Salute to Adventurers Read online

  CHAPTER VI.

  TELLS OF MY EDUCATION.

  I had not been a week in the place before I saw one thing very clear--that I should never get on with Mr. Lambie. His notion of business wasto walk down the street in a fine coat, and to sleep with a kerchiefover his face in some shady veranda. There was no vice in the creature,but there was mighty little sense. He lived in awe of the great andrich, and a nod from a big planter would make him happy for a week. Heused to deafen me with tales of Colonel Randolph, and worshipful Mr.Carew, and Colonel Byrd's new house at Westover, and the rare fashionin cravats that young Mr. Mason showed at the last Surrey horse-racing.Now when a Scot chooses to be a sycophant, he is more whole-hearted inthe job than any one else on the globe, and I grew very weary of Mr.Lambie. He was no better than an old wife, and as timid as a hareforbye. When I spoke of fighting the English merchants, he held up hishands as if I had uttered blasphemy. So, being determined to find outfor myself the truth about this wonderful new land, I left him thebusiness in the town, bought two good horses, hired a servant, by nameJohn Faulkner, who had worked out his time as a redemptioner, and setout on my travels.

  This is a history of doings, not of thoughts, or I would have much totell of what I saw during those months, when, lean as a bone, and brownas a hazelnut, I tracked the course of the great rivers. The roads wererough, where roads there were, but the land smiled under the sun, andthe Virginians, high and low, kept open house for the chance traveller.One night I would eat pork and hominy with a rough fellow who wascarving a farm out of the forest; and the next I would sit in a finepanelled hall and listen to gentlefolks' speech, and dine off damaskand silver. I could not tire of the green forests, or the marshes alivewith wild fowl, or the noble orchards and gardens, or even the saltydunes of the Chesapeake shore. My one complaint was that the land wasdesperate flat to a hill-bred soul like mine. But one evening, awaynorth in Stafford county, I cast my eyes to the west, and saw, blue andsharp against the sunset, a great line of mountains. It was all Isought. Somewhere in the west Virginia had her high lands, and one day,I promised myself, I would ride the road of the sun and find theirsecret.

  In these months my thoughts were chiefly of trade, and I saw enough toprove the truth of what the man Frew had told me. This richest land onearth was held prisoner in the bonds of a foolish tyranny. The richwere less rich than their estates warranted, and the poor were grounddown by bitter poverty. There was little corn in the land, tobaccobeing the sole means of payment, and this meant no trade in the commonmeaning of the word. The place was slowly bleeding to death, and I hada mind to try and stanch its wounds. The firm of Andrew Sempill waslooked on jealously, in spite of all the bowings and protestations ofMr. Lambie. If we were to increase our trade, it must be at theEnglishman's expense, and that could only be done by offering thepeople a better way of business.

  When the harvest came and the tobacco fleet arrived, I could see howthe thing worked out. Our two ships, the _Blackcock_ of Ayr and the_Duncan Davidson_ of Glasgow, had some trouble getting their cargoes.We could only deal with the smaller planters, who were not thirled tothe big merchants, and it took us three weary weeks up and down theriver-side wharves to get our holds filled. There was a madness in theplace for things from England, and unless a man could label his wares"London-made," he could not hope to catch a buyer's fancy. Why, I haveseen a fellow at a fair at Henricus selling common Virginianmocking-birds as the "best English mocking-birds". My uncle had sentout a quantity of Ayrshire cheeses, mutton hams, pickled salmon,Dunfermline linens, Paisley dimity, Alloa worsted, sweet ale fromTranent, Kilmarnock cowls, and a lot of fine feather-beds from theClydeside. There was nothing common or trashy in the whole consignment;but the planters preferred some gewgaws from Cheapside or some worthlessLondon furs which they could have bettered any day by taking a gun andhunting their own woods. When my own business was over, I would look onat some of the other ladings. There on the wharf would be the planterwith his wife and family, and every servant about the place. And therewas the merchant skipper, showing off his goods, and quoting for each aweight of tobacco. The planter wanted to get rid of his crop, and knewthat this was his only chance, while the merchant could very well sellhis leavings elsewhere. So the dice were cogged from the start, and Ihave seen a plain kitchen chair sold for fifty pounds of sweet-scented,or something like the price at which a joiner in Glasgow would make ascore and leave himself a handsome profit.

