"That fellow"s a gem!" said he. "Hang me if he"s not equal to Bleatem!
Sam, take care what you do; he "s the chap to have his action against you! I say, my man, come and sit down here, and let us have a little chat together."
"Most willingly, sir," responded I. "Waiter, bring my wine over to this table." This was the signal for another shout, of which I did not deign to take the slightest notice.
"I"ll wager a hundred oysters," exclaimed one of the party, among whom I now seated myself, "that I have seen him before! Tell me, my lad, didn"t you ride over the course yesterday, and cut out the work for Mr.
Beatagh?"
I bowed an a.s.sent. "Who the devil is he?" cried two or three together; and my appearance and manner did not check the audible expression of this sentiment.
"A few words will suffice, gentlemen," said I, "on that head. My father was an estated gentleman, of small, but uninc.u.mbered fortune, which he lost by an unfortunate speculation; he accordingly went abroad--"
"To Norfolk Island!" suggested one, with a wink.
"Exactly," responded I, "a Colonial appointment; leaving me, like Norval, not exactly on the Grampian Hills, but in a worse place, in the middle of the bog of Allen; my sole dependence being in certain legal studies I had once made, and a natural taste for getting forward in life; which, with a most enthusiastic appreciation of good company,"--here I bowed politely all round,--"are, I flatter myself, my chief characteristics."
After a little, but most good-humored, quizzing about my present occupation and future prospects, they, with far more politeness than might be expected, turned the conversation upon other matters, and kindly permitted me to throw in from time to time my observations,--remarks which I could see, from their novelty, at least, seemed often to surprise them.
At length the hour of separating arrived, and I arose to bid the company good-night, which I performed with a very fair imitation of that quiet ease I had often studied in the young guardsmen about town.
"What do you bet that he has neither home to shelter him, nor bed to sleep on, this night?" whispered one to his neighbor.
"What are you writing there, c.o.x?" said another, to the keen-eyed man, who was pencilling something on a card.
"There, that"s my address, my boy,--12, Stafford Street: Jeremiah c.o.x.
Come to me about ten to-morrow."
Another, while he was speaking, made an effort to slip a half-crown into my hand,--a measure I felt it becoming to decline with a prompt, but courteous, refusal. Indeed, I had so identified myself with the part I was performing that I flung down my only sixpence on the table for the waiter, and, with a last salutation to the honorable company, walked out. I have a perfect memory of every circ.u.mstance of the evening, and I recollect that my swaggering exit was as free from any semblance of concern or care as though a carriage waited for me outside to convey me to a luxurious home!
It has often been a fancy of mine through life to pa.s.s the entire of a summer night out of door; to wander either through the moonlit roads of some picturesque country, or in the still more solitary streets of a great city. I have always felt on these occasions as though one were "stealing a march" upon the sleeping world,--gaining so many more hours of thought and reflection, which the busy conflict of life renders so often difficult.
The hours of the night seem to typify so many stages of existence,--only reversing the natural order of age, and making the period of deep reflection precede the era of sanguine hope; for if the solemn closing in of the darkness suggests musing, so do the rosy tints and fresh air of breaking day inspire the warm hopefulness of youth. If "the daylight sinking" invites the secret communing of the heart, "the dawning of morn" glows with energetic purpose and bold endeavor.
To come back to myself. I left the tavern without a thought whither I should turn my steps. It was a calm night, with a starry sky and a mild, genial air, so that to pa.s.s the hours until morning without shelter was no great privation. One only resolve I had formed,--never to go back to Betty"s. I felt that I had sojourned over long in such companionship; it was now time some other, and more upward, path should open before me.
Following the course of the Liffey, I soon reached the quay called the North Wall, and at last arrived at the bluff extremity which looks out upon the opening of the river into the Bay of Dublin. The great expanse was in deep shadow, but so calm the sea that the two lighthouses were reflected in long columns of light in the tranquil water. The only sound audible was the low, monotonous plash of the sea against the wall, or the grating noise of a chain cable, as the vessel it held surged slowly with the tide. The sounds had something plaintive in them, that soon imparted a tone of sadness to my mind; but it was a melancholy not unpleasing; and I sat down upon a rude block of stone, weaving strange fancies of myself and my future.
As I sat thus, my ear, grown more acute by habit, detected the light clank of a chain, and something like a low thumping sound in the water beneath me; and on peering down, I discovered the form of a small boat, fastened to a ring in the wall, and which from time to time grated against the strong masonry. There it lay, with a pair of light oars run under the thwarts, and its helm flapping to and fro, inert and purposeless, like myself! So at least I fancied it; and soon began conceiving a strange parallel between it and me. I was suddenly startled from these musings by the sound of feet rapidly approaching.
I listened, and could hear a man coming towards me at full speed. I sat down beneath the shadow of the wall, and he pa.s.sed me unnoticed, and then, springing up on the parapet, he gave a loud, shrill whistle, waiting a few seconds as if for the reply. He was silent, and then repeated it; but still in vain,--no answer came. "Blast them!" muttered he, "the scoundrels will not show a light!" A third time did he whistle; but though the sounds might be heard a mile off, neither sight nor sound ever responded to them. "And that rascal, too, to have left the boat at such a moment!" Just as he uttered these words, he sprang down from the wall, and caught sight of me, as I lay, affecting sleep, coiled up beneath it.
