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Title: The Fearsome Island
        Being a modern rendering of the narrative of one Silas Fordred, master mariner of Hythe

Author: Albert Kinross


        
Release date: November 7, 2026 [eBook #79942]

Language: English

Original publication: Chicago: Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1896

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/79942

Credits: Jonathan Berger, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FEARSOME ISLAND ***




The Fearsome Island,

  Being a Modern Rendering
    of the Narrative

  _Of one Silas Fordred, Master Mariner
  of Hythe, whose shipwreck and
  subsequent adventures are herein set
  forth. Also an appendix accounting in a
  rational manner for the seeming marvels
  that Silas Fordred encountered
  during his sojourn on the fearsome island
    of Don Diego Rodriguez._

By _Albert Kinross_.

_CHICAGO_:

  Printed for _Herbert S. Stone & Company_
  at the _Chap-Book_ offices in the
    _Caxton Building_. _1896_.




  COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY
    HERBERT S. STONE & CO.




_DEDICATION._


_Dear Zangwill,_

_I have to thank you for so much in the past, present, and I think
I may venture on prophesy and say the future. Kindly accept this
inscription as some small token of that gratitude. As for the book, I
fear its contents will surprise you as much as they surprised_

  _Yours most sincerely,_
    _ALBERT KINROSS._

_January, 1896._




THE PREFACE.


In the reproduction of this narrative it was my intention to modernise
the English of the original version. I am no great scholar, being more
interested in the humanity of things than in their æsthetics; and,
in the retelling of this story, I find that I have been completely
overpowered by the original version, so that the language in which
this history is here set forth is no language. I have, however, let it
stand, as I feel that the leisurely dialect that I have instinctively
adopted is more in keeping with the character and surroundings of Silas
Fordred than the crisp, clear-cut phraseology of to-day. Also in
the original manuscript were many coarse phrases that I have all but
eliminated; should one or two such have crept into this version, will
the indulgent reader kindly pass them by, merely regarding such in the
light of landmarks of a day that was wont to express its thoughts and
sentiments with no uncertain voice.

  ALBERT KINROSS.

  _Hampstead, 1896._




INTRODUCTION


I was staying down at Hythe last winter, and, among other occupations,
I found time to assist my very good friend Cobb, Town Clerk of the
old cinque port, in sorting a mass of ancient documents but recently
discovered in a musty chest that Back the beadle had stumbled across in
the Town Hall cellar. These papers were, for the most part, connected
with the businesses transacted by Cobb’s remotest predecessors; with
meat and drink furnished at the Lord Warden’s banquets, and tithes paid
to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. Our national enemy across
the channel had given the worthy Councillors of those days much food
for thought, and there were many accounts of moneys spent with the
object of offensive and defensive chastisement to be inflicted on that
relentless foe.

But, among all these documents, many of which might possess great
interest for the antiquarian or social economist, there was one that I
read and re-read thrice before imparting its contents to my good friend
Cobb; or stay, such rather was my intention, but, on second thoughts,
I carefully placed the time-worn sheets in my ulster pocket--there
was quite a bundle of them--and here in town I am turning into modern
English what Silas Fordred penned with great labour and difficulty in
the days of good Queen Bess.

Fordred shall tell his own story, and you, my readers (among whom I
hope friend Cobb will occupy a foremost place,) believe or doubt! The
story rings honest and the truth was more in favour in those days than
in this sceptic age.

Here follow the time-stained papers of Silas Fordred worked up into a
narrative of some literary merit; for style and polish had he none,
this blunt mariner of yester-year.

For want of a better title, and I hold that all things should have a
distinctive name, I have headed this narrative:

  The
  Fearsome Island

Before the assembled Town Council of Hythe Borough I have read and set
my name to this true statement of what befell me in my last voyage to
the Southern Seas. If any there be that doubt, let them go down to my
house in Stade Street and inspect the strange barque that carried me
from the Fearsome Island to the good ship _Queen Marie_ that brought me
hither. Further, have I not shewn you vessels of gold that were in the
Dark Chamber, likewise the thirteen great diamonds that hung round the
neck of the bronze idol? Also have you seen the knife of Spanish steel
with the round ruby at its hilt and the two fangs that broke on my hand
from the mouth of the Hag of Turret? The captain and seamen of the ship
_Queen Marie_ have spoken of the hairy man that was a-dying when I was
discovered afloat and without food. What I have written is true on my
oath and by my hope of entering heaven.

  (SIGNED) SILAS FORDRED.

  WITNESSED BY
  EVAN the Welshman,
  _Town Clerk_.




Chapter I


On the third day of June, 1558, Mary that was called Bloody being then
our Queen, Thomas Snoad and I set out from Hythe for the great port of
Dover, where lay the ship _Brave Luck_ that we had jointly purchased to
trade with for our own profits and benefaction. Previously, both of us
had been in the employ of Deedes, the great London merchant, who hath
more ships than I have toes or fingers. We rose early in the morning,
so that when we reached Dover the sun was close on midday and we were
greatly athirst. Straightway we boarded our ship, in whose cabin was
meat and drink in plenty, and, our appetites being stilled, we went
into Dover town to prepare for the voyage we were about to undertake.
That same day we engaged fourteen seamen and three boys, also a black
man from beyond the Middle Sea who was reputed to cook exceeding well
and without causing an over-great stink.

Our cargo we put aboard: child’s things from Chepeside, and horns that
would make music; also cloth stuffs for such as wear garments, and good
bows and arrows and broadswords for them that love to fight.

At the eleventh hour and before we hove anchor I bethought me of Dick
Whittington, that was thrice Lord Mayor of London, and I hied back to
the town and bought two cats that were with kitten, also a Tom-cat,
exceeding fierce and black, that was sold me by a witch and had eaten
man’s flesh.

That night we slept on board, greatly tired, for we had been astir
since sunrise putting chests and bales in the hold, and it was on the
second morning after quitting Hythe that we set sail and passed down
the Channel on our way to Grand Canary and the Southern Seas.

It were idle to write here what befell during the first two months of
our voyage, that in all things greatly resembled other voyages. Fair
winds and pleasant trade with good profits were our lot.

The Negro cook was of a merry mood and amused us hugely, for he could
dance and sing and make agreeable noises with pieces of wood held in
his hands, and his smile was wide as the smile of a crocodile. Nor was
he idle at his business, for he could prepare excellent dishes, many of
which were new and unknown to us, and therefore the pleasanter.

We touched at the Gold River that runs into the ocean on the West of
Africa, and spent some days bartering for gold dust, ivory, and palm
oil. It was here that our cook, the black knave, played us a scurvy
trick. When we set sail once more, that foul Indian was nowhere to be
found, and we were without cook. And then I remembered that he had said
that his home was in these parts. He had deceived and deserted us, and
his soul was black as his skin.

From the Gold River we sailed south along the coast, and went ashore
at many places, till we reached a harbour from whence we could see a
mountain with a flat top like a table. We had bartered away all our
cargo and there was no further cause to prolong our voyage, so here we
turned our ship’s head and sailed joyfully North.

On the third day of journeying homewards great gales began to blow; for
six days and six nights we ran with bare masts before the winds, and
only God on high knew in what sea we were, and, though we prayed at
morn and eve, He told us naught.

On that sixth day methought the world would end, for there were huger
seas about us than any I had ever seen before. The hold was full of
water, and I wept bitter tears as wave after wave broke over Snoad’s
ship and mine.

“Beshrew me,” said I to Thomas, my partner, “our cargo will suffer
damage--the palm-oil runs to waste.”

“Aye,” said Snoad, “’tis I who feel each drop that spoils, even as
thou,” and he shook his bare head, and the great tears stood in his
eyes, for Snoad was a man of much thrift, though unmarried.

The great cat that had eaten man’s flesh was sore afraid, its hair
stood erect on its back and its eyes shone like burnished brass. And in
the night of that day, as Thomas Snoad and I were praying for light and
a smooth sea, for we had neither slept nor eaten save upright all the
six days, an huger wave than all curled and splintered into a thousand
pieces over us, and the water stung our faces like a shower of broken
glass, while the ship _Brave Luck_ swayed like a man drunk with ale,
and its bow rose high into the air above our heads.

“God save us, Snoad!” said I.

“Amen!” said Snoad, and though we shouted, our voices were as a
whisper. We could hear the seamen call on Mary that is the Virgin and
Jesus who died on the Cross, and some knelt, while others threw their
arms above their heads and trembled with the fear of death. There were
wild eyes around us, and faces drawn and terrible as the faces of wild
beasts that are mad with hunger and evil passion. I saw these things
as in a dream, for they moved me not overmuch, and the men about me
were not men as I had known them, and nothing was real till the ship
fell from under us and we were in the waters, Snoad and I, in a valley
’twixt mountains of water, now rising to the crest, now falling deep,
like balls of down in an autumn wind. We could see the heads of the
others bobbing like black corks, and overhead in the sky we saw the
lightning glitter and run, while in our ears the thunder boomed death
knells. It was a brave yet awful sight, and I think that hell can
contain nothing more terrible than that black sea, with the black faces
bobbing through the darkness, through which the lightning swished like
a rapier of cold gold. Over the hold of our ship had been a cover of
wood with handles of rope and two yards long and broad. This cover I
made out bearing down on me. I reached out a hand, and my arm was fast
twisted in the rope ere the next wave could bear me from this raft.
Snoad was at my side.

“Give me your hand, Snoad,” I shouted, but he could not hear my voice
above the wind and waves that roared like many lions. I reached out
my other arm and caught the top of his jerkin--’twas of good stout
leather,--and he looked at me (his head was like a painting of John the
Baptist’s head on a platter) and spat water from his mouth.

“God save thee, Fordred!”

I saw the words on his lips but heard naught.

“Amen!” said I, and we clung together for the dear life for weary
minute after minute; and when at last the grey dawn broke, there was
land not over far from us, and the waves were bearing us thither at
great speed. As we neared the shore we let go of our raft, and, taking
what little strength remained to us, we swam on by ourselves till a
huge breaker flung us heavily on the beach. We picked ourselves up
again--it was a joyful feeling, this standing once more upright on our
legs--and went inland beyond the sea’s reach.

We cast off our dripping garments and knelt naked to pray a
thanksgiving, but, we were so tired and exhausted that we fell down
close together, our legs refusing their office, and we slept thus in
the grey dawn, naked and worn out. The far-off lands are warmer than
ours, so we feared not to be sick by thus lying bare under the open sky.

So we fell asleep, a-weary from our toil and watching, and we lay quite
still till the noonday sun smote on our eyelids. When we awoke, the sky
was deep blue, the winds had ceased to rage, and the sea had grown calm
and serene, so that we felt like two that had dreamed an evil dream and
were but newly awakened. There was a pinching feeling at our stomachs;
we had fasted for many hours, and what we had lately eaten was of no
great moment. Snoad and I arose and walked inland to where there were
trees with strange fruits such as grow in distant lands, and we sat in
the branches of one such and ate from a great gourd we had found at its
foot. I looked at Snoad and saw that he was naked.

“Friend Snoad,” said I, “where be thy garments? for surely thou dost
bear thee as Adam when in the Garden of Eden.”

“Friend Fordred,” cried Snoad, “look to thyself!”

And I looked, and I too was naked! Then I looked up at Snoad, but he
was nowhere to be seen; and I looked down at Snoad, and he was fallen
from the branch with over-much laughing and lay now a-rolling on his
back with a full mouth and great tears on his cheeks.

“Silas Fordred!” he cried, “wouldst thou choke me?”

And I too laughed till I dropped from my branch on to Thomas Snoad’s
stomach.

“Nay, we will both choke,” I said, and began to laugh anew; but Snoad
was silent for he had no wind.

After we had eaten we walked slowly back to the spot where lay our
clothes, dry but marvellous small from the water and the hot sun. And
then we went down to the sea all smooth and smiling.

“God save us, Fordred!” said Snoad, “where be we?”

“Aye, where be we?” I answered, and we shook our heads and looked
around and upwards; and as we looked, what should we see but a huge
idol, a great figure, shining and of bronze, such as mariners say are
worshipped in the isles beyond Kathay that are called Nipong. We both
rubbed our eyes, so as to make sure that we saw true. Aye, there was
the figure, a great woman with a calm face, and neither shift nor other
garment. For eyes there were broad holes, and in and about these hollow
sockets flew sea-birds, and they perched on her breasts, on her knees,
and about her feet.

“Good Fordred,” said Snoad, “if that be god of these parts let us make
obeisance, it may be fitting and proper that we should.”

“Nay,” said I, in a stern voice and loud, “Thomas Snoad, rather let us
cross ourselves and pray to the Blessed Virgin, who hath just saved us
from death by drowning!”

“Thou art right, good Fordred,” he replied; and we repeated the Lord’s
Prayer twice, for ’twas the only prayer that we could repeat from
memory.

After that we walked closer to the idol with stout hearts and unafraid,
and we looked into its face, to its great nose, and the holes that
were eyes, and to its neck--and on its neck hung stones that sparkled,
big stones all white and glistening as I have seen the diamond stones
shine in a goldsmith’s shop, only these stones were larger than any
that I had ever seen before, and I have been to the Tower of London,
and seen the great ruby that was in the crown of King Harry of
Agincourt.

