The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane Read online

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  THE ADMIRABLE LADY BIDDY FANE:

  HER SURPRISING CURIOUS ADVENTURES IN STRANGE PARTS & HAPPY DELIVERANCEFROM _PIRATES_, _BATTLE_, _CAPTIVITY_, & OTHER TERRORS; TOGETHER WITHDIVERS _ROMANTIC & MOVING ACCIDENTS_ AS SET FORTH BY BENET PENGILLY (HERCOMPANION IN MISFORTUNE & JOY), & NOW FIRST DONE INTO PRINT

  BY FRANK BARRETT.

  NEW YORK: THE F. M. LUPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY.

  CONTENTS.

  I. I am Taken Out of the Pillory and Narrowly Escape going to theWhipping-Post

  II. I am taken again by Jack Geddes and Others, and Rescued by Rodrigues

  III. By a Cunning Stratagem I am got out of Jack Geddes' Hands, andBrought Aboard the "Sure Hawk"

  IV. I come to the Canaries in Better Plight than Started

  V. To my Mortal Peril I Overhear a Horrid Scheme of Rodrigues and NedParsons

  VI. I am nearly Undone by my Shadow--Ned Parsons and Rodrigues, theirArgument, with the Compact that Followed

  VII. The Perplexity of being neither Thorough-faced Rogue, Arrant Fool,nor Honest Man

  VIII. We are Overcome, and with Barbarous Treatment Set Ashore and LeftThere

  IX. We find Ourselves on a Desert Island, and Little Comfort besides

  X. I Quit the Island and my Friend

  XI. I am Excellently Served by my Famous Invention, and come to Englandnot much the Worse for it

  XII. Lady Biddy gives me a Word of Comfort

  XIII. The Crossed Heart

  XIV. We are Dogged by a Black Ship, to the great Discomfort of ourCompanies

  XV. We fall into sore Disasters of Raging Tempest and Bloody Battle

  XVI. The Battle ended to our Complete Discomfiture

  XVII. I am Shot out of one Ship and Crawl into Another, with whatAdvantage may yet be seen

  XVIII. Greatly put to it to Know what to do, I do Nothing

  XIX. The Rainy Season comes to an End, but by my Delay we are Balked ofReturning into the Baraquan

  XX. We try Another Means of Escape, whereby we are as Nearly Undone asmay be

  XXI. I Fall into a Dismal Sickness, and Recover thereof

  XXII. I am Put to Great Torment by my Passion

  XXIII. We Enter into a Cavern the like of which no Man has ever yet Toldof

  XXIV. How (amongst other Matters), in seeking to Kill a Snapping Boar,we Fall upon an Old Friend

  XXV. We come at length to the Mouth of the Oronoque, but with DismalForebodings

  XXVI. Touching those Accidents that had Happened to Sir Bartlemy as helay at the Mouth of the Oronoque

  XXVII. Lady Biddy Breaks her Troth, and we hear Falmouth Bells again

  THE ADMIRABLE LADY BIDDY FANE.

  CHAPTER I.

  I AM TAKEN OUT OF THE PILLORY AND NARROWLY ESCAPE GOING TO THEWHIPPING-POST.

  As 'tis the present mode to embellish a history with a portrait of thewriter, it will not be amiss if I here at the outset give you some hintsby which you may see, as in a frontispiece, the image of that BenetPengilly who is about to tell you many marvelous things.

  What kind of man I am you may better judge when you come to the lastpage of this history; my business now is to present my image as I was;to which end I would have you picture a man close upon thirty years ofage, clad in a jerkin and breeches of leather, six foot and some oddinches in height, gaunt and lean as a famished wolf, fierce visaged,with an unkempt beard of hair, and a shock ragged as a bush, and both asblack as any ink; a deep-sunk, bloodshot eye, and a swarthy skin, allbesmirched with broken egg, filth and blood. This pretty portraiture youshall frame in the town pillory, which stood over against the church ofSt. Mary, in the city of Truro, with this very true description writunder the headpiece:

  "BENET PENGILLY, A STURDY ROGUE."

  And now to begin my story, I must tell you that I had stood in thispillory from sunrise, a sport for all the cowards in the town. I saycowards, for surely those who have courage are never cruel to thehelpless, and these--the strongest of whom would have fled before me hadI been free--had baited me as curs bait a tethered bull, without anykind of mercy, jeering at me, and making me a mark for any beastlinessthat came to hand, ay, and sharp stones to boot, as the blood from mylips and cheek testified.

