Kabanata Kabanata 9 · Of a Passage of Arms at the Blue Boar

I had slept several hours when I was suddenly aroused by a prodigious

crash, followed by the clash of arms and shrill cries from the lower

floor. Springing to my feet I found that the bed upon which my comrade

had lain was vacant, and that the door of the apartment was opened. As

the uproar still continued, and as I seemed to discern his voice in the

midst of it, I caught up my sword, and without waiting to put on either

head-piece, steel-breast, or arm-plates, I hurried to the scene of the

commotion.

The hall and passage were filled with silly maids and staring drawers,

attracted, like myself, by the uproar. Through these I pushed my way

into the apartment where we had breakfasted in the morning, which was

a scene of the wildest disorder. The round table in the centre had

been tilted over upon its side, and three broken bottles of wine, with

apples, pears, nuts, and the fragments of the dishes containing them,

were littered over the floor. A couple of packs of cards and a dice-box

lay amongst the scattered feast. Close by the door stood Decimus Saxon,

with his drawn rapier in his hand and a second one beneath his feet,

while facing him there was a young officer in a blue uniform, whose face

was reddened with shame and anger, and who looked wildly about the room

as though in search of some weapon to replace that of which he had been

deprived. He might have served Cibber or Gibbons as a model for a statue

of impotent rage. Two other officers dressed in the same blue uniform

stood by their comrade, and as I observed that they had laid their hands

upon the hilts of their swords, I took my place by Saxon’s side, and

stood ready to strike in should the occasion arise.

‘What would the maitre d’armes say--the maitre d’escrime?’ cried my

companion. ‘Methinks he should lose his place for not teaching you to

make a better show. Out on him! Is this the way that he teaches the

officers of his Majesty’s guard to use their weapons?’

‘This raillery, sir,’ said the elder of the three, a squat, brown,

heavy-faced man, ‘is not undeserved, and yet might perchance be

dispensed with. I am free to say that our friend attacked you somewhat

hastily, and that a little more deference should have been shown by so

young a soldier to a cavalier of your experience.’

The other officer, who was a fine-looking, noble-featured man, expressed

himself in much the same manner. ‘If this apology will serve,’ said he,

‘I am prepared to join in it. If, however, more is required, I shall be

happy to take the quarrel upon myself.’

‘Nay, nay, take your bradawl!’ Saxon answered good-humouredly, kicking

the sword towards his youthful opponent. ‘But, mark you! when you would

lunge, direct your point upwards rather than down, for otherwise you

must throw your wrist open to your antagonist, who can scarce fail to

disarm you. In quarte, tierce, or saccoon the same holds good.’

The youth sheathed his sword, but was so overcome by his own easy defeat

and the contemptuous way in which his opponent had dismissed him, that

he turned and hurried out of the room. Meanwhile Decimus Saxon and the

two officers set to work getting the table upon its legs and restoring

the room to some sort of order, in which I did what I could to assist

them.

‘I held three queens for the first time to-day,’ grumbled the soldier of

fortune. ‘I was about to declare them when this young bantam flew at my

throat. He hath likewise been the cause of our losing three flasks of

most excellent muscadine. When he hath drunk as much bad wine as I have

been forced to do, he will not be so hasty in wasting the good.’

‘He is a hot-headed youngster,’ the older officer replied, ‘and a little

solitary reflection added to the lesson which you have taught him may

bring him profit. As for the muscadine, that loss will soon be repaired,

the more gladly as your friend here will help us to drink it.’

‘I was roused by the crash of weapons,’ said I, ‘and I scarce know now

what has occurred.’

‘Why, a mere tavern brawl, which your friend’s skill and judgment

prevented from becoming serious. I prythee take the rush-bottomed chair,

and do you, Jack, order the wine. If our comrade hath spilled the last

it is for us to furnish this, and the best the cellars contain. We have

been having a hand at basset, which Mr. Saxon here playeth as skilfully

as he wields the small-sword. It chanced that the luck ran against young

Horsford, which doubtless made him prone to be quick in taking offence.

Your friend in conversation, when discoursing of his experiences in

foreign countries, remarked that the French household troops were to

his mind brought to a higher state of discipline than any of our own

regiments, on which Horsford fired up, and after a hot word or two they

found themselves, as you have seen, at drawn bilbo. The boy hath seen no

service, and is therefore over-eager to give proof of his valour.’

‘Wherein,’ said the tall officer, ‘he showed a want of thought towards

me, for had the words been offensive it was for me, who am a senior

captain and brevet-major, to take it up, and not for a slip of a cornet,

who scarce knows enough to put his troop through the exercise.’

