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I; OUR NOVEL.
it
is- ? NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.]
'k >' ' _
a - A NOVEL,
UNDER THE GREAT SEAL,
¿ BY
V ' . JOSEPH HATTON,
Ç, Author of "CLYTIE," BY ORDER OF THE
&,' CHAS," JOHN NEEDHAM'S DOUBLE,"
ï/'~ "CRUEL LONDON," EC.
6CV z
i Copyright, 1892, by Tillotson a Son,]
& :- ' -
f¿. CHAPTER XVIII. (Continued.)
Saws TRAGIC REVOLT OF ALAN KEITH.
p.- Alan knew, the moment he set foot in
to the new settlement, that the coffin covered
up with wild flowers that rested by an open
grave enshrouded the woman of all
if others in the world, whom it seemed to
plan the Almighty might have spared, not
V, for him alone, but for the good of all cremation,,
to be a light of sweet and blessed
a pity, an example of charity and love, toe
signed and beautiful he knew for so worldly
:.H«fjd coarse a comrade as himself, but one
whom he could worship as a type of all
4 that, was heavenly, sweet, and true.
%"'.>. And so he stood on the outskirts of the
Leocrowful crowd, and joined speechless,
P yet with all his aching heart and soul, in
the holy service that Father Lavelle read
away and chanted, and listened to his gracious
invalid pathetic words of certain prophecy
is not bliss for her holy spirit, Also did not
a, murmur a single word of prayer or hope,
for but the tears fell down his sunken cheeks,
of keary drops of bitter agony. He had not
in: the heart to speak to a soul then or there
I",' " after, but be allowed them to go away
by his; father-in-law, Plympton, the good
a -priest, Pat Doolan, Sally, the nurse, and
V the rest of his friends and companions.
| . When night came he crept to the spot
as where they had laid her, and fell upon his
is. faced' in an agony of grief. " Oh, just
heaven! Give her back to me !" he
cried. " Mother of God, what have I done
1 toTie one afflicted P" The leaves rustled
'; find the trees, and a night bird called to its
$ mate. "Dear wife-sweetheart, if I could
I, only have held thee in my arms and said
F-good bye, a ama' mercy that, God knows !"
Then he grovelled by the grave and
of prayed that he might pass away there and
so end his woes for ever. When the dews
i e of morning mingled their tears with his,
| Vite kissed the wet earth that lay soft and
ft tearful above her, and went his way. He
was another man, not the chastened sin
2 per, intent on making himself worthy to
to meet her in Heaven. All the good that
he was in him when her voice was heard in
the land, and the land, and the light in
her eyes seemed to make all things glad,
fell away from him as he strode out for
t r the breach where his boat was lying. He
was once more the avenger, his soul
% tossed upon a sea of passion, as it was
when on the deck of the captured ship he
is mad sworn to make his crew rich with
>? gold and silver, and his own life one of
j^'develilh reprisal for the ills that; tyranny
| and misfortune had heaped upon him,
I- always provided-and this was a sort of
a Jesuitical reservation that God would
A spare Hannah to him and make her days
A'' happy in his love.
A Kb prayer of his or of the priest's, no
Y supplication of Hannah's had been vouch
t ' sated any other answer than such as the
fiend himself might have, made; and
J henceforth he would repay evil with evil.
The Soul of Nero had entered his bosom,
ji untempered even by one single thought of
/ his child. It was strange that his love
for Hannah should not have made him
r keenly sensible of that legacy of her love ; but
losing her, the great world of good
I was a blank.
& A natural sympathy with religious
^ hopes and fears might have made him
.;'' thoughtful of the things that Hannah
s should not have made him keenly sensible
of of that legacy of her love ; but losing her,
the great world of good was a blank.
for SA natural sympathy with religions
hopes and fears might have made him
a thoughtful of the things that Hannah
A might have liked him to do had she
been able to guide him with her tender
thoughts and human aspirations. But it
- was as if the devil had taken possession
T of him. Had Father Lavelle, an unusually
,; enlightened priest for those days, been
consulted upon Keith's state of mind he
would have proceeded to exercise the
friend that had entered into the body of
this otherwise honest and manly parishioner
of Heart's Content. Keith had
given Backbay Valley this name of happy
{ augury, but it cast no sunny light upon
of his soul ; it only breathed to him of the
r direst misfortune on account of which in
this kindness he conceived himself entitled
in the direst vengeance even upon those
who had had no hand in the misery that
had befallen him.
six Without a word to any living soul, he
left the new made grave and strode away
to the rendezvous where his boat awaited
him. Plympton would hardly have known
this familiar friend had he met him bend
'* ing his way along unaccustomed forest
* paths, breaking through tangled jungle
know bursting out upon stretches of open
'ashore and shingle, a gaunt giant, pressing
"forward on some tremendous mission.
i' Pride in an angel made the first devil.
