FEARSOM 
 
 ISLAND
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 The Fearsome Island
 
 The 
 
 Fearsome Island, 
 
 Being a Modern Rendering 
 of the Narrative 
 
 0F one Silas Fordred, Master Mari- 
 ner of Hythe^ whose shipwreck and 
 subsequent adventures are herein set 
 forth. Also an appendix accounting in a 
 rational manner for the seeming mar- 
 vels that Silas Fordred encountered 
 during his sojourn on the fearsome is- 
 land of Don Diego Rodriguez. 
 
 By Albert Kinross. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 Printed for Herbert S. Stone & Com- 
 pany at the Chap-Bosk offices in the 
 Caxton Building. 1896.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY 
 HERBERT S. STONE * CO.
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 Dear Zangwill, 
 
 I have to thank you for so much in the 
 past, present, and I think I may venture on 
 prophesy and say the future. Kindly accept 
 this inscription as some small token of that 
 gratitude. As for the book, I fear its con- 
 tents will surprise you as much as they sur- 
 prised 
 
 Tours most sincerely, 
 
 ALBERT KINROSS. 
 January, 1896. 
 
 6319^3
 
 THE PREFACE. 
 
 TN the reproduction of this narrative it 
 was my intention to modernise the 
 English of the original version. I am no 
 great scholar, being more interested in 
 the humanity of things than in their aes- 
 thetics ; and, in the retelling of this story, 
 I find that I have been completely over- 
 powered by the original version, so that 
 the language in which this history is here 
 set forth is no language. I have, however, 
 let it stand, as I feel that the leisurely 
 dialect that I have instinctively adopted 
 is more in keeping with the character 
 and surroundings of Silas Fordred than 
 the crisp, clear-cut phraseology of to-day.
 
 The Preface. 
 
 Also in the original manuscript were 
 many coarse phrases that I have all but 
 eliminated ; should one or two such have 
 crept into this version, will the indulgent 
 reader kindly pass them by, merely regard- 
 ing such in the light of landmarks of a 
 day that was wont to express its thoughts 
 and sentiments with no uncertain voice. 
 
 ALBERT KINROSS. 
 
 Hampsttad, 1896.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I WAS staying down at Hythe last 
 winter, and, among other occupa- 
 tions, I found time to assist my very 
 good friend Cobb, Town Clerk of the 
 old cinque port, in sorting a mass of 
 ancient documents but recently discov- 
 ered in a musty chest that Back the 
 beadle had stumbled across in the Town 
 Hall cellar. These papers were, for 
 the most part, connected with the bus- 
 inesses transacted by Cobb's remotest 
 predecessors; with meat and drink fur- 
 nished at the Lord Warden's banquets, 
 and tithes paid to his Grace the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. Our national 
 enemy across the channel had given 
 the worthy Councillors of those days 
 much food for thought, and there were
 
 Introduction 
 
 many accounts of moneys spent with 
 the object of offensive and defensive 
 chastisement to be inflicted on that 
 relentless foe. 
 
 But, among all these documents, 
 many of which might possess great 
 interest for the antiquarian or social 
 economist, there was one that I read 
 and re-read thrice before imparting its 
 contents to my good friend Cobb ; or 
 stay, such rather was my intention, 
 but, on second thoughts, I carefully 
 placed the time-worn sheets in my 
 ulster pocket there was quite a bun- 
 dle of them and here in town I am 
 turning into modern English what Silas 
 Fordred penned with great labour and 
 difficulty in the days of good Queen 
 Bess. 
 
 Fordred shall tell his own story, and 
 you, my readers (among whom I hope 
 friend Cobb will occupy a foremost 
 place,) believe or doubt! The story 
 rings honest and the truth was more in
 
 Introduction 
 
 favour in those days than in this scep- 
 tic age. 
 
 Here follow the time-stained papers 
 of Silas Fordred worked up into a nar- 
 rative of some literary merit ; for style 
 and polish had he none, this blunt 
 mariner of yester-year. 
 
 For want of a better title, and I hold 
 that all things should have a distinctive 
 name, I have headed this narrative: 
 
 The 
 
 Fearsome Island 
 
 Before the assembled Town Council 
 of Hythe Borough I have read and set 
 my name to this true statement of what 
 befell me in my last voyage to the South- 
 ern Seas. If any there be that doubt, let 
 them go down to my house in Stade 
 Street and inspect the strange barque 
 that carried me from the Fearsome 
 Island to the good ship Queen Marie 
 that brought me hither. Further, have 
 I not shewn you vessels of gold that 
 3
 
 Introduction 
 
 were in the Dark Chamber, likewise 
 the thirteen great diamonds that hung 
 round the neck of the bronze idol? 
 Also have you seen the knife of Span- 
 ish steel with the round ruby at its hilt 
 and the two fangs that broke on my 
 hand from the mouth of the Hag of 
 Turret? The captain and seamen of 
 the ship Queen Marie have spoken 
 of the hairy man that was a-dying 
 when I was discovered afloat and with- 
 out food. What I have written is true 
 on my oath and by my hope of enter- 
 ing heaven. 
 
 (SIGNED) SILAS FORDRED. 
 WITNESSED BY 
 
 EVAN the Welshman, 
 Town Clerk.
 
 Chapter I 
 
 ON the third day of June, 1558, 
 Mary that was called Bloody 
 being then our Queen, Thomas Snoad 
 and I set out from Hythe for the great 
 port of Dover, where lay the ship 
 Brave Luck that we had jointly pur- 
 chased to trade with for our own 
 profits and benefaction. Previously, 
 both of us had been in the employ of 
 Deedes, the great London merchant, 
 who hath more ships than I have toes 
 or fingers. We rose early in the morn- 
 ing, so that when we reached Dover 
 the sun was close on midday and we 
 were greatly athirst. Straightway we 
 boarded our ship, in whose cabin was 
 meat and drink in plenty, and, our 
 appetites being stilled, we went into 
 Dover town to prepare for the voyage 
 5
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 we were about to undertake. That 
 same day we engaged fourteen seamen 
 and three boys, also a black man from 
 beyond the Middle Sea who was re- 
 puted to cook exceeding well and with- 
 out causing an over-great stink. 
 
 Our cargo we put aboard: child's 
 things from Chepeside, and horns that 
 would make music; also cloth stuffs 
 for such as wear garments, and good 
 bows and arrows and broadswords for 
 them that love to fight. 
 
 At the eleventh hour and before we 
 hove anchor I bethought me of Dick 
 Whittington, that was thrice Lord 
 Mayor of London, ai.d I hied back to 
 the town and bought two cats that 
 were with kitten, also a Tom-cat, ex- 
 ceeding fierce and black, that was sold 
 me by a witch and had eaten man's 
 flesh. 
 
 That night we slept on board, greatly 
 tired, for we had been astir since sun- 
 rise putting chests and bales in the 
 6
 
 , The Fearsome Island 
 
 hold, and it was on the second morn- 
 ing after quitting Hythe that we set 
 sail and passed down the Channel on 
 our way to Grand Canary and the 
 Southern Seas. 
 
 It were idle to write here what befell 
 during the first two months of our voy- 
 age, that in all things greatly resem- 
 bled other voyages. Fair winds and 
 pleasant trade with good profits were 
 our lot. 
 
