XII.
The a.s.sailants returned to Nansclowan, where the Sheriff opened his mind to Sir John in a bitter harangue and rode homeward in dudgeon.
The soldiers were marched back to Pendennis. And so, to the scandal of the law, for four months the quarrel rested.
It sounds incredible. Sir James reached his house and spent a week in drawing up a report alleging that he and his twenty soldiers had been met by a crowd of over a thousand people, all partisans of Stephen; and that on attempting a forcible entry of Steens he had been murderously fired upon, with the loss of two killed and one wounded. There was not an incorrect statement in the report; and no one could read it without gathering that the whole of West Cornwall was up in arms and in open rebellion against the Crown.
Walpole read it in due course, and sent for Sir John Piers, who had returned to London for a short visit on parliamentary business.
The two men (you will remember) were deadly political foes, and Sir John"s first thought on receiving the message was, "Walpole is weakening, but he must be hard put to it when he sends for _me_, to bribe me!" However, he waited on the Minister.
Walpole greeted him with a pleasant bow: he had always a soft spot in his heart for the chubby-faced little Cornish baronet who always fought fair.
"Let us be friends for ten minutes and talk like men of sense," said he.
"Cast your eye over this paper and tell me, for the love of Heaven, what it means."
Sir John read it through and burst out laughing.
"The poor man has lost his head, hey? I guessed so," said Walpole.
"A reed shaken by the wind. As such he advertised an exhibition and the folks came out to see--that is all. To be sure, they feel for this Stephen as an ill-used man; and so for that matter do I."
"You were present. Tell me the whole story, if you will."
So Sir John told it and put it back into its true colours. "As for open rebellion, I"ll engage to set down what I"ve told you in a report which shall be signed by every Justice between Truro and the Land"s End."
"I don"t need it," said Walpole. "But, when all"s said, the fellow has defied the law and slaughtered two men. We must make an example of him.
You agree, of course?"
"In due time I shall plead for mercy. But of course I agree."
"Well, then, what do you advise?"
"Wait."
"Hey?"
"He won"t run. I--well, in fact, I could have shipped him off before this happened, and tried to persuade him to go."
"The deuce you did!"
"Yes, but he refused. And he won"t budge now. My advice is--wait, and pick a strong sheriff for next year. There"s a neighbour of Tillie"s-- William Symons, of Hatt--you had best choose someone who doesn"t belong to our neighbourhood, for many reasons."
The minister nodded.
"Symons won"t drop the business until he has pushed it through."
"I will make a note of his name."
So for four months Roger Stephen remained unmolested, Sir James Tillie having received an answer from London requesting him to hold his hand.
And Sir John"s counsel to the minister began to bear fruit even before the new Sheriff took up the case. Until the day of the attack Roger"s forces had obeyed him cheerfully. They had volunteered to serve him, and put themselves in jeopardy for his sake. His sense of grat.i.tude had kept him unusually amiable, and when a sullen fit took him his lieutenant Trevarthen had served for an admirable buffer. Trevarthen was always cheerful. But since Roger had tasted blood Trevarthen and Malachi agreed that his temper had entirely changed. He was, in fact, mad; and daily growing madder with confinement and brooding. What they saw was that his temper could no longer be trusted. And while he grew daily more morose, his supporters--left in idleness with the thought of what had been done-- began to wish themselves out of the mess. Without excitement to keep their blood warm they had leisure to note Roger"s ill humours and discuss them, and to tell each other that he showed very little of the grat.i.tude he certainly owed them. Also, since it was certain that no further attack could be delivered at less than a few hours warning, and since their own affairs called them, the garrison divided itself into "shifts," one mounting guard while the rest visited their homes. And when the men were at home their wives talked to them.
Roger himself never put his nose beyond the defences. In all the years at h.e.l.leston a sedentary life had not told on him; but it told on him now, and rapidly. The true cause no doubt lay in his own sullen heart.