“Those be diamonds,” said Snoad.

“I will not say ye nay,” I replied.

Then we looked again, up and down, and at the feet of the great figure
were human bones, skulls and leg bones, and ribs and arms.

“See ye those, friend Snoad?” I asked.

“Yea, I see them; they be human sacrifices. I have heard tell of such
among those that be heathens.”

Thomas Snoad was one that always had answer and explanation at his
tongue’s tip, even though he knew nothing of the matter in hand. This
was his great weakness--a small thing, for he was as gallant a seaman
as ever trod a ship.

We looked once more, and all the skeletons were broken across the
middle, and the upper parts lay here and the lower parts lay there.

“See ye that, friend Snoad?” I asked, and my thoughts went back to the
bones that are in the crypt of the Hythe Church.

“Yea,” he made reply (as was his wont), “’tis most like to be their
manner of offering sacrifice.”

And for a few moments we stood wondering what manner of god this might
be, and whose were the bones that lay all white at its feet.

Again our eyes lighted on the great white stones that sparkled more
than a woman’s eyes.

“They be for us,” said Snoad. “Wilt climb and take them? ’Tis easy to
reach. Mayhap there will come worshippers ere long and ’twill be too
late.”

“Be wise, friend Snoad,” said I, “and think thyself of good luck should
the worshippers not offer thee up as a sacrifice. The diamonds can
wait, and, should we be discovered by the men that inhabit this land,
we might have to pay a huge price.”

I led him away, and we walked about all that day without seeing sign
of man or human habitation. We ate fruits and berries, and great crabs
that came out of the sea and sought to pinch us. These we slew with
stones and pieces of rock, breaking their shells, after which they
died. It was raw meat, but a hungry man waits not for a cook.

That night we slept under a broad tree, near a brook of running water
that we had drank from. The next morning when I awoke I was alone, and
Thomas Snoad was nowhere to be seen.

“Snoad, Thomas Snoad!” I cried till my throat pained, but there came no
reply. At last I bethought me of the diamond stones and the great lust
that had shone in Snoad’s eyes on the yesterday.

Quick I sprang to my feet, and ran with great speed toward the
seashore, where stood the great idol of bronze with the glistening
necklet, and, as I approached, I could see Snoad a-climbing from the
huge toes onto the knees.

“Get thee down!” I cried. “Get thee down, thou thief, thou sacrilegious
thief, there will be mischief in the deed and dire punishment to
follow.”

So I spake to Thomas Snoad, for God hath given me a honest soul.

He heeded not, and again I cried:

“Get thee down, Thomas Snoad!” But he heeded not; and now he had one
hand on the outstanding breast and he stood on the brazen knee, and
then, as he swung upward to the neck where sparkled the jewel, the
great bronze arms did close--aye, did close I say, and I have sworn
it,--did close fast and sharp over Thomas Snoad, and his head and trunk
fell one way and his legs and belly another, aye, right to my feet;
and, as I crossed myself and fell down on my knees, I saw the arms of
that accursed figure swing back wide open and empty as before, and
Thomas Snoad lay at my feet in two halves, so that I understood the
meaning of the broken skeletons all sundered in the middle, and I shook
my fist at the curst idol, and the arms were wide apart and without
motion, and the great white jewels sparkled mockingly in that morning’s
sun.

I knelt some minutes all fearsome and a-trembling, wondering to what
devil’s land this body o’ mine had strayed, and, as I knelt, I could
feel something soft yet firm a-pressing gently against my thighbone,
and at the same time I could hear a low sound such as is made by a cat
that is pleased. I looked round to my side and there was the black cat
from the ship a-fondling of me, he that had eat man’s flesh and had
dwelt with a witch. He was very friendly and there was a fond look in
his face; but, for all that, I arose hastily, bethinking me of the
body of poor Thomas Snoad that lay there dead and in two parts, and
meseemed it were well did I arise and bury him ere harm befell. So I
searched till I found a sharp stone all broad and flat like a spade,
and with it I dug in the soft sand, so that by ten o’clock that day by
the sun I had buried Thomas Snoad, all that was mortal of that gallant
mariner. As the sand lay thick over him, I did think to say a prayer,
and again I prayed to “Our Father which art in Heaven,” that being the
only prayer that I could repeat without book or priest. I was alone
now, and as the “Amen” left my lips my solitude and isolation came back
to me strong and full, and my heart felt heavy within me and tears of
self-pity stood in both my eyes. I was fit to weep, and lay helpless
and without hope as is a despairing woman, till, with great effort, I
repeated “Silas Fordred, that art a man, be thou a man.” This I said
thrice, gaining strength with each repetition, and the mist before my
eyes vanished, though a tear trickled slow down both the sides of my
nose and splashed onto the thirsty sand below. I saw clear once more,
and the black cat was before me, gazing piteously into my face as if to
share my burden of sorrow. I drew him gently onto my lap, and we both
sat lonely and forsaken on the empty strand, pondering over what next
we should do in that gruesome land of the brazen idol.




Chapter II


On the next morning the cat and I held council--we had slept together
on the previous night for the sake of the companionship of the other.

“Black cat of the witch,” said I, after gazing long at him steadfastly
and with much thought, “do thou that are skilled in Sorcery lead and
I will follow,” and with that I laid my hand lightly on the beast’s
head, and it looked up into my eyes unafraid and as a friend might do.
After which, with tail erect and moustachios pointing right and left,
it went inland, I following, and for two days and a night we journeyed
through thick woods, with here and there a rich plain that was as fair
a pasture land as are the marshes around Romney Town.

Towards the vesper hour on the second day of our wanderings we came to
a hill on whose crest stood a fair castle, which, though nowise old or
a-crumbling, yet looked neglected and forsaken, being much overgrown
with mosses, weeds, and climbing plants that flourish with great vigour
in Southern lands, and grow there in one year more than such things
grow in ten years in our own country.

“Black cat,” said I, “let us enter,” and together we strode up
the hillside to a fair gate, that was arched and had ornaments of
wrought-iron to its face of strong wood. This gate was let into the
castle wall over against a round tower, such as I have seen at Windsor
as a boy at the castle of King Harry that had six wives. Round about
us reigned a death-like silence, and from the castle came no sound.
I looked up, marvelling, at the rank grasses and untended growths,
at the window glass whereon the dust and grime lay thick, at the
weather-stained masonry, and beyond, at the garden about the castle,
where grew neither fruit nor flower, nothing but worthless plants and
common weeds such as were in the woods through which we had passed on
our way thither.

Greatly I wondered as to who might dwell in this deserted palace, and I
looked around for means of entry. Over on the gate was a large knocker
of bronze and shaped like an open hand stretched out in welcome. It was
on a hinge and the knuckles were thick and heavy, so that when it fell
the noise might be the greater. I reached out my hand, and was about to
raise the knocker and clamour at the gateway, when I bethought me of
poor Thomas Snoad and the fate that had overtaken him.

“Black cat,” said I, “there be strategy and there be cunning,
and wherefore, did I lack these arts, were I, Silas Fordred,
master-mariner?”

With that I unfastened my belt of good leather, that cost me one groat
and a penny at Canterbury fair, and I lifted up the bronze hand with
the belt that I had wound around it, and, behold, the bronze fingers
clutched the belt, closed as do lion’s claws--yea, even as the arms
of the idol had closed on poor Thomas Snoad. I laughed loud to myself
at the sight, and the cat, too, did laugh, for I had escaped a cruel
device and had outwitted some uncommon malignant sorcerer. High I swung
the hand with my good leather thong, and then I loosed my hold and the
fist fell back with a crash, while, at the same instant, the gateway
opened wide from the inside, and without human aid. By the waning
daylight I could see a broad hall, tiled and paved, with rich rugs and
skins on the floor; the walls were hung with tapestries and designs
made of rare spears, bucklers and swords. Here and there were low
couches that looked soft and inviting--it was a fair sight for eyes and
body that had not rested on comfort and ease for many months. The sun
was sinking fast--and the darkness approaches quick in these lands,--so
I thought it unwise to enter the castle at this late hour and resolved
to spend that night on the hillside, deeming it safer to rest there
than in the great hall. The black cat, whom I had named Satan for a
jest, lay by my side as on the other nights, he being by now mighty
trustful of me and friendly. Ever and anon our eyes wandered through
the darkness to the black outline of the castle, and, though there
were many windows, we saw no light or sign of light in any one of the
rooms. Only once I thought I could see a faint glimmer, as of a lamp,
shine from the round window in the turret; but I looked again and it
was gone, and I looked again and it was a moonbeam that had painted a
patch of silver on the pane. On the morrow, when the sun stood clear in
the sky, and after I had bathed and drank water from a running stream
so that all my wits might be with me, I entered at the castle gate. The
brazen hand was still clenched over my belt of leather.

Satan was the first to enter the hall, a great chamber with many doors
let into the wall on either side, while at the far end rose a broad
stairway, which we ascended without mishap.

It would be idle were I to describe what was in that castle; suffice to
say, it was like a nobleman’s palace, with chairs of carved wood-work
and great beds with spreading canopies, such as I have seen at the
Palace at Hampton Court, by aid of my friend, Roger the Ratcatcher, who
doth dwell in that famous abode.

With great caution we peered into many chambers, and no harm befell;
and when we had descended the stairway and explored the rooms about
the great hall, we passed yet beyond to where there were kitchens and
storerooms, where we found stacks of dried fruits and vegetables, also
sealed tins that we broke, and wherein were large pieces of flesh--beef
and pork and the tongues of oxen.

We sat us down and feasted until our insides could be no more
distended, and, our thirst being then far stronger than our hunger,
we arose, thinking to go down to the stream that ran beside the hill
whereon stood the castle, there to drink our fill of water.

Now, as once more we crossed the great hall, a marvellous strange thing
befell. I had trodden on a square tile--it was green in colour, being
the centre-piece of the design that ornamented the paving,--and this
green tile yielded under my foot, so that, fearing some new witchcraft,
with a deadly fear at my heart, I sprang high up into the air. It was
a mercy that my legs were well up under me, for as a flash there swung
’twixt wall and wall a long blade of steel shaped as a giant sword. It
passed low down, just above the head of Satan, the cat, just below the
soles of my feet. It was a marvellous cunning piece of sorcery, for was
I not bound to light once more on that green tile--so broad it was--and
yet again, and yet again, till I should be quite tired, and without
strength to spring, and then--I shuddered. Three times I jumped high
into the air, like to a girl that skips with a rope, only this rope of
mine was a steel knife, sharp and keen, and I thought many things, and
all of them very terrible and uncomforting; and three times the long
steel blade hissed by, low down and from wall to wall. A fourth time
I lighted on the green tile, but on this occasion the spell worked
not; true, the sword issued forth as before, yet, instead of flashing
’twixt wall and wall, it swerved in its course, hesitated, and then
fell harmless to the ground, dead and without power. The charm that had
caused it to chop to and fro had failed. I touched it lightly with my
forefinger, and it did not stir; I handled it yet more familiarly and
it moved not. It was a long blade, long as the hall was broad, somewhat
rusty and ill-looking it was for lack of armourer’s care, yet sharp
withal and of a fine temper.

“Yea,” I thought, “the magic of the devil, thy smith, hath left thee,
thanks be to God, for truly thou art an evil device and an unholy;”
and, as in a dream, I saw myself springing into the air, till at last,
weak and feeble, I could spring no more; and what I then perceived
caused me to shudder anew. I went from the prostrate blade back to the
green tile and trod upon it with the end of one foot, and the long
knife quivered like an animal wounded in the chase and a-dying, yet it
stirred not from the ground. “Magic blade that art no longer magic, thy
strength is gone!” I said aloud, and with that I broke off the end of
the sword with my two hands, that were protected by a cloth I had taken
from one of the couches that stood around. I stooped and sweated, and
my face was purple, yet, ere I had done, the huge blade was in five
pieces, and powerless to do further harm.

It was with a greater thirst than before that Satan and I sped downhill
to the stream. Here we drank our fill, and it was good to be once
more out in the open air under the free sky, with naught to fear and
no care at our hearts. The rest of that day we sat in the cool shade
of a wood, listening to the apes and birds of coloured plumage that
chattered in the trees.

Satan, the black cat, lies dead and unburied in a strange land, and no
human eye marked his death. His last hour was perchance the most evil
in both our lives, and maybe in that hour I had no thought for him or
he for me; yet now, in my security, I think daily on him, and there
rise tears to my eyes, for he was dear to me and I to him, and the
dangers that we shared together I shall never forget. In the night I
again ascended the hill and wandered around and about the castle, for
a spirit of unrest possessed me and I could not sleep. No light was
visible from any window, and all was black and inanimate as before. On
the round window of the turret the same patch of moonlight silvered the
pane, yet there was no moon in the skies, naught but an army of stars,
wondrous bright and near to earth, as are the stars of all distant
lands.

Later I slept deep, yet, ere my eyes closed, I had pondered much over
that patch of moonlight on the round window of the turret; for albeit
there was no moon visible in the sky, a moon-ray pale and argentine it
most certainly was that I had seen, and I resolved that I would ascend
to the turret and seek to discover from whence sprang this strange
light that had so puzzled me.