-TTJnrequitted love has changed gentle
t natures to bloody murderers. Misfortune
will make a hell of a veritable paradise.
* Injustice and misfortune, twin spoilers of
Chappy homes, had turned all that was
a great and good and pure in Alan Keith's
nature to gall and wormwood, to sour and
bitter, to devilry and debauch.
tall Not alone under the curse of the Fish-
ing Admirals but under the vengeful
action of Alan Keith, both Heart's
"Delight and Heart's Content became a
desolation of justice and revenge. Troops
; from the garrison of St. John's marched
upon. Heart's Content and took away
David Plympton, Patrick Doolan and
three other settlers on charges of high
treason. They were put on board a warship
that had come round in defence of
the fisheries to be met with the tokens of
revolt that Heart's Delight and the Rear
Admiral of the Fishing Fleet had found
in the mutilated bodies of Ristack and
Ruddock grim and ghastly lodgers in the
prize that rankled round the piles of
'Plympton's boat house and fish, stage.
The settlement; of Heart's Delight being
already broken up, its humble homes in
rising, the Governor of St. John's, stimulated
by the hope of distinction and. reward,
14 [The sole right of publication in West Australia
has been purchased by the proprietors of
the WEST AUSTRALIAN.
slips at, 2 y
concluded to root out the settlement,
whose traitorous founders had been
known to express sympathy with the re-
bellious colonists, and who where suspected
on reliable evidences of leading
with the mutineers of the Anne of Dart-
mouth. The disappearance of John
Freddie, the Eastern man, Damien the
dwarf, Dick, the builder, and others the
most resolute of the men of Heart's
Delight was a sufficient vindication of
the action of St. John's.
It was in many ways an historic and
tragic season the fishing that last saw the
Admirals in full and uncontrolled authority
of the coasts and settlements of Newfoundland
for spite of watchful cruisers,
which had plenty to do to hold the English
commerce of the seas from the ravages of
hostile fleets, the Pioneer and her consort
with his Bear Admiral's ensign flying
were captured and burnt, the light of their
only cargoes, the fiery flakes of their
flaming ropes and tackle illuminating the
desolate shores of Heart's Delight. The
crews stripped of every thing they
possessed were allowed to put off in boats
unharmed and provisioned, all except
the Rear Admiral of the Fleet, who was
hung at his own yard-arm where he swung
to and fro in the fire until he fell a crack
mass into the sea.
But the booty which Alan Keith promised
his comrades had yet to come and
come it did with startling rapidity. He
was no respector of nationalities, he was a
Yankee when it pleased his fancy, and a
Britisher when most he honoured a foreign
foe. The ship in which he achieved
his greatest victories, or, as the Home
Government would have described his
worst outrages, was the St. Dennis, a
French sloop of war of thirty guns. The
capture was made a few leagues away
from the northernmost point of Labrador.
The Avenger, in response to the French-
man's salute, hoisted the stars and stripes.
The Frenchman put off a boat and invited
the Yankee to come aboard. Alan Keith
accepted the invitation. He related something
of his grievances against the mother
country and showed the papers which
Plympton had entrusted to Preedie. The
Frenchman was hilarious over the successes
he had already won at sea in attacks
on British commerce, and Alan Keith
gave Tent to his aspirations for the
freedom of the colonies and his glory in
the new flag of liberty. Furthermore,
Also spoke of his capture and burning of
the fishing ships, and the Frenchman explained
and advocated the rightful claims
of his country to all the fishing grounds
of Newfoundland and to the entire island
itself. Keith found it rather difficult to
sympathise with his host in regard in the
French pretensions of Newfoundland having
listened to many a gallant yarn of
Plympton s in which French attacks had
been gloriously defeated against overwhelming
odds. Nevertheless, he drunk
the ship's wine, praised her prowess, and
expressed a hope that France and America
would divide between, them the great new
world.
One of the Frenchman's prizes was a
Bristol merchantman fairly armed and
considered safe to hold her own, having
on board considerable treasures of gold
and precious stones ; but in an evil hour
she had been compelled to ship a fresh
crew in a foreign port who had not the
courage of Western men in face of spiteful
odds and powerful guns and so the
best of her cargo was on board the
Frenchman.
When Alan Keith returned to the
Avenger he held a council of war and
strategy and laid before his officers and
men a plan of surprise which should give
them not only booty but a new ship with
which they might hope to meet a certain
British vessel reported by a Yankee scout
to be on her way with specie to pay her
troops at Boston.
The captain of the Frenchman accepted
the return courtesy of the rebel, and it
was agreed that the two ships should
cruise in company and support each other
in any operation that might make such
alliance desirable.
