Micah Clarke

ben Lockarby and I borrowed Ned Marley’s pleasure boat, and went a-fishing out of Langston Bay. A

innocent as summer lightning through all that he said. In person he was short and broad, round-faced, ruddy-cheeked, and in truth a little inclined to be fat, though he would never confess to more than a pleasing plumpness, which was held, he said, to be the acme of manly beauty amongst the ancients. Th

against which the wooded slopes of the Isle of Wight stood out vaporous and purple. A fresh breeze was blowing from the south-east, flecking the long green waves with crests of foam, and filling our eyes and lips with the smack of the salt spray. Over near St. Helen’s Point a King’s ship was making her way down the cha

ded ship — a ship which will make no way in the world. See how she hangs in the wind, neither k

t as though there were no one at the helm. Her main-yard goes aback! Now it is forward again! The folk on

you ever run that meddlesome head of yours into danger’s way? She flies Dutch colours, but who can say

ely. ‘We shall be seeing the black flag in E

caught the breeze once more, and the vessel darted away on a course which would take her past Bembridge Point out to the English Channel. As she flew along her helm was put hard down, a puff of smoke shot out from her q

euben in loose lipped astonish

savagely, for the attack was so unprovoked that it stirred my bil

’ my companion shouted, springing up from the

aul the great stone up, hand over hand

ome one in the water between us and them. Pull, Micah!

is head upon the crest of a wave. Easy, or we shall he over him! Two more

f the sea. ‘Zounds, man, keep a guard on your oar! I

mer was set at rest. Drawing in our oars we faced round to have a look at him. The drift of t

ve said could she have seen it? My whole kit gone, to say nothing of my venture in the voyage! And now I have kicked off a pair of

little wrinkles intersecting it in every direction. He had lost his hat, and his short wiry hair, slightly flecked with grey, stood up in a bristle all over his head. It was hard to guess at his age, but he could scarce have been under his fiftieth year, though the ease with which he had boarded our boat proved that his strength and energy were unimpaired. Of all his characteristics, however, nothing att

n on the Danube to Buda, while a hundred thousand Janissaries danced with rage on the nether bank. I did, by the keys of St. Peter! Wessenburg’s

nder him in Eastern fashion, and settled down to enjoy a smoke. There was something so peculiar about the whole incident, and so preposterous about the man’s appearance and actions, that we both broke into a roar of laughter, which lasted until for very exhaustion we were co

d and I are unused to such adventures, and are merry at the ha

d of a worthy father, as the Latin implies. There are but nine betwixt

aboard of the b

oting at me,’ the stranger obs

was a sec

e shooting at m

‘I trust that thou h

e that it was he who trained the nine-pounder on me when I was in the water. It came near enough to part my hair. He was always a good

d out his pipe with it. Reuben and I took up our oars, and having pulled up our tangled fish

said the stranger, ‘w

own Langston Ba

not going to France? We have a mast and sail there, I see, and water in the beaker. All we want a

n Langston Bay,’

p into crinkles. ‘I am an old soldier, a tough fighting man, and you are two raw lads. I have a k

ld swim to Portsmouth,’ said I, ‘and so you shall. Into the water with yo

hook through you,’ cried Reuben, pushing it for

valour out of your flint. A notable simile, and one in every way worthy of that most witty of mankind, Samuel Butler. This,’ he continued, tapping a protuberance which I had remarked over his ch

t knife,’ sa

ill give up anything to do ye pleasure-save only my good name and soldierly repute, or this same copy of “Hudibras,” which, together

p guard over the fellow and see that he plays us no trick. I believe that you are right, and that

deserted him for a moment, and that a

arke, and your home is Havant. Are you a kinsman

father,’ I

ad! Look at this!’ He drew a packet of letters from his inside pocket, wrapped in a bit of tarred cloth, and op

nd of Master Decimus Saxon, part-owner of the ship Providence, from Amsterdam to Portsmouth.’ At eac

d bills of lading are not done up in that fashion. It is not a cargo of Flemish skins that is coming for the old man. The skins have good English hearts in them; ay, and English swords in their fists

at,’ I answered. ‘You must speak

sked, jerking his head i

myse

erstand, who are thinking of making a move and of coming over to see King James in his own country with their swords strapped on their thighs. The letters are to those from whom they expect sympathy, and notify when and where they will make a lan

mission is indeed as you have said, why di

n them that ye would prove to be Whigs and friends of the good old cause. Ye might have taken me to where excisemen or othe

tter and make good your story to him. If you are indeed a true man, you will meet with a warm

ke the Lord High Chancellor of Eng

ould

t out there f

which is the ware in whic

ould

ass withou

imself could not have ca

wn leaders of the Dissenters. If they were what he represented them to be, it was no exaggeration to say that he held the fortunes and fates of these men entirely in his hands. Government would be only too glad to have a valid reason for striking hard at the men whom they feared. On the whole it was well to tread carefully in the matter, so I restored our prisoner’s knife to him, and trea