On the morrow Satan and I once more set out for the storeroom in search
of meat. Again we ate our fill, and our appetites were very great and
pressing. From this chamber there led underground a stone stairway
that we afterwards descended, cautiously, and one foot moving slow
after the other. The walls of this stairway were damp and mildewed,
and when we reached the cellar below the air was humid and lifeless
as a stagnant tarn. There were holes in the walls, through which
streamed pale rays of light, so that we discovered the nature of this
underground chamber without great mystery or labour. Underfoot was the
naked earth without flagstone or paving, and, on all sides, stretched a
huge crypt, a ceiling of many curves supported by numberless pillars.
At Canterbury Cathedral, where lie the bones of St. Thomas à Becket, is
just such a crypt, though vaster far than the one Satan and I explored
that morning. There were many casks about us, and goodly flasks of
glass and earthenware that held rich wines and oils; also were there
quaintly-painted chests filled with the dried leaf of some unknown
plant. I drank sparingly of the rich wines that we had discovered,
tasting of many sorts and colours; and each was of a quality rarer and
more costly than any liquor I had drunk before. The dust and cobwebs
lay thick on all that was about us, and I thought that few men had
drunk wine of so old a vintage; yet, because of the sorcery that was
all about us, I restrained my natural desires and forbode to drink
more than I could carry without detriment to my reason and good sense,
knowing full well that I should want all the wits I was possessed of,
even on that day as on the previous days.

Further on in this great cellar was a space with a palisade of wood
all about it, and within were barrels, two or three of which had their
heads stove in, so that their contents were spread on the ground beside
them. I climbed the palisade and Satan pressed with his body through
the bars.

“Gunpowder, as I live!” I cried, fingering the black grains that
strewed the ground. I had no great use of so dangerous a neighbour, and
yet, thought I, “If the sorceries and dangers with which I am hourly
beset cease not, maybe I shall lose patience and send this castle and
all its witchcrafts a-flying into the air;” for I looked not upon this
store of gunpowder with dread, as some men might have done, but as
an ally, for stood it not at my service as much as at the use of any
other man? Satan and I then proceeded further through the crypt-like
cellar, and at the further end was yet another stairway. This we
ascended as carefully as was our wont, and soon we were standing in a
vast apartment that we had heretofore been unaware of. This new chamber
was quite unlike any of the others through which we had passed, being
bare and huger than any dwelling-room, with a ceiling high and vaulted;
indeed, it was in shape more like the inside of a church than a room
in a nobleman’s palace. In this chamber were anvils and moulds, and
furnaces empty and idle; here also were strange machines whose uses I
could in no way surmise; and all these things were rusty and red, and
discoloured with unuse. This chamber reminded me of a vast smithy, only
it was of another and a more cunning nature than any smith’s shop that
I had ever seen. Around the walls were shelves whereon stood great jars
and caskets, and there were chests that had drawers that were filled
with carpenter’s stores,--screws and nails and gimlets and files and
rivets. There were also boxes full of thin sticks of wood with a red
substance at their end, and I rubbing two such together, they burst
into flame. Then I bethought me of the gunpowder in the cellar below,
and I put a box of these fire-makers in my pouch, so that I could act
at a short notice.

I marvelled greatly at the long rows of jars, many of which were
of glass, so that I could see that they were filled with coloured
liquids, and all of them bore inscriptions in a strange tongue--for
a strange tongue it must have been, the words being written with
English characters, yet conveying no meaning to me as I spelt them out.
From one such a jar I took the cover, and there arose a smell most
nauseous, so that I had much ado that I might not vomit. Yet one more
jar did I uncover, and there arose fumes into the air about me, ruddy
brown in colour, and of an evil quality, so thick and foul that I was
nigh suffocated when these vapours entered at my mouth. There was a
large doorway at the end of the chamber, and to this both Satan and I
scampered quick. We opened it, and before us was the forsaken garden
that was about the castle. We stood long on the threshold, exceeding
thankful for air that was pure and of good odour.

The gateway through which we had passed opened out on to the back of
the castle, and before us lay the tangled desolation of the garden that
had fallen to such lamentable decay. There were seats and arbours, all
moss-grown and scarcely recognisable, and we sat us down and pondered
over the things that were about us, marvelling much how it was that
they were there, and how it was that their present plight was so
lonesome and untended.

“’Tis like the fable of the Brier Rose, friend Satan,” I said, as I
scratched the top of his head, and then I smacked my lips together.
“Maybe I shall kiss the princess,” I continued, “and she will awake and
chide me for a hairy-faced varlet.” My hand was on my chin and I could
feel my beard grown long and thick, and never a barber’s shop would I,
Silas Fordred, enter for many a long day. My hair, too, was long and
unkempt, and truly had a princess gazed on me, I fear greatly that she
would have turned on her side and essayed to sleep once more.

With such like thoughts I wandered through the tangled bushes and
network of creeping plants, that plucked at my feet and tripped me up,
while the green tendrils tapped at my face and curled round my fingers,
filling the air with a moist odour, somewhat rank, yet not unpleasing.
We had proceeded thus slowly for some hundreds of yards, when we came
to an open space where stood three buildings that had closed doors.
Each of these structures was of stone, low in the roof and of simple
form, and, from their shape, it was easy to tell that they consisted
of but a single chamber. These we passed and repassed with much
curiosity, but by now we had grown prudent and slow of action--aye,
even fearful,--so that we were content to return to the woods as on
the previous day, to idle away the time and bethink us of the morrow.

It was quite silent in the wood, save for the stirring of leaves and
the cries and motions of bird and beast, and Satan sat on blissfully at
my side, with his head resting on his outstretched paws. On a sudden,
however, the black cat rose to his feet with hair erect and his body
forming an archway, while his claws came forth from their sheath.

“What is it, friend Satan?” I cried. I looked in the direction of his
eyes, and true, there was cause for alarm. Gazing straight at us, and
some little distance away, was a man all naked and hairy, as is an ape.

I rose to my feet and saw that he had no weapon. This gave me some
courage, so that I called aloud:

“Hairy man! who art thou, and what woulds’t thou?”

He made no answer, and there was a look of terror on his face--’twas
brown in colour, of a somewhat lighter hue than a Negro’s.

“Come hither, thou man-ape,” I said, loud and clear.

He gave a shrill cry, and then turning round he fled into the wood. I
followed as fast as I was able, yet this hairy man was lithe and agile
as is a greyhound, so that ere I had run many yards I had lost all
trace of him. Breathless I returned to Satan, the cat.

“Eater of man’s flesh,” I said, “we be not alone. Perchance this is a
land of hairy men--and sorcerers.”

Satan, the cat, purred his agreement.

“We must watch and wait,” said I, “and heaven above will help us;
for, cat, though thy hue be black, thou hast borne thee like a true
Christian,” and I drew him toward me and rubbed his black face against
my cheek with much affection.

That day we saw no more of the hairy man, nor did we see other man or
woman of like breed and nature. In the night, as I gazed upward to the
castle on the hill, the patch of silver light was again visible on
the turret window. I resolved that on the next day I would ascend the
stairway and explore the tower, which as yet I had not entered; for
there was no moon in the sky, and I marvelled greatly as to the why and
how of that patch of silver light that shone each night on the turret
window without apparent cause or natural source.




Chapter III


On the morrow Satan and I set out for the store-room, whither we daily
hied for meat and sustenance. It was a dismal day, with a dark sky,
from which the rain fell in thick sheets, so that we ate more than we
needed and drank our fill, aye, and more than our fill, of the wine in
the cellar below. I remember well that I emptied a flask of red and
a flask of yellow, and yet another flask of red; for the leaden sky
had made me sorrowful and the warm wine brought me comfort. By noon I
had driven all care from my heart, and I was singing ribald songs and
a-sitting on the floor with Satan, whom I had made to drink his fill of
wine from a platter.

“Satan, old crow,” I cried, “’tis a goodly tavern; wilt pay the
reckoning?”

He came towards me, yet not in a straight line but in a curve: the face
he wore was not his own, ’twas more like the face of a stupid sheep;
for the liquor had reached his brain, and his head and limbs were
unsteady.

“Thou drunken knave,” I cried, “get thee hence; no denier hast thou
with which to pay what glasses thou hast burst! Out, thou black
tinker!” and with that we fell into each other’s arms and rolled on the
floor, together and wondrous happy.

’Twas then that I bethought me of the turret and the silver moonlight I
had seen on its window these last three nights.

“Friend Beelzebub,” said I to my companion, “We two will venture to the
tower and see what it holds--perchance a duplicate moon; marry, thou
roistering puss, up on to thy four legs, and do thou lead the way!”

Together we struggled out into the hall and then upstairs till we came
to a doorway that opened on to a winding staircase that, as I rightly
surmised, led to the chamber in the turret.

Well I remember how we wound round this last flight; the steps were of
stone, and we held on to the damp walls, muttering to ourselves and
ever and anon laughing aloud; for the wine was hot in our heads, and
our legs went one way and our bodies another. At length we reached the
stairway head, and I threw open a brass-studded door. Before us was
a round apartment, the floor littered with huge folios, while a red
curtain of heavy silk hung from floor to ceiling at the further end. On
entering this chamber we were greeted by a cry, shrill and uncanny as
the shriek of a night bird. I looked about me, and there rose from a
low chair an aged crone, bent well-nigh double, with a lifeless face,
and long wisps of hair that were a pale yellow from age. Two long
teeth, brown as toasted almonds, projected on either side of her mouth,
while on her chin sprouted a fine beard that I plucked as I looked into
her face and drew her toward me. Her eyes were small, malevolent, and
like beads of glass.

“What make you up here, old hag?” I said, holding tight to her beard so
as to make sure of her face, for most things that were about me I could
see double, aye, and some three-fold. She laid her hand--’twas dry and
lean, with thick black veins--on my arm, and hissed with rage as does a
serpent, trying with feeble force to disengage her beard.

“What make you up here, old witch, spells and sorcery?” I asked once
more. Then I turned to Satan that had dwelt with the witch: “Knowest
thou this lady?” I said, with a thick voice. The black cat shrunk to
my side, marvellous steady and sober. “Satan, thou that I bought of a
witch, thou that knowest the ways of sorcerers, is it safe to let this
old crone live, or shall I hurl her from the turret window?” And with
that I drew the hag yet closer towards me, and made as if to execute my
threat.

“Indeed, kind sir, ’twas not I,” she whined.

“Dost speak the English tongue?--aye, I forgot thou art a witch and
speak all tongues.”

“Indeed, sweet sir, I have done thee no harm; prithee release my beard!”

“’Twas not you?” I burst out. “You have done me no harm? Then you know
what devil’s work has gone forward under this roof, Hag of the Turret?
Was the sword that flashed under my heels of thy forging?”

“Indeed, kind sir,” she whimpered, “I had no power over that blade, nor
over the bronze hand on the gateway. I fear these things even as you
fear them. I am but an old woman, and no witch; pray, kind sir, release
your hold on my beard, for the pain is great.”

“Heaven help you, if you lie,” I said, and I loosed my hold.

She fell back muttering to herself in a strange tongue, and her glance
was that evil and malevolent that I shuddered at sight of so terrible a
visage.

I turned to friend Satan, who, in spite of temporary calmness, was
heavy with wine. He lay now on the floor of the chamber asleep and
breathing hard from his nostrils, so that I could see his moustachios
bend and sway.

“Arouse thee, friend Satan,” I cried, treading with my foot on his
back. “And thou, old hag, beware!”

I strode several times round the chamber, turning over the huge volumes
that were strewn about and of which I could understand no word, though
I be a good scholar, having been intended as a boy for the priesthood,
and I had studied hard till the day that I quitted the monastery for
the ocean that had the greater attraction for me. I stood before the
circular window that I had gazed on from below, and on the other side
of the turret was another window of the same shape and size. We were
high up above the earth, and I could see across wood and meadow-land
far away to the sea, and wherever I looked stretched the blue of the
distant ocean.

“’Tis an island, this land of brazen idols and bearded hags, eh, old
snake? and what may be its name?” I cried.

“It hath no name,” she said.

“And thy name?”

“I have none.”

“Then, Hag of the Turret shalt thou be called henceforth. Come thou
below to the cellar and we will celebrate thy christening.”

I laid my hand on her shoulder, and I felt that she was shaking with
fear under my palm. I am not of a cruel disposition and I was moved.

“Have no dread,” I cried; “so long as thy conduct is harmless and of
good report thou art safe. I am neither witch nor sorcerer; naught but
a plain seaman, Silas Fordred, master-mariner of Hythe.”

She scowled at me most bad-humouredly.

“I love seamen, they are brave and free as the ocean,” said the witch.

“Aye, thou lovest them as did the Syrens. I know thy love and will none
of it.”

“You mock me because I am old and withered; ’tis not generous, Silas
Fordred, master-mariner of Hythe,--’tis not generous, nor is it brave.”

“Get thee back to thy spells and incantations,” and I looked at the
great tomes that were spread about the room. “Yet stay,” I continued:
“whence comes the patch of moonlight that I see nightly on thy
window-pane?”

For answer she pressed a spring in the wall, and, as I live, there
burnt in a globe of glass above our heads a pale thread of light, white
as a moon-ray.

“A strange lamp is this, aye, and another of thy sorcerer’s tricks;
take care that it works no harm.”