  There were never less than a couple of score of this rabble about me,hallooing and whooping; for as fast as one left me to go about hisbusiness, another took his place. But amongst the constantly changingcrowd was one who, seated upon the stone bench where the town portersare wont to rest their loads awhile, never took his eyes off me, norbudged from his place from the time he came hither, which was about teno'clock, till now, when the sun was past the meridian. He watched me asa surgeon marks the bearing of his subject under the knife; nay, rather'twas as a fiend might watch the torment of the damned, for a hellishsmile crept over his face as some insult more cruel than the restprovoked me to a state of desperation.

  This man I had seen before. His name was Rodrigues. 'Twas he who, in themonth of March, came into Plymouth, his ship all decked out withribbons, his crew arrayed in lace and cambric, and every mother's son asdrunk as a beggar; 'twas he who had set tubs of sherries on the Hoe,staved in the heads, and in sheer wantonness and drunken folly cast thewine right and left with his joined palms; to say nothing of diversother senseless tricks whereby in something less than two months he hadsquandered treasure to the value of nigh upon L7000 and left not enough,when his ship was seized, to pay the King's dues. He still wore theremnants and wreck of his former finery--silk stockings, satin trunks,velvet doublet, and a hat with a feather in it; but, lord! so broken,stained, and bedrabbled through his mad frolics that plain homespun hadlooked rich beside it.

  I have heard that this Rodrigues was of gipsy origin, and indeed helooked fierce and brutal enough for that or anything else. He had ashort, curling beard. His hair grew low down on his brows, and fellbehind his ears in long, wiry ringlets. His eyes were small, butremarkably piercing, and the aspect of his face was very eager andcruel; but that which made his looks most terrible was his teeth, whichwere pointed sharp, like a wolf's, so that when he displayed them helooked more like a beast of prey than a natural man. This peculiarity,however, was not due to his birth, but was rather brought about, as Ilearned, through living many years a captive among cannibal savages,whose practice it is to file their teeth after this fashion. In additionto this disfigurement his ears were slit, and he had a long white scarquartered down his tawny cheek; in short, he was as ill-looking andhorrid a scoundrel as ever I did see.

  'Twas, as I say, high noon, and matters stood thus, when, of a sudden,the clamor of my persecutors was stilled as by enchantment, and thesound of horse with the jingling of harness struck on my ear; and,casting my eye in that direction, I perceived a company of ladies andgentlemen with their servants, all very richly mounted, drawing hither.I took not much heed of them to discern who they were, being calloussick with the pain and insult I had suffered so many hours, until theydrew near within a stone's cast to see what sport was forward, whenRodrigues jumping down from his stone bench, and making them a mightyrespectful obeisance of his battered hat with its broken feather, mycuriosity was pricked, and I once more looked that way. Then my heartsank lower than ever, and I would have been thankful had my face beenbeat out of all recognition; for foremost among the company was LadyBiddy Fane, and 'twas clear by the anger in her face that she recognizedme. Yet, the next moment was I glad, and my heart was lifted up with asavage exultation; for now, thinks I, she will s
ee to what degradationand ruin hath she brought a man of promise by her cruelty.

  I do not think there ever was in the whole world a young woman sobeautiful as Lady Biddy Fane; nor is there like to be again. Had I notthought so, should I have abandoned myself to despair because of hercruelty? Nay, nor should I have had this history to tell. And yet maythere be women as straight and fairly proportioned as she, though nonemore so; and others with a skin of that rare pale clearness; and others,again, with eyes as large and dark and spirited, with sweet lips linedwith snowy teeth, with a perfect nose (shapely as any Greek's) and wavy,nut-brown hair; still, I say, you shall not find another one woman inwhom are combined the graces of so many together, with a spirit solofty, noble, fearless, and faithful as hers. I might discourse of herbeauty for many pages, and yet fail, for want of words, to do herjustice; but to make an end of this matter briefly, I say, again, shewas incomparable.

