Black Bartlemy's Treasure

  Produced by Mike Alder and Sue Asscher. HTML version by Al Haines.

  BLACK BARTLEMY'S TREASURE

  BY

  JEFFREY FARNOL

  TO MY NEPHEWS

  JAMES JEFFREY FARNOL

  AND

  RONALD EWART OAKESHOTT

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE I OF WHAT BEFELL ON PEMBURY HILL II HOW I HEARD A SONG IN THE WOOD AT MIDNIGHT III TELLS HOW I STOLE MY BREAKFAST IV TELLETH HOW I MET ONE ADAM PENFEATHER V HOW I CAME TO CONISBY SHENE VI OF MY SHAMEFUL SUFFERINGS AND HOW I WAS DELIVERED THEREFROM VII HOW I HEARD TELL OF BLACK BARTLEMY'S TREASURE VIII HOW I FELL IN WITH ONE GOD-BE-HERE, A PEDDLER IX HOW I HAD WORD WITH THE LADY JOAN BRANDON FOR THE THIRD TIME X HOW I SWORE TO THE BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD XI ADAM PENFEATHER, HIS NARRATIVE XII TELLETH OF A FIGHT IN THE DARK XIII WE SET OUT FOR DEPTFORD POOL XIV HOW I CAME ABOARD THE "FAITHFUL FRIEND" XV TELLETH OF A NAMELESS BLACK SHIP XVI TELLS HOW WE WERE DOGGED BY THE BLACK SHIP XVII TELLETH HOW AN EYE WATCHED ME FROM THE DARK XVIII CONCERNING THE MARK OF A BLOODY HAND AND HOW I LAY IN THE BILBOES ON SUSPICION OF MURDER XIX CONCERNING THE PRINCESS DAMARIS XX HOW I CAME OUT OF MY BONDS AND OF THE TERRORS OF A FIRE AT SEA XXI TELLETH HOW THE SAID FIRE CAME ABOUT XXII TELLETH HOW WE WERE CAST ADRIFT XXIII DIVERS PERILS AND DANGERS AT SEA XXIV HOW WE CAME TO BLACK BARTLEMY'S ISLAND XXV HOW I WAS HAUNTED OF BLACK BARTLEMY XXVI WE COME UPON GRIM EVIDENCES OF ADAM PENFEATHER XXVII DIVERS ADVENTURES ON THE ISLAND XXVIII I BECOME A JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES XXIX OF MY ENCOUNTER BENEATH BARTLEMY'S TREE XXX OF MY SICK HUMOURS XXXI I TRY MY HAND AT POTTERY XXXII TELLS HOW I FOUND A SECRET CAVE XXXIII WE EXPLORE THE ISLAND XXXIV HOW I STOOD RESOLUTE IN MY FOLLY XXXV HOW MY DEAR LADY WAS LOST TO ME XXXVI TELLETH SOME PART OF A NIGHT OF AGONY XXXVII HOW I SOUGHT DEATH BUT FOUND IT NOT XXXVIII CONCERNING THE DEAD MAN HUMPHREY AND HOW I SAW A VISION IN THE MOONLIGHT XXXIX HOW MY DEAR LADY CAME BACK TO ME XL OF CLOTHES XLI OF THE VOICE THAT SANG ON DELIVERANCE SANDS XLII CONCERNING THE SONG OF A DEAD MAN XLIII OF THE DEATH-DANCE OF THE SILVER WOMAN XLIV HOW I HAD SPEECH WITH ROGER TRESSADY TO MY UNDOING XLV OF THE COMING OF ADAM PENFEATHER XLVI HOW I DOUBTED MYSELF XLVII HOW MY DOUBTING WAS RESOLVED FOR ME

  BLACK BARTLEMY'S TREASURE

  PROLOGUE

  The Frenchman beside me had been dead since dawn. His scarred andshackled body swayed limply back and forth with every sweep of thegreat oar as we, his less fortunate bench-fellows, tugged and strainedto keep time to the stroke.

  Two men had I seen die beside me, yet Death ever passed me by, nay, itseemed rather that despite the pain of stripes, despite the travail andhardship, my strength waxed the mightier; upon arm and thigh, burntnigh black by fierce suns, the muscles showed hard and knotted; withinmy body, scarred by the lash, the life leapt and glowed yet was thesoul of me sick unto death. But it seemed I could not die--findingthereby blessed rest and a surcease from this agony of life as had thisFrenchman, who of all the naked wretches about me, was the only onewith whom I had any sort of fellowship. He had died (as I say) withthe dawn, so quietly that at first I thought he but fainted and pitiedhim, but, when I knew, pity changed to bitterness.

