Micah Clarke<br />His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During by Arthur Conan Doyle (read e books online free txt) ๐
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Read book online ยซMicah Clarke<br />His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During by Arthur Conan Doyle (read e books online free txt) ๐ยป. Author - Arthur Conan Doyle
โIt is a good bit of steel, Dick,โ said one, putting the point against the stone floor, and pressing down until he touched it with the handle. โSee, with what a snap it rebounds! No makerโs name, but the date 1638 is stamped upon the pommel. Where did you get it, fellow?โ he asked, fixing his keen gaze upon my face.
โIt was my fatherโs before me,โ I answered.
โThen I trust that he drew it in a better quarrel than his son hath done,โ said the taller officer, with a sneer.
โIn as good, though not in a better,โ I returned. โThat sword hath always been drawn for the rights and liberties of Englishmen, and against the tyranny of kings and the bigotry of priests.โ
โWhat a tag for a playhouse, Dick,โ cried the officer. โHow doth it run? โThe bigotry of kings and the tyranny of priests.โ Why, if well delivered by Betterton close up to the footlights, with one hand upon his heart and the other pointing to the sky, I warrant the pit would rise at it.โ
โVery like,โ said the other, twirling his moustache. โBut we have no time for fine speeches now. What are we to do with the little one?โ
โHang him,โ the other answered carelessly.
โNo, no, your most gracious honours,โ howled Master Tetheridge, suddenly writhing out of the corporalโs grip and flinging himself upon the floor at their feet. โDid I not tell ye where ye could find one of the stoutest soldiers of the rebel army? Did not I guide ye to him? Did not I even creep up and remove his sword lest any of the Kingโs subjects be slain in the taking of him? Surely, surely, ye would not use me so scurvily when I have done ye these services? Have I not made good my words? Is he not as I described him, a giant in stature and of wondrous strength? The whole army will bear me out in it, that he was worth any two in single fight. I have given him over to ye. Surely ye will let me go!โ
โVery well deliveredโplaguily so!โ quoth the little officer, clapping the palm of one hand softly against the back of the other. โThe emphasis was just, and the enunciation clear. A little further back towards the wings, corporal, if you please. Thank you! Now, Dick, it is your cue.โ
โNay, John, you are too absurd!โ cried the other impatiently. โThe mask and the buskins are well enough in their place, but you look upon the play as a reality and upon the reality as but a play. What this reptile hath said is true. We must keep faith with him if we wish that others of the country folk should give up the fugitives. There is no help for it!โ
โFor myself I believe in Jeddart law,โ his companion answered. โI would hang the man first and then discuss the question of our promise. However, pink me if I will obtrude my opinion on any man!โ
โNay, it cannot be,โ the taller said. โCorporal, do you take him down. Henderson will go with you. Take from him that plate and sword, which his mother would wear with as good a grace. And hark ye, corporal, a few touches of thy stirrup leathers across his fat shoulders might not be amiss, as helping him to remember the Kingโs dragoons.โ
My treacherous companion was dragged off, struggling and yelping, and presently a series of piercing howls, growing fainter and fainter as he fled before his tormentors, announced that the hint had been taken. The two officers rushed to the little window of the mill and roared with laughter, while the troopers, peeping furtively over their shoulders, could not restrain themselves from joining in their mirth, from which I gathered that Master Tetheridge, as, spurred on by fear, he hurled his fat body through hedges and into ditches, was a somewhat comical sight.
โAnd now for the other,โ said the little officer, turning away from the window and wiping the tears of laughter from his face. โThat beam over yonder would serve our purpose. Where is Hangman Broderick, the Jack Ketch of the Royals?โ
โHere I am, sir,โ responded a sullen, heavy-faced trooper, shuffling forward; โI have a rope here with a noose.โ
โThrow it over the beam, then. What is amiss with your hand, you clumsy rogue, that you should wear linen round it?โ
โMay it please you, sir,โ the man answered, โit was all through an ungrateful, prick-eared Presbyterian knave whom I hung at Gommatch. I had done all that could be done for him. Had he been at Tyburn he could scarce have met with more attention. Yet when I did put my hand to his neck to see that all was as it should be, he did fix me with his teeth, and hath gnawed a great piece from my thumb.โ
โI am sorry for you,โ said the officer. โYou know, no doubt, that the human bite under such circumstances is as deadly as that of the mad dog, so that you may find yourself snapping and barking one of these fine mornings. Nay, turn not pale! I have heard you preach patience and courage to your victims. You are not afraid of death?โ
โNot of any Christian death, your Honour. Yet, ten shillings a week is scarce enough to pay a man for an end like that!โ
โNay, it is all a lottery,โ remarked the Captain cheerily. โI have heard that in these cases a man is so drawn up that his heels do beat a tattoo against the back of his head. But, mayhap, it is not as painful as it would appear. Meanwhile, do you proceed to do your office.โ
Three or four troopers caught me by the arms, but I shook them off as best I might, and walked with, as I trust, a steady step and a cheerful face under the beam, which was a great smoke-blackened rafter passing from one side of the chamber to the other. The rope was thrown over this, and the noose placed round my neck with trembling fingers by the hangman, who took particular care to keep beyond the range of my teeth. Half-a-dozen dragoons seized the further end of the coil, and stood ready to swing me into eternity. Through all my adventurous life I have never been so close upon the threshold of death as at that moment, and yet I declare to you that, terrible as my position was, I could think of nothing but the tattoo marks upon old Solomon Sprentโs arm, and the cunning fashion in which he had interwoven the red and the blue. Yet I was keenly alive to all that was going on around me. The scene of the bleak stone-floored room, the single narrow window, the two lounging elegant officers, the pile of arms in the corner, and even the texture of the coarse red serge and the patterns of the great brass buttons upon the sleeve of the man who held me, are all stamped clearly upon my mind.
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