHICH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR 109 
 
 choose, I and Master Sparrow and Diccon will take 
 you there. A day in the woods is pleasant enough, 
 and will do none of us harm. Then you may wander 
 as you please, fill your arms with colored leaves, and j 
 forget the world. We will watch that no harm comes 
 nigh you, but otherwise you shall not be disturbed." 
 
 She broke into delighted laughter. Of all women 
 the most steadfast of soul, her outward moods were 
 as variable as a child's. " Agreed ! " she cried. 
 " You and the minister and Diccon Demon shall lay 
 your muskets across your knees, and Angela shall 
 witch you into stone with her old, mad, heathen 
 charms. And then — and then — I will gather more 
 gold than had King Midas ; I will dance with the 
 hamadryads ; I will find out Oberon and make Titania 
 jealous ! " 
 
 " I do not doubt that you could do so," I said, as 
 she sprang to her feet, childishly eager and radiantly 
 beautiful. 
 
 I rose to go in with her, for it was supper time, but 
 in a moment changed my mind, and resumed my seat 
 on the bank of turf. " Do you go in," I said. 
 " There 's a snake near by, in those bushes below the 
 bank. I '11 kill the creature, and then I '11 come to 
 supper." 
 
 When she was gone, I walked to where, ten feet 
 away, the bank dipped to a clump of reeds and willows 
 planted in the mud on the brink of the river. Drop- 
 ping on my knees I leaned over, and, grasping a man 
 by the collar, lifted him from the slime where he 
 belonged to the bank beside me. 
 
 It was my Lord Carnal's Italian doctor that I had 
 so fished up. I had seen him before, and had found 
 in his very small, mean figure clad all in black, and 
 
 i*-t 
 
110 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 his narrow face with malignant eyes, and thin white 
 lips drawn tightly over gleaming teeth, something 
 infinitely repulsive, sickening to the sight as are cer- 
 tain reptiles to the touch. 
 
 " There are no simples or herbs of grace to be 
 found amongst reeds and half-drowned willows," I 
 said. " What did So learned a doctor look for in so 
 unlikely a place ? " 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders and made play with his 
 clawlike hands, as if he understood me not. It was 
 a lie, for I knew that he and the English tongue were 
 sufficiently acquainted. I told him as much, and he 
 shot at me a most venomous glance, but continued to 
 shrug, gesticulate, and jabber in Italian. At last I 
 saw nothing better to do than to take him, still by the 
 collar, to the edge of the garden next the churchyard, 
 and with the toe of my boot to send him tumbling 
 among the graves. I watched him pick himself up, 
 set his attire to rights, and go away in the gathering 
 dusk, winding in and out among the graves ; and then 
 I went in to supper, and told Mistress Percy that the 
 snake was dead. 
 
CHAPTER Xn 
 
 IN WHICH I RECEIVE A WARNING AND REPOSE A 
 TRUST 
 
 Shortly before daybreak I was wakened by a voice 
 beneath my window. " Captain Percy," it cried, " the 
 Governor wishes you at his house ! " and was gone. 
 
 I dressed and left the house, disturbing no one. 
 Hurrying through the chill dawn, I reached the square 
 not much behind the rapid footsteps of the watch 
 who had wakened me. About the Governor's door 
 were horses, saddled and bridled, with grooms at their 
 heads, men and beasts gray and indistinct, wrapped 
 in the fog. I went up the steps and into the hall, 
 and knocked at the door of the Governor's great 
 room. It opened, and I entered to find Sir George, 
 with Master Pory, Rolfe, West, and others of the 
 Council gathered about the great centre table and 
 talking eagerly. Tho Governor was but half dressed ; 
 West and Rolfe were in jack boots and coats of mail. 
 A man, breathless with hard riding, spattered with 
 swamp mud and torn by briers, stood, cap in hand, 
 staring from one to the other. 
 
 " In good time, Captain Percy ! " cried the Gov- 
 ernor. "Yesterday you called the profound peace 
 with the Indians, of which some of us boasted, the lull 
 before the storm. Faith, it looks to-day as though 
 you were in the right, after all ! " 
 
 " What 's the matter, sir ? " I asked, advancing to 
 the table. 
 
112 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Matter enough ! " he answered. " This man has 
 come, post haste, from the plantations above Paspa- 
 hegh. Three days ago, Morgan, the trader, was de- 
 coyed into the woods by that Paspahegh fool and bully, 
 Nemattanow, whom they call Jack of the Feather, 
 and there murdered. Yesterday, out of sheer bravado, 
 the Indian turned up at Morgan's house, and Mor- 
 gan's men shot him down. They buried the dog, and 
 thought no more of it. Three hours ago, Chanco the 
 Christian went to the commander and warned him 
 that the Paspaheghs were in a ferment, and that the 
 warriors were painting themselves black. The com- 
 mander sent off at once to me, and I see naught better 
 to do than to dispatch you with a dozen men to bring 
 them to their senses. But there 's to be no harrying 
 nor battle. A show of force is all that 's needed, — 
 I '11 stake my head upon it. Let them see that we 
 are not to be taken unawares, but give them fair 
 words. That they may be the sooner placated I send 
 with you Master Rolfe, — they '11 listen to him. See 
 that the black paint is covered with red, give them 
 some beads and a knife or two, then come home. If 
 you like not the look of things, find out where 
 Opechancanough is, and I '11 send him an embassy. 
 He loves us well, and will put down any disaffection." 
 
 " There 's no doubt that he loves us," I said dryly. 
 " He loves us as a cat loves the mouse that it plays 
 with. If we are to start at once, sir, I '11 go get my 
 horse." 
 
 " Then meet us at the neck of land," said Rolfe. 
 
 I nodded, and left the room. As I descended the 
 steps into the growing light outside, I found Master 
 Pory at my side. 
 
 " I kept late hours last night," he remarked, with a 
 
IN WHICH I RECEIVE A WARNING 113 
 
 portentous yawn. " Now that this business is settled, 
 I '11 go back to bed." 
 
 I walked on in silence. 
 
 " I am in your black books," he continued, with 
 his sly, merry, sidelong glance. "You think that I 
 was overcareful of the ground, that morning behind 
 the church, and so unfortunately delayed matters 
 until the Governor happened by and brought things 
 to another guess conclusion." 
 
 " I think that you warned the Governor," I said 
 bluntly. 
 
 He shook with laughter. " Warned him ? Of 
 course I warned him. Youth would never have seen 
 that molehill and fairy ring and projecting root, but 
 wisdom cometh with gray hairs, my son. D' ye not 
 think I '11 have the King's thanks? " 
 
 " Doubtless," I answered. " An the price contents 
 you, I do not know why I should quarrel with it." 
 
 By this we were halfway down the street, and we 
 now came upon the guest house. A window above 
 us was unshuttered, and in the room within a light 
 still burned. Suddenly it was extinguished. A man's 
 face looked down upon us for a moment, then drew 
 back ; a skeleton hand was put out softly and slowly, 
 and the shutter drawn to. Hand and face belonged 
 to the man I had sent tumbling among the graves the 
 evening before. 
 
 " The Italian doctor," said Master Pory. 
 
 There was something peculiar in his tone. I 
 glanced at him, but his broad red face and twin- 
 kling eyes told me nothing. " The Italian doctor," 
 he repeated. " If I had a friend in Captain Percy's 
 predicament, I should bid him beware of the Italian 
 doctor." 
 
114 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Your friend would be obliged for the warning," 
 I replied. 
 
 We walked a little further. "And I think," he 
 said, " that I should inform this purely hypothetical 
 friend of mine that the Italian and his patron had 
 their heads mighty close together, last night." 
 
 "Last night?" 
 
 " Ay, last night. I went to drink with my lord, 
 and so broke up their tete-a-tete. My lord was bois- 
 terous in his cups and not oversecret. He dropped 
 some hints " — He broke off to indulge in one of his 
 endless silent laughs. " I don't know why I tell you 
 this, Captain Percy. I am on the other side, you 
 know, — quite on the other side. But now I bethink 
 me, I am only telling you what I should tell you were 
 I upon your side. There 's no harm in that, I hope, 
 no disloyalty to my Lord Carnal's interests which 
 happen to be my interests ? " 
 
 I made no answer. I gave him credit both for his 
 ignorance of the very hornbook of honor and for his 
 large share of the milk of human kindness. 
 
 " My lord grows restive," he said, when we had 
 gone a little further. " The Francis and John, com- 
 ing in yesterday, brought court news. Out of sight, 
 out of mind. Buckingham is making hay while the 
 sun shines. Useth angel water for his complexion, 
 sleepeth in a medicated mask such as the Valois used, 
 and is grown handsomer than ever ; changeth the 
 fashion of his clothes thrice a week, which mightily 
 pleaseth his Majesty. Whoops on the Spanish match, 
 too, and, wonderful past all whooping, from the 
 prince's detestation hath become his bosom friend. 
 Small wonder if my Lord Carnal thinks it 's time he 
 was back at Whitehall." 
 
IN WHICH I RECEIVE A WARNING 115 
 
 " Let him go, then," I said. " There 's his ship 
 that brought him here." 
 
 " Ay, there 's his ship," rejoined Master Pory. " A 
 few weeks more, and the Due Return will be here 
 with the Company's commands. D' ye think, Cap- 
 tain Percy, that there 's the slightest doubt as to their 
 tenor ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Then my lord has but to possess his soul with 
 patience and wait for the Due Return. No doubt 
 he '11 do so." 
 
 " No doubt he '11 do so," I echoed. 
 
 By this we had reached the Secretary's own door. 
 * ( Fortune favor you with the Paspaheghs ! " he said, 
 with another mighty yawn. " As for me, I '11 to bed. 
 Do you ever dream, Captain Percy ? I don't ; mine 
 is too good a conscience. But if I did, I should 
 dream of an Italian doctor." 
 
 The door shut upon his red face and bright eyes. 
 I walked rapidly on down the street to the minister's 
 house. The light was very pale as yet, and house 
 and garden lay beneath a veil of mist. No one was 
 stirring. I went on through the gray wet paths to 
 the stable, and roused Diccon. 
 
 " Saddle Black Lamoral quickly," I ordered. 
 " There 's trouble with the Paspaheghs, and I am off 
 with Master Rolfe to settle it." 
 
 " Am I to go with you ? " he asked. 
 
 I shook my head. " We have a dozen men. 
 There 's no need of more." 
 
 I left him busy with the horse, and went to the 
 house. In the hall I found the negress strewing the 
 floor with fresh rushes, and asked her if her mistress 
 yet slept. In her soft half English, half Spanish, she 
 
116 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 answered in the affirmative. I went to my own room 
 and armed myself ; then ran upstairs to the comfort- 
 able chamber where abode Master Jeremy Sparrow, 
 surrounded by luxuries which his soul contemned. 
 He was not there. At the foot of the stair I was 
 met by Goodwife Allen. " The minister was called 
 an hour ago, sir," she announced. " There 's a man 
 dying of the fever at Archer's Hope, and they sent a 
 boat for him. He won't be back until afternoon." 
 
 I hurried past her back to the stable. Black La- 
 moral was saddled, and Diccon held the stirrup for 
 me to mount. 
 
 " Good luck with the vermin, sir ! " he said. " I 
 wish I were going, too." 
 
 His tone was sullen, yet wistful. I knew that he 
 loved danger as I loved it, and a sudden remembrance 
 of the dangers we had faced together brought us 
 nearer to each other than we had been for many a day. 
 
 " I don't take you," I explained, " because I have 
 need of you here. Master Sparrow has gone to watch 
 beside a dying man, and will not be back for hours. 
 As for myself, there 's no telling how long I may be 
 kept. Until I come you are to guard house and gar- 
 den well. You know what I mean. Your mistress is 
 to be molested by no one." 
 
 " Very well, sir." 
 
 " One thing more. There was some talk yesterday 
 of my taking her across the neck to the forest. When 
 she awakes, tell her from me that I am sorry for her 
 to lose her pleasure, but that now she could not go 
 even were I here to take her." 
 
 " There 's no danger from the Paspaheghs there," 
 he muttered. 
 
 " The Paspaheghs happen not to be my only foes," 
 
IN WHICH I RECEIVE A WARNING 117 
 
 I said curtly. "Do as I bid you without remark. 
 Tell her that I have good reasons for desiring her to 
 remain within doors until my return. On no account 
 whatever is she to venture without the garden." 
 
 I gathered up the reins, and he stood back from the 
 horse's head. When I had gone a few paces I drew 
 rein, and, turning in my saddle, spoke to him across 
 the dew-drenched grass. " This is a trust, Diccon," I 
 said. 
 
 The red came into his tanned face. He raised his 
 hand and made our old military salute. " I under- 
 stand it so, my captain," he answered, and I rode 
 away satisfied. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IN WHICH THE SANTA TERESA DROPS DOWNSTREAM 
 
 An hour's ride brought us to the block house stand- 
 ing within the forest, midway between the white plan- 
 tations at Paspahegh and the village of the tribe. 
 We found it well garrisoned, spies out, and the men 
 inclined to make light of the black paint and the 
 seething village. 
 
 Amongst them was Chanco the Christian. I called 
 him to me, and we listened to his report with growing 
 perturbation. " Thirty warriors ! " I said, when he 
 had finished. " And they are painted yellow as well 
 as black, and have dashed their cheeks with puc* 
 coon : it 's a l'outrance, then ! And the war dance is 
 toward ! If we are to pacify this hornets' nest, it 's 
 high time we set about it. Gentlemen of the block 
 house, we are but twelve, and they may beat us back, 
 in which case those that are left of us will fight it out 
 with you here. Watch for us, therefore, and have a 
 sally party ready. Forward, men ! " 
 
 " One moment, Captain Percy," said Rolfe. " Chan- 
 co, where 's the Emperor ? " 
 
 " Five suns ago he was with the priests at Utta- 
 mussac," answered the Indian. "Yesterday, at the 
 full sun power, he was in the lodge of the werowance 
 of the Chickahominies. He feasts there still. The 
 Chickahominies and the Powhatans have buried the 
 hatchet." 
 
THE SANTA TERESA DROPS DOWNSTREAM 119 
 
 " I regret to hear it," I remarked. " Whilst they 
 took each other's scalps, mine own felt the safer." 
 
 " I advise going direct to Opechancanough," said 
 Rolfe. 
 
 " Since he 's only a league away, so do I," I an- 
 swered. 
 
 We left the block house and the clearing around it, 
 and plunged into the depths of the forest. In these 
 virgin woods the trees are set well apart, though linked 
 one to the other by the omnipresent grape, and there 
 is little undergrowth, so that we were able to make 
 good speed. Rolfe and I rode well in front of our 
 men. By now the sun was shining through the lower 
 branches of the trees, and the mist was fast vanish- 
 ing. The forest — around us, above us, and under the 
 hoofs of the horses where the fallen leaves lay thick 
 ■ — was as yellow as gold and as red as blood. 
 
 " Rolfe," I asked, breaking a long silence, " do you 
 credit what the Indians say of Opechancanough ? " 
 
 " That he was brother to Powhatan only by adop- 
 tion?" 
 
 " That, fleeing for his life, he came to Virginia, 
 years and years ago, from some mysterious land far 
 to the south and west ? " 
 
 " I do not know," he replied thoughtfully. " He 
 is like, and yet not like, the people whom he rules. 
 In his eye there is the authority of mind ; his features 
 are of a nobler cast " — 
 
 " And his heart is of a darker, ' I said. " It is a 
 strange and subtle savage." 
 
 " Strange enough and subtle enough, I admit," he 
 answered, " though I believe not with you that his 
 friendliness toward us is but a mask." 
 
 " Believe it or not, it is so," I said. " That dark, 
 
120 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 cold, still face is a mask, and that simple-seeming 
 amazement at horses and armor, guns and blue beads, 
 is a mask. It is in my mind that some fair day the 
 mask will be dropped. Here 's the village." 
 
 Until our interview with Chanco the Christian, the 
 village of the Paspaheghs, and not the village of the 
 Chickahominies, had been our destination, and since 
 leaving the block house we had made good speed ; but 
 now, within the usual girdle of mulberries, we were 
 met by the werowance and his chief men with the cus- 
 tomary savage ceremonies. We had long since come 
 to the conclusion that the birds of the air and the fish 
 of the streams were Mercuries to the Indians. 
 
 The werowance received us in due form, with pre- 
 sents of fish and venison, cakes of chinquapin meal 
 and gourds of pohickory, an uncouth dance by twelve 
 of his young men and a deal of hellish noise ; then, at 
 our command, led tis into the village, and to the lodge 
 which marked its centre. Around it were gathered 
 Opechancanough's own warriors, men from Orapax 
 and Uttamussac and Werowocomoco, chosen for their 
 strength and cunning ; while upon the grass beneath a 
 blood-red gum tree sat his wives, painted and tattooed, 
 with great strings of pearl and copper about their 
 necks. Beyond them were the women and children 
 of the Chickahominies, and around us all the red 
 forest. 
 
 The mat that hung before the door of the lodge 
 was lifted, and an Indian, emerging, came forward, 
 with a gesture of welcome. It was Nantauquas, the 
 Lady Rebekah's brother, and the one Indian — sav- 
 ing always his dead sister — that was ever to my 
 liking ; a savage, indeed, but a savage as brave and 
 chivalrous, as courteous and truthful, as a Christian 
 knight. 
 
THE SANTA TERESA DROPS DOWNSTREAM 121 # 
 
 Rolfe sprang from his horse, and advancing to 
 meet the young chief embraced hi in. Nantauquas 
 had been much with his sister during those her happy 
 days at Varina, before she went with Rolfe that ill- 
 fated voyage to England, and Rolfe loved him for her 
 sake and for his own. " I thought you at Orapax, 
 Nantauquas ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " I was there, my brother," said the Indian, and 
 his voice was sweet, deep, and grave, like that of his 
 sister. " But Opechancanough would go to Uttamus- 
 sac, to the temple and the dead kings. I lead his war 
 parties now, and I came with him. Opechancanough 
 is within the lodge. He asks that my brother and 
 Captain Percy come to him there." 
 
 Pie lifted the mat for us, and followed us into the 
 lodge. There was the usual winding entrance, with 
 half a dozen mats to be lifted one after the other, but 
 at last we came to the central chamber and to the 
 man we sought. 
 
 He sat beside a small fire burning redly in the twi- 
 light of the room. The light shone now upon the 
 feathers in his scalp lock, now upon the triple row of 
 pearls around his neck, now upon knife and tomahawk 
 in his silk grass belt, now on the otterskin mantle 
 hanging from his shoulder and drawn across his knees. 
 How old he was no man knew. Men said that he was 
 older than Powhatan, and Powhatan was very old 
 when he died. But he looked a man in the prime of 
 life ; his frame was vigorous, his skin unwrinkled, his 
 eyes bright and full. When he rose to welcome us, 
 and Nantauquas stood beside him, there seemed not a 
 score of years between them. 
 
 The matter upon which we had come was not one 
 that brooked delay. We waited with what patience 
 
122 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 we might until his long speech of welcome was fin- 
 ished, when, in as few words as possible, Rolfe laid 
 before him our complaint against the Paspaheghs. 
 The Indian listened ; then said, in that voice that al- 
 ways made me think of some cold, still, bottomless 
 pool lying black beneath overhanging rocks : " My 
 brothers may go in peace. The Paspaheghs have 
 washed off the black paint. If my brothers go to the 
 village, they will find the peace pipe ready for their 
 smoking." 
 
 Rolfe and I stared at each other. " I have sent 
 messengers," continued the Emperor. " I have told 
 the Paspaheghs of my love for the white man, and of 
 the goodwill the white man bears the Indian. I have 
 told them that Nemattanow was a murderer, and that 
 his death was just. They are satisfied. Their village 
 is as still as this beast at my feet." He pointed 
 downward to a tame panther crouched against his 
 moccasins. I thought it an ominous comparison. 
 
 Involuntarily we looked at Nantauquas. "It is 
 true," he said. " I am but come from the village of 
 the Paspaheghs. I took them the word of Opechan- 
 canough." 
 
 " Then, since the matter is settled, we may go 
 home," I remarked, rising as I spoke. " We could, 
 of course, have put down the Paspaheghs with one 
 hand, giving them besides a lesson which they would 
 not soon forget, but in the kindness of our hearts 
 toward them and to save ourselves trouble we came 
 to Opechancanough. For his aid in this trifling busi- 
 ness the Governor gives him thanks." 
 
 A smile just lit the features of the Indian. It 
 was gone in a moment. " Does not Opechancanough 
 love the white men ? " he said. " Some day he will 
 do more than this for them." 
 
THE SANTA TERESA DROPS DOWNSTREAM 123 
 
 We left the lodge and the dark Emperor within it, 
 got to horse, and quitted the village, with its painted 
 people, yellowing mulberries, and blood-red gum trees. 
 Nantauquas went with us, keeping pace with Rolfe's 
 horse, and giving us now and then, in his deep musi- 
 cal voice, this or that bit of woodland news. At the 
 block house we found confirmation of the Emperor's 
 statement. An embassy from the Paspaheghs had 
 come with presents, and the peace pipe had been 
 smoked. The spies, too, brought news that all war- 
 like preparations had ceased in the village. It had 
 sunk once more into a quietude befitting the sleepy, 
 dreamy, hazy weather. 
 
 Rolfe and I held a short consultation. All ap- 
 peared safe, but there was the possibility of a ruse. 
 At the last it seemed best that he, who by virtue of 
 his peculiar relations with the Indians was ever our 
 negotiator, should remain with half our troop at the 
 block house, while I reported to the Governor. So I 
 left him, and Nantauquas with him, and rode back to 
 Jamestown, reaching the town some hours sooner than 
 I was expected. 
 
 It was after nooning when I passed through the 
 gates of the palisade, and an hour later when I fin- 
 ished my report to the Governor. When he at last 
 dismissed me, I rode quickly down the street toward 
 the minister's house. As I passed the guest house, 
 I glanced up at the window from which, at daybreak, 
 the Italian had looked down upon me. No one looked 
 out now; the window was closely shuttered, and at 
 the door beneath my lord's French rascals were con- 
 spicuously absent. A few yards further on I met my 
 lord face to face, as he emerged from a lane that led 
 down to the river. At sight of me he started vio- 
 
124 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 lently, and his hand went to his mouth. I slightly 
 bent my head, and rode on past him. At the gate of 
 the churchyard, a stone's throw from home, I met 
 Master Jeremy Sparrow. 
 
 " Well met ! " he exclaimed. " Are the Indians 
 quiet ? " 
 
 " For the nonce. How is your sick man ? " 
 
 " Very well," he answered gravely. " I closed his 
 eyes two hours ago." 
 
 " He 's dead, then," I said. « Well, he 's out of his 
 troubles, and hath that advantage over the living. 
 Have you another call, that you travel from home so 
 fast ? " 
 
 " Why, to tell the truth," he replied, " I could not 
 but feel uneasy when I learned just now of this com- 
 motion amongst the heathen. You must know best, 
 but I should not have thought it a day for madam to 
 walk in the woods ; so I e'en thought I would cross 
 the neck and bring her home." 
 
 " For madam to walk in the woods ? " I said slowly. 
 " So she walks there ? With whom ? " 
 
 " With Diccon and Angela," he answered. " They 
 went before the sun was an hour high, so Goodwife 
 Allen says. I thought that you " — 
 
 " No," I told him. " On the contrary, I left com- 
 mand that she should not venture outside the garden. 
 There are more than Indians abroad." 
 
 I was white with anger: but besides anger there 
 was fear in my heart. 
 
 " I will go at once and bring her home," I said. 
 As I spoke, I happened to glance toward the fort and 
 the shipping in the river beyond. Something seemed 
 wrong with the prospect. I looked again, anH saw 
 what hated and familiar object was missing. 
 
THE SANTA TERESA DROPS DOWNSTREAM 125 
 
 "Where is the Santa Teresa?" I demanded, the 
 fear at my heart tugging harder. 
 
 " She dropped downstream this morning. I passed 
 her as I came up from Archer's Hope, awhile ago. 
 She 's anchored in midstream off the big spring. 
 Why did she go?" 
 
 We looked each other in the eyes, and each read 
 the thought that neither cared to put into words. 
 
 " You can take the brown mare," I said, speaking 
 lightly because my heart was as heavy as lead, " and 
 we '11 ride to the forest. It is all right, I dare say. 
 Doubtless we '11 find her garlanding herself with the 
 grape, or playing with the squirrels, or asleep on the 
 red leaves, with her head in Angela's lap." 
 
 " Doubtless," he said. " Don't lose time. I '11 sad- 
 dle the mare and overtake you in two minutes." 
 
CHAPTEE XIV 
 
 IN WHICH WE SEEK A LOST LADY 
 
 Beside the minister and myself, nothing human 
 moved in the crimson woods. Blue haze was there, 
 and the steady drift of colored leaves, and the sun- 
 shine freely falling through bared limbs, but no man 
 or woman. The fallen leaves rustled as the deer 
 passed, the squirrels chattered and the foxes barked, 
 but we heard no sweet laughter or ringing song. 
 
 We found a bank of moss, and lying upon it a 
 chaplet of red-brown oak leaves ; further on, the mint 
 beside a crystal streamlet had been trodden underfoot ; 
 then, flung down upon the brown earth beneath some 
 pines, we came upon a long trailer of scarlet vine. 
 Beyond was a fairy hollow, a cuplike depression, cur- 
 tained from the world by the red vines that hung 
 from the trees upon its brim, and carpeted with the 
 gold of a great maple ; and here Fear became a giant 
 with whom it was vain to wrestle. 
 
 There had been a struggle in the hollow. The cur- 
 tain of vines was torn, the boughs of a sumach bent 
 and broken, the fallen leaves groun underfoot. In 
 one place there was blood upon the leaves. 
 
 The forest seemed suddenly very quiet, — quite 
 
 soundless save for the beating of our hearts. On 
 
 /y every side opened red and yellow ways, sunny glades, 
 
 0T" labyrinthine paths, long aisles, all dim with the blue 
 
 haze like the cloudy incense in stone cathedrals, but 
 
IN WHICH WE SEEK A LOST LADY 127 
 
 aothing moved in them save the creatures of the 
 forest. Without the hollow there was no sign. The 
 leaves looked undisturbed, or others, drifting down, 
 had hidden any marks there might have been; no 
 footprints, no broken branches, no token of those who 
 had left the hollow. Down which of the painted ways 
 had they gone, and where were they now ? 
 
 Sparrow and I sat our horses, and stared now down 
 this alley, now down that, into the blue that closed 
 each vista. 
 
 " The Santa Teresa is just off the big spring," he 
 said at last. " She must have dropped down there in 
 order to take in water quietly." 
 
 " The man that came upon her is still in town, — 
 or was an hour agone," I replied. 
 
 " Then she has n't sailed yet," he said. 
 
 In the distance something grew out of the blue 
 mist. I had not lived thirteen years in the woodland 
 to be dim of sight or dull of hearing. 
 
 " Some one is coming," I announced. " Back your 
 horse into this clump of sumach." 
 
 The sumach grew thick, and was draped, moreover, 
 with some broad-leafed vine. Within its covert we 
 could see with small danger of being seen, unless the 
 approaching figure should prove to be that of an 
 Indian. It was not an Indian ; it was my Lord Car- 
 nal. He came on slowly, glancing from side to side, 
 and pausing now and then as if to listen. He was so 
 little of a. woodsman that he never looked underfoot. 
 
 Sparrow touched my arm and pointed down a glade 
 at right angles with the path my lord was pursuing. 
 Up this glade there was coming toward us another 
 figure, — a small black figure that moved swiftly, 
 looking neither to the right nor to the left. 
 
128 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Black Lamoral stood like a stone ; the brown mare, 
 too, had learned what meant a certain touch upon her 
 shoulder. Sparrow and I, with small shame for our 
 eavesdropping, bent to our saddlebows and looked 
 sideways through tiny gaps in the crimson foliage. 
 
 My lord descended one side of the hollow, his 
 heavy foot bringing down the dead leaves and loose 
 earth ; the Italian glided down the opposite side, dis- 
 turbing the economy of the forest as little as a snake 
 would have done. 
 
 " I thought I should never meet you," growled my 
 lord. " I thought I had lost you and her and myself. 
 This d — d red forest and this blue haze are enough 
 to " — He broke off with an oath. 
 
 " I came as fast as I could," said the other. His 
 voice was strange, thin and dreamy, matching his 
 filmy eyes and his eternal, very faint smile. " Your 
 poor physician congratulates your lordship upon the 
 success that still attends you. Yours is a fortunate 
 star, my lord." 
 
 " Then you have her safe ? " cried my lord. 
 
 " Three miles from here, on the river bank, is a 
 ring of pines, in which the trees grow so thick that 
 it is always twilight. Ten years ago a man was 
 murdered there, and Sir Thomas Dale chained the 
 murderer to the tree beneath which his victim was 
 buried, and left him to perish of hunger and thirst. 
 That is the tale they tell at Jamestown. The wood 
 is said to be haunted by murdered and murderer, and 
 no one enters it or comes nearer to it than he can 
 avoid: which makes it an excellent resort for those 
 whom the dead cannot scare. The lady is there, my 
 lord, with your four knaves to guard her. They do 
 not know that the gloom and quiet of the place are 
 due to more than nature." 
 
IN WHICH WE SEEK A LOST LADY 129 
 
 My lord began to laugh. Either he had been 
 drinking, or the success of his villainy had served for 
 wine. " You are a man in a thousand, Nicolo ! " he 
 said. " How far above or below the ship is this for- 
 tunate wood ? " 
 
 " Just opposite, my lord." 
 
 " Can a boat land easily ? " 
 
 " A creek runs through the wood to the river. 
 There needs but the appointed signal from the bank, 
 and a boat from the Santa Teresa can be rowed up 
 the stream to the very tree beneath which the lady 
 sits." 
 
 My lord's laughter rang out again. " You 're a man 
 in ten thousand, Nicolo ! Nicolo, the bridegroom 's in 
 town." 
 
 " Back so soon ? " said the Italian. " Then we 
 must change your lordship's plan. With him on the 
 ground, you can no longer wait until nightfall to row 
 downstream to the lady and the Santa Teresa. He '11 
 come to look for her." 
 
 " Ay, he '11 come to look for her, curse him ! " 
 echoed my lord. 
 
 "Do you think the dead will scare him? " contin- 
 ued the Italian. 
 
 " No, I don't ! " answered my lord, with an oath. 
 " I would he were among them ! An I could have 
 killed him before I went " — 
 
 " I had devised a way to do it long ago, had not 
 your lordship's conscience been so tender. And yet, 
 before now, our enemies — yours and mine, my lord 
 — have met with sudden and mysterious death. Men 
 stared, but they ended by calling it a dispensation of 
 Providence." He broke off to laugh with silent, hate- 
 ful laughter, as mirthful as the grin of a death's-head. 
 
130 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " I know, I know ! " said my lord impatiently. 
 " We are not overnice, Nicolo. But between me and 
 those who then stood in my way there had passed 
 no challenge. This is my mortal foe, through whose 
 heart I would drive my sword. I would give my ruby 
 to know whether he 's in the town or in the forest." 
 
 " He 's in the forest," I said. 
 
 Black Lamoral and the brown mare were beside 
 them before either moved hand or foot, or did aught 
 but stare and stare, as though men and horses had 
 risen from the dead. All the color was gone from 
 my lord's face, — it looked white, drawn, and pinched ; 
 as for his companion, his countenance did not change, 
 — never changed, I believe, — but the trembling of 
 the feather in his hat was not caused by the wind. 
 
 Jeremy Sparrow bent down from his saddle, seized 
 the Italian under the armpits, and swung him clean 
 from the ground up to the brown mare's neck. " Di- 
 vinity and medicine," he said genially, " soul healer 
 and body poisoner, we '11 ride double for a time," and 
 proceeded to bind the doctor's hands with his own 
 scarf. The creature of venom before him writhed 
 and struggled, but the minister's strength was as the 
 strength of ten, and the minister's hand held him 
 down. By this I was off Black Lamoral and facing 
 my lord. The color had come back to his lip and 
 cheek, and the flash to his eye. His hand went to 
 his sword hilt. 
 
 " I shall not draw mine, my lord," I told him. " I 
 keep troth." 
 
 He stared at me with a frown that suddenly changed 
 into a laugh, forced and unnatural enough. " Then 
 go thy ways, and let me go mine ! " he cried. " Be 
 complaisant, worthy captain of trainbands and Bur- 
 
IN WHICH WE SEEK A LOST LADY 131 
 
 gess from a dozen huts ! The King and. I will make 
 it worth your while." 
 
 " I will not draw my sword upon you," I replied, 
 " but I will try a fall with you," and I seized him by 
 the wrist. 
 
 He was a good wrestler as he was a good swords- 
 man, but, with bitter anger in my heart and a vision 
 of the haunted wood before my eyes, I think I could 
 have wrestled with Hercules and won. Presently I 
 threw him, and, pinning him down with my knee upon 
 his breast, cried to Sparrow to cut the bridle reins 
 from Black Lamoral and throw them to me. Though 
 he had the Italian upon his hands, he managed to 
 obey. With my free hand and my teeth I drew a 
 thong about my lord's arms and bound them to his 
 sides ; then took my knee from his chest and my 
 hand from his throat, and rose to my feet. He rose 
 too with one spring. He was very white, and there 
 was foam on his lips. 
 
 " What next, captain ? " he demanded thickly. 
 " Your score is mounting up rather rapidly. What 
 next ? " 
 
 " This," I replied, and with the other thong fas- 
 tened him, despite his struggles, to the young maple 
 beneath which we had wrestled. When the task was 
 done, I first drew his sword from its jeweled scabbard 
 and laid it on the ground at his feet, and then cut the 
 leather which restrained his arms, leaving him only 
 tied to the tree. " I am not Sir Thomas Dale," I 
 said, " and therefore I shall not gag you and leave 
 you bound for an indefinite length of time, to contem- 
 plate a grave that you thought to dig. One haunted 
 wood is enough for one county. Your lordship will 
 observe that I have knotted your bonds in easy reach 
 
132 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 of your hands, the use of which I have just restored 
 to you. The knot is a peculiar one ; an Indian taught 
 it to me. If you set to work at once, you will get 
 it untied before nightfall. That you may not think it 
 the Gordian knot and treat it as such, I have put 
 your sword where you can get it only when you have 
 worked for it. Your familiar, my lord, may prove of 
 use to us ; therefore we will take him with us to the 
 haunted wood. I have the honor to wish your lord- 
 ship a very good day." 
 
 I bowed low, swung myself into my saddle, and 
 turned my back upon his glaring eyes and bared 
 teeth. Sparrow, his prize flung across his saddlebow, 
 turned with me. A minute more saw us out of the 
 hollow, and entered upon the glade up which had 
 come the Italian. When we had gone a short dis- 
 tance, I turned in my saddle and looked back. The 
 tiny hollow had vanished ; all the forest looked level, 
 dreamy and still, barren of humanity, given over to 
 its own shy children, nothing moving save the slow- 
 falling leaves. But from beyond a great clump of 
 sumach, set like a torch in the vaporous blue, came a 
 steady stream of words, happily rendered indistin- 
 guishable by distance, and I knew that the King's 
 minion was cursing the Italian, the Governor, the 
 Santa Teresa, the Due Return, the minister, the for- 
 est, the haunted wood, his sword, the knot that I had 
 tied, and myself. 
 
 I admit that the sound was music in mine ears. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 IN WHICH WE FIND THE HAUNTED WOOD 
 
 On the outskirts of the haunted wood we dis- 
 mounted, fastening the horses to two pines. The 
 Italian we gagged and bound across the brown mare's 
 saddle. Then, as noiselessly as Indians, we entered 
 the wood. 
 
 Once within it, it was as though the sun had sud- 
 denly sunk from the heavens. The pines, of magni- 
 ficent height and girth, were so closely set that far 
 overhead, where the branches began, was a heavy roof 
 of foliage, impervious to the sunshine, brooding, dark 
 and sullen as a thundercloud, over the cavernous 
 world beneath. There was no undergrowth, no cling- 
 ing vines, no bloom, no color ; only the dark, innu- 
 merable tree trunks and the purplish-brown, scented, 
 and slippery earth. The air was heavy, cold, and 
 still, like cave air ; the silence as blank and awful as 
 the silence beneath the earth. 
 
 The minister and I stole through the dusk, and for 
 a long time heard nothing but our own breathing and 
 the beating of our hearts. But coming to a sluggish j 
 stream, as quiet as the wood through which it crept, j 
 and following its slow windings, we at last heard a 
 voice, and in the distance made out dark forms sit- 
 ting on the earth beside that sombre water. We went 
 on with caution, gliding from tree to tree and making 
 no noise. In the cheerless silence of that place any 
 
134 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 sound would have shattered the stillness like a pistol 
 shot. 
 
 Presently we came to a halt, and, ourselves hidden 
 by a giant trunk, looked out on stealers and stolen. 
 They were gathered on the bank of the stream, wait- 
 ing for the boat from the Santa Teresa. The lady 
 I whom we sought lay like a fallen flower on the dark 
 / ground beneath a pine. She did not move, and her 
 eyes were shut. At her head crouched the negress, 
 her white garments showing ghostlike through the 
 gloom. Beneath the next tree sat Diccon, his hands 
 tied behind him, and around him my Lord Carnal's 
 four knaves. It was Diccon's voice that we had heard. 
 He was still speaking, and now we could distinguish 
 the words. 
 
 " So Sir Thomas chains him there," he said, — 
 " right there to that tree under which you are sitting, 
 Jacky Bonhomme." Jacques incontinently shifted his 
 position. " He chains him there, with one chain 
 around his neck, one around his waist, and one around 
 his ankles. Then he sticks me a bodkin through his 
 tongue." A groan of admiration from his audience^ 
 " Then they dig, before his very eyes, a grave, — shal- 
 low enough they make it, too, — and they put into it, 
 uncoffined, with only a long white shroud upon him, 
 the man he murdered. Then they cover the grave. 
 You 're sitting on it now, you other Jacky." 
 
 " Godam ! " cried the rascal addressed, and removed 
 with expedition to a less storied piece of ground. 
 
 "Then they go away," continued Diccon in grave- 
 yard tones. " They all go away together, — Sir 
 Thomas and Captain Argall, Captain West, Lieuten- 
 ant George Percy and his cousin, my master, and Sir 
 Thomas's men ; they go out of the wood as though 
 
IN WHICH WE FIND THE HAUNTED WOOD 135 
 
 it were accursed, though indeed it was not half so 
 gloomy then as it is now. The sun shone into it then, 
 sometimes, and the birds sang. You would n't think 
 it from the looks of things now, would you ? As the 
 dead man rotted in his grave, and the living man died 
 by inches above him, they say the wood grew darker, 
 and darker, and darker. How dark it 's getting now, 
 and cold, — cold as the dead ! " 
 
 His auditors drew closer together, and shivered. 
 Sparrow and I were so near that we could see the 
 hands of the ingenious story-teller, bound behind his 
 back, working as he talked. Now they strained this 
 way, and now that, at the piece of rope that bound 
 them. 
 
 " That was ten years ago," he said, his voice be« 
 coming more and more impressive. " Since that day 
 nothing comes into this wood, — nothing human, that 
 is. Neither white man nor Indian comes, that 's cer- 
 tain. Then why are n't there chains around that tree, 
 and why are there no bones beneath it, on the ground 
 there? Because, Jackies all, the man that did that 
 murder walks ! It is not always deadly still here ; 
 sometimes there 's a clanking of chains ! And a bod- 
 kin through the tongue can't keep the dead from 
 wailing ! And the murdered man walks, too ; in his 
 shroud he follows the other — Is n't that something 
 white in the distance yonder ? " 
 
 My lord's four knaves looked down the arcade of 
 trees, and saw the something white as plainly as if it 
 had been verily there. Each moment the wood grew 
 darker, — a thing in nature, since the sun outside was 
 swiftly sinking to the horizon. But to those to whom 
 that tale had been told it was a darkening unearthly 
 and portentous, bringing with it a colder air and a 
 deepened silence. 
 
236 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Oh, Sir Thomas Dale, Sir Thomas Dale ! " 
 
 The voice seemed to come from the distance, and 
 bore in its dismal cadence the melancholy of the 
 damned. For a moment my heart stood still, and the 
 hair of my head commenced to rise ; the next, I knew 
 that Diccon had found an ally, not in the dead, 
 but in the living. The minister, standing beside me, 
 opened his mouth again, and again that dismal voice 
 rang through the wood, and again it seemed, by I 
 know not what art, to come from any spot rather than 
 from that particular tree behind whose trunk stood 
 Master Jeremy Sparrow. 
 
 " Oh, the bodkin through my tongue ! Oh, the 
 bodkin through my tongue ! " 
 
 Two of the guard sat with hanging lip and lack- 
 lustre eyes, turned to stone ; one, at full length upon 
 the ground, bruised his face against the pine needles 
 and called on the Virgin ; the fourth, panic-stricken, 
 leaped to his feet and dashed off into the darkness, 
 to trouble us no more that day. 
 
 " Oh, the heavy chains ! " cried the unseen spectre. 
 " Oh, the dead man in his grave ! " 
 
 The man on his face dug his nails into the earth 
 and howled ; his fellows were too frightened for sound 
 or motion. Diccon, a hardy rogue, with little fear of 
 God or man, gave no sign of perturbation beyond a 
 desperate tugging at the rope about his wrists. He 
 was ever quick to take suggestion, and he had prob- 
 ably begun to question the nature of the ghost who 
 was doing him such yeoman service. 
 
 " D' ye think they 've had enough ? " said Sparrow 
 in my ear. " My invention flaggeth." 
 
 I nodded, too choked with laughter for speech, and 
 drew my sword. The next moment we were upon the 
 men like wolves upon the fold. 
 
IN WHICH WE FIND THE HAUNTED WOOD 137 
 
 They made no resistance. Amazed and shaken as 
 they were, we might have dispatched them with all 
 ease, to join the dead whose lamentations yet rang in 
 their ears ; but we contented ourselves with disarming 
 them and bidding them begone for their lives in the 
 direction of the Pamunkey. They went like fright- 
 ened deer, their one goal in life escape from the wood. 
 
 " Did you meet the Italian ? " 
 
 I turned to find my wife at my side. The King's 
 ward had a kingly spirit ; she was not one that 
 the dead or the living could daunt. To her, as to 
 me, danger was a trumpet call to nerve heart and 
 strengthen soul. She had been in peril of that which 
 she most feared, but the light in her eye was not 
 quenched, and the hand with which she touched mine, 
 though cold, was steady. 
 
 " Is he dead ? " she asked. " At court they called 
 him the Black Death. They said " — 
 
 tk I did not kill him," I answered, " but I will if 
 you desire it." 
 
 " And his master ? " she demanded. " What have 
 you done with his master? " 
 
 I told her. At the vision my words conjured up 
 her strained nerves gave way, and she broke into 
 laughter as cruel as it was sweet. Peal after peal 
 rang through the haunted wood, and increased the 
 eeriness of the place. 
 
 " The knot that I tied he will untie directly," I 
 said. " If we would reach Jamestown first, we had 
 best be going." 
 
 " Night is upon us, too," said the minister, " and 
 this place hath the look of the very valley of the 
 shadow of death. If the spirits walk, it is hard upon 
 their time — and I prefer to walk eisewhere." 
 
138 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Cease your laughter, madam," I said. " Should 
 a boat be coming up this stream, you would betray 
 us." 
 
 I went over to Diccon, and in a silence as grim as 
 his own cut the rope which bound his hands, which 
 done we all moved through the deepening gloom to 
 where we had left the horses, Jeremy Sparrow going 
 on ahead to have them in readiness. Presently he 
 came hurrying back. " The Italian is gone ! " he cried. 
 
 " Gone ! " I exclaimed. " I told you to tie him fast 
 to the saddle ! " 
 
 " Why, so I did," he replied. " I drew the thongs 
 so tight that they cut into his flesh. He could not 
 have endured to pull against them." 
 
 " Then how did he get away ? " 
 
 " Why," he answered, with a rueful countenance, 
 " I did bind him, as I have said ; but when I had 
 done so, I bethought me of how the leather must cut, 
 and of how pain is dreadful even to a snake, and of 
 the injunction to do as you would be done by, and 
 so e'en loosened his bonds. But, as I am a christened 
 man, I thought that they would yet hold him fast ! " 
 
 I began to swear, but ended in vexed laughter. 
 '* The milk 's spilt. There 's no use in crying over it. 
 After all, we must have loosed him before we entered 
 the town." 
 
 " Will you not bring the matter before the Gov- 
 ernor ? " he asked. 
 
 I shook my head. " If Yeardley did me right, he 
 would put in jeopardy his office and his person. This 
 is my private quarrel, and I will draw no man into it 
 against his will. Here are the horses, and we had best 
 be gone, for by this time my lord and his physician 
 may have their heads together again." 
 
IN WHICH WE FIND THE HAUNTED WOOD 139 
 
 I mounted Black Lamoral, and lifted Mistress Percy 
 to a seat behind me. The brown mare bore the min- 
 ister and the negress, and Diccon, doggedly silent, 
 trudged beside us. 
 
 We passed through the haunted wood and the 
 painted forest beyond without adventure. We rode 
 in silence : the lady behind me too weary for speech, 
 the minister revolving in his mind the escape of the 
 Italian, and I with my own thoughts to occupy me. 
 It was dusk when we crossed the neck of land, and 
 as we rode down the street torches were being lit in 
 the houses. The upper room in the guest house was 
 brightly illumined, and the window was open. Black 
 Lamoral and the brown mare made a trampling with 
 their hoofs, and I began to whistle a gay old tune I 
 had learnt in the wars. A figure in scarlet and black 
 came to the window, and stood there looking down 
 upon us. The lady riding with me straightened her- 
 self and raised her weary head. " The next time we 
 go to the forest, Ralph," she said in a clear, high 
 voice, " thou 'It show me a certain tree," and she 
 broke into silvery laughter. She laughed until we 
 had left behind the guest house and the figure in 
 the upper window, and then the laughter changed to 
 something like a sob. If there were pain and anger 
 in her heart, pain and anger were in mine also. She 
 had never called me by my name before. She hadj%;' 
 only used it now as a dagger with which to stab at 
 that fierce heart above us. 
 
 At last we reached the minister's house, and dis- 
 mounted before the door. Diccon led the horses 
 away, and I handed my wife into the great room. 
 The minister tarried but for a few words anent some 
 precautions that I meant to take, and then betook 
 
140 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 himself to his own chamber. As he went out of the 
 door Diccon entered the room. 
 
 "Oh, I am weary ! " sighed Mistress Jocelyn Percy. 
 " What was the mighty business, Captain Percy, that 
 made you break tryst with a lady? You should go to 
 court, sir, to be taught gallantry." 
 
 " Where should a wife go to be taught obedience ? " 
 I demanded. " You know where I went and why I 
 could not keep tryst. Why did you not obey my 
 orders ? " 
 
 She opened wide her eyes. " Your orders ? I never 
 received any, — not that I should have obeyed them 
 if I had. Know where you went? I know neither 
 ! why nor where you went ! " 
 
 I leaned my hand upon the table, and looked from 
 her to Diccon. 
 
 " I was sent by the Governor to quell a disturb- 
 ance amongst the nearest Indians. The woods to- 
 day have been full of danger. Moreover, the plan 
 that we made yesterday was overheard by the Italian. 
 When I had to go this morning without seeing you, 
 I left you word where I had gone and why, and also 
 my commands that you should not stir outside the 
 garden. Were you not told this, madam? " 
 
 "No!" she cried. 
 
 I looked at Diccon. " I told madam that you were 
 called away on business," he said sullenly. " I told 
 her that you were sorry you could not go with her to 
 the woods." 
 
 " You told her nothing more ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " May I ask why ? " 
 
 He threw back his head. " I did not believe the 
 Paspaheghs would trouble her," he answered, with 
 
**" 
 
 IN WHICH WE FIND THE HAUNTED WOOD 141 
 
 hardihood, " and you had n't seen fit, sir, to tell me 
 of the other danger. Madam wanted to go, and I 
 thought it a pity that she should lose her pleasure for 
 nothing." 
 
 I had been hunting the day before, and my whip 
 yet lay upon the table. "I have known you for a 
 hardy rogue," I said, with my hand upon it ; " now I 
 know you for a faithless one as well. If I gave you 
 credit for all the vices of the soldier, I gave you credit 
 also for his virtues. I was the more deceived. The 
 disobedient servant I might pardon, but the soldier 
 who is faithless to his trust " — 
 
 I raised the whip and brought it down again and "* f /*"«■-? 
 again across his shoulders. He stood without a word, f**y * " 
 his face dark red and his hands clenched at his sides. 
 For a minute or more there was no sound in the room 
 save the sound of the blows ; then my wife suddenly 
 cried out : " It is enough ! You have beaten him 
 enough ! Let him go, sir ! " 
 
 I threw down the whip. " Begone, sirrah ! " I 
 ordered. " And keep out of my sight to-morrow ! " 
 
 With his face still dark red and with a pulse beat- 
 ing fiercely in his cheek, he moved slowly toward the 
 door, turned when he had reached it and saluted, then 
 went out and closed it after him. 
 
 " Now he too will be your enemy," said Mistress 
 Percy, " and all through me. I have brought you 
 many enemies, have I not ? Perhaps you count me 
 amongst them ? I should not wonder if you did. Do 
 you not wish me gone from Virginia ? " 
 
 " So I were with you, madam," I said bluntly, and 
 went to call the minister down to supper. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IN WHICH I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT 
 
 The next day, Governor and Councilors sat to re- 
 ceive presents from the Paspaheghs and to listen to 
 long and affectionate messages from Opechancanough, 
 who, like the player queen, did protest too much. 
 The Council met at Yeardley's house, and I was 
 called before it to make my report of the expedition 
 of the day before. It was late afternoon when the 
 Governor dismissed us, and I found myself leaving 
 the house in company with Master Pory. 
 
 " I am bound for my lord's," said that worthy as 
 we neared the guest house. " My lord hath Xeres 
 wine that is the very original nectar of the gods, and 
 he drinks it from goblets worth a king's ransom. We 
 have heard a deal to-day about burying hatchets : 
 bury thine for the nonce, Ralph Percy, and come 
 drink with us." 
 
 "Not I," I said. "I would sooner drink with — 
 some one else." 
 
 He laughed. " Here 's my lord himself shall per- 
 suade you." 
 
 My lord, dressed with his usual magnificence and 
 darkly handsome as ever, was indeed standing within 
 the guest-house door. Pory drew up beside him. I 
 was passing on with a slight bow, when the Secretary 
 caught me by the sleeve. At the Governor's house 
 wine had been set forth to revive the jaded Council, 
 
I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT 143 
 
 and he was already half seas over. " Tarry with us, 
 captain ! " he cried. " Good wine 's good wine, no 
 matter who pours it ! 'S bud ! in my young days 
 men called a truce and forgot they were foes when the 
 bottle went round ! " 
 
 " If Captain Percy will stay," quoth my lord, " I 
 will give him welcome and good wine. As Master 
 Pory says, men cannot be always fighting. A breath- 
 ing spell to-day gives to-morrow's struggle new zest." 
 
 He spoke frankly, with open face and candid eyes. 
 I was not fooled. If yesterday he would have slain 
 me only in fair fight, it was not so to-day. Under the 
 lace that fell over his wrist was a red cirque, the 
 mark of the thong with which I had bound him. As 
 if he had told me, I knew that he had thrown his 
 scruples to the winds, and that he cared not what foul 
 play he used to sweep me from his path. My spirit 
 and my wit rose to meet the danger. Of a sudden I 
 resolved to accept his invitation. 
 
 " So be it," I said, with a laugh and a shrug of my 
 shoulders. " A cup of wine is no great matter. I '11 
 take it at your hands, my lord, and drink to our 
 better acquaintance." 
 
 We all three went up into my lord's room. The 
 King had fitted out his minion bravely for the Vir- 
 ginia voyage, and the riches that had decked the 
 state cabin aboard the Santa Teresa now served to 
 transform the bare room in the guest house at James- 
 town into a corner of Whitehall. The walls were 
 hung with arras, there was a noble carpet beneath as 
 well as upon the table, and against the wall stood 
 richly carved trunks. On the table, beside a bowl of 
 late flowers were a great silver flagon and a number 
 of goblets, some of chased silver and some of colored 
 
144 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 glass, strangely shaped and fragile as an eggshell. 
 The late sun now shining in at the open window made 
 the glass to glow like precious stones. 
 
 My lord rang a little silver bell, and a door behind 
 us was opened. " Wine, Giles ! " cried my lord in 
 a raised voice. " Wine for Master Pory, Captain 
 Percy, and myself ! And Giles, my two choice gob- 
 lets." 
 
 Giles, whom I had never seen before, advanced to 
 the table, took the flagon, and went toward the door, 
 which he had shut behind him. I negligently turned 
 in my seat, and so came in for a glimpse, as he slipped 
 through the door, of a figure in black in the next 
 room. 
 
 The wine was brought, and with it two goblets. 
 My lord broke off in the midst of an account of 
 the morning's bear-baiting which the tediousness of 
 the Indians had caused us to miss. " Who knows if 
 we three shall ever drink together again ? " he said. 
 " To honor this bout I use my most precious cups." 
 Voice and manner were free and unconstrained. 
 " This gold cup " — he held it up — " belonged to the 
 Medici. Master Pory, who is a man of taste, will 
 note the beauty of the graven maenads upon this side, 
 and of the Bacchus and Ariadne upon this. It is the 
 work of none other than B envenuto Cellini. I pour 
 for you, sir." He filled the gold cup with the ruby 
 wine and set it before the Secretary, who eyed it 
 with all the passion of a lover, and waited not for 
 us, but raised it to his lips at once. My lord took up 
 the other cup. " This glass," he continued, " as green 
 as an emerald, freckled inside and out with gold, and 
 shaped like a lily, was once amongst a convent's trea- 
 sures- My father brought it from Italy, years ago. 
 
I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT 145 
 
 I use it as he used it, only on gala days. I fill to you, 
 sir." He poured the wiue into the green and gold 
 and twisted bauble and set it before me, then filled 
 a silver goblet for himself. " Drink, gentlemen," he 
 said. 
 
 " Faith, I have drunken already," quoth the Secre- 
 tary, and proceeded to fill for himself a second time. 
 " Here 's to you, gentlemen ! " and he emptied half 
 the measure. 
 
 " Captain Percy does not drink," remarked my 
 lord. 
 
 I leaned my elbow upon the table, and, holding up 
 the glass against the light, began to admire its beauty. 
 " The tint is wonderful," I said, " as lucent a green 
 as the top of the comber that is to break and over- 
 whelm you. And these knobs of gold, within and 
 without, and the strange shape the tortured glass has 
 been made to take. I find it of a quite minister 
 beauty, my lord." 
 
 " It hath been much admired," said the nobleman 
 addressed. 
 
 " I am strangely suited, my lord," I went on, still 
 dreamily enjoying the beauty of the green gem within 
 my clasp. " I am a soldier with an imagination. 
 Sometimes, to give the rein to my fancy pleases me 
 more than wine. Now, this strange chalice, — might 
 it not breed dreams as strange? " 
 
 " When I had drunken, I think," replied my lord. 
 " The wine would be a potent spur to my fancy." 
 
 "What saith honest Jack Falstaff?" broke in the 
 maudlin Secretary. " Doth he not bear testimony 
 that good sherris maketh the brain apprehensive and 
 quick ; filleth it with nimble, fiery, and delectable 
 shapes, which being delivered by the tongue become 
 
146 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 excellent wit? Wherefore let us drink, gentlemen, 
 and beget fancies." He filled for himself again, and 
 buried his nose in the cup. 
 