 The Negro cook was of a merry 
 mood and amused us hugely, for he 
 could dance and sing and make agree- 
 able noises with pieces of wood held in 
 his hands, and his smile was wide as 
 the smile of a crocodile. Nor was he 
 idle at his business, for he could prepare 
 excellent dishes, many of which were 
 new and unknown to us, and therefore 
 the pleasanter. 
 
 We touched at the Gold River that 
 runs into the ocean on the West of 
 Africa, and spent some days bartering 
 7
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 for gold dust, ivory, and palm oil. It 
 was here that our cook, the black 
 knave, played us a scurvy trick. 
 When we set sail once more, that foul 
 Indian was nowhere to be found, and 
 we were without cook. And then I 
 remembered that he had said that his 
 home was in these parts. He had de- 
 ceived and deserted us, and his soul 
 was black as his skin. 
 
 From the Gold River we sailed south 
 along the coast, and went ashore at 
 many places, till we reached a harbour 
 from whence we could see a mountain 
 with a flat top like a table. We had 
 bartered away all our cargo and there 
 was no further cause to prolong our 
 voyage, so here we turned our ship's 
 head and sailed joyfully North. 
 
 On the third day of journeying 
 homewards great gales began to blow ; 
 for six days and six nights we ran with 
 bare masts before the winds, and only 
 God on high knew in what sea we were, 
 
 8
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 and, though we prayed at morn and 
 eve, He told us naught. 
 
 On that sixth day methought the 
 world would end, for there were huger 
 seas about us than any I had ever seen 
 before. The hold was full of water, 
 and I wept bitter tears as wave after 
 wave broke over Snoad's ship and mine. 
 
 " Beshrew me," said I to Thomas, 
 my partner, " our cargo will suffer 
 damage the palm-oil runs to waste. ' ' 
 
 " Aye," said Snoad, " 'tis I who 
 feel each drop that spoils, even as 
 thou," and he shook his bare head, 
 and the great tears stood in his eyes, 
 for Snoad was a man of much thrift, 
 though unmarried. 
 
 The great cat that had eaten man's 
 flesh was sore afraid, its hair stood 
 erect on its back and its eyes shone 
 like burnished brass. And in the 
 night of that day, as Thomas Snoad 
 and I were praying for light and a 
 smooth sea, for we had neither slept 
 9
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 nor eaten save upright all the six days, 
 an huger wave than all curled and 
 splintered into a thousand pieces over 
 us, and the water stung our faces like 
 a shower of broken glass, while the 
 ship Brave Luck swayed like a man 
 drunk with ale, and its bow rose high 
 into the air above our heads. 
 
 " God save us, Snoad! " said I. 
 
 " Amen! " said Snoad, and though 
 we shouted, our voices were as a whis- 
 per. We could hear the seamen call 
 on Mary that is the Virgin and Jesus 
 who died on the Cross, and some knelt, 
 while others threw their arms above 
 their heads and trembled with the fear 
 of death. There were wild eyes around 
 us, and faces drawn and terrible as the 
 faces of wild beasts that are mad with 
 hunger and evil passion. I saw these 
 things as in a dream, for they moved 
 me not overmuch, and the men about 
 me were not men as I had known them, 
 and nothing was real till the ship fell 
 IP
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 from under us and we were in the 
 waters, Snoad and I, in a valley 'twixt 
 mountains of water, now rising to the 
 crest, now falling deep, like balls of 
 down in an autumn wind. We could 
 see the heads of the others bobbing 
 like black corks, and overhead in the 
 sky we saw the lightning glitter and 
 run, while in our ears the thunder 
 boomed death knells. It was a brave 
 yet awful sight, and I think that hell 
 can contain nothing more terrible than 
 that black sea, with the black faces 
 bobbing through the darkness, through 
 which the lightning swished like a 
 rapier of cold gold. Over the hold of 
 our ship had been a cover of wood with 
 handles of rope and two yards long 
 and broad. This cover I made out 
 bearing down on me. I reached out a 
 hand, and my arm was fast twisted in 
 the rope ere the next wave could bear 
 me from this raft. Snoad was at my 
 side.
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 " Give me your hand, Snoad," I 
 shouted, but he could not hear my 
 voice above the wind and waves that 
 roared like many lions. I reached out 
 my other arm and caught the top of 
 his jerkin 'twas of good stout leather, 
 and he looked at me (his head was 
 like a painting of John the Baptist's 
 head on a platter) and spat water from 
 his mouth. 
 
 " God save thee, Fordred! " 
 
 I saw the words on his lips but heard 
 naught. 
 
 " Amen! " said I, and we clung to- 
 gether for the dear life for weary minute 
 after minute ; and when at last the grey 
 dawn broke, there was land not over 
 far from us, and the waves were bear- 
 ing us thither at great speed. As we 
 neared the shore we let go of our raft, 
 and, taking what little strength re- 
 mained to us, we swam on by ourselves 
 till a huge breaker flung us heavily on 
 the beach. We picked ourselves up 
 12
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 again it was a joyful feeling, this 
 standing once more upright on our legs 
 and went inland beyond the sea's 
 reach. 
 
 We cast off our dripping garments 
 and knelt naked to pray a thanksgiv- 
 ing, but, we were so tired and ex- 
 hausted that we fell down close to- 
 gether, our legs refusing their office, 
 and we slept thus in the grey dawn, 
 naked and worn out. The far-off lands 
 are warmer than ours, so we feared not 
 to be sick by thus lying bare under 
 the open sky. 
 
 So we fell asleep, a-weary from our 
 toil and watching, and we lay quite 
 still till the noonday sun smote on our 
 eyelids. When we awoke, the sky was 
 deep blue, the winds had ceased to 
 rage, and the sea had grown calm and 
 serene, so that we felt like two that 
 had dreamed an evil dream and were 
 but newly awakened. There was a 
 pinching feeling at our stomachs; we 
 13
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 had fasted for many hours, and what 
 we had lately eaten was of no great 
 moment. Snoad and I arose and 
 walked inland to where there were 
 trees with strange fruits such as grow 
 in distant lands, and we sat in the 
 branches of one such and ate from a 
 great gourd we had found at its foot. 
 I looked at Snoad and saw that he was 
 naked. 
 
 " Friend Snoad," said I, " where 
 be thy garments? for surely thou dost 
 bear thee as Adam when in the Garden 
 of Eden." 
 
 " Friend Fordred," cried Snoad, 
 " look to thyself! " 
 
 And I looked, and I too was naked ! 
 Then I looked up at Snoad, but he was 
 nowhere to be seen ; and I looked down 
 at Snoad, and he was fallen from the 
 branch with over-much laughing and 
 lay now a-rolling on his back with a 
 full mouth and great tears on his 
 cheeks. 
 
 *4
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 " Silas Fordred! "he cried, "wouldst 
 thou choke me? " 
 
 And I too laughed till I dropped 
 from my branch on to Thomas Snoad's 
 stomach. 
 
 " Nay, we will both choke," I said, 
 and began to laugh anew; but Snoad 
 was silent for he had no wind. 
 
 After we had eaten we walked slowly 
 back to the spot where lay our clothes, 
 dry but marvellous small from the 
 water and the hot sun. And then we 
 went down to the sea all smooth and 
 smiling. 
 