“An innocent device,” she protested, “and simple.”

“’Tis well; mark what I have said, and now good-day, and mind thou
keepest to thy turret; for should I meet thee below, I will spit thee
like a woodcock on one of thine own swords.”

She scowled most evilly, the thin lips curling inward over her
toothless gums, while the two fangs at the corners pressed down on her
withered chin.

“Come, friend Satan,” said I, stirring the weary cat with my foot,
“let us away.”

Together we descended the stairway, and the brass-studded door closed
over our heads; then downhill to the stream that bordered the wood, to
idle through the long afternoon as best we might.

Thus, stretched at our ease, we thought over the day’s events, and what
they might bode. The hairy man of the yesterday came not within our
ken, nor did we see further trace or sign of thing human, so there was
naught to disturb our reflections. In the night-time the pale light
glowed on the round window-pane as before, and not many hours after
sunset we slept, greatly tired from the wine and the day’s excitements,
till late into the next day.

After our usual meal, and we drank sparingly this time, we again
ascended to the turret and held converse with the witch. This we did
for lack of other employment and because the time hung heavy on our
hands. We stayed and spoke with her till both Satan and I were wearied
with fruitless discourse; then downstairs again wishing we had kept to
our own company.

Our condition was most lonesome, and, after awhile, we wandered in the
forsaken garden, for ’twas much like ourselves, and there is a wondrous
sympathy ’twixt things animate and things inanimate be they in a like
plight and condition. Yea, and even though we were silent and without
power of comforting the other with speech, I saw in this neglected
garden much that spoke to me in sympathy and tried hard to soothe my
heavy heart; for it seemed to me as though the uncared plants felt what
I felt, and, had they had utterance, they would have voiced my own
thoughts. Even the insects and bugs that crawled from leaf to leaf
were in a less pitiable plight than this forsaken garden and myself,
and, when I had thought and pitied myself awhile, there were tears on
my cheek that rolled onto the fur of Satan, my friend, and made round
spots on his coat that were more shiny than what was dry.

As I sat thus thinking of gloomy things, I bethought me of the three
buildings with the closed doors, and I resolved once more to visit
them; for anything was a distraction in my present plight, and I saw no
danger in this survey of stones and mortar.

The sun was high in the afternoon sky, that was a deep hard blue, and
so clear was the air that each leaf and flower stood clear-cut and
separate, as though hewn in coloured stone.

When we reached the open space where stood the three chambers, we
found that they were as before, with but one slight difference. The
doors of the first two were closed, but the third door stood open to
my gaze. I bethought me of the Hag of the Turret, and wondered greatly
whether the open door was her doing. I looked into the chamber, for
there was naught to hinder me, and before my eyes was spread a rich
feast laid out in vessels of beaten gold, such vessels as the ones
that I had brought from thence, and that I have shewn you at my house
in Stade Street. There were broad dishes and platters, and flasks and
goblets, yellow and ashine, that made my fingers to itch and ache. It
was foolish of me to wish for gold at that time; for what use had I for
wealth in a land where there was none to buy or sell with but a bent
crone and a man all hairy?

On one dish was a boar’s head, on another a swan, and there were all
manner of rich meats and fair jellies and fruits, that called to mind
the dainties that I have heard tell are eaten by the Lord Mayor of
London and his Aldermen each ninth day of November.

Satan too looked at the rich feast, and, without more ado, he ran
inside and began to eat from a huge pasty, and he coming to no harm, I
lost fear and followed, for I had eaten no cooked food for many days,
and the banquet enticed me greatly.

Boldly I entered and laid my hand on a fine peach. As I touched it the
fruit crumbled to dust in my fingers; while behind me the door closed
fast with a thud, and I was in black darkness, with only Satan’s eyes
for a lamp. The air about me, which at first was sweet and pure, grew
thick and noxious, and there pressed a great weight on my chest so that
it was hard to breathe, and I stood there in the darkness thinking
that my last hour was come, and wondering whether I had best bestir
myself and see if there was no chance of escape. I gathered together
all my strength, and breathed but rarely and through my nostrils; while
Satan, the cat, whined piteously at my side. I tore at the walls with
my hands, but they were firm and pitiless; and vainly I sought to find
the door that had closed and shut out all the light, for there were no
windows to this chamber, and the darkness was black and endless.

The thick nauseous air grew heavier and heavier, and now my eyes burnt
fit to drop from out my head, while my tongue clove to my mouth and
felt parched and dry, like to a piece of smoked meat. My limbs grew
heavy and without strength, and the great vein on my forehead beat like
a Nuremberg time-dial. I was afraid to pray, for the thick air would
have entered at my lips and choked me the faster. Satan, the cat, had
ceased to whine, the green light in his eyes glowed no longer, and,
as my foot stirred him, I felt that he was as lead, heavy and without
life. All was silent, save for the noises in my head, and the low hiss
of the rank gas that issued form somewhere under my feet. On a sudden,
a long shrill laugh, fiendish and diabolic, pierced the silence, and
then another and yet another. I ceased my efforts to escape, and
stood still and intent, trying to gather from whence came this burst
of merriment. The sound was somewhat distant, and as I listened, the
laughter ceased, and the shrill voice burst into a cackling chant, that
it intoned in some strange tongue.

“It must be someone in the garden without,” I thought; “most likely
it is the Hag of the Turret;” whereupon I resolved, should I outlive
this hour, to strangle her with my thumbs and fingers, aye, and without
speech or question.

Quick these thoughts and many others galloped through my brain, and
all the time I was sinking, slowly sinking. My heart still beat, and
wondrous loud too; but my body was weary and without strength. I swayed
and I staggered, for I could breathe no more, and my head was going
round and round like the wheel of a cart; then I fell, clutching on my
way the carving of a stone that projected some inches from the wall at
my side. Well I remember that fall and the hopeless sense of the end of
all things that came with it; then I recollect, even better and with
a greater zest, how I reached that thrice blessed piece of carving,
that for one moment stayed my fall, and how stone and carving moved
under my hand, making a crevice in the wall, so that there cut through
the darkness a thin blade of light, while a million dust atoms danced
merrily in line ’twixt the cleft and the paving.

The stone that I held was loose, and the mortar about it decayed; the
cool draught of air played on my face, giving me fresh courage, so
that with might and main I pulled and pushed at that heaven-sent stone
so that at last it fell to the ground outside the chamber, whilst the
daylight and God’s own blessed air did enter like unto two glorious
angels.

As the stone fell to earth with a thud I heard yet another sound, a cry
of rage and lamentation. I put my head through the hole I had made so
that I might breathe more freely and rid my entrails of the nauseous
gas, and the garden was around me as before. I was too busy with my
own bodily affairs to pay much heed to the cry that I had heard and
the anger that was in the voice, yet, as once more I felt alive and
somewhat vigorous, I looked hard about me, and through the bushes and
tangle of the garden I made out the aged crone of the turret hobbling
homewards, a-shaking of her staff and muttering in her beard.

As the air from without rushed into the dark chamber, behold, and I
have sworn it, the door once more opened wide, and without help from
me or human being, and again there was light in the room, so that I
could see the body of Satan, the cat, that was quite dead; also could
I see the feast and the vessels of gold. Now, with all haste I seized
four goblets, a great flask, six broad dishes, and nine platters, these
being all that I could carry, I being then a weak man and overweary;
and with these I ran into the open and sank down on my knees, praying
a prayer of my own making that rose to my lips from out my heart of
hearts. Afterwards I bethought me of the black cat that I had left
behind me, and further, it seemed unwise were I to return for his body,
he being dead and beyond the reach of human aid.

As I thought of my friend, Satan, the cat, a great rage seized upon
me, for he had been to me a dear companion during some of the longest
days that I have ever lived through--trusting and large-hearted he had
been, of unchanging mood and warm affections, and the Hag of Turret
it was that had wrought this murder! I was athirst for revenge, yet
somewhat feeble from my recent adventure, and, though my first impulse
was to run straight up to the turret and fling the curst witch from
the window, yet I thought I would wait till the morrow ere I wrought
this justice. I was greatly weary both in mind and body, so that taken
unawares my wits would have been too feeble to meet cunning by cunning,
and my body too weary to bear any encounter that called for overmuch
exertion.

Alone and by myself back to the wood I hied with my golden dishes, and
these I hid secure in a spot that I could well remember, ’twas under
the roots of a great tree. I was on my knees engaged in this business,
when suddenly I looked about me, and behold, the hairy man of two days
before was a-watching of me with much curiosity. Straightway I arose
and advanced towards him, but he stepped back as at our first meeting.
I stood still and waited for him to speak. There was no great fear on
his face as there had been when we had first encountered the other, yet
no one word did he say, only clenched his hairy fist and pointed with
his other arm in the direction of the castle, uttering strange sounds
and grinding his teeth together till the noise pained me.

“Thou too knowest the witch?” I asked, and I bent my back as the Hag of
the Turret bent her back, and I pulled at my beard and pointed to the
sides of my mouth so as to call to his mind the two fangs of the witch.

He understood my meaning, for he smiled and shook his head up and down;
then he sprang high into the air and trod hard with his feet on the
earth, as if to stamp the life out of some prostrate body.

“Aye, we will trample her to death, and worse, far worse!” I cried.

For answer this hairy man neighed like a horse, and then ran away into
the wood without sign or word.

I turned to my gold platters, that were still where I had placed them,
and I marvelled much at the strange conduct of this hairy heathen that
ran all naked in the wood, and hated the witch with as great a hatred
as mine own. All the while my head ached sore and my eyes smarted, and,
had I possessed a mirror, I would have seen that they were red. I was
not easily rid of the noxious gas that I had breathed, and at sunset I
laid me down to rest, somewhat sick of body and greatly weary and worn
out.

It was yet more lonesome than before to lie thus lone and
companionless, and often in the night I awoke, and, wondering at the
emptiness of my arms and missing the familiar breathing at my side, I
cried aloud: “Satan, old friend, where stay you?” till I remembered
that he had been slain by black magic, and that on the morrow I would
up to the turret and slay the hag that dwelt there, without question or
other word.




Chapter IV


There was little of mercy and little of sweetness in my heart when I
next ascended the stairway that led to the chamber where dwelt the Hag
of the Turret. Three steps did I take at a time, and in my right hand
was a sword of good steel, the best of those that hung on the walls in
the great hall below. Carefully I had sharpened and ground the edge,
and there was little flesh that was human that the keen blade would not
divide.

Well I remember how my eyeballs were aflame with hatred and lust of
blood, how my throat was hard and dry and my teeth firm set. There
was no softness in me as I thought of the woman’s years and helpless
state, and swiftly the stone stairs fell back under the spring of my
stride. She had sought to kill me--I that had done her no wrong,--and
my cat, Satan, she had slain with as black a cunning as any that I had
as yet encountered. The blood of Thomas Snoad cried loud for vengeance,
and the grip on my sword-hilt tightened at the thought of how it would
cleave and make a parting in the yellow wisps of hair, then downward to
the chin through the coarse beard--and the Hag of the Turret would work
no more evil, whatever else might befall.

I flung open her chamber door, and she advanced to meet me with the
same cunning smile that was her wonted mask. Then she read the message
in my eyes and in my hand, and down at my feet she flung herself, sore
afraid and trembling.

“Speak!” she cried. “Nay, look not at me thus! What have I done? What
is my fault?”

I made no answer to her question.

“I give thee one minute’s grace for prayer,” said I; “and pray thy
hardest, for afterwards thou shalt die a swift death.”

Again she asked me for reason and explanation of my harsh conduct,
but I uttered no word. Still I stood with lowered blade, counting the
seconds till I should have counted sixty. The last ten I spoke aloud,
so that the torture and the suspense might be the greater.

“Fifty-seven!” I said. “Fifty-eight!”--I hardly knew my own voice,
’twas that stern and hard. “Fifty-nine!” “Six----” I began, but stopped
short, for the hag had sprung to her feet, and with a terrible cry as
of a wild panther at bay, she crossed the room to where hung on the
wall the heavy curtain of red silk.

“Don Diego, my father, I crave thy help!” she cried aloud, and her
voice shrieked high and unearthly--such a voice as neither human man
nor woman has ever heard or uttered. With her lean hand she drew aside
the curtain, and there stood before me a man with coal-black eyes,
so hard, so piercing, that they froze the blood in my veins, and the
marrow in my back so that I was held fast, and stood still and rigid,
as I have seen birds pause, fixed and motionless, when held fast by the
glassy eyes of a serpent. The naked blade dropped from my ice-cold hand
on to the floor, for I was transfixed and rendered without strength;
and perforce had I to gaze and yet gaze more, with both my eyes sealed
fast to the eyes of this apparition.

I recall this new figure well, and, indeed, with good reason. ’Twas a
man of middle age, clad in black velvet, and with a bare head. The
face I shall never forget; so proud, so fierce, so saturnine was its
expression that even now, with eyes closed, I can see it as distinct
to-day as I could on that, our first and last encounter. The complexion
was dark, swarthy as that of a Spaniard; on the chin was a peaked
beard, and the hair on the man’s head was coal-black; yet beyond all
stood out the two eyes that held me fast as if by magic.