 " 'T is such a cup, methinks," I said, " as Medea 
 may have filled for Theseus. The white hand of Circe 
 may have closed around this stem when she stood to 
 greet Ulysses, and knew not that he had the saving 
 herb in his palm. Goneril may have sent this green 
 and gilded shape to Regan. Fair Rosamond may 
 have drunk from it while the Queen watched her. At 
 some voluptuous feast, Csesar Borgia and his sister, 
 sitting crowned with roses, side by side, may have 
 pressed it upon a reluctant guest, who had, perhaps, a 
 treasure of his own. I dare swear Rene, the Floren- 
 tine, hath fingered many such a goblet before it went 
 to whom Catherine de' Medici delighted to honor." 
 
 " She had the whitest hands," maundered the Sec- 
 retary. " I kissed them once before she died, in Blois, 
 when I was young. Rene was one of your slow poison- 
 ers. Smell a rose, draw on a pair of perfumed gloves, 
 drink from a certain cup, and you rang your own 
 knell, though your bier might not receive you for 
 many and many a day, — not till the rose was dust, 
 the gloves lost, the cup forgotten." 
 
 " There 's a fashion I have seen followed abroad, 
 that I like," I said. " Host and guest fill to each other, 
 then change tankards. You are my host to-day, my 
 lord, and I am your guest. I will drink to you, my 
 lord, from your silver goblet." 
 
 With as frank a manner as his own of a while be- 
 fore, I pushed the green and gold glass over to him, 
 and held out my hand for the silver goblet. That a 
 man may smile and smile and be a villain is no new 
 doctrine. My lord's laugh and gesture of courtesy 
 
I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT 147 
 
 were as free and ready as if the poisoned splendor 
 he drew toward him had been as innocent as a pearl 
 within the shell. I took the silver cup from before 
 him. " I drink to the King," I said, and drained it 
 to the bottom. " Your lordship does not drink. 'T is 
 a toast no man refuses." 
 
 He raised the glass to his lips, but set it down be- 
 fore its rim had touched them. " I have a headache," 
 he declared. " I will not drink to-day." 
 
 Master Pory pulled the flagon toward him, tilted it, 
 and found it empty. His rueful face made me laugh. 
 My lord laughed too, — somewhat loudly, — but or- 
 dered no more wine. " I would I were at the Mer- 
 maid again," lamented the now drunken Secretary. 
 " There we did n't split a flagon in three parts. . . . 
 The Tsar of Muscovy drinks me down a quartern of 
 aqna vitaj_ at a gulp, — I 've seen him do it. ... I 
 would I were the Bacchus on this cup, with the purple 
 grapes adangle above me. . . . Wine and women — 
 wine and women . . . good wine needs no bush . . . 
 good sherris sack "... His voice died into unintel- 
 ligible mutterings, and his gray unreverend head sank 
 upon the table. 
 
 I rose, leaving him to his drunken slumbers, and, 
 bowing to my lord, took my leave. My lord followed 
 me down to the public room below. A party of up- 
 river planters had been drinking, and a bit of chalk 
 lay upon a settle behind the door upon which the 
 landlord had marked their score. I passed it ; then 
 turned back and picked it up. " How long a line shall 
 I draw, my lord ? " I asked with a smile. 
 
 " How does the length of the door strike you ? " he 
 answered. 
 
 I drew the chalk from top to bottom of the wood. 
 
148 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " A heavy ^core makes a heavy reckoning, my lord," 
 I said, and, leaving the mark upon the door, I bowed 
 again and went out into the street. 
 
 The sun was sinking when I reached the minis- 
 ter's house, and going into the great room drew a 
 stool to the table and sat down to think. Mistress 
 Percy was in her own chamber ; in the room overhead 
 the minister paced up and down, humming a psalm. 
 A fire was burning briskly upon the hearth, and the 
 red light rose and fell, — now brightening all the 
 room, now leaving it to the gathering dusk. Through 
 the door, which I had left open, came the odor of the 
 pines, the fallen leaves, and the damp earth. In the 
 churchyard an owl hooted, and the murmur of the 
 river was louder than usual. 
 
 I had sat staring at the table before me for perhaps 
 half an hour, when I chanced to raise my eyes to the 
 opposite wall. Now, on this wall, reflecting the fire- 
 light and the open door behind me, hung a small 
 Venetian mirror, which I had bought from a number 
 of such toys brought in by the Southampton, and 
 had given to Mistress Percy. My eyes rested upon it, 
 idly at first, then closely enough as I saw within it a 
 man enter the room. I had heard no footfall ; there 
 was no noise now behind me. The fire was somewhat 
 sunken, and the room was almost in darkness ; I saw 
 ^jpfS « him in the glass dimly, as shadow rather than sub- 
 stance. But the light was not so faint that the mir- 
 ror could not show me the raised hand and the dagger 
 within its grasp. I sat without motion, watching the 
 figure in the glass grow larger. When it was nearly 
 upon me, and the hand with the dagger drawn back 
 for the blow, I sprang up, wheeled, and caught it by 
 the wrist. 
 
 j. 
 
I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT 149 
 
 A moment's fierce struggle, and I had the dagger 
 in my own hand and the man at my mercy. The fire 
 upon the hearth seized on a pine knot and blazed up 
 brightly, filling the room with light. " Diccon ! " I 
 cried, and dropped my arm. 
 
 I had never thought of this. The room was very 
 quiet as, master and man, we stood and looked each 
 other in the face. He fell back to the wall and leaned 
 against it, breathing heavily ; into the space between 
 us the past came thronging. 
 
 I opened my hand and let the dagger drop to the 
 floor. " I suppose that this was because of last 
 night," I said. " I shall never strike you again." 
 
 I went to the table, and sitting down leaned my 
 forehead upon my hand. It was Diccon who would 
 have done this thing ! The fire crackled on the hearth 
 as had crackled the old camp fires in Flanders ; the 
 wind outside was the wind that had whistled through 
 the rigging of the Treasurer, one terrible night when 
 we lashed ourselves to the same mast and never 
 thought to see the morning. Diccon ! 
 
 Upon the table was the minister's inkhorn and pen. 
 I drew my tablets from the breast of my doublet and 
 began to write. " Diccon ! " I called, without turn- 
 ing, when I had finished. 
 
 He came slowly forward to the table, and stood be- 
 side it with hanging head. I tore the leaf from the 
 book and pushed it over to him. " Take it," I ordered. 
 
 " To the commander ? " he asked. " I am to take 
 it to the commander? " 
 
 I shook my head. " Read it." 
 
 He stared at it vacantly, turning it now this way, 
 now that. 
 
 " Did you forget how to read when you forgot all 
 else ? " I said sternly. 
 
150 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He read, and the color rushed into his face. 
 
 " It is your freedom," I said. " You are no longer 
 man of mine. Begone, sirrah ! " 
 
 He crumpled the paper in his hand. " I was mad," 
 he muttered. 
 
 " I could almost believe it," I replied. " Begone ! " 
 
 After a moment he went. Sitting still in my place, 
 I heard him heavily and slowly leave the room, descend 
 the step at the door, and go out into the night. 
 
 A door opened, and Mistress Jocelyn Percy came 
 into the great room, like a sunbeam strayed back to 
 earth. Her skirt was of flowered satin, her bodice 
 of rich taffeta ; between the gossamer walls of her 
 French ruff rose the whitest neck to meet the fairest 
 face. Upon her dark hair sat, as lightly as a kiss, a 
 little pearl-bordered cap. A color was in her cheeks 
 and a laugh on her lips. The rosy light of the burn- 
 ing pine caressed her, — now dwelling on the rich 
 dress, now on the gold chain around the slender 
 waist, now on rounded arms, now on the white fore- 
 head below the pearls. Well, she was a fair lady for 
 a man to lay down his life for. 
 
 " I held court this afternoon ! " she cried. " Where 
 were you, sir ? Madam West was here, and my Lady 
 Temperance Yeardley, and Master Wynne, and Mas- 
 ter Thorpe from Henricus, and Master Rolfe with his 
 Indian brother, — who, I protest, needs but silk doub- 
 let and hose and a month at Whitehall to make him 
 a very fine gentleman." 
 
 " If courage, steadfastness, truth, and courtesy make 
 a gentleman," I said, "he is one already. Such an 
 one needs not silk doublet nor court training." 
 
 She looked at me with her bright eyes. " No," she 
 repeated, "such an one needs not silk doublet nor 
 
I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT 151 
 
 court training." Going to the fire, she stood with 
 one hand upon the mantelshelf, looking down into the 
 ruddy hollows. Presently she stooped and gathered 
 up something from the hearth. " You waste paper 
 strangely, Captain Percy," she said, "Here is a 
 whole handful of torn pieces." 
 
 She came over to the table, and with a laugh show- 
 ered the white fragments down upon it, then fell to 
 idly piecing them together. " What were you writ- 
 ing ? " she asked. " ' To all whom it may concern : I, 
 Ralph Percy, Gentleman, of the Hundred of Weya- 
 noke, do hereby set free from all service to me and 
 mine'" — 
 
 I took from her the bits of paper, and fed the fire 
 with them. " Paper is but paper," I said. " It is 
 easily rent. Happily a man's will is more durable," 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 EN WHICH MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS 
 
 The Governor had brought with him from London, 
 the year before, a set of boxwood bowls, and had made, 
 between his house and the fort, a noble green. The 
 generality must still use for the game that portion 
 of the street that was not tobacco-planted j but the 
 quality nocked to the Governor's green, and here, 
 one holiday afternoon, a fortnight or more from the 
 day in which I had drunk to the King from my lord's 
 silver goblet, was gathered a very great company. 
 The Governor's match was toward, — ten men to a 
 side, a hogshead of sweet-scented to the victorious ten, 
 and a keg of canary to the man whose bowl should 
 hit the jack. 
 
 The season had been one of unusual mildness, and 
 the sunshine was still warm and bright, gilding the 
 velvet of the green, and making the red and yellow 
 leaves swept into the trench to glow like a ribbon of 
 flame. The sky was blue, the water bluer still, the 
 leaves bright-colored, the wind blowing ; only the 
 enshrouding forest, wrapped in haze, seemed as dim, 
 unreal, and far away as a last year's dream. 
 
 The Governor's gilt armchair had been brought 
 from the church, and put for him upon the bank of 
 turf at the upper end of the green. By his side sat 
 my Lady Temperance, while the gayly dressed dames 
 and the men who were to play and to watch were 
 
MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS 153 
 
 accommodated with stools and settles or with seats on 
 the green grass. All were dressed in holiday clothes, 
 all tongues spoke, all eyes laughed ; you might have 
 thought there was not a heavy heart amongst them. 
 Rolfe was there, gravely courteous, quiet and ready ; 
 and by his side, in otterskin mantle, beaded moccasins, 
 and feathered headdress, the Indian chief, his brother- 
 in-law, — the bravest, comeliest, and manliest savage 
 with whom I have ever dealt. There, too, was Mas- 
 ter Pory, red and jovial, with an eye to the sack the 
 servants were bringing from the Governor's house ; 
 and the commander, with his wife ; and Master Jer- 
 emy Sparrow, fresh from a most moving sermon on 
 the vanities of this world. Captains, Councilors, and 
 Burgesses aired their gold lace, and their wit or their 
 lack of it ; while a swarm of younger adventurers, 
 youths of good blood and bad living, come from home 
 for the weal of England and the woe of Virginia, 
 went here and there through the crowd like gilded 
 summer flies. 
 
 Rolfe and I were to play ; he sat on the grass at 
 the feet of Mistress Jocelyn Percy, making her now 
 and then some courtly speech, and I stood beside her, 
 my hand on the back of her chair. 
 
 The King's ward held court as though she were a 
 king's daughter. In the brightness of her beauty she 
 sat there, as gracious for the nonce as the sunshine, 
 and as much of another world. All knew her story, 
 and to the daring that is in men's hearts her own dar- 
 ing appealed, — and she was young and very beautiful. 
 Some there had not been my friends, and now rejoiced 
 in what seemed my inevitable ruin ; some whom I had 
 thought my friends were gone over to the stronger 
 side ; many who in secret wished me well still shook 
 
154 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 their heads and shrugged their shoulders over what 
 they were pleased to call my madness ; but for her, I 
 was glad to know, there were only good words. The 
 Governor had left his gilt armchair to welcome her to 
 the green, and had caused a chair to be set for her 
 near his own, and here men came and bowed before 
 her as if she had been a princess indeed. 
 
 A stir amongst the crowd, a murmur, and a craning 
 of necks heralded the approach of that other at whom 
 the town gaped with admiration. He came with his 
 retinue of attendants, his pomp of dress, his arrogance 
 of port, his splendid beauty. Men looked from the 
 beauty of the King's ward to the beauty of the King's 
 minion, from her costly silk to his velvet and miniver, 
 from the air of the court that became her well to the 
 towering pride and insolence which to the thoughtless 
 seemed his fortune's proper mantle, and deemed them 
 a pair well suited, and the King's will indeed the will 
 of Heaven. 
 
 I was never one to value a man by his outward 
 seeming, but suddenly I saw myself as in a mirror, — 
 a soldier, scarred and bronzed, acquainted with the 
 camp, but not with the court, roughened by a rude 
 life, poor in this world's goods, the first flush of youth 
 gone forever. For a moment my heart was bitter 
 within me. The pang passed, and my hand tightened 
 its grasp upon the chair in which sat the woman I had 
 wed. She was my wife, and I would keep my own. 
 
 My lord had paused to speak to the Governor, who 
 had risen to greet him. Now he came toward us, and 
 the crowd pressed and whispered. He bowed low to 
 Mistress Percy, made as if to pass on, then came to 
 a stop before her, his hat in his hand, his handsome 
 head bent, a smile upon his bearded lips. 
 
MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS 155 
 
 " When was it that we last sat to see men bowl, 
 lady?" he said. "I remember a gay match when I 
 bowled against my Lord of Buckingham, and fair 
 ladies sat and smiled upon us. The fairest laughed, 
 and tied her colors around my arm." 
 
 The lady whom he addressed sat quietly, with hands 
 folded in her silken lap and an untroubled face. " I 
 did not know you then, my lord," she answered him, 
 quite softly and sweetly. " Had I done so, be sure I 
 would have cut my hand off ere it gave color of mine 
 to" — 
 
 " To whom ? " he demanded, as she paused. 
 
 " To a coward, my lord," she said clearly. 
 
 As if she had been a man, his hand went to his 
 sword hilt. As for her, she leaned back in her chair 
 and looked at him with a smile. - T^*' 1 *'* 1 * 
 
 He spoke at last, slowly and with deliberate em- 
 phasis. " I won then," he said. " I shall win again, 
 my lady, — my Lady Jocelyn Leigh." 
 
 I dropped my hand from her chair and stepped for- 
 ward. "It is my wife to whom you speak, my Lord 
 Carnal," I said sternly. " I wait to hear you name 
 her rightly." 
 
 Rolfe rose from the grass and stood beside me, and 
 Jeremy Sparrow, shouldering aside with scant cere- 
 mony Burgess and Councilor, came also. The Gov- 
 ernor leaned forward out of his chair, and the crowd 
 became suddenly very still. 
 
 " I am waiting, my lord," I repeated. 
 
 In an instant, from what he had been he became 
 the frank and guileless nobleman. " A slip of the 
 tongue, Captain Percy ! " he cried, his white teeth 
 showing and his hand raised in a gesture of depreca- 
 tion. " A natural thing, seeing how often, how very 
 
156 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 often, I have so addressed this lady in the days when 
 we had not the pleasure of your acquaintance." He 
 turned to her and bowed, until the feather in his hat 
 swept the ground. " I won then," he said. " I shall 
 win again — Mistress Percy," and passed on to the 
 seat that had been reserved for him. 
 
 The game began. I was to lead one side, and young 
 Clement the other. At the last moment he came 
 over to me. " I am out of it, Captain Percy," he 
 announced with a rueful face. " My lord there asks 
 me to give him my place. When we were hunting yes- 
 terday, and the stag turned upon me, he came between 
 and thrust his knife into the brute, which else might 
 have put an end to my hunting forever and a day : so 
 you see I can't refuse him. Plague take it all ! and 
 Dorothy Grookin sitting there watching ! " 
 
 My lord and I stood forward, each with a bowl in 
 his hand. We looked toward the Governor. " My 
 lord first, as becometh his rank," he said. My lord 
 stooped and threw, and his bowl went swiftly over the 
 grass, turned, and rested not a hands'-breadth from the 
 jack. I threw. " One is as near as the other ! " cried 
 Master Macocke for the judges. A murmur arose 
 from the crowd, and my lord swore beneath his breath. 
 He and I retreated to our several sides, and Rolfe 
 and West took our places. While they and those that 
 followed bowled, the crowd, attentive though it was, 
 still talked and laughed, and laid wagers upon its 
 favorites ; but when my lord and I again stood forth, 
 the noise was hushed, and men and women stared with 
 all their eyes. He delivered, and his bowl touched 
 the jack. He straightened himself, with a smile, and 
 I heard Jeremy Sparrow behind me groan ; but my 
 bowl too kissed the jack. The crowd began to laugh 
 
MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS 157 
 
 with sheer delight, but my lord turned red and his 
 brows drew together. We had but one turn more. 
 While we waited, I marked his black eyes studying 
 every inch of the ground between him and that small 
 white ball, to strike which, at that moment, I verily 
 believe he would have given the King's favor. All 
 men pray, though they pray not to the same god. As 
 he stood there, when his time had come, weighing 
 the bowl in his hand, I knew that he prayed to his , ,-t 
 
 daemon, fate, star, whatever thing he raised an altar to | „»«''" 
 and bent before. He threw, and I followed, while the 
 throng held its breath. Master Macocke rose to his 
 feet. " It 's a tie, my masters ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 The excited crowd surged forward, and a babel of 
 voices arose. " Silence, all ! " cried the Governor. 
 " Let them play it out! " 
 
 My lord threw, and his bowl stopped perilously 
 near the shining mark. As I stepped to my place a 
 low and supplicating "O Lord !" came to my ears 
 from the lips and the heart of the preacher, who had 
 that morning thundered against the toys of this world. 
 I drew back my arm and threw with all my force. 
 A cry arose from the throng, and my lord ground 
 his heel into the earth. The bowl, spurning the jack 
 before it, rushed on, until both buried themselves in 
 the red and yellow leaves that filled the trench. 
 
 I turned and bowed to my antagonie^. " You bowl 
 well, my lord," I said. " Had you had the forest 
 training of eye and arm, our fortunes might have 
 been reversed." O-"^ ' 
 
 He looked me up and down. "You are kind, sir," **" -&* 
 he said thickly. " ' To-day to thee, to-morrow to me.' Lt w &~ 
 I give you joy of your petty victory." 
 
 He turned squarely from me, and stood with his 
 
158 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 face downstream. I was speaking to Rolfe and to the 
 few — not even all of that side for which I had won 
 
 — who pressed around me, when he wheeled. 
 "Your Honor," he cried to the Governor, who had 
 
 paused beside Mistress Percy, " is not the Due Re- 
 turn high-pooped ? Doth she not carry a blue pen- 
 nant, and hath she not a gilt siren for figurehead ? " 
 
 "Ay," answered the Governor, lifting his head 
 from the hand he had kissed with ponderous gallantry. 
 "What then, my lord?" 
 
 "Then to-morrow has dawned, sir captain," said 
 my lord to me. " Sure, Dame Venus and her blind 
 son have begged for me favorable winds ; for the 
 Due Return has come again." 
 
 The game that had been played was forgotten for 
 that day. The hogshead of sweet-scented, lying to 
 one side, wreathed with bright vines, was unclaimed 
 of either party ; the servants who brought forward 
 the keg of canary dropped their burden, and stared 
 with the rest. All looked down the river, and all saw 
 the Due Return coming up the broad, ruffled stream, 
 the wind from the sea filling her sails, the tide with 
 her, the gilt mermaid on her prow just rising from the 
 rushing foam. She came as swiftly as a bird to its 
 nest. None had thought to see her for at least ten days. 
 
 Upon all there fell a sudden realization that it was 
 the word of the King, feathered by the command of 
 the Company, that was hurrying, arrow-like, toward 
 us. All knew what the Company's orders would be, 
 
 — must needs be, — and the Tudor sovereigns were 
 not so long in the grave that men had forgot to fear 
 the wrath of kings. The crowd drew back from me 
 as from a man plague-spotted. Only Rolfe, Sparrow, 
 and the Indian stood their ground. 
 
MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS 159 
 
 The Governor turned from staring downstream. 
 "The game is played, gentlemen," he announced 
 abruptly. " The wind grows colder, too, and clouds 
 are gathering. This fair company will pardon me if 
 I dismiss them somewhat sooner than is our wont. 
 The next sunny day we will play again. Give you 
 God de", gentles." 
 
 The crowd stood not upon the order of its going, 
 but streamed away to the river bank, whence it could 
 best watch the oncoming ship. My lord, after a most 
 triumphant bow, swept off with his train in the di- 
 rection of the guest house. With him went Master 
 Pory. The Governor drew nearer to me. " Captain 
 Percy," he said, lowering his voice, " I am going now 
 to mine own house. The letters which yonder ship 
 brings will be in my hands in less than an hour. 
 When I have read them, I shall perforce obey their 
 instructions. Before I have them I will see you, if 
 you so wish." 
 
 " I will be with your Honor in five minutes." 
 
 He nodded, and strode off across the green to his 
 garden. I turned to Rolfe. " Will you take her 
 home ? " I said briefly. She was so white and sat so 
 still in her chair that I feared to see her swoon. But 
 when I spoke to her she answered clearly and stead- 
 ily enough, even with a smile, and she would not lean 
 upon Rolfe's arm. " I will walk alone," she said. , 
 " None that see me shall think that I am stricken 
 down." I watched her move away, Rolfe beside her, * 
 and the Indian following with his noiseless step ; then 
 I went to the Governor's house. Master Jeremy 
 Sparrow had disappeared some minutes before, I 
 knew not whither. 
 
 I found Yeardley in his great room, standing before 
 
160 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 a fire and staring down into its hollows. " Captain 
 Percy," he said, as I went up to him, " I am most 
 heartily sorry for you and for the lady whom you so 
 ignorantly married." 
 
 " I shall not plead ignorance," I told him. 
 
 " You married, not the Lady Jocelyn Leigh, but a 
 waiting woman named Patience Worth. The Lady 
 Jocelyn Leigh, a noble lady, and a ward of the King, 
 could not marry without the King's consent. And 
 you, Captain Percy, are but a mere private gentleman, 
 a poor Virginia adventurer ; and my Lord Carnal is 
 — my Lord Carnal. The Court of High Commission 
 will make short work of this fantastic marriage." 
 
 " Then they may do it without my aid," I said. 
 " Come, Sir George, had you wed my Lady Temper- 
 ance in such fashion, and found this hornets' nest 
 about your ears, what would you have done ? " 
 
 He gave his short, honest laugh. " It 's beside the 
 question, Ralph Percy, but I dare say you can guess 
 what I would have done." 
 
 " I '11 fight for my own to the last ditch," I con- 
 tinued. " I married her knowing her name, if not 
 her quality. Had I known the latter, had I known 
 she was the King's ward, all the same I should have 
 married her, an she would have had me. She is my 
 wife in the sight of God and honest men. Esteeming 
 her honor, which is mine, at stake, Death may silence 
 me, but men shall not bend me." 
 
 " Your best hope is in my Lord of Buckingham," 
 he said. " They say it is out of sight, out of mind, 
 with the King, and, thanks to this infatuation of my 
 Lord Carnal's, Buckingham hath the field. That he 
 strains every nerve to oust completely this his first 
 rival since he himself distanced Somerset goes without 
 
MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS 161 
 
 saying. That to thwart my lord in this passion would 
 be honey to him is equally of course. I do not need 
 to tell you that, if the Company so orders, I shall 
 have no choice but to send you and the lady home to 
 England. When you are in London, make your suit 
 to my Lord of Buckingham, and I earnestly hope 
 that you may find in him an ally powerful enough to 
 bring you and the lady, to whose grace, beauty, and 
 courage we all do homage, out of this coil." 
 
 "We give you thanks, sir," I said. 
 
 " As you know," he went on, " I have written to 
 the Company, humbly petitioning that I be graciously 
 relieved from a most thankless task, to wit, the gov- 
 ernorship of Virginia. My health faileth, and I am, 
 moreover, under my Lord Warwick's displeasure. 
 He waxeth ever stronger in the Company, and if I 
 put not myself out, he will do it for me. If I be re- 
 lieved at once, and one of the Council appointed in 
 my place, I shall go home to look after certain of my 
 interests there. Then shall I be but a private gentle- 
 man, and if I can serve you, Ralph Percy, I shall be 
 blithe to do so ; but now, you understand " — ■ 
 
 " I understand, and thank you, Sir George," I said. 
 " May I ask one question ? " 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " Will you obey to the letter the instructions the 
 Company sends ? " 
 
 " To the letter," he answered. " I am its sworn 
 officer." 
 
 " One thing more," I went on : " the parole I gave 
 you, sir, that morning behind the church, is mine own 
 again when you shall have read those letters and 
 know the King's will. I am free from that bond, at 
 least." 
 
162 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He looked at me with a frown. " Make not bad 
 worse, Captain Percy," he said sternly. 
 
 I laughed. " It is my aim to make bad better, Sir 
 George. I see through the window that the Due Re- 
 turn hath come to anchor ; I will no longer trespass 
 on your Honor's time." I bowed myself out, leaving 
 him still with the frown upon his face, staring at the 
 fire. 
 
 Without, the world was bathed in the glow of a 
 magnificent sunset. Clouds, dark purple and dark 
 crimson, reared themselves in the west to dizzy heights, 
 and hung threateningly over the darkening land be- 
 neath. In the east loomed more pallid masses, and 
 from the bastions of the east to the bastions of the 
 west went hurrying, wind-driven cloudlets, dark in 
 the east, red in the west. There was a high wind, and 
 the river, where it was not reddened by the sunset, 
 J was lividly green. " A storm, too ! " I muttered. 
 ' As I passed the guest house, there came to me from 
 within a burst of loud and vaunting laughter and a 
 boisterous drinking catch sung by many voices ; and I 
 knew that my lord drank, and gave others to drink, to 
 the orders which the Due Return should bring. The 
 minister's house was in darkness. In the great room 
 I struck a light and fired the fresh torches, and found 
 I was not its sole occupant. On the hearth, the ashes 
 of the dead fire touching her skirts, sat Mistress Joce- 
 lyn Percy, her arms resting upon a low stool, and her 
 head pillowed upon them. Her face was not hidden : 
 it was cold and pure and still, like carven marble. I 
 stood and gazed at her a moment ; then, as she did 
 not offer to move, I brought wood to the fire and made 
 the forlorn room bright again. 
 
 " Where is Rolfe ? " I asked at last. 
 
MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS 163 
 
 " He would have stayed," she answered, " but I 
 made him go. I wished to be alone." She rose, and 
 going to the window leaned her forehead against the 
 bars, and looked out upon the wild sky and the hur- 
 rying river. " I would I were alone," she said in a 
 low voice and with a catch of her breath. As she 
 stood there in the twilight by the window, I knew that 
 she was weeping, though her pride strove to keep that 
 knowledge from me. My heart ached for her, and I 
 knew not how to comfort her. At last she turned. A 
 pasty and stoup of wine were upon the table. 
 
 " You are tired and shaken," I said, " and you may 
 need all your strength. Come, eat and drink." 
 
 " For to-morrow we die," she added, and broke into 
 tremulous laughter. Her lashes were still wet, but 
 her pride and daring had returned. She drank the 
 wine I poured for her, and we spoke of indifferent 
 things, — of the game that afternoon, of the Indian 
 Nantauquas, of the wild night that clouds and wind 
 portended. Supper over, I called Angela to bear her 
 company, and I myself went out into the night, and 
 down the street toward the aruest house. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT 
 
 The guest house was aflame with lights. As 1 
 neared it, there was borne to my 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 increased. The door was flung open, and 
 there issued a tide of drawers and servants headed by 
 mine host himself, and followed by a hail of such 
 minor breakables as the house contained and by 
 Olympian laughter. 
 
 I made my way past the indignant host and his 
 staff, and standing upon the threshold looked at 
 the riot within. 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 
 grasping 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 Hamor had a fiddle, and, one foot upon 
 a settle, the other upon the table, drew across it a fast 
 and furious bow. Master Pory, arrived at the maud- 
 lin stage, alternately sang a slow and melancholy ditty 
 and wiped the tears from his eyes with elaborate care. 
 
IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT 165 
 
 Master Edward Sharpless, now in a high voice, now 
 in an undistinguishable murmur, argued some imagi- 
 nary case. Peaceable Sherwood was drunk, and Giles 
 Allen, and Pettiplace Clause. Captain John Martin, 
 sitting with outstretched legs, called now for a fresh 
 tankard, which he emptied at a gulp ; now for his 
 pistols, which, as fast as my lord's servants brought 
 them to him new primed, 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 had 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 him- 
 self. In the gray smoke cloud he saw me not, or saw 
 me only as one of the many who thronged the door- 
 way and stared at the revel within. He raised his 
 silver cup with a slow and wavering hand. " Drink, 
 you dogs ! " he chanted. " Drink to the Santa Te- 
 resa ! Drink to to-morrow night ! Drink to a proud 
 lady within my arms and an enemy in my power ! " 
 
 The wine that had made him mad had maddened 
 those others, also. In that hour they were dead to 
 hnnnr. With shameless laughter and as little spilling 
 as might be, they raised their tankards as my lord 
 raised his. A stone thrown by some one behind me 
 struck the cup from my lord's hand, sending it clat- 
 tering to the floor and dashing him with the red wine. 
 Master Pory roared with drunken laughter. " Cup 
 and lip missed that time ! " he cried. 
 
 The man who had thrown the stone was Jeremy 
 Sparrow. For one instant I saw his great figure, and 
 
166 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 the wrathful 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. 
 " Cogged dice," he said thickly, " or I had not lost 
 that throw ! I '11 drink that toast by myself to-mor- 
 row night, when the ship does n't rock like this d — d 
 floor, and the sea has no stones 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 King 's a good king, gentlemen ! 
 He gave me this ruby. D' ye know what I had of 
 him last year ? I " — 
 
 I turned and left the door and the house. I could 
 not thrust a fight upon a dronken man. 
 
 Ten yards away, suddenly and without any warning 
 of his approach, I found beside me the Indian Nan- 
 tauquas. " 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 
 river. The night was very dark, though the stars still 
 shone through rifts in the ever moving clouds. The 
 Indian and I walked rapidly on, — my footfalls sound- 
 ing clear and sharp on the frosty ground, he as noise- 
 
IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT 167 
 
 less as a shadow. We had reached the further side 
 of the lane, when he put forth an arm 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 of 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, pinioning 
 the wrists of his 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 burning and wine 
 flowing at the guest house, do you choose to crouch 
 here in the cold and darkness ? " 
 
 He looked at me with his filmy eyes, and that faint 
 smile that had more of menace in it than a panther's 
 snarl. " I laid in wait for you, it is true, noble sir," 
 he said in Ins thin, dreamy voice, " but it was for your 
 good. I would give you warning, sir." 
 
 He stood with his mean figure bent cringingly for- 
 ward, 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 no more simples this side of hell ! " 
 
168 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Hell ! " he answered. " There 's no such place. 
 I will not tell my secret aloud." 
 
 " Nicolo the Italian ! Nicolo the Poisoner ! Ni- 
 colo the Black Death ! I am coming for the soul you 
 sold me. There is a hell ! " 
 
 The thundering voice came from underneath our 
 feet. With a sound that was not a groan and not a 
 screech, the Italian reeled back against the heated iron 
 of the brazier. Starting from that fiery contact with 
 an unearthly shriek, he threw up his arms and dashed 
 away into the darkness. The sound of his madly hur- 
 rying footsteps came back to us until the guest house 
 had swallowed him and his guilty terrors. 
 
 " Can the preacher play the devil too ? " I asked, 
 as Sparrow came up to us from the other side of the 
 fire. " I could have sworn that that voice came from 
 the bowels of the earth. 'T is the strangest gift ! " 
 
 " A mere trick," he said, with his great laugh, " but 
 it has served me well on more occasions than one. It 
 is not known in Virginia, sir, but before ever the word 
 of the Lord came to me to save poor silly souls I was 
 a player. Once I played the King's ghost in Will 
 La. I Shakespeare's ' Hamlet,' and then, I warrant you, I 
 spoke from the cellarage indeed. I so frighted players 
 and playgoers that they swore it was witchcraft, and 
 Burbage's knees did knock together in dead earnest. 
 But to the matter in hand. When I had thrown 
 yonder stone, I walked quietly down to the Gov- 
 ernor's house and looked through the window. The 
 Governor hath the Company's letters, and he and the 
 Council — all save the reprobate Pory — sit there 
 staring at them and drumming with their fingers on 
 the table." 
 
 "Is Rolfe of the Council? " I asked. 
 
IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT 169 
 
 " Ay ; lie was speaking, — for you, I suppose, 
 though I heard not the words. They all listened, but 
 they all shook their heads." 
 
 " We shall know in the morning," I said. " The 
 night grows wilder, and honest folks should be abed. 
 Nantauquas, good-night. When will you have tamed 
 your panther ? " 
 
 " It is now the moon of cohonks," answered the 
 Indian. " When the moon of blossoms is here, the 
 panther shall roll at the beautiful lady's feet." 
 
 " The moon of blossoms ! " I said. The moon of 
 blossoms is a long way off. I have panthers myself 
 to tame before it comes. This wild night gives one 
 wild thoughts, Master Sparrow. The loud wind, and 
 the sound of the water, and the hurrying clouds — 
 who knows if we shall ever see the moon of blos- 
 soms ? " I broke off with a laugh for my own weak- 
 ness. " It 's not often that a soldier thinks of death," 
 I said. " Come to bed, reverend sir. Nantauquas, 
 again, good-night, and may you tame your panther ! " 
 
 In the great room of the minister's house I paced 
 up and down ; now pausing at the windpw, to look 
 out upon the fast darkening houses of the town, the 
 ever thickening clouds, and the bending trees ; now 
 speaking to my wife, who sat in the chair I had drawn 
 for her before the fire, her hands idle in her lap, her 
 head thrown back against the wood, her face white 
 and still, with wide dark eyes. We waited for we 
 knew not what, but the light still burned in the Gov- 
 ernor's house, and we could not sleep and leave it 
 there. 
 
 It grew later and later. The wind howled down 
 the chimney, and I heaped more wood upon the fire. 
 The town lay in darkness now ; only in the distance 
 
170 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 burned like an angry star the light in the Govern- 
 or's house. In the lull between the blasts of wind it 
 was so very still that the sound of my footfalls upon 
 the floor, the dropping of the charred wood upon the 
 hearth, the tapping of the withered vines without the 
 window, jarred like thunder. 
 
 Suddenly madam leaned forward in her chair. 
 " There is some one at the door," she said. 
 
 As she spoke, the latch rose and some 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." 
 
 I opened the door, and he crossed the threshold. 
 I had not seen him since the night he would have 
 played the assassin. I had heard of him as being in 
 Martin's Hundred, with which plantation and its tur- 
 bulent commander the debtor and the outlaw often 
 found sanctuary. 
 
 " What is it, sirrah ? " I inquired sternly. 
 
 He 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 the old reckless gesture. " Though I am 
 no longer your man, sir," he said, " yet I hope that 
 one Christian may warn another. The marshal, with 
 a dozen men at his heels, will be here anon." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 '* Why, I was in the shadow by the Governor's win- 
 dow 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 shutter that fitted my 
 
IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT 171 
 
 ear well enough. The Governor and the Council sat 
 there, with the Company's letters spread upon the 
 table. I heard the letters read. Sir George Yeard- 
 ley's petition to be released from the governorship of 
 Virginia is granted, but he will remain in office until 
 the new Governor, Sir Francis Wyatt, can arrive in 
 Virginia. The Company is out of favor. The King 
 hath sent Sir Edwyn Sandys to the Tower. My Lord 
 Warwick waxeth greater every day. The very life of 
 the Company dependeth upon the pleasure of the 
 King, and it may not defy him. You are to be taken 
 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 home aboard of her in irons. 
 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 under con- 
 sideration at once. My Lord of Southampton writes 
 that, because of the urgent entreaty of Sir George 
 Yeardley, he will do for you all that lieth in his 
 power, but that if you prove not yourself conforma- 
 ble, there will be little that any can do." 
 
 " When will the marshal be here ? " I demanded. 
 
 " Directly. The Governor was sending for him 
 when I left the window. Master Rolfe spoke vehe- 
 mently for you, and would have left the Council to 
 come to you ; but the Governor, swearing that the 
 Company should not be betrayed by its officers, con- 
 strained him to remain. I 'm not the Company's 
 officer, so I may tell its orders if I please. A master- 
 less man may speak without fear or favor. I have 
 told you all I know." Before I could speak he was 
 gone, closing the door heavily behind him. 
 
172 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 I turned to the King's ward. She had risen from 
 the chair, and now stood in the centre of the room, 
 one hand at her bosom, the other clenched at her side, 
 her head thrown up. She looked as she had looked 
 at Weyanoke, that first night. 
 
 " Madam," I said under my breath. 
 
 She turned her face upon me. " Did you think,' 1 
 she asked in a low, even voice, — " did you think that 
 I would ever set my foot upon that ship, — that ship 
 on the river there ? One ship brought me here upon 
 a shameful errand ; another shall not take me upon 
 one more shameful still." 
 
 She took her hand from her bosom ; in it gleamed 
 in the firelight the small dagger I had given her that 
 night. She laid it on the table, but kept her hand 
 upon it. " You will choose for me, sir," she declared. 
 
 I went to the door and looked out. " It is a wild 
 night," I said. " I can suit it with as wild an enter- 
 prise. Make a bundle of your warmest clothing, 
 madam, and wrap your mantle about you. Will you 
 take Angela? " 
 
 " No," she answered. " I will not have her peril 
 too upon me." 
 
 As she stood there, her hand no longer upon the 
 dagger, the large tears welled into her eyes and fell 
 slowly over her white cheeks. " It is for mine honor, 
 sir," she said. " I know that I ask your death." 
 
 I could not bear to see her weep, and so I spoke 
 roughly. " I have told 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 Car- 
 nal?" 
 
 I crossed the room to take my pistols from the 
 
IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT 173 
 
 rack. As I passed her she caught my hand in hers, 
 and bending pressed her lips upon it. " You have 
 been very good to me," she murmured. "Do not 
 think me an ingrate." 
 
 Five minutes later she 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 we crossed the threshold, we paused as 
 by one impulse and looked back into the firelit warmth 
 of the room ; then I closed the door softly behind us, 
 and we went out into the night. 
 
CHAPTEE XIX 
 
 IN WHICH WE HAVE UNEXPECTED COMPANY 
 
 The wind, which had heretofore come in fierce 
 blasts, was now steadying to a gale. What with the 
 flying of the heaped clouds, the slanting, groaning 
 pines, and the rushing of the river, the whole earth 
 seemed a fugitive, fleeing breathless to the sea. From 
 across the neck of land came the long-drawn howl of 
 wolves, and in the wood beyond the church a cata- 
 mount screamed and screamed. The town before us 
 lay as dark and as still as the grave ; from the garden 
 where we were we could not see the Governor's house. 
 
 " I will carry madam's bundle," said a voice be- 
 hind us. 
 
 It was the minister who had spoken, 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 made no movement to depart, but instead 
 possessed himself of Mistress 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 you hearty thanks for your hospi- 
 tality, and wish you a very good night." 
 
 As I spoke I would have taken the bundle from 
 him, but he tucked it under his arm, and, passing us, 
 
WE HAVE UNEXPECTED COMPANY 175 
 
 opened the garden gate. " Did I forget to tell you," 
 he said, "that worthy Master Bucke is well of the 
 fever, and returns to his own to-morrow ? His house 
 and church are no longer mine. I have no charge 
 anywhere. I am free and footloose. May I not go 
 with you, madam? There may be dragons to slay, 
 and two can guard a distressed princess better than 
 one. Will you take me for your squire, Captain 
 Percy?" 
 
 He held out his great hand, and after a moment I 
 put my own in it. 
 
 We left the garden and struck into a lane. " The 
 river, then, instead of the forest?" he asked in a low 
 voice. 
 
 "Ay," I answered. " Of the two evils it seems the 
 lesser." 
 
 " How about a boat ? " 
 
 " My own is fastened to the piles of the old de- 
 serted wharf." 
 
 " You have with you neither food nor water." 
 
 " Both are in the boat. I have kept her victualed 
 for a week or more." 
 
 He laughed in the darkness, and I heard my wife 
 beside me utter a stifled exclamation. 
 
 The lane that we were now in ran parallel to the 
 street to within fifty yards of the guest house, when 
 it bent sharply down to the river. We moved silently 
 and with caution, for some night bird might accost 
 us or the watch come upon us. In the guest house 
 all was darkness save one room, — the upper room, 
 — from which came a very pale light. When we had 
 turned with the lane there were no houses to pass ; 
 only gaunt pines and copses of sumach. I took my 
 wife by the hand and hurried her on. A hundred 
 
176 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 yards before us ran the river, dark and turbulent, and 
 between us and it rose an old, unsafe, and abandoned 
 landing. Sparrow laid bis hand upon my arm. 
 " Footsteps behind us," he whispered. 
 
 Without slackening pace I turned my head and 
 looked. The clouds, high around the horizon, were 
 thinning overhead, and the moon, herself invisible, 
 yet lightened the darkness below. The sandy lane 
 stretched behind us like a ribbon of twilight, — no- 
 thing to be seen but it and the ebony mass of bush 
 and tree lining it on either side. We hastened on. 
 A minute later and we heard behind us a sound like 
 the winding of a small horn, clear, shrill, and sweet. 
 Sparrow and I wheeled — and saw nothing. The 
 trees ran down to the very edge of the wharf, upon 
 whose rotten, loosened, and noisy boards we now trod. 
 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. Below us, fastened to the piles and rocking 
 with the waves, was the open boat in which we were 
 to embark. A few broken steps led from the boards 
 above to the water below. Descending these I sprang 
 into the boat and held out my arms for Mistress 
 Percy. Sparrow gave her to me, and I lifted her 
 down beside me; then turned to give what aid I 
 might to the minister, who was halfway down the 
 steps — and faced my Lord Carnal. 
 
 What devil had led him forth on such a night; 
 why he, whom with my own eyes, three hours agone, 
 I had seen drunken, should have chosen, after his 
 carouse, cold air and his own company rather than 
 sleep ; when and where he first spied us, how long he 
 had followed us, I have never known. Perhaps he 
 
WE HAVE UNEXPECTED COMPANY 177 
 
 could not sleep for triumph, had heard of my impend- 
 ing arrest, had come forth to add to the bitterness of 
 my cup by his presence, and so had happened upon 
 us. He could only have guessed at those he followed, 
 until he reached the edge of the wharf and looked 
 down upon us in the moonlight. For a moment he ' 
 stood without moving ; then he raised his hand to his 
 lips, and the shrill call that had before startled us 
 rang out again. At the far end of the lane lights ap- 
 peared. Men were coming down the lane at a run ; 
 whether they were the watch, or my lord's own rogues, 
 we tarried not to see. There was not time to loosen 
 the rope from the piles, so I drew my knife to cut it. 
 My lord saw the movement, and sprang down the 
 steps, at the same time shouting to the men behind to 
 hasten. Sparrow, grappling with him, locked him in 
 a giant's embrace, lifted him bodily from the steps, 
 and flung him into the boat. His head struck against 
 a thwart, and he lay, huddled beneath it, quiet enough. 
 The minister sprang after him, and I cut the rope. 
 By now the wharf shook with running feet, and the 
 backward-streaming flame of the torches reddened its 
 boards and the black water beneath ; but each instant 
 the water widened between us and our pursuers. 
 Wind and current swept us out, and at that wharf 
 there were no boats to follow us. 
 
 Those whom my lord's whistle had brought were 
 now upon the very edge of the wharf. The marshal's 
 voice called upon us in the name of the King to re- 
 turn. Finding that we vouchsafed no answer, he 
 pulled out a pistol and fired, the ball going through J 
 my hat ; then whipped out its fellow and fired again. 
 Mistress Percy, whose behavior had been that of an 
 angel, stirred in her seat. I did not know until the 
 
178 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 day broke that the ball had grazed her arm, drench- 
 ing her sleeve with blood. 
 
 "It is time we were away," I said, with a laugh. 
 " If your reverence will keep your hand upon the 
 tiller and your eye upon the gentleman whom you 
 have made our traveling companion, I '11 put up the 
 sail." 
 
 I was on my way to the foremast, when the boom 
 lying prone before me rose. Slowly and majestically 
 the sail ascended, tapering upward, silvered by the 
 moon, — the great white pinion which should bear us 
 we knew not whither. I stopped short in my tracks, 
 Mistress Percy drew a sobbing breath, and the minis- 
 ter gasped with admiration. We all three stared as 
 though the white cloth had veritably been a monster 
 wingr endowed with life. 
 
 " Sails don't rise of themselves ! " I exclaimed, and 
 was at the mast before the words were out of my lips. 
 Crouched behind it was a man. I should have known 
 him even without the aid of the moon. Often enough, 
 God knows, I had seen him crouched like this beside 
 me, ourselves in ambush awaiting some unwary foe, 
 brute or human ; or ourselves in hiding, holding our 
 breath lest it should betray us. The minister who 
 had been a player, the rival who would have poisoned 
 me, the servant who would have stabbed me, the wife 
 who was wife in name only, — mine were strange 
 shipmates. 
 
 He rose to his feet and stood there against the mast, 
 in the old half-submissive, half-defiant attitude, with 
 his head thrown back in the old way. 
 
 " If you order me, sir, I will swim ashore," he said, 
 half sullenly, half — I know not how. 
 
 " You would never reach the shore," I replied. 
 
WE HAVE UNEXPECTED COMPANY 179 
 
 " And you know that I will never order you again. 
 Stay here if you please, or come aft if you please." 
 
 I went back and took the tiller from Sparrow. We 
 were now in mid-river, and the swollen stream and 
 the strong wind bore us on with them like a leaf 
 before the gale. We left behind the lights and the 
 clamor, the dark town and the silent fort, the weary 
 Due Return and the shipping about the lower wharf. 
 Before us loomed the Santa Teresa ; we passed so 
 close beneath her huge black sides that we heard the 
 wind whistling through her rigging. When she, too, 
 was gone, the river lay bare before us ; silver when 
 the moon shone, of an inky blackness when it was 
 obscured by one of the many flying clouds. 
 
 My wife wrapped her mantle closer about her, and, 
 leaning back in her seat in the stern beside me, raised 
 her face to the wild and solemn heavens. Diccon 
 sat apart in the bow and held his tongue. The min- 
 ister bent over, and, lifting the man that lay in the 
 bottom of the boat, laid him at full length upon the 
 thwart before us. The moonlight streamed down 
 upon the prostrate figure. I think it could never 
 have shone upon a more handsome or a more wicked 
 man. He lay there in his splendid dress and dark 
 beauty, Endymion-like, beneath the moon. The 
 King's ward turned her eyes upon him, kept them 
 there a moment, then glanced away, and looked at 
 him no more. 
 
 " There ' s a parlous lump upon his forehead where 
 it struck the thwart," said the minister, " but the life 's 
 yet in him. He '11 shame honest men for many a day 
 to come. Your Platonists, who from a goodly out- 
 side argue as fair a soul, could never have been ac- 
 quainted with this gentleman." 
 
180 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 The subject of his discourse moaned and stirred. 
 The minister raised one of the hanging hands and felt 
 for the pulse. " Faint enough," he went on. " A 
 little more and the King might have waited for his 
 minion forever and a day. It would have been the 
 better for us, who have now, indeed, a strange fish 
 upon our hands, but I am glad I killed him not." 
 
 I tossed him a flask. " It 's good aqua vitae, and 
 the flask is honest. Give him to drink of it." 
 
 He forced the liquor between my lord's teeth, then 
 dashed water in his face. Another minute and the 
 King's favorite sat up and looked around him. Dazed 
 as yet, he stared, with no comprehension in his eyes, 
 at the clouds, the sail, the rushing water, the dark 
 figures about him. " Nicolo ! " he cried sharply. 
 
 " He 's not here, my lord," I said. 
 
 At the sound of my voice he sprang to his feet. 
 
 *' I should advise your lordship to sit still," I said. 
 " The wind is very boisterous, and we are not under 
 bare poles. If you exert yourself, you may capsize 
 the boat." 
 
 He sat down mechanically, and put his hand to 
 his forehead. I watched him curiously. It was the 
 strangest trick that fortune had played him. 
 
 His hand dropped at last, and he straightened him- 
 self, with a long breath. " Who threw me into the 
 boat ? " he demanded. 
 
 " The honor was mine," declared the minister. 
 
 The King's minion lacked not the courage of the 
 body, nor, when passionate action had brought him 
 naught, a certain reserve force of philosophy. He 
 now did the best thing he could have done, — burst 
 into a roar of laughter. " Zooks ! " he cried. " It 's 
 as good a comedy as ever I saw ! How 's the pla} r to 
 
WE HAVE UNEXPECTED COMPANY 181 
 
 end, captain ? Are we to go off laughing, or is the 
 end to be bloody after all ? For instance, is there 
 murder to be done ? " He looked at me boldly, one 
 hand on his hip, the other twirling his mustaches. 
 
 " We are not all murderers, my lord," I told him. 
 " For the present you are in no danger other than 
 that which is common to us all." 
 
 He looked at the clouds piling behind us, thicker 
 and thicker, higher and higher, at the bending mast, 
 at the black water swirling now and again over the 
 gunwales. " It 's enough," he muttered. 
 
 I beckoned to Diccon, and putting the tiller into his 
 hands went forward to reef the sail. When it was 
 done and I was back in my place, my lord spoke again. 
 
 " Where are we going, captain ?" 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " If you leave that sail up much longer, you will 
 land us at the bottom of the river." 
 
 " There are worse places," I replied. 
 
 He left his seat, and moved, though with caution, 
 to one nearer Mistress Percy. " Are cold and storm 
 and peril sweeter to you, lady, than warmth and safety, 
 and a love that would guard you from, not run you into, 
 danger?" he said in a whisper. "Do you not wish 
 this boat the Santa Teresa, these rude boards the vel- 
 vet cushions of her state cabin, this darkness her many 
 lights, this cold her warmth, with the night shut out 
 and love shut in ? " 
 
 His audacity, if it angered me, yet made me laugh. 
 Not so with the King's ward. She shrank from him 
 until she pressed against the tiller. Our flight, the 
 pursuing feet, the struggle at the wharf, her wounded 
 arm of which she had not told, the terror of the white 
 sail rising as if by magic, the vision of the man she 
 
182 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 hated lying as one dead before her in the moonlight, 
 the cold, the hurry of the night, — small wonder if 
 her spirit failed her for a time. I felt her hand touch 
 mine where it rested upon the tiller. " Captain Percy," 
 she murmured, with a little sobbing breath. 
 
 I leaned across the tiller and addressed the xavorite. 
 " My lord," I said, " courtesy to prisoners is one thing, 
 and freedom from restraint and license of tongue is 
 another. Here at the stern the boat is somewhat 
 heavily freighted. Your lordship will oblige me if 
 you will go forward where there is room enough and 
 to spare." 
 
 His black brows drew together. " And what if I 
 refuse, sir ? " he demanded haughtily. 
 
 " I have rope here," I answered, " and to aid me the 
 gentleman who once before to-night, and in despite of 
 your struggles, lifted you in his arms like an infant. 
 We will tie you hand and foot, and lay you in the 
 bottom of the boat. If you make too much trouble, 
 there is always the river. My lord, you are not now 
 at Whitehall. You are with desperate men, outlaws 
 who have no king, and so fear no king's minions. 
 Will you go free, or will you go bound ? Go you 
 shall, one way or the other." 
 
 He looked at me with rage and hatred in his face. 
 Then, with a laugh that was not good to hear and 
 a shrug of the shoulders, he went forward to bear 
 Diccon company in the bow. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 IN WHICH WE AEE IN DESPEKATE CASE 
 
 " God walketh upon the sea as lie walketh upon the 
 land," said the minister. " The sea is his and we are 
 his. He will do what it liketh him with his own." 
 As he spoke he looked with a steadfast soul into the 
 black hollow of the wave that combed above us, 
 threatening destruction. 
 
 The wave broke, and the boat still lived. Borne 
 high upon the shoulder of the next rolling hill, we 
 looked north, south, east, and west, and saw only 
 a waste of livid, ever forming, ever breaking waves, a 
 gray sky streaked with darker gray shifting vapor, 
 and a horizon impenetrably veiled. Where we were 
 in the great bay, in what direction we were being 
 driven, how near we might be to the open sea or to 
 some fatal shore, we knew not. What we did know 
 was that both masts were gone, that we must bail the 
 boat without ceasing if we would keep it from swamp- 
 ing, that the wind was doing an apparently impossible 
 thing and rising higher and higher, and that the waves 
 which buffeted us from one to the other were hourly 
 swelling to a more monstrous bulk. 
 
 We had come into the wider waters at dawn, and 
 still under canvas. An hour later, off Point Comfort, 
 a bare mast contented us ; we had hardly gotten the 
 sail in when mast and all went overboard. That had 
 been hours ago. 
 
184 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 A common peril is a mighty leveler of barriers. 
 Scant time was there in that boat to make distinction 
 between friend and foe. As one man we fought the 
 element which would devour us. Each took his turn 
 at the bailing, each watched for the next great wave 
 before which we must cower, clinging with numbed 
 hands to gunwale and thwart. We fared alike, toiled 
 alike, and suffered alike, only that the minister and 
 I cared for Mistress Percy, asking no help from the 
 others. 
 
 The King's ward endured all without a murmur. 
 She was cold, she was worn with watching and terror, 
 she was wounded ; each moment Death raised his arm 
 to strike, but she sat there dauntless, and looked him 
 in the face with a smile upon her own. If, wearied 
 out, we had given up the fight, her look would have 
 spurred us on to wrestle with our fate to the last gasp. 
 She sat between Sparrow and me, and as best we 
 might we shielded her from the drenching seas and 
 the icy wind. Morning had shown me the blood upon 
 her sleeve, and I had cut away the cloth from the 
 white arm, and had washed the wound with wine and 
 bound it up. If, for my fee, I should have liked to 
 press my lips upon the blue-veined marble, still I did 
 it not. 
 
 When, a week before, I had stored the boat with 
 food and drink and had brought it to that lonely 
 wharf, I had thought that if at the last my wife willed 
 to flee I would attempt to reach the bay, and passing 
 out between the capes would go to the north. Given 
 an open boat and the tempestuous seas of November, 
 there might be one chance out of a hundred of our 
 reaching Manhattan and the Dutch, who might or 
 might not give us refuge. She had willed to flee, and 
 
n*Yi *.«s ,^^'-'' ,h 
 
 MAST AND ALL WENT OVERBOARD 
 
IN WHICH WE ARE IN DESPERATE CASE 185 
 
 we were upon our journey, and the one chance had 
 vanished. That wan, monotonous, cold, and clinging 
 mist had shrouded us for our burial, and our grave 
 yawned beneath us. 
 
 The day passed and the night came, and still we 
 fought the sea, and still the wind drove us whither 
 it would. The night passed and the second morning 
 came, and found us yet alive. My wife lay now at 
 my feet, her head pillowed upon the bundle she had 
 brought from the minister's house. Too weak for 
 speech, waiting in pain and cold and terror for death 
 to bring her warmth and life, the knightly spirit yet 
 lived in her eyes, and she smiled when I bent over 
 her with wine to moisten her lips. At length she 
 began to wander in her mind, and to speak of sum- 
 mer days and flowers. A hand held my heart in a 
 slowly tightening grip of iron, and the tears ran down 
 the minister's cheeks. The man who had darkened 
 her young life, bringing her to this, looked at her with 
 an ashen face. 
 
