Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoe's. Vol. 1 (of 2), Page 2

  CHAPTER II.

  A train-band captain eke was he.

  JOHN GILPIN.

  At the extremity of the cape or headland which formed the lower or moreseaward point of the crescent-shaped harbour, was erected the Fort ofSt. Mary's, where it threatened equal defiance to such as mightmeditate disturbance either by sea or land. A few hundred paces in therear of the fort, stood the ample dwelling-house of the LordProprietary with its gables, roofs, chimneys and spires, sharplydefined against the eastern sky. A massive building of dark brick, twostories in height, and penetrated by narrow windows, looking forth,beyond the fort, upon the river, constituted the chief member or mainbody of the mansion. This was capped by a wooden, balustraded parapet,terminating, at each extremity, in a scroll like the head of a violin,and, in the middle, sustaining an entablature that rose to a summit onwhich was mounted a weathercock. From this central structure, right andleft, a series of arcades, corridors, and vestibules served to bringinto line a range of auxiliary or subordinate buildings of grotesqueshapes, of which several were bonneted like haycocks--the arrayterminating, on one flank, in a private chapel surmounted by a cross,and, on the other, in a building of similar size but of differentfigure, which was designed and sometimes used for a banqueting room.The impression produced on the observer, by this orderly though notuniform mass of building, with its various offices for householdcomfort, was not displeasing to his sense of rural beauty, nor, fromits ample range and capacious accommodation, did it fail to enhance hisopinion of the stateliness and feudal importance, as well as of thehospitality of the Lord Proprietary. The armorial bearings of theBaltimore family, emblazoned on a shield of free-stone, were built intothe pediment of an arched brick porch which shaded the great hall door.In the rear of the buildings, a circular sweep of wall and palingreached as far as a group of stables, kennels and sheds. Vanward thesame kind of enclosures, more ornate in their fashion, shut in a grassycourt, to which admission was gained through a heavy iron gate swungbetween square, stuccoed pillars, each of which was surmounted by acouchant lion carved in stone. Ancient trees shaded the whole mass ofdwelling-house, court and stable, and gave to the place both a lordlyand comfortable aspect. It was a pleasant group of roof and bower, ofspire and tree to look upon from the city, towards sunset, when everywindow-pane flung back the lustre of a conflagration; and magnificentlydid it strike upon the eye of the liegemen as they sat at their doors,at that hour, gazing upon the glorious river and its tranquil banks.Nor less pleasant was it to the inmates of the baronial mansion to lookback upon the fair village-city, studding the level plain with itsscattered dwellings which seemed to sleep upon the grassy and shadedsward.

  A garden occupied the space between the proprietary residence and thefort, and through it a pathway led to a dry moat which formed one ofthe defences of the stronghold, into which admission was obtained fromthis quarter by a narrow bridge and postern gate. A palisade of sharppickets fringed the outer and inner slopes of the ditch,--or, to speakmore technically, guarded the scarp and counter-scarp. The fort itselfsat like a square bonnet on the brow of the headland. Its ramparts ofearth were faced outwardly by heavy frame-work of hewn logs, which, onthe side looking askant towards the town, were penetrated by an archedgateway and secured by heavy doors studded thick with nails. Thisportal opened upon a road which lay along the beach beneath the cliff,all the way to the upper extremity of the town. Several low buildingswithin, appropriated to barracks and magazines, just peered above theramparts. A few pieces of brass cannon showed like watch-dogs againstthe horizon, and, high above all, fluttered the provincial bannerbearing the cross of England, and holding the relation of a feather tothe squat bonnet which the outline of the work might suggest to onecurious to trace resemblances.

  The province, it may be surmised, was belligerent at this day. Foralthough the Lords Barons of Baltimore, absolute Proprietaries ofMaryland and Avalon, would fain have encouraged a pacific temper, anddesired ever to treat with the Indians upon terms of friendly bargainand sale, and in all points of policy manifested an equitabledisposition towards the native men of the forest, the province,nevertheless, had its full share of hard blows. There was seldom aperiod, in this early time, when some Indian quarrel was not coming toa head; and, young as the province was, it had already tasted ofrebellion at the hands of Clayborne, and Ingle,--to say nothing of thatFendall who was fain to play Cromwell in the plantation, by turning theburgesses out of their hall, and whose sedition hath still something todo with my story.--However peaceable, therefore, the Lord Proprietarymight incline to be, he could not but choose stand by his weapons.

