Читать книгу Captain Blood: His Odyssey / Одиссея капитана Блада - Рафаэль Сабатини - Страница 4

Peter Blood was brought to trial two months later – on the 19th of September. He was charged with high treason. We know that he was not guilty of this; but by the time of the trial he felt he could do what he was charged with. After those two months he hated King James and his people. It shows that he was a brave man and that he had not gone mad.

What was happening to him was terrible, but there were two reasons to be grateful. The first was that his trial took place at all; the second was that his trial took place on the 19th of September, and not a day earlier. It helped him to escape the gallows.

Easily the bloodthirsty Colonel Kirke might have hanged him in the market-place in Bridgewater among other prisoners. The Colonel might have hanged all the prisoners, but Bishop Mews, who had been elected Bishop of Winchester a year earlier in 1684, finally put an end to the hanging.

Even so, in that first week after Sedgemoor, Kirke and Feversham put to death over a hundred men after a quick trial. They had built many gallows and they wanted to hang people on them. They did not care what innocent lives they took. The life of a man did not mean anything to them.

Peter Blood survived and had to march from Bridgewater to Taunton among many prisoners, chained in pairs. Wounded prisoners sat in carts. Many of them died on the way. When Blood said that he was a doctor and wanted to help the wounded, the guards told him that they would beat him with sticks. It was then that he actually regretted that he had not been out with Monmouth.

He was chained to Jeremy Pitt on the march. They had also been together in the crowded prison after their arrest during those hot days of July, August, and September.

In prison they got some news from the outside world. One of them was the story of Monmouth’s death. Many of those who supported the Duke refused to believe it. They said that a man who looked like Monmouth had been killed and that Monmouth had survived and would come again.

Mr. Blood did not care for any of these stories. But one thing moved him and made him hate King James even more. His Majesty had gone to see Monmouth before his death. He had not been going to pardon him; he had only wanted to see his unfortunate nephew suffer.

Later they heard that Lord Grey had bought his freedom for forty thousand pounds. He had been the main leader of the rebellion after the Duke or even before him.

“If I had known before what I know today, I would have been among the rebels.” And then he suddenly asked young Pitt: “And where is Lord Gildoy now?”

Young Pitt looked at him. His grey eyes were round and questioning. Blood explained:

“Sure, now, we’ve never seen him since that day at the farm. He is a rich man and he can buy his freedom. Only those who followed are waiting for the gallows now; those who had led them are free.”

He laughed.

Later Mr. Blood, Pitt, and Baynes went into the great hall of Taunton Castle to take their trial.

There were many people in the hall, most of them were ladies. The walls of the hall were red; the Lord Chief Justice was bloodthirsty, so he liked the colour.

In the hall sat the five Lords Commissioners[14]_{in their red} robes. Baron Jefrf eys of Wem sat in the middle place.

The prisoners walked in under guard one after the other. The crier called for silence, and the voices became quiet. Mr. Blood looked with interest at the twelve good and true members of the jury. They looked neither good nor true. They were twelve scared men and they stood between the sword of the Lord Chief Justice and their own conscience.

Then Mr. Blood looked at the Lords Commissioners and Lord Jefrf eys. He knew how bloodthirsty Lord Jefrf eys was.

Lord Jefrf eys was a tall man in his forties, with an oval beautiful face. His face was very pale, only his full lips were red. Something in those lips ruined that beautiful face. The doctor in Mr. Blood looked at him with interest. He knew that the man suffered from a disease and that he led such a life in spite of it – or even because of it.

“Peter Blood, hold up your hand!”

When Mr. Blood raised his hand, the clerk told him that he was a false traitor against King James the Second. Mr. Blood was then told to say whether he was guilty or not guilty. He answered more than was asked.

“I am innocent.”

A small man at a table before and to the right of him stood up. It was Mr. Pollexfen, the Judge-Advocate[15].

“Are you guilty or not guilty?” said this gentleman.