 As the day wore on, the gray of the sky paled to a 
 dead man's hue and the wind lessened, but the waves 
 were still mountain high. One moment we poised, 
 like the gulls that now screamed about us, upon some 
 giddy summit, the sky alone above and around us ; 
 the next we sank into dark green and glassy caverns. 
 Suddenly the wind fell away, veered, and rose again 
 like a giant refreshed. 
 
 Diccon started, put his hand to his ear, then sprang 
 to his feet. " Breakers ! " he cried hoarsely. 
 
 We listened with straining ears. He was right. 
 The low, ominous murmur changed to a distant roar, 
 grew louder yet, and yet louder, and was no longer 
 distant. 
 
186 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " It will be the sand islets off Cape Charles, sir," 
 he said. I nodded. He and I knew there was no 
 need of words. 
 
 The sky grew paler and paler, and soon upon the 
 woof of the clouds a splash of dull yellow showed 
 where the sun would be. The fog rose, laying bare 
 the desolate ocean. Before us were two very small 
 islands, mere handfuls of sand, lying side by side, and 
 encompassed half by the open sea, half by stiller 
 waters diked in by marshes and sand bars. A coarse, 
 scanty grass and a few stunted trees with branches 
 bending away from the sea lived upon them, but 
 nothing else. Over them and over the marshes and 
 the sand banks circled myriads of great white gulls. 
 Their harsh, unearthly voices came to us faintly, and 
 increased the desolation of earth and sky and sea. 
 
 To the shell-strewn beach of the outer of the two 
 islets raced long lines of surf, and between us and it 
 lurked a sand bar, against which the great rollers 
 dashed with a bull-like roar. The wind drove us 
 straight upon this bar. A moment of deadly peril 
 and it had us fast, holding us for the waves to beat 
 our life out. The boat listed, then rested, quivering 
 through all its length. The waves pounded against 
 its side, each watery battering-ram dissolving in foam 
 and spray but to give place to another, and yet it held 
 together, and yet we lived. How long it would hold 
 we could not tell ; we only knew it could not be for 
 long. The inclination of the boat was not so great 
 but that, with caution, we might move about. There 
 were on board rope and an axe. With the latter I 
 cut away the thwarts and the decking in the bow, and 
 Diccon and I made a small raft. When it was fin- 
 ished, I lifted my wife in my arms and laid her upon 
 
IN WHICH WE ARE IN DESPERATE CASE 187 
 
 ]t and lashed her to it with the rope. She smiled like 
 a child, then closed her eyes. " I have gathered 
 primroses until I am tired," she said. " I will sleep |L^ t> v, 
 here a little in the sunshine, and when I awake I will ^^ 
 make you a cowslip ball." 
 
 Time passed, and the groaning, trembling timbers 
 still held together. The wind fell, the sky became 
 blue, and the sun shone. Another while, and the 
 waves were less mountainous and beat less furiously 
 against the boat. Hope brightened before us. To 
 strong swimmers the distance to the islet was trifling ; 
 if the boat would but last until the sea subsided, we 
 might gain the beach. What we would do upon that 
 barren spot, where was neither man nor brute, food 
 nor water, was a thing that we had not the time to 
 consider. It was land that we craved. 
 
 Another hour, and the sea still fell. Another, and 
 a wave struck the boat with force. " The sea is com- 
 ing in ! " cried the minister. 
 
 " Ay," I answered. " She will go to pieces now." 
 
 The minister rose to his feet. " I am no mariner," 
 he said, " but once in the water I can swim you like 
 any fish. There have been times when I have re- 
 proached the Lord for that he cased a poor silly hum- 
 ble preacher like me with the strength and seeming 
 of some mighty man of old, and there have been 
 times when I have thanked him for that strength. I 
 thank him now. Captain Percy, if you will trust the 
 lady to me, I will take her safely to that shore." 
 
 I raised my head from the figure over which I was 
 bending, and looked first at the still tumultuous sea, 
 and then at the gigantic frame of the minister. When 
 we had made that frail raft no swimmer could have 
 lived in that shock of waves ; now there was a chance 
 
188 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 for all, and for the minister, with his great strength, 
 the greatest I have ever seen in any man, a double 
 chance. I took her from the raft and gave her into 
 his arms. A minute later the boat went to pieces. 
 
 Side by side Sparrow and I buffeted the sea. He 
 held the King's ward in one arm, and he bore her 
 safely over the huge swells and through the onslaught 
 of the breaking waves. I could thank God for his 
 strength, and trust her to it. For the other three of 
 us, we were all strong swimmers, and though bruised 
 and beat about, we held our own. Each wave, over- 
 come, left us nearer the islet, — a little while and our 
 feet touched bottom. A short struggle with the tre- 
 mendous surf and we were out of the maw of the sea, 
 but out upon a desolate islet, a mere hand's-breadth 
 of sand and shell in a lonely ocean, some three leagues 
 jfrom the mainland of Accomac, and upon it neither 
 JM Jr- J food nor water. We had the clothes upon our backs, 
 ft f • and my lord and I had kept our swords. I had a 
 J\ knife, and Diccon too was probably armed. The flint 
 
 " and steel and tinder box within my pouch made up 
 
 our store. 
 
 The minister laid the woman whom he carried upon 
 the pebbles, fell upon his knees, and lifted his rugged 
 face to heaven. I too knelt, and with my hand upon 
 her heart said my own prayer in my own way. My 
 lord stood with unbent head, his eyes upon that still 
 white face, but Diccon turned abruptly and strode off 
 to a low ridge of sand, from the top of which one 
 might survey the entire island. 
 
 In two minutes he was back again. " There 's 
 plenty of driftwood further up the beach," he an- 
 nounced, " and a mort of dried seaweed. At least we 
 need n't freeze." 
 
IN WHICH WE ARE IN DESPERATE CASE 189 
 
 The great bonfire that we made roared and crackled, 
 sending out a most cheerful heat and light. Under 
 that genial breath the color came slowly back to 
 madam's cheek and lip, and her heart beat more 
 strongly. Presently she turned under my hand, and 
 with a sigh pillowed her head upon her arm and went 
 to sleep in that blessed warmth like a little child. 
 
 We who had no mind for sleep sat there beside the 
 fire and watched the sun sink behind the low black 
 line of the mainland, now plainly visible in the cleared 
 air. It dyed the waves blood red, and shot out one 
 long ray to crimson a single floating cloud, no larger 
 than a man's hand, high in the blue. Sea birds, a 
 countless multitude, went to and fro with harsh cries 
 from island to marsh, and marsh to island. The 
 marshes were still green ; they lay, a half moon of 
 fantastic shapes, each parted from the other by pink 
 water. Beyond them was the inlet dividing us from 
 the mainland, and that inlet was three leagues in 
 width. We turned and looked seaward. Naught but 
 leaping waves white-capped to the horizon. 
 
 " We touched here the time we went against the 
 French at Port Royal and St. Croix," I said. " We 
 had heard a rumor that the Bermuda pirates had 
 hidden gold here. Argall and I went over every 
 foot of it." 
 
 " And found no water ? " questioned the minister. 
 
 " And found no water." 
 
 The light died from the west and from the sea 
 beneath, and the night fell. When with the darkness 
 the sea fowl ceased their clamor, a dreadful silence 
 suddenly enfolded us. The rush of the surf made no 
 difference ; the ear heard it, but to the mind there 
 was no sound. The sky was thick with stars ; every 
 
190 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 moment one shot, and the trail of white fire it left be- 
 hind melted into the night silently like snowflakes. 
 There was no wind. The moon rose out of the sea, 
 and lent the sandy isle her own pallor. Here and 
 there, back amongst the dunes, the branches of a low 
 and leafless tree writhed upward like dark fingers 
 thrust from out the spectral earth. The ocean, quiet 
 now, dreamed beneath the moon and cared not for 
 the five lives it had cast upon that span of sand. 
 
 We piled driftwood and tangles of seaweed upon 
 our fire, and it flamed and roared and broke the 
 silence. Diccon, going to the landward side of the 
 islet, found some oysters, which we roasted and ate ; 
 but we had nor wine nor water with which to wash 
 them down. 
 
 " At least there are here no foes to fear," quoth my 
 lord. " We may all sleep to-night ; and zooks ! we 
 shall need it ! " He spoke frankly, with an open 
 face. 
 
 " I will take one watch, if you will take the other," 
 I said to the minister. 
 
 He nodded. " I will watch until midnight." 
 
 It was long past that time when he roused me from 
 where I lay at Mistress Percy's feet. 
 
 " I should have relieved you long ago," I told him. 
 
 He smiled. The moon, now high in the heavens, 
 shone upon and softened his rugged features. I 
 thought I had never seen a face so filled with tender- 
 ness and hope and a sort of patient power. " I have 
 been with God," he said simply. " The starry skies 
 and the great ocean and the little shells beneath 
 my hand, — how wonderful are thy works, O Lord ! 
 What is man that thou art mindful of him ? And yet 
 not a sparrow falleth " — 
 
IN WHICH WE ARE IN DESPERATE CASE 191 
 
 I rose and sat by the fire, and he laid himself down 
 upon the sand beside me. 
 
 "Master Sparrow," I asked, "have you ever suf- 
 fered thirst ? " 
 
 " No," he answered. We spoke in low tones, lest 
 we should wake her. Diccon and my lord, upon the 
 other side of the fire, were sleeping heavily. 
 
 " I have," I said. " Once I lay upon a field of 
 battle throughout a summer day, sore wounded and 
 with my dead horse across my body. I shall forget 
 the horror of that lost field and the torment of that 
 weight before I forget the thirst." 
 
 " You think there is no hope ? " 
 
 " What hope should there be ? " 
 
 He was silent. Presently he turned and looked at 
 the King's ward where she lay in the rosy light ; then 
 his eyes came back to mine. 
 
 " If it comes to the worst I shall put her out of her 
 torment," I said. 
 
 He bowed his head and we sat in silence, our gaze 
 upon the ground between us, listening to the low 
 thunder of the surf and the crackling of the fire. "1/ 
 love her," I said at last. " God help me ! " / 
 
 He put his finger to his lips. She had stirred and 
 opened her eyes. I knelt beside her, and asked her 
 how she did and if she wanted aught. 
 
 " It is warm," she said wonderingly. 
 
 " You are no longer in the boat," I told her. " You 
 are safe upon the land. You have been sleeping here 
 by the fire that we kindled." 
 
 An exquisite smile just lit her face, and her eyelids 
 drooped again. " I am so tired," she said drowsily, 
 " that I will sleep a little longer. Will you bring me 
 some water, Captain Percy ? I am very thirsty." 
 
192 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 After a moment I said gently, " I will go get it, 
 madam." She made no answer; she was already 
 asleep. Nor did Sparrow and I speak again. He 
 laid himself down with his face to the ocean, and I 
 sat with my head in my hands, and thought and 
 thought, to no purpose. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 IN WHICH A GRAVE IS DIGGED - Pk "<» 
 
 When the stars had gone out and the moon begun 
 to pale, I raised my face from my hands. Only a few 
 glowing embers remained of the fire, and the drift- 
 wood that we had collected was exhausted. I thought 
 that I would gather more, and build up the fire against 
 the time when the others should awake. The drift- 
 wood lay in greatest quantity some distance up the 
 beach, against a low ridge of sand dunes. Beyond 
 these the islet tapered off to a long gray point of sand 
 and shell. Walking toward this point in the first pale 
 light of dawn, I chanced to raise my eyes, and beheld 
 riding at anchor beyond the spit of sand a ship. 
 
 I stopped short and rubbed my eyes. She lay 
 there on the sleeping ocean like a dream ship, her 
 masts and rigging black against the pallid sky, the 
 mist that rested upon the sea enfolding half her hull. 
 She might have been of three hundred tons burthen ; 
 she was black and two-decked, and very high at poop 
 and forecastle, and she was heavily armed. My eyes 
 traveled from the ship to the shore, and there dragged 
 up on the point, the oars within it, was a boat. 
 
 At the head of the beach, beyond the line of shell 
 and weed, the sand lay piled in heaps. With these 
 friendly hillocks between me and the sea, I crept on 
 as silently as I might, until I reached a point just 
 above the boat. Here I first heard voices. I went a 
 
194 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 little further, then knelt, and, parting the long coarse 
 grass that filled the hollow between two hillocks, 
 looked out upon two men who were digging a grave. 
 
 They dug in a furious hurry, throwing the sand to 
 left and right, and cursing as they dug. They were 
 powerful men, of a most villainous cast of counte- 
 nance, and dressed very oddly. One with a shirt of 
 coarsest dowlas, and a filthy rag tying up a broken 
 head, yet wore velvet breeches, and wiped the sweat 
 from his face with a wrought handkerchief ; the other 
 topped a suit of shreds and patches with a fine bushy 
 ruff, and swung from one ragged shoulder a cloak of 
 grogram lined with taffeta. On the ground, to one 
 side of them, lay something long and wrapped in 
 white. 
 
 As they dug and cursed, the light strengthened. 
 The east changed from gray to pale rose, from rose to 
 a splendid crimson shot with gold. The mist lifted 
 and the sea burned red. Two boats were lowered 
 from the ship, and came swiftly toward the point. 
 
 " Here they are at last," growled the gravedigger 
 with the broken head and velvet breeches. 
 
 " They 've taken their time," snarled his companion, 
 " and us two here on this d — d island with a dead 
 man the whole ghost's hour. Boarding a ship 's no- 
 thing, but to dig a grave on the land before cockcrow, 
 with the man you 're to put in it looking at you ! 
 Why could n't he be buried at sea, decent and re- 
 spectable, like other folk ? " 
 
 " It was his will, — that 's all I know," said the first ; 
 " just as it was his will, when he found he was a dying- 
 man, to come booming away from the gold seas up 
 here to a land where there isn't no gold, and never 
 will be. Belike he thought he 'd find waiting for him 
 
IN WHICH A GRAVE IS DIGGED 195 
 
 at the bottom of the sea, all along from the Lucayas 
 to Cartagena, the many he sent there afore he died. 
 And Captain Paradise, he says, says he : ' It 's ill 
 crossing a dead man. We '11 obey him this once 
 more ' " — 
 
 " Captain Paradise ! " cried he of the ruff. " Who 
 made him captain ? — curse him ! " 
 
 His fellow straightened himself with a jerk. " Who 
 made him captain ? The ship will ma,ke him captain. 
 Who else should be captain ? " 
 
 " Eed Gil ! " 
 
 " Eed Gil ! " exclaimed the other. " I 'd rather 
 have the Spaniard ! " 
 
 " The Spaniard would do well enough, if the rest 
 of us were n't English. If hating every other Span- 
 iard would do it, he 'd be English fast enough." 
 
 The scoundrel with the broken head burst into a 
 loud laugh. " D' ye remember the bark we took off 
 Porto Bello, with the priests aboard ? Oho ! Oho ! " 
 
 The rogue with the ruff grinned. "I reckon the 
 padres remember it, and find hell easy lying. This 
 hole 's deep enough, I 'm thinking/' 
 
 They both clambered out, and one squatted at the 
 head of the grave and mopped his face with his deli- 
 cate handkerchief, while the other swung his fine 
 cloak with an air and dug his bare toes in the sand. 
 
 The two boats now grated upon the beach, and sev- 
 eral of their occupants, springing out, dragged them 
 up on the sand. 
 
 " We '11 never get another like him that 's gone," 
 said the worthy at the head of the grave, gloomily 
 regarding the something wrapped in white. 
 
 "That's gospel truth," assented the other, with a 
 prodigious sigh. " He was a man what was a man. 
 
196 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He never stuck at nothing. Don or priest, man or 
 woman, good red gold or dirty silver, — it was all 
 one to him. But he 's dead and gone ! " 
 
 " Now, if we had a captain like Kir by," suggested 
 the first. 
 
 " Kirby keeps to the Summer Isles," said the sec- 
 ond. " 'T is n't often now that he swoops down as 
 far as the Indies." 
 
 The man with the broken head laughed. " When 
 he does, there 's a noise in that part of the world." 
 
 " And that 's gospel truth, too," swore the other, 
 with an oath of admiration. 
 
 By this the score or more who had come in the two 
 boats were halfway up the beach. In front, side by 
 side, as each conceding no inch of leadership, walked 
 three men : a large man, with a villainous face much 
 scarred, and a huge, bushy, dark red beard ; a tall 
 dark man, with a thin fierce face and bloodshot eyes, 
 the Spaniard by his looks ; and a slight man, with 
 the face and bearing of an English gentleman. The 
 men behind them differed no whit from the two grave- 
 diggers, being as scoundrelly of face, as great of 
 strength, and as curiously attired. They came straight 
 to the open grave, and the dead man beside it. The 
 three who seemed of mo;;t importance disposed them- 
 selves, still side by side, at the head of the grave, and 
 their following took the foot. 
 
 " It 's a dirty piece of work," said Red Gil in a 
 voice like a raven's, " and the sooner it 's done with, 
 and we are aboard again and booming back to the 
 Indies, the better I '11 like it. Over with him, brave 
 boys ! " 
 
 " Is it yours to give the word ? " asked the slight 
 man, who was dressed point-device, and with a finical 
 
IN WHICH A GRAVE IS DIGGED 197 
 
 nicety, in black and silver. His voice was low and 
 clear, and of a somewhat melancholy cadence, going 
 well with the pensiveness of fine, deeply fringed eyes. 
 
 " Why should n't I give the word ? " growled the 
 personage addressed, adding with an oath, " I 've as 
 good a right to give it as any man, — maybe a better 
 right ! " 
 
 "That would be scanned," said he of the pensive 
 eyes. " Gentlemen, we have here the pick of the 
 ship. For the captain that these choose, those on 
 board will throw up their caps. Let us bury the 
 dead, and then let choice be made of one of us three, 
 each of whom has claims that might be put for- 
 ward " — He broke off and picking up a delicate 
 shell began to study its pearly spirals with a tender, 
 thoughtful, half-pleased, half-melancholy countenance. 
 
 The gravedigger with the wrought handkerchief 
 looked from him to the rascal crew massed at the foot 
 of the grave, and, seeing his own sentiments mirrored 
 in the countenances of not a few, snatched the bloody 
 clout from his head, waved it, and cried out, " Para- 
 dise ! " Whereupon arose a great confusion. Some 
 bawled for Paradise, some for Red Gil, a few for the 
 Spaniard. The two gravediggers locked horns, and 
 a brawny devil with a woman's mantle swathed about 
 his naked shoulders drew a knife, and made for a 
 partisan of the Spaniard, who in his turn skillfully 
 interposed between himself and the attack the body 
 of a bawling well-wisher to Red Gil. 
 
 The man in black and silver tossed aside the shell, 
 rose, and entered the lists. With one hand he seized 
 the gravedigger of the ruff, and hurled him apart 
 from him of the velvet breeches ; with the other he 
 presented a dagger with a jeweled haft at the breast 
 
198 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 of the ruffian with the woman's mantle, while in tones 
 that would have befitted . Astrophel plaining of his 
 love to rocks, woods, and streams, he poured forth 
 a flood of wild, singular, and filthy oaths, such as 
 would have disgraced a camp follower. His interfer- 
 ence was effectual. The combatants fell apart and the 
 clamor was stilled, whereupon the gentleman of con- 
 trarieties at once resumed the gentle and indifferent 
 melancholy of manner and address. 
 
 " Let us off with the old love before we are on with 
 the new, gentlemen," he said. " We '11 bury the dead 
 first, and choose his successor afterward, — decently 
 and in order, I trust, and with due submission to the 
 majority." 
 
 " I '11 fight for my rights," growled Red Gil. 
 
 " And I for mine," cried the Spaniard. 
 
 " And each of us '11 back his own man," muttered 
 in an aside the gravedigger with the broken head. 
 
 The one they called Paradise sighed. " It is a 
 thousand pities that there is not amongst us some one 
 of merit so preeminent that faction should hide its 
 head before it. But to the work in hand, gentlemen." 
 
 They gathered closer around the yawning grave, 
 and some began to lift the corpse. As for me, I 
 withdrew as noiselessly as an Indian from my lair of 
 grass, and, hidden by the heaped-up sand, made off 
 across the point and down the beach to where a light 
 curl of smoke showed that some one was mending the 
 fire I had neglected. It was Sparrow, who alternately 
 threw on driftwood and seaweed and spoke to madam, 
 who sat at his feet in the blended warmth of fire and 
 sunshine. Diccon was roasting the remainder of the 
 oysters he had gathered the night before, and my lord 
 stood and stared with a frowning face at the nine-mile- 
 
IN WHICH A GRAVE IS DIGGED 199 
 
 distant mainland. All turned their eyes upon me as 
 I came up to the fire. 
 
 "A little longer, Captain Percy, and we would 
 have had out a search warrant," began the minister 
 cheerfully. " Have you been building a bridge ? " 
 
 " If I build one," I said, " it will be a perilous one 
 enough. Have you looked seaward ? " 
 
 " We waked but a minute agone," he answered. 
 As he spoke, he straightened his great form and lifted 
 his face from the fire to the blue sea. Diccon, still 
 on his knees at his task, looked too ; and my lord, 
 turning from his contemplation of the distant king- 
 dom of Accomac ; and Mistress Percy, one hand shad- 
 ing her eyes, the slender fingers of the other still 
 immeshed in her long dark hair which she had been 
 braiding. They stared at the ship in silence until 
 my lord laughed. 
 
 " Conjure us on board at once, captain," he cried. 
 " We are thirsty." 
 
 I drew the minister aside. "I am going up the 
 beach, beyond that point, again ; you will one and 
 all stay here. If I do not come back, do the best you 
 can, and sell her life as dearly as you can. If I come 
 back, — you are quick of wit and have been a player ; 
 look that you take the cue I give you ! " 
 
 I returned to the fire, and he followed me, amaze- 
 ment in his face. " My Lord Carnal," I said, " I 
 must ask you for your sword." 
 
 He started, and his black brows drew together. 
 " Though the fortunes of war have made me in some 
 sort your captive, sir," he said at last, and not with- 
 out dignity, " I do not see, upon this isle to which 
 we are all prisoners, the need of so strong testimony 
 to the abjectness of my condition, nor deem it gener- 
 ous " — 
 
200 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " We will speak of generosity another day, my 
 lord," I interrupted. " At present I am in a hurry. 
 That you are my prisoner in verity is enough for me, 
 but not for others. I must have you so in seeming 
 as well as in truth. Moreover, Master Sparrow is 
 weaponless, and I must needs disarm an enemy to 
 arm a friend. I beg that you will give what else we 
 must take." 
 
 He looked at Diccon, but Diccon stood with his 
 face to the sea. I thought we were to have a struggle, 
 and I was sorry for it, but my lord could and did 
 add discretion to a valor that I never doubted. He 
 shrugged his shoulders, burst into a laugh, and turned 
 to Mistress Percy. 
 
 " What can one do, lady, when one is doubly a 
 prisoner, prisoner to numbers and to beauty? E'en 
 laugh at fate, and make the best of a bad job. Here, 
 sir ! Some day it shall be the point ! " 
 
 He drew his rapier from its sheath, and presented 
 the hilt to me. I took it with a bow, and handed it 
 to Sparrow. 
 
 The King's ward had risen, and now leant against 
 the bank of sand, her long dark hair, half braided, 
 drawn over either shoulder, her face marble white be- 
 tween the waves of darkness. 
 
 " I do not know that I shall ever come back," I 
 said, stopping before her. " May I kiss your hand 
 before I go ? " 
 
 Her lips moved, but she did not speak. I knelt 
 and kissed her clasped hands. They were cold to my 
 lips. "Where are you going?" she whispered. "Into 
 what danger are you going ? I — I — take me with 
 
 you!" 
 
 I rose, with a laugh at my own folly that could 
 
IN WHICH A GRAVE IS DIGGED 201 
 
 have rested brow and lips on those hands, and let the 
 world wag. "Another time," I said. "Rest in the 
 sunshine now, and think that all is well. All will be 
 well, I trust." 
 
 A few minutes later saw me almost upon the party 
 gathered about the grave. The grave had received 
 that which it was to hold until the crack of doom, 
 and was now being rapidly filled with sand. The 
 crew of deep-dyed villains worked or stood or sat in 
 silence, but all looked at the grave, and saw me not. 
 As the last handful of sand made it level with the 
 beach, I walked into their midst, and found myself 
 face to face with the three candidates for the now 
 vacant captaincy. 
 
 " Give you good-day, gentlemen," I cried. " Is it 
 your captain that you bury or one of your crew, or is 
 it only pezos and pieces of eight?" 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 IN WHICH I CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION 
 
 " The sun shining on so much bare steel hurts my 
 eyes," I said. " Put up, gentlemen, put up ! Cannot 
 one rover attend the funeral of another without all 
 this crowding and display of cutlery? If you will 
 take the trouble to look around you, you will see that 
 I have brought to the obsequies only myself." 
 
 One by one cutlass and sword were lowered, and 
 those who had drawn them, falling somewhat back, 
 spat and swore and laughed. The man in black and 
 silver only smiled gently and sadly. " Did you drop 
 from the blue ? " he asked. " Or did you come up 
 from the sea ? " 
 
 " I came out of it," I said. " My ship went down 
 in the storm yesterday. Your little cockboat yonder 
 was more fortunate." I waved my hand toward that 
 ship of three hundred tons, then twirled my mustaches 
 and stood at gaze. 
 
 " Was your ship so large, then ? " demanded Par- 
 adise, while a murmur of admiration, larded with 
 oaths, ran around the circle. 
 
 " She was a very great galleon," I replied, with a 
 sigh for the good ship that was gone. 
 
 A moment's silence, during which they all looked 
 at me. " A galleon," then said Paradise softly. 
 
 " They that sailed her yesterday are to-day at the 
 bottom of the sea," I continued. " Alackaday ! so 
 
I CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION 203 
 
 are one hundred thousand pezos of gold, three thou- 
 sand bars of silver, ten frails of pearls, jewels un- 
 counted, cloth of gold and cloth of silver. She was a 
 very rich prize." 
 
 The circle sucked in their breath. " All at the bot- 
 tom of the sea?" queried Red Gil, with gloating eyes 
 fixed upon the smiling water. " Not one pezo left, 
 not one little, little pearl ? " 
 
 I shook my head and heaved a prodigious sigh. 
 " The treasure is gone," I said, " and the men with 
 whom I took it are gone. I am a captain with neither 
 ship nor crew. I take you, my friends, for a ship 
 and crew without a captain. The inference is ob- 
 vious." 
 
 The ring gaped with wonder, then strange oaths 
 arose. Red Gil broke into a bellow of angry laughter, 
 while the Spaniard glared like a catamount about to 
 spring. " So you would be our captain ?" said Para- 
 dise, picking up another shell, and poising it upon a 
 hand as fine and small as a woman's. 
 
 " Faith, you might go farther and fare worse," I 
 answered, and began to hum a tune. When I had 
 finished it, " I am Kirby," I said, and waited to see 
 if that shot should go wide or through the hull. 
 
 For two minutes the dash of the surf and the cries 
 of the wheeling sea fowl made the only sound in that 
 part of the world ; then from those half-clad rapscal- 
 lions arose a shout of " Kirby ! " — a shout in which 
 the three leaders did not join. That one who looked 
 a gentleman rose from the sand and made me a low 
 bow. " Well met, noble captain," he cried in those 
 his honey tones. " You will doubtless remember me 
 who was with you that time at Maracaibo when you 
 sunk the galleasses. Five years have passed since 
 
204 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 then, and yet I see you ten years younger and three 
 inches taller." 
 
 " I touched once at the Lucayas, and found the 
 spring de Leon sought," I said. " Sure the waters 
 have a marvelous effect, and if they give not eternal 
 youth at least renew that which we have lost." 
 
 " Truly a potent aqua vitse," he remarked, still 
 with thoughtful melancholy. " I see that it hath 
 changed your eyes from black to gray." 
 
 " It hath that peculiar virtue," I said, " that it can 
 make black seem white." 
 
 The man with the woman's mantle drawn about 
 him now thrust himself from the rear to the front 
 rank. " That 's not Kirby ! " he bawled. " He 's no 
 more Kirby than I am Kirby ! Did n't I sail with 
 Kirby from the Summer Isles to Cartagena and back 
 again ? He 's a cheat, and I am agoing to cut his 
 heart out ! " He was making at me with a long 
 knife, when I whipped out my rapier. 
 
 " Am I not Kirby, you dog ? " I cried, and ran him 
 through the shoulder. 
 
 He dropped, and his fellows surged forward with a 
 yell. " Yet a little patience, my masters ! " said Para- 
 dise in a raised voice and with genuine amusement in 
 his eyes. " It is true that that Kirby with whom I 
 and our friend there on the ground sailed was some- 
 what short and as swart as a raven, besides having a 
 cut across his face that had taken away a part of his 
 lip and the top of his ear, and that this gentleman 
 who announces himself as Kirby hath none of Kirby's 
 marks. But we are fair and generous and open to 
 conviction " — 
 
 " He '11 have to convince my cutlass ! " roared Red 
 Gil. 
 
T CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION 205 
 
 I turned upon him. " If I do convince it, what 
 then ? " I demanded. " If I convince your sword, 
 you of Spain, and yours, Sir Black and Silver ? " 
 
 The Spaniard stared. " I was the best sword in 
 Lima," he said stiffly. " I and my Toledo will not 
 change our minds." 
 
 " Let him try to convince Paradise ; he 's got no 
 reputation as a swordsman ! " cried out the grave- 
 digger with the broken head. 
 
 A roar of laughter followed this suggestion, and 
 I gathered from it and from the oaths and allusions 
 to this or that time and place that Paradise was not 
 without reputation. 
 
 I turned to him. " If I fight you three, one by one, 
 and win, am I Kirby ? " 
 
 He regarded the shell with which he was toying 
 with a thoughtful smile, held it up that the light 
 might strike through its rose and pearl, then crushed 
 it to dust between his fingers. 
 
 " Ay," he said with an oath. " If you win against 
 the cutlass of Red Gil, the best blade of Lima, and 
 the sword of Paradise, you may call yourself the devil 
 an you please, and we will all subscribe to it." 
 
 I lifted my hand. " I am to have fair play ? " 
 
 As one man that crew of desperate villains swore 
 that the odds should be only three to one. By this 
 the whole matter had presented itself to them as an 
 entertainment more diverting than bullfight or bear- 
 baiting. They that follow the sea, whether honest 
 men or black-hearted knaves, have in their composi- 
 tion a certain childlikeness that makes them easily 
 turned, easily led, and easily pleased. The wind of 
 their passion shifts quickly from point to point, one 
 moment blowing a hurricane, the next sinking to a 
 
206 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 happy-go-lucky summer breeze. I have seen a little 
 thing convert a crew on the point of mutiny into a 
 set of rollicking, good-natured souls who — until the 
 wind veered again — would not hurt a fly. So with 
 these. They spread themselves into a circle, squatting 
 or kneeling or standing upon the white sand in the 
 bright sunshine, their sinewy hands that should have 
 been ingrained red clasped over their knees, or, arms 
 akimbo, resting upon their hips, on their scoundrel 
 faces a broad smile, and in their eyes that had looked 
 on nameless horrors a pleasurable expectation as of 
 spectators in a playhouse awaiting the entrance of the 
 players. 
 
 " There is really no good reason why we should 
 gratify your whim," said Paradise, still amused. 
 " But it will serve to pass the time. We will fight 
 you, one by one." 
 
 " And if I win ? " 
 
 He laughed. " Then, on the honor of a gentleman, 
 you are Kirby and our captain. If you lose, we will 
 leave you where you stand for the gulls to bury." 
 
 " A bargain," I said, and drew my sword. 
 
 " I first ! " roared Red Gil. " God's wounds ! there 
 will need no second ! " 
 
 As he spoke he swung his cutlass and made an arc 
 of blue flame. The weapon became in his hands a 
 flail, terrible to look upon, making lightnings and 
 whistling in the air, but in reality not so deadly as 
 it seemed. The fury of his onslaught would have 
 beaten down the guard of any mere swordsman, but 
 that I was not. A man, knowing his weakness and 
 insufficiency in many and many a thing, may yet know 
 his strength in one or two and his modesty take no 
 hurt. I was ever master of my sword, and it did the 
 
~»*' 
 
 /V** 
 
 I CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION 207 
 
 thing I would have it do. Moreover, as I fought I . 
 
 saw her as I had last seen her, standing against the "fir** 
 bank of sand, her dark hair, half braided, drawn over 
 her bosom and hanging to her knees. Her eyes 
 haunted me, and my lips yet felt the touch of her hand. 
 I fought well, — how well the lapsing of oaths and 
 laughter into breathless silence bore witness. 
 
 The ruffian against whom I was pitted began to 
 draw his breath in gasps. He was a scoundrel not fit 
 to die, less fit to live, unworthy of a gentleman's steel. 
 I presently ran him through with as little compunc- 
 tion and as great a desire to be quit of a dirty job as 
 if he had been a mad dog. He fell, and a little later, 
 while I was engaged with the Spaniard, his soul went 
 to that hell which had long gaped for it. To those 
 his companions his death was as slight a thing as would 
 theirs have been to him. In the eyes of the two re- 
 maining would-be leaders he was a stumbling-block 
 removed, and to the squatting, open-mouthed common- 
 alty his taking off weighed not a feather against the 
 solid entertainment I was affording them. I was now 
 a better man than Red Gil, — that was all. 
 
 The Spaniard was a more formidable antagonist. 
 The best blade of Lima was by no means to be de- 
 spised ; but Lima is a small place, and its blades can 
 be numbered. The sword that for three years had 
 been counted the best in all the Low Countries was 
 its better. But I fought fasting and for the second 
 time that morning, so maybe the odds were not so 
 great. I wounded him slightly, and presently suc- 
 ceeded in disarming him. " Am I Kirby ? " I de- 
 manded, with my point at his breast. 
 
 " Kirby, of course, senor," he answered with a sour 
 smile, his eyes upon the gleaming blade. 
 
208 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 I lowered my point and we bowed to each other, 
 after which he sat down upon the sand and applied 
 himself to stanching the bleeding from his wound. 
 The pirate ring gave him no attention, but stared at 
 me instead. I was now a better man than the Span- 
 iard. 
 
 The man in black and silver rose and removed his 
 doublet, folding it very carefully, inside out, that the 
 sand might not injure the velvet, then drew his rapier, 
 looked at it lovingly, made it bend until point and 
 hilt well-nigh met, and faced me with a bow. 
 
 " You have fought twice, and must be weary," he 
 said. " Will you not take breath before we engage, 
 or will your long rest afterward suffice you ? " 
 
 " I will rest aboard my ship," I made reply. " And 
 as I am in a hurry to be gone we won't delay." 
 
 Our blades had no sooner crossed than I knew that 
 in this last encounter I should need every whit of my 
 skill, all my wit, audacity, and strength. I had met 
 my equal, and he came to it fresh and I jaded. I 
 clenched my teeth and prayed with all my heart ; I set 
 her face before me, and thought if I should fail her to 
 what ghastly fate she might come, and I fought as I 
 had never fought before. The sound of the surf be- 
 came a roar in my ears, the sunshine an intolerable 
 blaze of light ; the blue above and around seemed sud- 
 denly beneath my feet as well. We were fighting 
 high in the air, and had fought thus for ages. I knew 
 that he made no thrust I did not parry, no feint I 
 could not interpret. I knew that my eye was more 
 quick to see, my brain to conceive, and my hand to 
 execute than ever before ; but it was as though I held 
 that knowledge of some other, and I myself was far 
 away, at Weyanoke, in the minister's garden* in the 
 
I CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION 209 
 
 haunted wood, anywhere save on that barren islet. I 
 heard him swear under his breath, and in the face 1 
 had set before me the eyes brightened. As if she had 
 loved me I fought for her with all my powers of body 
 and mind. He swore again, and my heart laughed 
 within me. The sea now roared less loudly, and I 
 felt the good earth beneath my feet. Slowly but 
 surely I wore him out. His breath came short, the 
 sweat stood upon his forehead, and still I deferred 
 my attack. He made the thrust of a boy of fifteen, 
 and I smiled as I put it by. 
 
 "Why don't you end it? "he breathed. "Finish 
 and be d — d to you ! " 
 
 For answer I sent his sword flying over the nearest 
 hillock of sand. "Ami Kirby ? " I said. He fell 
 back against the heaped-up sand and leaned there, 
 panting, with his hand to his side. " Kirby or devil," 
 he replied. " Have it your own way." 
 
 I turned to the now highly excited rabble. " Shove 
 the boats off, half a dozen of you ! " I ordered. " Some 
 of you others take up that carrion there and throw it 
 into the sea. The gold upon it is for your pains. You 
 there with the wounded shoulder you have no great 
 hurt. I '11 salve it with ten pieces of eight from the 
 captain's own share, the next prize we take." 
 
 A shout of acclamation arose that scared the sea 
 fowl. They who so short a time before had been 
 ready to tear me limb from limb now with the great- 
 est apparent delight hailed me as captain. How soon 
 they might revert to their former mood was a question 
 that I found not worth while to propound to myself. 
 
 By this the man in black and silver had recovered 
 his breath and his equanimity. " Have you no com- 
 mission with which to honor me, noble captain ? " he 
 
210 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 asked In gently reproachful tones. " Have you for- 
 got how often you were wont to employ me in those 
 sweet days when your eyes were black ? " 
 
 " By no means, Master Paradise," I said courteously. 
 " I desire your company and that of the gentleman 
 from Lima. You will go with me to bring up the 
 rest of my party. The three gentlemen of the broken 
 head, the bushy ruff, which I protest is vastly becom- 
 ing, and the wounded shoulder will escort us." 
 
 " The rest of your party ? " said Paradise softly. 
 
 " Ay," I answered nonchalantly. " They are down 
 the beach and around the point warming themselves 
 by a fire which this piled-up sand hides from you. 
 Despite the sunshine it is a biting air. Let us be 
 going ! This island wearies me, and I am anxious to 
 be on board ship and away." 
 
 " So small an escort scarce befits so great a cap- 
 tain," he said. " We will all attend you." One and 
 all started forward. 
 
 I called to mind and gave utterance to all the oaths 
 I had heard in the wars. " I entertain you for my 
 subordinate whom I command, and not who commands 
 me ! " I cried, when my memory failed me. " As for 
 you, you dogs, who would question your captain and 
 his doings, stay where you are, if you would not be 
 lessoned in earnest ! " 
 
 Sheer audacity is at times the surest steed a man 
 can bestride. Now at least it did me good service. 
 With oaths and grunts of admiration the pirates stayed 
 where they were, and went about their business of 
 launching the boats and stripping the body of Ked 
 Gil, while the man in black and silver, the Spaniard, 
 the two gravediggers, the knave with the wounded 
 shoulder, and myself walked briskly up the beach. 
 
I CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION 211 
 
 With these five at my heels I strode up to the dy- 
 ing fire and to those who had sprung to their feet at 
 our approach. " Sparrow," I said easily, " luck being 
 with us as usual, I have fallen in with a party of 
 rovers. I have told them who I am, — that Kirby, 
 to wit, whom an injurious world calls the blackest 
 pirate unhanged, — and have recounted to them how 
 the great galleon which I took some months ago went 
 down yesterday with all on board, you and I with these 
 others being the sole survivors. By dint of a little 
 persuasion they have elected me their captain, and we 
 will go on board directly and set sail for the Indies, a 
 hunting ground which we never should have left. You 
 need not look so blank ; you shall be my mate and 
 right hand still." I turned to the five who formed 
 my escort. " This, gentlemen, is my mate, Jeremy 
 Sparrow by name, who hath a taste for divinity that 
 in no wise interferes with his taste for a galleon or 
 a guarda costa. This man, Diccon Demon by name, 
 was of my crew. The gentleman without a sword is 
 my prisoner, taken by me from the last ship I sunk. 
 How he, an Englishman, came to be upon a Spanish 
 bark I have not found leisure to inquire. The lady is 
 my prisoner, also." 
 
 " Sure by rights she should be gaoler and hold all 
 men's hearts in ward," said Paradise, with a low bow 
 to my unfortunate captive. 
 
 While he spoke a most remarkable transformation 
 was going on. The minister's grave, rugged, and 
 deeply lined face smoothed itself and shed ten years at 
 least ; in the eyes that I had seen wet with noble tears 
 a laughing devil now lurked, while his strong mouth 
 became a loose-lipped, devil-may-care one. His head 
 with its aureole of bushy, grizzled hair set itself jaunt- 
 
212 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 ily upon one side, and from it and from his face and 
 his whole great frame breathed a wicked jollity quite 
 indescribable. 
 
 " Odsbodikins, captain ! " he cried. " Kirby's luck ! 
 — 't will pass into a saw ! Adzooks ! and so you 're 
 captain once more, and I 'm mate once more, and we 've 
 a ship once more, and we 're off once more 
 
 To sail the Spanish Main, 
 And give the Spaniard pain, 
 
 Heave ho, bully boy, heave ho ! 
 
 By 'r lakin ! I 'm too dry to sing. It will take all 
 the wine of Xeres in the next galleon to unparch my 
 tongue ! " 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 IN WHICH WE WEITE UPON THE SAND 
 
 Day after day the wind filled our sails and sang in 
 the rigging, and day after day we sailed through blue 
 seas toward the magic of the south. Day after day a 
 listless and voluptuous world seemed too idle for any 
 dream of wrong, and day after day we whom a strange 
 turn of Fortune's wheel had placed upon a pirate ship 
 held our lives in our hands, and walked so close with 
 Death that at length that very intimacy did breed con- 
 tempt. It was not a time to think ; it was a time to 
 act, to laugh and make others laugh, to bluster and 
 brag, to estrange sword and scabbard, to play one's 
 hand with a fine unconcern, but all the time to watch, 
 watch, watch, day in and day out, every minute of 
 every hour. That ship became a stage, and we, the 
 actors, should have been applauded to the echo. How 
 well we played let witness the fact that the ship came 
 to the Indies, with me for captain and the minister 
 for mate, and with the woman that was on board un- 
 harmed ; nay, reverenced like a queen. The great 
 cabin was hers, and the poop deck ; we made for her 
 a fantastic state with doffing of hats and bowings and 
 backward steps. "We were her guard, — the gentle- 
 men of the Queen, — I and my Lord Carnal, the min- 
 ister and Diccon, and we kept between her and the 
 rest of the ship. 
 
 We did our best, and our best was very much. 
 
214 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 When I think of the songs the minister sang ; of the 
 roars of laughter that went up from the lounging pi- 
 rates when, sitting astride one of the main-deck guns, 
 he made his voice call to them, now from the hold, 
 now from the stern gallery, now from the masthead, 
 now from the gilt sea maid upon the prow, I laugh 
 too. Sometimes a space was cleared for him, and he 
 played to them as to the pit at Blackfriars. They 
 laughed and wept and swore with delight, — all save 
 the Spaniard, who was ever like a thundercloud, and 
 Paradise, who only smiled like some languid, side-box 
 lord. There was wine on board, and during the longj 
 idle days, when the wind droned in the rigging like a 
 bagpipe, and there was never a cloud in the sky, and 
 the galleons were still far away, the pirates gambled 
 and drank. Diccon diced with them, and taught them 
 all the oaths of a free company. So much wine, and 
 no more, should they have ; when they frowned, I let 
 them see that their frowning and their half-drawn 
 knives mattered no doit to me. It was their whim — 
 a huge jest of which they could never have enough 
 — still to make believe that they sailed under Kirby. 
 Lest it should spoil the jest, and while the jest out- 
 ranked all other entertainment, they obeyed as though 
 I had been indeed that fierce sea wolf. 
 
 Time passed, though it passed like a tortoise, and 
 we came to the Lucayas, to the outposts of the vast 
 hunting ground of Spaniard and pirate and buccaneer, 
 the fringe of that zone of beauty and villainy and fear, 
 and sailed slowly past the islands, looking for our prey. 
 
 The sea was blue as blue could be. Only in the 
 morning and the evening it glowed blood red, or 
 spread upon its still bosom all the gold of all the Indies, 
 or became an endless mead of palest green shot with 
 
IN WHICH WE WRITE UPON THE SAND 215 
 
 amethyst. W]ien night fell, it mirrored the stars, 
 great and small, or was caught in a net of gold flung 
 across it from horizon to horizon. The ship rent the 
 net with a wake of white fire. The air was balm ; 
 the islands were enchanted places, abandoned by Span- 
 iard and Indian, overgrown, serpent-haunted. The 
 reef, the still water, pink or gold, the gleaming beach, 
 the green plume of the palm, the scarlet birds, the 
 cataracts of bloom, — the senses swooned with the 
 color, the steaming incense, the warmth, the wonder 
 of that fantastic world. Sometimes, in the crystal 
 waters near the land, we sailed over the gardens of 
 the sea gods, and, looking down, saw red and purple 
 blooms and shadowy waving forests, with rainbow 
 fish for humming birds. Once we saw below us a 
 sunken ship. With how much gold she had endowed 
 the wealthy sea, how many long drowned would rise 
 from her rotted decks when the waves gave up their 
 dead, no man could tell. Away from the ship darted 
 many-hued fish, gold-disked, or barred and spotted 
 with crimson, or silver and purple. The dolphin and 
 the tunny and the flying fish swam with us. Some- 
 times flights of small birds came to us from the land. 
 Sometimes the sea was thickly set with full-blown pale 
 red bloom, the jellyfish that was a flower to the sight 
 and a nettle to the touch. If a storm arose, a fury 
 that raged and threatened, it presently swept away, 
 and the blue laughed again. When the sun sank, 
 there arose in the east such a moon as might have been 
 sole light to all the realms of faery. A beauty lan- 
 guorous and seductive was most absolute empress of 
 the wonderful land and the wonderful sea. 
 
 We were in the hunting grounds, and men went 
 not there to gather flowers. Day after day we watched 
 
216 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 for Spanish sails ; for the plate fleets went that way, 
 and some galleass or caravel or galleon might stray 
 aside. At last, in the clear green bay of a nameless 
 island at which we stopped for water, we found two 
 carracks come upon the same errand, took them, and 
 with them some slight treasure in rich cloths and gems. 
 A week later, in a strait between two islands like 
 tinted clouds, we fought a very great galleon from 
 sunrise to noon, pierced her hull through and through 
 and silenced her ordnance, then boarded her and found 
 a king's ransom in gold and silver. When the fight- 
 ing had ceased and the treasure was ours, then we 
 four stood side by side on the deck of the slowly sink- 
 ing galleon, in front of our prisoners, — of the men 
 who had fought well, of the ashen priests and the 
 trembling women. Those whom we faced were in 
 high good humor : they had gold with which to gam- 
 ble, and wine to drink, and rich clothing with which 
 to prank their villainous bodies, and prisoners with 
 whom to make merry. When I ordered the Span- 
 iards to lower their boats, and taking with them their 
 priests and women row off to one of those two islands, 
 the weather changed. 
 
 We outlived that storm, but how I scarcely know. 
 As Kirby would have done, so did I ; rating my crew 
 like hounds, turning my point this way and that, dar- 
 ing them to come taste the red death upon it, braving 
 it out like some devil who knows he is invulnerable. 
 My lord, swinging the cutlass with which he was 
 armed, stood beside me, knee to knee, and Diccon 
 cursed after me, making quarter staff play with his 
 long pike. But it was the minister that won us through. 
 At length they laughed, and Paradise, standing for- 
 ward, swore that such a captain and such a mr.te were 
 
IN WHICH WE WRITE UPON THE SAND 217 
 
 worth the lives of a thousand Spaniards. To pleasure 
 Kirby, they would depart this once from their ancient 
 usage and let the prisoners go, though it was passing 
 strange, — it being Kirby's wont to clap prisoners 
 under hatches and fire their ship above them. At the 
 end of which speech the Spaniard began to rave, and 
 sprang at me like a catamount. Paradise put forth a 
 foot and tripped him up, whereat the pirates laughed 
 again, and held him back when he would have come 
 at me a second time. 
 
 From the deck of the shattered galleon I watched 
 her boats, with their heavy freight of cowering human- 
 ity, pull off toward the island. Back upon my own 
 poop, the grappling irons cast loose, and a swiftly 
 widening ribbon of blue between us and the sinking 
 ship, I looked at the pirates thronging the waist below 
 me, and knew that the play was nearly over. How 
 many days, weeks, hours, before the lights would go 
 out, I could not tell : they might burn until we took 
 or lost another ship ; the next hour might see that 
 brief tragedy consummated. 
 
 I turned, and going below met Sparrow at the foot 
 of the poop ladder. 
 
 " I have sworn at these pirates until my hair stood 
 on end," he said ruefully. " God forgive me ! And 
 I have bent into circles three half pikes in demonstra- 
 tion of the thing that would occur to them if they 
 tempted me overmuch. And I have sung them all 
 the bloody and lascivious songs that ever I knew in 
 my unregenerate days. I have played the bravo and 
 buffoon until they gaped for wonder. I have damned 
 myself to all eternity, I fear, but there '11 be no 
 mutiny this fair day. It may arrive by to-morrow, 
 though." 
 
218 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Likely enough," I said. " Come within. I have 
 eaten nothing since yesterday." 
 
 " I '11 speak to Diccon first," he answered, and went 
 on toward the forecastle, while I entered the state 
 cabin. Here I found Mistress Percy kneeling beside 
 the bench beneath the stern windows, her face buried 
 in her outstretched arms, her dark hair shadowing 
 her like a mantle. When I spoke to her she did not 
 answer. With a sudden fear I stooped and touched 
 her clasped hands. A shudder ran through her frame, 
 and she slowly raised a colorless face. 
 
 " Are you come back ? " she whispered. " I thought 
 you would never come back. I thought they had 
 killed you. I was only praying before I killed my- 
 self." * 
 
 I took her hands and wrung them apart to rouse 
 her, she was so white and cold, and spoke so strangely. 
 " God forbid that I should die yet awhile, madam ! " 
 I said. " When I can no longer serve you, then I 
 shall not care how soon I die." 
 
 The eyes with which she gazed upon me were still 
 wide and unseeing. " The guns ! " she cried, wresting 
 her hands from mine and putting them to her ears. 
 " Oh, the guns ! they shake the air. And the screams 
 and the trampling — the guns again ! " 
 
 I brought her wine and made her drink it ; then 
 sat beside her, and told her gently, over and over 
 again, that there was no longer thunder of the guns 
 or screams or trampling. At last the long, tearless 
 sobs ceased, and she rose from her knees, and let me 
 lead her to the door of her cabin. There she thanked 
 me softly, with downcast eyes and lips that yet trem- 
 bled ; then vanished from my sights leaving me first 
 to wonder at that terror and emotion in her who sel- 
 
IN WHICH WE WEITE UPON THE SAND 219 
 
 dom showed the thing she felt, and finally to conclude 
 that it was not so wonderful after all. 
 
 We sailed on, — southwards to Cuba, then north 
 again to the Lucayas and the Florida straits, looking 
 for Spanish ships and their gold. The lights yet 
 burned, — now brightly, now so sunken that it seemed 
 as though the next hour they must flicker out. We, 
 the players, flagged not in that desperate masque ; but 
 we knew that, in spite of all endeavor, the darkness 
 was coming fast upon us. 
 
 Had it been possible, we would have escaped from 
 the ship, hazarding new fortunes on the Spanish Main, 
 in an open boat, sans food or water. But the pirates 
 watched us very closely. They called me " captain " 
 and " Kirby," and for the jest's sake gave an exag- 
 gerated obedience, with laughter and flourishes ; but 
 none the less I was their prisoner, — I and those I 
 had brought with me to that ship. 
 
 An islet, shaped like the crescent moon, rose from 
 out the sea before us. We needed water, and so we 
 felt our way between the horns of the crescent into 
 the blue crystal of a fairy harbor. One low hill, rose- 
 colored from base to summit, with scarce a hint of 
 the green world below that canopy of giant bloom, a 
 little silver beach with wonderful shells upon it, the 
 sound of a waterfall and a lazy surf, — we smelt the 
 fruits and the flowers, and a longing for the land 
 came upon us. Six men were left on the ship, and all 
 besides went ashore. Some rolled the water casks 
 toward the sound of the cascade ; others plunged into 
 the forest, to return laden with strange and luscious 
 fruits, birds, guanas, conies, — whatever eatable thing 
 they could lay hands upon ; others scattered along 
 the beach to find turtle eggs, cr, if fortune favored 
 
220 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 them, the turtle itself. They laughed, they sang-, 
 they swore, until the isle rang to their merriment. 
 Like wanton children, they called to each other, to 
 the screaming birds, to the echoing bloom-draped hill. 
 
 I spread a square of cloth upon the sand, in the 
 shadow of a mighty tree that stood at the edge of the 
 forest, and the King's ward took her seat upon it, 
 and looked, in the golden light of the sinking sun, the 
 very spirit of the isle. By this we two were alone on 
 the beach. The hunters for eggs, led by Diccon, were 
 out upon the farthest gleaming horn ; from the wood 
 came the loud laughter of the fruit gatherers, and a 
 most rollicking song issuing from the mighty chest of 
 Master Jeremy Sparrow. With the woodsmen had 
 gone my lord. 
 
 I walked a little way into the forest, and shouted a 
 warning to Sparrow against venturing too far. When 
 I returned to the giant tree and the cloth in the shadow 
 of its outer branches, my wife was writing on the sand 
 with a pointed shell. She had not seen or heard me, 
 and I stood behind her and read what she wrote. It 
 was my name. She wrote it three times, slowly and 
 carefully ; then she felt my presence, glanced swiftly 
 up, smiled, rubbed out my name, and wrote Sparrow's, 
 Diccon's, and the King's in succession. " Lest I 
 should forget to make my letters," she explained. 
 
 I sat down at her feet, and for some time we said 
 no word. The light, falling between the heavy blooms, 
 cast bright sequins upon her dress and dark hair. 
 The blooms were not more pink than her cheeks, the 
 recesses of the forest behind us not deeper or darker 
 than her eyes. The laughter and the song came 
 faintly to us now. The sun was low in the west, and 
 a wonderful light slept upon the sea. 
 
IN WHICH WE WRITE UPON THE SAND 22] 
 
 " Last year we had a masque at court," she said at 
 length, breaking the long silence. " We had Calypso's 
 island, and I was Calypso. The island was built o£ 
 boards covered with green velvet, and there was a 
 mound upon it of pink silk roses. There was a deep 
 blue painted sea below, and a deep blue painted sky 
 above. My nymphs danced around the mound of 
 roses, while I sat upon a real rock beside the painted 
 sea and talked with Ulysses — to wit, my Lord of 
 Buckingham — in gold armor. That was a strange, 
 bright, unreal, and wearisome day, but not so strange 
 and unreal as this." 
 
 She ceased to speak, and began again to write upon 
 the sand. I watched her white hand moving to and 
 fro. She wrote, "How long will it last ? " 
 
 " I do not know. Not long." 
 
 She wrote again : " If there is time at the last, when 
 you see that it is best, will you kill me ? " 
 
 I took the shell from her hand, and wrote my 
 answer beneath her question. 
 
 The forest behind us sank into that pause and 
 breathless hush between the noises of the day and the 
 noises of the night. The sun dropped lower, and the 
 water became as pink as the blooms above us. 
 
 " An you could, would you change ? " I asked. 
 " Would you return to England and safety ? " 
 
 She took a handful of the sand and let it slowly 
 drift through her white fingers. " You know that I 
 would not," she said ; " not if the end were to come 
 to-night. Only — only " — She turned from me and 
 looked far out to sea. I could not see her face, only 
 the dusk of her hair and her heaving bosom. " My 
 blood may be upon your hands," she said in a whisper, 
 " but yours will be upon my soul." 
 
