Part 21 (1/2)
”Prithee, Master Oglander,” said the old man, ”hast seen aught of young Robin Redfern these few hours past?”
”Nay,” answered Gilbert, ”he hath not been near me since I have been below.”
”Then I much fear,” returned Hartop, ”that the lad hath fallen overboard, for no man hath set eyes upon him since we shortened sail eight hours ago. We have searched for him all-wheres, but he cannot be found. As a last resource I have sent a man up the main-mast to seek him in the tops, although 'tis well-nigh impossible he can be there.”
As he spoke the old man glanced aloft through the fog, and at the same moment a voice hailed him from tops.
”Below there!” the voice cried. ”The kid is here. I have found him!”
Jacob Hartop sprang up upon the bulwarks, grasped the shrouds, and climbed up with the nimbleness of a much younger man. Gilbert watched him, and presently he disappeared into the railed gallery there. When he again appeared he was slowly descending, bearing the boy's inert form over his shoulder.
”There!” cried Hartop, as he dumped the lad down upon the deck. ”Thank the Lord y'are not starved to death up there!”
The boy looked up, dazed as if he had been suddenly aroused from sleep.
”How came you to go hiding up there?” questioned Hartop in a severe tone. ”Dost know how you have alarmed us, quotha? How came you up there, I say?”
The lad's eyes glanced about him as if in mortal fear.
”'Twas Red Bob,” he stammered. ”He's here, on board this s.h.i.+p. I was afraid of him, Master Hartop; for he doth owe me a sorry grudge for being the cause of his being put into prison. I went up the mast to hide from him, and, being there, I could not get down again, try as I would.”
”And, prithee, who might be this Red Bob of whom y'are so afraid?” asked Jacob.
And then Robin caught sight of Gilbert Oglander, and he said:
”Master Gilbert should know the man. 'Tis the man that was put into prison for stealing the ducks and geese from the Manor farm, Master Gilbert, and that attacked you in Beddington Dingle, and that robbed Master Hartop of his bag of precious stones that he had brought home from the Spanish Main.”
”Marry!” exclaimed Gilbert in surprise. ”And you say he is aboard the _Revenge_?”
”Ay, truly,” said Robin; ”and by the way he regarded me, I feel sure he doth know that it was I who raised the alarm and was the cause of his being caught.”
”You need be in no such fear of the man, my lad,” said Gilbert. ”Let him but attempt to harm you, and I warrant you he'll not soon forget it. You are in my personal charge now, Robin, and I'll see you are hurt by no man.”
Later on that same day Gilbert encountered the man Red Bob in the forward part of the s.h.i.+p, whence the lad had gone immediately after prayers to witness a strange ceremony, of which the occasion was this: that Red Bob had that day been taken in the swearing of a blasphemous oath, and was now to be punished in sight of his companions. With a general consent of all the s.h.i.+p's company, it had been ordained that any man guilty of using profane language should be condemned to wear a heavy iron chain about his neck, and that at the time of morning and evening prayers he should receive three blows given him by the boatswain. The guilty man could only free himself from the penalty by transferring it to another whom he discovered swearing. Thus did the men of the _Revenge_ endeavour to banish the vice of bad language on board.
Red Bob had worn the chain for the s.p.a.ce of seven hours, and he was standing in the midst of his fellows meekly submitting to the boatswain's blows when Gilbert appeared. Gilbert thought he had never seen a man whose face showed more of brutality and evil than this Red Bob, and as he looked at him and remembered that night in Beddington Dingle, he could not doubt that it was this same man, this poacher, who had attacked Jacob Hartop and stolen the poor old man's wallet with its jewels and the precious letter, of which so much had been said at Modbury Manor.
Jacob Hartop himself was at Gilbert's elbow as Red Bob retired towards the forecastle smarting from the boatswain's blows. As he approached them he touched his forelock, and was pa.s.sing on when Gilbert accosted him.
”Stop,” said the lad, ”I have a word or two to say to you.”
”I am at your wors.h.i.+p's service,” returned Red Bob. ”What would you?”
And then, recognizing Gilbert as the young heir of Modbury, he added: ”But I have little need to ask, methinks, for I guess that you would question me concerning the matter of the night when I was arrested and thrown into Plymouth gaol?”
Gilbert nodded. ”Yes,” he said, ”you have guessed my wish right truly.”
”Well, your honour,” said Red Bob, ”as to the poaching of the farm ducks--”
”Nay, I meant not the poaching matter,” interrupted Gilbert. ”You have had your just punishment for that, and so 'tis at an end. It was rather of the matter of your attack upon Master Hartop here, that I would know more. You see, there was a letter stolen--a letter of grave importance.”