With a rude kick of his foot on my side he aroused me, saying, "D--n the fellow! is this a time for sleeping? I told you to keep a sharp look-out for me here! What! who are you?" cried he, as I stood upright before him.
"A poor boy, sir, that has no roof to shelter him," said I, plaintively.
He bent his head and listened; and then, with a horrible curse, exclaimed, "Here they are! here they come! Can you pull an oar, my lad?"
"I can sir," answered I.
"Well, jump down into the punt there, and row her round the point to the stairs. Be quick! down with you! I have cut my hand, and cannot help you. There, that "s it, my lad! catch the ring; swing yourself a little more to the right; her gunwale is just beneath your foot; all right now!
well done! Be alive now! give way, give way!" And thus encouraging me, he walked along the parapet above me, and in a few minutes stood fast, calling out, but in a lower and more cautious voice, "There! close in, now a strong pull--that "s it!" and then, hastily descending a narrow flight of steps, he sprang into the boat, and seated himself in the stern. "Hush! be still!" cried he; "do not stir! they"ll never see us under the shadow of the wall!"
As he spoke, two dark figures mounted the wall, straight above our heads, and stood for some seconds as it were peering into the distance.
"I "ll swear I saw him take this way," cried one, in a deep low voice.
"If he were the Devil himself, he could not escape us here," said the other, with an accent of vindictive pa.s.sion.
"And he is the Devil," said the former speaker.
"Pooh, nonsense, man! any fellow who can win at dice, or has a steady finger with a pistol, is a marvel for you. Curses on him! he has given us the slip somehow."
"I"d not wonder, Harry, if he has taken the water; he swims like a duck!"
"He could not have sprung from a height like that without a plash, and we were close enough upon his heels to hear it; flash off some powder in a piece of paper: it is dark as pitch here."
While the men above were preparing their light, I heard a slight stir in the stern of the boat. I turned my head, and saw my companion coolly fitting a cap on his pistol; he was doing it with difficulty, as he was obliged to hold the pistol between his knees, while he adjusted the cap with his left hand; the right hand he carried in the breast of his coat.
Nothing could be more calm and collected than his every movement, up to the instant when, having c.o.c.ked the weapon, he lay back in the boat, so as to have a full stare at the two dark figures above us.
At last, the fuse was ready, and, being lighted, it was held for a few seconds in the hand, and then thrown into the air. The red and lurid glare flashed full upon two savage-looking faces, straight above our heads, and for an instant showed their figures with all the distinctness of noonday. I saw them both, as if by a common impulse, lean over the parapet and peer down into the dark water below, and I could have almost sworn that we were discovered; my companion evidently thought so too, for he raised his pistol steadily, and took a long and careful aim. What a moment was that for me, expecting at every instant to hear the report, and then the heavy fall of the dead man into the water! My throat was full to bursting. The bit of burning paper of the fuse had fallen on my companion"s pistol-hand; but though it must have scorched him, he never stirred, nor even brushed it off. I thought that by its faint flicker, also, we might have been seen. But no, it was plain they had not perceived us; and it was with a delight I cannot describe that I saw one and then the other descend from the wall, while I heard the words, "There"s the second time above five hundred pounds has slipped from us.
D--n the fellow! but if I hang for him, I"ll do it yet!"
"Well, you"ve spoiled his hand for hazard for a while, anyhow, Harry!"
said the other. "I think you must have taken his fingers clean off!"
"The knife was like a razor," replied the other, with a laugh; "but he struck it out of my hand with a blow above the wrist; and, I can tell you, I "d as soon get the kick of a horse as a short stroke of the same closed fist."
They continued to converse as they moved away, but their words only reached me in broken, unconnected sentences. From all I could glean, however, I was in company with one of enormous personal strength and a most reckless intrepidity. At last, all was still; not a sound to be heard on any side; and my companion, leaning forward, said, "Come, my lad, pull me out a short distance into the offing; we shall soon see a light to guide us!"
In calm, still water I could row well. I had been boat-boy to the priest at all his autumn fishing excursions on the Westmeath lakes, so that I acquitted myself creditably, urged on, I am free to confess, by a very profound fear of the large figure who loomed so mysteriously in the stern. For a time we proceeded in deep silence, when at last he said, "What vessel do you belong to, boy?"
"I was never at sea, sir," replied I.
"Not a sailor! How comes it, then, you can row so well?"
"I learned to row in fresh water, sir."
"What are you? How came you to be here to-night?"
"By merest chance, sir. I had no money to pay for a bed. I have neither home nor friends. I have lived, by holding horses, and running errands, in the streets."
"Picking pockets occasionally, I suppose, too, when regular business was dull!"
"Never!" said I, indignantly.
"Don"t be shocked, my fine fellow," said he, jeeringly; "better men than ever you "ll be have done a little that way. I have made some lighter this evening myself, for the matter of that!"
This confession, if very frank, was not very rea.s.suring; and so I made no answer, but rowed away with all my might.