Keith had resentment about the sacred
rights of hospitality. It mattered nothing
to him that he had broken bread with the
Frenchman, the Frenchman with him all
was fair or foul, he cared not which so
that he achieved his end. Indeed, he did
not stop to consider what was fair or font
in love or war and he had infused the
same devilish spirit into his men.
It blew a gale the next day and Keith
allowed his ship to get into difficulties.
She would not answer her helm. The
helmsman took care that she should not,
except to let her drift upon the French
man in such a way that the booms and
rigging of the two vessels became sufficiently
entangled for carrying out the in-
famous plot of the English commander.
When the Frenchman was most engaged
in helping his ally, Keith's crew, armed
to the teeth" suddenly sprang upon the
unsuspecting Frenchman's deck and almost
without a blow made prize of the
rich and splendidly equipped cruiser.
Dismantling his own guns, removing
such stores as might be useful on the
prize, clipping the Avenger either for
offence or defence, the foreigners were
transferred to the now discarded, ship on
board of which Admiral Ristack had
sailed into the peaceful harbour of Heart's
Delight.
The change from one ship to the other
was not made without some trouble, not to
say danger, for the men of St. Dennis far
outnumbered those of the Avenger, and in
the midst of the operation the outlook announced
a strange sail " and in his next
breath pronounced her " a three decker."
Keith took the glass himself and endorsed
the correctness of the lookout vision.
Now my lads cast off the Mossoos P Is
that the last boat ?"
" Aye, aye, sir."
" Let her go."
" She's away, sir," was the answer, as
the Avenger's whale boat plunged into
the foam and made for the Avenger that
was lying to somewhat uncomfortably the
wind still blowing half a gale.
" Noo Scot," shouted Alan, " see if the
Frenchman understands ye as well as the
ship we've just left. Hard up with your'
helm ! We'll show the stranger a clean
pair of' heels. She ' carries a real old
British Y ice-Admiral's flag and has three
rows of teeth just as angry as a shark's.
Head up, man! What ails ye! Now
Nicol, my son, all hands, pack on all sail !
From royal to stunsail. Handy man !
It's cursed strange if a French cruiser
does no answer her helm when its to run
before the foe ! , That's it. Cberrily my
lads, and now for Wilderness Creek with
extra grog and a division of booty !"
"Tire Avenger stopped "up and down in
the foaming waters, waiting to; see the
capture of their treacherous enemy and
the great mountainous Britisher came on
under a heavy pressure of canvas on her
trip of inquiry and investigation. Alan
Keith had not designed to answer her
signals, he had made up his mind to get
away from her. "
It's no dishonour, lads," he said " to
show this Vice-Admiral our stern, all the
mair that we cannot yet understand our
French lassie's ways. By - lads she's
coming down upon us ; we'll barely clear
her broadside if she delivers it. Ah, ah,
he lens we'll do it!"
As they did, for the mighty hail of lead
hurled past them. For a moment it seemed
as if the St Dennis had caught herself
the scent of danger and was willing to
escape. The next moment bending before
the wind that filled every sail she fairly
bounded over the waves her course dead
on towards Promontory Rock.
The warship gave chase and sent a
flying shot or two in the wake of the
miser to keep the game alive, but the St.
Dennis gradually drew out of range.
Then the enemy manoeuvred smartly for
so large a vessel to come by the wind and
lay the retreating ship once more under
her guns, evidently expecting the St.
Dennis to change her- course, which
otherwise must land but upon the rocks
of Labrador. Several of Keith's own men
in whispers, questioned the wisdom of
trying to make Wilderness Greek in such
a gale. They had made their first entrance
through the rocky waterways in fine
weather. The dangers were sufficiently
apparent then, but now with the clouds
so heavy that it was difficult to say which
was sea and which sky and with a ship
that was new to them, even Donald Nicol
questioned the wisdom of his chief is
steering for Wilderness Greek.
" Better die fighting on our ship than
broken to bits on the rocks," said Nicol.
Keith heard the remark. It was intended
for him. He paid no attention to
it. While he issued his orders as calmly
as if he were piloting a yacht on a calm
and sunny lake be watched intently the
chasing ship.
1 " She leaves us to our fate, he said
presently to Preedie who stood by his
side. " Ah, ah ! my lads, she > quits the
'chase by the honour of bonnie Scotland
if she'd asked us once we'd been lost !"
The commander of the three-decker was
not to be tempted beyond the line of safe
navigation. He lay to and watched the'
cruiser as she pulled on her way to what
not he alone but safer mariners on board
the flying ship regarded as her sure and
unavoidable destruction. ----- - -
[To be continued on Saturday."]
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