"What was the name of the wine shop?"
"De Don John of Austria."
"Did you ask leading questions? Was there any likelihood of the Dago telling you what you wanted to hear and pay for?"
"Not one little bit. I say to him, 'Who tol' Julius we was coming, and where we was gwine? Was it de Greek Paulos, clerk to the harbor mas'?' Dat was what I say to him, not to give him no lead. He say to me, it wa'n't him dis time. It was de little dark man who do de runnin' back and fort', and de word, it come from a English captain who carry a little stick instead of a sword. He wore powdered hair and he walk wif his feet straight in front of him. How do Dago know? 'Cause he saw him once talkin' to Julius. Later on, Julius he brag about dealin' wif de big gun. He say de big gun give him a hundred guineas, beside what Murad Reis send him."
"Then what was your decision on this part. Say it in plain words."
"In plain words, Cap'n, de little lord, his name Sir Godwine Tarlton, betray us to de pirate as sho as God's in heaven, and his son help him."
"Had he ever betrayed any other American ships?"
"The Dago say he did, but he can't prove it."
"Could he understand why?"
"Once he tell Julius dat dey gwine be another war wif what he call de Colonies—to make 'em come back under de English flag and all de ring leaders in de rebellion hung by de neck—and de more ships de pirates capture, de fewer for de English to have to fight. But Julius say 'at only a 'scuse. De real reason was, he hate Unity States wif poison hate."
"Then half of the duty Cap'n Phillips laid on me is done."
"Aye, sah, the truf's been 'stablished, as he done told you."
"The other half was, if he's guilty, to bring him to lawful judgment. Do you think it can ever be done?"
"Cap'n, as far as bringin' him to de bar of justice in the cou't, de Ribba Nile will freeze over bank to bank befo' we can do 'at."
"I never really hoped we could do it. We were in prison too long. Jim, do you know any other kind of lawful justice operating on this earth except that of the courts?"
"No, sah, unless de Lawd lean down and do it. What dey call de unwritten law ain't law at all."
"I don't know of any, either, but there may be such a thing. Long ago the Greeks had a goddess whose name was Nemesis. Her name came to mean punishment by the gods. They had some reason to think that the gods punished evil—perhaps there was some law of nature operating that we don't understand—it may be that great evil brings its own punishment. Many noble minds have accepted that belief. I don't deny it."
"I reckon 'at's what I meant when I said de Lawd lean down. But he don't always seem to, and 'at's where de trouble he. I can't bear to t'ink of 'at pretty little cap'n who came on de boat 'at night, wif his stick and his powder hair and his voice wif de east wind in it. De blood of our boys is on his little white hand, de black of de treachery in his soul, but what he care? De hate of freedom in his heart—for 'at what he hate when he come down to it; he want men to be his slaves, not his brothers. You swore you wouldn't take no vengeance on him—hke tiackin' him down and kihin' him. But Cap'n Wliitman, can't you do nothin' toward rightin' de ter'ble wrong?"
"I'm going to try. We'll stay in England until we succeed or have to give up. I'll seek the acquaintance of Lord Tarlton—for that's his name now. He shall see much of me."
As Jim gazed into my face, his eyes grew slowly round.
It was no great feat for an upstart with a sword of gold to hew his way into the sporting world of England and even to the fabulous province of the London buck.
To begin with, it made no small stir in the Weald when I bought Elveshurst. Moreover, my neighboring nobility and gentry soon perceived me as an unpresuming soul, knowing my place, never known to push, respectful to all, and generous with my salmon and trout waters, snipe and duck marshes, and peerless partridge cover. Mention was made that I shot quite well myself-actually, wing-shooting with shotguns proved, an easy adaption from rifle-shooting at moving game from horseback or camelback, and I had no nerves to make me flinch or fly off—but I never flaunted the skill, invariably gave my guests the best butts or walking-up, and hung modestly in the background. Meanwhile the breakfasts served before the beats, the refreshments between, and the lunches brought smoking to the field were the best that clever Alan and our highly competent kitchen staff could furnish.
Any farmer who wished could ride with the Carronade Hunt, and in addition to a great gray stallion that only my hands and tenants ever saw, my stables housed half a dozen well-chosen hunters. But I did not presume to a pink coat, was far from a thruster, and never rode over crop; so no untoward attention was drawn to the fact that almost always I was among those present at the kill.
The gray stallion had made the journey in good fettle. When I met him in Portsmouth he sniffed me uncertainly for a few seconds, then began to whinny in an agony of emotion. Presently I slipped my hand between his jaws. When he closed gently upon it with his great teeth, I knew that our long parting had been bridged and our old bond held yet.
The lords and gentlemen who hunted or angled or shot at Elveshurst began to say I was not a bad sort, considering my beginnings. A few remarked on my having done a rather handsome thing at my birthplace, in the way of the new workhouse; and it was quite decent, the way I kept my ugly face from being conspicuous. Seeing that I did not embarrass them by seeking invitations to their homes or any acquaintance with their womenfolk, they treated me with great civility when I ran across them in London.
Here I kept a rather small, quite elegant menage on Charles Street. Meeting a fellow fowler at Tattersall's, where I hung a good deal, he offered to nominate me for the Jockey Club. The turf as well as the game room was always a leveling force in English society, and this club prided itself on a man-to-man fellowship; still it numbered many a fine buck. Among the names I read that of Dick Tarlton. Although a lord's son, he was not listed as "honorable." Breeders and backers of horses think well of established stud.
Whether I would be elected would make a good bet—say three to one against—at White's. In my favor, I knew a horse from a hayrick, picking up several tidy bits at Tattersall's auctions, and had shown a good fellow at turf and paddock. Also, I had the backing of several horsemen of no mean ilk and name. What appeared most against me, my face and form and the story of humble birth, actually told for me in the upshot, since my admission to the club was such a conspicuous demonstration of true sportmanship and a rebuke to rival clubs.
Swiftly upon my election, 1 was caricatured in the Universal Magazine as a skeletonlike jockey riding a bony nag, Jim following as my groom, in a desperate race against General Smith, an upstart who had made his fortune in dubious ways in India; the goal was the glittering doorway of the Brighton Pavilion, favorite resort of the Regent. Actually the shot missed its mark. Several gentlemen stopped me to express their indignation at the "vicious" attack and to praise me for keeping my head well and my feet on the ground. It was quite possible that had I sought election in one of the great gambling clubs such as White's or Brook's, I might have obtained the honor.
I continued to frequent Almack's Assembly Rooms in King Street and Saint James CoflFee House, where anyone with a shilling in his purse could put it to hazard. Here I played deeply but carefully, and no one observed that my opponents were invariably men of great wealth, who need not quail at their losses—this in respect to my own desires and in memory of the one who had armed me with a golden sword. Still, it did not take long for me to become known as a ready gamester. I preferred faro, since it presented the most difficulty to the sharper, but was agreeable to basset and macao; and for fast play, sometimes bewildering my opponent, there was nothing better than the dice box and old-fashioned hazard.