  * * * * *

  The upshot was that I paid a visit to the Governor, Mr. FrancisNicholson, whom my lord Howard had left as his deputy. GovernorNicholson had come from New York not many months before with a greatrepute for ill-temper and harsh dealing; but I liked the look of hishard-set face and soldierly bearing, and I never mind choler in a manif he have also honesty and good sense. So I waited upon him at hishouse close by Middle Plantation, on the road between James Town andYork River.

  I had a very dusty reception. His Excellency sat in his long parlouramong a mass of books and papers and saddle-bags, and glared at me frombeneath lowering brows. The man was sore harassed by the King'sGovernment on one side and the Virginian Council on the other, and hetreated every stranger as a foe.

  "What do you seek from me?" he shouted. "If it is some merchants'squabble, you can save your breath, for I am sick of the Shylocks."

  I said, very politely, that I was a stranger not half a year arrived inthe country, but that I had been using my eyes, and wished to submit myviews to his consideration.

  "Go to the Council," he rasped; "go to that silken fool, His Majesty'sAttorney. My politics are not those of the leather-jaws that prate inthis land."

  "That is why I came to you," I said.

  Then without more ado I gave him my notions on the defence of thecolony, for from what I had learned I judged that would interest himmost. He heard me with unexpected patience.

  "Well, now, supposing you are right? I don't deny it. Virginia is atreasure house with two of the sides open to wind and weather. I toldthe Council that, and they would not believe me. Here are we at warwith France, and Frontenac is hammering at the gates of New York. Ifthat falls, it will soon be the turn of Maryland and next of Virginia.England's possessions in the West are indivisible, and what threatensone endangers all. But think you our Virginians can see it? When Ipresented my scheme for setting forts along the northern line, I couldnot screw a guinea out of the miscreants. The colony was poor, theycried, and could not afford it, and then the worshipful councillorsrode home to swill Madeira and loll on their London beds. God's truth!were I not a patriot, I would welcome M. Frontenac to teach themdecency."

  Now I did not think much of the French danger being far more concernedwith the peril in the West; but I held my peace on that subject. It wasnot my cue to cross his Excellency in his present humour.

  "What makes the colony poor?" I asked. "The planters are rich enough,but the richest man will grow tired of bearing the whole burden of thegovernment. I submit that His Majesty and the English laws are chieflyto blame. When the Hollanders were suffered to trade here, they paidfive shillings on every anker of brandy they brought hither, and tenshillings on every hogshead of tobacco they carried hence. Now everypenny that is raised must come out of the Virginians, and theEnglishmen who bleed the land go scot free."

  "That's true," said he, "and it's a damned disgrace. But how am I tobetter it?"

  "Clap a tax on every ship that passes Point Comfort outward bound," Isaid. "The merchants can well afford to pay it."

  "Listen to him!" he laughed. "And what kind of answer would I get frommy lord Howard and His Majesty? Every greasy member would be on hisfeet in Parliament in defence of what he called English rights. Thenthere would come a dispatch from the Government telling the poorDeputy-Governor of Virginia to go to the devil!"

  He looked at me curiously, screwing up his eyes.

  "By the way, Mr. Garvald, what is your trade?"

  "I am a merchant like the others," I said; "onl
y my ships run fromGlasgow instead of Bristol."

  "A very pretty merchant," he said quizzically. "I have heard that hawksshould not pick out hawks' eyes. What do you propose to gain, Mr.Garvald?"

  "Better business," I said. "To be honest with you, sir, I am sufferingfrom the close monopoly of the Englishman, and I think the country issuffering worse. I have a notion that things can be remedied. If youcannot put on a levy, good and well; that is your business. But I meanto make an effort on my own account."

  Then I told him something of my scheme, and he heard me out with apuzzled face.

