The Buccaneer - A Tale

Where though prison'd, he doth finde,

Hee's still free, that's free in minde;

And in trouble, no defence

Is so firm as innocence.

WITHER

When the poor preacher found that Burrell was really gone, and had left

him a prisoner, without the remotest prospect of escape, he felt (to use

his own expression) "rather mazed," and forthwith applied his hand to

the lock, with the vain hope of extricating himself as speedily as

possible: he found, however, the entrance closed firm and fast, and,

moreover, of so solid a construction, that, with all his effort, he was

unable to move it in the slightest degree. He would have welcomed the

idea that the Master of Burrell did but jest; yet there had been that

about his demeanour which excluded all thought of merriment, and

Fleetword felt his limbs tremble beneath him when he reflected on the

desperate character of the man with whom he had to deal. "The Lord can

make a way for safety even from this den," he muttered, "yea, even from

this fastness, which, of a truth, is most curiously fashioned, and of

evil intention, doubtless." The little light that was admitted into the

cell came through an aperture in the cliff at so great a height from the

floor that it could hardly be observed, even if it had been left

unprotected by a ledge of stone that projected a considerable distance

under the opening, which was scarcely large enough to permit the

entrance of a sufficient quantity of air. The atmosphere was therefore

dense and heavy, and the preacher drew his breath with difficulty. The

chamber, we should observe, was directly over that in which we have

heretofore encountered the Buccaneer; for the interior of the cliff was

excavated in various parts, so as more nearly to resemble the formation

of a bee-hive than any other structure. It was filled, as we have

stated, with a variety of matters, for which either there was no

immediate demand, or that time had rendered useless. Of these, Fleetword

piled a quantity one over the other, and standing tiptoe on the topmost

parcel, succeeded in peeping through the aperture, but could perceive

nothing except the broad sea stretching away in the distance until it

was bounded by the horizon. As he was about to descend, one of the

packages rolled from under the rest, and the hapless preacher came to

the ground amidst a multitude of bales of cloth, logs of ebony, cramps,

and spoiled martin-skins, and found himself half in and half out of a

box of mildewed oranges, into which he had plumped, and which repaid the

intrusion by splashing him all over with their pulpy and unpleasant

remains. It was some time before he could extricate himself from this

disagreeable mass, and still longer before he could cleanse off the

filthy fragments from his garments. When he had done so, however, his

next care was to bestow the papers he had rescued from Burrell into some

safe place. "The Lord," he thought, "hath, at his own good pleasure,

given Satan or his high priest dominion over me, and it may be that I

shall be offered up upon the altar of Baal or Dagon as a sacrifice; but

it shall be one of sweet-smelling savour, untainted by falsehood or

dissimulation. Verily, he may destroy my body--and I will leave these

documents, which by an almost miraculous interposition of Providence

have been committed to my charge, so that one time or other they may be

found of those by whom they may be needed."