  Therefore, as I strove at the heavy oar I prayed 'twixt gnashing teetha prayer I had often prayed, and the matter of my praying was thus:

  "O God of Justice, for the agony I needs must now endure, for thebloody stripes and bitter anguish give to me vengeance--vengeance, OGod, on mine enemy!"

  So prayed I, hoarse-panting and with the sweat trickling down whiles Istared at the naked back of him that rowed before me--a great, fatfellow he had been once, but now the skin hung in numberless creaseswhereon were many weals, some raw and bloody, that crossed andre-crossed each other after the manner of lace-work.

  "Justice, O God, upon mine enemy! Since Death is not for me let melive until I be avenged; for the pain I suffer so may I see him suffer,for the anguish that is mine so may I watch his agony. Thou art a justGod, so, God of Justice, give to me vengeance!"

  The sun rose high and higher over our quarter, beating down upon ournaked backs and adding greatly to our torments thereby, waking the painof old stripes and lending an added sting to new.

  Ever and anon would come the sharp crack of the drivers' whips followedby the squealing cry of quivering flesh (a cry wherein was none of thehuman) the which, dying to a whine, was lost in the stir and bustle ofthe great galleass. But ever and always, beneath the hoarse voices ofthe mariners, beneath the clash of armour and tramp of feet, beneaththe creak and rumble of the long oars, came yet another sound, risingand falling yet never ceasing, a dull, low sound the like of which youshall sometimes hear among trees when the wind is high--the deep,sobbing moan that was the voice of our anguish as we poor wretchesurged the great "Esmeralda" galleass upon her course.

  The oar whereto I was chained along with my three bench-mates had atsome time been badly sprung, so that the armourers had made shift tostrengthen it with a stout iron fillet some six inches wide. Now it sohappened that my grasp came upon this fillet, and, with every stroke ofthe oar, day after day, week in and week out, it had become my wont torub the links of my chain to and fro across this iron band, wherebythey had become very smooth and shining.

  The words of my prayer were yet upon my lips, when, chancing to lookupon one of these links, I beheld that which set my heart a-leaping andmy riotous blood a-tingle to my fingers' ends; yet 'twas a very smallthing, no more than a mark that showed upon the polished surface of thelink, a line not so thick as a hair and not to be noticed without closelooking; but when I bore upon the link this hair-line grew and widened,it needed but a sudden wrench and I should be free. This threw me intosuch a rapturous transport that I had much ado to contain myself,howbeit after some while I lifted my eyes to the heaven all flushed androsy with the young day, for it seemed that God had indeed heard myprayer.

  Presently, along the gangway amidships, comes none other than thataccursed Portugal, Pedro the whip-master, who, espying the droopingform of the Frenchman beside me, forthwith falls a-cursing in his viletongue and gives a prodigious flourish with his whip. Now by reason ofmuch practice they do become very expert with these same whips,insomuch that they shall (with a certain cunning flick of the lash)gash you a man as it were with a knife, the like of which none may bearand not cry out for the exceeding pain of it. "Ha, thou lazy dog!"cries he, "Think ye to snore and take your ease whiles Pedro isaboard?" And with the word the long lash hissed and cracked upon theFrenchman's naked back like a pistol-shot.

  And lo! he (that meseemed was dead) stirred. I felt the scarred bodyleap and quiver, the swooning eyes opened, rolling dim and sightlessand the pallid face was twisted in sharp anguish; but, even as Iwatched, the lines of agony were smoothed away, into the wild eyes camea wondrous light, and uttering a great, glad cry he sank forward acrossthe oar-shaft and hung there. Hereupon this accursed Pedro betook himto his whip, smiting right heartily, but, seeing the Frenchman stirrednot and perceiving, moreover, the blood to come but slow and in nogreat quantity, he presently desisted and bade us cease rowing one andall.

  This sudden respite from labour served but to teach me how stiff andpainful were my limbs, more especially my left wrist and ankle wherethe fetters had worn great sores.

  The wind was fallen light and there rose that hot, sickening reek, thatsuffocating stench that is like unto nothing on earth save one of thesefloating hells, and the which, if a man hath but smelled it once, heshall nevermore forget.

  After some while, back cometh Pedro with certain of the armourers, and(having by divers methods learned the Frenchman
was in sooth dead) theystruck off his fetters, hand and leg, in the doing of which they mustneeds free me also (since we were chained together, he and I) and,binding a great shot to his feet, made ready to heave him overboard.

  And now, seeing no man heeded me, I snapped asunder the cracked linkand was free, save for the heavy chain that cumbered my leg. Stooping,I lifted this chain and crouched to spring for the bulwark; but now(even in this moment), remembering all that I had suffered at the handsof this most accursed Pedro, I turned, and wrapping the brokenoar-chain about my fist, crept towards where he stood to oversee thearmourers. His back was towards me and I was within a yard of him whenhe turned, and, seeing me, uttered a shout and raised his whip, but erethe blow could fall I leapt and smote him. My iron-bound fist took himfull betwixt the eyes, and looking down upon his crushed and spatteredface as he lay I knew that Pedro the whip-master would whip men no morethese many days.