 " God save us, Fordred! " said 
 Snoad, " where be we? " 
 
 " Aye, where be we? " I answered, 
 and we shook our heads and looked 
 around and upwards; and as we 
 looked, what should we see but a huge 
 idol, a great figure, shining and of 
 bronze, such as mariners say are wor- 
 shipped in the isles beyond Kathay 
 that are called Nipong. We both 
 '5
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 rubbed our eyes, so as to make sure 
 that we saw true. Aye, there was the 
 figure, a great woman with a calm face, 
 and neither shift nor other garment. 
 For eyes there were broad holes, and 
 in and about these hollow sockets flew 
 sea-birds, and they perched on her 
 breasts, on her knees, and about her 
 feet. 
 
 " Good Fordred," said Snoad, " if 
 that be god of these parts let us make 
 obeisance, it may be fitting and proper 
 that we should." 
 
 " Nay," said I, in a stern voice and 
 loud, " Thomas Snoad, rather let us 
 cross ourselves and pray to the Blessed 
 Virgin, who hath just saved us from 
 death by drowning! " 
 
 " Thou art right, good Fordred," 
 he replied; and we repeated the Lord's 
 Prayer twice, for 'twas the only prayer 
 that we could repeat from memory. 
 
 After that we walked closer to the 
 idol with stout hearts and unafraid, and 
 
 16
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 we looked into its face, to its great 
 nose, and the holes that were eyes, and 
 to its neck and on its neck hung 
 stones that sparkled, big stones all 
 white and glistening as I have seen the 
 diamond stones shine in a goldsmith's 
 shop, only these stones were larger 
 than any that I had ever seen before, 
 and I have been to the Tower of Lon- 
 don, and seen the great ruby that was 
 in the crown of King Harry of Agin- 
 court. 
 
 " Those be diamonds," said Snoad. 
 
 " I will not say ye nay," I replied. 
 
 Then we looked again, up and down, 
 and at the feet of the great figure were 
 human bones, skulls and leg bones, and 
 ribs and arms. 
 
 "See ye those, friend Snoad?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " Yea, I see them; they be human 
 sacrifices. I have heard tell of such 
 among those that be heathens." 
 
 Thomas Snoad was one that always 
 17
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 had answer and explanation at his 
 tongue's tip, even though he knew 
 nothing of the matter in hand. This 
 was his great weakness a small thing, 
 for he was as gallant a seaman as ever 
 trod a ship. 
 
 We looked once more, and all the 
 skeletons were broken across the mid- 
 dle, and the upper parts lay here and 
 the lower parts lay there. 
 
 "See ye that, friend Snoad?" I 
 asked, and my thoughts went back to 
 the bones that are in the crypt of the 
 Hythe Church. 
 
 " Yea," he made reply (as was his 
 wont), " 'tis most like to be their man- 
 ner of offering sacrifice. ' ' 
 
 And for a few moments we stood 
 wondering what manner of god this 
 might be, and whose were the bones 
 that lay all white at its feet. 
 
 Again our eyes lighted on the great 
 white stones that sparkled more than a 
 woman's eyes. 
 
 18
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 " They be for us," said Snoad. 
 " Wilt climb and take them? 'Tis 
 easy to reach. Mayhap there will 
 come worshippers ere long and 'twill 
 be too late. ' ' 
 
 *' Be wise, friend Snoad," said I, 
 ' ' and think thyself of good luck should 
 the worshippers not offer thee up as a 
 sacrifice. The diamonds can wait, and, 
 should we be discovered by the men 
 that inhabit this land, we might have 
 to pay a huge price." 
 
 I led him away, and we walked 
 about all that day without seeing sign 
 of man or human habitation. We ate 
 fruits and berries, and great crabs that 
 came out of the sea and sought to 
 pinch us. These we slew with stones 
 and pieces of rock, breaking their shells, 
 after which they died. It was raw meat, 
 but a hungry man waits not for a cook. 
 
 That night we slept under a broad 
 tree, near a brook of running water 
 that we had drank from. The next
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 morning when I awoke I was alone, and 
 Thomas Snoad was nowhere to be seen. 
 
 " Snoad, Thomas Snoad!" I cried 
 till my throat pained, but there came 
 no reply. At last I bethought me of 
 the diamond stones and the great lust 
 that had shone in Snoad's eyes on the 
 yesterday. 
 
 Quick I sprang to my feet, and ran 
 with great speed toward the seashore, 
 where stood the great idol of bronze 
 with the glistening necklet, and, as I 
 approached, I could see Snoad a-climb- 
 ing from the huge toes onto the knees. 
 
 " Get thee down! " I cried. " Get 
 thee down, thou thief, thou sacrileg- 
 ious thief, there will be mischief in the 
 deed and dire punishment to follow." 
 
 So I spake to Thomas Snoad, for 
 God hath given me a honest soul. 
 
 He heeded not, and again I cried : 
 
 " Get thee down, Thomas Snoad! " 
 But he heeded not; and now he had 
 one hand on the outstanding breast and 
 
 20
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 he stood on the brazen knee, and then, 
 as he swung upward to the neck where 
 sparkled the jewel, the great bronze 
 arms did close aye, did close I say, 
 and I have sworn it, did close fast and 
 sharp over Thomas Snoad, and his 
 head and trunk fell one way and his 
 legs and belly another, aye, right to 
 my feet ; and, as I crossed myself and 
 fell down on my knees, I saw the arms 
 of that accursed figure swing back wide 
 open and empty as before, and Thomas 
 Snoad lay at my feet in two halves, so 
 that I understood the meaning of the 
 broken skeletons all sundered in the 
 middle, and I shook my fist at the 
 curst idol, and the arms were wide 
 apart and without motion, and the 
 great white jewels sparkled mockingly 
 in that morning's sun. 
 
 I knelt some minutes all fearsome 
 and a-trembling, wondering to what 
 devil's land this body o' mine had 
 strayed, and, as I knelt, I could feel 
 
 21
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 something soft yet firm a-pressing 
 gently against my thighbone, and at 
 the same time I could hear a low sound 
 such as is made by a cat that is pleased. 
 I looked round to my side and there 
 was the black cat from the ship a-fond- 
 ling of me, he that had eat man's flesh 
 and had dwelt with a witch. He was 
 very friendly and there was a fond look 
 in his face; but, for all that, I arose 
 hastily, bethinking me of the body of 
 poor Thomas Snoad that lay there 
 dead and in two parts, and meseemed 
 it were well did I arise and bury him 
 ere harm befell. So I searched till I 
 found a sharp stone all broad and flat 
 like a spade, and with it I dug in the 
 soft sand, so that by ten o'clock that 
 day by the sun I had buried Thomas 
 Snoad, all that was mortal of that gal- 
 lant mariner. As the sand lay thick 
 over him, I did think to say a prayer, 
 and again I prayed to " Our Father 
 which art in Heaven," that being the 
 
 22
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 only prayer that I could repeat without 
 book or priest. I was alone now, and 
 as the " Amen " left my lips my soli- 
 tude and isolation came back to me 
 strong and full, and my heart felt heavy 
 within me and tears of self-pity stood 
 in both my eyes. I was fit to weep, 
 and lay helpless and without hope as is 
 a despairing woman, till, with great 
 effort, I repeated " Silas Fordred, that 
 art a man, be thou a man." This I 
 said thrice, gaining strength with each 
 repetition, and the mist before my eyes 
 vanished, though a tear trickled slow 
 down both the sides of my nose and 
 splashed onto the thirsty sand below. 
 I saw clear once more, and the black 
 cat was before me, gazing piteously 
 into my face as if to share my burden 
 of sorrow. I drew him gently onto 
 my lap, and we both sat lonely and 
 forsaken on the empty strand, ponder- 
 ing over what next we should do in 
 that gruesome land of the brazen idol.
 