  On her right hand was my uncle, Sir Bartlemy Pengilly, Knight, the samewho adventured with Sir Walter Raleigh in the quest for gold upon theOronoque; and a hale, lusty old man he was, very personable, withshining white hair curled closely over his head, and a well-clippedbeard; on her left hand was Sir Harry Smidmore, a young man of goodparts, as I must acknowledge, albeit I hated him exceedingly, by reasonof his standing in better grace with Lady Biddy Fane than any other ofher suitors, and they were as numerous as butterflies over a fair gardenon a summer's day. Besides these three were many friends of theirs ofvery good condition; but they enter not into this history, so enough issaid of them.

  Now, the rabble, thinking this company was drawn up for amusement,presently began to make sport of me; and one caught up a dead cat, whichhad served before, and flung it at me, and another a cabbage stump,which had likewise served; and a third, finding nothing handier than abroken pantile, was about to cast that, when Sir Harry Smidmore, withthe flat of his sword, fetched him a clap on the arm that made him thinkbetter of it. Then Lady Biddy, with scorn and disgust on hercountenance, turned away, and the whole company followed her thence,whispering together, and all very grave; for it was known that I was SirBartlemy's nephew, and a kinsman of Lady Biddy's, and that I haddisgraced them before their friends.

  After them went Rodrigues also, at a brisk pace to keep up with thehorse. They had not been gone long when there came two of the sheriff'smen with a cord to loose me, whereupon, seeing that I was about to betaken from the pillory, the whole rout that were in the square took totheir heels as though a tiger were about to be let loose on them; for Iwas a man of terror for many miles about, and was known as "Ben of theWoods."

  The sheriff's men first freed my hands from the boards, and, making fastmy arms about me with their cord, they unlocked the headpiece, and then,having given me a draught from a pitcher, for I reeled like one inliquor being taken down, they led me up the High Street to the DolphinInn, and so into the great room there, where at a table sat the justicewho had condemned me to the pillory, with Sir Bartlemy Pengilly, SirHarry Smidmore, and some others; and against the wall in the shadow Ispied Rodrigues.

  Being brought to the end of the table facing this company, the justicemade me a discourse, and the gist of his matter was that, out of respectfor Sir Bartlemy, he had taken me from the pillory before my time, andwould absolve me from further punishment if I would give my word to beof better conduct henceforth and agree to the proposal Sir Bartlemy wasabout to make.

  Then Sir Bartlemy, pushing aside the bottle that stood before him,leaned forward and addressed me thus:

  "Ben," says he, "I am heartily ashamed of you, and with the greaterreason because you are not ashamed of yourself. Look at me, rogue! Doyou see that my eyes are full of tears? 'Tis for shame that you are mynephew that I weep, and not for pity, for I do assure you, sir" (turningto the justice), "I loved this fellow, and not so long since neither; abrave-looking and comely man he was but a year ago; of good parts andgreat promise, whom I had been proud to call my son; and a brave man heshould be by reason that his father endured manfully much hardship inadventuring under Sir Francis Drake, and died beside Sir RichardGrenville fighting those fifteen great galleons of the Spaniard. Butwhat a base, desperate rascal are you" (turning again to me in anger)"to abandon yourself to despair, to yield up everything without astruggle and at the first shot of adversity, bringing dishonor upon yourfamily thus! Had you but yourself to think of, vagabond? Had your fatherthought only of his own comfort, would he willingly have enduredhardship and privation, or sought to face the Spanish guns? 'Twas thehonor and glory of his queen he thought of before all; and had you trulyloved your cousin, you would have set up her happiness before your own,and done naught to make her blush for so base a subject."

  "Ay, surely!" cries the justice, frowning upon me.

  "Yet must we not be too hard on the fellow, neither," says Sir Bartlemy,turning again to him; "for 'tis not as if he had forsaken a life of painfor one of pleasure, but quite the contrary; for he was light-heartedand gay before this cruel stroke; and now what creature on the face ofthis smiling world is more deplorable? And, truly, for a man to abandonhimself to a life of such desolation and misery as he passes in thewoods, his mind must be unstrung, and all its music turned to discord;and there is naught, I hear, like disappointment in love to unsettle thereason, though nothing of the sort has ever troubled mine; for if onelass frowned I'd quickly find another who'd smile; and I warrant," sayshe, merrily, with a sly dig at the stout old justice--"I warrant youhave often done the same, Master Anthony."

  "Let us go to the point, Sir Bartlemy--to the point," said the justice,severely.