Thus stood I, spellbound and unable to stir hand or foot, and round me
walked the bent hag, gleeful of mood, rubbing her two hands round about
each other, and mewing with pleasure like some great cat. For awhile
she hovered round about me, enjoying to the full my discomfiture; then,
from a chest, she brought out a mirror, and for an instant she held it
’twixt me and the coal-black eyes that gripped mine own. The face that
I saw was ghastly white under my brown beard, on my brow stood glassy
beads of sweat, the lines of fear made my face lowly and mean, and mine
eyes were wide open and without life or power. She withdrew the mirror,
and once again I was spellbound by the sable figure with the evil
glance.

“Shall I draw the curtain?” she whispered in my ear.

“Yes.”

There was no sound, but she marked the words on my lips.

“You have seen sufficient; would you not like yet one more look?”

She held the silk in her bony hand.

“No! for the sake of the Virgin--”

The words stuck in my throat for I was hoarse with terror.

“Swear thou wilt leave me in peace, and never more enter this chamber!”

“I swear!”

I would have sworn away my hopes of life and Heaven in that moment, so
empty was I of power and courage.

“Now go!” she cried, and the curtain was drawn once more over those
hell-born eyes. Her hand still clutched the silk, and at any moment the
man in black might once more stand before me.

Hastily I turned to the doorway, yet before I left the chamber she held
the mirror once more before my face; but all that I saw was a mist on
the glass, and there was no reflection either of my face or aught else.

Fearfully I sprang down stairs, in haste and as though pursued by ten
million devils, for had I not been on the near confines of hell and
gazed on what no human eye ever was fashioned to gaze upon? For the
eyes in my head were without true sight, and all before them was yellow
and formless, as though I had stared into the face of the sun and been
blinded by its glare.

Terror-struck and abject, I kept far away from the castle till such
time as hunger forced me to the store-room and the cellar. To drown my
fear and anguish, I drank deeper on that day than I have ever drunk
before or since. My head was afire and my gait haphazard when, with a
flask of red wine under each arm, I once more set out for my lair in
the woods. As I passed through the great hall my attention was aroused
by a mirror, alike in form and size to the one that the Hag of the
Turret had held before my face in the morning. It lay on one of the
couches.

“There will be no fearsome face all white and chattering now,” said
I thickly, and I could feel the wine burning under my skin. My heart
was light and careless, and I picked up the mirror and gazed into it;
an instant later I had dashed it to the ground, where it splintered
into a thousand fragments; for by all Heaven and earth, I had gazed
at the same terror-torn face, all white and bloodless, that I had seen
reflected in this very mirror when it was held up between my eyes and
the apparition that was in the turret behind the heavy curtain of red
silk!

Hastily I left the castle and wandered to a seat in the forsaken
garden, where I thought and quaked anew, for the courage that the wine
had lent me was all but fled, and I was as a child that has been burnt
to the bone and is once more face to face with the fire, only ’twas
Sorcery that I stood in awe of, and I had suffered o’ermuch from it. As
I sat thus trembling in all my four limbs, may I be lost in the deepest
pit if the curst witch did not find me out and make mock of me!

“Silas Fordred, master-mariner of Hythe, where be thy courage and thy
cunning now? Ha! ha!” and she laughed long and high in her throat.

I said no word, and my chin was on my chest, that weary and spent was I.

“It was not well to threaten, aye, and seek to slay an old woman that
had done thee no harm! Even if thy evil planning had succeeded it
would not have been well; the Hag of the Turret would not have died
unavenged, for thou art but a man--a weak, common man,--with naught but
brute strength and a cowardly heart!”

“Get thee away! I have suffered enough, so leave me in peace!”

“Not yet, I have not done with thee yet. Come with me and I will show
thee a brave sight.”

“Away old hag, or I shall do thee harm!” I cried.

She laughed all around her mouth, showing her toothless gums, and the
roots of the two brown fangs that were on either side. Her hand went to
her girdle, and I could see the gleam of a blood-red stone above her
fingers that were clutching the hilt of a long dagger.

“Come! you will come?” she pleaded, for now her voice took on a
wheedling tone; and she turned in the direction of the three chambers
that stood separate and side by side with closed doors.

I followed her. Heaven alone knoweth why I rose to my feet at her
behest and went the same way as she. All I can say is that I had a
lurking hope in my heart that something of chance or justice might
deliver her into my hands, and then----

“You come! you obey me, Silas Fordred! Do you hope to push me across
the threshold of the Dark Chamber, eh?” and her hand went significantly
to the dagger-hilt with the great ruby at its head.

She had read the thought of vengeance from my face, and silently I
vowed I would think no more; but, when the fit moment arrived, I would
act, and she should die whatever dog’s death she had intended for me.

By now we had reached the three chambers, and, as once before, and
that on a memorable occasion, two of the doors were closed and the
other stood wide open. Curiously I gazed within, the witch marking
the direction of my eyes, and noting with a great satisfaction their
expression of greed and lust of gain; for what I saw was a chamber
full of wide-open chests, and caskets all full and over-running with
coloured gems and coined gold. ’Twas like what I had seen in the
windows of the Lombards that change moneys, only here were precious
gems in such a plenty and gold pieces by the bushel and by the gallon;
such wealth as I had never gazed on before--aye, and of whose mere
existence I had not dreamed. Though I tried my hardest, I could not
suppress all desire; and, as my eyes lit up, the bearded hag noticed
my thirst, and chuckled and made strange noises of satisfaction.

“’Tis some other devil’s business, of that I have no doubt,” said I
inwardly, and calming myself I stood firm and cold before the doorway.

“Thou canst go and take what wealth that pleases thee,” cried the hag
in my ear.

I made no answer, but stood firm and at a good space from the doorway.

“Thou wilt have riches enough to purchase a whole county; thou wilt be
able to build schools and churches, and thou wilt be the first commoner
in all Hythe Borough, plain Master Silas Fordred the mariner.”

I smiled disdainfully, the wine I had recently drunk coming once more
to my aid.

“Nay, nay,” I said. “I have had enough of thy riches and thy lures, I
will none of them!” and I turned on my heel.

“Surely, friend Silas,” she cried, “thou art but a fool, and not the
clever knave that I mistook thee for!”

“Aye, aye, that I know well, and more beside,” said I with a smile, and
moved away from her. She was greatly angered and the corners of her
mouth twitched with suppressed rage. Still she hobbled after me, did
this bent hag.

“Come back, friend Silas!” she called. “Come back and plunge both thy
arms into this wealth; truly thou shalt come to no harm--nay more, I
will enter with thee!”

“Thrice have I answered thee, and each time said I nay; let this be my
last word and thine!” and I stood away from her with folded arms.

“Truly thou makest me impatient! Enter with me now, or never shalt thou
enter the Chamber of Riches, and a poor man shalt thou die, naked and
with an empty belly!”

I said no word in reply.

“Never in all thy life shalt thou enter!” she hissed in my ear.

“Calm thyself, bent hag, calm thyself; thy conduct befits not thy
years!” and I laughed aloud in her face, so that she grew a deep yellow
with rage and hatred. With that I set off for the wood, and left her
spitting and afume before the open doorway.

I had not gone many steps when I turned round and saw that she was on
my heels, her lips white with passion, her expression more evil and
menacing than I had as yet seen it, her eyes fierce and glittering as a
hawk’s.

“Thou wilt enter yon doorway, Silas Fordred!” she cried, and beat on
the ground with her staff.

“I will not, thou moth-eaten fury! get thee to the devil!” and I
laughed aloud in her face.

Her yellow visage changed to a deep orange, and great veins stood out
on her lean cheeks and forehead.

“Thou wilt enter yon chamber, that I swear, either alive or else dead!
but enter yon chamber thou shalt!” and her voice choked short in her
neck.

“I shall not!” said I, quite cold.

“Thou shalt!” she shrieked. I smiled broad into her face, so that,
losing all prudence and all self-command, she spat and boiled at the
mouth, hissing like a serpent in pain.

I watched her with an indifferent eye.

“Thou shalt enter!” she cried; “living or dead, thou shalt enter!” and
so saying she snatched the dagger from her girdle and flew at me in a
fury of hate and bitter rage.

Well I remember how the long, lean blade flashed ’twixt my face and the
sky, and how, an instant later, I had her wrist tight in my two hands;
then there was a noise as of a twig snapping, and the bone of her arm,
dry and brittle with age, broke into two pieces, while I fell forward
as the strain gave way. Quickly I arose to my feet, and she was at me
again, yet this time the dagger lay on the ground, and she came to me
with wide-open mouth, the brown fang on either side bare to the roots;
the fingers of her one hand were apart and curved like claws, and the
other arm hung loose at her side, the lower half flapping idly to and
fro as she moved. Like to a tigress, with the white froth on her parted
lips, she sprang at me, and I, mad with hate and rage, forced my one
hand through her wide open jaws, while with the other I clasped her
lean legs at the bend. High I held her in the air and ran thus, she
swinging above my head, hissing and writhing with pain and hatred. High
above my head she twisted and turned, and then I flung her with all my
strength, whirled her clean and clear through the wide-open doorway of
the Chamber of Riches, where were the coloured jewels and the chests
of gold. As the lean shanks were freed and my hands drew across the
toothless gums, the two fangs on the sides of her mouth snapped short
and fell at my feet, while overhead there swished through the air
that cursed Hag of the Turret, to light with all force amid the gold
and precious gems. To earth she fell with a rattling sound, and that
was the last I saw or ever shall see of her lean carcase, for, in the
self-same moment as she touched ground, a broad sheet of flame, yellow
as the gold within, filled the entire chamber, dropped from ceiling
to floor a curtain of fire. I gazed breathless and awestruck at this
spectacle, yet with a keen joy in my heart as I thought of the Hag of
the Turret, who must now be roasting within as later she would broil in
Hell. For the space of ten seconds the broad flame licked and waved,
then it expired and all was clear and simple as before, only the Hag of
the Turret was nowhere to be seen, and for that I thanked God and His
Son and the Blessed Virgin.

At my feet, that had left deep marks in the turf by reason of my last
great effort, were the two yellow fangs that had broke short on my
hand. These I picked up and placed carefully within my pouch as a
remembrance of the She-fiend from whose mouth they had dropt; and you,
who have seen them at my house in Stade Street can now understand why I
troubled to bring home with me ivory of so worthless a nature.

I knelt long and devoutly, praying to the God that had rid me of so
curst a companion, voicing my thanks with much direct and grateful
speech; and, even when I could no more think of fitting phrases, I
still knelt with closed eyes, as my thanks swelled in my heart and
spoke for me--aye, and perhaps with a sweeter tongue than the bald
utterances which were all that so simple a man as myself could think
of and weave into a prayer. At length, these devotions and some tears
having eased my heart, I looked up, and in front of me and on all fours
was the hairy man looking humbly into my face. As our glances met, he
pranced around like a colt that is out at pasture, put his face to the
ground and placed my hand to his head, so that I wondered whether he
did not mistake me for a priest and was seeking my blessing. I knew
that he had seen me at prayer, and that, perchance, I had misled him
into holding that I was a priest.

“I am no friar,” I cried, “but plain Silas Fordred, master-mariner of
Hythe, that suffered shipwreck on this accursed island some months
since.”

The hairy man spoke not, but, instead, he made strange noises as do the
beasts of the forest, and signs with his arms like unto a negro trader.

Once more he pressed my hand to his head, and he was about to lay his
cheek against my feet, when I arose with some choler.

“Hairy man,” said I, “thou art little better than a fool! Bear thee as
a man, and not as a dog that has been lately whipped!”

Yet again and for some time longer he pranced for joy, and pointed
first to his eyes and then into the chamber with the wide-open door,
wherein the witch had lately disappeared.

“Did’st see the somersault she turned?” I asked. “’Twas bravely done,
aye, thou naked one?”

He recognised the cheery tone of my voice and once more skipped
joyfully toward me, while I, somewhat weary of his too evident
pleasure, smote him heavily in the ribs, so that he was gratified, yet
not too much so. After I had taken this precaution, he kept at a safe
distance from me, and though ever and anon there came a smile into the
corner of his eye, he ventured no more within reach of my foot or fist
till his joy was of a calmer nature.

After awhile I went into the castle, the savage following close at my
heel.

I had that day triumphed over the Hag of the Turret, and the presence
of a companion--aye, even of a companion that spoke no real tongue,
and, moreover, was hairy from head to toe,--had given me new hope and
courage; so much so, that I resolved forthwith, and while my revived
manhood was still hot within me, to mount the turret stairway and see
whether I could not conquer the evil-eyed monster beyond the curtain,
as I had conquered the hag, his friend.

I had read the story of David and Goliath, and I was minded to meet
this foe even as the Hebrew Harpist had met the Philistine; but I,
having neither sling nor stone, took with me instead a heavy hammer
of iron, which weapon I resolved to hurl at the evil one’s head the
moment that the hairy man, whom I should so instruct, had withdrawn the
curtain.

Stealthily, so as not to give alarm and warning to the black-browed
Sorcerer overhead, we mounted the narrow stairway, and, with some
catching at our breath, entered the doorway of the turret chamber.
Within this deserted apartment was deep stillness, and at the far
end hung the heavy curtain of red silk, lengthways, from ceiling to
flagstone as before. With some trouble and after a great making of
signs, I at length instructed my new-found ally in his duty, and at
a signal from me the curtain was drawn aside, and quick, before the
sinister face had power to hold me, I flung the hammer at it with all
my force. No sooner had the haft left my hand than a great fear seized
upon me, and I closed my eyes, wondering what dire consequences would
follow on my attack.

