Читать книгу The Collected Novels - William Harrison Ainsworth - Страница 83

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See there, see there, what yonder swings And creaks ‘mid whistling rain, Gibbet and steel — the accursed wheel — A murderer in his chain.

William and Helen.

As the eddying currents sweep over its plains in howling, bleak December, the horse and her rider passed over what remained of Lincolnshire. Grantham is gone, and they are now more slowly looking up the ascent of Gonerby Hill, a path well known to Turpin; where often, in bygone nights, many a purse had changed its owner. With that feeling of independence and exhilaration which every one feels, we believe, on having climbed the hill-side, Turpin turned to gaze around. There was triumph in his eye. But the triumph was checked as his glance fell upon a gibbet near him to the right, on the round point of hill which is a landmark to the wide vale of Belvoir. Pressed as he was for time, Dick immediately struck out of the road, and approached the spot where it stood. Two scarecrow objects, covered with rags and rusty links of chains, depended from the tree. A night crow screaming around the carcases added to the hideous effect of the scene. Nothing but the living highwayman and his skeleton brethren was visible upon the solitary spot. Around him was the lonesome waste of hill, o’erlooking the moonlit valley: beneath his feet, a patch of bare and lightning-blasted sod: above, the wan, declining moon and skies, flaked with ghostly clouds; before him, the bleached bodies of the murderers, for such they were.

“Will this be my lot, I marvel?” said Dick, looking upwards, with an involuntary shudder.

“Ay, marry will it,” rejoined a crouching figure, suddenly springing from beside a tuft of briars that skirted the blasted ground.

Dick started in his saddle, while Bess reared and plunged at the sight of this unexpected apparition.

“What, ho! thou devil’s dam, Barbara, is it thou?” exclaimed Dick, reassured upon discovering it was the gipsy queen, and no spectre whom he beheld. “Stand still, Bess — stand, lass. What dost thou here, mother of darkness? Art gathering mandrakes for thy poisonous messes, or pilfering flesh from the dead? Meddle not with their bones, or I will drive thee hence. What dost thou here, I say, old dam of the gibbet?”

“I came to die here,” replied Barbara, in a feeble tone; and, throwing back her hood, she displayed features well-nigh as ghastly as those of the skeletons above her.

“Indeed,” replied Dick. “You’ve made choice of a pleasant spot, it must be owned. But you’ll not die yet?”

“Do you know whose bodies these are?” asked Barbara, pointing upwards.

“Two of your race,” replied Dick; “right brethren of the blade.”

“Two of my sons,” returned Barbara; “my twin children. I am come to lay my bones beneath their bones — my sepulchre shall be their sepulchre; my body shall feed the fowls of the air as theirs have fed them. And if ghosts can walk, we’ll scour this heath together. I tell you what, Dick Turpin,” said the hag, drawing as near to the highwayman as Bess would permit her; “dead men walk and ride — ay, ride! — there’s a comfort for you. I’ve seen these do it. I have seen them fling off their chains, and dance — ay, dance with me — with their mother. No revels like dead men’s revels, Dick. I shall soon join ’em.”

“You will not lay violent hands upon yourself, mother?” said Dick, with difficulty mastering his terror.

“No,” replied Barbara, in an altered tone. “But I will let nature do her task. Would she could do it more quickly. Such a life as mine won’t go out without a long struggle. What have I to live for now? All are gone — she and her child! But what is this to you? You have no child; and if you had, you could not feel like a father. No matter — I rave. Listen to me. I have crawled hither to die. ’Tis five days since I beheld you, and during that time food has not passed these lips, nor aught of moisture, save Heaven’s dew, cooled this parched throat, nor shall they to the last. That time cannot be far off; and now can you not guess how I mean to die? Begone and leave me; your presence troubles me. I would breathe my last breath alone, with none to witness the parting pang.”

“I will not trouble you longer, mother,” said Dick, turning his mare; “nor will I ask your blessing.”

“My blessing!” scornfully ejaculated Barbara. “You shall have it if you will, but you will find it a curse. Stay! a thought strikes me. Whither are you going?”

“To seek Sir Luke Rookwood,” replied Dick. “Know you aught of him?”

“Sir Luke Rookwood! You seek him, and would find him?” screamed Barbara.

“I would,” said Dick.

“And you will find him,” said Barbara; “and that ere long. I shall ne’er again behold him. Would I could. I have a message for him — one of life and death. Will you convey it to him?”

“I will,” said the highwayman.

“Swear by those bones to do so,” cried Barbara, pointing with her skinny fingers to the gibbet; “that you will do my bidding.”

“I swear,” cried Dick.

“Fail not, or we will haunt thee to thy life’s end,” cried Barbara; adding, as she handed a sealed package to the highwayman, “Give this to Sir Luke — to him alone. I would have sent it to him by other hands ere this, but my people have deserted me — have pillaged my stores — have rifled me of all save this. Give this, I say, to Sir Luke, with your own hands. You have sworn it, and will obey. Give it to him, and bid him think of Sybil as he opens it. But this must not be till Eleanor is in his power; and she must be present when the seal is broken. It relates to both. Dare not to tamper with it, or my curse shall pursue you. That packet is guarded with a triple spell, which to you were fatal. Obey me, and my dying breath shall bless thee.”

“Never fear,” said Dick, taking the packet; “I’ll not disappoint you, mother, depend upon it.”

“Hence!” cried the crone; and as she watched Dick’s figure lessening upon the Waste, and at length beheld him finally disappear down the hill-side, she sank to the ground, her frail strength being entirely exhausted. “Body and soul may now part in peace,” gasped she. “All I live for is accomplished.” And ere one hour had elapsed, the night crow was perched upon her still breathing frame.

Long pondering upon this singular interview, Dick pursued his way. At length he thought fit to examine the packet with which the old gipsy had entrusted him.

“It feels like a casket,” thought he. “It can’t be gold. But then it may be jewels, though they don’t rattle, and it ain’t quite heavy enough. What can it be? I should like to know. There is some mystery, that’s certain, about it; but I will not break the seal, not I. As to her spell, that I don’t value a rush; but I’ve sworn to give it to Sir Luke, and deliver her message, and I’ll keep my word if I can. He shall have it.” So saying, he replaced it in his pocket.