  Then (not minded to die by the whip or upon a pike-head) turned I andsprang for the ship's side, but the chain about my leg hampered mesorely, and ere I could mount the high bulwark I was beset from behind.So would I have faced them and died fighting but fierce strokesbattered me to my knees, fierce hands wrenched and tore at me, andgrown faint with blows I was overborne, my hands lashed behind me, andthus helpless I was dragged along the gangway and so up the ladder tothe poop where, plain to all men's sight, a whipping-post had been setup. Yet even so I struggled still, panting out curses on them, Frenchand Spanish and English, drawing upon all the vile abuse of therowing-bench and lazarette since fain would I have them slay me out ofhand the rather than endure the miseries and anguish of my lot. Yetthis might not be (since slaves were hard to come by and I was mightyand strong) wherefore I struggled no more, but suffered them to strikeoff my broken fetters and bind me to the whipping-post as they listed.Yet scarce had they made an end when there comes a loud hail from themasthead, whereupon was sudden mighty to-do of men running hither andyon, laughing and shouting one to another, some buckling on armour asthey ran, some casting loose the great ordnance, while eyes turned andhands pointed in the one direction; but turn and twist me how I might Icould see nought of any strange sail by reason of the high bulkheadbeside me.

  Of a sudden all voices were hushed as up the poop-ladder comes thecommander Don Miguel in his black armour, who, looking long andsteadily to windward, gives a sign with his gauntleted hand, whereondivers of the officers go off hot-foot, some to muster the long filesof arquebusiers, others to overlook the setting of more sail and thelike. And now was a prodigious cracking of whips followed by groansand cries and screaming curses, and straightway the long oars began toswing with a swifter beat. From where I stood in my bonds I could lookdown upon the poor, naked wretches as they rose and fell, each and allat the same moment, in time to the stroke.

  For maybe half an hour the chase was kept up and then all at once thedecks quivered 'neath the discharge of one of the forward culverins;and presently, as the great galleass altered her course, obedient tothe motion of Don Miguel's hand, I beheld, some half-league towindward, the towering stern of the ship we were pursuing, whose lengthgradually grew upon me as we overhauled her until she was fairly inview. She was a small ship, and by her build I did not doubt but thatshe was English; even as I watched, up to her mizzen-peak fluttered theEnglish flag. And hereupon a great yearning came upon me, insomuchthat of a sudden her high, weatherbeaten sides, her towering masts andpatched canvas grew all blurred and indistinct.

  Thrice already our guns had roared, yet (though she was now so closethat I made out her very rope and spar) she made no sign. In a littleour guns fell silent also, wherefore, looking about, I beheld DonMiguel standing beside the tiller yet with his impassive gaze ever bentupon the foe; and, as I watched, I read his deadly purpose, and a greatfear for the English ship came upon me, and I fell a-praying beneath mybreath, for we carried a weapon more terrible than any culverin thatwas ever cast, the long, sharp ram below the water.

  The English ship was now so near that I could see the yawning muzzlesof her guns, while her high, curving sides seemed to tower over us. AsI gazed, with my heart full of a pitiful fear for her, I saw a headappear above her quarter-railing, a very round head whereon was amariner's red cap. Came a puff of smoke, the sharp crack of a caliver,and one of the officers beside Don Miguel threw up his hands and,twisting on his heels, fell clashing in his armour. When I lookedagain for the red cap, it was gone. But Don Miguel waited, silent andimpassive as ever. Suddenly he gestured with his hand, I saw the heaveof the steersmen's shoulders as they obeyed, while the air rang withshouts of command as, the starboard oars holding water, the larboardthrashed and churned amain and the great "Esmeralda" galleass (turningthus well-nigh in her own length) drove straight for the side of herfoe.

  Never had I seen it better done, and I set my teeth, waiting for thegrinding crash that was to send the English ship to the bottom, but lo!her creaking yards were braced round, and, paying off before the wind(which now blew strongly) she stood away upon a course at right anglesto her old, whereby both vessels were running parallel as before. Yetit had been close, so very close indeed that as we drove past her Iheard the sickening crack of our oars as they snapped off one after theother against her side, tossing those that manned them in bloody,struggling heaps.

  And now from every English gun leaped roaring flame; the air was fullof shrieks and groans and the crash of splintering wood, and throughthe eddying smoke I could see many of our soldiery that lay in strange,contorted attitudes while others crawled, sobbing on hands and knees;but on the scarlet-dropping rowing-benches I dared not look.