“Not guilty.” said Peter Blood. And he went on, speaking to the bench. “I am only guilty, because I didn’t have enough patience. I spent two months in prison with great danger to my health and even life…”

He would have said more; but then the Lord Chief Justice started speaking in a gentle and slightly sad voice.

“We must follow the usual methods of trial, so I must interrupt you. I’m sure you do not know the forms of law?”

“I don’t, my lord, and I would not want to learn them.”

The Lord Chief Justice smiled.

“I believe you. We shall hear you when you come to your defense. But now you cannot say anything.”

Mr. Blood answered that he would be tried by God and his country. The clerk then called upon Andrew Baynes to hold up his hand.

When Baynes said he was not guilty, the clerk called upon Pitt, who said he was guilty. The Lord Chief Justice was happy to hear that.

“Come; that’s better. If he answered as the other two rebels, there would never be an end.”

After those words, Mr. Pollexfen stood up. He said that there was a general case against the three men, and a particular case against Peter Blood.

The only witness for the King was Captain Hobart. He told the jury how he had found and taken the three prisoners, together with Lord Gildoy. He would have hanged Pitt, but had listened to the lies of the prisoner Blood and believed that Pitt was a noble man.

As the Captain finished, Lord Jefrf eys looked at Peter Blood.

“Will the prisoner Blood ask the witness any questions?”

“No, my lord. He has told you exactly what happened”

“I am glad. For we always have the truth in the end. Be sure of that.”

Baynes and Pitt admitted that the Captain’s evidence was accurate. The Lord Chief Justice sighed. He was relieved.

“If this is so, let us continue, because we have much to do.” His voice was not gentle anymore. “I think, Mr. Pollexfen, now when these three prisoners admitted their treason, there is no more to be said.”

Peter Blood spoke and members of the jury could almost hear laughter in his voice.

“There’s much more to be said.”

Lord Jefrf eys looked at him, first in surprise, then in anger.

“How now? Would you waste our time?”

“I would like to speak in my defense, as you promised me.”

“Why, so you shall.” The Lord Chief Justice took a handkerchief with his delicate unusually white hand and touched his lips and then his brow with it. Peter Blood saw that the disease that was destroying him made him feel pain. “So you shall. But after you admitted your treason, what defense is there?”

“You shall judge, my lord.”

“That is why I sit here.”

“And so shall you, gentlemen.” Blood looked from judge to jury. The jury moved under the look of his blue eyes.

“Captain Hobart has told you what he knows – that he found me at the farm on the Monday morning after the battle at Weston. But he has not told you what I did there.”

Again the Judge broke in. “Why, what should you have been doing there among rebels? Two of them – Lord Gildoy and your friend there – have already admitted their guilt.”

“That is what I would like to tell you.”

“Well, do, but be brief, man.”

“I was there, my lord, as a doctor, to help the wounded Lord Gildoy.”

“What’s this? Do you tell us that you are a doctor?”

“A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin.”

“Good God!” cried Lord Jefrf eys and looked at the jury. “You heard the witness say that he had known him in France some years ago? He was then an oficf er in the French service. You heard the prisoner admit that the witness had spoken the truth?”

“That is true. What I am telling you is also true. For some years I was a soldier; but before that I was a doctor, and I have been a doctor in Bridgewater since last January. I can bring a hundred witnesses to prove.”

“Don’t waste our time with that. I will ask you only this: Why were you with the army of the Duke of Monmouth?”

“I was never with that army. No witness has said that, and no witness will. What should I as a papist be doing in the army of the Protestant leader?”

“A papist?” The judge looked at him for a moment. “You are more like a Presbyterian. I can smell a Presbyterian forty miles.”

“Then why can’t you smell a papist at four steps?”

Some people in the galleries laughed, but they were silent when the Judge looked at them.

Lord Jefrf eys raised his delicate white hand.