I stood in darkness many long seconds, expecting the turret to sway
and topple to the earth--aye, yet stranger and more hurtful events and
mischances did I think of,--yet through the stillness there came only
one sound--the falling of a shower of splintered glass that recalled
the breaking of the mirror that I had flung from me in the morning. I
opened my eyes, and beyond the curtain that the hairy man still held
to his side (and his face was in that moment a fine picture of varied
humours) there was naught but an empty space, under which was inscribed
in tall letters of ebony:

  “DIGO RODRICOVEZ,”

and on the floor of the chamber lay a thousand fragments of glass. Many
of these I stooped over and gazed at with much curiosity. Most of them
were portions of a mirror, so that in their depths I caught glimpses of
my own face; on others were patches of black velvet; and in one I met
the ear and awful eye of the figure that had struck such terror into me
on that self-same day. I put these pieces of glass aside and pondered,
while all the time the hairy man stood awestruck and silent before me.

“Man of the furry hide,” said I at last, “surely this was a mirror,
much such an one as that which carried the imprint of my face this
morning, and in it yon demon--and Heaven alone knoweth where and what
he be--had gazed at some one time or another. His evil eye it was that,
reflected in this glass, transfixed and held me motionless some few
hours since. ’Twas no real man that I saw, but a shadow wrought by
black magic and strange crafts. The witch, praise be to Heaven, hath
paid the price of her evil-doings, and there will be no new Sorcery on
this island for many a long day!”

I looked at the tall letters of ebony once more and repeated them many
times, marvelling greatly as to their meaning and significance. Then a
thought came to me--one that I had strangely overlooked--that filled
my breast and mind with new alarms: “If the mirror I had shattered
held but a reflection of a Sorcerer, where was that Sorcerer’s self,
and might not he at any moment weave some new spell about me--aye,
perchance at this present instant he might be planning my destruction?”

Many times I repeated the two ebon words “DIGO RODRICOVEZ,” marvelling
the while greatly as to what could be their meaning and significance.

From the turret we once more descended to the garden, where stood the
chamber that was the tomb of the Hag of the Turret. The door was still
wide open and the wealth within tempted me greatly, although I was
well aware of the uselessness of riches in my present plight. Such is
the force of custom and habit. I made my way from thence, resolved to
let well alone and to touch naught else that might in any way tempt
or cause me harm. I passed the third chamber, and this time a fresh
doorway stood open, so that I could gaze and satisfy my curiosity. Now
I saw clear into a room quaintly alight and all rosy as is a sunset,
and within were lovely maidens that neither stirred nor spoke, clad in
wondrous thin and gauzy garments, and of a marvellous fair complexion
that the tender light made yet more strangely beautiful.

“Hairy man,” said I, “let us away; this is some new spell!” and I
grasped his shoulder and the two of us strode hastily from the spot,
onward through the garden. As I pressed forward past the place where
I had struggled with the witch I made out something that glittered on
the grass. What I picked up was the dagger that the hag had sought
to kill me with, a long blade of Spanish steel, and at its hilt was
a round ruby. This I stuck into my belt that I had lately taken from
one of the rooms in the castle, for my own leathern girdle was still
clenched by the brazen fist that swung on the castle doorway. This
knife you have seen in company with my other belongings, and such of
you as are skilled in these matters can testify as to the fineness of
the workmanship and the lustre of the precious stone at its head.

The dusk was fast approaching and the day was well-nigh sped. It had
been a day of great events and much danger and activity, and many a
time within the last twenty-four hours had my heart stuck fast in my
throat and my teeth chattered in my mouth, for it is not given to every
man to perform deeds of valour without misgiving and inward qualms;
nay more, I dare swear that the bravest hero--one that can face human
enemies without knowing dread or fear--would have shrunk aghast at the
black sorceries and other superhuman dangers wherewith I had that day
done battle. Now my mind was somewhat at rest, maybe that it shared
the same weariness that beset my body; also was my hunger great and my
thirst of a similar quality. Long did the hairy man and I sit together
in the store-room making a giant’s supper, and my belt hung idly on
my loins and I was scant of breath when I had done. My new-found ally
sat beside me on the floor, eating with great gusto and no little
astonishment at the source of our meal; he, in common with myself,
never before having seen flesh that was preserved in sealed tins, nor
had he ever tasted wines and heady liquors of any sort till this same
night. We drank wisely, and, in spite of the manifest danger of the
action, fell asleep where we had eaten, this being the first night that
I had spent under a roof since the day that I and Thomas Snoad set out
from Hythe.




Chapter V


“Hairy man!” said I next morning, as we rubbed our eyes and stretched
our limbs, for we had slept deep, “henceforth thou shalt be known as
Esau, a fitter name and a more ancient. Now, Esau, let us to breakfast,
and afterwards we will hold a council and resolve on what measures we
can take to quit this thrice accurst island, and all that it holds.”

It was of little use, this converse with Esau; but it was good and
cheering to hear the sound of my voice, and, when I spoke, my companion
smiled with over-great intelligence, although he understood no single
word.

“Esau,” said I, when our meal was done, and we had lain for some time
on the floor a-blinking upward at the roofing, “what shall we do now?”

I waited not for a reply, but continued:

“A ship we will build, even though it be but a small one, and in it we
shall sail away from this witch-ridden land, where naught is safe or of
good health.”

Thereupon we arose, and made our way to the great room beyond the
hall, the chamber that was like to a huge smithy. Here there were axes
and saws and shipwright’s tools in plenty; also a barrow with wheels
and a light truck. These two carriages we filled with all manner of
implements, and some sacks containing the smallware of our trade. On
the canvas of one of these last was painted, strange to say, in a
black lettering, _clavos de fierro_, words that signify ship’s nails
in the Spanish tongue, a language with which I am well acquainted from
frequent intercourse with the mariners of that great nation.

Three times in all did Esau and I make the journey, ’twixt the
castle and the sea shore. After our first journey we built a rude
hut wherein to place the contents of our barrow; also a somewhat
stronger habitation that would give us shelter at night time; for I was
o’erweary of sleeping in the open, exposed to rain and whatever wind
and weather with which Providence might favour me.

Before we once more set our faces inland, we bathed and made merry in
the sea, spending much such a day as do English townsfolk who go to the
shore in summer-time.

All about us was unchanged, and the great bronze idol kept watch and
ward over the coast, silent and passive as ever, while at its feet the
bleached skeletons, all sundered in the middle, were strewn here and
there. At sight of the strange god the smile vanished from Esau’s
face, and he beat his head on the sand and made moan, and with clenched
fist he cried aloud in the idol’s face, and made deep noises in his
throat that were his manner of cursing; so that I knew that he could be
no worshipper of the great bronze god.

“It is well, friend Esau,” said I, “and I am overjoyed to find thee not
idolatrous and a heathen, as are most wild men.”

After that we departed once more inland, and on our return to the shore
we were laden with sheets and cloths that we had taken from the great
beds, and wax and stout cords and threads, for we would have to make
sails and shrouds for our mast. What space we had over we filled with
the flesh that was in the sealed tins, and flasks of wine, and swords
and spears from the great hall, with which weapons we hoped to slay
many of the birds and beasts in the woods, so that we might eat fresh
meat every day.

All these goods were stowed carefully away in our hut, and then we set
to work on our ship, hewing down trees in the woods, and labouring with
great vigour from daybreak to dusk. In the evening when our work was
done we would walk round the coast spying for a sail or sign of man,
yet none such did we ever see; and always there confronted us the great
bronze idol, with the thirteen white gems at its throat.

Now, one day when we had walked maybe half a league along the lonely
strand, we chanced on what seemed to be a bower, and, as we came
closer, we could see that what we had mistaken for an arbour was a long
low house of wood with but three walls and a roof, all overgrown with
moss and trailing plants. Carefully we approached, and walked round
the house, first on one side and then on the other, till we came to
the front that faced the sea, the side that was open and had no wall,
and here we discerned the prow of a small ship. The blood rushed to my
face at the sight, and I ran forward in great haste so that my hands
might feel what mine eyes had beheld. Of truth, it was a ship, wondrous
light, yet of a marvellous secure build, as I that am a seaman could
rightly vouch for, and as you that have seen it without my house in
Stade Street can testify.

This strange vessel had neither mast, sail, nor oar. It was all open
and bare, save but for a single cabin that was furnished for extreme
comfort and ease, and, at the one end, the body of the vessel was made
solid with wooden planking, atop of which were three handles of silver,
wrought like the handles of a door. At first I feared that the ship
was of witchcraft like unto the other marvels that I had encountered
in this island; nevertheless, Esau and myself slept that night secure
within the cabin, without evil dream or other harm, so that on the
morrow I bethought me that this was of good omen, and, be the silver
handles what they might, I would venture across the seas in this
strange barque.

Under the ship was a wooden stage, long and broad, with wheels that I
greased with the fat of a beast, so that, without great ado, Esau and
I were able to float our new-found prize, and, with the oars that we
had already fashioned, we rowed near a league along the shore without
mishap, save that Esau, who was no waterman, did fall heavily backward
more times than once. The last part of our journey was performed at
some speed, for this barque was marvellously light, being mostly built
of cork that weighs but little; and what steel and timber that was
used in its construction was of a fine quality, very strong, yet in
nowise weighty.

Thankful was I that Providence had put in my path the thing that of all
things I most desired; and now that we had a vessel, I resolved that we
would put to sea with the least possible delay, and get us away from
the heathen land where but to be alive was a great danger.

Yet, before we hoisted our sail to the winds and disappeared down the
horizon, I resolved to make one last journey to the castle on the
hill-top, for our stores of flesh and wine were getting low, and I had
hidden my gold platters in the wood; and these I resolved to take with
us, they being of great price.

Esau and I had made us a mast and a stout sail with all needful tackle
in the shape of shrouds and sheets, and we had only to get provisions
and fresh water aboard before setting out to a port of safety.

Once more we went a-journeying with our two barrows through the woods
and pasture lands that lay between the seashore and the castle. As
ever, the brazen hand still clenched my girdle of leather and the gate
stood wide open.

First of all we went down to my old lair in the woods and loaded the
gold vessels into my barrow, and then we spent some time going to
and fro with armfuls of provisions and flasks of wine till both our
barrows could hold no more. This done, we had a farewell repast in
the store-room, and we sat making merry till Esau suddenly sprang up
and ran swiftly to the gateway; then he rushed madly downhill to the
wood, signing with his head and arms that he would return ere sundown.
Marvelling greatly as to the meaning of this sudden flight, I watched
him disappear in the foliage, and then for the last time I wandered
through the castle. All was still as death and utterly deserted, and
yet, thought I, as I sat in the great smith’s shop, “It would be
well were I to save other shipwrecked mariners from the spells and
sorceries that had done unto death Thomas Snoad and Satan, the black
cat; and from which I myself had but barely escaped, and of which Esau,
the hairy man, stood in such evident fear.” Therefore, I hied me to
the cellar where were the barrels of gunpowder that I have spoken of
before, and, labouring hard, I piled eight of these in the great hall,
five I left below--they were sufficient to have destroyed a city--one
barrel I placed at the closed doorway of the Dark Chamber, and, as I
was rolling another towards the chamber with the beauteous maidens and
the rosy light, whom should I espy but Esau, greatly exercised in
mind and body, driving before him a wild pig that ran shrieking and in
evident dread. The hairy man followed as swift as any hare, and in his
hand he held a stout cudgel, with which he ever and anon belaboured the
terrified hog.

Amazed, I surveyed this strange spectacle, wondering to what end could
serve this baiting and harrying of the ill-looking creature. We were
all three of us going in the direction of the chamber with the lovely
maidens, and, as I approached, I could see that the door stood wide
open as ever, and that the damsels were wondrous fair to gaze upon.
From these pleasant reflections my mind was called back to my comrade,
who now fell to thwacking the wild pig more mercilessly than before,
so that the airs were filled with a piteous squealing that, mingled
with the cries of Esau, made as great a tumult as the island had ever
listened to. I marked the open door and then I guessed what Esau was
attempting. With a final blow he drove the wild pig, now frantic with
fear and pain, across the threshold of the chamber, and then I saw
what manner of fate would have overtaken me, had I been foolish enough
or hasty enough to have yielded to this great tempting and to have
ventured into that house. The wild pig rushed headlong to its fate, as
ghastly and as merciless a doom as any that e’er befel living man or
beast. For one moment it stood within, hesitating which way to turn,
and casting a wild eye over its shoulder at its barbarous pursuer;
then, like to the gnashing of a thousand hungry teeth, there fell
from roof to floor of the chamber countless sharp-pointed spears that
dropped vertically, with a great clamour and clashing of steel as the
metal heads struck the flag-stones. Upon every square foot of flooring
there fell sure and straight no less than three of these sharp-pointed
rods of iron, so that as I looked the chamber was barred from wall to
wall, thick with iron staves as is a forest with trees. By eighteen
such spears was pierced the wild pig, held hard and fast, so that he
died upright standing dead and bleeding on his four legs. The lovely
maidens neither stirred nor made signs either of horror or joy; they
stood silent, untouched and uninjured, while all about them was bar on
bar of iron.