 Chapter 1 1 
 
 ON the next morning the cat and 
 I held council we had slept to- 
 gether on the previous night for the 
 sake of the companionship of the other. 
 " Black cat of the witch," said I, 
 after gazing long at him steadfastly and 
 with much thought, "do thou that are 
 skilled in Sorcery lead and I will fol- 
 low," and with that I laid my hand 
 lightly on the beast's head, and it 
 looked up into my eyes unafraid and 
 as a friend might do. After which, 
 with tail erect and moustachios point- 
 ing right and left, it went inland, I fol- 
 lowing, and for two days and a night 
 we journeyed through thick woods, 
 with here and there a rich plain that 
 was as fair a pasture land as are the 
 marshes around Romney Town.
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 Towards the vesper hour on the sec- 
 ond day of our wanderings we came to 
 a hill on whose crest stood a fair castle, 
 which, though nowise old or a-crumb- 
 ling, yet looked neglected and for- 
 saken, being much overgrown with 
 mosses, weeds, and climbing plants 
 that flourish with great vigour in 
 Southern lands, and grow there in one 
 year more than such things grow in 
 ten years in our own country. 
 
 " Black cat," said I, " let us enter," 
 and together we strode up the hillside 
 to a fair gate, that was arched and had 
 ornaments of wrought-iron to its face 
 of strong wood. This gate was let 
 into the castle wall over against a 
 round tower, such as I have seen at 
 Windsor as a boy at the castle of King 
 Harry that had six wives. Round 
 about us reigned a death-like silence, 
 and from the castle came no sound. I 
 looked up, marvelling, at the rank 
 grasses and untended growths, at the 
 2 5
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 window glass whereon the dust and 
 grime lay thick, at the weather-stained 
 masonry, and beyond,, at the garden 
 about the castle, where grew neither 
 fruit nor flower, nothing but worthless 
 plants and common weeds such as were 
 in the woods through which we had 
 passed on our way thither. 
 
 Greatly I wondered as to who might 
 dwell in this deserted palace, and I 
 looked around for means of entry. 
 Over on the gate was a large knocker 
 of bronze and shaped like an open hand 
 stretched out in welcome. It was on 
 a hinge and the knuckles were thick 
 and heavy, so that when it fell the 
 noise might be the greater. I reached 
 out my hand, and was about to raise the 
 knocker and clamour at the gateway, 
 when I bethought me of poor Thomas 
 Snoad and the fate that had overtaken 
 him. 
 
 " Black cat,' said I, " there be 
 strategy and there be cunning, and 
 26
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 wherefore, did I lack these arts, were 
 I, Silas Fordred, master-mariner?" 
 
 With that I unfastened my belt of 
 good leather, that cost me one groat 
 and a penny at Canterbury fair, and I 
 lifted up the bronze hand with the belt 
 that I had wound around it, and, be- 
 hold, the bronze fingers clutched the 
 belt, closed as do lion's claws yea, 
 even as the arms of the idol had closed 
 on poor Thomas Snoad. I laughed 
 loud to myself at the sight, and the 
 cat, too, did laugh, for I had escaped 
 a cruel device and had outwitted some 
 uncommon malignant sorcerer. High 
 I swung the hand with my good leather 
 thong, and then I loosed my hold and 
 the fist fell back with a crash, while, 
 at the same instant, the gateway 
 opened wide from the inside, and with- 
 out human aid. By the waning day- 
 light I could see a broad hall, tiled and 
 paved, with rich rugs and skins on the 
 floor ; the walls were hung with tapes- 
 27
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 tries and designs made of rare spears, 
 bucklers and swords. Here and there 
 were low couches that looked soft and 
 inviting it was a fair sight for eyes and 
 body that had not rested on comfort 
 and ease for many months. The sun 
 was sinking fast and the darkness ap- 
 proaches quick in these lands, so I 
 thought it unwise to enter the castle at 
 this late hour and resolved to spend 
 that night on the hillside, deeming it 
 safer to rest there than in the great 
 hall. The black cat, whom I had 
 named Satan for a jest, lay by my side 
 as on the other nights, he being by 
 now mighty trustful of me and friend- 
 ly. Ever and anon our eyes wandered 
 through the darkness to the black out- 
 line of the castle, and, though there 
 were many windows, we saw no light 
 or sign of light in any one of the rooms. 
 Only once I thought I could see a 
 faint glimmer, as of a lamp, shine from 
 the round window in the turret ; but I 
 28
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 looked again and it was gone, and I 
 looked again and it was a moonbeam 
 that had painted a patch of silver on 
 the pane. On the morrow, when the 
 sun stood clear in the sky, and after I 
 had bathed and drank water from a 
 running stream so that all my wits 
 might be with me, I entered at the 
 castle gate. The brazen hand was still 
 clenched over my belt of leather. 
 
 Satan was the first to enter the hall, 
 a great chamber with many doors let 
 into the wall on either side, while at 
 the far end rose a broad stairway, 
 which we ascended without mishap. 
 
 It would be idle were I to describe 
 what was in that castle; suffice to say, 
 it was like a nobleman's palace, with 
 chairs of carved wood-work and great 
 beds with spreading canopies, such as I 
 have seen at the Palace at Hampton 
 Court, by aid of my friend, Roger the 
 Ratcatcher, who doth dwell in that 
 famous abode. 
 
 29
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 With great caution we peered into 
 many chambers, and no harm befell; 
 and when we had descended the stair- 
 way and explored the rooms about the 
 great hall, we passed yet beyond to 
 where there were kitchens and store- 
 rooms, where we found stacks of dried 
 fruits and vegetables, also sealed tins 
 that we broke, and wherein were large 
 pieces of flesh beef and pork and the 
 tongues of oxen. 
 
 We sat us down and feasted until 
 our insides could be no more dis- 
 tended, and, our thirst being then far 
 stronger than our hunger, we arose, 
 thinking to go down to the stream 
 that ran beside the hill whereon stood 
 the castle, there to drink our fill of 
 water. 
 
 Now, as once more we crossed the 
 great hall, a marvellous strange thing 
 befell. I had trodden on a square tile 
 it was green in colour, being the 
 centre-piece of the design that orna- 
 30
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 mented the paving, and this green 
 tile yielded under my foot, so that, 
 fearing some new witchcraft, with a 
 deadly fear at my heart, I sprang high 
 up into the air. It was a mercy that 
 my legs were well up under me, for as 
 a flash there swung 'twixt wall and 
 wall a long blade of steel shaped as a 
 giant sword. It passed low down, just 
 above the head of Satan, the cat, just 
 below the soles of my feet. It was a 
 marvellous cunning piece of sorcery, 
 for was I not bound to light once more 
 on that green tile so broad it was 
 and yet again, and yet again, till I 
 should be quite tired, and without 
 strength to spring, and then I shud- 
 dered. Three times I jumped high in- 
 to the air, like to a girl that skips with 
 a rope, only this rope of mine was a 
 steel knife, sharp and keen, and I 
 thought many things, and all of them 
 very terrible and uncomforting; and 
 three times the long steel blade hissed 
 31
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 by, low down and from wall to wall. 
 A fourth time I lighted on the green 
 tile, but on this occasion the spell 
 worked not; true, the sword issued 
 forth as before, yet, instead of flashing 
 'twixt wall and wall, it swerved in its 
 course, hesitated, and then fell harm- 
 less to the ground, dead and without 
 power. The charm that had caused it 
 to chop to and fro had failed. I 
 touched it lightly with my forefinger, 
 and it did not stir; I handled it yet 
 more familiarly and it moved not. It 
 was a long blade, long as the hall was 
 broad, somewhat rusty and ill-looking 
 it was for lack of armourer's care, yet 
 sharp withal and of a fine temper. 
 