222 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 She turned yet further away, and covered her eyes 
 with her hand. I arose, and bent over her until I 
 could have touched with my lips that bowed head. 
 o" K " Jocelyn," I said. 
 
 W A branch of yellow fruit fell beside us, and my 
 
 v"* 1 * V Lord Carnal, a mass of gaudy bloom in his hand, 
 
 *C p"^ stepped from the wood. " I returned to lay our first- 
 
 4 e fruits at madam's feet," he explained, his darkly 
 
 watchful eyes upon us both. "A gift from one 
 
 poor prisoner to another, madam." He dropped the 
 
 flowers in her lap. " Will you wear them, lady ? 
 
 They are as fair almost as I could wish." 
 
 She touched the blossoms with listless fingers, said 
 they were fair ; then, rising, let them drop upon the 
 sand. " I wear no flowers save of my husband's gath- 
 ering, my lord," she said. 
 
 There was a pathos and weariness in her voice, and 
 a mist of unshed tears in her eyes. She hated him ; 
 she loved me not, yet was forced to turn to me for 
 help at every point, and she had stood for weeks upon 
 the brink of death and looked unfalteringly into the 
 gulf beneath her. 
 
 " My lord," I said, "you know in what direction 
 Master Sparrow led the men. Will you reenter the 
 wood and call them to return ? The sun is fast sink- 
 ing, and darkness will be upon us." 
 
 He looked from her to me, with his brows drawn 
 downwards and his lips pressed together. Stooping, 
 he took up the fallen flowers and deliberately tore 
 them to pieces, until the pink petals were all scattered 
 upon the sand. 
 
 " I am weary of requests that are but sugared com- 
 mands," he said thickly. " Go seek your own men, 
 an you will. Here we are but man to man, and I 
 
IN WHICH WE WRITE UPON THE SAND 223 
 
 budge not. I stay, as the King would have me stay, 
 beside the unfortunate lady whom you have made the 
 prisoner and the plaything of a pirate ship." 
 
 " You wear no sword, my Lord Carnal," I said at 
 last, " and so may lie with impunity." 
 
 " But you can get me one ! " he cried, with ill-con- 
 cealed eagerness. 
 
 I laughed. " I am not zealous in mine enemy's 
 cause, my lord. I shall not deprive Master Sparrow 
 of your lordship's sword." 
 
 Before I knew what he was about he crossed the 
 yard of sand between us and struck me in the face. 
 " Will that quicken your zeal ? " he demanded be- 
 tween his teeth. 
 
 I seized him by the arm, and we stood so, both 
 white with passion, both breathing heavily. At 
 length I flung his arm from me and stepped back. 
 " I fight not my prisoner," I said, " nor, while the 
 lady you have named abides upon that ship with the 
 nobleman who, more than myself, is answerable for 
 her being there, do I put my life in unnecessary haz- 
 ard. I will endure the smart as best I may, my lord, 
 until a more convenient season, when I will salve it 
 well." 
 
 I turned to Mistress Percy, and giving her my 
 hand led her down to the boats ; for I heard the fruit 
 gatherers breaking through the wood, and the hunters 
 for eggs, black figures against the crimson sky, were 
 hurrying down the beach. Before the night had quite 
 fallen we were out of the fairy harbor, and when the 
 moon rose the islet looked only a silver sail against 
 the jeweled heavens. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 IN WHICH WE CHOOSE THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS 
 
 The luck that had been ours could not hold ; when 
 the tide turned, it ebbed fast. 
 
 The weather changed. One hurricane followed 
 upon the stride of another, with only a blue day or 
 two between. Ofttimes we thought the ship was lost. 
 All hands toiled like galley slaves ; and as the hea- 
 vens darkened, there darkened also the mood of the 
 pirates. 
 
 In sight of the great island of Cuba we gave chase 
 to a bark. The sun was shining and the sea fairly 
 still when first she fled before us ; we gained upon 
 her, and there was not a mile between us when a cloud 
 blotted out the sun. The next minute our own sails 
 gave us occupation enough. The storm, not we, was 
 victor over the bark ; she sank with a shriek from 
 her decks that rang above the roaring wind. Two 
 days later we fought a large caravel. With a fortu- 
 nate shot she brought down our foremast, and sailed 
 away from us with small damage of her own. All 
 that day and night the wind blew, driving us out of 
 our course, and by dawn we were as a shuttlecock 
 between it and the sea. We weathered the gale, but 
 when the wind sank there fell on board that black 
 ship a menacing silence. 
 
 In the state cabin I held a council of war. Mis- 
 tress Percy sat beside me, her arm upon the table. 
 
THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS 225 
 
 her hand shadowing her eyes ; my lord, opposite, 
 never took his gaze from her, though he listened 
 gloomily to Sparrow's rueful assertion that the brazen 
 game we had been playing was well-nigh over. Die- 
 con, standing behind him, bit his nails and stared at 
 the floor. 
 
 " For myself I care not overmuch," ended the min- 
 ister. " I scorn not life, but think it at its worst well 
 worth the living ; yet when my God calls me, I will 
 go as to a gala day and triumph. You are a soldier, 
 Captain Percy, you and Diccon here, and know how 
 to die. You too, my Lord Carnal, are a brave man, 
 though a most wicked one. For us four, we can 
 drink the cup, bitter though it be, with little trem- 
 bling. But there is one among us " — His great 
 voice broke, and he sat staring at the table. 
 
 The King's ward uncovered her eyes. " If I be 
 not a man and a soldier, Master Sparrow," she said 
 simply, " yet I am the daughter of many valiant gen- 
 tlemen. I will die as they died before me. And for 
 me, as for you four, it will be only death, — naught 
 else." She looked at me with a proud smile. 
 
 " Naught else," I said. 
 
 My lord started from his seat and strode over to 
 the window, where he stood drumming his fingers 
 against the casing. I turned toward him. " My 
 Lord Carnal," I said, " you were overheard last night 
 when you plotted with the Spaniard." 
 
 He recoiled with a gasp, and his hand went to his 
 side, where it found no sword. I saw his eyes busy 
 here and there through the cabin, seeking something 
 which he might convert into a weapon. 
 
 " I am yet captain of this ship," I continued. " Why 
 I do not, even though it be my last act of authority, 
 have you flung to the sharks, I scarcely know." 
 
226 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He threw back his head, all his bravado re- 
 turned to him. " It is not I that stand in danger," 
 he began loftily ; " and I would have you remember, 
 sir, that you are my enemy, and that I owe you no 
 loyalty." 
 
 " I am content to be your enemy," I answered. 
 
 "You do not dare to set upon me now," he went 
 on, with his old insolent, boastful smile. " Let me 
 cry out, make a certain signal, and they without will 
 be here in a twinkling, breaking in the door " — 
 
 " The signal set ? " I said. " The mine laid, the 
 match burning ? Then 't is time that we were gone. 
 When I bid the world good-night, my lord, my wife 
 goes with me." 
 
 His lips moved and his black eyes narrowed, but he 
 did not speak. 
 
 " An my cheek did not burn so," I said, " I would 
 be content to let you live ; live, captain in verity of 
 this ship of devils, until, tired of you, the devils cut 
 your throat, or until some victorious Spaniard hung 
 you at his yardarm ; live even to crawl back to Eng- 
 land, by hook or crook, to wait, hat in hand, in the 
 antechamber of his Grace of Buckingham. As it is, 
 I will kill you here and now. I restore you your 
 sword, my lord, and there lies my challenge." 
 
 I flung my glove at his feet, and Sparrow unbuckled 
 the keen blade which he had worn since the day I had 
 asked it of its owner, and pushed it to me across the 
 table. The King's ward leaned back in her chair, very 
 white, but with a proud, still face, and hands loosely 
 folded in her lap. My lord stood irresolute, his lip 
 caught between his teeth, his eyes upon the door. 
 
 " Cry out, my lord," I said. " You are in dan- 
 ger. Cry to your friends without, who may come in 
 
THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS 227 
 
 time. Cry out loudly, like a soldier and a gentle- 
 man ! " 
 
 With a furious oath he stooped and caught up the 
 glove at his feet ; then snatched out of my hand the 
 sword that I offered him. 
 
 " Push back the settle, you ; it is in the way ! " he 
 cried to Diccon ; then to me, in a voice thick with 
 passion : " Come on, sir ! Here there are no med- 
 dling governors ; this time let Death throw down the 
 warder ! " 
 
 " He throws it," said the minister beneath his 
 breath. 
 
 From without came a trampling and a sudden burst 
 of excited voices. The next instant the door was 
 burst open, and a most villainous, fiery-red face thrust 
 itself inside. "A ship ! " bawled the apparition, and 
 vanished. The clamor increased ; voices cried for cap- 
 tain and mate, and more pirates appeared at the door, 
 swearing out the good news, come in search of Kirby, 
 and giving no choice but to go with them at once. 
 
 " Until this interruption is over, sir," I said sternly, 
 bowing to him as I spoke. " No longer." 
 
 " Be sure, sir, that to my impatience the time will 
 go heavily," he answered as sternly. 
 
 We reached the poop to find the fog that had lain 
 about us thick and white suddenly lifted, and the hot 
 sunshine streaming down upon a rough blue sea. To 
 the larboard, a league away, lay a low, endless coast of 
 sand, as dazzling white as the surf that broke upon it, 
 and running back to a matted growth of vivid green. 
 
 "That is Florida," said Paradise at my elbow, "and 
 there are reefs and shoals enough between us. It 
 was Kirby's luck that the fog lifted. Yonder tall ship 
 hath a less fortunate star." 
 
228 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 She lay between us and the white beach, evidently 
 in shoal and dangerous waters. She too had encoun- 
 tered a hurricane, and had not come forth victorious. 
 Foremast and forecastle were gone, and her bowsprit 
 was broken. She lay heavily, her ports but a few 
 inches above the water. Though we did not know it 
 then, most of her ordnance had been flung overboard 
 to lighten her. Crippled as she was, with what sail 
 she could set, she was beating back to open sea from 
 that dangerous offing. 
 
 " Where she went we can follow ! " sang out a voice 
 from the throng in our waist. " A d — d easy prize ! 
 And we '11 give no quarter this time ! " There was 
 a grimness in the applause of his fellows that boded 
 little good to some on either ship. 
 
 " Lord help all poor souls this day ! " ejaculated 
 the minister in undertones; then aloud and more 
 hopefully, " She hath not the look of a don ; maybe 
 she 's buccaneer." 
 
 " She is an English merchantman," said Paradise. 
 " Look at her colors. A Company ship, probably, 
 bound for Virginia, with a cargo of servants, gentle- 
 men out at elbows, felons, children for apprentices, 
 traders, French vignerons, glasswork Italians, return- 
 ing Councilors and heads of hundreds, with their 
 wives and daughters, men servants and maid servants. 
 [ made the Virginia voyage once myself, captain." 
 
 I did not answer. I too saw the two crosses, and I 
 did not doubt that the arms upon the flag beneath 
 were those of the Company. The vessel, which was 
 of about two hundred tons, had mightily the look of 
 the George, a ship with which we at Jamestown were 
 all familiar. Sparrow spoke for me. 
 
 " An English ship ! " he cried out of the simplicity 
 
THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS 229 
 
 of his heart. " Then she 's safe enough for us ! Per- 
 haps we might speak her and show her that we are 
 English, too ! Perhaps" — He looked at me eagerly. 
 
 " Perhaps you might be let to go off to her in one 
 of the boats," finished Paradise dryly. " I think not, 
 Master Sparrow." 
 
 " It 's other guess messengers that they '11 send," 
 muttered Diccon. " They 're uncovering the guns, 
 sir." 
 
 Every man of those villains, save one, was of Eng- 
 lish birth ; every man knew that the disabled ship was 
 an English merchantman filled with peaceful folk, but 
 the knowledge changed their plans no whit. There 
 was a great hubbub ; cries and oaths and brutal laugh- 
 ter, the noise of the gunners with their guns, the clang 
 of cutlass and pike as they were dealt out, but not a 
 voice raised against the murder that was to be done. 
 I looked from the doomed ship, upon which there was 
 now frantic haste and confusion, to the excited throng 
 below me, and knew that I had as well cry for mercy 
 to winter wolves. , 
 
 The helmsman behind me had not waited for orders, 
 and we were bearing down upon the disabled bark. 
 Ahead of us, upon our larboard bow, was a patch of 
 lighter green, and beyond it a slight hurry and foam 
 of the waters. Half a dozen voices cried warning to 
 the helmsman. It was he of the woman's mantle, 
 whom I had run through the shoulder on the island 
 off Cape Charles, and he had been Kirby's pilot from 
 Maracaibo to Fort Caroline. Now he answered with 
 a burst of vaunting oaths : " We 're in deep water, 
 and there 's deep water beyond. I 've passed this way 
 before, and I '11 carry ye safe past that reef were 't 
 hell's gate ! " 
 
230 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 The desperadoes who heard him swore applause, 
 and thought no more of the reef that lay in wait. 
 Long since they had gone through the gates of hell 
 for the sake of the prize beyond. Knowing the appeal 
 to be hopeless, I yet made it. 
 
 " She is English, men ! " I shouted. " We will 
 fight the Spaniards while they have a flag in the 
 Indies, but our own people we will not touch ! " 
 
 The clamor of shouts and oaths suddenly fell, and 
 the wind in the rigging, the water at the keel, the 
 surf on the shore, made themselves heard. In the 
 silence, the terror of the fated ship became audible. 
 Confused voices came to us, and the scream of a 
 woman. 
 
 On the faces of a very few of the pirates there was 
 a look of momentary doubt and wavering ; it passed, 
 and the most had never worn it. They began to press 
 forward toward the poop, cursing and threatening, 
 working themselves up into a rage that would not 
 care for my sword, the minister's cutlass, or Diccon's 
 pike. One who called himself a wit cried out some- 
 thing about Kirby and his methods, and two or three 
 laughed. 
 
 " I find that the role of Kirby wearies me," I said. 
 " I am an English gentleman, and I will not fire upon 
 an English ship." 
 
 As if in answer there came from our forecastle a 
 flame and thunder of guns. The gunners there, intent 
 upon their business, and now within range of the mer- 
 chantman, had fired the three forecastle culverins. 
 The shot cut her rigging and brought down the flag. 
 The pirates' shout of triumph was echoed by a cry 
 from her decks and the defiant roar of her few re- 
 maining guns. 
 
THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS 231 
 
 I drew my sword. The minister and Diccon moved 
 nearer to me, and the King's ward, still and white 
 and braver than a man, stood beside me. From the 
 pirates that we faced came one deep breath, like the 
 first sigh of the wind before the blast strikes. Sud- 
 denly the Spaniard pushed himself to the front ; with 
 his gaunt figure and sable dress he had the seeming 
 of a raven come to croak over the dead. He rested 
 his gloomy eyes upon my lord. The latter, very white, 
 returned the look; then, with his head held high, 
 crossed the deck with a measured step and took his 
 place among us. He was followed a moment later by 
 Paradise. " I never thought to die in my bed, cap- 
 tain," said the latter nonchalantly. " Sooner or later, 
 what does it matter ? And you must know that be- 
 fore I was a pirate I was a gentleman." Turning, he 
 doffed his hat with a flourish to those he had quitted. 
 " Hell litter ! " he cried. " I have run with you long 
 enough. Now I have a mind to die an honest man." 
 
 At this defection a dead hush of amazement fell 
 upon that crew. One and all they stared at the man 
 in black and silver, moistening their lips, but saying 
 no word. We were five armed and desperate men ; 
 they were fourscore. We might send many to death 
 before us, but at the last we ourselves must die, — we 
 and those aboard the helpless ship. 
 
 In the moment's respite I bowed my head and 
 whispered to the King's ward. 
 
 " I had rather it were your sword," she answered 
 in a low voice, in which there was neither dread nor 
 sorrow. " You must not let it grieve you ; it will be 
 added to your good deeds. And it is I that should 
 ask your forgiveness, not you mine." 
 
 Though there was scant time for such dalliance, I 
 
232 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 bent my knee and rested my forehead upon her hand. 
 As I rose, the minister's hand touched my shoulder 
 and the minister's voice spoke in my ear. " There is 
 another way," he said. " There is God's death, and 
 not man's. Look and see what I mean." 
 
 I followed the pointing of his eyes, and saw how 
 close we were to those white and tumbling waters, the 
 danger signal, the rattle of the hidden snake. The 
 eyes of the pirate at the helm, too, were upon them ; 
 his brows were drawn downward, his lips pressed 
 together, the whole man bent upon the ship's safe 
 passage. . . . The low thunder of the surf, the cry 
 of a wheeling sea bird, the gleaming lonely shore, 
 the cloudless sky, the ocean, and the white sand far, 
 far below, where one might sleep well, sleep well, 
 with other valiant dead, long drowned, long changed. 
 " Of their bones are coral made." 
 
 The storm broke with fury and outcries, and a blue 
 radiance of drawn steel. A pistol ball sang past my 
 ear. 
 
 " Don't shoot ! " roared the gravedigger to the man 
 who had fired the shot. " Don't cut them down ! 
 Take them and thrust them under hatches until we 've 
 time to give them a slow death ! And hands off the 
 woman until we 've time to draw lots ! " 
 
 He and the Spaniard led the rush. I turned my 
 head and nodded to Sparrow, then faced them again. 
 " Then may the Lord have mercy upon your souls ! " 
 I said. 
 
 As I spoke the minister sprang upon the helmsman, 
 and, striking him to the deck with one blow of his 
 huge fist, himself seized the wheel. Before the pirates 
 could draw breath he had jammed the helm to star- 
 board, and the reef lay right across our bows. 
 
THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS £33 
 
 A dreadful cry went up from that black ship to a 
 deaf Heaven, — a cry that was echoed by a wild shout 
 of triumph from the merchantman. The mass front- 
 ing us broke in terror and rage and confusion. Some 
 ran frantically up and down with shrieks and curses ; 
 others sprang overboard. A few made a dash for the 
 poop and for us who stood to meet them. They were 
 led by the Spaniard and the gravedigger. The former 
 I met and sent tumbling back into the waist ; the lat- 
 ter whirled past me, and rushing upon Paradise thrust 
 him through with a pike, then dashed on to the wheel, 
 to be met and hewn down by Diccon. 
 
 The ship struck. I put my arm around my wife, 
 and my hand before her eyes ; and while I looked only 
 at her, in that storm of terrible cries, of flapping can- 
 vas, rushing water, and crashing timbers, the Spaniard 
 clambered like a catamount upon the poop, thai was 
 now high above the broken forepart of the ship, and 
 fired his pistol at me point-blank. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAT 
 
 I and Black Lamoral were leading a forlorn hope. 
 With all my old company behind us, we were thun- 
 dering upon an enemy as thick as ants, covering the 
 face of the earth. Down came Black Lamoral, and 
 the hoofs of every mad charger went over me. For a 
 time I was dead ; then I lived again, and was walking 
 with the forester's daughter in the green chase at 
 home. The oaks stretched broad sheltering arms 
 above the young fern and the little wild flowers, and 
 the deer turned and looked at us. In the open spaces, 
 starring the lush grass, were all the yellow primroses 
 that ever bloomed. I gathered them for her, but when 
 I would have given them to her she was no longer the 
 forester's daughter, but a proud lady, heiress to lands 
 and gold, the ward of the King. She would not take 
 the primroses from a poor gentleman, but shook her 
 head and laughed sweetly, and faded into a waterfall 
 that leaped from a pink hill into a waveless sea. An' 
 other darkness, and I was captive to the Chickahomi- 
 nies, tied to the stake. My arm and shoulder were 
 on fire, and Opechancanough came and looked at me, 
 with his dark, still face and his burning eyes. The 
 fierce pain died, and I with it, and I lay in a grave 
 and listened to the loud and deep murmur of the for- 
 est above. I lay there for ages on ages before I awoke 
 to the fact that the darkness about me was the dark- 
 
IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAY 235 
 
 ness of a ship's hold, and the murmur of the forest 
 the wash of the water alongside. I put out an arm 
 and touched, not the side of a grave, but a ship's tim- 
 bers. I stretched forth the other arm, then dropped 
 it with a groan. Some one bent over me and held 
 water to my lips. I drank, and my senses came fully 
 to me. " Diccon ! " I said. 
 
 " It 's not Diccon," replied the figure, setting down 
 a pitcher. " It is Jeremy Sparrow. Thank God, 
 you are yourself again ! " 
 
 " Where are we?" I asked, when I had lain and 
 listened to the water a little longer. 
 
 " In the hold of the George," he answered. " The 
 ship sank by the bows, and well-nigh all were drowned. 
 But when they upon the George saw that there was a 
 woman amongst us who clung to the poop deck, they 
 sent their longboat to take us off." 
 
 The light was too dim for me to read his face, so I 
 touched his arm. 
 
 " She was saved," he said. " She is safe now. 
 There are gentlewomen aboard, and she is in their 
 care." 
 
 I put my unhurt arm across my eyes. 
 
 "You are weak yet," said the minister gently. 
 "The Spaniard's ball, you know, went through your 
 shoulder, and in some way your arm was badly torn 
 from shoulder to wrist. You have been out of your 
 head ever since we were brought here, three days ago. 
 The chirurgeon came and dressed your wound, and it 
 is healing well. Don't try to speak, — I '11 tell you 
 all. Diccon has been pressed into service, as the ship 
 is short of hands, having lost some by fever and some 
 overboard. Four of the pirates were picked up, and 
 hung at the yardarm next morning." 
 
236 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He moved as he spoke, and something clanked in 
 the stillness. " You are ironed ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Only my ankles. My lord would have had me 
 bound hand and foot ; but you were raving for water, 
 and, taking you for a dying man, they were so humane 
 as to leave my hands free to attend you." 
 
 " My lord would have had you bound," I said slowly. 
 " Then it 's my lord's day." 
 
 " High noon and blazing sunshine," he answered, 
 with a rueful laugh. " It seems that half the folk on 
 board had gaped at him at court. Lord ! when he 
 put his foot over the side of the ship, how the women 
 screeched and the men stared ! He 's cock of the 
 walk now, my Lord Carnal, the King's favorite ! " 
 
 " And we are pirates." 
 
 " That 's the case in a nutshell," he answered cheer- 
 fully. 
 
 " Do they know how the ship came to strike upon 
 that reef ? " I asked. 
 
 " Probably not, unless madam has enlightened them. 
 I did n't take the trouble, — they would n't have be- 
 lieved me, — and I can take my oath my lord has n't. 
 He was only our helpless prisoner, you know ; and 
 they would think madam mistaken or bewitched." 
 
 " It 's not a likely tale," I said grimly, " seeing that 
 we had already opened fire upon them." 
 
 " I trust in heaven the sharks got the men who fired 
 the culverins ! " he cried, and then laughed at his own 
 savagery. 
 
 I lay still and tried to think. " Who are they on 
 board ? " I asked at last. 
 
 " I don't know," he replied. " I was only on deck 
 until my lord had had his say in the poop cabin with 
 the master and a gentleman who appeared most in 
 
IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAT 237 
 
 authority. Then the pirates were strung up, and we 
 were bundled down here in quick order. But there 
 seems to be more of quality than usual aboard." 
 
 " You do not know where we are ? " 
 
 " We lay at anchor for a day, — whilst they patched 
 her up, I suppose, — and since then there has been 
 rough weather. We must be still off Florida, and 
 that is all I know. Now go to sleep. You '11 get 
 your strength best so, and there 's nothing to be gotten 
 by waking." 
 
 He began to croon a many-versed psalm. I slept 
 and waked, and slept again, and was waked by the 
 light of a torch against my eyes. The torch was held 
 by a much-betarred seaman, and by its light a gentle- 
 man of a very meagre aspect, with a weazen face and 
 small black eyes, was busily examining my wounded 
 shoulder and arm. 
 
 " It passeth belief," he said in a sing-song voice, 
 " how often wounds, with naught in the world done 
 for them outside of fair water and a clean rag, do turn 
 to and heal out of sheer perversity. Now, if I had 
 been allowed to treat this one properly with scalding 
 oil and melted lead, and to have bled the patient as 
 he should have been bled, it is ten to one that by this 
 time there would have been a pirate the less in the 
 world." He rose to his feet with a highly injured 
 countenance. 
 
 " Then he 's doing well ? " asked Sparrow. 
 
 " So well that he could n't do better," replied the 
 other. " The arm was a trifling matter, though no 
 doubt exquisitely painful. The wound in the shoulder 
 is miraculously healing, without either blood-letting or 
 cauteries. You '11 have to hang after all, my friend." 
 He looked at me with his little beady eyes. " It must 
 
238 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 have been a grand life," he said regretfully. " I never 
 expected to see a pirate chief in the flesh. When I 
 was a boy, I used to dream of the black ships and 
 the gold and the fighting. By the serpent of Escu- 
 lapius, in my heart of hearts I would rather be such a 
 world's thief, uncaught, than Governor of Virginia ! " 
 He gathered up the tools of his trade, and motioned 
 to his torchbearer to go before. " I '11 have to report 
 you rapidly recovering," he said warningly, as he 
 turned to follow the light. 
 
 " Very well," I made answer. " To whom am I 
 indebted for so much kindness ? " 
 
 " I am Dr. John Pott, newly appointed physician 
 general to the colony of Virginia. It is little of my 
 skill I could give you, but that little I gladly bestow 
 upon a real pirate. What a life it must have been ! 
 And to have to part with it when you are yet young ! 
 And the good red gold and the rich gems all at the 
 bottom of the sea ! " 
 
 He sighed heavily and went his way. The hatches 
 were closed after him, and the minister and I were 
 left in darkness while the slow hours dragged them- 
 selves past us. Through the chinks of the hatches a 
 very faint light streamed down, and made the dark- 
 ness gray instead of black. The minister and I saw 
 each other dimly, as spectres. Some one brought us 
 mouldy biscuit that I wanted not, and water for which 
 I thirsted. Sparrow put the small pitcher to his lips, 
 kept it there a moment, then held it to mine. I drank, 
 and with that generous draught tasted pure bliss. It 
 was not until five minutes later that I raised myself 
 upon my elbow and turned on him. 
 
 " The pitcher felt full to my lips ! " I exclaimed, 
 " Did you drink when you said you did ? " 
 
IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAY 239 
 
 He put out his great hand and pushed me gently 
 down. " I have no wound," he said, " and there was 
 not enough for two." 
 
 The light that trembled through the cracks above 
 died away, and the darkness became gross. The air 
 in the hold was stifling ; our souls panted for the wind 
 and the stars outside. At the worst, when the fetid 
 blackness lay upon our chests like a nightmare, the 
 hatch was suddenly lifted, a rush of pure air came to 
 us, and with it the sound of men's voices speaking on 
 the deck above. Said one, " True the doctor pro- 
 nounces him out of all danger, yet he is a wounded 
 man." 
 
 " He is a desperate and dangerous man," broke in 
 another harshly. " I know not how you will answer 
 to your Company for leaving him unironed so long." 
 
 " I and the Company understand each other, my 
 lord," rejoined the first speaker, with some haughti- 
 ness. " I can keep my prisoner without advice. If I 
 now order irons to be put upon him and his accom- 
 plice, it is because I see fit to do so, and not because 
 of your suggestion, my lord. You wish to take this 
 opportunity to have speech with him, — to that I 
 can have no objection." 
 
 The speaker moved away. As his footsteps died 
 in the distance my lord laughed, and his merriment 
 was echoed by three or four harsh voices. Some one 
 struck flint against steel, and there was a sudden flare 
 of torches and the steadier light of a lantern. A 
 man with a brutal, weather-beaten face — the master 
 of the ship, we guessed — came down the ladder, lan- 
 tern in hand, turned when he had reached the foot, 
 aud held up the lantern to light my lord down. I lay 
 and watched the King's favorite as he descended. 
 
240 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 The torches held slantingly above cast a fiery light 
 over his stately figure and the face which had raised 
 him from the low estate of a doubtful birth and a 
 most lean purse to a pinnacle too near the sun for 
 men to gaze at with undazzled eyes. In his rich dress 
 and the splendor of his beauty, with the red glow 
 enveloping him, he lit the darkness like a baleful 
 star. 
 
 The two torchbearers and a third man descended, 
 closing the hatch after them. When all were down, 
 my lord, the master at his heels, came and stood over 
 me. I raised myself, though with difficulty, for the 
 fever had left me weak as a babe, and met his gaze. 
 His was a cruel look ; if I had expected, as assuredly 
 I did not expect, mercy or generosity from this my 
 dearest foe, his look would have struck such a hope 
 dead. Presently he beckoned to the men behind him. 
 " Put the manacles upon him first," he said, with a 
 jerk of his thumb toward Sparrow. 
 
 The man who had come down last, and who carried 
 irons enough to fetter six pirates, started forward to 
 do my lord's bidding. The master glanced at Spar- 
 row's great frame, and pulled out a pistol. The min- 
 ister laughed. " You '11 not need it, friend. I know 
 when the odds are too great." He held out his arms, 
 and the men fettered them wrist to wrist. When they 
 had finished he said calmly : " * I have seen the wicked 
 in great power, and spreading himself like a green 
 bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not : 
 yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.' " 
 
 My lord turned from him, and pointed to me. He 
 kept his eyes upon my face while they shackled me 
 hand and foot ; then said abruptly, " You have cords 
 there : bind his arms to his sides." The men wound 
 
IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAY 241 
 
 the cords around me many times. " Draw them tight," 
 commanded my lord. 
 
 There came a wrathful clank of the minister's 
 chains. " The arm is torn and inflamed from shoulder 
 to wrist, as I make no doubt you have been told ! " he 
 cried. " For very shame, man ! " 
 
 "Draw them tighter," said my lord, between his "5£T. 
 teeth. 
 
 The men knotted the cords, and rose to their feet, 
 to be dismissed by my lord with a curt " You may go." 
 They drew back to the foot of the ladder, while the 
 master of the ship went and perched himself upon one 
 of the rungs. " The air is fresher here beneath the 
 hatch," he remarked. 
 
 As for me, though I lay at my enemy's feet, I could 
 yet set my teeth and look him in the eyes. The cup 
 was bitter, but I could drink it with an unmoved face. 
 
 "Art paid?" he demanded. "Art paid for the 
 tree in the red forest without the haunted wood ? Art 
 paid, thou bridegroom ? " 
 
 " No," I answered. " Bring her here to laugh at 
 me as she laughed in the twilight beneath the guest- 
 house window." 
 
 I thought he would murder me with the poniard he 
 drew, but presently he put it up. 
 
 " She is come to her senses," he said. " Up in the 
 state cabin are bright lights, and wine and laughter. 
 There are gentlewomen aboard, and I have been sing- 
 ing to the lute, to them — and to her. She is saved 
 from the peril into which you plunged her ; she knows 
 that the King's Court of High Commission, to say 
 nothing of the hangman, will soon snap the fetters 
 which she now shudders to think of ; that the King 
 and one besides will r ndone her past short madness. 
 
242 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Her cheeks are roses, her eyes are stars. But now, 
 when I pressed her hand between the verses of my 
 song, she smiled and sighed and blushed. She is 
 again the dutiful ward of the King, the Lady Jocelyn 
 Leigh — she hath asked to be so called " — 
 
 " You lie," I said. " She is my true and noble 
 wife. She may sit in the state cabin, in the air and 
 warmth and light, she may even laugh with her lips, 
 but her heart is here with me in the hold." 
 
 As I spoke, I knew, and knew not how I knew, 
 that the thing which I had said was true. With that 
 knowledge came a happiness so deep and strong that 
 it swept aside like straw the torment of those cords, 
 and the deeper hurt that I lay at his feet. I sup- 
 pose my face altered, and mirrored that blessed glow 
 about my heart, for into his own came a white fury, 
 changing its beauty into something inhuman and ter- 
 rifjnng. He looked a devil baffled. For a minute he 
 stood there rigid, with hands clenched. " Embrace 
 her heart, if thou canst," he said, in a voice so low that 
 it came like a whisper from the realm he might have 
 left. " I shall press my face against her bosom." 
 
 Another minute of a silence that I disdained to 
 break ; then he turned and went up the ladder. The 
 seamen and the master followed. The hatch was 
 clapped to and fastened, and we were left to the dark- 
 ness and the heavy air, and to a grim endurance of 
 what could not be cured. 
 
 During those hours of thirst and torment I came 
 indeed to know the man who sat beside me. His hands 
 were so fastened that he could not loosen the cords, 
 and there was no water for him to give me ; but he 
 could and did bestow a higher alms, — the tenderness 
 of a brother, the manly sympati T of a soldier, the balm 
 
IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAY 243 
 
 of the priest of God. I lay in silence, and he spoke 
 not often ; but when he did so, there was that in the 
 tone of his voice — Another cycle of pain, and I 
 awoke from a half swoon, in which there was water 
 to drink and no anguish, to hear him praying beside 
 me. He ceased to speak, and in the darkness I heard 
 him draw his breath hard and his great muscles crack. 
 Suddenly there came a sharp sound of breaking iron, 
 and a low " Thank Thee, Lord ! " Another moment, 
 and I felt his hands busy at the knotted cords. " I 
 will have them off thee in a twinkling, Ralph," he 
 said, " thanks to Him who taught my hands to war, 
 and my arms to break in two a bow of steel." As he 
 spoke, the cords loosened beneath his fingers. 
 
 I raised my head and laid it on his knee, and he put 
 his great arm, with the broken chain dangling from 
 it, around me, and, like a mother with a babe, crooned 
 me to sleep with the twenty-third psalm. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 IN WHICH I AM BROUGHT TO TRIAL 
 
 My lord came not again into the hold, and the 
 untied cords and the broken chain were not replaced. 
 Morning and evening we were brought a niggard al- 
 lowance of bread and water ; but the man who carried 
 it bore no light, and may not even have observed 
 their absence. We saw no one in authority. Hour 
 by hour my wounds healed and my strength returned. 
 If it was a dark and noisome prison, if there were 
 hunger and thirst and inaction to be endured, if we 
 knew not how near to us might be a death of igno- 
 miny, yet the minister and I found the jewel in the 
 head of the toad ; for in that time of pain and heavi- 
 ness we became as David and Jonathan. 
 
 At last some one came beside the brr.te who brought 
 us food. A quiet gentleman, with whitening hair and 
 bright dark eyes, stood before us. He had ordered 
 the two men with him to leave open the hatch, and 
 he held in his hand a sponge soaked with vinegar. 
 " Which of you is — -or rather was — Captain Ralph 
 Percy ? " he asked, in a grave but pleasant voice. 
 
 " I am Captain Percy," I answered. 
 
 He looked at me with attention. " I have heard of 
 you before," he said. " I read the letter you wrote 
 to Sir Edwyn Sandys, and thought it an excellently 
 conceived and manly epistle. What magic trans- 
 formed a gentleman and a soldier into a pirate ? " 
 
IN WHICH I AM BROUGHT TO TRIAL 245 
 
 As he waited for me to speak, I gave him for 
 answer, " Necessity." 
 
 " A sad metamorphosis," he said. " I had rather 
 read of nymphs changed into laurel and gushing 
 springs. I am come to take you, sir, before the offi- 
 3ers of the Company aboard this ship, when, if you 
 have aught to say for yourself, you may say it. I 
 need not tell you, who saw so clearly some time ago 
 the danger in which you then stood, that your plight 
 is now a thousandfold worse." 
 
 " I am perfectly aware of it," I said. " Am I to 
 go in fetters ? " 
 
 " No," he replied, with a smile. " I have no in- 
 structions on the subject, but I will take it upon 
 myself to free you from them, — even for the sake 
 of that excellently writ letter." 
 
 " Is not this gentleman to go too ? " I asked. 
 
 He shook his head. " I have no orders to that 
 effect." 
 
 While the men who were with him removed the 
 irons from my wrists and ankles he stood in silence, 
 regarding me with a scrutiny so close that it would 
 have been offensive had I been in a position to take 
 offense. When they had finished I turned and held 
 Jeremy's hand in mine for an instant, then followed 
 the new-comer to the ladder and out of the hold ; the 
 two men coming after us, and resolving themselves 
 above into a guard. As we traversed the main deck 
 we came upon Diccon, busy with two or three others 
 about the ports. He saw me, and, dropping the bar 
 that he held, started forward, to be plucked back by 
 an angry arm. The men who guarded me pushed in 
 between us, and there was no word spoken by either. 
 I walked on, the gentleman at my side, and presently 
 
246 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 came to aii open port, and saw, with an intake of my 
 breath, the sunshine, a dark blue heaven flecked with 
 white, and a quiet ocean. My companion glanced at 
 me keenly. 
 
 " Doubtless it seems fair enough, after that Cim- 
 merian darkness below," he remarked. " Would you 
 like to rest here a moment? " 
 
 " Yes," I said, and, leaning against the side of the 
 port, looked out at the beauty of the light. 
 
 " We are off Hatteras," he informed me, " but we 
 have not met with the stormy seas that vex poor mari- 
 ners hereabouts. Those sails you see on our quarter 
 belong to our consort. We were separated by the 
 hurricane that nigh sunk us, and finally drove us, 
 helpless as we were, toward the Florida coast and 
 across your path. For us that was a fortunate reef 
 upon which you dashed. The gods must have made 
 your helmsman blind, for he ran you into a destruction 
 that gaped not for you. Why did every wretch that 
 we hung next morning curse you before he died ? " 
 
 " If I told you, you would not believe me," I 
 replied. 
 
 I was dizzy with the bliss of the air and the light, 
 and it seemed a small thing that he would not believe 
 me. The wind sounded in my ears like a harp, and 
 the sea beckoned. A white bird flashed down into 
 the crystal hollow between two waves, hung there a 
 second, then rose, a silver radiance against the blue. 
 Suddenly I saw a river, dark and ridged beneath thun- 
 derclouds, a boat, and in it, her head pillowed upon 
 her arm, a woman, who pretended that she slept. 
 With a shock my senses steadied, and I became my- 
 self again. The sea was but the sea, the wind the 
 wind ; in the hold below me lay my friend ; some- 
 
IN WHICH I AM BROUGHT TO TRIAL 247 
 
 where in that ship was my wife ; and awaiting me in 
 the state cabin were men who perhaps had the will, as 
 they had the right and the might, to hang me at the 
 yardarm that same hour. 
 
 " I have had my fill of rest," I said. " Whom am 
 I to stand before ? " 
 
 "The newly appointed officers of the Company, 
 bound in this ship for Virginia," he answered. " The 
 ship carries Sir Francis Wyatt, the new Governor; 
 Master Davison, the Secretary ; young Clayborne, the 
 surveyor general; the knight marshal, the physician 
 general, and the Treasurer, with other gentlemen, 
 and with fair ladies, their wives and sisters. I am 
 George Sandys, the Treasurer." 
 
 The blood rushed to my face, for it hurt me that 
 the brother of Sir Edwyn Sandys should believe 
 that the firing of those guns had been my act. His 
 was the trained observation of the traveler and writer, 
 and he probably read the color aright. " I pity you, 
 if I can no longer esteem you," he said, after a pause. 
 " I know no sorrier sight than a brave man's shield 
 reversed." 
 
 I bit my lip and kept back the angry word. The 
 next minute saw us at the door of the state cabin. It 
 opened, and my companion entered, and I after him, 
 with my two guards at my back. Around a large 
 table were gathered a number of gentlemen, some 
 seated, some standing. There were but two among 
 them whom L had seen before, — the physician who 
 had dressed my wound and my Lord Carnal. The 
 latter was seated in a great chair, beside a gentleman 
 with a pleasant active face and light brown curling 
 hair, — the new Governor, as I guessed. The Trea- 
 surer, nodding to the two men to fall back to the win- 
 
L!48 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 dow, glided to a seat upon my lord's other hand, and 
 I went and stood before the Governor of Virginia. 
 
 For some moments there was silence in the cabin, 
 every man being engaged in staring at me with all his 
 eyes ; then the Governor spoke : "It should be upon 
 your knees, sir." 
 
 " I am neither petitioner nor penitent," I said. " I 
 know no reason why I should kneel, your Honor." 
 
 " There 's reason, God wot, why you should be 
 both ! " he exclaimed. " Did you not, now some 
 months agone, defy the writ of the King and Com- 
 pany, refusing to stand when called upon to do so in 
 the King's name ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Did you not, when he would have stayed your 
 lawless flight, lay violent hands upon a nobleman 
 high in the King's favor, and, overpowering him with 
 numbers, carry him out of the King's realm ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Did you not seduce from her duty to the King, 
 and force to fly with you, his Majesty's ward, the 
 Lady Jocelyn Leigh ? " 
 
 " No," I said. " There was with me only my wife, 
 who chose to follow the fortunes of her husband." 
 
 He frowned, and my lord swore beneath his breath. 
 " Did you not, falling in with a pirate ship, cast in 
 your lot with the scoundrels upon it, and yourself 
 turn pirate ? " 
 
 " In some sort." 
 
 " And become their chief ? " 
 
 " Since there was no other situation open, — yes." 
 
 " Taking with you as captives upon the pirate ship 
 that lady and that nobleman ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
IN WHICH I AM BROUGHT TO TRIAL 249 
 
 "You proceeded to ravage the dominions of the 
 King of Spain, with whom his Majesty is at peace " — 
 
 " Like Drake and Raleigh, — yes," I said. 
 
 He smiled, then frowned. " Tempora mutantur," 
 he said dryly. " And I have never heard that Drake 
 or Raleigh attacked an English ship." 
 
 " Nor have I attacked one," I said. 
 
 He leaned back in his chair and stared at me. 
 " We saw the flame and heard the thunder of your 
 guns, and our rigging was cut by the shot. Did you 
 expect me to believe that last assertion ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Then you might have spared yourself — and us 
 
 — that lie," he said coldly. 
 
 The Treasurer moved restlessly in his seat, and 
 began to whisper to his neighbor the Secretary. A 
 young man, with the eyes of a hawk and an iron jaw, 
 
 — Clayborne, the surveyor general, — who sat at the 
 end of the table beside the window, turned and gazed 
 out upon the clouds and the sea, as if, contempt 
 having taken the place of curiosity, he had no further 
 interest in the proceedings. As for me, I set my 
 face like a flint, and looked past the man who might 
 have saved me that last speech of the Governor's as 
 if he had never been. 
 
 There was a closed door in the cabin, opposite the 
 one by which I had entered. Suddenly from behind 
 it came the sound of a short struggle, followed by the 
 quick turn of a key in the lock. The door was flung 
 open, and two women entered the cabin. One, a fair 
 young gentlewoman, with tears in her brown eyes, 
 came forward hurriedly with outspread hands. 
 
 " I did what I could, Frank ! " she cried. " When 
 she would not listen to reason, I e'en locked the door ; 
 
250 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 but she is strong, for all that she has been ill, and she 
 forced the key out of my hand ! " She looked at the 
 red mark upon the white hand, and two tears fell from 
 her long lashes upon her wild-rose cheeks. 
 
 With a smile the Governor put out an arm and 
 drew her down upon a stool beside him, then rose and 
 bowed low to the King's ward. " You are not yet 
 well enough to leave your cabin, as our worthy physi- 
 cian general will assure you, lady," he said courteously, 
 but firmly. " Permit me to lead you back to it." 
 
 Still smiling he made as if to advance, when she 
 stayed him with a gesture of her raised hand, at once 
 so majestic and so pleading that it was as though a 
 strain of music had passed through the stillness of 
 the cabin. 
 
 " Sir Francis Wyatt, as you are a gentleman, let 
 me speak," she said. It was the voice of that first 
 night at Weyanoke, all pathos, all sweetness, all en- 
 treating. 
 
 The Governor stopped short, the smile still upon 
 his lips, his hand still outstretched, — stood thus for 
 a moment, then sat down. Around the half circle of 
 gentlemen went a little rustling sound, like wind in 
 dead leaves. My lord half rose from his seat. " She 
 is bewitched," he said, with dry lips. " She will say 
 what she has been told to say. Lest she speak to her 
 shame, we should refuse to hear her." 
 
 She had been standing in the centre of the floor, 
 her hands clasped, her body bowed toward the Gov- 
 ernor, but at my lord's words she straightened like a 
 bow unbent. " I may speak, your Honor ? " she asked 
 clearly. 
 
 The Governor, who had looked askance at the 
 working face of the man beside him, slightly bent his 
 
IN WHICH I AM BROUGHT TO TRIAL 251 
 
 head and leaned back in his great armchair. The 
 King's favorite started to his feet. The King's ward 
 turned her eyes upon him. " Sit down, my lord," 
 she said. " Surely these gentlemen will think that 
 you are afraid of what I, a poor erring woman, rebel- 
 lious to the King, traitress to mine own honor, late 
 the plaything of a pirate ship, may say or do. Truth, 
 my lord, should be more courageous." Her voice 
 was gentle, even plaintive, but it had in it the quality 
 that lurks in the eyes of the crouching panther. 
 
 My lord sat down, one hand hiding his working 
 mouth, the other clenched on the arm of his chair as 
 if it had been an arm of flesh. 
 
CHAPTER XXVn 
 
 IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE 
 
 She came slowly nearer the ring of now very quiet 
 and attentive faces until she stood beside me, but she 
 neither looked at me nor spoke to me. She was thin- 
 ner and there were heavy shadows beneath her eyes, 
 but she was beautiful. 
 
 " I stand before gentlemen to whom, perhaps, I am 
 not utterly unknown," she said. " Some here, per- 
 chance, have been to court, and have seen me there. 
 Master Sandys, once, before the Queen died, you 
 came to Greenwich to kiss her Majesty's hands ; and 
 while you waited in her antechamber you saw a young 
 maid of honor — scarce more than a child — curled in 
 a window seat with a book. You sat beside her, and 
 told her wonderful tales of sunny lands and gods and 
 nymphs. I was that maid of honor. Master Clay- 
 borne, once, hawking near Windsor, I dropped my 
 glove. There were a many out of their saddles before 
 it touched the ground, but a gentleman, not of our 
 party, who had drawn his horse to one side to let us 
 pass, was quicker than they all. Did you not think 
 yourself well paid, sir, when you kissed the hand to 
 which you restored the glove ? All here, I think, 
 may have heard my name. If any hath heard aught 
 that ever I did in all my life to tarnish it, I pray him 
 to speak now and shame me before you all ! " 
 
 Clayborne started up. " I remember that day at 
 
IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE 253 
 
 Windsor, lady ! " he cried. " The man of whom I 
 afterward asked your name was a most libertine cour- 
 tier, and he raised his hat when he spoke of you, call- 
 ing you a lily which the mire of the court could not 
 besmirch. I will believe all good, but no harm of 
 you, lady ! " 
 
 He sat down, and Master Sandys said gravely: 
 " Men need not be courtiers to have known of a lady 
 of great wealth and high birth, a ward of the King's, 
 and both beautiful and pure. I nor no man else, I 
 think, ever heard aught of the Lady Jocelyn Leigh 
 but what became a daughter of her line." 
 
 A murmur of assent went round the circle. The 
 Governor, leaning forward from his seat, his wife's 
 hand in his, gravely bent his head. " All this is 
 known, lady," he said courteously. 
 
 She did not answer ; her eyes were upon the King's 
 favorite, and the circle waited with her. 
 
 " It is known," said my lord. 
 
 She smiled proudly. " For so much grace, thanks, 
 my lord," she said, then addressed herself again to 
 the Governor: "Your Honor, that is the past, the 
 long past, the long, long past, though not a year has 
 gone by. Then I was a girl, proud and careless; 
 now, your Honor, I am a woman, and I stand here in 
 the dignity of suffering and peril. I fled from Eng- 
 land " — She paused, drew herself up, and turned 
 upon my lord a face and form so still, and yet so 
 expressive of noble indignation, outraged womanhood, 
 scorn, and withal a kind of angry pity, that small 
 wonder if he shrank as from a blow. " I left the only 
 world I knew," she said. " I took a way low and 
 narrow and dark and set with thorns, but the only 
 way that I — alone and helpless and bewildered — 
 
254 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 could find, because that I, Jocelyn Leigh, willed not 
 to wed with you, my Lord Carnal. Why did you 
 follow me, my lord ? You knew that I loved you not. 
 You knew my mind, and that I was weak and friend- 
 less, and you used your power. I must tell you, my 
 lord, that you were not chivalrous, nor compassionate, 
 nor brave " — 
 
 " I loved you ! " he cried, and stretched out his arm 
 toward her across the table. He saw no one but her, 
 L^i>y spoke to none but her. There was a fierce yearning 
 and a hopelessness in his voice and bent head and 
 outstretched arm that lent for the time a tragic dig- 
 nity to the pageant, evil and magnificent, of his life. 
 
 " You loved me," she said. " I had rather you had 
 hated me, my lord. I came to Virginia, your Honor, 
 and men thought me the thing I professed myself. 
 In the green meadow beyond the church they wooed 
 me as such. This one came and that one, and at last 
 a fellow, when I said him nay and bade him begone, 
 did dare to seize my hands and kiss my lips. While 
 I struggled one came and flung that dastard out of 
 the waj% then asked me plainly to become his wife, 
 and there was no laugh or insult in his voice. I 
 was wearied and fordone and desperate. ... So I 
 met my husband, and so I married him. That same 
 day I told him a part of my secret, and when my 
 Lord Carnal was come I told him all. ... I had not 
 met with much true love or courtesy or compassion in 
 my life. When I saw the danger in which he stood 
 because of me, I told him he might free himself from 
 that coil, might swear to what they pleased, whistle 
 me off, save himself, and I would say no word of 
 blame. There was wine upon the table, and he filled 
 a cup and brought it to me, and we drank of it 
 
IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE 255 
 
 together. We drank of the same cup then, your 
 Honor, and we will drink of it still. We twain were 
 wedded, and the world strove to part us. Which of 
 you here, in such quarrel, would not withstand the 
 world? Lady Wyatt, would not thy husband hold 
 thee, while he lived, against the world ? Then speak 
 for mine ! " 
 
 " Frank, Frank ! " cried Lady Wyatt. " They love /^. 
 each other ! " 
 
 " If he withstood the King," went on the King's 
 ward, " it was for his honor and for mine. If he fled 
 from Virginia, it was because I willed it so. Had he 
 stayed, my Lord Carnal, and had you willed to follow 
 me again, you must have made a yet longer journey 
 to a most distant bourne. That wild night when we 
 fled, why did you come upon us, my lord ? The moon 
 burst forth from a black cloud, and you stood there 
 upon the wharf above us, calling to the footsteps be- 
 hind to hasten. We would have left you there in 
 safety, and gone ourselves alone down that stream as 
 black and strange as death. Why did you spring 
 down the steps and grapple with the minister? And 
 he that might have thrust you beneath the flood and 
 drowned you there did but fling you into the boat. 
 We wished not your company, my lord ; we would 
 willingly have gone without you. I trust, my lord, 
 you have made honest report of this matter, and have 
 told these gentlemen that my husband gave you, a 
 prisoner whom he wanted not, all fair and honorable 
 treatment. That you have done this I dare take my 
 oath, my lord " — 
 
 She stood silent, her eyes upon his. The men 
 around stirred, and a little flash like the glint of 
 drawn steel went from one pair of eyes to another. 
 
256 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " My lord, my lord ! " said the King's ward. " Long 
 ago you won my hatred ; an you would not win my 
 contempt, speak truth this day ! " 
 
 In his eyes, which he had never taken from her 
 face, there leaped to meet the proud appeal in her 
 own a strange fire. That he loved her with a great 
 and evil passion, I, who needs had watched him closely, 
 had long known. Suddenly he burst into jarring 
 laughter. " Yea, he treated me fairly enough, damn 
 him to everlasting hell ! But he 's a pirate, sweet 
 bird ; he 's a pirate, and must swing as such ! " 
 
 " A pirate ! " she cried. " But he was none ! My 
 lord, you know he was none ! Your Honor " — 
 
 The Governor interrupted her : " He made him- 
 self captain of a pirate ship, lady. He took and sunk 
 ships of Spain." 
 
 " In what sort did he become their chief ? " she 
 cried. " In such sort, gentlemen, as the bravest of 
 you, in like straits, would have been blithe to be, an 
 you had had like measure of wit and daring ! Your 
 Honor, the wind before which our boat drave like a 
 leaf, the waves that would engulf us, wrecked us upon 
 a desert isle. There was no food or water or shelter. 
 That night, while we slept, a pirate ship anchored off 
 the beach, and in the morning the pirates came ashore 
 to bury their captain. My husband met them alone, 
 fought their would-be leaders one by one, and forced 
 the election to fall upon himself. Well he knew that 
 if he left not that isle their leader, he would leave it 
 their captive ; and not he alone ! God's mercy, gen- 
 tlemen, what other could he do ? I pray you to hold 
 him absolved from a willing embrace of that life I 
 Sunk ships of Spain ! Yea, forsooth ; and how long 
 hath it been since other English gentlemen sunk other 
 
IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE 257 
 
 ships of Spain ? The world hath changed indeed if 
 to fight the Spaniard in the Indies, e'en though at 
 home we be at peace with him, be conceived so black 
 a crime ! He fought their galleons fair and knightly, 
 with his life in his hand ; he gave quarter, and while 
 they called him chief those pirates tortured no pris- 
 oner and wronged no woman. Had he not been 
 there, would the ships have been taken less surely ? 
 Had he not been there, God wot, ships and ships' 
 boats alike would have sunk or burned, and no Span- 
 ish men and women had rowed away and blessed a 
 generous foe. A pirate ! He, with me and with the 
 minister and with my Lord Carnal, was prisoner to 
 the pirates, and out of that danger he plucked safety 
 for us all ! Who hath so misnamed a gallant gentle- 
 man ? Was it you, my lord ? " 
 
 Eyes and voice were imperious, and in her cheeks 
 burned an indignant crimson. My lord's face was set 
 and white ; he looked at her, but spoke no word. 
 
 " The Spanish ships might pass, lady," said the 
 Governor ; " but this is an English ship, with the 
 flag of England above her." 
 
 " Yea," she said. " What then ? " 
 
 The circle rustled again. The Governor loosed his 
 wife's fingers and leaned forward. " You plead well, 
 lady ! " he exclaimed. " You might win, an Captain 
 Percy had not seen fit to fire upon us." 
 
 A dead silence followed his words. Outside the 
 square window a cloud passed from the face of the 
 sun, and a great burst of sunshine entered the cabin. 
 She stood in the heart of it, and looked a goddess 
 angered. My lord, with his haggard face and burn- 
 ing eyes, slowly rose from his seat, and they faced 
 each other. 
 
258 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 "You told them not who fired those guns, who 
 sunk that pirate ship ? " she said. " Because he was 
 your enemy, you held your tongue ? Knight and 
 gentleman — my Lord Carnal — my Lord Coward ! " 
 
 " Honor is an empty word to me," he answered. 
 " For you I would dive into the deepest hell, — if 
 there he a deeper than that which burns me, day in, 
 day out, . . . Jocelyn, Jocelyn, Jocelyn ! " 
 
 " You love me so ? " she said. " Then do me plea- 
 sure. Because I ask it of you, tell these men the 
 truth." She came a step nearer, and held out her 
 clasped hands to him. " Tell them how it was, my 
 lord, and I will strive to hate you no longer. The 
 harm that you have done me I will pray for strength 
 to forgive. Ah, my lord, let me not ask in vain ! 
 Will you that I kneel to you?" 
 
 " I fix my own price," he said. " I will do what 
 you ask, an you will let me kiss your lips." 
 
 I sprang forward with an oath. Some one behind 
 caught both my wrists in an iron grasp and pulled me 
 back. " Be not a fool ! " growled Clayborne in my 
 ear. " The cord 's loosening fast : if you interfere, it 
 may tighten with a jerk ! " I freed my hands from 
 his grasp. The Treasurer, sitting next him, leaned 
 across the table and motioned to the two seamen be- 
 side the window. They left their station, and each 
 seized me by an arm. " Be guided, Captain Percy," 
 said Master Sandys in a low voice. " We wish you 
 well. Let her win you through." 
 
