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) π
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Read book online Β«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) πΒ». Author - Arthur Conan Doyle
βWe shall see what my poor larder can furnish forth,β said he. βMeanwhile, this odour may be offensive to your untrained nostrils, so we shall away with it. He threw a few grains of some balsamic resin into the brazier, which at once filled the chamber with a most agreeable perfume. He then laid a white cloth upon the table, and taking from a cupboard a dish of cold trout and a large meat pasty, he placed them upon it, and invited us to draw up our settles and set to work.
βI would that I had more toothsome fare to offer ye,β said he. βWere we at Snellaby Hall, ye should not be put off in this scurvy fashion, I promise ye. This may serve, however, for hungry men, and I can still lay my hands upon a brace of bottles of the old Alicant.β So saying, he brought a pair of flasks out from a recess, and having seen us served and our glasses filled, he seated himself in a high-backed oaken chair and presided with old-fashioned courtesy over our feast. As we supped, I explained to him what our errand was, and narrated the adventures of the night, without making mention of our destination.
βYou are bound for Monmouthβs camp,β he said quietly, when I had finished, looking me full in the face with his keen dark eyes. βI know it, but ye need not fear lest I betray you, even were it in my power. What chance, think ye, hath the Duke against the Kingβs forces?β
βAs much chance as a farmyard fowl against a spurred gamecock, did he rely only on those whom he hath with him,β Saxon answered. βHe hath reason to think, however, that all England is like a powder magazine, and he hopes to be the spark to set it alight.β
The old man shook his head sadly. βThe King hath great resources,β he remarked. βWhere is Monmouth to get his trained soldiers?β
βThere is the militia,β I suggested.
βAnd there are many of the old parliamentary breed, who are not too far gone to strike a blow for their belief,β said Saxon. βDo you but get half-a-dozen broad-brimmed, snuffle-nosed preachers into a camp, and the whole Presbytery tribe will swarm round them like flies on a honey-pot. No recruiting sergeants will ever raise such an army as did Nollβs preachers in the eastern counties, where the promise of a seat by the throne was thought of more value than a ten-pound bounty. I would I could pay mine own debts with these same promises.β
βI should judge from your speech, sir,β our host observed, βthat you are not one of the sectaries. How comes it, then, that you are throwing the weight of your sword and your experience into the weaker scale?β
βFor the very reason that it is the weaker scale,β said the soldier of fortune. βI should gladly have gone with my brother to the Guinea coast and had no say in the matter one way or the other, beyond delivering letters and such trifles. Since I must be doing something, I choose to fight for Protestantism and Monmouth. It is nothing to me whether James Stuart or James Walters sits upon the throne, but the court and army of the King are already made up. Now, since Monmouth hath both courtiers and soldiers to find, it may well happen that he may be glad of my services and reward them with honourable preferment.β
βYour logic is sound,β said our host, βsave only that you have omitted the very great chance which you will incur of losing your head if the Dukeβs party are borne down by the odds against them.β
βA man cannot throw a main without putting a stake on the board,β said Saxon.
βAnd you, young sir,β the old man asked, βwhat has caused you to take a hand in so dangerous a game?β
βI come of a Roundhead stock,β I answered, βand my folk have always fought for the liberty of the people and the humbling of tyranny. I come in the place of my father.β
βAnd you, sir?β our questioner continued, looking at Reuben.
βI have come to see something of the world, and to be with my friend and companion here,β he replied.
βAnd I have stronger reasons than any of ye,β Sir Jacob cried, βfor appearing in arms against any man who bears the name of Stuart. Had I not a mission here which cannot be neglected, I might myself be tempted to hie westward with ye, and put these grey hairs of mine once more into the rough clasp of a steel headpiece. For where now is the noble castle of Snellaby, and where those glades and woods amidst which the Clancings have grown up, and lived and died, ere ever Norman William set his foot on English soil? A man of tradeβa man who, by the sweat of his half-starved workers, had laid by ill-gotten wealth, is now the owner of all that fair property. Should I, the last of the Clancings, show my face upon it, I might be handed over to the village beadle as a trespasser, or scourged off it perhaps by the bowstrings of insolent huntsmen.β
βAnd how comes so sudden a reverse of fortune?β I asked.
βFill up your glasses!β cried the old man, suiting the action to the word. βHereβs a toast for you! Perdition to all faithless princes! How came it about, ye ask? Why, when the troubles came upon the first Charles, I stood by him as though he had been mine own brother. At Edgehill, at Naseby, in twenty skirmishes and battles, I fought stoutly in his cause, maintaining a troop of horse at my own expense, formed from among my own gardeners, grooms, and attendants. Then the military chest ran low, and money must be had to carry on the contest. My silver chargers and candlesticks were thrown into the melting-pot, as were those of many another cavalier. They went in metal and they came out as troopers and pikemen. So we tided over a few months until again the purse was empty, and again we filled it amongst us. This time it was the home farm and the oak trees that went. Then came Marston Moor, and every penny and man was needed to repair that great disaster. I flinched not, but gave everything. This boiler of soap, a prudent, fat-cheeked man, had kept himself free from civil broils, and had long had a covetous eye upon the castle. It was his ambition, poor worm, to be a gentleman, as though a gabled roof and a crumbling house could ever make him that. I let him have his way, however, and threw the sum received, every guinea of it, into the Kingβs coffers. And so I held
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