“We won’t talk about your religion, friend,” said he. “But listen to what I say to you. Know, friend, there is no religion that says that lying is a good thing. There is nothing more precious in the world than a soul. Why were you taken with these rebels?”

Peter Blood looked at him for a moment. The man was a nightmare judge. Then he replied:

“I was asked that morning to help Lord Gildoy, and as I am a doctor it was my duty to help him.”

“Was it?” The Judge – his face white, his lips blood red – looked upon him in anger. Then he sighed. His voice was gentle and sad again. “Lord! How you waste our time. Who asked you?”

“Master Pitt, you can ask him.”

“Oh! Master Pitt is a traitor. He admitted it. Is that your witness?”

“There is also Master Baynes here, who can answer to it.”

“Good Master Baynes will have to answer for himself. Come, come, sir; are these your only witnesses?”

“I could bring others from Bridgewater, who saw me set out that morning.”

The Judge smiled. “It will not be necessary. I do not want to waste more time on you. Answer me only this: When Master Pitt came to ask you for help, did you know that he supported Monmouth?”

“I did, my lord.”

“You did! Ha!” Lord Jefrf eys looked at the scared jury and laughed. “Yet you went with him?”

“To help a wounded man, as was my duty.”

“Your duty, you say? Your duty is to your King and to God. But let it pass. Did he tell you who needed help?”

“Lord Gildoy – yes.”

“And you knew that Lord Gildoy had been wounded in the battle, and on what side he fought?”

“I knew.”

“And yet you went to help him?”

Peter Blood lost patience for a moment. “I cared only for his wounds, not his politics.”

Voices from the galleries and even from the jury approved him. It made the judge even angrier.

“Jesus God!” Lord Jeffreys turned, pale, to the jury. “He has said enough to hang him many times. Yet there is more. Answer me this, sir: Why did you lie to Captain Hobart about this other traitor Pitt?”

“I wanted to save him from being hanged without trial.”

“Why would you care if and how he was hanged?”

“I cared for justice. An injustice done in the name of the King hurts the King’s honour.”

Mr. Blood could see that Lord Jefrf eys did not want him to impress the jury. The judge leaned forward. “Jesus God!” he said. “I see you at the gallows already.” Lord Jefrf eys sat back again. It was as if a curtain fell. All emotion passed again from his pale face. After a moment’s pause, he turned again to the jury and spoke in a soft voice.

“Gentlemen, if any person is in rebellion against the King, and another person – who was not in rebellion – helps him, such a person is a traitor too.”

He then said that Baynes and Blood were both guilty of treason for helping a traitor. And then he sat back. For a moment he was still. He touched his lips with his handkerchief again; then he moved uneasily.

Peter Blood was so amazed that he almost forgot that his own life was in danger.

The jury found the three prisoners guilty. Peter Blood looked round the court. A voice was asking him what he had to say for himself, why he should not be hanged.

He laughed. His laughter shocked the Judge.

“Do you laugh with the rope about your neck?”

And then Blood took his revenge.

“I will tell you this. You see me – an innocent man – at the gallows. You speak of what is to happen to me. I, being a doctor, may speak of what is to happen to you. And I tell you that I would not now change places with you. I would rather go to the gallows than have the stone that you carry in your body. My death will be more pleasant than your death.”

The Lord Chief Justice sat upright, his face pale. While you might have counted to ten there was no sound in that court after Peter Blood had finished speaking. All those who knew Lord Jeffreys thought that he would become furious. But he did not.

Slowly, the colour came back into that pale face. Lord Jeffreys leaned forward in his blood red robe and began to speak. Everyone in the hall could see that his mind were somewhere else while his lips were speaking. He sentenced the three prisoners to death.

Peter Blood, Jeremy Pitt, and Andrew Baynes went out one after the other.

When the trial was finished, Mr. Pollexfen said quietly:

“He has frightened Lord Jefrf eys. It’s a pity he’ll be hanged. A man who can frighten Jefrf eys should go far.”