 "First tell the truth, my lord," said the King's 
 ward ; " then come and take the reward you ask." 
 
 " Jocelyn ! " I cried. " I command you " — 
 
 She turned upon me a perfectly colorless face. " All 
 my life after I will be to you an obedient wife," she 
 
IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE 259 
 
 said. " This once I pray you to hold me excused. . . . 
 Speak, my lord." 
 
 There was the mirth of the lost in the laugh with 
 which he turned to the Governor. " That pretty little 
 tale, sir, that I regaled you with, the day you obligingly 
 picked me up, was pure imagination ; the wetting must 
 have disordered my reason. A potion sweeter than 
 the honey of Hybla, which I am about to drink, hath 
 restored me beforehand. Gentlemen all, there was 
 mutiny aboard that ship which so providentially sank 
 before your very eyes. For why ? The crew, who 
 were pirates, and the captain, who was yonder gentle- 
 man, did not agree. The one wished to attack you, 
 board you, rummage you, and slay, after recondite 
 fashions, every mother's son of you ; the other de- 
 murred, — so strongly, in fact, that his life ceased to be 
 worth a pin's purchase. Indeed, I believe he resigned 
 his captaincy then and there, and, declining to lift a 
 finger against an English ship, defied them to do their 
 worst. He had no hand in the firing of those cul- 
 verins ; the mutineers touched them off without so 
 much as a ' by your leave.' His attention was other- 
 wise occupied. Good sirs, there was not the slight- 
 est reason in nature why the ship should have struck 
 upon that sunken reef, to the damnation of her people 
 and the salvation of yours. "Why do you suppose she 
 diverged from the path of safety to split into slivers 
 against that fortunate ledge ? " 
 
 The men around drew in their breath, and one or 
 two sprang to their feet. My lord laughed again. 
 " Have you seen the pious man who left Jamestown 
 and went aboard the pirate ship as this gentleman's 
 lieutenant ? He hath the strength of a bull. Captain 
 Percy here had but to nod his head, and hey, presto ! 
 
260 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 the helmsman was bowled over, and the minister had 
 the helm. The ship struck : the pirates went to hell, 
 and you, gentlemen, were preserved to order all things 
 well in Virginia. May she long be grateful ! The 
 man who dared that death rather than attack the ship 
 he guessed to be the Company's is my mortal foe, 
 whom I will yet sweep from my path, but he is not a 
 pirate. Ay, take it down, an it please you, Master 
 Secretary ! I retreat from a most choice position, to 
 be sure, but what care I ? I see a vantage ground 
 more to my liking. I have lost a throw, perhaps, but 
 I will recoup ten such losses with one such kiss. By 
 your leave, lady." 
 
 He went up to her where she stood, with hanging 
 arms, her head a little bent, white and cold and yield- 
 ing as a lady done in snow ; gazed at her a moment, 
 with his passion written in his fierce eyes and hag- 
 gard, handsome face ; then crushed her to him. 
 
 If I could have struck him dead, I would have done 
 so. When her word had been kept, she released her- 
 self with a quiet and resolute dignity. As for him, he 
 sank back into the great chair beside the Governor's, 
 j/*« leaned an elbow on the table, and hid his eyes with 
 ijjA one shaking hand. 
 
 The Governor rose to his feet, and motioned away 
 the two seamen who held me fast. " We '11 have no 
 hanging this morning, gentlemen," he announced. 
 " Captain Percy, I beg to apologize to you for words 
 that were never meant for a brave and gallant gen- 
 tleman, but for a pirate who I find does not exist. I 
 pray you to forget them, quite." 
 
 I returned his bow, but my eyes traveled past 
 him. 
 
 " I will allow you no words with my Lord Carnal," 
 
IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE 261 
 
 he said. " With your wife, — that is different." He 
 moved aside with a smile. 
 
 She was standing, pale, with downcast eyes, where 
 my lord had left her. " Jocelyn," I said. She turned 
 toward me, crimsoned deeply, uttered a low cry, half 
 laughter, half a sob, then covered her face with her 
 hands. I took them away and spoke her name again, 
 and this time she hid her face upon my breast. 
 
 A moment thus ; then — for all eyes were upon her 
 — I lifted her head, kissed her ? and gave her to Lady £•**• ^ 
 Wyatt, whom I found at my side. "I commend my oC ?'^ *' 
 wife to your ladyship's care," I said. " As you are 
 woman, deal sisterly by her ! " 
 
 " You may trust me, sir," she made answer, the 
 tears upon her cheeks. " I did not know, — I did not 
 understand. . . . Dear heart, come away, — come 
 away with Margaret Wyatt." 
 
 Clayborne opened the door of the cabin, and stood 
 aside with a low bow. The men who had sat to judge 
 me rose ; only the King's favorite kept his seat. With 
 Lady Wyatt's arm about her, the King's ward passed 
 between the lines of standing gentlemen to the door, 
 there hesitated, turned, and, facing them with I know 
 not what of pride and shame, wistfulness of entreaty 
 and noble challenge to belief in the face and form that 
 were of all women's most beautiful, curtsied to them 
 until her knee touched the floor. She was gone, and 
 the sunlight with her. 
 
 When I turned upon that shameless lord where he 
 sat in his evil beauty, with his honor dead before him, 
 men came hastily in between. I put them aside with 
 a laugh. I had but wanted to look at him. I had no 
 sword, — already he lay beneath my challenge, — and 
 words are weak things. 
 
262 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 At length he rose, as arrogant as ever in his port, 
 as evilly superb in his towering pride, and as amaz- 
 ingly indifferent to the thoughts of men who lied not. 
 " This case hath wearied me," he said. " I will retire 
 for a while to rest, and in dreams to live over a past 
 sweetness. Give you good-day, gentles ! Sir Francis 
 Wyatt, you will remember that this gentleman did 
 resist arrest, and that he lieth under the King's dis- 
 pleasure ! " So saying he clapped his hat upon his 
 head and walked out of the cabin. The Company's 
 officers drew a long breath, as if a fresher air had 
 come in with his departure. 
 
 " I have no choice, Captain Percy, but to keep you 
 still under restraint, both here and when we shall 
 reach Jamestown," said the Governor. " All that the 
 Company, through me, can do, consistent with its duty 
 to his Majesty, to lighten your confinement shall be 
 done " — 
 
 " Then send him not again into the hold, Sir 
 Francis ! " exclaimed the Treasurer, with a wry face. 
 
 The Governor laughed. " Lighter and sweeter 
 quarters shall be found. Your wife 's a brave lady, 
 Captain Percy " — 
 
 "And a passing fair one," said Clayborne under 
 his breath. 
 
 " I left a friend below in the hold, your Honor," I 
 said. " He came with me from Jamestown because 
 he was my friend. The King hath never heard of 
 him. And he 's no more a pirate than I or you, your 
 Honor. He is a minister, — a sober, meek, and godly 
 man " — 
 
 From behind the Secretary rose the singsong of 
 my acquaintance of the hold, Dr. John Pott. " He 
 is Jeremy, your Honor, Jeremy who made the town 
 
IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE 263 
 
 merry at Blackfriars. Your Honor remembers him ? 
 He had a sickness, and forsook the life and went into 
 the country. He was known to the Dean of St. 
 Paul's. All the town laughed when it heard that he 
 had taken orders." 
 
 " Jeremy ! " cried out the Treasurer. " Nick Bot- 
 tom ! Christopher Sly ! Sir Toby Belch ! Sir Francis, 
 give me Jeremy to keep in my cabin ! " 
 
 The Governor laughed. " He shall be bestowed 
 with Captain Percy where he '11 not lack for company, 
 I warrant ! Jeremy ! Ben Jpnson loved him ; they I 
 drank together at the Mermaid." 
 
 A little later the Treasurer turned to leave my new 
 quarters, to which he had walked beside me, glanced 
 at the men who waited for him without, — Jeremy 
 had not yet been brought from the hold, — and re- 
 turned to my side to say, in a low voice, but with 
 emphasis : " Captain Percy has been a long time with- 
 out news from home, — from England. What would 
 he most desire to hear ? " 
 
 " Of the welfare of his Grace of Buckingham," I 
 replied. 
 
 He smiled. " His Grace is as well as heart could 
 desire, and as powerful. The Queen's dog now tug- 
 geth the sow by the ears this way or that, as it pleas- 
 eth him. Since we are not to hang you as a pirate, 
 Captain Percy, I incline to think your affairs in better 
 posture than when you left Virginia." 
 
 " I think so too, sir," I said, and gave him thanks 
 for his courtesy, and wished him good-day, being 
 anxious to sit still and thank God, with my face in 
 my hands and summer in my heart. 
 
CHAPTER XXVin 
 
 IN WHICH THE SPKINGTIME IS AT HAND 
 
 TlEED of dicing against myself, and of the books 
 that Rolfe had sent me, I betook myself to the gaol 
 window, and, leaning against the bars, looked out in 
 search of entertainment. The nearest if not the mer- 
 riest thing the prospect had to offer was the pillory. 
 It was built so tall that it was but little lower than 
 the low upper story of the gaol, and it faced my window 
 at so short a distance that I could hear the long, whis- 
 tling breath of the wretch who happened to occupy it. 
 It was not a pleasant sound ; neither was a livid face, 
 new branded on the cheek with a great R, and with a 
 trickle of dark blood from the mutilated ears staining 
 the board in which the head was immovably fixed, a 
 pleasant sight. A little to one side was the whipping 
 post : a woman had been whipped that morning, and 
 her cries had tainted the air even more effectually 
 than had the decayed matter with which certain small 
 devils had pelted the runaway in the pillory. I looked 
 away from the poor rogue below me into the clear, hard 
 brightness of the March day, and was most heartily 
 weary of the bars between me and it. The wind blew 
 keenly ; the sky was blue as blue could be, and the 
 river a great ribbon of azure sewn with diamonds. 
 All colors were vivid and all distances near. There 
 was no haze over the forest ; brown and bare it struck 
 the cloudless blue. The marsh was emerald, the green 
 
THE SPRINGTIME IS AT HAND 265 
 
 of the pines deep and rich, the budding maples redder 
 than coral. The church, with the low green graves 
 around it, appeared not a stone's throw away, and the 
 voices of the children up and down the street sounded 
 clearly, as though they played in the brown square 
 below me. When the drum beat for the nooning the 
 roll was close in my ears. The world looked so bright 
 and keen that it seemed new made, and the brilliant 
 sunshine and the cold wind stirred the blood like wine. 
 
 Now and then men and women passed through the 
 square below. Well-nigh all glanced up at the win- 
 dow, and their eyes were friendly. It was known now 
 that Buckingham was paramount at home, and my 
 Lord Carnal' s following in Virginia was much de- 
 cayed. Young Hamor strode by, bravely dressed and 
 whistling cheerily, and doffed a hat with a most noble 
 broken feather. " We 're going to bait a bear below 
 the fort ! " he called. " Sorry you '11 miss the sport ! 
 There will be all the world — and my Lord Carnal." 
 He whistled himself away, and presently there came 
 along Master Edward Sharpless. He stopped and 
 stared at the rogue in the pillory, — with no presci- 
 ence, I suppose, of a day when he was to stand there 
 himself; then looked up at me with as much male- 
 volence as his small soul could write upon his mean 
 features, and passed on. He had a jaded look ; more- 
 over, his clothes were swamp-stained and his cloak had 
 been torn by briers. " What did you go to the forest 
 for ? " I muttered. 
 
 The key grated in the door behind me, and it opened 
 to admit the gaoler and Diccon with my dinner, — 
 which I was not sorry to see. " Sir George sent the 
 venison, sir," said the gaoler, grinning, " and Master 
 Piersey the wild fowl, and Madam West the pasty 
 
266 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 and the marchpane, and Master Pory the sack. Be 
 there anything you lack, sir ? " 
 
 " Nothing that you can supply," I answered curtly. 
 
 The fellow grinned again, straightened the things 
 upon the table, and started for the door. " You can 
 stay until I come for the platters," he said to Diccon, 
 and went out, locking the door after him with osten- 
 tation. 
 
 I applied myself to the dinner, and Diccon went to 
 the window, and stood there looking out at the blue sky 
 and at the man in the pillory. He had the freedom 
 of the gaol. I was somewhat more straitly confined, 
 though my friends had easy access to me. As for 
 Jeremy Sparrow, he had spent twenty-four hours in 
 gaol, at the end of which time Madam West had a fit 
 of the spleen, declared she was dying, and insisted 
 upon Master Sparrow's being sent for to administer 
 consolation ; Master Bucke, unfortunately, having gone 
 up to Henricus on business connected with the college. 
 From the bedside of that despotic lady Sparrow was 
 called to bury a man on the other side of the river, 
 and from the grave to marry a couple at Mulberry 
 Island. And the next day being Sunday, and no min- 
 ister at hand, he preached again in Master Bueke's 
 pulpit, — and preached a sermon so powerful and 
 moving that its like had never been heard in Virginia, 
 They marched him not back from the pulpit to gaol. 
 There were but five ministers in Virginia, and there 
 were a many more sick to visit and dead to bury. 
 Master Bucke, still feeble in body, tarried up river 
 discussing with Thorpe the latter's darling project of 
 converting every imp of an Indian this side the South 
 Sea, and Jeremy slipped into his old place. There had 
 been some talk of a public censure, but it died away. 
 
THE SPRINGTIME IS AT HAND 267 
 
 The pasty and sack disposed of, I turned in my 
 seat and spoke to Diccon : " I looked for Master Rolfe 
 to-day. Have you heard aught of him ? " 
 
 "No," he answered. As he spoke, the door was 
 opened and the gaoler put in his head. " A messenger 
 from Master Rolfe, captain." He drew back, and the 
 Indian Nantauquas entered the room. 
 
 Rolfe I had seen twice since the arrival of the 
 George at Jamestown, but the Indian had not been 
 with him. The 3 r oung chief now came forward and 
 touched the hand I held out to him. " My brother 
 will be here before the sun touches the tallest pine," 
 he announced in his grave, calm voice. " He asks 
 Captain Percy to deny himself to any other that may 
 come. He wishes to see him alone." 
 
 " I shall hardly be troubled with company," I said. 
 " There 's a bear-baiting toward." 
 
 Nantauquas smiled. " My brother asked me to find 
 a bear for to-day. I bought one from the Paspaheghs 
 for a piece of copper, and took him to the ring below 
 the fort." 
 
 " Where all the town will presently be gone," I 
 said. " I wonder what Rolfe did that for ! " 
 
 Filling a cup with sack, I pushed it to the Indian 
 across the table. " You are little in the woods nowa- 
 days, Nantauquas." 
 
 His fine dark face clouded ever so slightly. " Ope- 
 chancanough has dreamt that I am Indian no longer. 
 Singing birds have lied to him, telling him that I love 
 the white man, and hate my own color. He calls me 
 no more his brave, his brother Powhatan's dear son. 
 I do not sit by his council fire now, nor do I lead his 
 war bands. When I went last to his lodge and stood 
 before him, his eyes burned me like the coals the 
 
268 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Monacans once closed my hands upon. He would 
 not speak to me." 
 
 " It would not fret me if he never spoke again," I 
 said. " You have been to the forest to-day ? " 
 
 "Yes," he replied, glancing at the smear of leaf 
 mould upon his beaded moccasins. " Captain Percy's 
 eyes are quick ; he should have been an Indian. I 
 went to the Paspaheghs to take them the piece of cop- 
 per. I could tell Captain Percy a curious thing " — 
 
 " Well ? " I demanded, as he paused. 
 
 " I went to the lodge of the werowance with the 
 copper, and found him not there. The old men de- 
 clared that he had gone to the weirs for fish, — he and 
 ten of his braves. The old men lied. I had passed 
 the weirs of the Paspaheghs, and no man was there. I 
 sat and smoked before the lodge, and the maidens 
 brought me chinquapin cakes and pohickory ; for 
 Nantauquas is a prince and a welcome guest to all 
 save Opechancanough. The old men smoked, with 
 their eyes upon the ground, each seeing only the days 
 when he was even as Nantauquas. They never knew 
 when a wife of the werowance, turned child by pride, 
 unfolded a doeskin and showed Nantauquas a silver 
 cup carved all over and set with colored stones." 
 
 " Humph ! " 
 
 "The cup was a heavy price to pay," continued 
 the Indian. " I do not know what great thing it 
 bought." 
 
 " Humph ! " I said again. " Did you happen to 
 meet Master Edward Sharpless in the forest?" 
 
 He shook his head. " The forest is wide, and there 
 are many trails through it. Nantauquas looked for 
 that of the werowance of the Paspaheghs, but found it 
 not. He had no time to waste upon a white man." 
 
THE SPRINGTIME IS AT HAND 269 
 
 He gathered his otterskin mantle about him and 
 prepared to depart. I rose and gave him my hand, 
 for I thoroughly liked him, and in the past he had 
 made me his debtor. " Tell Rolfe he will find me 
 alone," I said, " and take my thanks for your pains, 
 Nantauquas. If ever we hunt together again, may I 
 have the chance to serve you ! I bear the scars of the 
 wolf's teeth yet ; you came in the nick of time, that 
 day." 
 
 The Indian smiled. " It was a fierce old wolf. I 
 wish Captain Perc} r free with all my heart, and then 
 we will hunt more wolves, he and I." 
 
 When he was gone, and the gaoler and Diccon with 
 him, I returned to the window. The runaway in the 
 pillory was released, and went away homewards, stag- 
 gering beside his master's stirrup. Passers-by grew 
 more and more infrequent, and up the street came 
 faint sounds of laughter and hurrahing, — the bear 
 must be making good sport. I could see the half- 
 moon, and the guns, and the flag that streamed in the 
 wind, and on the river a sail or two, white in the sun- 
 light as the gulls that swooped past. Beyond rose 
 the bare masts of the George. The Santa Teresa 
 rode no more forever in the James. The King's ship 
 was gone home to the King without the freight he 
 looked for. Three days, and the George would spread 
 her white wings and go down the wide river, and I 
 with her, and the King's ward, an<3 the King's some- 
 time f avorite7~""Ti:ooked down the wind-ruffled stream, 
 and saw the great bay into which it emptied, and 
 beyond the bay the heaving ocean, dark and light, 
 league on league, league on league ; then green Eng- 
 land, and London, and the Tower. The vision dis- 
 turbed me less than once it would have done. Men 
 
270 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 that I knew and trusted were to be passengers on that 
 ship, as well as one I knew and did not trust. And 
 if, at the journey's end, I saw the Tower, I saw also 
 his Grace of Buckingham. Where I hated he hated, 
 and was now powerful enough to strike. 
 
 The wind blew from the west, from the unknown. 
 I turned my head, and it beat against my forehead, 
 cold and fragrant with the essence of the forest, — 
 pine and cedar, dead leaves and black mould, fen and 
 hollow and hill, — all the world of woods over which 
 it had passed. The ghost of things long dead, which 
 face or voice could never conjure up, will sometimes 
 start across our path at the beckoning of an odor. 
 A day in the Starving Time came back to me : how 
 I had dragged myself from our broken palisade and 
 crazy huts, and the groans of the famished and the 
 plague-stricken, and the presence of the unburied dead, 
 across the neck and into the woods, and had lain down 
 there to die, being taken with a sick fear and horror 
 of the place of cannibals behind me ; and how weak I 
 was ! — too weak to care any more. I had been a 
 strong man, and it had come to that, and I was con- 
 tent to let it be. The smell of the woods that day, the 
 chill brown earth beneath me, the blowing wind, the 
 long stretch of the river gleaming between the pines, 
 . . . and fair in sight the white sails of the Patience 
 and the Deliverance. 
 
 I had been too nigh gone then to greatly care that I 
 was saved ; now I cared, and thanked God for my life. 
 Come what might in the future, the past was mine. 
 Though I should never see my wife again, I had that 
 hour in the state cabin of the George. I loved, and 
 was loved again. 
 
 There was a noise outside the door, and Eolfe's 
 
THE SPRINGTIME IS AT HAND 271 
 
 voice speaking to the gaoler. Impatient for his en- 
 trance I started toward the door, but when it opened 
 he made no move to cross the threshold. " I am not 
 coming in," he said, with a face that he strove to keep 
 grave. " I only came to bring some one else." With 
 that he stepped back, and a second figure, coming 
 forward out of the dimness behind him, crossed the 
 threshold. It was a woman, cloaked and hooded. 
 The door was drawn to behind her, and we were alone 
 together. 
 
 Beside the cloak and hood she wore a riding mask. 
 " Do you know who it is ? " she asked, when she had 
 stood, so shrouded, for a long minute, during which I 
 had found no words with which to welcome her. 
 
 "Yea," I answered: "the princess in the fairy 
 tale." 
 
 She freed her dark hair from its covering, and un- 
 clasping her cloak let it drop to the floor. " Shall I 
 unmask ? " she asked, with a sigh. " Faith ! I should 
 keep the bit of silk between your eyes, sir, and my 
 blushes. Am I ever to be the forward one ? Do you 
 not think me too bold a lady ? " As she spoke, her 
 white hands were busy about the fastening of her 
 mask. " The knot is too hard," she murmured, with 
 a little tremulous laugh and a catch of her breath. 
 
 I untied the ribbons. 
 
 " May I not sit down?" she said plaintively, but 
 with soft merriment in her eyes. " I am not quite 
 strong yet. My heart — you do not know what pain 
 I have in my heart sometimes. It makes me weep of 
 nights and when none are by, indeed it does ! " 
 
 There was a settle beneath the window. I led her 
 to it, and she sat down. 
 
 " You must know that I am walking in the Govern- 
 
272 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 or's garden, that hath only a lane between it and the 
 gaol." Her eyes were downcast, her cheeks pure rose. 
 
 " When did you first love me ? " I demanded. 
 
 " Lady Wyatt must have guessed why Master Rolfe 
 alone went not to the bear-baiting, but joined us in 
 the garden. She said the air was keen, and fetched 
 me her mask, and then herself went indoors to em- 
 broider Samson in the arms of Delilah.' 
 
 " Was it here at Jamestown, or was it when we 
 were first wrecked, or on the island with the pink hill 
 when you wrote my name in the sand, or " — 
 
 " The George will sail in three days, and we are to 
 be taken back to England after all. It does not scare 
 me now." 
 
 " In all my life I have kissed you only once," I said. 
 
 The rose deepened, and in her eyes there was laugh- 
 ter, with tears behind. " You are a gentleman of 
 determination," she said. " If you are bent upon 
 having your way, I do not know that I — that I — can 
 help myself. I do not even know that I want to help 
 myself." 
 
 Outside the wind blew and the sun shone, and the 
 laughter from below the fort was too far away and 
 elfin to jar upon us. The world forgot us, and we 
 were well content. There seemed not much to say : I 
 suppose we were too happy for words. I knelt beside 
 her, and she laid her hands in mine, and now and then 
 we spoke. In her short and lonely life, and in my 
 longer stern and crowded one, there had been little 
 tenderness, little happiness. In her past, to those 
 about her, she had seemed bright and gay ; I had been 
 a comrade whom men liked because I could jest as 
 well as fight. Now we were happy, but we were not 
 gay. Each felt for the other a great compassion ; 
 
THE SPRINGTIME IS AT HAND 273 
 
 each knew that though we smiled to-day, the groan 
 and the tear might be to-morrow's due ; the sunshine 
 around us was pure gold, but that the clouds were 
 mounting we knew full well. 
 
 " I must soon be gone," she said at last. " It is a 
 stolen meeting. I do not know when we shall meet 
 again." 
 
 She rose from the settle, and I rose with her, and 
 we stood together beside the barred window. There 
 was no danger of her being seen ; street and square 
 were left to the wind and the sunshine. My arm was 
 around her, and she leaned her head against my breast. 
 " Perhaps we shall never meet again," she said. 
 
 " The winter is over," I answered. " Soon the trees 
 will be green and the flowers in bloom. I will not 
 believe that our spring can have no summer." 
 
 She took from her bosom a little flower that had 
 been pinned there. It lay, a purple star, in the hollow 
 of her hand. " It grew in the sun. It is the first 
 flower of spring." She put it to her lips, then laid it 
 upon the window ledge beside my hand. " I have 
 brought you evil gifts, — foes and strife and peril. 
 Will you take this little purple flower — and all my 
 heart beside ? " 
 
 I bent and kissed first the tiny blossom, and then 
 the lips that had proffered it. " I am very rich," I 
 said. 
 
 The sun was now low, and the pines in the square 
 and the upright of the pillory cast long shadows. The 
 wind had fallen and the sounds had died away. It 
 seemed very still. Nothing moved but the creeping 
 shadows until a flight of small white-breasted birds 
 went past the window. " The snow is gone," I said. 
 " The snowbirds are flying north." 
 
274 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " The woods will soon be green," she murmured 
 wistfully. " Ah, if we could ride through them once 
 more, back to Weyanoke " — 
 
 " To home," I said. 
 
 " Home," she echoed softly. 
 
 There was a low knocking at the door behind us. 
 " It is Master Rolfe's signal," she said. " I must not 
 stay. Tell me that you love me, and let me go." 
 
 I drew her closer to me and pressed my lips upon 
 her bowed head. " Do you not know that I love you ? " 
 I asked. 
 
 " Yea," she answered. " I have been taught it. 
 Tell me that you believe that God will be good to us. 
 Tell me that we shall be happy yet ; for oh, I have a 
 boding heart this day ! " 
 
 Her voice broke, and she lay trembling in my arms, 
 her face hidden. " If the summer never comes for 
 us" — she whispered. " Good-by, my lover and my 
 husband. If I have brought you ruin and death, I 
 have brought you, too, a love that is very great. For- 
 give me and kiss me, and let me go." 
 
 " Thou art my dearly loved and honored wife," I 
 said. " My heart forebodes summer, and joy, and 
 peace, and home." 
 
 We kissed each other solemnly, as those who part 
 for a journey and a warfare. I sjDoke no word to 
 Rolfe when the door was opened and she had passed 
 out with her cloak drawn about her face, but we 
 clasped hands, and each knew the other for his friend 
 indeed. They were gone, the gaoler closing and lock- 
 ing the door behind them. As for me, I went back to 
 the settle beneath the window, and, falling on my 
 knees beside it, buried my face in my arms. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 IS WHICH I KEEP TRYST 
 
 The sun dropped below the forest, blood red, dye- 
 ing the river its own color. There were no clouds in 
 the sky, — only a great suffusion of crimson climbing 
 to the zenith ; against it the woods were as black as 
 war paint. The color faded and the night set in, a 
 night of no wind and of numberless stars. On the 
 hearth burned a fire. I left the window and sat be- 
 side it, and in the hollows between the red embers made 
 pictures, as I used to make them when I was a boy. 
 
 I sat there long. It grew late, and all sounds in the 
 town were hushed ; only now and then the " All 's 
 well ! " of the watch came faintly to my ears. Diccon 
 lodged with me ; he lay in his clothes upon a pallet in 
 the far corner of the room, but whether he slept or not 
 I did not ask. He and I had never wasted words ; 
 since chance had thrown us together again we spoke 
 only when occasion required. 
 
 The fire was nigh out, and it must have been ten of 
 the clock when, with somewhat more of caution and 
 less of noise than usual, the key grated in the lock ; 
 the door opened, and the gaoler entered, closing it 
 noiselessly behind him. There was no reason why he 
 should intrude himself upon me after nightfall, and I 
 regarded him with a frown and an impatience that 
 presently turned to curiosity. 
 
 He began to move about the room, making pretense 
 
276 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 of seeing that there was water in the pitcher beside 
 my pallet, that the straw beneath the coverlet was 
 fresh, that the bars of the window were firm, and 
 ended by approaching the fire and heaping pine upon 
 it. It flamed up brilliantly, and in the strong red 
 light he half opened a clenched hand and showed me 
 two gold pieces, and beneath them a folded paper. I 
 looked at his furtive eyes and brutal, doltish face, but 
 he kept them blank as a wall. The hand closed again 
 over the treasure within it, and he turned away as if 
 to leave the room. I drew a noble — one of a small 
 store of gold pieces conveyed to me by Rolf e — from 
 my pocket, and stooping made it spin upon the hearth 
 in the red firelight. The gaoler looked at it askance, 
 but continued his progress toward the door. I drew 
 out its fellow, set it too to spinning, then leaned back 
 against the table. " They hunt in couples," I said. 
 " There will be no third one." 
 
 He had his foot upon them before they had done 
 spinning. The next moment they had kissed the two 
 pieces already in his possession, and he had transferred 
 all four to his pocket. I held out my hand for the 
 paper, and he gave it to me grudgingly, with a spiteful 
 slowness of movement. He would have stayed beside 
 me as I read it, but I sternly bade him keep his dis- 
 tance ; then kneeling before the fire to get the light, I 
 opened the paper. It was written upon in a delicate, 
 woman's hand, and it ran thus : — 
 
 An you hold me dear, come to me at once. Come 
 without tarrying to the deserted hut on the neck of 
 land, nearest to the forest. As you love me, as you 
 are my knight, keep this tryst. 
 
 In distress and peril, Thy Wife. 
 
IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST 277 
 
 Folded with it was a line in the commander's hand 
 and with his signature : " The bearer may pass without 
 the palisade at his pleasure." 
 
 I read the first paper again, refolded it, and rose to 
 my feet. " Who brought this, sirrah ? " I demanded. 
 
 His answer was glib enough : " One of the gov- 
 ernor's servants. He said as how there was no harm 
 in the letter, and the gold was good." 
 
 "When was this?" 
 
 " Just now. No, I did n't know the man." 
 
 I saw no way to discover whether or not he lied. 
 Drawing out another gold piece, I laid it upon the 
 table. He eyed it greedily, edging nearer and nearer. 
 
 " For leaving this door unlocked," I said. 
 
 His eyes narrowed and he moistened his lips, shift- 
 ing from one foot to the other. 
 
 I put down a second piece. " For opening the outer 
 door," I said. 
 
 He wet his lips again, made an inarticulate sound 
 in his throat, and finally broke out with, " The com- 
 mander will nail my ears to the pillory." 
 
 "You can lock the doors after me, and know as 
 little as you choose in the morning. No gain without 
 some risk." 
 
 " That 's so," he agreed, and made a clutch at the 
 gold. 
 
 I swept it out of his reach. " First earn it," I said 
 dryly. " Look at the foot of the pillory an hour from 
 now and you '11 find it. I '11 not pay you this side of 
 the doors." 
 
 He bit his lips and studied the floor. " You 're a 
 gentleman," he growled at last. "I suppose I can 
 trust ye." 
 
 " I suppose you can." 
 
278 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Taking up his lantern he turned toward the door. 
 " It 's growing late," he said, with a most uncouth 
 attempt to feign a guileless drowsiness. " I '11 to bed, 
 captain, when I 've locked up. Good-night to ye ! " 
 
 He was gone, and the door was left unlocked. I 
 could walk out of that gaol as I could have walked out 
 of my house at Weyanoke. I was free, but should I 
 take my freedom ? Going back to the light of the fire 
 1 unfolded the paper and stared at it, turning its con- 
 tents this way and that in my mind. The hand — but 
 once had I seen her writing, and then it had been 
 wrought with a shell upon firm sand. I could not 
 judge if this were the same. Had the paper indeed 
 come from her ? Had it not ? If in truth it was a 
 message from my wife, what had befallen in a few 
 hours since our parting ? If it was a forger's lie, what 
 trap was set, what toils were laid ? I walked up and 
 down, and tried to think it out. The strangeness of it 
 all, the choice of a lonely and distant hut for trysting 
 place, that pass coming from a sworn officer of the 
 Company, certain things I had heard that day . . . 
 A trap . . . and to walk into it with my eyes open. 
 . . . An you hold me dear. As you are my knight, 
 keep this tryst. In distress and peril. . . . Come 
 what might, there was a risk I could not run. 
 
 I had no weapons to assume, no preparations to 
 make. Gathering up the gaoler's gold I started to- 
 ward the door, opened it, and going out would have 
 closed it softly behind me but that a booted leg thrust 
 across the jamb prevented me. " I am going wdth 
 you," said Diccon in a guarded voice. " If you try to 
 prevent me, I will rouse the house." His head was 
 thrown back in the old way ; the old daredevil look 
 was upon his face. " I don't know why you are 
 
IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST 279 
 
 going," he declared, " but there '11 be danger, any- 
 how." 
 
 " To the best of my belief I am walking into a 
 trap," I said. 
 
 " Then it will shut on two instead of one," he 
 answered doggedly. 
 
 By this he was through the door, and there was no 
 shadow of turning on his dark, determined face. I 
 knew my man, and v/asted no more words. Long 
 ago it had grown to seem the thing most in nature 
 that the hour of danger should find us side by side. 
 
 When the door of the firelit room was shut, the gaol 
 was in dai'kness that might be felt. It was very still: 
 the few other inmates were fast asleep ; the gaoler 
 was somewhere out of sight, dreaming with open eyes. 
 We groped our way through the passage to the stairs, 
 noiselessly descended them, and found the outer door 
 unchained, unbarred, and slightly ajar. 
 
 When I had laid the gold beneath the pillory, we 
 struck swiftly across the square, being in fear lest the 
 watch should come upon us, and took the first lane 
 that led toward the palisade. Beneath the burning 
 stars the town lay stark in sleep. So bright in the 
 wintry air were those far-away lights that the dark- 
 ness below them was not great. We could see the 
 low houses, the shadowy pines, the naked oaks, the 
 sandy lane glimmering away to the river, star-strewn 
 to match the heavens. The air was cold, but exceed- 
 ingly clear and still. Now and then a dog barked, or 
 wolves howled in the forest across the river. We kept 
 in the shadow of the houses and the trees, and went 
 with the swiftness, silence, and caution of Indians. 
 
 The last house we must pass before reaching the 
 palisade was one that Rolfe owned, and iD which he 
 
280 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 lodged when business brought him to Jamestown. It 
 and some low outbuildings beyond it were as dark as 
 the cedars in which they were set, and as silent as the 
 grave. Rolfe and his Indian brother were sleeping 
 there now, while I stood without. Or did they sleep ? 
 Were they there at all? Might it not have been 
 Rolfe who had bribed the gaoler and procured the 
 pass from West ? Might I not find him at that strange 
 trysting place ? Might not all be well, after all ? I 
 was sorely tempted to rouse that silent house and 
 demand if its master were within. I did it not. 
 Servants were there, and noise would be made, and 
 time that might be more precious than life-blood was 
 flying fast. I went on, and Diccon with me. 
 
 There was a cabin built almost against the palisade, 
 and here one man was supposed to watch, whilst an- 
 other slept. To-night we found both asleep. I shook 
 the younger to his feet, and heartily cursed him for 
 his negligence. He listened stupidly, and read as stu- 
 pidly, by the light of his lantern, the pass which I 
 thrust beneath his nose. Staggering to his feet, and 
 drunk with his unlawful slumber, he fumbled at the 
 fastenings of the gate for full three minutes before 
 the ponderous wood finally swung open and showed the 
 road beyond. " It 's all right," he muttered thickly. 
 <; The commander's pass. Good-night, the three of ye ! " 
 
 " Are you drunk or drugged ? " I demanded. 
 " There are only two. It 's not sleep that is the mat- 
 ter with you. What is it ? " 
 
 He made no answer, but stood holding the gate open 
 and blinking at us with dull, unseeing eyes. Some- 
 thing ailed him besides sleep ; he may have been 
 drugged, for aught I know. When we had gone some 
 yards from the gate, we heard him say again, in pre- 
 
IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST 281 
 
 cisely the same tone, " Good-night, the three of ye ! " 
 Then the gate creaked to, and we heard the bars drawn 
 across it. 
 
 Without the palisade was a space of waste land, 
 marsh and thicket, tapering to the narrow strip of sand 
 and scrub joining the peninsula to the forest, and here 
 and there upon this waste ground rose a mean house, 
 dwelt in by the poorer sort. All were dark. We left 
 them behind, and found ourselves upon the neck, with 
 the desolate murmur of the river on either hand, and 
 before us the deep blackness of the forest. Suddenly 
 Diccon stopped in his tracks and turned his head. " I 
 did hear something then," he muttered. " Look, sir ! " 
 
 The stars faintly lit the road that had been trodden 
 hard and bare by the feet of all who came and went. 
 Down this road something was coming toward us, some- 
 thing low and dark, that moved not fast, and not 
 slow, but with a measured and relentless pace. " A 
 panther ! " said Diccon. 
 
 We watched the creature with more of curiosity 
 than alarm. Unless brought to bay, or hungry, or 
 wantonly irritated, these great cats were cowardly 
 enough. It would hardly attack the two of us. 
 Nearer and nearer it came, showing no signs of anger 
 and none of fear, and paying no attention to the with- 
 ered branch with which Diccon tried to scare it off. 
 When it was so close that we could see the white of 
 its breast it stopped, looking at us with large un- 
 faltering eyes, and slightly moving its tail to and fro. 
 
 " A tame panther ! " ejaculated Diccon. " It must 
 be the one Nantauquas tamed, sir. He would have 
 kept it somewhere near Master Rolfe's house." 
 
 " And it heard us, and followed us through the 
 gate," I said. " It was the third the warder talked of." 
 
282 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 We walked on, and the beast, addressing itself 
 to motion, followed at our heels. Now and then we 
 looked back at it, but we feared it not. 
 
 As for me, I had begun to think that a panther 
 might be the least formidable thing I should meet 
 that night. By this I had scarcely any hope — or 
 fear — that I should find her at our journey's end. 
 The lonesome path that led only to the night-time for- 
 est, the deep and dark river with its mournful voice, 
 the hard, bright, pitiless stars, the cold, the loneliness, 
 the distance, — how should she be there ? And if not 
 she, who then ? 
 
 The hut to which I had been directed stood in an 
 angle made by the neck and the main bank of the 
 river. On one side of it was the water, on the other 
 a deep wood. The place had an evil name, and no 
 man had lived there since the planter who had built it 
 hanged himself upon its threshold. The hut was ruin- 
 ous : in the summer tall weeds grew up around it, and 
 venomous snakes harbored beneath its rotted and bro- 
 ken floor ; in the winter the snow whitened it, and the 
 wild fowl flew screaming in and out of the open door 
 and the windows that needed no barring. To-night 
 the door was shut and the windows in some way ob- 
 scured. But the interstices between the logs showed 
 red ; the hut was lighted within, and some one was 
 keeping tryst. 
 
 The stillness was deadly. It was not silence, for 
 the river murmured in the stiff reeds, and far off in 
 the midnight forest some beast of the night uttered its 
 cry, but a hush, a holding of the breath, an expectant 
 horror. The door, warped and shrunken, was drawn 
 to, but was not fastened, as I could tell by the un- 
 broken line of red light down one side from top to 
 
IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST 283 
 
 6ottom. Making no sound, I laid my hand upon it, 
 pushed it open a little way, and looked within the 
 hut. 
 
 I had thought to find it empty or to find it crowded. 
 It was neither. A torch lit it, and on the hearth 
 burned a fire. Drawn in front of the blaze was an 
 old rude chair, and in it sat a slight figure draped 
 from head to foot in a black cloak. The head was 
 bowed and hidden, the whole attitude one of listless- 
 ness and dejection. As I looked, there came a long 
 tremulous sigh, and the head drooped lower and lower, 
 as if in a growing hopelessness. 
 
 The revulsion of feeling was so great that for the 
 moment I was dazed as by a sudden blow. There had 
 been time during the walk from the gaol for enough 
 of wild and whirling thoughts as to what should greet 
 me in that hut ; and now the slight figure by the fire, 
 the exquisite melancholy of its posture, its bent head, 
 the weeping I could divine, — I had but one thought, 
 to comfort her as quickly as I might. Diccon's hand 
 was upon my arm, but I shook it off, and pushing the 
 door open crossed the uneven and noisy floor to the 
 fire, and bent over the lonely figure beside it. " Jo- 
 celyn," I said, " I have kept tryst." 
 
 As I spoke, I laid my hand upon the bowed and 
 covered head. It was raised, the cloak was drawn 
 aside, and there looked me in the eyes the Italian. 
 
 As if it had been the Gorgon's gaze, I was turned 
 to stone. The filmy eyes, the smile that would have 
 been mocking had it not been so very faint, the pallor, 
 the malignance, — I stared and stared, and my heart 
 grew cold and sick. 
 
 It was but for a minute ; then a warning cry from 
 Diccon roused me. I sprang backward until the width 
 
284 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 of the hearth was between me and the Italian, then 
 wheeled and found myself face to face with the King's 
 late favorite. Behind him was an open door, and 
 beyond it a small inner room, dimly lighted. He stood 
 and looked at me with an insolence and a triumph 
 most intolerable. His drawn sword was in his hand, 
 the jeweled hilt blazing in the firelight, and on his 
 dark, superb face a taunting smile. I met it with one 
 as bold, at least, but I said no word, good or bad. In 
 the cabin of the George I had sworn to myself that 
 thenceforward my sword should speak for me to this 
 gentleman. 
 
 " You came," he said. " I thought you would." 
 
 I glanced around the hut, seeking for a weapon. 
 Seeing nothing more promising than the thick, half- 
 consumed torch, I sprang to it and wrested it from the 
 socket. Diccon caught up a piece of rusted iron from 
 the hearth, and together we faced my lord's drawn 
 sword and a small, sharp, and strangely shaped dagger 
 that the Italian drew from a velvet sheath. 
 
 My lord laughed, reading my thoughts. " You are 
 mistaken," he declared coolly. " I am content that 
 Captain Percy knows I do not fear to fight him. This 
 time I play to win." Turning toward the outer door, 
 he raised his hand with a gesture of command. 
 
 In an instant the room was filled. The red-brown 
 figures, naked save for the loincloth and the headdress, 
 the impassive faces dashed with black, the ruthless 
 eyes, — I knew now why Master Edward Sharpless 
 had gone to the forest, and what service had been 
 bought with that silver cup. The Paspaheghs and I 
 were old enemies ; doubtless they would find their task 
 a pleasant one. 
 
 "My own knaves, unfortunately, were out of the 
 
IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST 285 
 
 way ; sent home on the Santa Teresa," said my lord, 
 still smiling. " I am not yet so poor that I cannot 
 hire others. True, Nicolo might have done the work 
 just now, when you bent over him so lovingly and 
 spoke so softly ; but the river might give up your body 
 to tell strange tales. I have heard that the Indians 
 are more ingenious, and leave no such witness any- 
 where." 
 
 Before the words were out of his mouth I had sprung 
 upon him, and had caught him by the sword wrist and 
 the throat. He strove to free his hand, to withdraw 
 himself from my grasp. Locked together, we struggled 
 backward and forward in what seemed a blaze of 
 lights and a roaring as of mighty waters. Red hands 
 caught at me, sharp knives panted to drink my blood ; 
 but so fast we turned and writhed, now he uppermost, 
 now I, that for very fear of striking the wrong man 
 hands and knives could not be bold. I heard Diccon 
 fighting, and knew that there would be howling to- 
 morrow among the squaws of the Paspaheghs. With 
 all his might my lord strove to bend the sword against 
 me, and at last did cut me across the arm, causing the 
 blood to flow freely. It made a pool upon the floor, 
 and once my foot slipped in it, and I stumbled and 
 almost fell. 
 
 Two of the Paspaheghs were silent for evermore. 
 Diccon had the knife of the first to fall, and it ran red. 
 The Italian, quick and sinuous as a serpent, kept be- 
 side my lord and me, striving to bring his dagger to 
 his master's aid. We two panted hard ; before our 
 eyes blood, within our ears the sea. The noise of the 
 other combatants suddenly fell. The hush could only 
 mean that Diccon was dead or taken. I could not 
 look behind to see. With an access of fury I drove 
 
286 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 my antagonist toward a corner of the hut, — the cor- 
 ner, so it chanced, in which the panther had taken up 
 its quarters. With his heel he struck the beast out of 
 his way, then made a last desperate effort to throw me. 
 I let him think he was about to succeed, gathered my 
 forces and brought him crashing to the ground. The 
 sword was in my hand and shortened, the point was at 
 his throat, when my arm was jerked backwards. A 
 moment, and half a dozen hands had dragged me from 
 the man beneath me, and a supple savage had passed 
 a thong of deerskin around my arms and pinioned 
 them to my sides. The game was up ; there remained 
 only to pay the forfeit without a grimace. 
 
 Diccon was not dead ; pinioned, like myself, and 
 breathing hard, he leaned sullenly against the wall, 
 they that he had slain at his feet. My lord rose, and 
 stood over against me. His rich doublet was torn and 
 dragged away at the neck, and my blood stained his 
 hand and arm. A smile was upon the face that had 
 made him master of a kingdom's master. 
 
 " The game was long," he said, " but I have won at 
 last. A long good-night to you, Captain Percy, and a 
 dreamless sleep ! " 
 
 There was a swift backward movement of the In- 
 dians, and a loud " The panther, sir ! Have a care ! " 
 from Diccon. I turned. The panther, maddened by 
 the noise and light, the shifting figures, the blocked 
 doors, the sight and smell of blood, the blow that had 
 been dealt it, was crouching for a spring. The red- 
 brown hair was bristling, the eyes were terrible. I 
 was before it, but those glaring eyes had marked me 
 not. It passed me like a bar from a catapult, and the 
 man whose heel it had felt was full in its path. One 
 of its forefeet sank in the velvet of the doublet ; the 
 
IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST 287 
 
 claws of the other entered the flesh below the temple, 
 and tore downwards and across. With a cry as awful 
 as the panther's scream the Italian threw himself upon 
 the beast and buried his poniard in its neck. The 
 panther and the man it had attacked went down to- 
 gether. 
 
 When the Indians had unlocked that dread em- 
 brace and had thrust aside the dead brute, there 
 emerged from the dimness of the inner room Master 
 Edward Sharpless, gray with fear, trembling in every 
 limb, to take the reins that had fallen from my lord's 
 hands. The King's minion lay in his blood, a ghastly 
 spectacle ; unconscious now, but with life before him, 
 — life through which to pass a nightmare vision. The 
 face out of which had looked that sullen, proud, and 
 wicked spirit had been one of great beauty ; it had 
 brought him exceeding wealth and power beyond mea- 
 sure ; the King had loved to look upon it ; and it had 
 come to this. He lived, and I was to die : better my 
 death than his life. In every heart there are dark J 
 
 depths, whence at times ugly things creep into the day- , / 
 light : but at least I could drive back that unmanly \r - ^ v 
 triumph, and bid it never come again. I would have <J 
 killed him, but I would not have had him thus. ' 
 
 The Italian was upon his knees beside his master; 
 even such a creature could love. From his skeleton 
 throat came a low, prolonged, croaking sound, and 
 his bony hands strove to wipe away the blood. The 
 Paspaheghs drew around us closer and closer, and the 
 werowance clutched me by the shoulder. I shook 
 him off. " Give the word, Sharpless," I said, " or 
 nod, if thou art too frightened to speak. Murder is 
 too stern a stuff for such a base kitchen knave as 
 thou to deal in." 
 
288 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 White and shaking, he would not meet my eyes, but 
 beckoned the werowance to him, and began to whisper 
 vehemently ; pointing now to the man upon the floor, 
 now to the town, now to the forest. The Indian 
 listened, nodded, and glided back to his fellows. 
 
 " The white men upon the Powhatan are many," he 
 said in his own tongue, " but they build not their wig- 
 wams upon the banks of the Pamunkey. 1 The singing 
 birds of the Pamunkey tell no tales. The pine splin- 
 ters will burn as brightly there, and the white men 
 will smell them not. We will build a fire at Uttamus- 
 sac, between the red hills, before the temple and the 
 graves of the kings." There was a murmur of assent 
 from his braves. 
 
 Uttamussac ! They would probably make a two 
 days' journey of it. We had that long, then, to live. 
 
 Captors and captives, we presently left the hut. On 
 the threshold I looked back, past the poltroon whom 
 I had flung into the river one midsummer day, to that 
 prone and bleeding figure. As I looked, it groaned 
 and moved. The Indians behind me forced me on ; 
 a moment, and we were out beneath the stars. They 
 shone so very brightly ; there was one — large, stead- 
 fast, golden — just over the dark town behind us, over 
 the Governor's house. Did she sleep or did she wake ? 
 Sleeping or waking, I prayed God to keep her safe 
 and give her comfort. The stars now shone through 
 naked branches, black tree trunks hemmed us round, 
 and under our feet was the dreary rustling of dead 
 leaves. The leafless trees gave way to pines and 
 cedars, and the closely woven, scented roof hid the 
 heavens, and made a darkness of the world beneath. 
 
 1 The modern York. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 IN WHICH WE STAKT UPON A JOURNEY 
 
 When the dawn broke, it found us traveling 
 through a narrow valley, beside a stream of some 
 width. Upon its banks grew trees of extraordinary 
 height and girth; cypress and oak and walnut, they 
 towered into the air, their topmost branches stark and 
 black against the roseate heavens. Below that iron 
 tracery glowed the firebrands of the maples, and here 
 and there a willow leaned a pale green cloud above 
 the stream. Mist closed the distances ; we could hear, 
 but not see, the deer where they stood to drink in the 
 shallow places, or couched in the gray and dreamlike 
 recesses of the forest. 
 
 Spectral, unreal, and hollow seems the world at 
 dawn. Then, if ever, the heart sickens and the will 
 flags, and life becomes a pageant that hath ceased to 
 entertain. As I moved through the mist and the 
 silence, and felt the tug of the thong that bound me 
 to the wrist of the savage who stalked before me, I 
 cared not how soon they made an end, seeing how 
 stale and unprofitable were all things under the sun. 
 
 Diccon, walking behind me, stumbled over a root 
 and fell upon his knees, dragging down with him the 
 Indian to whom he was tied. In a sudden access of 
 fury, aggravated by the jeers with which his fellows 
 greeted his mishap, the savage turned upon his pris- 
 oner and would have stuck a knife into him, bound 
 
290 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 and helpless as he was, had not the werowance in- 
 terfered. The momentary altercation over, and the 
 knife restored to its owner's belt, the Indians relapsed 
 into their usual menacing silence, and the sullen march 
 was resumed. Presently the stream made a sharp 
 bend across our path, and we forded it as best we 
 might. It ran dark and swift, and the water was of 
 icy coldness. Beyond, the woods had been burnt, the 
 trees rising from the red ground like charred and 
 blackened stakes, with the ghostlike mist between. 
 We left this dismal tract behind, and entered a wood 
 of mighty oaks, standing well apart, and with the 
 earth below carpeted with moss and early wild flowers. 
 The sun rose, the mist vanished, and there set in the 
 March day of keen wind and brilliant sunshine. 
 
 Farther on, an Indian bent his bow against a bear 
 shambling across a little sunny glade. The arrow did 
 its errand, and where the creature fell, there we sat 
 down and feasted beside a fire kindled by rubbing two 
 sticks together. According to their wont the Indians 
 ate ravenously, and when the meal was ended began 
 to smoke, each warrior first throwing into the air, as 
 thankoffering to Kiwassa, a pinch of tobacco. They 
 all stared at the fire around which we sat. and the 
 silence was unbroken. One by one, as the pipis were 
 smoked, they laid themselves down upon the brown 
 leaves and went to sleep, only our two guardians and 
 a third Indian over against us remaining wide-eyed 
 and watchful. 
 
 There was no hope of escape, and we entertained no 
 thought of it. Diccon sat, biting his nails, staring 
 into the fire, and I stretched myself out, and burying 
 my head in my arms tried to sleep, but could not. 
 
 With the midday we were afoot again, and we went 
 
IN WHICH WE START UPON A JOURNEY 291 
 
 steadily on through the bright afternoon. We met 
 with no harsh treatment other than our bonds. In- 
 stead, when our captors spoke to us, it was with words 
 of amity and smiling lips. Who accounteth for In- 
 dian fashions ? It is a way they have, to flatter and 
 caress the wretch for whom have been provided the 
 torments of the damned. If, when at sunset we halted 
 for supper and gathered around the fire, the wero- 
 wance began to tell of a foray I had led against the 
 Paspaheghs years before, and if he and his warriors, 
 for all the world like generous foes, loudly applauded 
 some daring that had accompanied that raid, none 
 the less did the red stake wait for us ; none the less 
 would they strive, as for heaven, to wring from us 
 groans and cries. 
 
 The sun sank, and the darkness entered the forest. 
 In the distance we heard the wolves, so the fire was 
 kept up through the night. Diccon and I were tied 
 to trees, and all the savages save one lay down and 
 slept. I worked awhile at my bonds ; but an Indian 
 had tied them, and after a time I desisted from the 
 useless labor. We two could have no speech together ; 
 the fire was between us, and we saw each other but 
 dimly through the flame and wreathing smoke, — as 
 each might see the other to-morrow. What Diccon 's 
 thoughts were I know not ; mine were not of the 
 morrow. 
 
 There had been no rain for a long time, and the 
 multitude of leaves underfoot were crisp and dry. 
 The wind was loud in them and in the swaying trees. 
 Off in the forest was a bog, and the will-o'-the-wisps 
 danced over it, — pale, cold flames, moving aimlessly 
 here and there like ghosts of those lost in the woods. 
 Toward the middle of the night some heavy animal 
 
292 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 crashed through a thicket to the left of us, and tore 
 away into the darkness over the loud-rustling leaves ; 
 and later on wolves' eyes gleamed from out the ring of 
 darkness beyond the firelight. Far on in the night 
 the wind fell and the moon rose, changing the forest 
 into some dim, exquisite, far-off land, seen only in 
 dreams. The Indians awoke silently and all at once, 
 as at an appointed hour. They spoke for a while 
 among themselves ; then we were loosed from the 
 trees, and the walk toward death began anew. 
 
 On this march the werowance himself stalked be- 
 side me, the moonlight whitening his dark limbs and 
 relentless face. He spoke no word, nor did I deign to 
 question or reason or entreat. Alike in tho darkness 
 of the deep woods, and in the silver of the glades, and 
 in the long twilight stretches of sassafras and sighing 
 grass, there was for me but one vision. Slender and 
 still and white, she moved before me, with her wide 
 dark eyes upon my face. Jocelyn ! Jocelyn ! 
 
 At sunrise the mist lifted from a low hill before 
 us, and showed an Indian boy, painted white, poised 
 upon the summit, like a spirit about to take its flight. 
 He prayed to the One over All, and his voice came 
 down to us pure and earnest. At sight of us he 
 bounded down the hillside like a ball, and would have 
 rushed away into the forest had not a Paspahegh start- 
 ing out of line seized him and set him in our midst, 
 where he stood, cool and undismayed, a warrior in 
 miniature. He was of the Pamunkeys, and his tribe 
 and the Paspaheghs were at peace ; therefore, when 
 he saw the totem burnt upon the breast of the wero- 
 wance, he became loquacious enough, and offered to go 
 before us to his village, upon the banks of a stream, 
 some bowshots away. He went, and the Paspaheghs 
 
IN WHICH WE START UPON A JOURNEY 293 
 
 rested under the trees until the old men of the village 
 came forth to lead them through the brown fields and 
 past the ring of leafless mulberries to the strangers' 
 lodge. Here on the green turf mats were laid for the 
 visitors, and water was brought for their hands. Later 
 on, the women spread a great breakfast of fish and 
 turkey and venison, maize bread, tuckahoe and po- 
 hickory. When it was eaten, the Paspaheghs ranged 
 themselves in a semicircle upon the grass, the Pamun- 
 keys faced them, and each warrior and old man drew 
 out his pipe and tobacco pouch. They smoked gravely, 
 in a silence broken only by an occasional slow and 
 stately question or compliment. The blue incense 
 from the pipes mingled with the sunshine falling freely 
 through the bare branches ; the stream which ran by 
 the lodge rippled and shone, and the wind rose and 
 fell in the pines upon its farther bank. 
 
