The Pirate
tack and play on the fiddle at the same time. But it is all well
enough,--salt-water never harmed Zetlander, so as he could get out of
it; and, as Heaven would have it, we were within man's depth of the
shore, and chancing to find this skio, we should have done well enough,
with shelter and fire, and are much better than well with your good
cheer and good company. But it wears late, and Night and Day must be
both as sleepy as old Midnight can make them. There is an inner crib
here, where the fishers slept,--somewhat fragrant with the smell of
their fish, but that is wholesome. They shall bestow themselves there,
with the help of what cloaks you have, and then we will have one cup of
brandy, and one stave of glorious John, or some little trifle of my own,
and so sleep as sound as cobblers."
"Two glasses of brandy, if you please," said the Udaller, "if our stores
do not run dry; but not a single stave of glorious John, or of any one
else to-night."
And this being arranged and executed agreeably to the peremptory
pleasure of the Udaller, the whole party consigned themselves to slumber
for the night, and on the next day departed for their several
habitations, Claud Halcro having previously arranged with the Udaller
that he would accompany him and his daughters on their proposed visit to
Kirkwall.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] _Jokul_, yes, sir; a Norse expression, still in common use.
[24] The Bicker of Saint Magnus, a vessel of enormous dimensions, was
preserved at Kirkwall, and presented to each bishop of the Orkneys. If
the new incumbent was able to quaff it out at one draught, which was a
task for Hercules or Rorie Mhor of Dunvegan, the omen boded a crop of
unusual fertility.
[25] Luggie, a famous conjurer, was wont, when storms prevented him from
going to his usual employment of fishing, to angle over a steep rock, at
the place called, from his name, Luggie's Knoll. At other times he drew
up dressed food while they were out at sea, of which his comrades
partook boldly from natural courage, without caring who stood cook. The
poor man was finally condemned and burnt at Scalloway.
[26] Note IV.--Antique Coins found in Zetland.
[27] Young unbroke horse.
[28] In Gaelic, _there_.
CHAPTER XI.
"By this hand, thou think'st me as far in the devil's
book as thou and Falstaff, for obduracy and persistency.
Let the end try the man.... Albeit I could tell to thee,
(as to one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to
call my friend,) I could be sad, and sad indeed too."
_Henry IV., Part 2d._
We must now change the scene from Zetland to Orkney, and request our
readers to accompany us to the ruins of an elegant, though ancient
structure, called the Earl's Palace. These remains, though much
dilapidated, still exist in the neighbourhood of the massive and
venerable pile, which Norwegian devotion dedicated to Saint Magnus the
Martyr, and, being contiguous to the Bishop's Palace, which is also
ruinous, the place is impressive, as exhibiting vestiges of the
mutations both in Church and State which have affected Orkney, as well
as countries more exposed to such convulsions. Several parts of these
ruinous buildings might be selected (under suitable modifications) as
the model of a Gothic mansion, provided architects would be contented
rather to imitate what is really beautiful in that species of building,
than to make a medley of the caprices of the order, confounding the
military, ecclesiastical, and domestic styles of all ages at random,
with additional fantasies and combinations of their own device, "all
formed out of the builder's brain."
The Earl's Palace forms three sides of an oblong square, and has, even
in its ruins, the air of an elegant yet massive structure, uniting, as
was usual in the residence of feudal princes, the character of a palace
and of a castle. A great banqueting-hall, communicating with several
large rounds, or projecting turret-rooms, and having at either end an
immense chimney, testifies the ancient Northern hospitality of the Earls
of Orkney, and communicates, almost in the modern fashion, with a
gallery, or withdrawing-room, of corresponding dimensions, and having,
like the hall, its projecting turrets. The lordly hall itself is lighted
by a fine Gothic window of shafted stone at one end, and is entered by a
spacious and elegant staircase, consisting of three flights of stone
steps. The exterior ornaments and proportions of the ancient building
are also very handsome; but, being totally unprotected, this remnant of
the pomp and grandeur of Earls, who assumed the license as well as the
dignity of petty sovereigns, is now fast crumbling to decay, and has
suffered considerably since the date of our story.
With folded arms and downcast looks the pirate Cleveland was pacing
slowly the ruined hall which we have just described; a place of
retirement which he had probably chosen because it was distant from
public resort. His dress was considerably altered from that which he
usually wore in Zetland, and seemed a sort of uniform, richly laced, and
exhibiting no small quantity of embroidery: a hat with a plume, and a
small sword very handsomely mounted, then the constant companion of
every one who assumed the rank of a gentleman, showed his pretensions to
that character. But if his exterior was so far improved, it seemed to be
otherwise with his health and spirits. He was pale, and had lost both
the fire of his eye and the vivacity of his step, and his whole
appearance indicated melancholy of mind, or suffering of body, or a
combination of both evils.
As Cleveland thus paced these ancient ruins, a young man, of a light and
slender form, whose showy dress seemed to have been studied with care,
yet exhibited more extravagance than judgment or taste, whose manner was
a janty affectation of the free and easy rake of the period, and the
expression of whose countenance was lively, with a cast of effrontery,
tripped up the staircase, entered the hall, and presented himself to
Cleveland, who merely nodded to him, and pulling his hat deeper over his
brows, resumed his solitary and discontented promenade.