  "Of all the brazen Scots--" he cried.

  "Scot yourself," I laughed, for his face and speech betrayed him.

  "I'll not deny that there's glimmerings of sense in you, Mr. Garvald.But how do you, a lad with no backing, propose to beat a strongmonopoly buttressed by the whole stupidity and idleness of Virginia?You'll be stripped of your last farthing, and you'll be lucky if itends there. Don't think I'm against you. I'm with you in yourprinciples, but the job is too big for you."

  "We will see," said I. "But I can take it that, provided I keep withinthe law, His Majesty's Governor will not stand in my way?"

  "I can promise you that. I'll do more, for I'll drink success to yourenterprise." He filled me a great silver tankard of spiced sack, and Iemptied it to the toast of "Honest Men."

  * * * * *

  All the time at the back of my head were other thoughts thanmerchandise. The picture which Frew had drawn of Virginia as a smilinggarden on the edge of a burning pit was stamped on my memory. I hadseen on my travels the Indians that dwelled in the Tidewater, remnantsof the old great clans of Doeg and Powhatan and Pamunkey. They werecivil enough fellows, following their own ways, and not molesting theirscanty white neighbours, for the country was wide enough for all. Butso far as I could learn, these clanlets of the Algonquin house were nomore comparable to the fighting tribes of the West than a Highlandcaddie in an Edinburgh close is to a hill Macdonald with a claymore.But the common Virginian would admit no peril, though now and then somerough landward fellow would lay down his spade, spit moodily, and tellme a grim tale. I had ever the notion to visit Frew and finish myeducation.

  It was not till the tobacco ships had gone and the autumn had grownlate that I got the chance. The trees were flaming scarlet and saffronas I rode west through the forests to his house on the South ForkRiver. There, by a wood fire in the October dusk, he fed me on wildturkey and barley bread, and listened silently to my tale.

  He said nothing when I spoke of my schemes for getting the better ofthe Englishman and winning Virginia to my side. Profits interested himlittle, for he grew his patch of corn and pumpkins, and hunted the deerfor his own slender needs. Once he broke in on my rigmarole with apiece of news that fluttered me.

  "You mind the big man you were chasing that night you and me firstforgathered? Well, I've seen him."

  "Where?" I cried, all else forgotten.

  "Here, in this very place, six weeks syne. He stalked in about ten o'the night, and lifted half my plenishing. When I got up in my bed toface him he felled me. See, there's the mark of it," and he showed along scar on his forehead. "He went off with my best axe, a gill ofbrandy, and a good coat. He was looking for my gun, too, but that wasin a hidy-hole. I got up next morning with a dizzy head, and followedhim nigh ten miles. I had a shot at him, but I missed, and his legswere too long for me. Yon's the dangerous lad."

  "Where did he go, think you?" I asked.

  "To the hills. To the refuge of every ne'er-do-weel. Belike the Indianshave got his scalp, and I'm not regretting it."

  I spent three days with Frew, and each day I had the notion that he wasputting me to the test. The first day he took me over the river into agreat tangle of meadow and woodland beyond which rose the hazy shapesof the western mountains. The man was twenty years my elder, but myyouth was of no avail against his iron strength. Though I was hard andspare from my travels in the summer heat, 'twas all I could do to keepup with him, and only my pride kept me from crying halt. Often when hestopped I could have wept with fatigue, and had no breath for a word,but his taciturnity saved me from shame.

  In a hollow among the woods we came to a place which sent him on hisknees, peering and sniffing like a wild-cat.

  "What make you of that?" he asked.

  I saw nothing but a bare patch in the grass, some broken twigs, and afew ashes.

  "It's an old camp," I said.

  "Ay," said he. "Nothing more? Use your wits, man."

  I used them, but they gave me no help.

  "This is the way I read it, then," he said. "Three men camped herebefore midday. They were Cherokees, of the Matabaw tribe, and one was amaker of arrows. They were not hunting, and they were in a mightyhurry. Just now they're maybe ten miles off, or maybe they're watchingus. This is no healthy country for you and me."