 " Yea," I thought, " the magic of 
 the devil, thy smith, hath left thee, 
 thanks be to God, for truly thou art an 
 evil device and an unholy; " and, as in 
 a dream, I saw myself springing into 
 the air, till at last, weak and feeble, I 
 could spring no more ; and what I then 
 32
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 perceived caused me to shudder anew. 
 I went from the prostrate blade back 
 to the green tile and trod upon it with 
 the end of one foot, and the long knife 
 quivered like an animal wounded in 
 the chase and a-dying, yet it stirred 
 not from the ground. " Magic blade 
 that art no longer magic, thy strength 
 is gone! " I said aloud, and with that 
 I broke off the end of the sword with 
 my two hands, that were protected 
 by a cloth I had taken from one of 
 the couches that stood around. I 
 stooped and sweated, and my face was 
 purple, yet, ere I had done, the huge 
 blade was in five pieces, and powerless 
 to do further harm. 
 
 It was with a greater thirst than be- 
 fore that Satan and I sped downhill to 
 the stream. Here we drank our fill, 
 and it was good to be once more out 
 in the open air under the free sky, 
 with naught to fear and no care at our 
 hearts. The rest of that day we sat in 
 33
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 the cool shade of a wood, listening to 
 the apes and birds of coloured plumage 
 that chattered in the trees. 
 
 Satan, the black cat, lies dead and un- 
 buried in a strange land, and no human 
 eye marked his death. His last hour 
 was perchance the most evil in both 
 our lives, and maybe in that hour I 
 had no thought for him or he for me ; 
 yet now, in my security, I think daily 
 on him, and there rise tears to my 
 eyes, for he was dear to me and I to 
 him, and the dangers that we shared 
 together I shall never forget. In the 
 night I again ascended the hill and wan- 
 dered around and about the castle, for 
 a spirit of unrest possessed me and I 
 could not sleep. No light was visible 
 from any window, and all was black 
 and inanimate as before. On the 
 round window of the turret the same 
 patch of moonlight silvered the pane, 
 yet there was no moon in the skies, 
 naught but an army of stars, wondrous 
 34
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 bright and near to earth, as are the 
 stars of all distant lands. 
 
 Later I slept deep, yet, ere my eyes 
 closed, I had pondered much over that 
 patch of moonlight on the round win- 
 dow of the turret ; for albeit there was 
 no moon visible in the sky, a moon-ray 
 pale and argentine it most certainly 
 was that I had seen, and I resolved 
 that I would ascend to the turret and 
 seek to discover from whence sprang 
 this strange light that had so puzzled 
 me. 
 
 On the morrow Satan and I once 
 more set out for the storeroom in 
 search of meat. Again we ate our fill, 
 and our appetites were very great and 
 pressing. From this chamber there 
 led underground a stone stairway that 
 we afterwards descended, cautiously, 
 and one foot moving slow after the 
 other. The walls of this stairway were 
 damp and mildewed, and when we 
 reached the cellar below the air was 
 35
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 humid and lifeless as a stagnant tarn. 
 There were holes in the walls, through 
 which streamed pale rays of light, so 
 that we discovered the nature of this 
 underground chamber without great 
 mystery or labour. Underfoot was 
 the naked earth without flagstone or 
 paving, and, on all sides, stretched a 
 huge crypt, a ceiling of many curves 
 supported by numberless pillars. At 
 Canterbury Cathedral, where lie the 
 bones of St. Thomas a Becket, is just 
 such a crypt, though vaster far than 
 the one Satan and I explored that 
 morning. There were many casks 
 about us, and goodly flasks of glass 
 and earthenware that held rich wines 
 and oils; also were there quaintly- 
 painted chests filled with the dried leaf 
 of some unknown plant. I drank 
 sparingly of the rich wines that we had 
 discovered, tasting of many sorts and 
 colours; and each was of a quality 
 rarer and more costly than any liquor 
 36
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 I had drunk before. The dust and 
 cobwebs lay thick on all that was about 
 us, and I thought that few men had 
 drunk wine of so old a vintage; yet, 
 because of the sorcery that was all 
 about us, I restrained my natural de- 
 sires and forbode to drink more than I 
 could carry without detriment to my 
 reason and good sense, knowing full 
 well that I should want all the wits I 
 was possessed of, even on that day as 
 on the previous days. 
 
 Further on in this great cellar was 
 a space with a palisade of wood all 
 about it, and within were barrels, two 
 or three of which had their heads stove 
 in, so that their contents were spread 
 on the ground beside them. I climbed 
 the palisade and Satan pressed with his 
 body through the bars. 
 
 " Gunpowder, as I live! " I cried, 
 
 fingering the black grains that strewed 
 
 the ground. I had no great use of so 
 
 dangerous a neighbour, and yet, 
 
 37
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 thought I, " If the sorceries and dan- 
 gers with which I am hourly beset 
 cease not, maybe I shall lose patience 
 and send this castle and all its witch- 
 crafts a-flying into the air;" for I 
 looked not upon this store of gunpow- 
 der with dread, as some men might 
 have done, but as an ally, for stood it 
 not at my service as much as at the use 
 of any other man? Satan and I then 
 proceeded further through the crypt- 
 like cellar, and at the further end was 
 yet another stairway. This we ascended 
 as carefully as was our wont, and soon 
 we were standing in a vast apartment 
 that we had heretofore been unaware 
 of. This new chamber was quite 
 unlike any of the others through which 
 we had passed, being bare and huger 
 than any dwelling-room, with a ceiling 
 high and vaulted; indeed, it was in 
 shape more like the inside of a church 
 than a room in a nobleman's palace. 
 In this chamber were anvils and 
 38
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 moulds, and furnaces empty and idle; 
 here also were strange machines whose 
 uses I could in no way surmise; and 
 all these things were rusty and red, 
 and discoloured with unuse. This 
 chamber reminded me of a vast 
 smithy, only it was of another and a 
 more cunning nature than any smith's 
 shop that I had ever seen. Around 
 the walls were shelves whereon stood 
 great jars and caskets, and there were 
 chests that had drawers that were filled 
 with carpenter's stores, screws and 
 nails and gimlets and files and rivets. 
 There were also boxes full of thin 
 sticks of wood with a red substance 
 at their end, and I rubbing two such 
 together, they burst into flame. Then 
 I bethought me of the gunpowder in 
 the cellar below, and I put a box of 
 these fire-makers in my pouch, so that 
 I could act at a short notice. 
 