 Diccon and I had been freed for the time from our 
 bonds, and placed in the centre of this ring, and when 
 the Indians raised their eyes from the ground it was to 
 gaze steadfastly at us. I knew their ways, and how 
 they valued pride, indifference, and a bravado disre- 
 gard of the worst an enemy could do. They should 
 not find the white man less proud than the savage. 
 
 They gave us readily enough the pipes I asked for. 
 Diccon lit one and I the other, and sitting side by side 
 we smoked in a contentment as absolute as the In- 
 dians' own. With his eyes upon the werowance, Dic- 
 con told an old story of a piece of Paspahegh villainy 
 and of the payment which the English exacted, and I 
 laughed as at the most amusing thing in the world. 
 The story ended, we smoked with serenity for a while ; 
 then I drew my dice from my pocket, and, beginning 
 to throw, we were at once as much absorbed in the 
 
294 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 game as if there were no other stake in the world 
 beside the remnant of gold that I piled between us. 
 The strange people in whose power we found ourselves 
 looked on with grim approval, as at brave men who 
 could laugh in Death's face. 
 
 The sun was high in the heavens when we bade the 
 Pamunkeys farewell. The cleared ground, the mul- 
 berry trees, and the grass beneath, the few rude lodges 
 with the curling smoke above them, the warriors and 
 women and brown naked children, — all vanished, and 
 the forest closed around us. A high wind was blow- 
 ing, and the branches far above beat at one another 
 furiously, while the pendent, leafless vines swayed 
 against us, and the dead leaves went past in the whirl- 
 wind. A monstrous flight of pigeons crossed the 
 heavens, flying from west to east, and darkening the 
 land beneath like a transient cloud. We came to a 
 plain covered with very tall trees that had one and all 
 been ringed by the Indians. Long dead, and partially 
 stripped of the bark, with their branches, great and 
 small, squandered upon the ground, they stood, gaunt 
 and silver gray, ready for their fall. As we passed, 
 the wind brought two crashing to the earth. In the 
 centre of the plain something — deer or wolf or bear 
 or man- — lay dead, for to that point the buzzards 
 were sweeping from every quarter of the blue. Be- 
 yond was a pine wood, silent and dim, with a high green 
 roof and a smooth and scented floor. We walked 
 through it for an hour, and it led us to the Pamunkey. 
 A tiny village, counting no more than a dozen war- 
 riors, stood among the pines that ran to the water's 
 edge, and tied to the trees that shadowed the slow- 
 moving flood were its canoes. When the people came 
 forth to meet us, the Paspaheghs bought from them, 
 
IN WHICH WE START UPON A JOURNEY 295 
 
 for a string of roanoke, two of these boats ; and we 
 made no tarrying, but, embarking at once, rowed up 
 river toward [Jttamussac and its three temples. 
 
 Diccon and I were placed in the same canoe. We 
 were not bound : what need of bonds, when we had no 
 friend nearer than the Powhatan, and when Uttamus- 
 sac was so near ? After a time the paddles were put 
 into our hands, and we were required to row while our 
 captors rested. There was no use in sulkiness ; we 
 laughed as at some huge jest, and bent to the task 
 with a will that sent our canoe well in advance of its 
 mate. Diccon burst into an old song that we had sung 
 in the Low Countries, by camp fires, on the march, 
 before the battle. The forest echoed to the loud and 
 warlike tune, and a multitude of birds rose startled 
 from the trees upon the bank. The Indians frowned, 
 and one in the boat behind called out to strike the singer 
 upon the mouth ; but the werowance shook his head. 
 There were none upon that river who might not know 
 that the Paspaheghs journeyed to Uttamussac with 
 prisoners in their midst. Diccon sang on, his head 
 thrown back, the old bold laugh in his eyes. When 
 he came to the chorus I joined my voice to his, and 
 the woodland rang to the song. A psalm had better 
 befitted our lips than those rude and vaunting words, 
 seeing that we should never sing again upon this 
 earth ; but at least we sang bravely and gayly, with 
 minds that were reasonably quiet. 
 
 The sun dropped low in the heavens, and the trees 
 cast shadows across the water. The Paspaheghs now 
 began to recount the entertainment they meant to offer 
 us in the morning. All those tortures that they were 
 r «ront to practice with hellish ingenuity they told over, 
 if owly and tauntingly, watching to see a lip whiten or 
 
296 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 an eyelid quiver. They boasted that they would make 
 women of us at the stake. At all events, they made 
 not women of us beforehand. We laughed as we 
 rowed, and Diccon whistled to the leaping fish, and 
 the fish-hawk, and the otter lying along a fallen tree 
 beneath the bank. 
 
 The sunset came, and the river lay beneath the 
 colored clouds like molten gold, with the gaunt forest 
 black upon either hand. From the lifted paddles 
 the water showered in golden drops. The wind died 
 away, and with it all noises, and a dank stillness 
 settled upon the flood and upon the endless forest. 
 We were nearing Uttamussac, and the Indians rowed 
 quietly, with bent heads and fearful glances ; for Okee 
 brooded over this place, and he might be angry. It 
 grew colder and stiller, but the light dwelt in the 
 heavens, and was reflected in the bosom of the river. 
 The trees upon the southern bank were all pines ; as 
 if they had been carved from black stone they stood 
 rigid against the saffron sky. Presently, back from 
 the shore, there rose before us a few small hills, tree- 
 less, but covered with some low, dark growth. The 
 one that stood the highest bore upon its crest three 
 black houses shaped like coffins. Behind them was 
 the deep yellow of the sunset. 
 
 An Indian rowing in the second canoe commenced 
 a chant or prayer to Okee. The notes were low and 
 broken, unutterably wild and melancholy. One by 
 one his fellows took up the strain ; it swelled higher, 
 louder, and sterner, became a deafening cry, then 
 ceased abruptly, making the stillness that followed 
 like death itself. Both canoes swung round from 
 the middle stream and made for the bank. When 
 the boats had slipped from the stripe of gold into the 
 
IN WHICH WE START UPON A JOURNEY 297 
 
 inky shadow of the pines, the Paspaheghs began to 
 divest themselves of this or that which they conceived 
 Okee might desire to possess. One flung into the 
 stream a handful of copper links, another the chaplet 
 of feathers from his head, a third a bracelet of blue 
 beads. The werowance drew out the arrows from a 
 gaudily painted and beaded quiver, stuck them into 
 his belt, and dropped the quiver into the water. 
 
 We landed, dragging the canoes into a covert of 
 overhanging bushes and fastening them there ; then 
 struck through the pines toward the rising ground, and 
 presently came to a large village, with many long 
 huts, and a great central lodge where dwelt the em- 
 perors when they came to Uttamussac. It was vacant 
 now, Opechancanough being no man knew where. 
 
 When the usual stately welcome had been extended 
 to the Paspaheghs, and when they had returned as 
 stately thanks, the werowance began a harangue for 
 which I furnished the matter. When he ceased to 
 speak a great acclamation and tumult arose, and I 
 thought they would scarce wait for the morrow. But 
 it was late, and their werowance and conjurer restrained 
 them. In the end the men drew off, and the yelling 
 of the children and the passionate cries of the women, 
 importunate for vengeance, were stilled. A guard 
 was placed around the vacant lodge, and we two 
 Englishmen were taken within and bound down to 
 great logs, such as the Indians use to roll against their 
 doors when they go from home. 
 
 There was revelry in the village ; for hours after 
 the night came, everywhere were bright firelight and 
 the rise and fall of laughter and song. The voices 
 of the women were musical, tender, and plaintive, 
 and yet they waited for the morrow as for a gala day. 
 
298 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 I thought of a woman who used to sing, softly and 
 sweetly, in the twilight at Weyanoke, in the firelight 
 at the minister's house. At last the noises ceased, the 
 light died away, and the village slept beneath a heaven 
 that seemed somewhat deaf and blind. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 IS WHICH NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE 
 
 A man who hath been a soldier and an adventurer 
 into far and strange countries must needs have faced 
 Death many times and in many guises. I had learned 
 to know that grim countenance, and to have no great 
 fear of it. And beneath the ugliness of the mask that 
 now presented itself there was only Death at last. I 
 was no babe to whimper at a sudden darkness, to 
 cry out against a curtain that a Hand chose to drop 
 between me and the life I had lived. Death frighted 
 me not, but when I thought of one whom I should 
 leave behind me I feared lest I should go mad. Had 
 this thing come to me a year before, I could have slept 
 the night through ; now — now — 
 
 I lay, bound to the log, before the open door of the 
 lodge, and, looking through it, saw the pines waving in 
 the night wind and the gleam of the river beneath the 
 stars, and saw her as plainly as though she had stood 
 there under the trees, in a flood of noon sunshine. 
 Now she was the Jocelyn Percy of Weyanoke, now of 
 the minister's house, now of a storm-tossed boat and 
 a pirate ship, now of the gaol at Jamestown. One 
 of my arms was free ; I could take from within my 
 doublet the little purple flower, and drop my face upon 
 the hand that held it. The bloom was quite withered, 
 and scalding tears would not give it life again. 
 
 The face that was now gay, now defiant, now pale 
 
300 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 and suffering, became steadfastly the face that had 
 leaned upon my breast in the Jamestown gaol, and 
 looked at me with a mournful brightness of love and 
 sorrow. Spring was in the land, and the summer 
 would come, but not to us. I stretched forth my hand 
 to the wife who was not there, and my heart lay 
 crushed within me. She had been my wife not a year ; 
 it was but the other day that I knew she loved me — 
 
 After a while the anguish lessened, and I lay, dull 
 and hopeless, thinking of trifling things, counting the 
 stars between the pines, Another slow hour, and, a 
 braver mood coming upon me, I thought of Diccon, 
 who was in that plight because of me, and spoke to 
 him, asking him how he did. He answered from the 
 other side of the lodge, but the words were scarcely 
 out of his mouth before our guard broke in upon us 
 commanding silence. Diccon cursed them, whereupon 
 a savage struck him across the head with the handle of 
 a tomahawk, stunning him for a time. As soon as I 
 heard him move I spoke again, to know if he were 
 much hurt ; when he had answered in the negative we 
 said no more. 
 
 It was now moonlight without the lodge and very 
 quiet. The night was far gone ; already we could 
 smell the morning, and it would come apace. Know- 
 ing the swiftness of that approach, and what the early 
 light would bring, I strove for a courage which should 
 be the steadfastness of the Christian, and not the 
 vainglorious pride of the heathen. If my thoughts 
 wandered, if her face would come athwart the verses 
 I tried to remember, the prayer I tried to frame, 
 perhaps He who made her lovely understood and 
 forgave. I said the prayer I used to say when I was 
 a child, and wished with all my heart for Jeremy. 
 
NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE 301 
 
 Suddenly, in the first gray dawn, as at a trumpet's 
 call, the village awoke. From the long, communal 
 houses poured forth men, women, and children ; fires 
 sprang up, dispersing the mist, and a commotion arose 
 through the length and breadth of the place. The 
 women made haste with their cooking, and bore maize 
 cakes and broiled fish to the warriors who sat on the 
 ground in front of the royal lodge, Diccon and I 
 were loosed, brought without, and allotted our share 
 of the food. We ate sitting side by side with our 
 captors, and Diccon, with a great cut across his head, 
 seized the Indian girl who brought him his platter 
 of fish, and pulling her down beside him kissed her 
 soundly, whereat the maid seemed not ill pleased and 
 the warriors laughed. 
 
 In the usual order of things, the meal over, tobacco 
 should have followed. But now not a pipe was lit, and 
 the women made haste to take away the platters and 
 to get all things in readiness. The werowance of the 
 Paspaheghs rose to his feet, cast aside his mantle, and 
 began to speak. He was a man in the prime of life, 
 of a great figure, strong as a Susquehannock, and a 
 savage cruel and crafty beyond measure. Over his 
 breast, stained with strange figures, hung a chain of 
 small bones, and the scalp locks of his enemies fringed 
 his moccasins. His tribe being the nearest to James- 
 town, and in frequent altercation with us, I had heard 
 him speak many times, and knew his power over the 
 passions of his people. No player could be more skill- 
 ful in gesture and expression, no poet more nice in the 
 choice of words, no general more quick to raise a wild 
 enthusiasm in the soldiers to whom he called. All 
 Indians are eloquent, but this savage was a leader 
 among them. 
 
302 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He spoke now to some effect. Commencing wit'n a 
 day in the moon of blossoms when for the first time 
 winged canoes brought white men into the Powhatan, 
 he came down through year after year to the present 
 hour, ceased, and stood in silence, regarding his tri- 
 umph. It was complete. In its wild excitement the 
 village was ready then and there to make an end of 
 us who had sprung to our feet and stood with our 
 backs against a great bay tree, facing the maddened 
 throng. So much the best for us would it be if the 
 tomahawks left the hands that were drawn back to 
 throw, if the knives that were flourished in our faces 
 should be buried to the haft in our hearts, that we 
 courted death, striving with word and look to infuriate 
 our executioners to the point of forgetting their former 
 purpose in the lust for instant vengeance. It was not 
 to be. The werowance spoke again, pointing to the 
 hills with the black houses upon them, dimly seen 
 through the mist. A moment, and the hands clenched 
 upon the weapons fell; another, and we were upon 
 the march. 
 
 As one man, the village swept through the forest 
 toward the rising ground that was but a few bowshots 
 away. The young men bounded ahead to make pre- 
 paration ; but the approved warriors and the old men 
 went more sedately, and with them walked Diccon and 
 I, as steady of step as they. The women and children 
 for the most part brought up the rear, though a few 
 impatient hags ran past us, calling the men tortoises 
 who would never reach the goal. One of these women 
 bore a great burning torch, the flame and smoke 
 streaming over her shoulder as she ran. Others car- 
 ried pieces of bark heaped with the slivers of pine of 
 which every wigwam has store 
 
NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE 303 
 
 The sun was yet to rise when we reached a hollow 
 amongst the low red hills. Above us were the three 
 long houses in which they keep the image of Okee and 
 the mummies of their kings. These temples faced 
 the crimson east, and the mist was yet about them. 
 Hideous priests, painted over with strange devices, the 
 stuffed skins of snakes knotted about their heads, in 
 their hands great rattles which they shook vehemently, 
 rushed through the doors and down the bank to meet 
 us, and began to dance around us, contorting their 
 bodies, throwing up their arms, and making a hellish 
 noise. Diccon stared at them, shrugged his shoulders, 
 and with a grunt of contempt sat down upon a fallen 
 tree to watch the enemy's manoeuvres. 
 
 The place was a natural amphitheatre, well fitted for 
 a spectacle. Those Indians who could not crowd into 
 the narrow level spread themselves over the rising 
 ground, and looked down with fierce laughter upon 
 the driving of the stakes which the young men brought. 
 The women and children scattered into the woods be- 
 yond the cleft between the hills, and returned bearing 
 great armfuls of dry branches. The hollow rang to 
 the exultation of the playgoers. Taunting laughter, 
 cries of savage triumph, the shaking of the rattles, and 
 the furious beating of two great drums combined to 
 make a clamor deafening to stupor. And above the 
 hollow was the angry reddening of the heavens, and 
 the white mist curling up like smoke. 
 
 I sat down beside Diccon on the log. Beneath it 
 there were growing tufts of a pale blue, slender- 
 stemmed flower. I plucked a handful of the blos- 
 soms, and thought how blue they would look against 
 the whiteness of her hand ; then dropped them in a 
 sudden shame that in that hour I was so little steadfast 
 
304 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 to things which were not of earth. I did not speak 
 to Diccon, nor he to me. There seemed no need of 
 speech. In the pandemonium to which the world had 
 narrowed, the one familiar, matter-of-course thing was 
 that he and I were to die together. 
 
 The stakes were in the ground and painted red, the 
 wood properly arranged. The Indian woman who 
 held the torch that was to light the pile ran past us, 
 whirling the wood around her head to make it blaze 
 more fiercely. As she went by she lowered the brand 
 and slowly dragged it across my wrists. The beating 
 of the drums suddenly ceased, and the loud voices died 
 away. To Indians no music is so sweet as the cry of 
 an enemy ; if they have wrung it from a brave man 
 who has striven to endure, so much the better. They 
 were very still now, because they would not lose so 
 much as a drawing in of the breath. 
 
 Seeing that they were coming for us, Diccon and I 
 rose to await them. When they were nearly upon us 
 I turned to him and held out my hand. 
 
 He made no motion to take it. Instead he stood 
 with fixed eyes looking past me and slightly upwards. 
 A sudden pallor had overspread the bronze of his face. 
 " There 's a verse somewhere," he said in a quiet voice, 
 — "it 's in the Bible, I think, — I heard it once long 
 ago, before I was lost : ' / will look unto the hills 
 from whence cometh my help ' — Look, sir ! " 
 
 I turned and followed with my eyes the pointing of 
 his finger. In front of us the bank rose steeply, bare 
 to the summit, — no trees, only the red earth, with 
 here and there a low growth of leafless bushes. Be- 
 hind it was the eastern sky. Upon the crest, against 
 the sunrise, stood the figure of a man, — an Indian. 
 From one shoulder hung an otterskin, and a great bow 
 
NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE 306 
 
 was in his hand. His limbs were bare, and as he 
 stood motionless, bathed in the rosy light, he looked 
 like some bronze god, perfect from the beaded moc- 
 casins to the calm, uneager face below the feathered 
 headdress. He had but just risen above the brow of 
 the hill ; the Indians in the hollow saw him not. 
 
 While Diccon and I stared our tormentors were 
 upon us. They came a dozen or more at once, and 
 we had no weapons. Two hung upon my arms, while 
 a third laid hold of my doublet to rend it from me. 
 An arrow whistled over our heads and stuck into a 
 tree behind us. The hands that clutched me dropped, 
 and with a yell the busy throng turned their faces in 
 the direction whence had come the arrow. 
 
 The Indian who had sent that dart before him was 
 descending the bank. An instant's breathless hush 
 while they stared at the solitary figure ; then the dark 
 forms bent forward for the rush straightened, and there 
 arose a loud cry of recognition. " The son of Pow- 
 hatan ! The son of Powhatan ! " 
 
 He came down the hillside to the level of the hol- 
 low, the authority of his look and gesture making way 
 for him through the crowd that surged this way and 
 that, and walked up to us where we stood, hemmed 
 round, but no longer in the clutch of our enemies. 
 " It was a very big wolf this time, Captain Percy," he 
 said. 
 
 " You were never more welcome, Nantauquas," I 
 answered, — " unless, indeed, the wolf intends making 
 a meal of three instead of two." 
 
 He smiled. " The wolf will go hungry to-day." 
 Taking my hand in his he turned to his frowning 
 countrymen. " Men of the Pamunkeys ! " he cried. 
 " This is Nantauquas' friend, and so the friend of all 
 
306 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 the tribes that called Powhatan ' father.' The fire is 
 not for him nor for his servant ; keep it for the Mo- 
 nacans and for the dogs of the Long House ! The 
 calumet is for the friend of Nantauquas, and the dance 
 of the maidens, the noblest buck and the best of the 
 weirs " — 
 
 There was a surging forward of the Indians, and a 
 fierce murmur of dissent. The werowance, standing 
 out from the throng, lifted his voice. " There was a 
 time," he cried, " when Nantauquas was the panther 
 crouched upon the bough above the leader of the 
 herd ; now Nantauquas is a tame panther and rolls at 
 the white men's feet ! There was a time when the 
 word of the son of Powhatan weighed more than the 
 lives of many dogs such as these, but now I know not 
 why we should put out the fire at his command ! He 
 is war chief no longer, for Opechancanough will have 
 no tame panther to lead the tribes. Opechancanough 
 is our head, and Opechancanough kindleth a fire in- 
 deed ! We will give to this one what fuel we choose, 
 and to-night Nantauquas may look for the bones of 
 the white men ! " 
 
 He ended, and a great clamor arose. The Paspa- 
 heghs would have cast themselves upon us again but 
 for a sudden action of the young chief, who had stood 
 motionless, with raised head and unmoved face, during 
 the werowance's bitter speech. Now he flung up his 
 hand, and in it was a bracelet of gold carved and 
 twisted like a coiled snake and set with a green stone. 
 I had never seen the toy before, but evidently others 
 had done so. The excited voices fell, and the Indians, 
 Pamunkeys and Paspaheghs alike, stood as though 
 turned to stone. 
 
 Nantauquas smiled coldly. " This day hath Ope- 
 
NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE 307 
 
 chancanough made me war chief again. We have 
 smoked the peace pipe tog^Sief^- my father's brother 
 and I — in the starlight, sitting before his lodge, with 
 the wide marshes and the river dark at our feet. 
 Singing birds in the forest have been many ; evil 
 tales have they told; Opechancanough has stopped 
 his ears against their false singing. My friends are 
 his friends, my brother is his brother, my word is his 
 word : witness the armlet that hath no like ; that 
 Opechancanough brought with him when he came 
 from no man knows where to the land of the Powha- 
 tans, many Huskanawings ago ; that no white men but 
 these have ever seen. Opechancanough is at hand ; he 
 comes through the forest with his two hundred war- 
 riors that are as tall as Susquehannocks, and as brave 
 as the children of Wahunsonacock. He comes to the 
 temples to pray to Kiwassa for a great hunting. Will 
 you, when you lie at his feet, that he ask you, ' Where 
 is the friend of my friend, of my war chief, of the 
 Panther who is one with me again ? ' " 
 
 There came a long, deep breath from the Indians, 
 then a silence, in which they fell back, slowly and 
 sullenly ; whipped hounds, but with the will to break 
 that leash of fear. 
 
 " Hark ! " said Nantauquas, smiling. " I hear 
 Opechancanough and his warriors coming over the 
 leaves." 
 
 The noise of many footsteps was indeed audible, 
 coming toward the hollow from the woods beyond. 
 With a burst of cries, the priests and the conjurer 
 whirled away to bear the welcome of Okee to the 
 royal worshiper, and at their heels went the chief men 
 of the Pamunkeys. The werowance of the Paspa- 
 heghs was one that sailed with the wind ; he listened 
 
308 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 to the deepening sound, and glanced at the son of 
 Powhatan where he stood, calm and confident, then 
 smoothed his own countenance and made a most pa- 
 cific speech, in which all the blame of the late proceed- 
 ings was laid upon the singing birds. When he had 
 done speaking, the young men tore the stakes from 
 the earth and threw them into a thicket, while the 
 women plucked apart the newly kindled fire and flung 
 the brands into a little near-by stream, where they 
 went out in a cloud of hissing steam. 
 
 I turned to the Indian who had wrought this mira* 
 cle. " Art sure it is not a dream, Nantauquas ? " I 
 said. " I think that Opechancanough would not lift 
 a finger to save me from all the deaths the tribes 
 could invent." 
 
 " Opechancanough is very wise," he answered 
 quietly. " He says that now the English will believe 
 in his love indeed when they see that he holds dear 
 even one who might be called his enemy, who hath 
 spoken against him at the Englishmen's council fire. 
 He says that for five suns Captain Percy shall feast 
 with Opechancanough, and that then he shall be sent 
 back free to Jamestown. He thinks that then Cap- 
 tain Percy will not speak against him any more, call- 
 ing his love to the white men only words with no good 
 deeds behind." 
 
 He spoke simply, out of the nobility of his nature, 
 believing his own speech. I that was older, and had 
 more knowledge of men and the masks that they 
 wear, was but half deceived. My belief in the hatred 
 of the dark Emperor was not shaken, and I looked 
 yet to find the drop of poison within this honey flower. 
 How poisoned was that bloom God knows I could not 
 guess! 
 
NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE 309 
 
 ** When you were missed, three suns ago," Nantau* 
 quas went on, " I and my brother tracked you to the 
 hut beside the forest, where we found only the dead 
 panther. There we struck the trail of the Paspa- 
 heghs ; but presently we came to running water, and 
 the trail was gone." 
 
 " We walked up the bed of the stream for half the 
 night," I said. 
 
 The Indian nodded. " I know. My brother went 
 back to Jamestown for men and boats and guns to go 
 to the Paspahegh village and up the Powhatan. He 
 was wise with the wisdom of the white men, but I, 
 who needed no gun, and who would not fight against 
 my own people, I stepped into the stream and walked 
 up it until past the full sun power. Then I found a 
 broken twig and the print of a moccasin, half hidden 
 by a bush, overlooked when the other prints were 
 smoothed away. I left the stream and followed the 
 trail until it was broken again. I looked for it no 
 more then, for I knew that the Paspaheghs had turned 
 their faces toward Uttamussac, and that they would 
 make a fire where many others had been made, in the 
 hollow below the three temples. Instead I went with 
 speed to seek Opechancanough. Yesterday, when the 
 sun was low, I found him, sitting in his lodge above 
 the marshes and the colored river. We smoked the 
 peace pipe together, and I am his war chief again. 
 I asked for the green stone, that I might show it to 
 the Paspaheghs for a sign. He gave it, but he willed 
 to come to Uttamussac with me." 
 
 " I owe you my life," I said, with my hand upon 
 his. " I and Diccon " — 
 
 What I would have said he put aside with a fine 
 gesture. ' 6 Captain Percy is my friend. My brother 
 
310 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 loves him, and he was kind to Matoax when she was 
 brought prisoner to Jamestown. I am glad that I 
 could pull off this wolf." 
 
 " Tell me one thing," I asked. " Before you left 
 Jamestown, had you heard aught of my wife or of my 
 enemy ? " 
 
 He shook his head. " At sunrise, the commander 
 came to rouse my brother, crying out that you had 
 broken gaol and were nowhere to be found, and that 
 the man you hate was lying within the guest house, 
 sorely torn by some beast of the forest. My brother 
 and I followed your trail at once ; the town was scarce 
 awake when we left it behind us, — and I did not 
 return." 
 
 By this we three were alone in the hollow, for all 
 the savages, men and women, had gone forth to meet 
 the Indian whose word was law from the falls of the far 
 west to the Chesapeake. The sun now rode above the 
 low hills, pouring its gold into the hollow and bright- 
 ening all the world besides. The little stream flashed 
 diamonds, and the carven devils upon the black houses 
 above us were frightful no longer. There was not a 
 menace anywhere from the cloudless skies to the sweet 
 and plaintive chant to Kiwassa, sung by women and 
 floating to us from the woods beyond the hollow. 
 The singing grew nearer, and the rustling of the leaves 
 beneath many feet more loud and deep ; then all noise 
 ceased, and Opechancanough entered the hollow alone. 
 An eagle feather was thrust through his scalp lock ; 
 over his naked breast, that was neither painted nor 
 pricked into strange figures, hung a triple row of 
 pearls ; his mantle was woven of bluebird feathers, as 
 soft and sleek as satin. The face of this barbarian 
 was dark, cold, and impassive as death. Behind that 
 
NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE 311 
 
 changeless mask, as in a safe retreat, the supersubtle 
 devil that was the man might plot destruction and 
 plan the laying of dreadful mines. He had dignity 
 and courage, — no man denied him that. I suppose 
 he thought that he and his had wrongs : God knows ! 
 perhaps they had. But if ever we were hard or unjust 
 in our dealings with the savages, — I say not that 
 this was the case, — at least we were not treacherous 
 and dealt not in Judas kisses. 
 
 I stepped forward, and met him on the spot where 
 the fire had been. For a minute neither spoke. It 
 was true that I had striven against him many a time, 
 and I knew that he knew it. It was also true that 
 without his aid Nantauquas could not have rescued us 
 from that dire peril. And it was again the truth that 
 an Indian neither forgives nor forgets. He was my 
 saviour, and I knew that mercy had been shown for 
 some dark reason which I could not divine. Yet I 
 owed him thanks, and gave them as shortly and sim- 
 ply as I could. 
 
 He heard me out with neither liking nor disliking 
 nor any other emotion written upon his face ; but 
 when I had finished, as though he suddenly bethought 
 himself, he smiled and held out his hand, white- 
 man fashion. Now, when a man's lips widen I look 
 into his eyes. The eyes of Opechancanough were as 
 fathomless as a pool at midnight, and as devoid of 
 mirth or friendliness as the staring orbs of the carven 
 imps upon the temple corners. 
 
 " Singing birds have lied to Captain Percy," he 
 said, and his voice was like his eyes. " Opechanca- 
 nough thinks that Captain Percy will never listen to 
 them again. The chief of the Powhatans is a lover 
 of the white men, of the English, and of other white 
 
312 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 men, — if there are others. He would call the Eng- 
 lishmen his brothers, and be taught of them how to 
 rule, and who to pray to " — 
 
 " Let Opechancanough go with me to-day to James- 
 town," I said. " He hath the wisdom of the woods ; 
 let him come and gain that of the town." 
 
 The Emperor smiled again. " I will come to James- 
 town soon, but not to-day nor to-morrow nor the next 
 day. And Captain Percy must smoke the peace pipe 
 in my lodge above the Pamunkey, and watch my 
 young men and maidens dance, and eat with me five 
 days. Then he may go back to Jamestown with 
 presents for the great white father there, and with 
 a message that Opechancanough is coming soon to 
 learn of the white men." 
 
 I could have gnashed my teeth at that delay when 
 she must think me dead, but it would have been the 
 madness of folly to show the impatience which I felt. 
 I too could smile with my lips when occasion drove, 
 and drink a bitter draught as though my soul delighted 
 in it. Blithe enough to all seeming, and with as few 
 inward misgivings as the case called for, Diccon and 
 I went with the subtle Emperor and the young chief 
 he had bound to himself once more, and with their 
 fierce train, back to that village which we had never 
 thought to see again. A day and a night we stayed 
 there ; then Opechancanough sent away the Paspa- 
 heghs, — where we knew not, — and taking us with 
 him went to his own village above the great marshes 
 of the Pamunkey. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 IN WHICH WE AEE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR 
 
 I had before this spent days among the Indians, 
 on voyages of discovery, as conqueror, as negotiator 
 for food, exchanging blue beads for corn and turkeys. 
 Other Englishmen had been with me. Knowing those 
 with whom we dealt for sly and fierce heathen, friends 
 to-day, to-morrow deadly foes, we kept our muskets 
 ready and our eyes and ears open, and, what with the 
 danger and the novelty and the bold wild life, man- 
 aged to extract some merriment as well as profit from 
 these visits. It was different now. 
 
 Day after day I ate my heart out in that cursed 
 village. The feasting and the hunting and the tri- 
 umph, the wild songs and wilder dances, the fantastic 
 mummeries, the sudden rages, the sudden laughter, 
 the great fires with their rings of painted warriors, 
 the sleepless sentinels, the wide marshes that could 
 not be crossed by night, the leaves that rustled so 
 loudly beneath the lightest footfall, the monotonous 
 days, the endless nights when I thought of her grief, 
 of her peril, maybe, — it was an evil dream, and for 
 my own pleasure I could not wake too soon. 
 
 Should we ever wake? Should we not sink from 
 that dream without pause into a deeper sleep whence 
 there would be no waking ? It was a question that I 
 asked myself each morning, half looking to find an- 
 other hollow between the hills before the night should 
 
314 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 fall. The night fell, and there was no change in the 
 dream. 
 
 I will allow that the dark Emperor to whom we 
 were so much beholden gave us courteous keeping. 
 The best of the hunt was ours, the noblest fish, the 
 most delicate roots. The skins beneath which we 
 slept were fine and soft ; the women waited upon us, 
 and the old men and warriors held with us much 
 stately converse, sitting beneath the budding trees 
 with the blue tobacco smoke curling above our heads. 
 We were alive and sound of limb, well treated and 
 with the promise of release ; we might have waited, 
 seeing that wait we must, in some measure of content. 
 We did not so. There was a horror in the air. From 
 the marshes that were growing green, from the slug- 
 gish river, from the rotting leaves and cold black 
 earth and naked forest, it rose like an exhalation. 
 We knew not what it was, but we breathed it in, and 
 it went to the marrow of our bones. 
 
 Opechancanough we rarely saw, though we were 
 bestowed so near to him that his sentinels served for 
 ours. Like some god, he kept within his lodge with 
 the winding passage, and the hanging mats between 
 him and the world without. At other times, issuing 
 from that retirement, he would stride away into the 
 forest. Picked men went with him, and they were 
 gone for hours ; but when they returned they bore 
 no trophies, brute or human. What they did we 
 could not guess. We might have had much comfort 
 in Nantauquas, but the morning after our arrival in 
 this village the Emperor sent him upon an embassy 
 to the Rappahannocks, and when for the fourth time 
 the forest stood black against the sunset he had not 
 returned. If escape had been possible, we would not 
 
WE ARE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR 315 
 
 have awaited the doubtful fulfillment of that promise 
 made to us below the Uttamussac temples. But the 
 vigilance of the Indians never slept ; they watched us 
 like hawks, night and day. And the dry leaves under- 
 foot would not hold their peace, and there were the 
 marshes to cross and the river. 
 
 Thus four days dragged themselves by, and in the 
 early morning of the fifth, when we came from our 
 wigwam, it was to find Nantauquas sitting by the fire, 
 magnificent in the paint and trappings of the ambas- 
 sador, motionless as a piece of bronze, and apparently 
 quite unmindful of the admiring glances of the women 
 who knelt about the fire preparing our breakfast. 
 When he saw us he rose and came to meet us, and I 
 embraced him, I was so glad to see him. " The Rap- 
 pahannocks feasted me long," he said. " I was afraid 
 that Captain Percy would be gone to Jamestown be- 
 fore I was back upon the Pamunkey." 
 
 " Shall I ever see Jamestown again, Nantauquas ? " 
 I demanded. " I have my doubts." 
 
 He looked me full in the eyes, and there was no 
 doubting the candor of his own. " You go with the 
 next sunrise," he answered. " Opechancanough has 
 given me his word." 
 
 " I am glad to hear it," I said. " Why have we 
 been kept at all ? Why did he not free us five days 
 agone ? " 
 
 He shook his head. " I do not know. Opechanca- 
 nough has many thoughts which he shares with no 
 man. But now he will send you with presents for the 
 Governor, and with messages of his love to the white 
 men. There will be a great feast to-day, and to-night 
 the young men and maidens will dance before you. 
 Then in the morning you will go." 
 
316 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Will you not come with us ? " I asked. " You 
 are ever welcome amongst us, Nantauquas, both for 
 your sister's sake and for your own. Rolfe will re- 
 joice to have you with him again ; he ever grudgeth 
 you to the forest." 
 
 He shook his head again. " Nantauquas, the son of 
 Powhatan, hath had much talk with himself lately," he 
 said simply. " The white men's ways have seemed 
 very good to him, and the God of the white men he 
 knows to be greater than Okee, and to be good and 
 tender ; not like Okee, who sucks the blood of the 
 children. He remembers Matoax, too, and how she 
 loved and cared for the white men and would weep 
 when danger threatened them. And Rolfe is his 
 brother and his teacher. But Opechancanough is his 
 king, and the red men are his people, and the forest is 
 his home. If, because he loved Rolfe, and because 
 the ways of the white men seemed to him better than 
 his own ways, he forgot these things, he did wrong, 
 and the One over All frowns upon him. Now he has 
 come back to his home again, to the forest and the 
 hunting and the warpath, to his king and his people. 
 He will be again the panther crouching upon the 
 bough " — 
 
 " Above the white men ? " 
 
 He gazed at me in silence, a shadow upon his face. 
 " Above the Monacans," he answered slowly. " Why 
 did Captain Percy say ' above the white men ' ? Ope- 
 chancanough and the English have buried the hatchet 
 forever, and the smoke of the peace pipe will never 
 fade from the air. Nantauquas meant ' above the 
 Monacans or the Long House dogs.' " 
 
 I put my hand upon his shoulder. " I know you 
 did, brother of Rolfe by nature if not by blood ! For- 
 
WE ARE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR 317 
 
 get what I said ; it was without thought or meaning. 
 If we go indeed to-morrow, I shall be loath to leave 
 you behind ; and yet, were I in your place, I should 
 do as you are doing." 
 
 The shadow left his face and he drew himself up. 
 " Is it what you call faith and loyalty and like a 
 knight?" he demanded, with a touch of eagerness 
 breaking through the slowness and gravity with which 
 an Indian speaks. 
 
 " Yea," I made reply. " I think you good knight 
 and true, Nantauquas, and my friend, moreover, who 
 saved my life." 
 
 His smile was like his sister's, quick and very bright, 
 and leaving behind it a most entire gravity. Together 
 we sat down by the fire and ate of the sylvan break- 
 fast, with shy brown maidens to serve us and with the 
 sunshine streaming down upon us through the trees 
 that were growing faintly green. It was a thing to 
 smile at to see how the Indian girls manoeuvred to 
 give the choicest meat, the most delicate maize cakes, 
 to the young war chief, and to see how quietly he 
 turned aside their benevolence. The meal over, he 
 went to divest himself of his red and white paint, of 
 the stuffed hawk and strings of copper that formed his 
 headdress, of his gorgeous belt and quiver and his 
 mantle of raccoon skins, while Diccon and I sat still 
 before our wigwam, smoking, and reckoning the dis- 
 tance to Jamestown and the shortest time in which we 
 could cover it. 
 
 When we had sat there for an hour the old men and 
 the warriors came to visit us, and the smoking must 
 commence all over again. The women laid mats in a 
 great half circle, and each savage took his seat with per- 
 fect breeding ; that is, in absolute silence and with a 
 
318 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 face like u stone. The peace paint was upon them 
 all, — red, or red and white ; they sat and looked at the 
 ground until I had made the speech of welcome. Soon 
 the air was dense with the fragrant smoke ; in the 
 thick blue haze the sweep of painted figures had the 
 seeming of some fantastic dream. An old man arose 
 and made a long and touching speech with much refer- 
 ence to calumets and buried hatchets. When he had 
 finished a chief talked of Opechancanough's love for 
 the English, " high as the stars, deep as Popogusso, 
 wide as from the sunrise to the sunset," adding that 
 the death of Nemattanow last year and the troubles 
 over the hunting grounds had kindled in the breasts of 
 the Indians no desire for revenge. With which highly 
 probable statement he made an end, and all sat in 
 silence looking at me and waiting for my contribution 
 of honeyed words. These Pamunkeys, living at a dis- 
 tance from the settlements, had but little English to 
 their credit, and the learning of the Paspaheghs was 
 not much greater. I sat and repeated to them the 
 better part of the seventh canto of the second book of 
 Master Spenser's "Faery Queen." Then I told them 
 the story of the Moor of Venice, and ended by relating 
 Smith's tale of the three Turks' heads. It all an- 
 swered the purpose to admiration. When at length 
 they went away to change their paint for the coming 
 feast Diccon and I laughed at that foolery as though 
 there were none beside us who could juggle with words. 
 We were as light-hearted as children — God forgive 
 us! 
 
 The day wore on, with relay after relay of food 
 which we must taste at least, with endless smoking 
 of pipes and speeches that must be listened to and 
 answered. When evening came and our entertainers 
 
WE AKE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR 319 
 
 drew off to prepare for the dance, they left us as 
 wearied as by a long day's march. 
 
 The wind had been high during the day, but with 
 the sunset it sank to a desolate murmur. The sky 
 wore the strange crimson of the past year at Wey- 
 anoke. Against that sea of color the pines were 
 drawn in ink, and beneath it the winding, threadlike 
 creeks that pierced the marshes had the look of spilt 
 blood moving slowly and heavily to join the river that 
 was black where the pines shadowed it, red where the 
 light touched it. From the marsh arose the cry of 
 some great bird that made its home there ; it had a 
 lonely and a boding sound, like a trumpet blown above 
 the dead. The color died into an ashen gray and the 
 air grew cold, with a heaviness beside that dragged 
 at the very soul. Diccon shivered violently, turned 
 restlessly upon the log that served him as settle, and 
 began to mutter to himself. 
 
 " Art cold ? " I asked. 
 
 He shook his head. " Something walked over my 
 grave," he said. " I would give all the pohickory 
 that was ever brewed by heathen for a toss of aqua 
 vita? ! " 
 
 In the centre of the village rose a great heap of logs 
 and dry branches, built during the day by the women 
 and children. When the twilight fell and the owls 
 began to hoot this pile was fired, and lit the place 
 from end to end. The scattered wigwams, the scaf- 
 folding where the fish were dried, the tall pines and 
 wide-branching mulberries, the trodden grass, — all 
 flashed into sight as the flame roared up to the top- 
 most withered bough. The village glowed like a lamp 
 set in the dead blackness of marsh and forest. Ope- 
 chancanough came from the forest with a score of 
 
320 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 warriors behind him, and stopped beside me. I rose 
 to greet him, as was decent ; for he was an Emperor, 
 albeit a savage and a pagan. " Tell the English that 
 Opechancanough grows old," he said. " The years 
 that once were as light upon him as the dew upon the 
 maize are now hailstones to beat him back to the earth 
 whence he came. His arm is not swift to strike and 
 strong as it once was. He is old ; the warpath and 
 the scalp dance please him no longer. He would die 
 at peace with all men. Tell the English this ; tell 
 them also that Opechancanough knows that they are 
 good and just, that they do not treat men whose color 
 is not their own like babes, fooling them with toys, 
 thrusting them out of their path when they grow trou- 
 blesome. The land is wide and the hunting grounds 
 are many. Let the red men who were here as many 
 moons ago as there are leaves in summer and the 
 white men who came yesterday dwell side by side 
 in peace, sharing the maize fields and the weirs and 
 the hunting grounds together." He waited not for 
 my answer, but passed on, and there was no sign of 
 age in his stately figure and his slow, firm step. I 
 watched him with a frown until the darkness of his 
 lodge had swallowed up him and his warriors, and 
 mistrusted him for a cold and subtle devil. 
 
 Suddenly, as we sat staring at the fire we were 
 beset by a band of maidens, coming out of the woods, 
 painted, with antlers upon their heads and pine 
 branches in their hands. They danced about us, now 
 advancing until the green needles met above our 
 heads, now retreating until there was a space of turf 
 between us. Their slender limbs gleamed in the fire- 
 light ; they moved with grace, keeping time to a plain- 
 tive song, now raised by the whole choir, now fallen 
 
WE ARE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR 321 
 
 to a single voice. Pocahontas had danced thus before 
 the English many a time. I thought of the little 
 maid, of her great wondering eyes and her piteous, 
 untimely death, of how loving she was to Rolfe and 
 how happy they had been in their brief wedded life. 
 It had bloomed like a rose, as fair and as early fallen, 
 with only a memory of past sweetness. Death was a 
 coward, passing by men whose trade it was to out- 
 brave him, and striking at the young and lovely and 
 innocent. . . . 
 
 We were tired with all the mummery of the day ; 
 moreover, every fibre of our souls had been strained 
 to meet the hours that had passed since we left the 
 gaol at Jamestown. The elation we had felt earlier 
 in the day was all gone. Now, the plaintive song, 
 the swaying figures, the red light beating against the 
 trees, the blackness of the enshrouding forest, the 
 low, melancholy wind, — all things seemed strange, 
 and yet deadly old, as though we had seen and heard 
 them since the beginning of the world. All at once 
 a fear fell upon me, causeless and unreasonable, but 
 weighing upon my heart like a stone. She was in a 
 palisaded town, under the Governor's protection, with 
 my friends about her and my enemy lying sick, unable 
 to harm her. It was I, not she, that was in danger. 
 I laughed at myself, but my heart was heavy, and I 
 was in a fever to be gone. 
 
 The Indian girls danced more and more swiftly, 
 and their song changed, becoming gay and shrill and 
 sweet. Higher and higher rang the notes, faster and 
 faster moved the dark limbs ; then, quite suddenly, 
 song and motion ceased together. They who had 
 danced with the abandonment of wild priestesses to 
 some wild god were again but shy brown Indian maids 
 
322 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 who went a,nd set them meekly down upon the g?ass 
 beneath the trees. From the darkness now came a 
 burst of savage cries only les-* appalling than the war 
 whoop itself. In a moment the men of the village 
 had rushed from the shadow of the trees into the 
 broad, firelit space before us. Now they circled 
 around us, now around the fire ; now each man danced 
 and stamped and muttered to himself. For the most 
 part they were painted red, but some were white from 
 head to heel, — statues come to life, — while others 
 had first oiled their bodies, then plastered them over 
 with small bright-colored feathers. The tall head- 
 dresses made giants of them all; as they leaped and 
 danced in the glare of the fire they had a fiendish 
 look. They sang, too, but the air was rude, and 
 broken by dreadful cries. Out of a hut behind us 
 burst two or three priests, the conjurer, and a score 
 or more of old men. They had Indian drums upon 
 which they beat furiously, and long pipes made of 
 reeds which gave forth no uncertain sound. Fixed 
 upon a pole and borne high above them was the image 
 of their Okee, a hideous thing of stuffed skins and 
 rattling chains of copper. When they had joined 
 themselves to the throng in the firelight the clamor 
 became deafening. Some one piled on more logs, and 
 the place grew light as day. Opechancanough was 
 not there, nor Nantauquas. 
 
 Diccon and I watched that uncouth spectacle, that 
 Virginian masque, as we had watched many another 
 one, wdth disgust and weariness. It would last, we 
 knew, for the better part of the night. It was in our 
 honor, and for a while we must stay and testify our 
 pleasure ; but after a time, when they had sung and 
 danced themselves into oblivion of our presence, we 
 
WE AKE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR 323 
 
 might retire, and leave the very old men, the women, 
 and the children sole spectators. We waited for that 
 relief with impatience, though we showed it not to 
 those who pressed about us. 
 
 Time passed, and the noise deepened and the dan- 
 cing became more frantic. The dancers struck at one 
 another as they leaped and whirled, the sweat rolled 
 from their bodies, and from their lips came hoarse, 
 animal-like cries. The fire, ever freshly fed, roared 
 and crackled, mocking the silent stars. The pines 
 were bi-onze-red, the woods beyond a dead black. All 
 noises of marsh and forest were lost in the scream of 
 the pipes, the wild yelling, and the beating of the 
 drums. 
 
 From the ranks of the women beneath the reddened 
 pines rose shrill laughter and applause as they sat or 
 knelt, bent forward, watching the dancers. One girl 
 alone watched not them, but us. She stood somewhat 
 back of her companions, one slim brown hand touch- 
 ing the trunk of a tree, one brown foot advanced, her 
 attitude that of one who waits but for a signal to be 
 gone. Now and then she glanced impatiently at the 
 wheeling figures, or at the old men and the few war- 
 riors who took no part in the masque, but her eyes 
 always came back to us. She had been among the 
 maidens who danced before us earlier in the night ; 
 when they rested beneath the trees she had gone away, 
 and the night was much older when I marked her 
 again, coming out of the firelit distance back to the 
 fire and her dusky mates. It was soon after this that 
 I became aware that she must have some reason for 
 her anxious scrutiny, some message to deliver or warn- 
 ing to give. Once when I made a slight motion as if 
 to go to her, she shook her head and laid her finger 
 upon her lips. 
 
324 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 A dancer fell from sheer exhaustion, another and 
 another, and warriors from the dozen or more seated 
 at our right began to take the places of the fallen. 
 The priests shook their rattles, and made themselves 
 dizzy with bending and whirling about their Okee ; 
 the old men, too, though they sat like statues, thought 
 only of the dance, and of how they themselves had 
 excelled, long ago when they were young. 
 
 I rose, and making my way to the werowance of the 
 village where he sat with his eyes fixed upon a young 
 Indian, his son, who bade fair to outlast all others in 
 that wild contest, told him that I was wearied and 
 would go to my hut, I and my servant, to rest for the 
 few hours that yet remained of the night. He listened 
 dreamily, his eyes upon the dancing Indian, but made 
 offer to escort me thither. I pointed out to him that 
 my quarters were not fifty yards away, in the broad 
 firelight, in sight of them all, and that it were a pity 
 to take him or any others from the contemplation of 
 that whirling Indian, so strong and so brave that he 
 would surely one day lead the war parties. 
 
 After a moment he acquiesced, and Diccon and I, 
 quietly and yet with some ostentation, so as to avoid 
 all appearance of stealing away, left the press of sav- 
 ages and began to cross the firelit turf between them 
 and our lodge. When we had gone fifty paces I 
 glanced over my shoulder and saw that the Indian 
 maid no longer stood where we had last seen her, be- 
 neath the pines. A little farther on we caught a 
 glimpse of her winding in and out among a row of 
 trees to our left. The trees ran past our lodge. When 
 we had reached its entrance we paused and looked 
 back to the throng we had left. Every back seemed 
 turned to us, every eye intent upon the leaping figures 
 
WE ARE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR 325 
 
 around the great fire. Swiftly and quietly we walked 
 across the bit of even ground to the friendly trees, 
 and found ourselves in a thin strip of shadow between 
 the light of the great fire we had left and that of a 
 lesser one burning redly before the Emperor's lodge. 
 Beneath the trees, waiting for us, was the Indian maid, 
 with her light form, and large, shy eyes, and finger 
 upon her lips. She would not speak or tarry, but 
 flitted before us as dusk and noiseless as a moth, and 
 we followed her into the darkness beyond the firelight, 
 well-nigh to the line of sentinels. A wigwam, larger 
 than common and shadowed by trees, rose in our path ; 
 the girl, gliding in front of us, held aside the mats 
 that curtained the entrance. We hesitated a moment, 
 then stooped and entered the place. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 IN WHICH MT FKIEND BECOMES MY FOE 
 
 In the centre of the wigwam the customary fire 
 burned clear and bright, showing the white mats, the 
 dressed skins, the implements of war hanging upon 
 the bark walls, — all the usual furniture of an Indian 
 dwelling, — and showing also Nantauquas standing 
 against the stripped trunk of a pine that pierced the 
 wigwam from floor to roof. The fire was between us. 
 He stood so rigid, at his full height, with folded arms 
 and head held high, and his features were so blank 
 and still, so forced and frozen, as it were, into com- 
 posure, that, with the red light beating upon him 
 and the thin smoke curling above his head, he had 
 the look of a warrior tied to the stake. 
 
 "Nantauquas ! " I exclaimed, and striding past the 
 fire would have touched him but that with a slight 
 and authoritative motion of the hand he kept me back. 
 Otherwise there was no change in his position or in 
 the dead calm of his face. 
 
 The Indian maid had dropped the mat at the en- 
 trance, and if she waited, waited without in the dark- 
 ness. Diccon, now staring at the young chief, now 
 eyeing the weapons upon the wall with all a lover's 
 passion, kept near the doorway. Through the thick- 
 ness of the bark and woven twigs the wild cries and 
 singing came to us somewhat faintly ; beneath that 
 distant noise could be heard the wind in the trees and 
 the soft fall of the burning pine. 
 
IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE 327 
 
 " Well ! " I asked at last. " What is the matter, 
 my friend?" 
 
 For a full minute he made no answer, and when he 
 did speak his voice matched his face. 
 
 " My friend " he said, " I am going to show myself 
 a friend indeed to the English, to the strangers who 
 were not content with their own hunting grounds be- 
 yond the great salt water. When I have done this, I 
 do not know that Captain Percy will call me ' friend ' 
 again." 
 
 " You were wont to speak plainly, Nantauquas," I 
 answered him. " I am not fond of riddles." 
 
 Again he waited, as though he found speech diffi- 
 cult. I stared at him in amazement, he was so 
 changed in so short a time. 
 
 He spoke at last : " When the dance is over, and 
 the fires are low, and the sunrise is at hand, then will 
 Opechancanough come to you to bid you farewell. 
 He will give you the pearls that he wears about his 
 neck for a present to the Governor, and a bracelet for 
 yourself. Also he will give you three men for a guard 
 through the forest. He has messages of love to send 
 the white men, and he would send them by you who 
 were his enemy and his captive. So all the white 
 men shall believe in his love." 
 
 " Well," I said dryly as he paused. " I will take 
 his messages. What next ? " 
 
 " Those are the words of Opechancanough. Now 
 listen to the words of Nantauquas, the son of Wa- 
 hunsonacock, a war chief of the Powhatans. There 
 are two sharp knives there, hanging beneath the bow 
 and the quiver and the shield. Take them and hide 
 them." 
 
 The words were scarcely out of his mouth before 
 
328 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Diccon had the two keen English blades, i took the 
 one he offered me, and hid it in my doublet. 
 
 "So we go armed, Nantauquas," I said. "Love 
 and peace and goodwill consort not with such toys." 
 
 " You may want them," he went on, with no change 
 in his low, measured tones. " If you see aught in the 
 forest that you should not see, if they think you know 
 more than you are meant to know, then those three, 
 who have knives and tomahawks, are to kill you, whom 
 they believe unarmed." 
 
 " See aught that we should not see, know more than 
 we are meant to know?" I said. "To the point, 
 friend." 
 
 " They will go slowly, too, through the forest to 
 Jamestown, stopping to eat and to sleep. For them 
 there is no need to run like the stag with the hunter 
 behind him." 
 
 " Then we should make for Jamestown as for life," 
 I said, " not sleeping or eating or making pause ? " 
 
 " Yea," he replied, " if you would not die, you and 
 all your people." 
 
 In the silence of the hut the fire crackled, and the 
 branches of the trees outside, bent by the wind, made 
 a grating sound against the bark roof. 
 
 " How die ? " I asked at last. " Speak out ! " 
 
 " Die by the arrow and the tomahawk," he an- 
 swered, — " yea, and by the guns you have given the 
 red men. To-morrow's sun, and the next, and the 
 next, — three suns, — and the tribes will fall upon 
 the English. At the same hour, when the men are in 
 the fields and the women and children are in the 
 houses, they will strike, — Kecoughtans, Paspaheghs, 
 Chickahominies, Pamunkeys, Arrowhatocks, Chesa- 
 peakes, Nansemonds, Accomacs, — as one man will 
 
IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE 329 
 
 they strike ; and from where the Powhatan falls over 
 the rocks to the salt water beyond Accomac, there will 
 not be one white man left alive." 
 
 He ceased to speak, and for a minute the fire made 
 the only sound in the hut. Then, " All die ? " I 
 asked dully. " There are three thousand Englishmen 
 in Virginia." 
 
 " They are scattered and unwarned. The fighting 
 men of the villages of the Powhatan and the Pamunkey 
 and the great bay are many, and they have sharpened 
 their hatchets and filled their quivers with arrows." 
 
 " Scattered," I said, " strewn broadcast up and 
 down the river, — here a lonely house, there a cluster 
 of two or three ; they at Jamestown and Henricus off 
 guard, — the men in the fields or at the wharves, the 
 women and the children busy within doors, all un- 
 warned — O my God ! " 
 
 Diccon strode over from the doorway to the fire. 
 " We 'd best be going, I reckon, sir," he cried. " Or 
 you wait until morning ; then there '11 be two chances. 
 Now that I 've a knife, I 'm thinking I can give ac- 
 count of one of them damned sentries, at least. Once 
 clear of them " — 
 
 I shook my head, and the Indian too made a gesture 
 of dissent. " You would only be the first to die." 
 
 I leaned against the side of the hut, for my heart 
 beat like a frightened woman's. " Three days ! " I 
 exclaimed. " If we go with all our speed we shall be 
 in time. When did you learn this thing? " 
 
 " While you watched the dance," he answered, 
 " Opechancanough and I sat within his lodge in the 
 darkness. His heart was moved, and he talked to me 
 of his own youth in a strange country, south of the 
 sunset, where he and his people dwelt in stone houses 
 
330 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 and worshiped a great and fierce god, giving him blood 
 to drink and flesh to eat. To that country, too, white 
 men had come in ships. Then he spoke to me of Pow- 
 hatan, my father, — of how wise he was and how great 
 a chief before the English came, and how the English 
 made him kneel in sign that he held his lands from 
 their King, and how he hated them ; and then he told 
 me that the tribes had called me ' woman,' ' lover no 
 longer of the warpath and the scalp dance,' but that 
 he, who had no son, loved me as his son, knowing my 
 heart to be Indian still; and then I heard what I 
 have told you." 
 