  He took me homeward at a speed which well-nigh foundered me, and, whenI questioned him, he told me where he got his knowledge.

  They were three men, for there were three different footmarks in theashes' edge, and they were Cherokees because they made their fire inthe Cherokee way, so that the smoke ran in a tunnel into the scrub.They were Matabaws from the pattern of their moccasins. They were in ahurry, for they did not wait to scatter the ashes and clear up theplace; and they were not hunting, for they cooked no flesh. One was anarrow-maker, for he had been hardening arrow-points in the fire, andleft behind him the arrow-maker's thong.

  "But how could you know how long back this had happened?" I asked.

  "The sap was still wet in the twigs, so it could not have been muchabove an hour since they left. Besides, the smoke had blown south, forthe grass smelt of it that side. Now the wind was more to the east whenwe left, and, if you remember, it changed to the north about midday."

  I said it was a marvel, and he grunted. "The marvel is what they'vebeen doing in the Tidewater, for from the Tidewater I'll swear theycame."

  Next day he led me eastward, away back in the direction of the manors.This was an easier day, for he went slow, as if seeking for something.He picked up some kind of a trail, which we followed through the longafternoon. Then he found something, which he pocketed with a cry ofsatisfaction. We were then on the edge of a ridge, whence we lookedsouth to the orchards of Henricus.

  "That is my arrow-maker," he cried, showing me a round stone whorl."He's a careless lad, and he'll lose half his belongings ere he wins tothe hills."

  I was prepared for the wild Cherokees on our journey of yesterday, butit amazed me that the savages should come scouting into the Tidewateritself. He smiled grimly when I said this, and took from his pocket acrumpled feather.

  "That's a Cherokee badge," he said. "I found that a fortnight back onthe river-side an hour's ride out of James Town. And it wasna therewhen I had passed the same place the day before. The Tidewater thinksit has put the fear of God on the hill tribes, and here's a redCherokee snowking about its back doors."

  The last day he took me north up a stream called the North Fork, whichjoined with his own river. I had left my musket behind, for this heavytravel made me crave to go light, and I had no use for it. But that dayit seemed we were to go hunting.

  He carried an old gun, and slew with it a deer in a marshy hollow--apretty shot, for the animal was ill-placed. We broiled a steak for ourmidday meal, and presently clambered up a high woody ridge which lookeddown on a stream and a piece of green meadow.

  Suddenly he stopped. "A buck," he whispered. "See what you can do, youthat were so ready with your pistol." And he thrust his gun into myhand.

  The beast was some thirty paces off in the dusk of the thicket. Itnettled me to have to shoot with a strange weapon, and I thought toolightly of the mark. I fired, and the bullet whistled over its back. Helaughed scornfully.

  I handed it back to him. "It throws high, and you did not warn me. Loadquick, and I'll try again."

  I heard the deer crashing through the hill-side
thicket, and guessedthat presently it would come out in the meadow. I was right, and beforethe gun was in my hands again the beast was over the stream.

  It was a long range and a difficult mark, but I had to take the risk,for I was on my trial. I allowed for the throw of the musket and thesteepness of the hill, and pulled the trigger. The shot might have beenbetter, for I had aimed for the shoulder, and hit the neck. The buckleaped into the air, ran three yards, and toppled over. By the grace ofGod, I had found the single chance in a hundred.

  Frew looked at me with sincere respect. "That's braw shooting," hesaid. "I can't say I ever saw its equal."

  That night in the smoky cabin he talked freely for once. "I never had awife or bairn, and I lean on no man. I can fend for myself, and cook mydinner, and mend my coat when it's wanting it. When Bacon died I sawwhat was coming to this land, and I came here to await it. I've hadsome sudden calls from the red gentry, but they havena got me yet, andthey'll no get me before my time. I'm in the Lord's hands, and He has ajob for Simon Frew. Go back to your money-bags, Mr. Garvald. Beat theEnglish merchants, my lad, and take my blessing with you. But keep thatgun of yours by your bedside, for the time is coming when a man's handswill have to keep his head."