The stranger adjusted his own hat, nodded in return, took snuff, with
the air of a _petit maitre_, from a richly chased gold box, offered it
to Cleveland as he passed, and being repulsed rather coldly, replaced
the box in his pocket, folded his arms in his turn, and stood looking
with fixed attention on his motions whose solitude he had interrupted.
At length Cleveland stopped short, as if impatient of being longer the
subject of his observation, and said abruptly, "Why can I not be left
alone for half an hour, and what the devil is it that you want?"
"I am glad you spoke first," answered the stranger, carelessly; "I was
determined to know whether you were Clement Cleveland, or Cleveland's
ghost, and they say ghosts never take the first word, so I now set it
down for yourself in life and limb; and here is a fine old hurly-house
you have found out for an owl to hide himself in at mid-day, or a ghost
to revisit the pale glimpses of the moon, as the divine Shakspeare
says."
"Well, well," answered Cleveland, abruptly, "your jest is made, and now
let us have your earnest."
"In earnest, then, Captain Cleveland," replied his companion, "I think
you know me for your friend."
"I am content to suppose so," said Cleveland.
"It is more than supposition," replied the young man; "I have proved
it--proved it both here and elsewhere."
"Well, well," answered Cleveland, "I admit you have been always a
friendly fellow--and what then?"
"Well, well--and what then?" replied the other; "this is but a brief way
of thanking folk. Look you, Captain, here is Benson, Barlowe, Dick
Fletcher, and a few others of us who wished you well, have kept your old
comrade Captain Goffe in these seas upon the look-out for you, when he
and Hawkins, and the greater part of the ship's company, would fain have
been down on the Spanish Main, and at the old trade."
"And I wish to God that you had all gone about your business," said
Cleveland, "and left me to my fate."
"Which would have been to be informed against and hanged, Captain, the
first time that any of these Dutch or English rascals, whom you have
lightened of their cargoes, came to set their eyes upon you; and no
place more likely to meet with seafaring men, than in these Islands. And
here, to screen you from such a risk, we have been wasting our precious
time, till folk are grown very peery; and when we have no more goods or
money to spend amongst them, the fellows will be for grabbing the ship."
"Well, then, why do you not sail off without me?" said Cleveland--"there
has been fair partition, and all have had their share--let all do as
they like. I have lost my ship, and having been once a Captain, I will
not go to sea under command of Goffe or any other man. Besides, you know
well enough that both Hawkins and he bear me ill-will for keeping them
from sinking the Spanish brig, with the poor devils of negroes on
board."
"Why, what the foul fiend is the matter with thee?" said his companion;
"are you Clement Cleveland, our own old true-hearted Clem of the Cleugh,
and do you talk of being afraid of Hawkins and Goffe, and a score of
such fellows, when you have myself, and Barlowe, and Dick Fletcher at
your back? When was it we deserted you, either in council or in fight,
that you should be afraid of our flinching now? And as for serving under
Goffe, I hope it is no new thing for gentlemen of fortune who are going
on the account, to change a Captain now and then? Let us alone for
that,--Captain you shall be; for death rock me asleep if I serve under
that fellow Goffe, who is as very a bloodhound as ever sucked
bitch!--No, no, I thank you--my Captain must have a little of the
gentleman about him, howsoever. Besides, you know, it was you who first
dipped my hands in the dirty water, and turned me from a stroller by
land, to a rover by sea."
"Alas, poor Bunce!" said Cleveland, "you owe me little thanks for that
service."
"That is as you take it," replied Bunce; "for my part, I see no harm in
levying contributions on the public either one way or t'other. But I
wish you would forget that name of Bunce, and call me Altamont, as I
have often desired you to do. I hope a gentleman of the roving trade has
as good a right to have an alias as a stroller, and I never stepped on
the boards but what I was Altamont at the least."
"Well, then, Jack Altamont," replied Cleveland, "since Altamont is the
word"----
"Yes, but, Captain, _Jack_ is not the word, though Altamont be so. Jack
Altamont?--why, 'tis a velvet coat with paper lace--Let it be Frederick,
Captain; Frederick Altamont is all of a piece."
"Frederick be it, then, with all my heart," said Cleveland; "and pray
tell me, which of your names will sound best at the head of the Last
Speech, Confession, and Dying Words of John Bunce, _alias_ Frederick
Altamont, who was this morning hanged at Execution-dock, for the crime
of Piracy upon the High Seas?"
"Faith, I cannot answer that question, without another can of grog,
Captain; so if you will go down with me to Bet Haldane's on the quay, I
will bestow some thought on the matter, with the help of a right pipe of
Trinidado. We will have the gallon bowl filled with the best stuff you
ever tasted, and I know some smart wenches who will help us to drain it.
But you shake your head--you're not i' the vein?--Well, then, I will
stay with you; for by this hand, Clem, you shift me not off. Only I will
ferret you out of this burrow of old stones, and carry you into sunshine
and fair air.--Where shall we go?"
"Where you will," said Cleveland, "so that you keep out of the way of