  Hotter waxed the fight, louder swelled the din and tumult with thenever-ceasing thunder of the guns; and amid it all Don Miguel paced toand fro, impassive as always, the blade of his long rapier gleaminghere and there as he directed the fire.

  Up rolled the smoke thicker and denser, but, ever and anon, throughsome rift I might catch a glimpse of the scarred, blackened side of theEnglish ship, or the litter and confusion of our decks. Twice shotsploughed up the planking hard by me, and once my post itself wasstruck, so that for a moment I had some hope of winning free of mybonds, yet struggle how I would I could not move; the which filled mewith a keen despair, for I made no doubt (what with the smoke andtumult) I might have plunged overboard unnoticed and belike have gainedthe English ship.

  Slowly and by degrees our fire slackened, one by one the guns fellsilent and in their place rose the more hateful sounds of anguish. Nowas I stood thus, my eyes smarting with burnt powder, my ears yetringing with the din, I grew aware how the deck sloped in strangefashion; at first I paid small heed, yet with every minute this slopebecame steeper, and with this certainty came the knowledge that we weresinking and, moreover (judging by the angle of the deck) sinking by thestern.

  Hereupon, impelled by that lust of life the which is implanted in eachone of us, I fell to a wild struggling against my bonds, until, seeingin a little the hopelessness of this, I grew resigned to despair, and,ceasing my passionate efforts, looked about me, for the smoke wasthinned away. And truly an evil sight was this great galleass, withits shot-torn decks and huddled heaps of dead, its litter of brokenspars and dismantled guns, and with everywhere great gouts and pools ofblood, while below and beyond were the shattered rowing-benchescumbered now with awful red heaps, silent for the most part, yet somethere were who screamed high and shrill.

  Save for myself and divers of the dead the poop lay deserted, butforward such of the soldiers and mariners who yet lived were fightingfor the boats, and all was riot and confusion.

  As I stared about me thus I espied Don Miguel lying among the wreckageof a dismantled gun; his face was towards me and looked as I had seenit an hundred times, save for a smear of blood upon his cheek. Even asI gazed his eyes met mine full and square. For a moment he lay withoutmotion, then (his face a-twitch with the effort) he came slowly to hiselbow, gazed about him and so back to me again. Then I saw his handcreep down to the
dagger at his hip, to fumble weakly there--howbeit,at the third essay he drew the blade and began to creep towards me.Very slowly and painfully he dragged himself along, and once I heardhim groan, but he stayed not till he was come within striking distance,yet was he sore wounded and so weak withal that he was fain to rest himawhile. And ever his impassive eyes looked up into mine the while Inerved myself to meet the blow unflinching (an it might be so). Oncemore he raised himself, his arm lifted slowly, the dagger gleamed andfell, its keen edge severing the cords that bound me, and with a suddeneffort I broke free and stood staring down into those impassive eyes asone in a dream. Then, lifting a feeble hand, he pointed to thetattered sails of the English ship hard by, and so, resting his headupon his arm as one that is very weary, he sighed; and with the sigh Ithink the life passed out of him.

  Turning, I was upon the quarter-railing in a single leap, and, withouta glance at the red havoc behind me, I plunged over and down.

  The sharp sting of the brine struck me like a myriad needle-points, butthe sweet cool of the waters was wondrous grateful to my sun-scorchedbody as, coming to the surface, I struck out for the English shipthough sore hampered by my chain.

  Presently coming beneath her lofty stern I found hanging therefrom atangle of ropes and cordage whereby I contrived to clamber aboard, andso beheld a man in a red seaman's bonnet who sat upon the wreckage ofone of the quarter guns tying up a splinter-gash in his arm with handand teeth; perceiving me he rolled a pair of blue eyes up at me andnodded:

  "Welcome aboard, lad!" says he, having knotted the bandage to hisliking. "Be ye one as can understand good English?"

  "Aye!" says I, nodding.

  "Why then bear witness as I be a patient soul and marciful. Be witnessas I held my fire so long as any marciful soul might by token that Iknew what a broadside can do among crowded rowing-benches--having rowedaboard one o' they Spanish hells afore now--so I held my fire till yondevil's craft came nigh cutting me asunder--and marcy hath its limits.Timothy Spence o' the "Tiger", master, is me, homeward bound for thePort of London, and by this fight am short five good men. But you're aproper big 'un. Go for'ard to the bo'sun, you shall know him by reasonthat he lacketh his starboard yere. Ask him for clothes to cover thynakedness, lad, and--Oho, there goeth yon devil's craft--!" Turning ashe spoke I saw the sharp bows of the "Esmeralda" lift and lift, highand higher, and, with a long-drawn gurgling roar, the great galleassplunged down stern foremost, burying her shame and misery from the eyesof man for evermore.

  Thus then I sailed with Master Timothy Spence aboard the "Tiger," afree man after five years of anguish.