The Red Rover Part 44

"Though her beauty be so rare," he answered with vehemence, "let her not prize it too highly. Woman cannot tame his temper!"

"Is he then so hard of heart? Think you that a question from this fair one would be denied?"

"Hear me, Lady," he said, with an earnestness that was no less remarkable than the plaintive softness of the tones in which he spoke; "I have seen more, in the last two crowded years of my life, than many youths would witness between childhood and the age of man. This is no place for innocence and beauty. Oh! quit the ship, if you leave it as you came, without a deck to lay your head under!"

"It may be too late to follow such advice," Mrs Wyllys gravely replied, glancing her eye at the silent Gertrude as she spoke. "But tell me more of this extraordinary vessel. Roderick, you were not born to fill the station in which I find you?"

The boy shook his head, but remained with downcast eyes, apparently not disposed to answer further on such a subject.

"How is it that I find the 'Dolphin' bearing different hues to-day from what she did yesterday? and why is it that neither then, nor now, does she resemble in her paint, the slaver of Newport harbour?"

"And why is it," returned the boy, with a smile in which melancholy struggled powerfully with bitterness "that none can look into the secret heart of him who makes those changes at will? If all remained the same, but the paint of the ship, one might still be happy in her!"

"Then, Roderick, you are not happy: Shall I intercede with Captain Heidegger for your discharge?"

"I could never wish to serve another."

"How! Do you complain, and yet embrace your fetters?"

"I complain not."

The governess eyed him closely; and, after a moment's pause, she continued,--

"Is it usual to see such riotous conduct among the crew as we have this day witnessed?"

"It is not. You have little to fear from the people; he who brought them under knows how to keep them down."

"They are enlisted by order of the King?"

"The King! Yes, he is surely a King who has no equal."

"But they dared to threaten the life of Mr Wilder. Is a seaman, in a King's ship, usually so bold?"

The boy glanced a look at Mrs Wyllys; as if he would say, he understood her affected ignorance of the character of the vessel, but again he chose to continue silent.

"Think you, Roderick," continued the governess, who no longer deemed it necessary to pursue her covert inquiries on that particular subject; "think you, Roderick, that the Rov--that is, that Captain Heidegger will suffer us to land at the first port which offers?"

"Many have been pa.s.sed since you reached the ship."

"Ay, many that are inconvenient; but, when one shall be gained where his pursuits will allow his ship to enter?"

"Such places are not common."

"But, should it occur, do you not think he will permit us to land? We have gold to pay him for his trouble."

"He cares not for gold. I never ask him for it; that he does not fill my hand."

"You must be happy, then. Plenty of gold will compensate for a cold look at times."

"Never!" returned the boy, with quickness and energy. "Had I the ship filled with the dross, I would give it all to bring a look of kindness into his eye."

Mrs Wyllys started, no less at the fervid manner of the lad than at the language. Rising from her seat, she approached nigher to him, and in a situation where the light of the lamp fell full upon his lineaments. She saw the large drop that broke out from beneath a long and silken lash, to roll down a cheek which, though embrowned by the sun, was deepening with a flush that gradually stole into it, as her own gaze became more settled; and then her eyes fell slowly and keenly along the person of the lad, until they reached even the delicate feet, that seemed barely able to uphold him. The usually pensive and mild countenance of the governess changed to a look of cold regard, and her whole form appeared to elevate itself, in chaste matronly dignity, as she sternly asked,--

"Boy, have you a mother?"

"I know not," was the answer that came from lips that scarcely severed to permit the smothered sounds to escape.

"It is enough; another time I will speak further to you. Ca.s.sandra will in future do the service of this cabin; when I have need of you, the gong shall be touched."

The head of Roderick fell nearly to his bosom He shrunk from before that cold and searching eye which followed his form, until it had disappeared through the hatch, and whose look was then bent rapidly, and not without a shade of alarm, on the face of the wondering but silent Gertrude.

A gentle tap at the door broke in upon the flood of reflection which was crowding on the mind of the governess. She gave the customary answer; and, before time was allowed for any interchange of ideas between her and her pupil, the Rover entered.

Chapter XXIII.

"I melt, and am not of stronger earth than others."--_Coriola.n.u.s_

The females received their visiter with a restraint which will be easily understood when the subject of their recent conversation is recollected.

The sinking of Gertrude's form was deep and hurried, but her governess maintained the coldness of her air with greater self-composure. Still, there was a gleaming of powerful anxiety in the watchful glance that she threw towards her guest, as though she would divine the motive of the visit by the wanderings of his changeful eye, even before his lips had parted in the customary salute.

The countenance of the Rover himself was thoughtful to gravity. He bowed as he came within the influence of the lamp, and his voice was heard muttering some low and hasty syllables, that conveyed no meaning to the ears of his listeners. Indeed, so great was the abstraction in which he was lost, that he had evidently prepared to throw his person on the vacant divan, without explanation or apology, like one who took possession of his own; though recollection returned just in time to prevent this breach of decorum. Smiling, and repeating his bow, with a still deeper inclination, he advanced with perfect self-possession to the table, where he expressed his fears that Mrs Wyllys might deem his visit unseasonable or perhaps not announced with sufficient ceremony. During this short introduction his voice was bland as woman's, and his mien courteous, as though he actually felt himself an intruder in the cabin of a vessel in which he was literally a monarch.

"But, unseasonable as is the hour," he continued, "I should have gone to my cott with a consciousness of not having discharged all the duties of an attentive and considerate host, had I forgotten to rea.s.sure you of the tranquillity of the ship, after the scene you have this day witnessed. I have pleasure in saying, that the humour of my people is already expended, and that lambs, in their nightly folds, are not more placid than they are at this minute in their hammocks."

"The authority that so promptly quelled the disturbance is happily ever present to protect us," returned the cautious governess; "we repose entirely on your discretion and generosity."

"You have not misplaced your confidence. From the danger of mutiny, at least, you are exempt."

"And from all others, I trust."

"This is a wild and fickle element we dwell on," he answered, while he bowed an acknowledgment for the politeness, and took the seat to which the other invited him by a motion of the hand; "but you know its character, and need not be told that we seamen are seldom certain of any of our movements I loosened the cords of discipline myself to-day," he added, after a moment's pause, "and in some measure invited the broil that followed: But it is pa.s.sed, like the hurricane and the squall; and the ocean is not now smoother than the tempers of my knaves."

"I have often witnessed these rude sports in vessels of the King; but I do not remember to have known any more serious result than the settlement of some ancient quarrel, or some odd freak of nautical humour, which has commonly proved as harmless as it has been quaint."

"Ay; but the ship which often runs the hazards of the shoals gets wrecked at last," muttered the Rover "I rarely give the quarter-deck up to the people, without keeping a vigilant watch on their humours; but--to-day"----

"You were speaking of to-day."

"Neptune, with his coa.r.s.e devices, is no stranger to you, Madam."

"I have seen the G.o.d in times past."

"'Twas thus I understood it;--under the line?"