  In the view of these and kindred troubles, the freemen of the provincehad no light service in their obligations of military duty. One of theforms in which this service was exacted, in addition to the occasionalrequisition, on emergency, of the whole population fit to bear arms,and in addition also to a force of mounted rangers who were constantlyengaged in scouring the frontier, was in the maintenance of a regularlypaid and trained body of musqueteers who supplied the necessarygarrisons for the principal forts. That of St. Mary's, which was theoldest and most redoubtable strong-hold in the province, was furnishedwith a company of forty men of this class who were, at the date of thistale, under the command of a personage of some note, Captain JasperDauntrees, to whom I propose to introduce my reader with something morethan the slight commendation of a casual acquaintance.

  This worthy had been bred up to the science of arms from early youth,and had seen many varieties of service,--first, in the civil wars inwhich he took the field with the royal army, a staunch cavalier,--andafterwards, with a more doubtful complexion of loyalty, when heenlisted with Monk in Scotland, and followed his banner to London inthe notable exploit of the Restoration. Yielding to the bent of thathumour which the times engendered, and in imitation of many a hungryand peace-despising gallant of his day, he repaired to the continent,where, after various fortunes, he found himself in the train of Turenneand hard at loggerheads with the Prince of Orange, in which passage ofhis life he enjoyed the soldierly gratification of lending a hand tothe famous ravage of the Palatinate.

  Some few years before I have presented him in these pages he had comeover to Maryland, with a party of Flemings, to gather for his old agethat harvest of wealth and ease which the common report promised to allwho set foot upon the golden shores of the Indies--Maryland, in vulgarbelief, being a part of this land of wonders. The captain neitherstumbled upon a gold mine, nor picked up an Indian princess with adowry of diamonds; but he fared scarce worse, in his own estimation,when he found himself, in a pleasant sunny clime, invested with therank of captain of musqueteers, with a snug shelter in the fort, areasonably fair and punctual allowance of pay--much better, than hadbeen his lot under former masters,--and a frank welcome at all timesinto the mansion of the Lord Proprietary. Add to these the delightsmore congenial to the training of his past life, a few wet companions,namely, to help him through an evening potation, and no despicablechoice of wines and other comforts at the Crow and Archer, where theCaptain with due alacrity became a domesticated and privileged guest,and it may still better be comprehended how little he was likely torepine at his fortune.

  His figure had, in youth, been evidently remarked for strength andsymmetry--but age and varied service, combined with habits of irregularindulgence, had communicated to it a bluff and corpulent dimension. Hisport nevertheless was erect, and his step as firm as in his days oflustihood. His eye still sparkled with rays but little quenched bytime, although unseasonable vigils sometimes rendered it bloodshotten.A thick neck and rosy complexion betokened a hale constitution; and theripple of a deep and constantly welling humour, that played upon hisstrongly marked features, expressed in characters that could not bemisread, that love of companionship which had been, perhaps, the mostfrequent shoal upon which his hopes in life had been stranded. Hiscrown was bald and encircled by a fair supply of crisp, curly andsilvery hair, whilst a thick grey moustache gave a martial and veteran
air to his visnomy.

  His dress served to set off his figure to the best advantage. Itconsisted of the doublet and ruff, short cloak and trunk hose, theparti-coloured stocking and capacious boot proper to the old Englishcostume which, about the period of the Restoration, began to give wayto the cumbrous foppery of the last century. This costume was stillretained by many in the province, and belonged to the militaryequipment of the garrison of St. Mary's, where it was fashioned oflight green cloth garnished with yellow lace.

  Arrayed in this guise, Captain Dauntrees had some excuse for a smallshare of vanity on the score of having worn well up to a green old age;and it was manifest that he sought to improve this impression by thedebonair freedom with which he wore a drab beaver, with its broad flaplooped up on one side, leaving his ample brow bared to wind andweather.

  This combination of the martinet and free companion exhibited in thedress of the Captain, was a pretty intelligible index to his character,which disclosed a compound, not unfrequent in the civil wars of thatperiod, of the precisian and ruffler,--the cavalier and economist. Inthe affairs of life,--a phrase which, in regard to him, meant suchmatters principally and before all others, as related to his owncomfort--he was worldly-wise, sagaciously provident, as an old soldier,of whatever advantages his condition might casually supply; in words,he was, indifferently, according to the occasion, a moralist orhot-brained reveller--sometimes affecting the courtier along with themartialist, and mixing up the saws of peaceful thrift with the patterof the campaigns.

  As the occasions of my story may enable me to illustrate some of thesepoints in the character of the worthy Captain, I will not forestall theopinion of my readers, regarding him, by further remark,--preferringthat he should speak for himself, rather than leave his merits to becertified by so unpractised an adept, as I confess myself to be, inunriddling the secret properties of a person so deserving to be known.