‘You say right, Ogilvy,’ said the other, resuming his seat by the table

and wiping the cards which had been splashed by the wine.’ Had the

comparison been made by an officer of Louis’s guard for the purpose

of contumely and braggadocio, it would then indeed have become us to

venture a passado. But when spoken by an Englishman of ripe experience

it becomes a matter of instructive criticism, which should profit rather

than annoy.’

‘True, Ambrose,’ the other answered. ‘Without such criticism a force

would become stagnant, and could never hope to keep level with those

continental armies, which are ever striving amongst themselves for

increased efficacy.’

So pleased was I at these sensible remarks on the part of the strangers,

that I was right glad to have the opportunity of making their closer

acquaintance over a flask of excellent wine. My father’s prejudices

had led me to believe that a King’s officer was ever a compound of the

coxcomb and the bully, but I found on testing it that this idea, like

most others which a man takes upon trust, had very little foundation

upon truth. As a matter of fact, had they been dressed in less warlike

garb and deprived of their swords and jack-boots, they would have passed

as particularly mild-mannered men, for their conversation ran in the

learned channels, and they discussed Boyle’s researches in chemistry and

the ponderation of air with much gravity and show of knowledge. At

the same time, their brisk bearing and manly carriage showed that in

cultivating the scholar they hail not sacrificed the soldier.

‘May I ask, sir,’ said one of them, addressing Saxon, ‘whether in

your wide experiences you have ever met with any of those sages and

philosophers who have conferred such honour and fame upon France and

Germany?’

My companion looked ill at ease, as one who feels that he has been taken

off his ground. ‘There was indeed one such at Nurnberg,’ he answered,

‘one Gervinus or Gervanus, who, the folk said, could turn an ingot of

iron into an ingot of gold as easily as I turn this tobacco into ashes.

Old Pappenheimer shut him up with a ton of metal, and threatened to put

the thumbikins upon him unless he changed it into gold pieces. I can

vouch for it that there was not a yellow boy there, for I was captain of

the guard and searched the whole dungeon through. To my sorrow I say it,

for I had myself added a small iron brazier to the heap, thinking that

if there should be any such change it would be as well that I should

have some small share in the experiment.’

‘Alchemy, transmutation of metals, and the like have been set aside by

true science,’ remarked the taller officer. ‘Even old Sir Thomas Browne

of Norwich, who is ever ready to plead the cause of the ancients, can

find nothing to say in favour of it. From Trismegistus downwards through

Albertus Magnus, Aquinas, Raymond Lullius, Basil Valentine, Paracelsus,

and the rest, there is not one who has left more than a cloud of words

behind him.’

‘Nor did the rogue I mention,’ said Saxon. ‘There was another,

Van Helstatt, who was a man of learning, and cast horoscopes in

consideration of some small fee or honorarium. I have never met so wise

a man, for he would talk of the planets and constellations as though he

kept them all in his own backyard. He made no more of a comet than if it

were a mouldy china orange, and he explained their nature to us, saying

that they were but common stars which had had a hole knocked in them, so

that their insides or viscera protruded. He was indeed a philosopher!’

‘And did you ever put his skill to the test?’ asked one of the officers,

with a smile.

‘Not I, forsooth, for I have ever kept myself clear of black magic or

diablerie of the sort. My comrade Pierce Scotton, who was an Oberst

in the Imperial cavalry brigade, did pay him a rose noble to have his

future expounded. If I remember aright, the stars said that he was

over-fond of wine and women--he had a wicked eye and a nose like a

carbuncle. ‘They foretold also that he would attain a marshal’s baton

and die at a ripe age, which might well have come true had he not been

unhorsed a month later at Ober-Graustock, and slain by the hoofs of his

own troop. Neither the planets nor even the experienced farrier of

the regiment could have told that the brute would have foundered so

completely.’

The officers laughed heartily at my companion’s views, and rose from

their chairs, for the bottle was empty and the evening beginning to

draw in. ‘We have work to do here,’ said the one addressed as Ogilvy.

‘Besides, we must find this foolish boy of ours, and tell him that it is

no disgrace to be disarmed by so expert a swordsman. We have to prepare

the quarters for the regiment, who will be up to join Churchill’s

forces not later than to-night. Ye are yourselves bound for the West, I

understand?’

‘We belong to the Duke of Beaufort’s household,’ said Saxon.

‘Indeed! I thought ye might belong to Portman’s yellow regiment of

militia. I trust that the Duke will muster every man he can, and make

play until the royal forces come up.’

