Redgauntlet [227]
his arms, and endeavouring to stop his mouth, were about to hurry him away.
The honest Quaker, who had kept out of Redgauntlet's presence, now came boldly forward.
'Friend,' said he, 'thou dost more than thou canst answer. Thou knowest me well, and thou art aware that in me thou hast a deeply injured neighbour, who was dwelling beside thee in the honesty and simplicity of his heart.'
'Tush, Jonathan,' said Redgauntlet; 'talk not to me, man; it is neither the craft of a young lawyer, nor the SIMPLICITY of an old hypocrite, can drive me from my purpose.
'By my faith,' said the captain, coming forward in his turn, 'this is hardly fair, general; and I doubt,' he added, 'whether the will of my owners can make me a party to such proceedings. Nay, never fumble with your sword-hilt, but out with it like a man,if you are for a tilting.' He unsheathed his hanger, and continued--' I will neither see my comrade Fairford, nor the old Quaker, abused. D--n all warrants, false or true--curse the justice--confound the constable!--and here stands little Nanty Ewart to make good what he says against gentle and simple, in spite of horse-shoe or horse-radish either.'
The cry of 'Down with all warrants!' was popular in the ears of the militia of the inn, and Nanty Ewart was no less so. Fishers, ostlers, seamen, smugglers, began to crowd to the spot. Crackenthorp endeavoured in vain to mediate. The attendants of Redgauntlet began to handle their firearms; but their master shouted to them to forbear, and, unsheathing his sword as quick as lightning, he rushed on Ewart in the midst of his bravado, and struck his weapon from his hand with such address and force, that it flew three yards from him. Closing with him at the same moment, he gave him a severe fall, and waved his sword over his head, to show he was absolutely at his mercy.
'There, you drunken vagabond,' he said, 'I give you your life-- you are no bad fellow if you could keep from brawling among your friends. But we all know Nanty Ewart,' he said to the crowd around, with a forgiving laugh, which, joined to the awe his prowess had inspired, entirely confirmed their wavering allegiance.
They shouted, 'The laird for ever!' while poor Nanty, rising from the earth, on whose lap he had been stretched so rudely, went in quest of his hanger, lifted it, wiped it, and, as he returned the weapon to the scabbard, muttered between his teeth, 'It is true they say of him, and the devil will stand his friend till his hour come; I will cross him no more.'
So saying, he slunk from the crowd, cowed and disheartened by his defeat.
'For you, Joshua Geddes,' said Redgauntlet, approaching the Quaker, who, with lifted hands and eyes, had beheld the scene of violence, 'l shall take the liberty to arrest thee for a breach of the peace, altogether unbecoming thy pretended principles; and I believe it will go hard with thee both in a court of justice and among thine own Society of Friends, as they call themselves, who will be but indifferently pleased to see the quiet tenor of their hypocrisy insulted by such violent proceedings.'
'I violent!' said Joshua; 'I do aught unbecoming the principles of the Friends! I defy thee, man, and I charge thee, as a Christian, to forbear vexing my soul with such charges: it is grievous enough to me to have seen violences which I was unable to prevent.'
'O Joshua, Joshua!' said Redgauntlet, with a sardonic smile; 'thou light of the faithful in the town of Dumfries and the places adjacent, wilt thou thus fall away from the truth? Hast thou not, before us all, attempted to rescue a man from the warrant of law? Didst thou not encourage that drunken fellow to draw his weapon--and didst thou not thyself flourish thy cudgel in the cause? Think'st thou that the oaths of the injured Peter Peebles, and the conscientious Cristal Nixon, besides those of such gentlemen as look on this strange scene, who not only put on swearing as a garment, but to whom, in Custom House matters, oaths are literally meat and drink,--dost thou not think, I say, that
The honest Quaker, who had kept out of Redgauntlet's presence, now came boldly forward.
'Friend,' said he, 'thou dost more than thou canst answer. Thou knowest me well, and thou art aware that in me thou hast a deeply injured neighbour, who was dwelling beside thee in the honesty and simplicity of his heart.'
'Tush, Jonathan,' said Redgauntlet; 'talk not to me, man; it is neither the craft of a young lawyer, nor the SIMPLICITY of an old hypocrite, can drive me from my purpose.
'By my faith,' said the captain, coming forward in his turn, 'this is hardly fair, general; and I doubt,' he added, 'whether the will of my owners can make me a party to such proceedings. Nay, never fumble with your sword-hilt, but out with it like a man,if you are for a tilting.' He unsheathed his hanger, and continued--' I will neither see my comrade Fairford, nor the old Quaker, abused. D--n all warrants, false or true--curse the justice--confound the constable!--and here stands little Nanty Ewart to make good what he says against gentle and simple, in spite of horse-shoe or horse-radish either.'
The cry of 'Down with all warrants!' was popular in the ears of the militia of the inn, and Nanty Ewart was no less so. Fishers, ostlers, seamen, smugglers, began to crowd to the spot. Crackenthorp endeavoured in vain to mediate. The attendants of Redgauntlet began to handle their firearms; but their master shouted to them to forbear, and, unsheathing his sword as quick as lightning, he rushed on Ewart in the midst of his bravado, and struck his weapon from his hand with such address and force, that it flew three yards from him. Closing with him at the same moment, he gave him a severe fall, and waved his sword over his head, to show he was absolutely at his mercy.
'There, you drunken vagabond,' he said, 'I give you your life-- you are no bad fellow if you could keep from brawling among your friends. But we all know Nanty Ewart,' he said to the crowd around, with a forgiving laugh, which, joined to the awe his prowess had inspired, entirely confirmed their wavering allegiance.
They shouted, 'The laird for ever!' while poor Nanty, rising from the earth, on whose lap he had been stretched so rudely, went in quest of his hanger, lifted it, wiped it, and, as he returned the weapon to the scabbard, muttered between his teeth, 'It is true they say of him, and the devil will stand his friend till his hour come; I will cross him no more.'
So saying, he slunk from the crowd, cowed and disheartened by his defeat.
'For you, Joshua Geddes,' said Redgauntlet, approaching the Quaker, who, with lifted hands and eyes, had beheld the scene of violence, 'l shall take the liberty to arrest thee for a breach of the peace, altogether unbecoming thy pretended principles; and I believe it will go hard with thee both in a court of justice and among thine own Society of Friends, as they call themselves, who will be but indifferently pleased to see the quiet tenor of their hypocrisy insulted by such violent proceedings.'
'I violent!' said Joshua; 'I do aught unbecoming the principles of the Friends! I defy thee, man, and I charge thee, as a Christian, to forbear vexing my soul with such charges: it is grievous enough to me to have seen violences which I was unable to prevent.'
'O Joshua, Joshua!' said Redgauntlet, with a sardonic smile; 'thou light of the faithful in the town of Dumfries and the places adjacent, wilt thou thus fall away from the truth? Hast thou not, before us all, attempted to rescue a man from the warrant of law? Didst thou not encourage that drunken fellow to draw his weapon--and didst thou not thyself flourish thy cudgel in the cause? Think'st thou that the oaths of the injured Peter Peebles, and the conscientious Cristal Nixon, besides those of such gentlemen as look on this strange scene, who not only put on swearing as a garment, but to whom, in Custom House matters, oaths are literally meat and drink,--dost thou not think, I say, that