 " How long had this been planned ? " 
 
 " For many moons. I have been a child, fooled 
 and turned aside from the trail ; not wise enough to 
 see it beneath the flowers, through the smoke of the 
 peace pipes." 
 
 « Why does Opechancanough send us back to the 
 settlements?" I demanded. "Their faith in him 
 needs no strengthening." 
 
 " It is his fancy. Every hunter and trader and 
 learner of our tongues, living in the villages or stray- 
 ing in the woods, has been sent back to Jamestown or 
 to his hundred with presents and with words that are 
 sweeter than honey. He has told the three who go 
 with you the hour in which you are to reach James- 
 town ; he would have you as singing birds, telling lying 
 tales to the Governor, with scarce the smoking of a 
 pipe between those words of peace and the war whoop. 
 But if those who go with you see reason to misdoubt 
 you, they will kill you in the forest." 
 
 His voice fell, and he stood in silence, straight as 
 an arrow, against the post, the firelight playing over 
 his dark limbs and sternly quiet face. Outside, the 
 
IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE 331 
 
 night wind, rising, began to howl through the naked 
 branches, and a louder burst of yells came to us from 
 the roisterers in the distance. The mat before the 
 doorway shook, and a slim brown hand, slipped be- 
 tween the wood and the woven grass, beckoned to us. 
 "Why did you come?" demanded the Indian. 
 " Long ago, when there were none but dark men from 
 the Chesapeake to the hunting grounds beneath the 
 sunset, we were happy. Why did you leave your own 
 land, in the strange black ships with sails like the 
 piled-up clouds of summer ? Was it not a good land ? 
 Were not your forests broad and green, your fields 
 fruitful, your rivers deep and filled with fish? And 
 the towns I have heard of — were they not fair ? You 
 are brave men : had you no enemies there, and no 
 warpaths ? It was your home : a man should love the 
 good earth over which he hunts, upon which stands 
 his village. This is the red man's land. He wishes 
 
 his hunting grounds, his maize fields, and his rivers 
 for himself, his women and children. He has no 
 ships in which to go to another country. When you 
 first came we thought you were gods ; but you have 
 not done like the great white God who, you say, loves 
 you so. You are wiser and stronger than we, but 
 your strength and wisdom help us not : they press us 
 down from men to children ; they are weights upon 
 the head and shoulders of a babe to keep him under 
 stature. Ill gifts have you brought us, evil have you 
 wrought us" — 
 
 " Not to you, Nantauquas ! " I cried, stung into 
 speech. 
 
 He turned his eyes upon me. " Nantauquas is the 
 war chief of his tribe. Opechancanough is his king, 
 and he lies upon his bed in his lodge and says within 
 
332 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 himself : ' My war chief, the Panther, the son of Wa- 
 hunsonacock, who was chief of all the Powhatans, 
 sits now within his wigwam, sharpening flints for his 
 arrows, making his tomahawk bright and keen, think- 
 ing of a day three suns hence, when the ti'ibes will 
 shake off forever the hand upon their shoulder, — the 
 hand so heavy and white that strives always to bend 
 them to the earth and keep them there.' Tell me, 
 you Englishman who have led in war, another name 
 for Nantauquas, and ask no more what evil you have 
 done him." 
 
 " I will not call you ' traitor,' Nantauquas," I said, 
 after a pause. " There is a difference. You are not 
 the first child of Powhatan who has loved and shielded 
 the white men." 
 
 " She was a woman, a child," he answered. " Out 
 of pity she saved your lives, not knowing that it was 
 to the hurt of her people. Then you were few and 
 weak, and could not take your revenge. Now, if you 
 die not, you will drink deep of vengeance, — so deep 
 that your lips may never leave the cup. More ships 
 will come, and more ; you will grow ever stronger. 
 There may come a moon when the deep forests and 
 the shining rivers know us, to whom Kiwassa gave 
 them, no more." He paused, with unmoved face, and 
 eyes that seemed to pierce the wall and look out into 
 unfathomable distances. " Go ! " he said at last. " If 
 you die not in the woods, if you see again the man 
 whom I called my brother and teacher, tell him . . . 
 tell him nothing ! Go ! " 
 
 " Come with us," urged Diccon gruffly. " We Eng- 
 lish will make a place for you among us " — and got 
 no further, for I turned upon him with a stern com- 
 mand for silence. 
 
IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE 333 
 
 " I ask of you no such thing, Nantauquas," I said. 
 " Come against us, if you will. Nobly warned, fair 
 upon our guard, we will meet you as knightly foe 
 should be met." 
 
 He stood for a minute, the quick change that had 
 come into his face at Diccon's blundering words gone, 
 and his features sternly impassive again ; then, very 
 slowly, he raised his arm from his side and held out 
 his hand. His eyes met mine in sombre inquiry, half 
 eager, half proudly doubtful. 
 
 I went to him at once, and took his hand in mine. 
 No word was spoken. Presently he withdrew his 
 hand from my clasp, and, putting his finger to his lips, 
 whistled low to the Indian girl. She drew aside the 
 hanging mats, and we passed out, Diccon and I, leav- 
 ing him standing as we had found him, upright 
 against the post, in the red firelight. 
 
 Should we ever go through the woods, pass through 
 that gathering storm, reach Jamestown, warn them 
 there of the death that was rushing upon them ? 
 Should we ever leave that hated village ? Would the 
 morning ever come ? When we reached our hut, un- 
 seen, and sat down just within the doorway to watch 
 for the dawn, it seemed as though the stars would 
 never pale. Again and again the leaping Indians be- 
 tween us and the fire fed the tall flame ; if one figure 
 fell in the wild dancing, another took its place ; the 
 yelling never ceased, nor the beatiDg of the drums. 
 
 It was an alarum that was sounding, and there 
 were only two to hear ; miles away beneath the mute 
 stars English men and women lay asleep, with the 
 hour thundering at their gates, and there was none to 
 cry, " Awake ! " When would the dawn come, when 
 should we be gone ? I could have cried out in that 
 
334 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 agony of waiting, with the leagues on leagues to be 
 traveled, and the time so short ! If we never reached 
 those sleepers — I saw the dark warriors gathering, 
 tribe on tribe, war party on war party, thick crowd- 
 ing shadows of death, slipping though the silent forest 
 o . . and the clearings we had made and the houses 
 we had built . . . the goodly Englishmen, Kent and 
 Thorpe and Yeardley, Maddison, Wynne, Hamor, the 
 men who had striven to win and hold this land so 
 fatal and so fair, West and Rolfe and Jeremy Spar- 
 row . . . the children about the doorsteps, the wo- 
 men . . . one woman . . . 
 
 It came to an end, as all things earthly will. The 
 flames of the great bonfire sank lower and lower, and 
 as they sank the gray light faltered into being, grew, 
 and strengthened. At last the dancers were still, the 
 women scattered, the priests with their hideous Okee 
 gone. The wailing of the pipes died away, the drums 
 ceased to beat, and the village lay in the keen wind 
 and the pale light, inert and quiet with the stillness 
 of exhaustion. 
 
 The pause and hush did not last. When the ruffled 
 pools amid the marshes were rosy beneath the sunrise, 
 the women brought us food, and the warriors and old 
 men gathered about us. They sat upon mats or 
 billets of wood, and I offered them bread and meat, 
 and told them they must come to Jamestown to taste 
 of the white man's cookery. 
 
 Scarcely was the meal over when Opechancanough 
 issued from his lodge, with his picked men behind 
 him, and, coming slowly up to us, took his seat upon 
 the white mat that was spread for him. For a few 
 minutes he sat in a silence that neither we nor his 
 people cared to break. Only the wind sang in the 
 
IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE 335 
 
 brown branches, and from some forest brake came a 
 stag's hoarse cry. As he sat in the sunshine he glis- 
 tened all over, like an Ethiop besprent with silver ; for 
 his dark limbs and mighty chest had been oiled, and 
 then powdered with antimony. Through his scalp 
 lock was stuck an eagle's feather ; across his face, 
 from temple to chin, was a bar of red paint ; the eyes 
 above were very bright and watchful, but we upon 
 whom that scrutiny was bent were as little wont as 
 he to let our faces tell our minds. 
 
 One of his young men brought a great pipe, carved 
 and painted, stem and bowl ; an old man filled it with 
 tobacco, and a warrior lit it and bore it to the Em- 
 peror. He put it to his lips and smoked in silence, 
 while the sun climbed higher and higher, and the 
 golden minutes that were more precious than heart's 
 blood went by, at once too slow, too swift. 
 
 At last, his part in the solemn mockery played, 
 he held out the pipe to me. " The sky will fall, and 
 the rivers run dry, and the birds cease to sing," he 
 said, "before the smoke of the calumet fades from 
 the land." 
 
 I took the symbol of peace, and smoked it as 
 silently and soberly — ay, and as slowly — as he had 
 done before me, then laid it leisurely aside and held 
 out my hand. " My eyes have been holden," I told 
 him, " but now I see plainly the deep graves of the 
 hatchets and the drifting of the peace smoke through 
 the forest. Let Opechancanough come to Jamestown 
 to smoke of the Englishman's uppowoc, and to receive 
 rich presents, — a red robe like his brother Powha- 
 tan's, and a cup from which he shall drink, he and all 
 his people." 
 
 He laid his dark fingers in mine for an instant, 
 
336 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 withdrew them, and, rising to his feet, motioned to 
 three Indians who stood out from the throng of 
 warriors. " These are Captain Percy's guides and 
 friends," he announced. " The sun is high ; it is time 
 that he was gone. Here are presents for him and for 
 my brother the Governor." As he spoke, he took 
 from his neck the rope of pearls and from his arm a 
 copper bracelet, and laid both upon my palm. 
 
 I thrust the pearls within my doublet, and slipped 
 the bracelet upon my wrist. " Thanks, Opechanca- 
 nough," I said briefly. " When we meet again I shall 
 not greet you with empty thanks." 
 
 By this all the folk of the village had gathered 
 around us ; and now the drums beat again, and the 
 maidens raised a wild and plaintive song of farewell. 
 At a sign from the werowance men and women formed 
 a rude procession, and followed us, who were to go 
 upon a journey, to the edge of the village where the 
 marsh began. Only the dark Emperor and the old 
 men stayed behind, sitting and standing in the sun- 
 shine, with the peace pipe lying on the grass at their 
 feet, and the wind moving the branches overhead. I 
 looked back and saw them thus, and wondered idly 
 how many minutes they would wait before putting on 
 the black paint. Of Nantauquas we had seen nothing. 
 Either he had gone to the forest, or upon some pre- 
 tense he kept within his lodge. 
 
 We bade farewell to the noisy throng who had 
 brought us upon our way, and went down to the 
 river, where we found a canoe and rowers, crossed 
 the stream, and, bidding the rowers good-by, entered 
 the forest. It was Wednesday morning, and the sun 
 was two hours high. Three suns, Nantauquas had 
 said : on Friday, then, the blow would fall. Three 
 
IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE 337 
 
 days ! Once at Jamestown, it would take three days 
 to warn each lonely scattered settlement, to put the 
 colony into any posture of defense. What of the 
 leagues of danger-haunted forest to be traversed be- 
 fore even a single soul of the three thousand could 
 be warned ? 
 
 As for the three Indians, — who had their orders to 
 go slowly, who at any suspicious haste or question or 
 anxiety on our part were to kill us whom they deemed 
 unarmed, — when they left their village that morning, 
 they left it forever. There were times when Diccon 
 and I had no need of speech, but knew each other's 
 mind without ; so now, though no word had been 
 spoken, we were agreed to set upon and slay our 
 guides the first occasion that offered. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 IN WHICH THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT 
 
 The three Indians of whom we must rid ourselves 
 were approved warriors, fierce as wolves, cunning as 
 foxes, keen-eyed as hawks. They had no reason to 
 doubt us, to dream that we would turn upon them, but 
 from habit they watched us, with tomahawk and knife 
 resting lightly in their belts. 
 
 As for us, we walked slowly, smiled freely, and 
 spoke frankly. The sunshine streaming down in the 
 spaces where the trees fell away was not brighter than 
 our mood. Had we not smoked the peace pipe ? 
 Were we not on our way home ? Diccon, walking 
 behind me, fell into a low- voiced conversation with the 
 savage who strode beside him. It related to the bar- 
 ter for a dozen otterskins of a gun which he had at 
 Jamestown. The savage was to bring the skins to 
 Paspahegh at his earliest convenience, and Diccon 
 would meet him there and give him the gun, provided 
 the pelts were to his liking. As they talked, each, in 
 his mind's eye, saw the other dead before him. The 
 one meant to possess a gun, indeed, but he thought to 
 take it himself from the munition house at James- 
 town ; the other knew that the otter which died not 
 until this Indian's arrow quivered in its side would 
 live until doomsday. Yet they discussed the matter 
 gravely, hedging themselves about with provisos, and, 
 the bargain clinched, walked on side by side in the 
 silence of a perfect and all-comprehending amity. 
 
THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT 339 
 
 The sun rode higher and higher, gilding the misty 
 green of the budding trees, quickening the red maple 
 bloom into fierce scarlet, throwing lances of light down 
 through the pine branches to splinter against the dark 
 earth far below. For an hour it shone ; then clouds 
 gathered and shut it from sight. The forest darkened, 
 and the wind arose with a shriek. The young trees 
 cowered before the blast, the strong and vigorous beat 
 their branches together with a groaning sound, the 
 old and worn fell crashing to the earth. Presently 
 the rain rushed down, slant lines of silver tearing 
 through the wood with the sound of the feet of an 
 army ; hail followed, a torrent of ice beating and 
 bruising all tender green things to the earth. The 
 wind took the multitudinous sounds, — the cries of 
 frightened birds, the creaking trees, the snap of break- 
 ing boughs, the crash of falling giants, the rush of the 
 rain, the drumming of the hail, — enwound them 
 with itself, and made the forest like a great shell held 
 close to the ear. 
 
 There was no house to flee to ; so long as we could 
 face the hail we staggered on, heads down, buffeting 
 the wind ; but at last, the fury of the storm increas- 
 ing, we were fain to throw ourselves upon the earth, in 
 a little brake, where an overhanging bank somewhat 
 broke the wind. A mighty oak, swaying and groaning 
 above us, might fall and crush us like eggshells ; but 
 if we went on, the like fate might meet us in the way. 
 Broken and withered limbs, driven by the wind, went 
 past us like crooked shadows ; it grew darker and 
 darker, and the air was deadly cold. 
 
 The three Indians pressed their faces against the 
 ground ; they dreamed not of harm from us, but Okee 
 was in the merciless hail and the first thunder of the 
 
340 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 year, now pealing through the wood. Suddenly Die- 
 con raised himself upon his elbow, and looked across 
 at me. Our eyes had no sooner met than his hand 
 was at his bosom. The savage nearest him, feeling 
 the movement, as it were, lifted his head from the 
 earth, of which it was so soon to become a part ; but 
 if he saw the knife, he saw it too late. The blade, 
 driven down with all the strength of a desperate man, 
 struck home ; when it was drawn from its sheath of 
 flesh, there remained to us but a foe apiece. 
 
 In the instant of its descent I had thrown myself 
 upon the Indian nearest me. It was not a time for 
 overniceness. If I could have done so, I would have 
 struck him in the back while he thought no harm ; as 
 it was, some subtle instinct warning him, he whirled 
 himself over in time to strike up my hand and to 
 clench with me. He was very strong, and his naked 
 body, wet with rain, slipped like a snake from my 
 hold. Over and over we rolled on the rain-soaked 
 moss and rotted leaves and cold black earth, the hail 
 
 (blinding us, and the wind shrieking like a thou sand 
 watch ing demons. He strove to reach the knife 
 within Iris belt ; I, to prevent him, and to strike deep 
 with the knife I yet held. 
 
 At last I did so. Blood gushed over my hand and 
 wrist, the clutch upon my arm relaxed, the head fell 
 back. The dying eyes glared into mine ; then the 
 lids shut forever upon that unquenchable hatred. I 
 staggered to my feet and turned, to find that Diccon 
 had given account of the third Indian. 
 
 We stood up in the hail and the wind, and looked 
 at the dead men at our feet. Then, without speaking, 
 we went our way through the tossing forest, with the 
 hailstones coming thick against us, and the wind a 
 
THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT 341 
 
 strong hand to push us back. When we came to a 
 little trickling spring, we knelt and washed our hands. 
 
 The hail ceased, but the rain fell and the wind blew 
 throughout the morning. We made what speed we 
 could over the boggy earth against the storm, but we 
 knew that we were measuring miles where we should 
 have measured leagues. There was no breath to waste 
 in words, and thought was a burden quite intolerable ; 
 it was enough to stumble on through the partial light, 
 with a mind as gray and blank as the rain-blurred 
 distance. 
 
 At noon the clouds broke, and an hour later the 
 sunshine was streaming down from a cloudless heaven, 
 beneath which the forest lay clear before us, naught 
 stirring save shy sylvan creatures to whom it mattered 
 not if red man or white held the land. 
 
 Side by side Diccon and I hurried on, not speaking, 
 keeping eye and ear open, proposing with all our will 
 to reach the goal we had set, and to reach it in time, 
 let what might oppose. It was but another forced 
 march ; many had we made in our time, through dan- 
 gers manifold, and had lived to tell the tale. 
 
 There was no leisure in which to play the Indian 
 and cover up our footprints as we made them, but 
 when we came to a brook we stepped into the cold, 
 swift-flowing water, and kept it company for a while. 
 The brook flowed between willows, thickly set, already 
 green, and overarching a yard or more of water. 
 Presently it bent sharply, and we turned with it. 
 Ten yards in front of us the growth of willows ceased 
 abruptly, the low, steep banks shelved downwards to 
 a grassy level, and the stream widened into a clear 
 and placid pool, as blue as the sky above. Crouched 
 upon the grass or standing in the shallow water were 
 
342 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 some fifteen or twenty deer. We had come upon 
 them without noise ; the wind blew from them to us, 
 and the willows hid us from their sight. There was 
 no air rm, and we stood a moment watching them be- 
 fore we should throw a stone or branch into their 
 midst and scare them from our path. 
 
 Suddenly, as we looked, the leader threw up his 
 head, made a spring, and was off like a dart, across 
 the stream and into the depths of the forest beyond. 
 The herd followed. A moment, and there were only 
 the trodden grass and the troubled waters ; no other 
 sign that aught living had passed that way. 
 
 " Now what was that for ? " muttered Diccon. 
 " I 'm thinking we had best not take to the open 
 just yet." 
 
 For answer I parted the willows, and forced myself 
 into the covert, pressing as closely as possible against 
 the bank, and motioning him to do the same. He 
 obeyed, and the thick-clustering gold-green twigs 
 swung into place again, shutting us in with the black 
 water and the leafy, crumbling bank. From that 
 green dimness we could look out upon the pool and the 
 grass, with small fear that we ourselves would be seen. 
 
 Out of the shadow of the trees into the grassy space 
 stepped an Indian ; a second followed, a third, a 
 fourth, — one by one they came from the gloom into 
 the sunlight, until we had counted a score or more. 
 They made no pause, a glance telling them to what 
 were due the trampled grass and the muddied water. 
 As they crossed the stream one stooped and drank from 
 his hand, but they said no word and made no noise. 
 All were painted black ; a few had face and chest 
 striped with yellow. Their headdresses were tall and 
 wonderful, their leggings and moccasins fringed with 
 
THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT M3 
 
 scalp locks ; their hatchets glinted in the sunshine, 
 and their quivers were stuck full of arrows. One by 
 one they glided from the stream into the thick woods 
 beyond. We waited until we knew that they were 
 deep in the forest, then crept from the willows and 
 went our way. 
 
 " They were Youghtenunds," I said, in the low tones 
 we used when we spoke at all, " and they went to the 
 southward." 
 
 " We may thank our stars that they missed our 
 trail," Diccon answered. 
 
 We spoke no more, but, leaving the stream, struck 
 again toward the south. The day wore on, and still 
 we went without pause. Sun and shade and keen 
 wind, long stretches of pine and open glades where we 
 quickened our pace to a run, dense woods, snares of 
 leafless vines, swamp and thicket through which we 
 toiled so slowly that the heart bled at the delay, 
 streams and fallen trees, — on and on we hurried, 
 until the sun sank and the dusk came creeping in 
 upon us. 
 
 " We 've dined with Duke Humphrey to-day," said 
 Diccon at last ; " but if we can keep this pace, and 
 don't meet any more war parties, or fall foul of an In- 
 dian village, or have to fight the wolves to-night, we '11 
 dine with the Governor to-morrow. What 's that ? " 
 
 " That " was the report of a musket, and a spent 
 ball had struck me above the knee, bruising the flesh 
 beneath the leather of my boot. 
 
 We wheeled, and looked in the direction whence 
 had come that unwelcome visitor. There was naught 
 to be seen. It was dusk in the distance, and there 
 were thickets too, and fallen logs. Where that am- 
 buscade was planted, if one or twenty Indians lurked 
 
344 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 in the dusk behind the trees, or lay on the further 
 side of those logs, or crouched within a thicket, no 
 mortal man could tell. 
 
 " It was a spent ball," I said. " Our best hope is 
 in our heels." 
 
 " There are pines beyond, and smooth going," he 
 answered ; " but if ever I thought to run from an 
 Indian ! " 
 
 Without more ado we started. If we could outstrip 
 that marksman, if we could even hold our distance 
 until night had fallen, all might yet be well. A little 
 longer, and even an Indian must fire at random ; 
 moreover, we might reach some stream and manage 
 to break our trail. The ground was smooth before 
 us, — too smooth, and slippery with pine needles ; the 
 pines themselves stood in grim brown rows, and we 
 ran between them lightly and easily, husbanding our 
 strength. Now and again one or the other looked 
 behind, but we saw only the pines and the gathering 
 dusk. Hope was strengthening in us, when a second 
 bullet dug into the earth just beyond us. 
 
 Diccon swore beneath his breath. " It struck deep," 
 he muttered. " The dark is slow in coming." 
 
 A minute later, as I ran with my head over my 
 shoulder, I saw our pursuer, dimly, like a deeper 
 shadow in the shadows far down the arcade behind us. 
 There was but one man, — a tall warrior, strayed 
 aside from his band, perhaps, or bound upon a war- 
 path of his own. The musket that he carried some 
 English fool had sold him for a mess of pottage. 
 
 Putting forth all our strength, we ran for our lives, 
 and for the lives of many others. Before us the pine 
 wood sloped down to a deep and wide thicket, and 
 beyond the thicket a line of sycamores promised water. 
 
THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT 345 
 
 If we could reach the thicket, its close embrace would 
 hide us, — then the darkness and the stream. A third 
 shot, and Diccon staggered slightly. 
 
 " For God's sake, not struck, man ? " I cried. 
 
 " It grazed my arm," he panted. " No harm done. 
 Here 's the thicket ! " 
 
 Into the dense growth we broke, reckless of the 
 blood which the sharp twigs drew from face and hands. 
 The twigs met in a thick roof over our heads • that 
 was all we cared for, and through the network we saw 
 one of the larger stars brighten into being. The 
 thicket was many yards across. When we had gone 
 thirty feet down we crouched and waited for the dark. 
 If our enemy followed us, he must do so at his peril, 
 with only his knife for dependence. 
 
 One by one the stars swam into sight, until the 
 square of sky above us was thickly studded. There 
 was no sound, and no living thing could have entered 
 that thicket without noise. For what seemed an eter- 
 nity, we waited ; then we rose and broke our way 
 through the bushes to the sycamores, to find that they 
 indeed shadowed a little sluggish stream. 
 
 Down this we waded for some distance before taking 
 to dry earth again. Since entering the thicket we 
 had seen and heard nothing suspicious, and were now 
 fain to conclude that the dark warrior had wearied of 
 the chase, and was gone on his way toward his mates 
 and that larger and surer quarry which two suns would 
 bring. Certain it is that we saw no more of him. 
 
 The stream flowing to the south, we went with it, 
 hurrying along its bank, beneath the shadow of great 
 trees, with the stars gleaming down through the 
 branches. It was cold and still, and far in the dis- 
 tance we heard wolves hunting. As for me, I felt no 
 
346 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 weariness. Every sense was sharpened ; my feet were 
 light ; the keen air was like wine in the drinking ; 
 there was a star low in the south that shone and beck- 
 oned. The leagues between my wife and me were f ew. 
 I saw her standing beneath the star, with a little purple 
 flower in her hand. 
 
 Suddenly, a bend in the stream hiding the star, I 
 became aware that Diccon was no longer keeping step 
 with me, but had fallen somewhat to the rear. I 
 turned, and he was leaning heavily, with drooping 
 head, against the trunk of a tree. 
 
 "Art so worn as that?" I exclaimed. "Put more 
 heart into thy heels, man ! " 
 
 He straightened himself and strode on beside me. 
 " I don't know what came over me for a minute," he 
 answered. " The wolves are loud to-night. I hope 
 they '11 keep to their side of the water." 
 
 A stone's throw farther on, the stream curving to 
 the west, we left it, and found ourselves in a sparsely 
 wooded glade, with a bare and sandy soil beneath our 
 feet, and above, in the western sky, a crescent moon. 
 Again Diccon lagged behind, and presently I heard 
 him groan in the darkness. 
 
 I wheeled. " Diccon ! " I cried. " What is the 
 matter ? " 
 
 Before I could reach him he had sunk to his knees. 
 When I put my hand upon his arm and again de- 
 manded what ailed him, he tried to laugh, then tried 
 to swear, and ended with another groan. " The ball 
 did graze my arm," he said, " but it went on into nry 
 side. I '11 just lie here and die, and wish you well at 
 Jamestown. When the red imps come against you 
 there, and you open fire on them, name a bullet for 
 me." 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 IN WHICH I COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE 
 
 I laid him down upon the earth, and, cutting away 
 his doublet and the shirt beneath, saw the wound, and 
 knew that there was a journey indeed that he would 
 shortly make. " The world is turning round," he 
 muttered, " and the stars are falling thicker than the 
 hailstones yesterday. Go on, and I will stay behind, 
 — I and the wolves." 
 
 I took him in my arms and carried him back to the 
 bank of the stream, for I knew that he would want 
 water until he died. My head was bare, but he had 
 worn his cap from the gaol at Jamestown that night. 
 I filled it with water and gave him to drink; then 
 washed the wound and did what I could to stanch the 
 bleeding. He turned from side to side, and presently 
 his mind began to wander, and he talked of the to- 
 bacco in the fields at Weyanoke. Soon he was raving 
 of old things, old camp fires and night-time marches 
 and wild skirmishes, perils by land and by sea ; then 
 of dice and wine and women. Once he cried out that 
 Dale had bound him upon the wheel, and that his arms 
 and legs were broken, and the woods rang to his 
 screams. Why, in that wakeful forest, they were 
 unheard, or why, if heard, they went unheeded, God 
 only knows. 
 
 The moon went down, and it was very cold. How 
 black were the shadows around us, what foes might 
 
348 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 steal from that darkness upon us, it was not worth 
 while to consider. I do not know what I thought of 
 on that night, or even that I thought at all. Between 
 my journeys for the water that he called for I sat 
 beside the dying man with my hand upon his breast, 
 for he was quieter so. Now and then I spoke to him, 
 but he answered not. 
 
 Hours before we had heard the howling of wolves, 
 and knew that some ravenous pack was abroad. With 
 the setting of the moon the noise had ceased, and I 
 thought that the brutes had pulled down the deer they 
 hunted, or else had gone with their hunger and their 
 dismal voices out of earshot. Suddenly the howling 
 recommenced, at first faint and far away, then nearer 
 and nearer yet. Earlier in the evening the stream 
 had been between us, but now the wolves had crossed 
 and were coming down our side of the water, and 
 were coming fast. 
 
 All the ground was strewn with dead wood, and 
 near by was a growth of low and brittle bushes. I 
 gathered the withered branches, and broke fagots from 
 the bushes ; then into the press of dark and stealthy 
 forms I threw a great crooked stick, shouting as 1 
 did so, and threatening with my arms. They turned 
 and fled, but presently they were back again. Again 
 I frightened them away, and again they returned. I 
 had flint and steel and tinder box ; when I had scared 
 them from us a third time, and they had gone only a 
 little way, I lit a splinter of pine, and with it fired 
 my heap of wood ; then dragged Diccon into the light 
 and sat down beside him, with no longer any fear of 
 the wolves, but with absolute confidence in the quick 
 appearance of less cowardly foes. There was wood 
 enough and to spare ; when the fire sank low and the 
 
I COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE 349 
 
 hungry eyes gleamed nearer, I fed it again, and the 
 flame leaped up and mocked the eyes. 
 
 No human enemy came upon us. The fire blazed 
 and roared, and the man who lay in its rosy glare 
 raved on, crying out now and then at the top of his 
 voice ; but on that night of all nights, of all years, 
 light and voice drew no savage band to put out the one 
 and silence the other forever. 
 
 Hours passed, and as it drew toward midnight Die- 
 con sank into a stupor. I knew that the end was 
 not far away. The wolves were gone at last, and my 
 fire was dying down. He needed my touch upon his 
 breast no longer, and I went to the stream and bathed 
 my hands and forehead, and then threw myself face 
 downward upon the bank. In a little while the deso- 
 late murmur of the water became intolerable, and I 
 rose and went back to the fire, and to the man whom, 
 as God lives, I loved as a brother. 
 
 He was conscious. Pale and cold and nigh gone 
 as he was, there came a light to his eyes and a smile 
 to his lips when I knelt beside him. " You did not 
 go ? " he breathed. 
 
 " No," I answered, " I did not go." 
 
 For a few minutes he lay with closed eyes ; when he 
 again opened them upon my face, there were in their 
 depths a question and an appeal. I bent over him, 
 and asked him what he would have. 
 
 " You know," he whispered. " If you can ... I 
 would not go without it." 
 
 " Is it that ? " I asked. " I forgave you long ago." 
 
 " I meant to kill you. I was mad because you 
 struck me before the lady, and because I had betrayed 
 my trust. An you had not caught my hand, I should 
 be your murderer." He spoke with long intervals 
 
350 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 between the words, and the death dew was on his fore- 
 head. 
 
 " Semember it not, Diccon," I entreated. " I too 
 was to blame. And I see not that night for other 
 nights, — for other nights and days, Diccon." 
 
 He smiled, but there was still in his face a shadowy 
 eagerness. " You said you would never strike me 
 again," he went on, "and that I was man of yours no 
 more forever — and you gave me my freedom in the 
 paper which I tore." He spoke in gasps, with his 
 eyes upon mine. " I '11 be gone in a few minutes now. 
 If I might go as your man still, and could tell the 
 Lord Jesus Christ that my master on earth forgave, 
 and took back, it would be a hand in the dark. I 
 have spent my life in gathering darkness for myself at 
 the last." 
 
 I bent lower over him, and took his hand in mine. 
 " Diccon, my man," I said. 
 
 A brightness came into his face, and he faintly 
 pressed my hand. I slipped my arm beneath him and 
 raised him a little higher to meet bis death. He was 
 smiling now, and his mind was not quite clear. " Do 
 you mind, sir," he asked, " how green and strong and 
 sweet smelled the pines that May day, when we found 
 Virginia, so many years ago ? " 
 
 "Ay, Diccon," I answered. "Before we saw the 
 land, the fragance told us we were near it." 
 
 " I smell it now," he went on, " and the bloom of 
 the grape, and the May-time flowers. And can you 
 not hear, sir, the whistling and the laughter and the 
 sound of the falling trees, that merry time when Smith 
 made axemen of all our fine gentlemen ? " 
 
 "Ay, Diccon," I said. "And the sound of the 
 water that was dashed down the sleeve of any that 
 were caught in an oath." 
 
I COME TO THE GOVERNORS HOUSE 351 
 
 He laughed like a little child. " It is well that I 
 was n't a gentleman, and had not those trees to fell, 
 or I should have been as wet as any merman. . . . 
 And Pocahontas, the little maid . . . and how blue 
 the sky was, and how glad we were what time the 
 Patience and Deliverance came in ! " 
 
 His voice failed, and for a minute I thought he 
 was gone ; but he had been a strong man, and life 
 slipped not easily from him. When his eyes opened 
 again he knew me not, but thought he was in some 
 tavern, and struck with his hand upon the ground as 
 upon a table, and called for the drawer. 
 
 Around him were only the stillness and the shadows 
 of the night, but to his vision men sat and drank 
 with him, diced and swore and told wild tales of this 
 or that. For a time he talked loudly and at random 
 of the vile quality of the drink, and his viler luck at 
 the dice ; then he began to tell a story. As he told 
 it, his senses seemed to steady, and he spoke with 
 coherence and like a shadow of himself. 
 
 " And you call that a great thing, William Host ? " 
 he demanded. " I can tell a true tale worth two 
 such lies, my masters. (Robin tapster, more ale ! 
 And move less like a slug, or my tankard and your 
 ear will cry, ' Well met ! ') It was between Ypres 
 and Courtrai, friends, and it 's nigh fifteen years ago. 
 There were fields in which nothing was sowed because 
 they were ploughed with the hoofs of war horses, and 
 ditches in which dead men were thrown, and dismal 
 marshes, and roads that were no roads at all, but only 
 sloughs. And there was a great stone house, old and 
 ruinous, with tall poplars shivering in the rain and 
 mist. Into this house there threw themselves a band 
 of Dutch and English, and hard on their heels came 
 
352 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 two hundred Spaniards. All day they besieged that 
 house, — smoke and flame and thunder and shouting 
 and the crash of masonry, — and when eventide was 
 come we, the Dutch and the English, thought that 
 Death was not an hour behind." 
 
 He paused, and made a gesture of raising a tankard 
 to his lips. His eyes were bright, his voice was firm. 
 The memory of that old day and its mortal strife had 
 wrought upon him like wine. 
 
 " There was one amongst us," he said, " he was 
 our captain, and it 's of him I am going to tell the 
 story. Robin tapster, bring me no more ale, but good 
 mulled wine ! It 's cold and getting dark, and I have 
 to drink to a brave man besides " — 
 
 With the old bold laugh in his eyes, he raised him- 
 self, for the moment as strong as I that held him. 
 " Drink to that Englishman, all of ye ! " he cried, 
 " and not in filthy ale, but in good, gentlemanly sack ! 
 I '11 pay the score. Here 's to him, brave hearts ! 
 Here 's to my master ! " 
 
 With his hand at his mouth, and his story untold, 
 he fell back. I held him in my arms until the brief 
 struggle was over, and then laid his body down upon 
 the earth. 
 
 It might have been one of the clock. For a little 
 while I sat beside him, with my head bowed in my 
 hands. Then I straightened his limbs and crossed his 
 hands upon his breast, and kissed him upon the brow, 
 and left him lying dead in the forest. 
 
 It was hard going through the blackness of the 
 night-time woods. Once I was nigh sucked under in 
 a great swamp, and once I stumbled into some hole or 
 pit in the earth, and for a time thought that I had 
 broken my leg. The night was very dark, and some- 
 
I COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE 353 
 
 times when I could not see the stars, I lost my way, 
 and went to the right or the left, or even back upon 
 my track. Though I heard the wolves, they did not 
 come nigh me. Just before daybreak, I crouched 
 behind a log, and watched a party of savages file past 
 like shadows of the night. 
 
 At last the dawn came, and I could press on more 
 rapidly. For two days and two nights I had not 
 slept ; for a day and a night I had not tasted food. 
 As the sun climbed the heavens, a thousand black 
 spots, like summer gnats, danced between his face 
 and my weary eyes. The forest laid stumbling-blocks 
 before me, and drove me back, and made me wind in 
 and out when I would have had my path straighter 
 than an arrow. When the ground allowed I ran; 
 when I must break my way, panting, through under- 
 growth so dense and stubborn that it seemed some 
 enchanted thicket, where each twig snapped but to be 
 on the instant stiff in place again, I broke it with what 
 patience I might ; when I must turn aside for this 
 or that obstacle I made the detour, though my heart 
 cried out at the necessity. Once I saw reason to 
 believe that two or more Indians were upon my trail, 
 and lost time in outwitting them ; and once I must 
 go a mile out of my way to avoid an Indian village. 
 
 As the day wore on, I began to go as in a dream. 
 It had come to seem the gigantic wood of some fan- 
 tastic tale through which I was traveling. The fallen 
 trees ranged themselves into an abatis hard to sur- 
 mount ; the thickets withstood one like' iron; the 
 streamlets were like rivers, the marshes leagues wide, 
 the treetops miles away. Little things, twisted roots, 
 trailing vines, dead and rotten wood, made me stum- 
 ble. A wind was blowing that had blown just so 
 
354 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 since time began, and the forest was filled with the 
 sound of the sea. 
 
 Afternoon came, and the shadows began to lengthen. 
 They were lines of black paint spilt in a thousand 
 places, and stealing swiftly and surely across the 
 brightness of the land. Torn and bleeding and 
 breathless, 1 hastened on ; for it was drawing toward 
 night, and I should have been at Jamestown hours 
 before. My head pained me, and as I ran I saw men 
 and women stealing in and out among the trees 
 before me : Pocahontas with her wistful eyes and 
 braided hair and finger on her lips ; Nantauquas ; 
 Dale, the knight-marshal, and Argall with his fierce, 
 unscrupulous face ; my cousin George Percy, and my 
 mother with her stately figure, her embroidery in her 
 hands. I knew that they were but phantoms of my 
 brain, but their presence confused and troubled me. 
 
 The shadows ran together, and the sunshine died 
 out of the forest. Stumbling on, I saw through the 
 thinning trees a long gleam of red, and thought it 
 was blood, but presently knew that it was the river, 
 crimson from the sunset. A minute more and I stood 
 upon the shore of the mighty stream, between the 
 two brightnesses of flood and heavens. There was a 
 silver crescent in the sky with one white star above 
 it, and fair in sight, down the James, with lights 
 springing up through the twilight, was the town, — 
 the English town that we had built and named for 
 our King, and had held in the teeth of Spain, in the 
 teeth of the wilderness and its terrors. It was not 
 a mile away ; a little longer, — a little longer and I 
 could rest, with my tidings told. 
 
 The dusk had quite fallen when I reached the neck 
 of land. The hut to which I had been enticed that 
 
I COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE 355 
 
 night stood dark and ghastly, with its door swinging 
 in the wind. I ran past it and across the neck, and, 
 arriving at the palisade, beat upon the gate with my 
 hands, and called to the warder to open. When I had 
 told him my name and tidings, he did so, with shaking 
 knees and starting eyes. Cautioning him to raise no 
 alarm in the town, I hurried by him into the street, 
 and down it toward the house that was set aside for 
 tlie Governor of Virginia. I should find there now, 
 not Yeardley, but Sir Francis Wyatt. 
 
 The torches were lighted, and the folk were indoors, 
 for the night was cold. One or two figures that I 
 met or passed would have accosted me, not knowing 
 who I was, but I brushed by them, and hastened on. 
 Only when I passed the guest house I looked up, and 
 saw that mine host's chief rooms were yet in use. 
 
 The Governor's door was open, and in the hall 
 servingmen were moving to and fro. When I came 
 in upon them, they cried out as it had been a ghost, 
 and one fellow let a silver dish that he carried fall 
 clattering to the floor. They shook and stood back, 
 as I passed them without a word, and went on to the 
 Governor's great room. The door was ajar, and I 
 pushed it open and stood for a minute upon the thresh- 
 old, unobserved by the occupants of the room. 
 
 After the darkness outside the lights dazzled me; 
 the room, too, seemed crowded with men, though when 
 I counted them there were not so many, after all. 
 Supper had been put upon the table, but they were not 
 eating. Before the fire, his head thoughtfully bent, 
 and his fingers tapping upon the arm of his chair, 
 sat the Governor ; over against him, and as serious of 
 aspect, was the Treasurer. West stood by the mantel, 
 tugging at his long mustaches and softly swearing. 
 
356 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Clayborne was in the room, Piersey the Cape Mer- 
 chant, and one or two besides. And Rolfe was there, 
 walking up and down with hasty steps, and a flushed 
 and haggard face. His suit of buff was torn and 
 stained, and his great-boots were spattered with mud. 
 
 The Governor let his fingers rest upon the arm of 
 his chair, and raised his head. 
 
 " He is dead, Master Rolfe," he said. " There can 
 be no other conclusion, — a brave man lost to you and 
 to the colony. We mourn with you, sir." 
 
 " We too have searched, Jack," put in West. " We 
 have not been idle, though well-nigh all men believe 
 that the Indians, who we know had a grudge against 
 him, murdered him and his man that night, then threw 
 their bodies into the river, and themselves made off 
 out of our reach. But we hoped against hope that 
 when your party returned he would be in your midst." 
 
 " As for this latest loss," continued the Governor, 
 "within an hour of its discover}^ this morning search 
 parties were out ; yea, if I had allowed it, the whole 
 town would have betaken itself to the woods. The 
 searchers have not returned, and we are gravely 
 anxious. Yet we are not utterly cast down. This trail 
 can hardly be missed, and the Indians are friendly. 
 There were a number in town overnight, and they 
 went with the searchers, volunteering to act as their 
 guides. We cannot but think that of this load, our 
 hearts will soon be eased." 
 
 " God grant it ! " groaned Rolfe. " I will drink 
 but a cup of wine, sir, and then will be gone upon this 
 new quest." 
 
 There was a movement in the room. " You are 
 worn and spent with your fruitless travel, sir," said 
 the Governor kindly. " I give you my word that all 
 
I COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE 357 
 
 that can be done is doing. Wait at least for the 
 morning, and the good news it may bring." 
 
 The other shook his head. " I will go now. I 
 could not look my friend in the face else — God in 
 heaven ! " 
 
 The Governor sprang to his feet ; through the 
 Treasurer's lips came a long, sighing breath ; West's 
 dark face was ashen. I came forward to the table, 
 and leaned my weight upon it ; for all the waves of 
 the sea were roaring in my ears, and the lights were 
 going up and down. 
 
 " Are you man or spirit ? " cried Rolfe through 
 white lips. " Are you Ralph Percy ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am Percy," I said. " I have not well 
 understood what quest you would go upon, Rolfe, 
 but you cannot go to-night. And those parties that 
 your Honor talked of, that have gone with Indians to 
 guide them to look for some lost person, — I think 
 that you will never see them again." 
 
 With an effort I drew myself erect, and standing so 
 told my tidings, quietly and with circumstance, so as 
 to leave no room for doubt as to their verity, or as to 
 the sanity of him who brought them. They listened, 
 as the warder had listened, with shaking limbs and 
 gasping breath ; for this was the fall and wiping out 
 of a people of which I brought warning. 
 
 When all was told, and they stood there before me, 
 white and shaken, seeking in their minds the thing to 
 say or do first, I thought to ask a question myself ; 
 but before my tongue could frame it, the roaring of 
 the sea became so loud that I could hear naught else, 
 and the lights all ran together into a wheel of fire. 
 Then in a moment all sounds ceased, and to the lights 
 succeeded the blackness of outer darkness. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS 
 
 When I awoke from the sleep or stupor into which 
 I must have passed from that swoou, it was to find 
 myself lying upon a bed in a room flooded with sun- 
 shine. I was alone. For a moment I lay still, staring 
 at the blue sky without the window, and wondering 
 where I was and how I came there. A drum beat, 
 a dog barked, and a man's quick voice gave a com- 
 mand. The sounds stung me into remembrance, and 
 I was at the window while the voice was yet speaking. 
 
 It was West in the street below, pointing with his 
 sword now to the fort, now to the palisade, and giving 
 directions to the armed men about him. There were 
 many people in the street. Women hurried by to the 
 fort with white, scared faces, their arms filled with 
 household gear ; children ran beside them, sturdily 
 bearing their share of the goods, but pressing close to 
 their elders' skirts ; men went to and fro, the most 
 grimly silent, but a few talking loudly. Not all of 
 the faces in the crowd belonged to the town : there 
 were Kingsmell and his wife from the main, and John 
 Ellison from Archer's Hope, and the Italians Vincen- 
 cio and Bernardo from the Glass House. The nearer 
 plantations, then, had been warned, and their people 
 had come for refuge to the city. A negro passed, but 
 on that morning, alone of many days, no Indian aired 
 his paint and feathers in the white man's village. 
 
IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS 359 
 
 I cotild not see the palisade across the neck, but I 
 knew that it was there that the fight — if fight there 
 were — would be made. Should the Indians take the 
 palisade, there would yet be the houses of the town, 
 and, last of all, the fort in which to make a stand. I 
 believed not that they would take it. Long since we 
 had found out their method of warfare. They used 
 ambuscade, surprise, and massacre ; when withstood 
 in force and with determination they withdrew to 
 their stronghold the forest, there to bide their time 
 until, in the blackness of some night, they could again 
 swoop down upon a sleeping foe. 
 
 The drum beat again, and a messenger from the 
 palisade came down the street at a run. " They 're in 
 the woods over against us, thicker than ants ! " he 
 cried to West as he passed. " A boat has just drifted 
 ashore yonder, with two men in it, dead and scalped ! " 
 
 I turned to leave the room, and ran against Master 
 Pory coming in on tiptoe, with a red and solemn face. 
 He started when he saw me. 
 
 " The roll of the drum brought you to your feet, 
 then ! " he cried. " You 've lain like the dead all 
 night. I came but to see if you were breathing." 
 
 " When I have eaten, I shall be myself again," I 
 said. " There 's no attack as yet ? " 
 
 " No," he answered. " They must know that we 
 are prepared. But they have kindled fires along the 
 river bank, and we can hear them yelling. Whether 
 they '11 be mad enough to come against us remains to 
 be seen." 
 
 " The nearest settlements have been warned ? " 
 
 " Ay. The Governor offered a thousand pounds of 
 tobacco and the perpetual esteem of the Company to 
 the man or men who would carry the news. Six vol- 
 
360 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 unteered, and went off in boats, three up river, three 
 down. How many they reached, or if they still have 
 their scalps, we know not. And awhile ago, just be- 
 fore daybreak, comes with frantic haste Richard Pace, 
 who had rowed up from Pace's Pains to tell the news 
 which you had already brought. Chanco the Chris- 
 tian had betrayed the plot to him, and he managed to 
 give warning at Powel's and one or two other places 
 as he came up the river." 
 
 He broke off, but when I would have spoken inter- 
 rupted me with : " And so you were on the Pamunkey 
 all this while ! Then the Paspaheghs fooled us with 
 the simple truth, for they swore so stoutly that their 
 absent chief men were but gone on a hunt toward the 
 Pamunkey that we had no choice but to believe them 
 gone in quite another direction. And one and all of 
 every tribe we questioned swore that Opechancanough 
 was at Orapax. So Master Rolfe puts off up river to 
 find, if not you, then the Emperor, and make him 
 give up your murderers ; and the Governor sends a 
 party along the bay, and West another up the Chick- 
 ahominy. And there you were, all the time, mewed 
 up in the village above the marshes ! And Nantau- 
 quas, after saving our lives like one of us, is turned 
 Indian again ! And your man is killed ! Alackaday ! 
 there 's naught but trouble in the world. ' As the 
 sparks fly upwards,' you know. But a brave man 
 draws his breath and sets his teeth." 
 
 In his manner, his rapid talk, his uneasy glances 
 toward the door, I found something forced and strange. 
 " I thought Rolfe was behind me," he said, " but he 
 must have been delayed. There are meat and drink 
 set out in the great room, where the Governor and 
 those of the Council who are safe here with us are 
 
IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS 361 
 
 advising together. Let 's descend ; you 've not eaten, 
 and the good sack will give you strength. Wilt 
 come ? " 
 
 " Ay," I answered, " but tell me the news as we go. 
 I have been gone ten days, — faith, it seems ten years ! 
 There have no ships sai]ed, Master Pory ? The George 
 is still here ? " I looked him full in the eye, for a 
 sudden guess at a possible reason for his confusion 
 had stabbed me like a knife. 
 
 " Ay," he said, with a readiness that could scarce 
 be feigned. " She was to have sailed this week, it is 
 true, the Governor fearing to keep her longer. But 
 the Esperance, coming in yesterday, brought news 
 which removed his Honor's scruples. Now she '11 wait 
 to see out this hand at the cards, and to take home 
 the names of those who are left alive in Virginia. 
 If the red varlets do swarm in upon us, there are 
 her twelve-pounders ; they and the fort guns " — 
 
 I let him talk on. The George had not sailed. I 
 saw again a firelit hut, and a man and a panther who 
 went down together. Those claws had dug deep ; the 
 man across whose face they had torn their way would 
 keep his room in the guest house at Jamestown until 
 his wounds were somewhat healed. The George would 
 wait for him, would scarcely dare to sail without him, 
 and I should find the lady whom she was to carry 
 away to England in Virginia still. It was this that I 
 had built upon, the grain of comfort, the passionate 
 hope, the sustaining cordial, of those year-long days 
 in the village above the Pamunkey. 
 
 My heart was sore because of Diccon ; but I could 
 speak of that grief to her, and she would grieve with 
 me. There were awe and dread and stern sorrow in 
 the knowledge that even now in the bright spring 
 
362 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 morning blood from a hundred homes might be flow- 
 ing to meet the shining, careless river ; but it was the 
 springtime, and she was waiting for me. I strode on 
 toward the stairway so fast that when I asked a ques- 
 tion Master Pory, at my side, was too out of breath 
 to answer it. Halfway down the stairs I asked it 
 again, and again received no answer save a " Zooks ! 
 you go too fart for my years and having in flesh ! 
 Go more slowly, Ralph Percy ; there 's time enough, 
 there 's time enough ! " 
 
 There was a tone in his voice that I liked not, for 
 it savored of pity. I looked at him with knitted 
 brows ; but we were now in the hall, and through 
 the open door of the great room I caught a glimpse 
 of a woman's skirt. There were men in the hall, ser- 
 vants and messengers, who made way for us, staring 
 at me as they did so, and whispering. I knew that 
 my clothing was torn and muddied and stained with 
 blood ; as we paused at the door there came to me 
 in a flash that day in the courting meadow when I 
 had tried with my dagger to scrape the dried mud 
 from my boots. I laughed at myself for caring now, 
 and for thinking that she would care that I was not 
 dressed for a lady's bower. The next moment we 
 were in the great room. 
 
 She was not there. The silken skirt that I had 
 seen, and — there being but one woman in all the 
 world for me — had taken for hers, belonged to Lady 
 Wyatt, who, pale and terrified, was sitting with 
 clasped hands, mutely following with her eyes her 
 husband as he walked to and fro. West had come in 
 from the street and was making some report. Around 
 the table were gathered two or three of the Council ; 
 Master Sandys stood at a window, Rolfe beside Lady 
 
IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS 363 
 
 Wyatt's chair. The room was filled with sunshine, 
 and a caged bird was singing, singing. It made the 
 only sound there when they saw that I stood amongst 
 them. 
 
 When I had made my bow to Lady Wyatt and to 
 the Governor, and had clasped hands with Rolfe, I 
 began to find in the silence, as I had found in Mas- 
 ter Pory's loquaciousness, something strange. They 
 looked at me uneasily, and I caught a swift glance 
 from the Treasurer to Master Pory, and an answering 
 shake of the latter's head. Rolfe was very white and 
 his lips were set ; West was pulling at his mustaches 
 and staring at the floor. 
 
 " With all our hearts we welcome you back to life 
 and to the service of Virginia, Captain Percy," said 
 the Governor, when the silence had become awkward. 
 
 A murmur of assent went round the room. 
 
 I bowed. " I thank you, sir, and these gentlemen 
 very heartily. You have but to command me now. 
 I find that I have to-day the best will in the world 
 toward fighting. I trust that your Honor does not 
 deem it necessary to send me back to gaol? " 
 
 " Virginia has no gaol for Captain Percy," he an- 
 swered gravely. " She has only grateful thanks and 
 fullest sympathy." 
 
 I glanced at him keenly. " Then I hold myself at 
 your command, sir, when I shall have seen and spoken 
 with my wife." 
 
 He looked at the floor, and they one and all held 
 their peace. 
 
 " Madam," I said to Lady Wyatt, " I have been 
 watching your ladyship's face. Will you tell me why 
 it is so very full of pity, and why there are tears in 
 your eyes ? " 
 
364 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 She shrank back in her chair with a little cry, and 
 Rolfe stepped toward ine, then turned sharply aside. 
 " I cannot ! " he cried, " I that know " — 
 
 I drew myself up to meet the blow, whatever it 
 might be. " I demand of you my wife, Sir Francis 
 Wyatt," I said. " If there is ill news to be told, be so 
 good as to tell it quickly. If she is sick, or hath been 
 sent away to England " — 
 
 The Governor made as if to speak, then turned and 
 flung out his hands to his wife. " 'T is woman's work, 
 Margaret ! " he cried. " Tell him ! " 
 
 More merciful than the men, she came to me at 
 once, the tears running down her cheeks, and laid one 
 trembling hand upon my arm. " She was a brave 
 lady, Captain Percy," she said. " Bear it as she would 
 have had you bear it." 
 
 " I am bearing it, madam," I answered at length. 
 " ' She was a brave lady.' May it please your lady- 
 ship to go on ? " 
 
 " I will tell you all, Captain Percy ; I will tell you 
 everything. . . . She never believed you dead, and she 
 begged upon her knees that we would allow her to go 
 in search of you with Master Rolfe. That could not 
 be ; my husband, in duty to the Company, could not 
 let her have her will. Master Rolfe went, and she sat 
 in the window, yonder, day after day, watching for his 
 return. When other parties went out, she besought 
 the men, as they had wives whom they loved, to search 
 as though those loved ones were in captivity and dan- 
 ger ; when they grew weary and fainthearted, to think 
 of her face waiting in the window. . . . Day after 
 day she sat there watching for them to come back; 
 when they were come, then she watched the river for 
 Master Rolfe' s boats. Then came word down the river 
 
IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS 365 
 
 that he had found no trace of you whom he sought, 
 that he was on his way back to Jamestown, that he too 
 believed you dead. . . . We put a watch upon her 
 after that, for we feared we knew not what, there was 
 such a light and purpose in her eyes. But two nights 
 ago, in the middle of the night, the woman who stayed 
 in her chamber fell asleep. When she awoke before 
 the dawn, it was to find her gone." 
 
 " To find her gone ? " I said dully. " To find her 
 dead?" 
 
 She locked her hands together and the tears came 
 faster. " Oh, Captain Percy, it had been better so ! 
 — it had been better so ! Then would she have lain 
 to greet you, calm and white, unmarred and beautiful, 
 with the spring flowers upon her. . . . She believed 
 not that you were dead ; she was distraught with grief 
 and watching ; she thought that love might find what 
 friendship missed ; she went to the forest to seek you. 
 They that were sent to find and bring her back have 
 never returned " — 
 
 " Into the forest ! " I cried. " Jocelyn, Jocelyn, 
 Jocelyn, come back ! " 
 
 Some one pushed me into a chair, and I felt the 
 warmth of wine within my lips. In the moment that 
 the world steadied I rose and went toward the door 
 to find my way barred by Rolf e. 
 
 " Not you, too, Ralph ! " he cried. " I will not let 
 you go. Look for yourself ! " 
 
 He drew me to the window, Master Sandys gravely 
 making place for us. From the window was visible 
 the neck of land and the forest beyond, and from the 
 forest, up and down the river as far as the eye could 
 reach, rose here and there thin columns of smoke. 
 Suddenly, as we stared, three or four white smoke puffs, 
 
366 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 like giant flowers, started out of the shadowy woods 
 across the neck. Following the crack of the muskets 
 — fired out of pure bravado by their Indian owners — 
 came the yelling of the savages. The sound was pro- 
 longed and deep, as though issuing from many throats. 
 
 I looked and listened, and knew that I could not 
 go, — not now. 
 