 I marvelled greatly at the long rows 
 of jars, many of which were of glass, 
 39
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 so that I could see that they were 
 filled with coloured liquids, and all of 
 them bore inscriptions in a strange 
 tongue for a strange tongue it must 
 have been, the words being written 
 with English characters, yet conveying 
 no meaning to me as I spelt them out. 
 From one such a jar I took the cover, 
 and there arose a smell most nauseous, 
 so that I had much ado that I might 
 not vomit. Yet one more jar did I 
 uncover, and there arose fumes into 
 the air about me, ruddy brown in 
 colour, and of an evil quality, so thick 
 and foul that I was nigh suffocated 
 when these vapours entered at my 
 mouth. There was a large doorway at 
 the end of the chamber, and to this 
 both Satan and I scampered quick. 
 We opened it, and before us was the 
 forsaken garden that was about the 
 castle. We stood long on the thresh- 
 old, exceeding thankful for air that 
 was pure and of good odour. 
 4 o
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 The gateway through which we had 
 passed opened out on to the back of 
 the castle, and before us lay the tan- 
 gled desolation of the garden that 
 had fallen to such lamentable decay. 
 There were seats and arbours, all moss- 
 grown and scarcely recognisable, and 
 we sat us down and pondered over the 
 things that were about us, marvel- 
 ling much how it was that they were 
 there, and how it was that their pres- 
 ent plight was so lonesome and un- 
 tended. 
 
 " Tis like the fable of the Brier 
 Rose, friend Satan," I said, as I 
 scratched the top of his head, and 
 then I smacked my lips together. 
 " Maybe I shall kiss the princess," I 
 continued, " and she will awake and 
 chide me for a hairy-faced varlet." 
 My hand was on my chin and I could 
 feel my beard grown long and thick, 
 and never a barber's shop would I, 
 Silas Fordred, enter for many a long 
 41
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 day. My hair, too, was long and un- 
 kempt, and truly had a princess gazed 
 on me, I fear greatly that she would 
 have turned on her side and essayed to 
 sleep once more. 
 
 With such like thoughts I wandered 
 through the tangled bushes and net- 
 work of creeping plants, that plucked 
 at my feet and tripped me up, while 
 the green tendrils tapped at my face 
 and curled round my fingers, filling the 
 air with a moist odour, somewhat 
 rank, yet not unpleasing. We had 
 proceeded thus slowly for some hun- 
 dreds of yards, when we came to an 
 open space where stood three build- 
 ings that had closed doors. Each of 
 these structures was of stone, low in 
 the roof and of simple form, and, from 
 their shape, it was easy to tell that 
 they consisted of but a single chamber. 
 These we passed and repassed with 
 much curiosity, but by now we had 
 grown prudent and slow of action 
 4 2
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 aye, even fearful, so that we were 
 content to return to the woods as on 
 the previous day, to idle away the time 
 and bethink us of the morrow. 
 
 It was quite silent in the wood, save 
 for the stirring of leaves and the cries 
 and motions of 'bird and beast, and 
 Satan sat on blissfully at my side, with 
 his head resting on his outstretched 
 paws. On a sudden, however, the 
 black cat rose to his feet with hair erect 
 and his body forming an archway, while 
 his claws came forth from their sheath. 
 
 "What is it, friend Satan?" I 
 cried. I looked in the direction of his 
 eyes, and true, there was cause for 
 alarm. Gazing straight at us, and 
 some little distance away, was a man 
 all naked and hairy, as is an ape. 
 
 I rose to my feet and saw that he 
 had no weapon. This gave me some 
 courage, so that I called aloud: 
 
 " Hairy man! who art thou, and 
 what woulds't thou? " 
 43
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 He made no answer, and there was 
 a look of terror on his face 'twas 
 brown in colour, of a somewhat lighter 
 hue than a Negro's. 
 
 " Come hither, thou man-ape," I 
 said, loud and clear. 
 
 He gave a shrill cry, and then turn- 
 ing round he fled into the wood. I 
 followed as fast as I was able, yet this 
 hairy man was lithe and agile as is a 
 greyhound, so that ere I had run many 
 yards I had lost all trace of him. 
 Breathless I returned to Satan, the cat. 
 
 " Eater of man's flesh," I said, "we 
 be not alone. Perchance this is a 
 land of hairy men and sorcerers." 
 
 Satan, the cat, purred his agreement. 
 
 " We must watch and wait," said I, 
 ' ' and heaven above will help us ; for, 
 cat, though thy hue be black, thou 
 hast borne thee like a true Christian," 
 and I drew him toward me and rubbed 
 his black face against my cheek with 
 much affection. 
 
 44
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 That day we saw no more of the 
 hairy man, nor did we see other man 
 or woman of like breed and nature. 
 In the night, as I gazed upward to the 
 castle on the hill, the patch of silver 
 light was again visible on the turret 
 window. I resolved that on the next 
 day I would ascend the stairway and 
 explore the tower, which as yet I had 
 not entered ; for there was no moon in 
 the sky, and I marvelled greatly as to 
 the why and how of that patch of sil- 
 ver light that shone each night on the 
 turret window without apparent cause 
 or natural source.
 
 Chapter III 
 
 ON the morrow Satan and I set 
 out for the store-room, whither 
 we daily hied for meat and sustenance. 
 It was a dismal day, with a dark sky, 
 from which the rain fell in thick sheets, 
 so that we ate more than we needed 
 and drank our fill, aye, and more than 
 our fill, of the wine in the cellar below. 
 I remember well that I emptied a flask 
 of red and a flask of yellow, and yet 
 another flask of red ; for the leaden sky 
 had made me sorrowful and the warm 
 wine brought me comfort. By noon I 
 had driven all care from my heart, and I 
 was singing ribald songs and a-sitting on 
 the floor with Satan, whom I had made 
 to drink his fill of wine from a platter. 
 " Satan, old crow," I cried, " 'tis a 
 goodly tavern ; wilt pay the reckoning?" 
 46
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 He came towards me, yet not in a 
 straight line but in a curve: the face 
 he wore was not his own, 'twas more 
 like the face of a stupid sheep ; for the 
 liquor had reached his brain, and his 
 head and limbs were unsteady. 
 
 " Thou drunken knave," I cried, 
 ' ' get thee hence ; no denier hast thou 
 with which to pay what glasses thou 
 hast burst! Out, thou black tinker! " 
 and with that we fell into each other's 
 arms and rolled on the floor, together 
 and wondrous happy. 
 
 'Twas then that I bethought me of 
 the turret and the silver moonlight I 
 had seen on its window these last three 
 nights. 
 
 " Friend Beelzebub," said I to my 
 companion, " We two will venture to 
 the tower and see what it holds per- 
 chance a duplicate moon ; marry, thou 
 roistering puss, up on to thy four legs, 
 and do thou lead the way! " 
 
 Together we struggled out into the 
 47
 
 The Fears9me Island 
 
 hall and then upstairs till we came to 
 a doorway that opened on to a wind- 
 ing staircase that, as I rightly sur- 
 mised, led to the chamber in the turret. 
 Well I remember how we wound 
 round this last flight; the steps were 
 of stone, and we held on to the damp 
 walls, muttering to ourselves and ever 
 and anon laughing aloud ; for the wine 
 was hot in our heads, and our legs 
 went one way and our bodies another. 
 At length we reached the stairway 
 head, and I threw open a brass-stud- 
 ded door. Before us was a round 
 apartment, the floor littered with huge 
 folios, while a red curtain of heavy silk 
 hung from floor to ceiling at the fur- 
 ther end. On entering this chamber 
 we were greeted by a cry, shrill and 
 uncanny as the shriek of a night bird. 
 I looked about me, and there rose from 
 a low chair an aged crone, bent well- 
 nigh double, with a lifeless face, and 
 long wisps of hair that were a pale yel- 
 4 8
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 low from age. Two long teeth, brown 
 as toasted almonds, projected on either 
 side of her mouth, while on her chin 
 sprouted a fine beard that I plucked as 
 I looked into her face and drew her 
 toward me. Her eyes were small, 
 malevolent, and like beads of glass. 
 