So this was the special devilment that overhung the third chamber, and
straightway I rolled my cask to its very threshold in the same manner
as I had placed another against the doorway of the Dark Chamber. Esau
and I fetched yet another barrel and this we stood upright before the
Chamber of Riches, so that the ashes of the Hag of the Turret and her
last dwelling place might be scattered in one common eruption.

All that there now remained for me to do, was to lay a powder train
’twixt all these barrels, which I cheerily set about, making a black
line, thick and heavy, that ran from the cellar to the great hall
and to the three chambers, then downhill to the wood. This done, we
returned for our two barrows, that we trundled along to a good mile
beyond where ended the train of gunpowder.

It was now quite dark, and we moved hastily, I holding in my hand a
box of the red-tipped splinters of wood that when rubbed hard burst
into flame. Cautiously and with great care I set fire to the end of
the powder train, and then the two of us ran till we were out of
breath. Presently there were two reports and a bright flame spread like
sheet-lightning across the night.

“The Chambers!” I cried, as a third explosion rang out.

We were now beyond the wood in an open country, and we could see the
castle on the hill-top stand dark against the sky. An instant later
and the countryside stood out green and gold as in broad daylight, and
turret and walls toppled and fell as does a child’s house that is built
of wooden bricks, and then was blotted out and clouded with a huge
volume of smoke, thick, dense and opaque; afterwards, silence and black
night, and all was still and peaceful as before.

Esau, the hairy man, had witnessed this great spectacle, and now
frantic with delight he capered about me and knelt at my feet and put
his lips to my hands till I had perforce to kick him hard so that he
might take himself away and be grateful with a lesser show of devotion.
This he did, rubbing his flanks and the other spots where my foot had
dwelt.

So was that accursed castle wiped from off the face of this earth, and
thus were Satan, the black cat, and Thomas Snoad, my fellow-adventurer,
avenged fully and to the hilt.




Chapter VI


There was a feeling of triumph in my heart as once more we journeyed
to the sea-shore, to embark on our good ship and set sail across the
green waters. Manfully we pushed our barrows before us, I singing brave
songs as I strode, and, though our loads were weightier than they had
ever been before, our two carriages seemed wondrous light and easy of
guidance.

Hope is a wondrous well, and I had drunk deep of its waters, a rare
medicine, that, after these many days of fear and terror, was bringing
my manhood back to me and implanting new courage in my heart. Our
ship stood ready, and carefully we stowed away our provisions and
the spoils of the Dark Chamber. The next two days we went a-hunting,
slaying whatever beast or fowl came in our way, so that we might have
fresh meat in plenty. Many gourds we filled with fresh water from a
stream, and, on the third day, we resolved that we would hoist our sail
at sunrise on the following morning and then away.

The last eve I paid a visit of farewell to the great bronze idol. The
thirteen diamond stones sparkled as never they had sparkled before,
and, as I gazed, a huge desire seized on me and grew so strong that I,
feeling that with the new ship had come new strength and power, swore
loudly and with many oaths that the jewels should be mine.

In the morning when all was ready and we had only to push off from the
shore to be free and beyond the reach of the evil and the magic that
lurked within this bewitched island, I helped Esau to float our ship
and instructed him to get out the oars and row close along the shore
till he was opposite the spot where stood the brazen idol, making sign
to him that I would join him at that place, swimming straight out from
the shore onto our vessel.

He set off without misgiving of any kind, while I, walking rapidly, was
presently face to face with the great figure and the glistening stones.
So that I might have the more courage I talked wildly in the idol’s
brazen face, with strange grimaces and much mockery, saying, “Thou art
a false god and the jewels be not thine,” beside other things unwise to
recall. Also did I roll my tongue at the dumb figure and I spat with
scorn on the sand at its feet. For in the night-time, as I lay awake,
I had thought of a plan whereby I might reach the necklet, and now I
approached the great idol with a rope that I made fast about its waist,
using great caution and keeping well without the reach of the brazen
arms. I had thought that I might approach the idol from behind, using
to that end the half of my rope that hung from the hips to the ground
beside me, for, by aid of the rope, I could reach the figure’s middle,
from thence I could easily climb to the brazen shoulders, and then the
gems would be mine.

At first I tried to ascend the rope with my hands, dragging my body
after me; but the idol was at too great a height from the ground, and
I had not sufficient strength to reach its waist, where I would have
obtained a foothold. I attempted this manner of reaching the necklace
till I was well nigh fit to drop from exhaustion, and then, this having
failed, another plan came to me. I would use my feet, steadying myself
by the rope and thus climb, step by step, to the idol’s waist, much
as children, holding their father’s hands, climb from his knee to
his thigh and then upward over his body to his shoulders. Once more
I attempted to ascend the huge figure, but the polished bronze was
all smooth and slippery as is winter ice, so that my feet could get
no foothold and moved as if they had been greased with fat, and after
every few steps I had to begin afresh. Seven times I fell, hanging by
the rope in mid-air and swinging to and fro without control of my body.
At the seventh fall I was mad with rage and fury, for I am of a hot
temper, and, losing hold of my rope furiously did I run round to the
face of the great figure, crying, “Idol, thou art a false god, and I,
Silas Fordred, fear thee not, nay, nor an hundred of thy breed!” and
much more of a like nature. With that I climbed in a mad heat onto the
great knee, still calling out aloud my defiance, from thence I onto the
loins, and, as my hand pressed on the outstanding breast, I heard a
noise as of metal grinding against metal and the brazen arms quivered,
while, in that self-same moment, I loosed my hold and fell heavily to
earth, and over my head I heard the clash of the great arms as they
met the body--’twas as the striking of a bell. I lay on the sea-shore,
stunned and dazed from my fall, and then the ground beside me shook and
there was a noise as of thunder that is near. For some moments I was
without sense or understanding, and when my mind once more became live
and active and I had rubbed my eyes, wondering the while whether I was
on earth and alive or dead and in the realms beyond, there came back to
me the clash of the giant arms and the memory of how I had striven to
wrest the necklet from the brazen throat.

The sun was strong in my eyes and I raised my head trying to discover
the exact nature of what had befallen, and behold, at my side lay
one half of the bronze idol, that was broken across the middle and in
two parts, as were Thomas Snoad and the skeletons that lay about and
around it. The lower half of the figure was still seated, rigid and
meaningless; the upper part had fallen onto the earth beside me, and
on its neck glistened and shone the thirteen great diamonds. Slowly it
dawned upon me what had befallen, and I explained the reason of the
severed body thus: the brazen arms had found no body to break their
force, and they had closed with all their might and weight on the brass
body of the idol’s self, and had sundered it as they had sundered the
flesh and bones of poor Thomas Snoad, my friend.

Now I rose to my feet and tore the necklet from the brazen throat that
lay all helpless at my side, and the stones were set in fine gold, and
close at hand they were even larger and brighter than they had seemed
when sparkling up on high above my head.

Gleefully I put the jewels into my pouch, where were also the fangs
that I had broke from the jaw of the Hag of the Turret, and then a
great fear seized on me; for, though I am a man, pious and a believer
in the one and only God and His Son Jesus and the Virgin Mary, yet
still did I dread that the idol might seek to avenge what I had caused
to befall, and quick and straight, without halting, yet ever and anon
looking backward over my shoulder to see whether or not I was pursued,
I ran as fast as my legs could bear me to the water’s edge and spied
for my ship and Esau, who was rowing her close in shore. They were near
at hand, and, with a cry of joy, I plunged into the surf, first feeling
at my pouch to see that the diamonds were secure within; then I turned
hastily to the land, a new wave of dread surging through my body. Esau
marked the swiftness with which I struck out from the shore, and I swam
like one possessed, for, following me with the speed of the wind was
the sable figure of the turret, he whose image I had destroyed with a
hammer--the vile Sorcerer himself. At last I clambered over the side
of the ship, and without a word I sprang in a cold sweat of fear and
despair to the rope that would hoist our sail, and when Esau knew that
I was tugging for the dear life, he, too, came over and worked beside
me, though with a surprised look in his face as if he wondered as to
the cause of this excessive fear and haste.

“Look, look!” I cried, “he follows us!” and I pointed to the shore,
and Esau looked and shook his head. “There is nothing, you say?” and
I, too, turned my eyes landward, yet all I could see was the flat
foreshore with the sundered idol and the woods and foliage beyond.
Only when we were far from land, with the sea spreading white under our
keel, did I regain my composure and throw off the fear that had seized
upon me as I escaped with my booty.

Esau had all the while gazed at me in wonder and with some joy, for
he had marked the broken god, yet had he not understood what actual
occurrences had taken place during my absence that forenoon. With much
making of signs I told him all that was possible, and when I held the
great gems before his eyes he blinked and smiled, dazzled by their
exceeding beauty and joyful to think that I had overcome the dread
figure that guarded those shores.

That night, with sail hoist over our heads, we were far out to sea, and
the land of strange witchcrafts and fearsome spells was nowheres to be
seen, while all around us stretched and sighed the great waters.

Yet one more mystery came to pass ere we were quit of the Sorcerer’s
coast wherein we had fared so evilly, and this time we were fortune’s
favourites and the new spell worked us a service.

I have spoken before of the three handles that are of solid silver
and like to those on a door, that you may see for yourselves on the
strange barque. Though now you may turn and wrench these handles and
naught befalls, yet, when on the third day of our voyage--and I have
sworn it--I turned the middle handle out of mere curiosity, straightway
did the ship proceed with speed some ten times greater than before,
as though stirred and pressed forward by some strange miracle, like
unto one of those that are told of in the Holy Book. Like an arrow it
clove the waters and the spray danced joyfully at it flanks, while the
sweet, cool wind played on our faces and made the blood under our
cheeks quick and flush with motion. Again I turned the handle, and then
the ship moved as it had moved before with but a single sail. Another
handle was a rudder that steered marvellous sure, so that when both
spells were at work we progressed with great ease and swiftness. For
seven days and seven nights we shot forward like a sea-bird, although
our sail lay idle aboard; then we dropped down to a dead stillness,
drifting idly as the waters listed, and, though I turned the handles
all manner of ways the ship went none the faster. The magic that had
given us wings had ceased, and we rehoist our sail and went onward at a
more natural speed. All the time our eyes were turned to the north and
to the south and eastwards and westwards, seeking for a ship or a land
where there were men, so that we might be informed as to what strange
seas we were sailing, and in what direction lay the good port of Hythe
and England, my own native land.

Though we had left the Fearsome Island and all its witchcrafts behind
us, yet were our hardships in no ways ended; indeed, when I think
aright, meseems that they were but just begun, for, what are sudden
death and dangers quick and violent compared to the slow tortures of
hunger and thirst! Looking backward in the enforced leisure of our
aimless sailing, and I had many a long hour wherein to think of what
was past, I discovered that, for all my self-commiseration, there was
a certain pleasurable excitement mingled with the fears and dangers
I had encountered during my sojourn on the witchcurst land that I
had quitted. From one hour to another I had been lost in wonder and
thought, not knowing what the next might bring forth, and, together
with this insecurity, there was a certain secret blessing that I had
not hitherto recognized; for, had I not learned to know and to believe
in myself, and had I not been tried and tempted as are few men; and
was I not the stronger and the manlier for all these wrestlings? I had
issued unharmed from countless dangers, and, for much of my present
safety and security, I had but to thank my own ready wit and courage;
and, on the day when Esau and myself set out on our homeward voyage, I
felt more of a man, aye, a man strong and of a clear brain, than ever I
had felt before--or since either, for that matter--and it seemed that,
in spite of the many anxious and troubled days and nights that I had
lately undergone, still had I much to be grateful for.

Yet there was a far stronger and a more wearisome test of courage and
manhood before me than any I had undergone, and, though ’twas of a
less entertaining nature, yet, nevertheless, was its mark deeper and
more lasting than all my struggles against witchcraft and black sorcery.