 " She was not alone, Ralph," said Rolfe, with his 
 arm about me. " On the morning that she was missed, 
 they found not Jeremy Sparrow either. They tracked 
 them both to the forest by the footprints upon the 
 sand, though once in the wood the trail was lost. The 
 minister must have been watching, must have seen her 
 leave the house, and must have followed her. How 
 she, and he after her, passed through the gates, none 
 know. So careless and confident had we grown — 
 God forgive us ! • — that they may have been left open 
 all that night. But he was with her, Ralph ; she had 
 not to face it alone " — His voice broke. 
 
 For myself, I was glad that the minister had been 
 there, though I knew that for him also I should grieve 
 after a while. 
 
 At the firing and the shouting West had rushed 
 from the room, followed by his fellow Councilors, and 
 now the Governor clapped on his headpiece and called 
 to his men to bring his back-and-breast. His wife 
 hung around his neck, and he bade her good-by with 
 great tenderness. I looked dully on at that parting. 
 I too was going to battle. Once I had tasted such a 
 farewell, the pain, the passion, the sweetness, but never 
 again, — never again. 
 
 He went, and the Treasurer, after a few words of 
 comfort to Lady Wyatt, was gone also. Both were 
 merciful, and spoke not to me, but only bowed and 
 
IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS 367 
 
 turned aside, requiring no answering word or motion 
 of mine. When they were away, and there was no 
 sound in the room save the caged bird's singing and 
 Lady Wyatt's low sobs, I begged Rolfe to leave me, 
 telling him that he was needed, as indeed he was, and 
 that I would stay in the window for a while, and then 
 would join him at the palisade. He was loath to go ; 
 but he too had loved and lost, and knew that there is 
 nothing to be said, and that it is best to be alone. He 
 went, and only Lady Wyatt and I kept the quiet room 
 with the singing bird and the sunshine on the floor. 
 
 I leaned against the window and looked out into the 
 street, — which was not crowded now, for the men 
 were all at their several posts, — and at the budding 
 trees, and at the smoke of many fires going up from 
 the forest to the sky, from a world of hate and pain 
 and woe to the heaven where she dwelt, and then I 
 turned and went to the table, where had been set bread 
 and meat and wine. 
 
 At the sound of my footstep Lady Wyatt uncovered 
 her face. " Is there aught that I can do for you, 
 sir ? " she asked timidly. 
 
 " I have not broken my fast for many hours, 
 madam," I answered. " I would eat and drink, that 
 I may not be found wanting in strength. There is a 
 thing that I have yet to do." 
 
 Rising from her chair, she brushed away her tears, 
 and coming to the table with a little housewifely eager- 
 ness would not let me wait upon myself, but carved 
 and poured for me, and then sat down opposite me and 
 covered her eyes with her hand. 
 
 " I think that the Governor is quite safe, madam," 
 I said. " I do not believe that the Indians will take 
 the palisade. It may even be that, knowing we are 
 
368 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 prepared, they will not attack at all. Indeed, I think 
 that you may be easy about him." 
 
 She thanked me with a smile. " It is all so strange 
 and dreadful to me, sir," she said. " At my home, in 
 England, it was like a Sunday morning all the year 
 round, — all stillness and peace ; no terror, no alarm. 
 I fear that I am not yet a good Virginian." 
 
 When I had eaten, and had drunk the wine she 
 gave me, I rose, and asked her if I might not see her 
 safe within the fort before I joined her husband at the 
 palisade. She shook her head, and told me that there 
 were with her faithful servants, and that if the savages 
 broke in upon the town she would have warning in 
 time to flee, the fort being so close at hand. When I 
 thereupon begged her leave to depart, she first curtsied 
 to me, and then, again with tears, came to me and 
 took my hand in hers. " I know that there is naught 
 that I can say. . . . Your wife loved you, sir, with all 
 her heart." She drew something from the bosom of 
 her gown. " Would you like this ? It is a knot of 
 ribbon that she wore. They found it caught in a bush 
 at the edge of the forest." 
 
 I took the ribbon from her and put it to my lips, 
 then unknotted it and tied it around my arm ; and 
 then, wearing my wife's colors, I went softly out into 
 the street, and turned my face toward the guest house 
 and the man whom I meant to kill. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 IN WHICH MY LORD AND I PART COMPANY 
 
 The door of the guest house stood wide, and within 
 the lower room were neither men that drank nor men 
 that gave to drink. Host and drawers and chance 
 guests alike had left pipe and tankard for sword and 
 musket, and were gone to fort or palisade or river 
 bank. 
 
 I crossed the empty room and went up the creaking 
 stairway. No one met me or withstood me ; only 
 a pigeon perched upon the sill of a sunny window 
 whirred off into the blue. I glanced out of the win- 
 dow as I passed it, and saw the silver river and the 
 George and the Esperance, with the gunners at the 
 guns watching for Indian canoes, and saw smoke rising 
 from the forest on the southern shore. There had 
 been three houses there, — John West's and MinihVs 
 and Crashaw's. I wondered if mine were burning, too. 
 at Weyanoke, and cared not if 't was so. 
 
 The door of the upper room was shut. When I 
 raised the latch and pushed against it, it gave at the 
 top and middle, but there was some pressure from 
 within at the bottom. I pushed again, more strongly, 
 and the door slowly opened, moving away whatever 
 thing had lain before it. Another moment, and I was 
 in the room, and had closed and barred the door 
 behind me. 
 
 The weight that had opposed me was the body of 
 
370 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 the Italian, tying face downwards, upon the floor. 1 
 stooped and turned it over, and saw that the venomous 
 spirit had flown. The face was purple and distorted ; 
 the lips were drawn back from the teeth in a dreadful 
 smile. There was in the room a faint, peculiar, not 
 unpleasant odor. It did not seem strange to me to 
 find that serpent, which had coiled in my path, dead 
 and harmless for evermore. Death had been busy of 
 late ; if he struck down the flower, why should he 
 spare the thing that I pushed out of my way with my 
 foot? 
 
 Ten feet from the door stood a great screen, hiding 
 from view all that might be beyond. It was very quiet 
 in the room, with the sunshine coming through the 
 window, and a breeze that smelt of the sea. I had not 
 cared to walk lightly or to close the door softly, and 
 yet no voice had challenged my entrance. For a min- 
 ute I feared to find the dead physician the room's only 
 occupant ; then I passed the screen and came upon my 
 enemy. 
 
 He was sitting beside a table, with his arms out- 
 stretched and his head bowed upon them. My foot- 
 fall did not rouse him ; he sat there in the sunshine 
 as still as the figure that hiy before the threshold. I 
 thought with a dull fury that maybe he was dead 
 already, and I walked hastily and heavily across the 
 floor to the table. He was a living man, for with the 
 fingers of one hand he was slowly striking against a 
 sheet of paper that lay beneath them. He knew not 
 that I stood above him ; he was listening to other foot- 
 steps. 
 
 The paper was a letter, unfolded and written over 
 with great black characters. The few lines above 
 those moving fingers stared me in the face. They ran 
 
MY LORD AND I PART COMPANY 371 
 
 thus : " I told you that you had as well cut your throat 
 as go upon that mad Virginia voyage. Now all 's 
 gone, — wealth, honors, favor. Buckingham is the 
 sun hi heaven, and cold are the shadows in which we 
 walk who hailed another luminary. There 's a war- 
 rant out for the Black Death ; look to it that one 
 meets not you too, when you come at last. But come, 
 in the name of all the fiends, and play your last card. 
 There 's your cursed beauty still. Come, and let the 
 King behold your face once more " — The rest was 
 hidden. 
 
 I put out my hand and touched him upon the shoul- 
 der, and he raised his head and stared at me as at one 
 come from the grave. 
 
 Over one side of his face, from temple to chin, 
 was drawn and fastened a black cloth ; the unharmed 
 cheek was bloodless and shrunken, the lip twisted. 
 Only the eyes, dark, sinister, and splendid, were as 
 they had been. " I dig not my graves deep enough," 
 he said. " Is she behind you there in the shadow ? " 
 
 Flung across a chair was a cloak of scarlet cloth. 
 I took it and spread it out upon the floor, then un- 
 sheathed a dagger which I had taken from the rack of 
 weapons in the Governor's hall. " Loosen thy poniard, 
 thou murderer," I cried, "and come stand with me 
 upon the cloak." 
 
 " Art quick or dead ? " he answered. " I will not 
 fight the dead." He had not moved in his seat, and 
 there was a lethargy and a dullness in his voice and 
 eyes. " There is time enough," he said. " I too will 
 soon be of thy world, thou haggard, bloody shape. 
 Wait until I come, and I will fight thee, shadow to 
 shadow." 
 
 " I am not dead," I said, " but there is one that is. 
 
372 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 Stand up, villain and murderer, or I will kill you sitting 
 there, with her blood upon your hands ! " 
 
 He rose at that, and drew his dagger from the 
 sheath. I laid aside my doublet, and he followed my 
 example, but his hands moved listlessly and his fingers 
 bungled at the fastenings. I waited for him in some 
 wonder, it not being like him to come tardily to such 
 pastime. 
 
 He came at length, slowly and with an uncertain 
 step, and we stood together on the scarlet cloak. I 
 raised my left arm and he raised his, and we locked 
 hands. There was no strength in his clasp ; his hand 
 lay within mine cold and languid. " Art ready ? " I 
 demanded. 
 
 " Yea," he answered in a strange voice, " but I 
 would that she did not stand there with her head upon 
 your breast. ... I too loved thee, Jocelyn, — Jocelyn 
 lying dead in the forest ! " 
 
 I struck at him with the dagger in my right hand, 
 and wounded him, but not deeply, in the side. He 
 gave blow for blow, but his poniard scarce drew blood, 
 so nerveless was the arm that would have driven it 
 home. I struck again, and he stabbed weakly at the 
 air, then let his arm drop to his side, as though the 
 light and jeweled blade had weighed it down. 
 
 Loosening the clasp of our left hands, I fell back 
 until the narrow scarlet field was between us. " Hast 
 no more strength than that ? " I cried. " I cannot 
 murder you ! " 
 
 He stood looking past me as into a great distance. 
 He was bleeding, but I had as yet been able to strike 
 no mortal blow. " It is as you choose," he said. " I 
 am as one bound before you. I am sick unto death." 
 
 Turning, he went back, swaying as he walked, to 
 
MY LORD AND I PART COMPANY 373 
 
 his chair, and sinking into it sat there a minute with 
 half -closed eyes ; then raised his head and looked at 
 me, with a shadow of the old arrogance, pride, and 
 disdain upon his scarred face. " Not yet, captain ? " 
 he demanded. " To the heart, man ! So I would 
 strike an you sat here and I stood there." 
 
 " I know you would," I said, and going to the win- 
 dow I flung the dagger down into the empty street ; 
 then stood and watched the smoke across the river, and 
 thought it strange that the sun shone and the birds 
 sang. 
 
 When I turned to the room again, he still sat there 
 in the great chair, a tragic, splendid figure, with his 
 ruined face and the sullen woe of his eyes. " I had 
 sworn to kill you," I said. " It is not just that you 
 should live." 
 
 He gazed at me with something like a smile upon 
 his bloodless lips. " Fret not thyself, Ralph Percy," 
 he said. " Within a week I shall be gone. Did you 
 see my servant, my Italian doctor, lying dead upon the 
 floor, there beyond the screen ? He had poisons, had 
 Nicolo whom men called the Black Death, — poisons 
 swift and strong, or subtle and slow. Day and night, 
 the earth and sunshine have become hateful to me. I 
 will go to the fires of hell, and see if they can make 
 me forget, — can make me forget the face of a woman." 
 He was speaking half to me, half to himself. " Her 
 eyes are dark and large," he said, " and there are 
 shadows beneath them, and the mark of tears. She 
 stands there day and night with her eyes upon me. 
 Her lips are parted, but she never speaks. There was 
 a way that she had with her hands, holding them one 
 within the other, thus " — 
 
 I stopped him with a cry for silence, and I leaned 
 
374 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 trembling against the table. " Thou wretch ! " I cried. 
 " Thou art her murderer ! " 
 
 He raised his head and looked beyond me with that 
 strange, faint smile. " I know," he replied, with the 
 dignity which was his at times. " You may play the 
 headsman, if you choose. I dispute not your right. 
 But it is scarce worth while. I have taken poison." 
 
 The sunshine came into the room, and the wind 
 from the river, and the trumpet notes of swans flying 
 to the north. " The George is ready for sailing," he 
 said at last. " To-morrow or the next day she will be 
 going home with the tidings of this massacre. I shall 
 go with her, and within a week they will bury me at 
 sea. There is a stealthy., slow, and secret poison. . . . 
 I would not die in a land where I have lost every 
 throw of the dice, and I would not die in England for 
 Buckingham to come and look upon my face, and so I 
 took that poison. For the man upon the floor, there, 
 — prison and death awaited him at home. He chose 
 to flee at once." 
 
 He ceased to speak, and sat with his head bowed 
 upon his breast. " If you are content that it should 
 be as it is," he said at length, " perhaps you will leave 
 me? I am not good company to-day." 
 
 His hand was busy again with the letter upon the 
 table, and his gaze was fixed beyond me. " I have 
 lost," he muttered. " How I came to play my cards 
 so badly I do not know. The stake was heavy, — I 
 have not wherewithal to play again." 
 
 His head sank upon his outstretched arm. As for 
 me, I stood a minute with set lips and clenched hands, 
 and then I turned and went out of the room and down 
 the stair and out into the street. In the dust beneath 
 the window lay my dagger. I picked it up, sheathed 
 it, and went my way. 
 
'THOU ART HER MURDERER! 
 
MY LORD AND I PART COMPANY 375 
 
 The street was very quiet. All windows and doors 
 were closed and barred ; not a soul was there to trouble 
 me with look or speech. The yelling from the forest 
 had ceased ; only the keen wind blew, and brought 
 from the Esperance upon the river a sound of singing. 
 The sea was the home of the men upon her decks, and 
 their hearts dwelt not in this port ; they could sing- 
 while the smoke went up from our homes and the dead 
 lay across the thresholds. 
 
 I went on through the sunshine and the stillness to 
 the minister's house. The trees in the garden were 
 bare, the flowers dead. The door was not barred. I 
 entered the house and went into the great room and 
 flung the heavy shutters wide, then stood and looked 
 about me. Naught was changed ; it was as we had 
 left it that wild November night. Even the mirror 
 which, one other night, had shown me Diccon still 
 hung upon the wall. Master Bucke had been seldom 
 at home, perhaps, or was feeble and careless of altering 
 matters. All was as though we had been but an hour 
 gone, save that no fire burned upon the hearth. 
 
 I went to the table, and the books upon it were Jer- 
 emy Sparrow's: the minister's house, then, had been 
 his home once more. Beside the books lay a packet, 
 tied with silk, sealed, and addressed to me. Perhaps 
 the Governor had given it, the day before, into Mas- 
 ter Bucke's care, — I do not know ; at any rate, there 
 it lay. I looked at the "By the Esperance" upon 
 the cover, and wondered dully who at home would 
 care to write to me ; then broke the seal and untied 
 the silk. Within the cover there was a letter with 
 the superscription, " To a Gentleman who has served 
 me well." 
 
 I read the letter through to the signature, which 
 
376 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 was that of his Grace of Buckingham, and then I 
 laughed, who had never thought to laugh again, and 
 threw the paper down. It mattered naught to me now 
 that George Villiers should be grateful, or that James 
 Stewart could deny a favorite nothing. " The King 
 graciously sanctions the marriage of his sometime 
 zoard, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh, with Captain Ralph 
 Percy ; invites them home " — 
 
 She was gone home, and I her husband, I who 
 loved her, was left behind. How many years of pil- 
 grimage . . . how long, how long, O Lord ? 
 
 The minister's great armchair was drawn before 
 the cold and blackened hearth. How often she had 
 sat there within its dark clasp, the firelight on her 
 dress, her hands, her face ! She had been fair to look 
 upon ; the pride, the daring, the willfulness, were but 
 the thorns about the rose ; behind those defenses was 
 the flower, pure and lovely, with a heart of gold. I 
 flung myself down beside the chair, and, putting my 
 arms across it, hid my face upon them, and could 
 weep at last. 
 
 That passion spent itself, and I lay with my face 
 against the wood and well-nigh slept. The battle was 
 done ; the field was lost ; the storm and stress of life 
 had sunk into this dull calm, as still as peace, as 
 hopeless as the charred log and white ash upon the 
 hearth, cold, never to be quickened again. 
 
 Time passed, and at length I raised my head, 
 roused suddenly to the consciousness that for a while 
 there had been no stillness. The air was full of sound, 
 shouts, savage cries, the beating of a drum, the noise 
 of musketry. I sprang to my feet, and went to the 
 door to meet Rolfe crossing the threshold. 
 
 He put his arm within mine and drew me out into 
 
MY LORD AND I PART COMPANY 377 
 
 the sunshine upon the doorstep. " I thought I should 
 find you here," he said ; " but it is only a room with 
 its memories, Ralph. Out here is more breadth, more 
 height. There is country yet, Ralph, and after a 
 while, friends. The Indians are beginning to attack 
 in force. Humphry Boyse is killed, and Morris 
 Chaloner. There is smoke over the plantations up 
 and down the river, as far as we can see, and awhile 
 ago the body of a child drifted down to us." 
 
 " I am unarmed," I said. " I will but run to the 
 fort for sword and musket " — 
 
 " No need," he answered. " There are the dead 
 whom you may rob." The noise increasing as he 
 spoke, we made no further tarrying, but, leaving 
 behind us house and garden, hurried to the palisade. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVin 
 
 IN WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST 
 
 Through a loophole in the gate of the palisade I 
 looked, and saw the sandy neck joining the town to 
 the main, and the deep and dark woods beyond, the 
 fairy mantle giving invisibility to a host. Between 
 us and that refuge dead men lay here and there, stiff 
 and stark, with the black paint upon them, and the 
 colored feathers of their headdresses red or blue 
 against the sand. One warrior, shot through the 
 back, crawled like a wounded beetle to the forest. 
 We let him go, for we cared not to waste ammunition 
 upon him. 
 
 I drew back from my loophole, and held out my 
 hand to the women for a freshly loaded musket. A 
 quick murmur like the drawing of a breath came from 
 our line. The Governor, standing near me, cast an 
 anxious glance along the stretch of wooden stakes 
 that were neither so high nor so thick as they should 
 have been. " I am new to this warfare, Captain 
 Percy," he said. " Do they think to use those logs 
 that they carry as battering rams ? " 
 
 " As scaling ladders, your Honor," I replied. " It 
 is on the cards that we may have some sword play, 
 after all." 
 
 " We '11 take your advice, the next time we build a 
 palisade, Ralph Percy," muttered West on my other 
 side. Mounting the breastwork that we had thrown 
 
IN WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST 379 
 
 up to shelter the women who were to load the mus- 
 kets, he coolly looked over the pales at the oncoming 
 savages. " Wait until they pass the blasted pine, 
 men ! " he cried. " Then give them a hail of lead 
 that will beat them back to the Pamunkey ! " 
 
 An arrow whistled by his ear ; a second struck him 
 on the shoulder, but pierced not his coat of mail. He 
 came down from his dangerous post with a laugh. 
 
 " If the leader could be picked off " — I said. " It 's 
 a long shot, but there 's no harm in trying." 
 
 As I spoke I raised my gun to my shoulder ; but 
 he leaned across Rolfe, who stood between us, and 
 plucked me by the sleeve. " You 've not looked at 
 him closely. Look again." 
 
 I did as he told me, and lowered my musket. It 
 was not for me to send that Indian leader to his ac- 
 count. Rolfe's lips tightened and a sudden pallor 
 overspread his face. " Nantauquas ? " he muttered in 
 my ear, and I nodded yes. 
 
 The volley that we fired full into the ranks of our 
 foe was deadly, and we looked to see them turn and 
 flee, as they had fled before. But this time they were 
 led by one who had been trained in English stead- 
 fastness. Broken for the moment, they rallied and 
 came on yelling, bearing logs, thick branches of trees, 
 oars tied together, — anything by whose help they 
 could hope to surmount the palisade. We fired again, 
 but they had planted their ladders. Before we could 
 snatch the loaded muskets from the women a dozen 
 painted figures appeared above the sharpened stakes. 
 A moment, and they and a score behind them had 
 leaped down upon us. 
 
 It was no time now to skulk behind a palisade. 
 At all hazards, that tide from the forest must be 
 
380 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 stemmed. Those that were amongst us we might kill, 
 but more were swarming after them, and from the 
 neck came the exultant yelling of madly hurrying 
 reinforcements. 
 
 We flung open the gates. I drove my sword 
 through the heart of an Indian who would have op- 
 posed me, and, calling for men to follow me, sprang 
 forward. Perhaps thirty came at my call ; together 
 we made for the opening. A party of the savages in 
 our midst interposed. We set upon them with sword 
 and musket butt, and though they fought like very 
 devils drove them before us through the gateway. 
 Behind us were wild clamor, the shrieking of women, 
 the stern shouts of the English, the whooping of the 
 savages ; before us a rush that must be met and 
 turned. 
 
 It was done. A moment's fierce fighting, then the 
 Indians wavered, broke, and fled. Like sheep we 
 drove them before us, across the neck, to the edge of 
 the forest, into which they plunged. Into that am- 
 bush we cared not to follow, but fell back to the pali- 
 sade and the town, believing, and with reason, that 
 the lesson had been taught. The strip of sand was 
 strewn with the dead and the dying, but they belonged 
 not to us. Our dead numbered but three, and we 
 bore their bodies with us. 
 
 Within the palisade we found the English in suffi- 
 ciently good case. Of the score or more Indians cut 
 off by us from their mates and penned within that 
 death trap, half at least were already dead, run 
 through with sword and pike, shot down with the mus- 
 kets that there was now time to load. The remain- 
 der, hemmed about, pressed against the wall, were 
 fast meeting with a like fate. They stood no chance 
 
IN WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST 381 
 
 against as ; we cared not to make prisoners of them ; 
 it was a slaughter, but they had taken the initiative. 
 They fought with the courage of despair, striving to 
 spring in upon us, striking when they could with 
 hatchet and knife, and through it all talking and 
 laughing, making God knows what savage boasts, 
 what taunts against the English, what references to 
 the hunting grounds to which they were going. They 
 were brave men that we slew that day. 
 
 At last there was left but the leader, — unharmed, 
 un wounded, though time and again he had striven to 
 close with some one of us, to strike and to die striking 
 with his fellows. Behind him was the wall : of the 
 half circle which he faced well-nigh all were old sol- 
 diers and servants of the colony, gentlemen none of 
 whom had come in later than Dale, — Rolfe, West, 
 Wynne, and others. We were swordsmen all. When 
 in his desperation he would have thrown himself 
 upon us, we contented ourselves with keeping him at 
 sword's length, and at last West sent the knife in the 
 dark hand whirling over the palisade. Some one had 
 shouted to the musketeers to spare him. 
 
 When he saw that he stood alone, he stepped back 
 against the wall, drew himself up to his full height, 
 and folded his arms. Perhaps he thought that we 
 would shoot him down then and there ; perhaps he 
 saw himself a captive amongst us, a show for the idle 
 and for the strangers that the ships brought in. 
 
 The din had ceased, and we the living, the victors, 
 stood and looked at the vanquished dead at our feet, 
 and at the dead beyond the gates, and at the neck 
 upon which was no living foe, and at the blue sky 
 bending over all. Our hearts told us, and told us 
 truly, that the lesson had been taught, that no more 
 
382 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 forever need we at Jamestown fear an Indian attack. 
 And then we looked at him whose life we had spared. 
 
 He opposed our gaze with his folded arms and his 
 head held high and his back against the wall. Many 
 of us could remember him, a proud, shy lad, coming 
 for the first time from the forest with his sister to see 
 the English village and its wonders. For idleness we 
 had set him in our midst that summer day, long ago, 
 on the green by the fort, and had called him "your 
 royal highness," laughing at the quickness of our wit, 
 and admiring the spirit and bearing of the lad and 
 the promise he gave of a splendid manhood. And all 
 knew the tale I had brought the night before. 
 
 Slowly, as one man, and with no spoken word, we 
 fell back, the half circle straightening into a line and 
 leaving a clear pathway to the open gates. The wind 
 had ceased to blow, I remember, and a sunny still- 
 ness lay upon the sand, and the rough-hewn wooden 
 stakes, and a little patch of tender grass across which 
 stretched a dead man's arm. The church bells began 
 to ring. 
 
 The Indian out of whose path to life and freedom we 
 had stepped glanced from the line of lowered steel to 
 the open gates and the forest beyond, and understood. 
 For a full minute he waited, moving not a muscle, 
 still and stately as some noble masterpiece in bronze. 
 Then he stepped from the shadow of the wall and 
 moved past us through the sunshine that turned the 
 eagle feather in his scalp lock to gold. His eyes were 
 fixed upon the forest ; there was no change in the 
 superb calm of his face. He went by the huddled 
 dead and the long line of the living that spoke no 
 word, and out of the gates and across the neck, walk- 
 ing slowly that we might yet shoot him down if we 
 
IN WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST 333 
 
 saw fit to repent ourselves, and proudly like a king's 
 son. There was no sound save the church bells ring- 
 ing for our deliverance. He reached the shadow of 
 the trees : a moment, and the forest had back her 
 own. 
 
 We sheathed our swords and listened to the Gov- 
 ernor's few earnest words of thankfulness and of recog- 
 nition of this or that man's service, and then we set to 
 work to clear the ground of the dead, to place senti- 
 nels, to bring the town into order, to determine what 
 policy we should pursue, to search for ways by which 
 we might reach and aid those who might be yet alive 
 in the plantations above and below us. 
 
 We could not go through the forest where every 
 tree might hide a foe, but there was the river. For 
 the most part, the houses of the English had been 
 built, like mine at Weyanoke, very near to the water. 
 I volunteered to lead a party up river, and Wynne to 
 go with another toward the bay. But as the council 
 at the Governor's was breaking up, and as Wynne 
 and I were hurrying off to make our choice of the 
 craft at the landing, there came a great noise from 
 the watchers upon the bank, and a cry that boats were 
 coming down the stream. 
 
 It was so, and there were in them white men, nearly 
 all of whom had their wounds to show, and cowering 
 women and children. One boat had come from the 
 plantation at Paspahegh, and two from Martin-Bran- 
 don ; they held all that were left of the people. . . . 
 A woman had in her lap the body of a child, and 
 would not let us take it from her ; another, with a 
 half-severed arm, crouched above a man who lay in 
 his blood in the bottom of the boat. 
 
 Thus began that strange procession that lasted 
 
384 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 throughout the afternoon and night and into the 
 next day, when a sloop came down from Henricus 
 with the news that the English were in force there 
 to stand their ground, although their loss had been 
 heavy. Hour after hour they came as fast as sail and 
 oar could bring them, the panic-stricken folk, whose 
 homes were burned, whose kindred were slain, who 
 had themselves escaped as by a miracle. Many were 
 sorely wounded, so that they died when we lifted them 
 from the boats ; others had slighter hurts. Each 
 boatload had the same tale to tell of treachery, sur- 
 prise, and fiendish butchery. Wherever it had been 
 possible the English had made a desperate defense, in 
 the face of which the savages gave way and finally 
 retired to the forest. Contrary to their wont, the 
 'Indians took few prisoners, but for the most part slew 
 outright those whom they seized, wreaking their spite 
 upon the senseless corpses. A man too good for this 
 world, George Thorpe, who would think no evil, was 
 killed and his body mutilated by those whom he had 
 taught and loved. And Nathaniel Powel was dead, 
 and four others of the Council, besides many more of 
 name and note. There were many women slain and 
 little children. 
 
 From the stronger hundreds came tidings of the 
 number lost, and that the survivors would hold the 
 homes that were left, for the time at least. The 
 Indians had withdrawn ; it remained to be seen if 
 they were satisfied with the havoc they had wrought. 
 Would his Honor send by boat — there could be no 
 traveling through the woods — news of how others 
 had fared, and also powder and shot ? 
 
 Before the dawning we had heard from all save the 
 remoter settlements. The blow had been struck, and 
 
IN WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST 385 
 
 the hurt was deep. But it was not beyond remedy, 
 thank God ! It is known what measures we took for 
 our protection, and how soon the wound to the colony 
 was healed, and what vengeance we meted out to those 
 who had set upon us in the dark, and had failed to 
 reach the heart. These things belong to history, and 
 I am but telling my own story, — mine and another's. 
 
 In the chill and darkness of the hour before dawn 
 something like quiet fell upon the distracted, breath- 
 less town. There was a pause in the coming of the 
 boats. The wounded and the dying had been cared 
 for, and the noise of the women and the children was 
 stilled at last. All was well at the palisade ; the 
 strong party encamped upon the neck reported the 
 forest beyond them as still as death. 
 
 In the Governor's house was held a short council, 
 subdued and quiet, for we were all of one mind and 
 our words were few. It was decided that the George 
 should sail at once with the tidings, and with an 
 appeal for arms and powder and a supply of men. 
 The Esperance would still be with us, besides the 
 Hope-in-God and the Tiger ; the Margaret and John 
 would shortly come in, being already overdue. 
 
 " My Lord Carnal goes upon the George, gentle- 
 men," said Master Pory. " He sent but now to 
 demand if she sailed to-morrow. He is ill, and would 
 be at home." 
 
 One or two glanced at me, but I sat with a face 
 like stone, and the Governor, rising, broke up the 
 council. 
 
 I left the house, and the street that was lit with 
 torches and noisy with going to and fro, and went 
 down to the river. Rolfe had been detained by the 
 Governor, "West commanded the party at the neck 
 
386 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 There were great fires burning along the river bank, 
 and men watching for the incoming boats ; but I 
 knew of a place where no guard was set, and where 
 one or two canoes were moored. There was no fire- 
 light there, and no one saw me when I entered a canoe 
 and cut the rope and pushed off from the land. 
 
 Well-nigh a day and a night had passed since Lady 
 Wyatt had told me that which made for my heart a 
 night-time indeed. I believed my wife to be dead, — 
 yea, I trusted that she was dead. I hoped that it had 
 been quickly over, — one blow. . . . Better that, oh, 
 better that a thousand times, than that she should 
 have been carried off to some village, saved to-day to 
 die a thousand deaths to-morrow. 
 
 But I thought that there might have been left, 
 lying on the dead leaves of the forest, that fair shell 
 from which the soul had flown. I knew not where to 
 go, — to the north, to the east, to the west, — but go 
 I must. I had no hope of finding that which I went 
 to seek, and no thought but to take up that quest. I 
 was a soldier, and I had stood to my post; but now 
 the need was past, and I could go. In the hall at the 
 Governor's house, I had written a line of farewell to 
 Rolfe, and had given the paper into the hand of a 
 trusty fellow, charging him not to deliver it for two 
 hours to come. 
 
 I rowed two miles downstream through the quiet 
 darkness, — so quiet after the hubbub of the town. 
 When I turned my boat to the shore the day was 
 close at hand. The stars were gone, and a pale, cold 
 light, more desolate than the dark, streamed from the 
 east across which ran, like a faded blood stain, a smear 
 of faint red. Upon the forest the mist lay heavy. 
 When I drove the boat in amongst the sedge and 
 
IE WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST 3S7 
 
 reeds below the bank, I could see only the trunks of 
 the nearest trees, hear only the sullen cry of some 
 river bird that I had disturbed. 
 
 Why I was at some pains to fasten the boat to a 
 sycamore that dipped a pallid arm into the stream I 
 do not know. I never thought to come back to the 
 sycamore ; I never thought to bend to an oar again, 
 to behold again the river that the trees and the mist 
 hid from me before I had gone twenty yards into the 
 forest. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 
 
 It was like a May morning, so mild was the air, so 
 gay the sunshine, when the mist had risen. Wild 
 flowers were blooming, and here and there unfolding 
 leaves made a delicate fretwork against a deep blue 
 sky. The wind did not blow ; everywhere were still- 
 ness soft and sweet, dewy freshness, careless peace. 
 
 Hour after hour I walked slowly through the wood- 
 land, pausing now and then to look from side to side. 
 It was idle going, wandering in a desert with no 
 guiding star. The place where I would be might lie 
 to the east, to the west. In the wide enshrouding 
 forest I might have passed it by. I believed not that 
 I had done so. Surely, surely I should have known ; 
 surely the voice that lived only in my heart would 
 have called to me to stay. 
 
 Beside a newly felled tree, in a glade starred with 
 small white flowers, I came upon the bodies of a man 
 and a boy, so hacked, so hewn, so robbed of all come- 
 liness, that at the sight the heart stood still and the 
 brain grew sick. Farther on was a clearing, and in 
 its midst the charred and blackened walls of what had 
 been a home. I crossed the freshly turned earth, and 
 looked in at the cabin door with the stillness and the 
 sunshine. A woman lay dead upon the floor, her out- 
 stretched hand clenched upon the foot of a cradle. I 
 entered the room, and, looking within the cradle, 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 389 
 
 found that the babe had not been spared. Taking up 
 the little waxen body with the blood upon its innocent 
 breast, I laid it within the mother's arms, and went 
 my way over the sunny doorstep and the earth that 
 had been made ready for planting. A white butterfly 
 — the first of the year — fluttered before me ; then 
 rose through a mist of green and passed from my sight. 
 
 The sun climbed higher into the deep blue sky. 
 Save where grew pines or cedars there were no shad- 
 owy places in the forest. The slight green of uncurl- 
 ing leaves, the airy scarlet of the maples, the bare 
 branches of the tardier trees, opposed no barrier to 
 the sunlight. It streamed into the world below the 
 treetops, and lay warm upon the dead leaves and the 
 green moss and the fragile wild flowers. There was 
 a noise of birds, and a fox barked. All was lightness, 
 gayety, and warmth ; the sap was running, the hey- 
 day of the spring at hand. Ah ! to be riding with her, 
 to be going home through the fairy forest, the sunshine, 
 and the singing ! . . . The happy miles to Weyanoke, 
 the smell of the sassafras in its woods, the house all lit 
 and trimmed. The fire kindled, the wine upon the 
 table . . . Diccon's welcoming face, and his hand upon 
 Black Lamoral's bridle ; the minister, too, maybe, with 
 his great heart and his kindly eyes ; her hand in mine, 
 her head upon my breast — 
 
 The vision faded. Never, never, never for me a 
 home-coming such as that, so deep, so dear, so sweet. 
 The men who were my friends, the woman whom I 
 loved, had gone into a far country. This world was 
 not their home. They had crossed the threshold while 
 I lagged behind. The door was shut, and without 
 were the night and I. 
 
 With the fading of the vision came a sudden con- 
 
390 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 sciousness of a presence in the forest other than my 
 own. I turned sharply, and saw an Indian walking 
 with me, step for step, but with a space between us of 
 earth and brown tree trunks and drooping branches. 
 For a moment I thought that he was a shadow, not 
 substance ; then I stood still, waiting for him to speak 
 or to draw nearer. At the first glimpse of the bronze 
 figure I had touched my sword, but when I saw who it 
 was I let my hand fall. He too paused, but he did 
 not offer to speak. With his hand upon a great bow, 
 he waited, motionless in the sunlight. A minute or 
 more thus ; then I walked on with my eyes upon him. 
 
 At once he addressed himself to motion, not speak- 
 ing or making any sign or lessening the distance 
 between us, but moving as I moved through the light 
 and shade, the warmth and stillness, of the forest. 
 For a time I kept my eyes upon him, but soon I was 
 back with my dreams again. It seemed not worth 
 while to wonder why he walked with me, who was now 
 the mortal foe of the people to whom he had returned. 
 
 From the river bank, the sycamore, and the boal^ 
 that I had fastened there, I had gone northward to- 
 ward the Pamunkey ; from the clearing and the ruined 
 cabin with the dead within it, I had turned to the east- 
 ward. Now, in that hopeless wandering, I would have 
 faced the north again. But the Indian who had made 
 himself my traveling companion stopped short, and 
 pointed to the east. I looked at him, and thought 
 that he knew, maybe, of some war party between us 
 and the Pamunkey, and would save me from it. A 
 listlessness had come upon me, and I obeyed the point- 
 ing finger. 
 
 So, estranged and silent, with two spears' length of 
 earth between us, we went on until we came to a quiet 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 391 
 
 stream flowing between low, dark banks. Again I 
 would have turned to the northward, but the son of 
 Powhatan, gliding before me, set his face down the 
 stream, toward the river I had left. A minute in 
 which I tried to think and could not, because in my 
 ears was the singing of the birds at Weyanoke ; then 
 I followed him. 
 
 How long I walked in a dream, hand in hand with 
 the sweetness of the past, I do not know ; but when 
 the present and its anguish weighed again upon my 
 heart it was darker, colder, stiller, in the forest. The 
 soundless stream was bright no longer ; the golden 
 sunshine that had lain upon the earth was all gathered 
 up ; the earth was dark and smooth and bare, with not 
 a flower ; the tree trunks were many and straight and 
 tall. Above were no longer brown branch and blue 
 sky, but a deep and sombre green, thick woven, keep- 
 ing out the sunlight like a pall. I stood still and 
 gazed around me, and knew the place. 
 
 To me, whose heart was haunted, the dismal wood, 
 the charmed silence, the withdrawal of the light, were 
 less than nothing. All day I had looked for one sight 
 of horror ; yea, had longed to come at last upon it, to 
 fall beside it, to embrace it with my arms. There, 
 there, though it should be some fair and sunny spot, 
 there would be my haunted wood. As for this place 
 of gloom and stillness, it fell in with my mood. More 
 welcome than the mocking sunshine were this cold and 
 solemn light, this deathlike silence, these ranged pines. 
 It was a place in which to think of life as a slight 
 thing and scarcely worth the while, given without the 
 asking, spent in turmoil, strife, suffering, and longings 
 all in vain. Easily laid down, too, — so easily laid 
 down that the wonder was — 
 
392 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 I looked at the ghostly wood, and at the dull stream, 
 and at my hand upon the hilt of the sword that 1 had 
 drawn halfway from the scabbard. The life within 
 that hand I had not asked for. Why should I stand 
 like a soldier left to guard a thing not worth the 
 guarding; seeing his comrades march homeward, 
 hearing a cry to him from his distant hearthstone? 
 
 I drew my sword well-nigh from its sheath ; and 
 then of a sudden I saw the matter in a truer light ; 
 knew that I was indeed the soldier, and willed to be 
 neither coward nor deserter. The blade dropped back 
 into the scabbard with a clang, and, straightening 
 myself, I walked on beside the sluggish stream deep 
 into the haunted wood. 
 
 Presently it occurred to me to glance aside at the 
 Indian who had kept pace with me through the forest. 
 He was not there ; he walked with me no longer ; 
 save for myself there seemed no breathing creature in 
 the dim wood. I looked to right and left, and saw 
 only the tall, straight pines and the needle-strewn 
 ground. How long he had been gone I could not 
 tell. He might have left me when first we came to 
 the pines, for my dreams had held me, and I had not 
 looked his way. 
 
 There was that in the twilight place, or in the 
 strangeness, the horror, and the yearning that had 
 kept company with me that day, or in the dull weari- 
 ness of a mind and body overwrought of late, which 
 made thought impossible. I went on down the stream 
 toward the river, because it chanced that my face was 
 set in that direction. 
 
 How dark was the shadow of the pines, how lifeless 
 the earth beneath, how faint and far away the blue 
 that showed here and there through rifts in the heavy 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 393 
 
 roof of foliage ! The stream bending to one side I 
 turned with it, and there before me stood the minister ! 
 
 I do not know what strangled cry burst from me. 
 The earth was rocking, all the wood a glare of light. 
 As for him, at the sight of me and the sound of my 
 voice he had staggered back against a tree ; but now, 
 recovering himself, he ran to me and put his great 
 arms about me. " From the power of the dog, from 
 the lion's mouth," he cried brokenly. "And they 
 slew thee not, Ralph, the heathen who took thee away ! 
 Yesternight I learned that you lived, but I looked not 
 for you here." 
 
 I scarce heard or marked what he was saying, and 
 found no time in which to wonder at his knowledge 
 that I had not perished. I only saw that he was alone, 
 and that in the evening wood there was no sign of 
 other living creature. 
 
 " Yea, they slew me not, Jeremy," I said. " I 
 would that they had done so. And you are alone ? I 
 am glad that you died not, my friend ; yes, faith, 
 I am very glad that one escaped. Tell me about it, 
 and I will sit here upon the bank and listen. Was it 
 done in this wood ? A gloomy deathbed, friend, for 
 one so young and fair. She should have died to soft 
 music, in the sunshine, with flowers about her." 
 
 With an exclamation he put me from him, but kept 
 his hand upon my arm and his steady eyes upon my 
 face. 
 
 " She loved laughter and sunshine and sweet songs," 
 I continued. " She can never know them in this wood. 
 They are outside ; they are outside the world, I think. 
 It is sad, is it not ? Faith, I think it is the saddest 
 thing I have ever known." 
 
 He clapped his other hand upon my shoulder 
 
394 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 " Wake, man ! " he commanded. " If thou shouldst 
 go mad now — Wake ! thy brain is turning. Hold to 
 thyself. Stand fast, as thou art soldier and Christian ! 
 Ralph, she is not dead. She will wear flowers, — thy 
 flowers, — sing, laugh, move through the sunshine of 
 earth for many and many a year, please God ! Art 
 listening, Ralph? Canst hear what I am saying?" 
 
 " I hear," I said at last, " but I do not well under- 
 stand." 
 
 He pushed me back against a pine, and held me 
 there with his hands upon my shoulders. " Listen," 
 he said, speaking rapidly and keeping his eyes upon 
 mine. " All those days that you were gone, when all 
 the world declared you dead, she believed you living. 
 She saw party after party come back without you, and 
 she believed that you were left behind in the forest. 
 Also she knew that the George waited but for the 
 search to be quite given over, and for my Lord Car- 
 nal's recovery. She had been told that the King's 
 command might not be defied, that the Governor had 
 no choice but to send her from Virginia. Ralph, I 
 watched her, and I knew that she meant not to go 
 upon that ship. Three nights agone she stole from 
 the Governor's house, and, passing through the gates 
 that the sleeping warder had left unfastened, went 
 toward the forest. I saw her and followed her, and 
 at the edge of the forest I spoke to her. I stayed her 
 not, I brought her not back, Ralph, because I was con- 
 vinced that an I did so she would die. I knew of no 
 great danger, and I trusted in the Lord to show me 
 what to do, step by step, and how to guide her gently 
 back when she was weary of wandering, — when, worn 
 out, she was willing to give up the quest for the dead. 
 Art following me, Ralph ? " 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 395 
 
 " Yes," I answered, and took my hand from my 
 eyes. " I was nigh mad, Jeremy, for my faith was 
 not like hers. I have looked on Death too much of 
 late, and yesterday all men believed that he had come 
 to dwell in the forest and had swept clean his house 
 before him. But you escaped, you both escaped " — 
 
 "God's hand was over us," he said reverently. 
 " This is the way of it. She had been ill, you know, 
 and of late she had taken no thought of food or sleep. 
 She was so weak, we had to go so slowly, and so 
 winding was our path, who knew not the country, that 
 the evening found us not far upon our way, if way we 
 had. We came to a cabin in a clearing, and they 
 whose home it was gave us shelter for the night. In 
 the morning, when the father and son would go forth 
 to their work we walked with them. When they came 
 to the trees they meant to fell we bade them good-by, 
 and went on alone. We had not gone an hundred 
 paces when, looking back, we saw three Indians start 
 from the dimness of the forest and set upon and slay 
 the man and the boy. That murder done they gave 
 chase to me, who caught up thy wife and ran for both 
 our lives. When I saw that they were light of foot 
 and would overtake me, I set my burden down, and, 
 drawing a sword that I had with me, went back to 
 meet them halfway. Ralph, I slew all three, — may 
 the Lord have mercy on my soul ! I knew not what 
 to think of that attack, the peace with the Indians 
 being so profound, and I began to fear for thy wife's 
 safety. She knew not the woods, and I managed to 
 turn our steps back toward Jamestown without her 
 knowledge that I did so. It was about midday when 
 we saw the gleam of the river through the trees before 
 us, and heard the sound of firing and of a great yell- 
 
396 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 ing. I made her crouch within a thicket, while 1 
 myself went forward to reconnoitre, and well-nigh 
 stumbled into the midst of an army. Yelling, painted, 
 maddened, brandishing their weapons toward the town, 
 human hair dabbled with blood at the belts of many 
 — in the name of God, Ralph, what is the meaning of 
 it all?" 
 
 " It means," I said, "that yesterday they rose 
 against us and slew us by the hundred. The town 
 was warned and is safe. Go on." 
 
 " I crept back to madam," he continued, " and hur- 
 ried her away from that dangerous neighborhood. 
 We found a growth of bushes and hid ourselves 
 within it, and just in time, for from the north came 
 a great band of picked warriors, tall and black and 
 wondrously feathered, fresh to the fray, whatever the 
 fray might be. They joined themselves to the imps 
 upon the river bank, and presently we heard another 
 great din with more firing and more yelling. Well, 
 to make a long story short, we crouched there in the 
 bushes until late afternoon, not knowing what was 
 the matter, and not daring to venture forth to find 
 out. The woman of the cabin at which we had slept 
 had given us a packet of bread and meat, so we were 
 not without food, but the time was long. And then 
 of a sudden the wood around us was filled with the 
 heathen, band after band, coming from the river, 
 stealing like serpents this way and that into the depths 
 of the forest. They saw us not in the thick bushes ; 
 maybe it was because of the prayers which I said 
 with might and main. At last the distance swallowed 
 them, the forest seemed clear, no sound, no motion. 
 Long we waited, but with the sunset we stole from 
 the bushes and down an aisle of the forest toward the 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 397 
 
 river, rounded a little wood of cedar, and came full 
 upon perhaps fifty of the savages " — He paused to 
 draw a great breath and to raise his brows after a 
 fashion that he had. 
 
 " Go on, go on ! " I cried. " What did you do ? 
 You. have said that she is alive and safe ! " 
 
 " She is," he answered, " but no thanks to me, 
 though I did set lustily upon that painted fry. Who 
 led them, d' ye think, Ralph ? Who saved us from 
 those bloody hands ? " 
 
 A light broke in upon me. " I know," I said. 
 " And he brought you here " — 
 
 "Ay, he sent away the devils whose color he is, 
 worse luck ! He told us that there were Indians, not 
 of his tribe, between us and the town. If we went on 
 we should fall into their hands. But there was a 
 place that was shunned by the Indian as by the white 
 man : we could bide there until the morrow, when we 
 might find the woods clear. He guided us to this dis- 
 mal wood that was not altogether strange to us. Ay, 
 he told her that you were alive. He said no more 
 than that ; all at once, when we were well within the 
 wood and the twilight was about us, he was gone." 
 
 He ceased to speak, and stood regarding me with 
 a smile upon his rugged face. I took his hand and 
 raised it to my lips. " I owe you more than I can 
 ever pay," I said. " Where is she, my friend? " 
 
 " Not far away," he answered. " We sought the 
 centre of the wood, and because she was so chilled 
 and weary and shaken I did dare to build a fire there. 
 Not a foe has come against us, and we waited but for 
 the dusk of this evening to try to make the town. I 
 came down to the stream just now to find, if I could, 
 how near we were to the river " — 
 
303 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 He broke off., made a gesture with his hand toward 
 one of the long aisles of pine trees, and then, with a 
 muttered " God bless you both," left me, and going 
 a little way down the stream, stood with his back to a 
 great tree and his eyes upon the slow, deep water. 
 
 She was coming. I watched the slight figure grow 
 out of the dusk between the trees, and the darkness 
 in which I had walked of late fell away. The wood 
 that had been so gloomy was a place of sunlight and 
 song ; had red roses sprung up around me I had felt 
 no wonder. She came softly and slowly, with bent 
 head and hanging arms, not knowing that I was near. 
 I went not to meet her, — it was my fancy to have 
 her come to me still, — but when she raised her eyes 
 and saw me I fell upon my knees. 
 
 For a moment she stood still, with her hands at her 
 bosom ; then, softly and slowly through the dusky 
 wood, she came to me and touched me upon the shoul- 
 der. " Art come to take me home ? " she asked. " I 
 have wept and prayed and waited long, but now the 
 spring is here and the woods are growing green." 
 
 I took her hands and bowed my head upon them. 
 " I believed thee dead," I said. " I thought that thou 
 hadst gone home, indeed, and I was left in the world 
 alone. I can never tell thee how I love thee." 
 
 " I need no telling," she answered. " I am glad 
 that I did so forget my womanhood as to come to Vir- 
 ginia on such an errand ; glad that they did laugh at 
 and insult me in the meadow at Jamestown, for else 
 thou mightst have given me no thought ; very heartily 
 glad that thou didst buy me with thy handful of to- 
 bacco. With all my heart I love thee, my knight, my 
 lover, my lord and husband " — Her voice broke, 
 and I felt the trembling of her frame. " I love not 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 399 
 
 thy tears upon my hands," she murmured. " I have 
 wandered far and am weary. Wilt rise and put thy 
 arm around me and lead me home ? " 
 
 I stood up, and she came to my arms like a tired 
 bird to its nest. I bent my head, and kissed her upon 
 the brow, the blue-veined eyelids, the perfect lips. 
 " I love thee," I said. " The song is old, but it is 
 sweet. See ! I wear thy color, my lady." 
 
 The hand that had touched the ribbon upon my 
 arm stole upwards to my lips. " An old song, but a 
 sweet one," she said. " I love thee. I will always 
 love thee. My head may lie upon thy breast, but my 
 heart lies at thy feet." 
 
 There was joy in the haunted wood, deep peace, 
 quiet thankfulness, a springtime of the heart, — not 
 riotous like the May, but fair and grave and tender 
 like the young world in the sunshine without the 
 pines. Our lips met again, and then, with my arm 
 around her, we moved to the giant pine beneath which 
 stood the minister. He turned at our approach, and 
 looked at us with a quiet and tender smile, though 
 the water stood in his eyes. " ' Heaviness may endure 
 for a night,' " he said, " ' but joy cometh in the morn- 
 ing.' I thank God for you both." 
 
 " Last summer, in the green meadow, we knelt 
 before you while you blessed us, Jeremy," I answered. 
 " Bless us now again, true friend and man of God." 
 
 He laid his hands upon our bowed heads and 
 blessed us, and then we three moved through the dis- 
 mal wood and beside the sluggish stream down to the 
 great bright river. Ere we reached it the pines had 
 fallen away, the haunted wood was behind us, our 
 steps were set through a fairy world of greening 
 bough and springing bloom. The blue sky laughed 
 
400 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 above, the late sunshine barred our path with gold 
 When we came to the river it lay in silver at our 
 feet, making low music amongst its reeds. 
 
 I had bethought me of the boat which I had fas- 
 tened that morning to the sycamore between us and 
 the town, and now we moved along the river bank 
 until we should come to the tree. Though we walked 
 through an enemy's country we saw no foe. Stillness 
 and peace encompassed us ; it was like a beautiful 
 dream from which one fears no wakening. 
 
 As we went, I told them, speaking low, for we knew 
 not if we were yet in safety, of the slaughter that had 
 been made and of Diccon. My wife shuddered and 
 wept, and the minister drew long breaths while his 
 hands opened and closed. And then, when she asked 
 me, I told of how I had been trapped to the ruined 
 hut that night and of all that had followed. When i 
 had done she turned within my arm and clung to me 
 with her face hidden. I kissed her and comforted 
 her, and presently we came to the sycamore tree 
 reaching out over the clear water, and to the boat that 
 I had fastened there. 
 
 The sunset was nigh at hand, and all the west was 
 pink. The wind had died away, and the river lay 
 like tinted glass between the dark borders of the for- 
 est. Above the sky was blue, while in the south rose 
 clouds that were like pillars, tall and golden. The 
 air was soft as silk ; there was no sound other than 
 the ripple of the water about our keel and the low 
 dash of the oars. The minister rowed, while I sat 
 idle beside my love. He would have it so, and I 
 made slight demur. 
 
 We left the bank behind us and glided into the 
 midstream, for it was as well to be out of arrowshot. 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 401 
 
 The shadow of the forest was gone ; still and bright 
 around us lay the mighty river. When at length the 
 boat head turned to the west, we saw far up the 
 stream the roofs of Jamestown, dark against the rosy 
 sky. 
 
 " There is a ship going home," said the minister. 
 
 We to whom he spoke looked with him down the 
 river, and saw a tall ship with her prow to the ocean. 
 All her sails were set ; the last rays of the sinking 
 sun struck against her poop windows and made of 
 them a half-moon of fire. She went slowly, for the 
 wind was light, but she went surely, away from the 
 new land back to the old, down the stately river to 
 the bay and the wide ocean, and to the burial at sea 
 of one upon her. With her pearly sails and the line 
 of flame color beneath, she looked a dwindling cloud ; 
 a, little while, and she would be claimed of the dis- 
 tance and the dusk. 
 
 " It is the George," I said. 
 
 The lady who sat beside me caught her breath. 
 " Ay, sweetheart," I went on. " She carries one for 
 whom she waited. He has gone from out our life 
 forever." 
 
 She uttered a low cry and turned to me, trembling, 
 her lips parted, her eyes eloquent. " We will not 
 speak of him," I said. " As if he were dead let his 
 name rest between us. I have another thing to tell 
 thee, dear heart, dear court lady masking as a waiting 
 damsel, dear ward of the King whom his Majesty hath 
 thundered against for so many weary months. Would 
 it grieve thee to go home, after all ? " 
 
 "Home?" she asked. "To Weyanoke ? That 
 would not grieve me." 
 
 " Not to Weyanoke, but to England," I said. " The 
 
402 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD 
 
 George is gone, but three days since tho Esperanee 
 came in. When she sails again I think that we must 
 go." 
 
 She gazed at me with a whitening face. " And 
 you ? " she whispered. " How will you go ? In 
 chains ? " 
 
 I took her clasped hands, parted them, and drew 
 her arms around my neck. " Ay," I answered, " I 
 will go in chains that I care not to have broken. My 
 dear love, I think that the summer lies fair before us. 
 Listen while I tell thee of news that the Esperance 
 brought." 
 
 While I told of new orders from the Company to 
 the Governor and of my letter from Buckingham, the 
 minister rested upon his oars that he might hear the 
 better. When I had ceased to speak he bent to them 
 again, and his tireless strength sent us swiftly over 
 the glassy water toward the town that was no longer 
 distant. " I am more glad than I can tell you, Ralph 
 and Jocelyn," he said, and the smile with which he 
 spoke made his face beautiful. 
 
 The light streaming to us from the ruddy west laid 
 roses in the cheeks of the sometime ward of the King, 
 and the low wind lifted the dark hair from her fore- 
 head. Her head was on my breast, her hand in mine ; 
 we cared not to speak, we were so happy. On her 
 finger was her wedding ring, the ring that was only a 
 link torn from the gold chain Prince Maurice had 
 given me. When she saw my eyes upon it, she raised 
 her hand and kissed the rude circlet. 
 
 The hue of the sunset lingered in cloud and water, 
 and in the pale heavens above the rose and purple 
 shone the evening star. The cloudlike ship at which 
 wo hnd gazed was gone into the distance and the twi- 
 
IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG 403 
 
 light ; we saw her no more. Broad between its black- 
 ening shores stretched the James, mirroring the bloom 
 in the west, the silver star, the lights upon the Esper- 
 ance that lay between us and the town. Aboard her 
 the mariners were singing, and their song of the sea 
 floated over the water to us, sweetly and like a love 
 song. We passed the ship unhailed, and glided on to 
 the haven where we would be. The singing behind us 
 died away, but the song in our hearts kept on. All 
 things die not : while the soul lives, love lives : the song 
 may be now gay, now plaintive, but it is deathless,