 " What make you up here, old 
 hag? " I said, holding tight to her 
 beard so as to make sure of her face, 
 for most things that were about me I 
 could see double, aye, and some three- 
 fold. She laid her hand 'twas dry 
 and lean, with thick black veins on 
 my arm, and hissed with rage as does 
 a serpent, trying with feeble force to 
 disengage her beard. 
 
 " What make you up here, old 
 witch, spells and sorcery? " I asked 
 once more. Then I turned to Satan 
 that had dwelt with the witch: 
 " Knowest thou this lady? " I said, 
 with a thick voice. The black cat 
 shrunk to my side, marvellous steady 
 
 49
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 and sober. "Satan, thou that I 
 bought of a witch, thou that knowest 
 the ways of sorcerers, is it safe to let 
 this old crone live, or shall I hurl her 
 from the turret window? " And with 
 that I drew the hag yet closer towards 
 me, and made as if to execute my 
 threat. 
 
 " Indeed, kind sir, 'twas not I," 
 she whined. 
 
 " Dost speak the English tongue? 
 aye, I forgot thou art a witch and 
 speak all tongues." 
 
 " Indeed, sweet sir, I have done 
 thee no harm; prithee release my 
 beard!" 
 
 " 'Twas not you? " I burst out. 
 " You have done me no harm? Then 
 you know what devil's work has gone 
 forward under this roof, Hag of the 
 Turret? Was the sword that flashed 
 under my heels of thy forging? " 
 
 " Indeed, kind sir," she whimpered, 
 " I had no power over that blade, nor 
 50
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 over the bronze hand on the gateway. 
 I fear these things even as you fear 
 them. I am but an old woman, and no 
 witch ; pray, kind sir, release your hold 
 on my beard, for the pain is great." 
 
 " Heaven help you, if you lie," I 
 said, and I loosed my hold. 
 
 She fell back muttering to herself in 
 a strange tongue, and her glance was 
 that evil and malevolent that I shud- 
 dered at sight of so terrible a visage. 
 
 I turned to friend Satan, who, in 
 spite of temporary calmness, was heavy 
 with wine. He lay now on the floor 
 of the chamber asleep and breathing 
 hard from his nostrils, so that I could 
 see his moustachios bend and sway. 
 
 " Arouse thee, friend Satan," I 
 cried, treading with my foot on his 
 back. " And thou, old hag, beware!" 
 
 I strode several times round the 
 chamber, turning over the huge vol- 
 umes that were strewn about and of 
 which I could understand no word,
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 though I be a good scholar, having 
 been intended as a boy for the priest- 
 hood, and I had studied hard till the 
 day that I quitted the monastery for 
 the ocean that had the greater attrac- 
 tion for me. I stood before the circu- 
 lar window that I had gazed on from 
 below, and on the other side of the 
 turret was another window of the same 
 shape and size. We were high up 
 above the earth, and I could see across 
 wood and meadow-land far away to the 
 sea, and wherever I looked stretched 
 the blue of the distant ocean. 
 
 " "Pis an island, this land of brazen 
 idols and bearded hags, eh, old snake? 
 and what may be its name? " I cried. 
 
 " It hath no name," she said. 
 
 " And thy name? " 
 
 " I have none." 
 
 " Then, Hag of the Turret shalt 
 thou be called henceforth. Come thou 
 below to the cellar and we will cele- 
 brate thy christening. ' ' 
 52
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 I laid my hand on her shoulder, and 
 I felt that she was shaking with fear 
 under my palm. I am not of a cruel 
 disposition and I was moved. 
 
 " Have no dread," I cried; " so 
 long as thy conduct is harmless and of 
 good report thou art safe. I am 
 neither witch nor sorcerer; naught 
 but a plain seaman, Silas Fordred, 
 master-mariner of Hythe." 
 
 She scowled at me most bad-humonr- 
 edly. 
 
 " I love seamen, they are brave 
 and free as the ocean, ' ' said the witch. 
 
 " Aye, thou lovest them as did the 
 Syrens. I know thy love and will 
 none of it." 
 
 " You mock me because I am old 
 and withered; 'tis not generous, Silas 
 Fordred, master-mariner of Hythe, 
 'tis not generous, nor is it brave." 
 
 " Get thee back to thy spells and 
 incantations," and I looked at the great 
 tomes that were spread about the 
 53
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 room. " Yet stay," I continued: 
 " whence comes the patch of moon- 
 light that I see nightly on thy win- 
 dow-pane? " 
 
 For answer she pressed a spring in 
 the wall, and, as I live, there burnt in 
 a globe of glass above our heads a pale 
 thread of light, white as a moon-ray. 
 
 " A strange lamp is this, aye, and 
 another of thy sorcerer's tricks; take 
 care that it works no harm." 
 
 " An innocent device," she pro- 
 tested, " and simple." 
 
 " 'Tis well; mark what I have said, 
 and now good-day, and mind thou 
 keepest to thy turret; for should I 
 meet thee below, I will spit thee like a 
 woodcock on one of thine own swords. " 
 
 She scowled most evilly, the thin 
 lips curling inward over her toothless 
 gums, while the two fangs at the cor- 
 ners pressed down on her withered 
 chin. 
 
 " Come, friend Satan," said I, stir- 
 54
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 ring the weary cat with rr.y foot, " let 
 us away." 
 
 Together we descended the stairway, 
 and the brass-studded door closed over 
 our heads; then downhill to the 
 stream that bordered the wood, to 
 idle through the long afternoon as best 
 we might. 
 
 Thus, stretched at our ease, we 
 thought over the day's events, and 
 what they might bode. The hairy 
 man of the yesterday came not within 
 our ken, nor did we see further trace 
 or sign of thing human, so there was 
 naught to disturb our reflections. In 
 the night-time the pale light glowed 
 on the round window-pane as before, 
 and not many hours after sunset we 
 slept, greatly tired from the wine and 
 the day's excitements, till late into the 
 next day. 
 
 After our usual meal, and we drank 
 sparingly this time, we again ascended 
 to the turret and held converse with 
 55
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 the witch. This we did for lack of 
 other employment and because the 
 time hung heavy on our hands. We 
 stayed and spoke with her till both 
 Satan and I were wearied with fruit- 
 less discourse; then downstairs again 
 wishing we had kept to our own com- 
 pany. 
 
 Our condition was most lonesome, 
 and, after awhile, we wandered in the 
 forsaken garden, for 'twas much like 
 ourselves, and there is a wondrous 
 sympathy 'twixt things animate and 
 things inanimate be they in a like 
 plight and condition. Yea, and even 
 though we were silent and without 
 power of comforting the other with 
 speech, I saw in this neglected garden 
 much that spoke to me in sympathy 
 and tried hard to soothe my heavy 
 heart; for it seemed to me as though 
 the uncared plants felt what I felt, and, 
 had they had utterance, they would 
 have voiced my own thoughts. Even 
 56
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 the insects and bugs that crawled from 
 leaf to leaf were in a less pitiable plight 
 than this forsaken garden and myself, 
 and, when I had thought and pitied 
 myself awhile, there were tears on my 
 cheek that rolled onto the fur of Satan, 
 my friend, and made round spots on 
 his coat that were more shiny than 
 what was dry. 
 