  "That will I with no more ado. Look you, rascal," says my uncle,thumping the table and bending his brows on me, "you have done littlethat I should love you, and much to undo the love I bore you; yet will Imake an effort to save you from disgrace for your father's sake--andsomething for your own--for, God knows, you are a wretch as much to bepitied as hated; so here to the point. I am bent upon getting thattreasure which lies, as we know full well, beyond the Oronoque, in orderthat it fall not into the hands of the Spaniard. 'Tis too late for me tomake this venture under my own command, though I fain would; but aworthy commander have I found, and under him you shall take service ashis lieutenant and second in command, and share the profits of thisenterprise in due proportion."

  "Wait!" cries the justice; "here surely is a mistake! You cannot intendto place this fellow taken from the pillory next in position to yourcommander!"

  "He is my brother's son," replies Sir Bartlemy, "and I have faith thathe will bear himself well when this present distemper of mind shall beblown off by the wholesome sea gales; for the rest, this matter concernsthe crew of the ship and the commander. If they are willing, should Iobject?"

  "But are they willing?" asks the justice. "There is the point."

  "Here is the ablest man of the crew--one who has sailed with Drake, gonethrough many perilous adventures, and been himself a master. Hear whathe says. Speak up, Rodrigues."

  Rodrigues came out of the shadow, and, pointing his finger at me, sayshe: "That man is worth any ten men of our crew, and such a man a crewneeds for master. We want no puppets, but men who can fight and sufferwith stiff lips." Then he dropped back into the shadow again.

  I was grateful to this man. Hope--that so long had lain dead withinme--sprang up to life, and an eager desire for wild adventure seizedupon me. And at that moment the door at the end of the room over againstthe head of the table opened, and Lady Biddy Fane came into the room;then my imagination, already kindled, blazed up with a mad conception ofwinning untold gold, glory, and honor--all to lay at her feet, with thepossibility that she might accept them and me.

  But, lord! there was little in her aspect to encourage such a hope, asshe stood there erect and scornful, her pretty brows bent in angry scornas she looked on me, tapping her silk skirt impatiently with herriding-whip. But this did not daunt my spirit, for I knew how sweetthose brows were when they unbent, and that her dainty hand was more aptto caress than to strike
.

  While my heart was aflame with this sudden return of passion, thejustice spoke:

  "What says the commander? There the point is, I take it."

  "Speak up, Sir Harry," says Sir Bartlemy.

  "I will have him for my lieutenant as willingly as I would make him myfriend," says Sir Harry Smidmore.

  Hearing this my heart being filled with feeling rebelled against myreason, for I knew not until that moment who was to be the commander ofthis expedition.

  "Now, Ben," says Sir Bartlemy, "you have the chance to redeem thepast--ay, more than that--to make us love you as we never loved you yet.Will you accept the offer freely made by us?"

  "What!" says I to myself, "win gold and honors for Smidmore to lay ather feet? Never!" And so I laughed with a brutal scorn and shook myhead.

  "An obstinate, contumacious rascal," cries Sir Bartlemy, with one ofthose sea oaths which he was more free to utter than I have been to setdown here; "yet," says he, softening in a moment, "must we bear with himby reason of his misfortunes to the utmost limits. I have failed; pleadthou for him, dear girl" (turning to Lady Biddy), "or he must go backagain to the pillory."

  "Ay, with all my heart," says Lady Biddy, advancing; "and, as you loveme, sir," bending slightly to the justice, "I do beg you to favor mypleading. Send him not back to the pillory, for sure when that, togetherwith my uncle's gentle, kind persuasion, fails to win him to a decentbehavior, 'tis evident that a sharper remedy is needed for his disorder.Prythee, then, dear sir, send him to the whipping-post; there to besoundly whipped."

  "Why, so I will," cries the justice cheerfully, clapping his fist on thetable; "for I've heard no better suggestion this bout. To thewhipping-post he shall go."

  "Not alive," I muttered; and then straining with all my might I burstthe cords that bound me, and turned to the door; whereupon the sheriff'smen threw themselves before me. But one I took by the throat and theother by the shoulder, and swinging them together I flung them againstthe wall with such force that the oak panels cracked again, and theysank to the ground like things of clay. Then I strode out of the roomand thence into the pure air, and no one had the stomach to stay me.