The first days of our voyage were idly spent; I had much to think on,
and Esau was content to watch me and prepare our food. Above our heads
were blue skies, and I have ever observed that when the heavens are
without cloud the heart of man doth also beat serene and joyful. On
our setting out I had made Esau wear a suit of blue cloth that I had
taken express from the castle, for I knew that as we sailed the airs
would grow colder and he would feel the lack of garments. He wore this
costume for the first two days of our voyage, and, though I could see
that it irked him, he made no sign of disapproval. On the morning of
the third day he was hairy and naked as before, and, when I questioned
him, he pointed to the waters, and I could not but smile, so like an
idle child was he with his excuses and shamelessness. We had fair
weather for the first two weeks of our voyage, and though this be a
long time when passed on the open sea and with but a single companion
and he devoid of reasonable speech, yet, the whole while was I of a
stout heart and exceeding cheery. All these days we had spied neither
sail nor land, though from morn till eve we kept an eager watch,
and through the night we looked hard for light and a beacon. I had
taught Esau that seamanship which was needful for the safe conduct of
our ship, and he was greatly content to serve me, though marvelling
greatly at the vast expanse of ocean that seemed to have no ending.
By-and-by the warm airs through which we had passed grew cooler, and
overhead the blue of the sky took on a paler hue. The sea too grew
more boisterous, and Esau, the hairy man, that was no sailor, was sick
and greatly troubled. He lay quite still in the cabin with his two
hands pressed to his middle, and the big tears ran down the sides of
his face and he made moan and groaned, so that I who listened was sore
moved and pitiful. After awhile the cold airs took hold of him and he
lay below and coughed till my heart grew heavy within me. For some days
we encountered stormy weather, after which came a great calm, and for
more than a week we lay quite still, while our sail hung idle on the
mast. By now we had lost all count of time and I was sore perplexed and
doubtful, wondering with some misgiving as to how this voyage would
end. Yet another misfortune was in store for us, for the provisions
that we had aboard grew less and less, and day for day we ate but half
our fill and we were athirst from morn to night, never daring to drink
largely from our fast emptying gourds. At first when we encountered
the dead calm I have spoken of we made some efforts with our oars,
but, after awhile, our feebleness of mind and body proved too strong
and we were content to drift idly, a prey to all manner of hopeless
thoughts. Many a time in those long days did I wish that I had been
content to remain on the island, and in Esau’s eyes, that were large
and reproachful, I saw the same misgiving. Yet now ’twas too late to
turn back, and we floated from night to morning with still another
comrade to bear us company and keep watch, so that we were three on
board the ship, and our names were, Esau and Silas Fordred, and the
Evil Conscience of Silas Fordred.

Those days were overlong, and I grew thin and haggard with thought,
hunger and inaction. In the morning of each new day I would reflect
that I had done what I had done, meaning no harm and with all good
intent; yet, in the afternoon, when for hours I had gazed on Esau,
lying quite still and with a deadly cough in his chest, groaning
heavily from sickness and evil nourishment, my conscience smote me,
and I felt that I was both a brute and a fool for having bartered
dry land and ample meat for this desert of green sea that gave forth
nothing. Then I thought that, had we had better fortune, and had we
encountered a vessel that had aided us, I would have had no cause for
self-reproach. I pondered on these things hour after hour, and my
thoughts were but a circle, and in this circle I wandered continually
and ever, so that what my brain held was of little use to me and of
much harm. Greatly and often did I fear that my reason might desert me,
and that some day I should be discovered on the open sea, mad and with
a vacant gaze, all alone save but for a naked savage, and he nigh dead
from hunger, sickness and thirst--a pretty picture, truly, and by no
means over-pleasant to dwell with continuously.

I shall write no more of these hardships, suffice to say that I would
not endure them over again for all the wealth that is in the universe,
and, believe me, there was more real suffering in these long weeks
spent hungry and in pain on the empty sea than in all my traffickings
with sorcerers and idols of bronze. We had lost count of time and most
other things, and every moment I was expecting the ghost of Esau to
be given up, when the good ship _Queen Marie_ of Plymouth crossed our
track and took us aboard. God alone knows how long we had been afloat
and how near I had been unto death. Esau, that was a naked savage,
had less power of endurance than I that can read and write and do
wear clothing, for, three days after we were rescued, and though the
captain of the _Queen Marie_ spared us no care or attention, Esau,
the hairy man, died in my arms. He had been greatly ailing when we
had encountered the English barque, coughing much and being warm with
fever, and there was no strength left in him after the many days he
had thirsted and lived on insufficient food. We buried him at sea, and
thus, of all the four that had dwelt on the Fearsome Island, I alone
survived. The two halves of Thomas Snoad were buried on the sea-shore;
Satan, the black cat, died in the Dark Chamber, as I have narrated;
Esau, the hairy man, died at sea on board the ship _Queen Marie_ from
hunger, thirst, and sickness brought on by exposure to wind and
weather, for he was no seaman, but a naked savage of the woods and dry
land.

Thus, alone, did I return from the first voyage I had undertaken on my
ship _Brave Luck_, that now lies fathoms deep in an unknown sea, with
riches and wealth in plenty, yet the price I had paid was a dear one,
such as no man dare pay a second time.

The captain of the _Queen Marie_ had made my strange barque with the
silver handles fast to his own ship, so that I was able to bring
it hither, and, thirteen days after our encounter, he landed me at
Plymouth, from which port I made my way homeward, after rewarding my
rescuers fittingly with thanks and with gold.

Thus did I return once more to Hythe, and, hear ye, I have written the
truth and naught but what these eyes have seen, and may God and the
Virgin save me if I speak untrue.

  (Signed) SILAS FORDRED,
  _Master Mariner of Hythe_.

  Witnessed by
  EVAN the Welshman,
  _Town Clerk_.

  _Dated February 3d, 1660._




APPENDIX


Such is the narrative of Silas Fordred, master mariner of Hythe, the
cinque port in the county of Kent.

Now on reading this strange story I was greatly perplexed. It seemed
difficult to believe that this direct Elizabethan mariner had
fabricated the string of events here reproduced, for, by his own
showing, he was a plain and simple man, without overmuch imagination
or phantasy, and I found it indeed hard, with my extended knowledge of
man and woman, to set down this yarn of Silas Fordred’s as one huge lie
from beginning to end, as a man of shorter sight and less penetration
might have set it down. Often I pondered over the strange land of the
bronze idol and what had happened there, and the only clue I had to
the mystery was the inscription in tall ebony letters:

  “DIGO RODRICOVEZ,”

which in truth was little help to me. Yet for many months these two
words remained in my head, and often have I seen them stand out clear
and black before my eyes.

Everything comes to him that waits, so that one day as I was burrowing
among some old volumes in the great library of the British Museum, I
ran across a large folio bound in brown leather and printed in the
Spanish tongue. In that language was inscribed on the title page: _The
Life and Adventures of Don Diego Rodriguez_. Again the words “DIGO
RODRICOVEZ” came back to me, and eagerly I read page after page of the
great volume.

From it I gathered that Don Diego Rodriguez was a man of much cunning,
with great learning and skill in alchemy. Towards the end of the
fifteenth century he had become Grand Inquisitor of Spain, and in that
capacity had devised machines of so fiendish a nature that his brother
inquisitors had held a council at which it was conclusively proved
that Don Diego was in league with the Devil, and it was furthermore
decided that for the welfare and safety of the State, it were well that
the Grand Inquisitor should leave the country and take his hellish
inventions elsewhere; for no man, were he Cardinal or the King’s own
self, was safe, as the Don could kill without leaving wound or sign
of poison or other witness. In the same year as that in which the
council was held, Don Diego had left Spain in a curious vessel of his
own construction, that had neither mast nor sail nor galley-slave. He
took with him the whole of his vast wealth, and, such was the dread
that men had of him, that no one made effort to deprive him of his
ill-gotten treasure. His sole companion was a girl child, reputed to be
his daughter, and thus he set off across the ocean.

The rest of his life is shrouded in some mystery, and there is no
absolute certainty as to his further movements. Rumour hath it that he
reached an island, presumably one of the West Indies, where he landed
and caused the natives to build him a great castle; also, that as
soon as this was accomplished he set to work to depopulate the island
by means of the same hellish inventions that were the cause of his
banishment.

Such in brief was the story of Don Diego Rodriguez, whom I hold to be
identical with Silas Fordred’s “DIGO RODRICOVEZ,” and, seeing that
Silas had but his memory and an imperfect education to trust to, there
is little to wonder at in the fact that the Hythe seaman should so
misspell what he had but read long months before.

What makes me further incline to an implicit belief in this theory is,
that among other marvels accredited to the Don was the power of making
permanent the reflection of a human face in a mirror, a discovery
somewhat akin to our modern art of photography. This will account for
the figure behind the red silk curtain, doubtless a reproduction of
the Don’s own features. The reappearance of this figure when Silas was
escaping to his ship with the diamonds was no doubt due to the seaman’s
evil conscience--merely an hallucination of an excited brain. Most of
the other so-called marvels were skilfully constructed machines that
any mechanical engineer of the present day could double; that such was
the case is amply proved by the failure from rust and unuse of the
mechanism that worked the giant sword-blade that Silas encountered
in the great hall. Further, I have little doubt but that the “Hag of
the Turret” was the identical girl-child, grown old, that accompanied
Don Diego when he left Spain; naturally, Silas Fordred saw in this
bearded old woman a “witch” and a “sorceress,” and most men of his day,
even those of birth and education, would have arrived at a similar
conclusion, especially after the episodes that preceded the encounter.
The hairy man, Esau, was in all probability an aboriginal native, one,
or the child of one, that had escaped the Don’s clutches.

I have only to add that, in my humble opinion, it must have been Don
Diego Rodriguez, and not Christopher Columbus, that really discovered
America.




SOME OTHER PUBLICATIONS

OF

HERBERT S. STONE & COMPANY

CHICAGO

SECOND EDITION NOW READY.


=CHECKERS=, a Hard-Luck Story by HENRY M. BLOSSOM, Jr. 16mo, $1.25.

“Abounds in the most racy and picturesque slang.”--_N. Y. Recorder._

“Checkers” is an interesting and entertaining chap, a distinct type,
with a separate tongue and a way of saying things that is oddly
humorous.--_Chicago Record._

If I had to ride from New York to Chicago on a slow train, I should
like half a dozen books as gladsome as “Checkers,” and I could laugh at
the trip.--_N. Y. Commercial Advertiser._


=A CHILD OF THE JAGO=, a Novel of the East End of London, by ARTHUR
MORRISON, author of “Tales of Mean Streets.” 12mo. $1.50.

Mr. Morrison is recognized the world over as the most capable man at
slum life stories. His “Tales of Mean Streets” was one of the best
received books of 1894-5, and the present volume has occupied his time
ever since. It is of great force and continuous interest; a book that,
once begun, must be finished, and one that will figure as a sensation
for a long time to come.




Second Edition Now Ready

WITHOUT SIN

A NOVEL

by

Martin J. Pritchard

12mo., $1.25


The NEW YORK JOURNAL gave a half-page to a review of the book and
proclaimed it “THE MOST STARTLING NOVEL YET.”

“The very ingenious way in which improbable incidents are made to
appear natural, the ingenious manner in which the story is sustained to
the end, the undoubted fascination of the writing, and the convincing
charm of the principal characters, are just what make this novel so
deeply dangerous while so intensely interesting.”--THE WORLD (London).

“Abounds in situations of thrilling interest. A unique and daring
book.”--REVIEW OF REVIEWS (London).

“One is hardly likely to go far wrong in predicting that WITHOUT SIN
will attract abundant notice. Too much can scarcely be said in praise
of Mr. Pritchard’s treatment of his subject.”--ACADEMY (London).

  To be had of all Booksellers, or will be sent postpaid on receipt of
  price by the Publishers,
  HERBERT S. STONE & CO., CHICAGO.




=ARTIE=, a Story of the Streets and Town, by GEORGE ADE, with many
  pictures by John T. McCutcheon. 16mo, $1.25.

These sketches, reprinted from the _Chicago Record_, attracted great
attention on their original appearance. They have been revised and
rewritten and in their present form promise to make one of the most
popular books of the fall.


=THE FEARSOME ISLAND=, being a Modern rendering of the narrative of one
Silas Fordred, Master Mariner of Hythe, whose shipwreck and subsequent
adventures are herein set forth. Also an appendix accounting in a
rational manner for the seeming marvels that Silas Fordred encountered
during his sojourn on the fearsome island of Don Diego Rodriguez.

=By ALBERT KINROSS, with a cover designed by Frank Hazenplug. 16mo,
$1.25.=


=IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY=, By MARIA LOUISE POOL. 16mo, $1.25.

A series of sketches of Country Life in the South. They are much in the
style of Miss Pool’s “A Dike Shanty,” which has been so successful.

  To be had of all Booksellers, or will be sent postpaid on receipt of
  price by the Publishers.

  HERBERT S. STONE & CO., CHICAGO.




_Just Ready._

Prose Fancies

_SECOND SERIES_

BY

Richard Le Gallienne

16mo, $1.25


“PROSE FANCIES” ought to be in everyone’s summer library, for it is
just the kind of book one loves to take to some secluded spot to read
and dream over.--_Kansas City Times._

“In these days of Beardsley pictures and decadent novels, it is
good to find a book as sweet, as pure, as delicate as Mr. Le
Gallienne’s.”--_New Orleans Picayune._


=THE LAND OF THE CASTANET=, Spanish Sketches, by the author of “Two
Women and a Fool,” with twenty-five full page illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.

A collection of rambling sketches of Spanish people and places. Mr.
Chatfield-Taylor has written frankly and entertainingly of the most
striking features of “The Land of the Castanet.” The volume does
not pretend to be exhaustive; in no sense is it a guide book--it is
intended rather more for the person who does not expect to visit Spain
than for the traveller.

HERBERT S. STONE & CO., CHICAGO.




Transcriber’s Note

Kept eat instead of eaten on p.22.

Just Ready is underlined in the original version on the fourth page of
advertisements--changed to italics.

Corrected all other typos and errors.

Hyphenation has been maintained as in the original text.

Combined 12 mo into one word due to all other instances in the
advertisements using that style.

Added missing double quote to the “Without Sin” advertisement.

Maintained non-standard spellings of locations (i.e., Kathay instead of
Cathay, Chepeside instead of Cheapside)






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