It is a fact, however, that by this time the state of Steens was insanitary to a high degree and the well water polluted. At little cost of labour the garrison could have tapped and led down one of the many fresh springs on the hillside, but to this no thought was given. The man grew gaunt and livid in colour, and his flesh began to sag inwards at the back of the neck. By the middle of December he was far gone in what is now called Bright"s disease, and with this disease the madness in his brain kept pace.
The crisis came with the New Year. Rumours had already reached Steens that the new Sheriff meant business, and was collecting a regiment at Plymouth to march westward as soon as he took up office; also that Mrs.
Stephen had travelled down ahead of him and taken lodgings at a farmhouse on the near side of Truro in readiness to witness her triumph.
Confident now that no danger threatened before the New Year, all but ten of the garrison--but these ten included the faithful (and unmarried) Trevarthen--had dispersed to their homes to keep Christmas.
Early in the morning of New Year"s Day Trevarthen suggested riding into h.e.l.leston to purchase fresh meat, their stock of which had run low with the Christmas feasting. He had made many such expeditions--always, however, with an escort of four or five; for although the Justices held their hands, and made no attempt to arrest the dispersed conspirators in their own homes but suffered them there to go about their private occupations, the purchase of victuals for the besieged house was another matter, and rumour had more than once come to Steens that the h.e.l.leston constables meant to challenge it by force. So to-day, with Roger"s leave, Trevarthen withdrew five of the garrison and rode off, leaving but four men on guard--Roger himself, Malachi, a labourer named Pascoe, and one Hickory Rodda--a schoolmaster from Wendron, whose elder brother, Nathaniel, a small farmer from the same parish, went with the expedition.
The short day pa.s.sed quietly enough, if tediously. Roger spent the morning in melting down lead for bullets and running it into moulds.
Long strips from the roof and even some of the cas.e.m.e.nt lattices had gone to provide his a.r.s.enal against the next a.s.sault; and at the worst he fully meant to turn to his father"s stacks of silver coin in the locked cellar.
That afternoon he shut himself up with his Bible, and read until the print hurt his eyes. Then in the waning light he took his hat and started for a stroll around the back defences and out-buildings.
His way led through the kitchen, where Jane, the cook--the only woman left at Steens--was peeling potatoes for the night"s supper; and there beside the open hearth sat Hickory Rodda writing by the glow of it, huddled on a stool with a sheet of paper on his knee.
At Roger"s entrance the young man--he was scarce twenty, long-legged, overgrown, and in bearing somewhat furtive--slipped a hand over the writing and affected to stare into the fire.
"Hey? What"s that you"re doing?"
"Nun--nothing, Mr. Stephen; nothing particular--that is, I was writing a letter."
"Hand it over."
Hickory rose, upsetting his stool, and began to back away.
""Tis a private letter I was writing to a friend."
Roger gripped him by the collar, plucked the paper from him, and took it to the door for better light. As he read the dark blood surged up in his neck and face. It was addressed to Lady Piers--a foul letter, full of obscene abuse and threats. Roger cast back one look at its author, and from the doorway shouted into the yard--
"Malachi! Pascoe!"
His voice was terrible. The two men heard it at their posts, and came running.
"Fetch a wain-rope!" He caught Hickory by the collar again, and forced his face up to the window against the red rays of the level sun. "Look on that, you dirt! And look your last on it! Nay, you shall see it once more, as you swing yonder."
He pointed across the courtlage to the boughs of an ash tree in the corner, naked against the sky, and with that began to drag the youth through the pa.s.sage to the front door. Pascoe, not staying to comprehend, had run for a rope. But Malachi and Jane the cook broke into cries of horror.
"Nay, master, nay--you"ll do no such thing--you cannot! Let the poor boy go: he"s half dead already."
""Cannot"? I"ll see if I cannot!" grunted Roger, and panted with rage.
"Open the door, you! He"ll hang, I tell you, afore this sun goes down."
"Surely, surely, master--"tis a sin unheard of! The good Lord deliver us; "tis mad you be to think of it!"