‘How many will Churchill bring?’ asked my companion carelessly.

‘Eight hundred horse at the most, but my Lord Feversham will follow

after with close on four thousand foot.’

‘We may meet on the field of battle, if not before,’ said I, and we bade

our friendly enemies a very cordial adieu.

‘A skilful equivoque that last of yours, Master Micah,’ quoth Decimus

Saxon, ‘though smacking of double dealing in a truth-lover like

yourself. If we meet them in battle I trust that it may be with

chevaux-de-frise of pikes and morgenstierns before us, and a litter of

caltrops in front of them, for Monmouth has no cavalry that could stand

for a moment against the Royal Guards.’

‘How came you to make their acquaintance?’ I asked.

‘I slept a few hours, but I have learned in camps to do with little

rest. Finding you in sound slumber, and hearing the rattle of the

dice-box below, I came softly down and found means to join their

party--whereby I am a richer man by fifteen guineas, and might have

had more had that young fool not lugged out at me, or had the talk not

turned afterwards upon such unseemly subjects as the laws of chemistry

and the like. Prythee, what have the Horse Guards Blue to do with the

laws of chemistry? Wessenburg of the Pandours would, even at his own

mess table, suffer much free talk--more perhaps than fits in with the

dignity of a leader. Had his officers ventured upon such matter as

this, however, there would have been a drum-head court-martial, or a

cashiering at the least.’

Without stopping to dispute either Master Saxon’s judgment or that of

Wessenburg of the Pandours, I proposed that we should order an evening

meal, and should employ the remaining hour or two of daylight in looking

over the city. The principal sight is of course the noble cathedral,

which is built in such exact proportion that one would fail to

understand its great size did one not actually enter it and pace round

the long dim aisles. So solemn were its sweeping arches and the long

shafts of coloured light which shone through the stained-glass windows,

throwing strange shadows amongst the pillars, that even my companion,

albeit not readily impressed, was silent and subdued. It was a great

prayer in stone.

On our way back to the inn we passed the town lock-up, with a railed

space in front of it, in which three great black-muzzled bloodhounds

were stalking about, with fierce crimsoned eyes and red tongues lolling

out of their mouths. They were used, a bystander told us, for the

hunting down of criminals upon Salisbury Plain, which had been a refuge

for rogues and thieves, until this means had been adopted for following

them to their hiding-places. It was well-nigh dark before we returned to

the hostel, and entirely so by the time that we had eaten our suppers,

paid our reckoning, and got ready for the road.

Before we set off I bethought me of the paper which my mother had

slipped into my hand on parting, and drawing it from my pouch I read

it by the rushlight in our chamber. It still bore the splotches of the

tears which she had dropped on it, poor soul, and ran in this wise:--

‘Instructions from Mistress Mary Clarke to her son Micah, on the twelfth

day of June in the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and eighty-five.

‘On occasion of his going forth, like David of old, to do battle

with the Goliath of Papistry, which hath overshadowed and thrown into

disrepute that true and reverent regard for ritual which should exist in

the real Church of England, as ordained by law.

‘Let these points be observed by him, namely, to wit:

‘1. Change your hosen when the occasion serves. You have two pairs in

your saddle-bag, and can buy more, for the wool work is good in the

West.

‘2. A hare’s foot suspended round the neck driveth away colic.

‘3. Say the Lord’s Prayer night and morning. Also read the scriptures,

especially Job, the Psalms, and the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

‘4. Daffy’s elixir possesses extraordinary powers in purifying the blood

and working off all phlegms, humours, vapours, or rheums. The dose is

five drops. A small phial of it will be found in the barrel of your left

pistol, with wadding around it lest it come to harm.

‘5. Ten golden pieces are sewn into the hem of your under doublet. Touch

them not, save as a last resource.

‘6. Fight stoutly for the Lord, and yet I pray you, Micah, be not too

forward in battle, but let others do their turn also.

Press not into the heart of the fray, and yet flinch not from the

standard of the Protestant faith.

‘And oh, Micah, my own bright boy, come back safe to your mother, or my

very heart will break!

‘And the deponent will ever pray.’

The sudden gush of tenderness in the last few lines made the tears

spring to my eyes, and yet I could scarce forbear from smiling at the

whole composition, for my dear mother had little time to cultivate the

graces of style, and it was evidently her thought that in order to make

her instructions binding it was needful to express them in some sort of

legal form. I had little time to think over her advice, however, for I

had scarce finished reading it before the voice of Decimus Saxon, and

the clink of the horses’ hoofs upon the cobble-stones of the yard,

informed me that all was ready for our departure.