 As I sat thus thinking of gloomy 
 things, I bethought me of the three 
 buildings with the closed doors, and I 
 resolved once more to visit them; for 
 anything was a distraction in my pre- 
 sent plight, and I saw no danger in 
 this survey of stones and mortar. 
 
 The sun was high in the afternoon 
 sky, that was a deep hard blue, and so 
 clear was the air that each leaf and 
 flower stood clear-cut and separate, as 
 though hewn in coloured stone. 
 
 When we reached the open space 
 where stood the three chambers, we 
 found that they were as before, with 
 57
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 but one slight difference. The doors 
 of the first two were closed, but the 
 third door stood open to my gaze. I 
 bethought me of the Hag of the Tur- 
 ret, and wondered greatly whether 
 the open door was her doing. I 
 looked into the chamber, for there was 
 naught to hinder me, and before my 
 eyes was spread a rich feast laid out in 
 vessels of beaten gold, such vessels as 
 the ones that I had brought from 
 thence, and that I have shewn you at 
 my house in Stade Street. There were 
 broad dishes and platters, and flasks 
 and goblets, yellow and ashine, that 
 made my fingers to itch and ache. It 
 was foolish of me to wish for gold at 
 that time; for what use had I for 
 wealth in a land where there was none 
 to buy or sell with but a bent crone 
 and a man all hairy? 
 
 On one dish was a boar's head, on 
 another a swan, and there were all 
 manner of rich meats and fair jellies 
 53
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 and fruits, that called to mind the dain- 
 ties that I have heard tell are eaten by 
 the Lord Mayor of London and his 
 Aldermen each ninth day of November. 
 
 Satan too looked at the rich feast, 
 and, without more ado, he ran inside 
 and began to eat from a huge pasty, 
 and he coming to no harm, I lost fear 
 and followed, for I had eaten no cooked 
 food for many days, and the banquet 
 enticed me greatly. 
 
 Boldly I entered and laid my hand 
 on a fine peach. As I touched it the 
 fruit crumbled to dust in my fingers; 
 while behind me the door closed fast 
 with a thud, and I was in black dark- 
 ness, with only Satan's eyes for a lamp. 
 The air about me, which at first was 
 sweet and pure, grew thick and nox- 
 ious, and there pressed a great weight 
 on my chest so that it was hard to 
 breathe, and I stood there in the 
 darkness thinking that my last hour 
 was come, and wondering whether I 
 59
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 had best bestir myself and see if there 
 was no chance of escape. I gathered 
 together all my strength, and breathed 
 but rarely and through my nostrils; 
 while Satan, the cat, whined piteously 
 at my side. I tore at the walls with my 
 hands, but they were firm and pitiless; 
 and vainly I sought to find the door 
 that had closed and shut out all the 
 light, for there were no windows to 
 this chamber, and the darkness was 
 black and endless. 
 
 The thick nauseous air grew heavier 
 and heavier, and now my eyes burnt 
 fit to drop from out my head, while 
 my tongue clove to my mouth and felt 
 parched and dry, like to a piece of 
 smoked meat. My limbs grew heavy 
 and without strength, and the great 
 vein on my forehead beat like a Nurem- 
 berg time-dial. I was afraid to pray, 
 for the thick air would have entered at 
 my lips and choked me the faster. 
 Satan, the cat, had ceased to whine, 
 60
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 the green light in his eyes glowed no 
 longer, and, as my foot stirred him, I 
 felt that he was as lead, heavy and 
 without life. All was silent, save for 
 the noises in my head, and the low hiss 
 of the rank gas that issued form some- 
 where under my feet. On a sudden, 
 a long shrill laugh, fiendish and dia- 
 bolic, pierced the silence, and then 
 another and yet another. I ceased my 
 efforts to escape, and stood still and 
 intent, trying to* gather from whence 
 came this burst of merriment. The 
 sound was somewhat distant, and as I 
 listened, the laughter ceased, and the 
 shrill voice burst into a cackling chant, 
 that it intoned in some strange tongue. 
 " It must be someone in the garden 
 without," I thought; " most likely it 
 is the Hag of the Turret;" whereupon 
 I resolved, should I outlive this hour, 
 to strangle her with my thumbs and 
 fingers, aye, and without speech or 
 question. 
 
 61
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 Quick these thoughts and many 
 others galloped through my brain, and 
 all the time I was sinking, slowly sink- 
 ing. My heart still beat, and won- 
 drous loud too; but my body was 
 weary and without strength. I swayed 
 and I staggered, for I could breathe 
 no more, and my head was going 
 round and round like the wheel of a 
 cart ; then I fell, clutching on my way 
 the carving of a stone that projected 
 some inches from the wall at my side. 
 Well I remember that fall and the hope- 
 less sense of the end of all things that 
 came with it; then I recollect, even 
 better and with a greater zest, how I 
 reached that thrice blessed piece of car- 
 ving, that for one moment stayed my 
 fall, and how stone and carving moved 
 under my hand, making a crevice in 
 the wall, so that there cut through the 
 darkness a thin blade of light, while a 
 million dust atoms danced merrily in 
 line 'twixt the cleft and the paving. 
 62
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 The stone that I held was loose, and 
 the mortar about it decayed ; the cool 
 draught of air played on my face, giv- 
 ing me fresh courage, so that with 
 might and main I pulled and pushed 
 at that heaven-sent stone so that at 
 last it fell to the ground outside the 
 chamber, whilst the daylight and God's 
 own blessed air did enter like unto two 
 glorious angels. 
 
 As the stone fell to earth with a thud 
 I heard yet another sound, a cry of 
 rage and lamentation. I put my head 
 through the hole I had made so that 
 I might breathe more freely and rid 
 my entrails of the nauseous gas, and 
 the garden was around me as before. 
 I was too busy with my own bodily 
 affairs to pay much heed to the cry 
 that I had heard and the anger that 
 was in the voice, yet, as once more I 
 felt alive and somewhat vigorous, I 
 looked hard about me, and through the 
 bushes and tangle of the garden I made 
 63
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 out the aged crone of the turret hob- 
 bling homewards, a-shaking of her staff 
 and muttering in her beard. 
 
 As the air from without rushed into 
 the dark chamber, behold, and I have 
 sworn it, the door once more opened 
 wide, and without help from me or hu- 
 man being, and again there was light 
 in the room, so that I could see the 
 body of Satan, the cat, that was quite 
 dead; also could I see the feast and 
 the vessels of gold. Now, with all 
 haste I seized four goblets, a great 
 flask, six broad dishes, and nine plat- 
 ters, these being all that I could carry, 
 I being then a weak man and over- 
 weary; and with these I ran into the 
 open and sank down on my knees, 
 praying a prayer of my own making 
 that rose to my lips from out my heart 
 of hearts. Afterwards I bethought me 
 of the black cat that I had left behind 
 me, and further, it seemed unwise 
 were I to return for his body, he being 
 6 4
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 dead and beyond the reach of human 
 aid. 
 
 As I thought of my friend, Satan, 
 the cat, a great rage seized upon me, 
 for he had been to me a dear compan- 
 ion during some of the longest days 
 that I have ever lived through trust- 
 ing and large-hearted he had been, of 
 unchanging mood and warm affections, 
 and the Hag of Turret it was that had 
 wrought this murder! I was athirst 
 for revenge, yet somewhat feeble from 
 my recent adventure, and, though my 
 first impulse was to run straight up to 
 the turret and fling the curst witch 
 from the window, yet I thought I 
 would wait till the morrow ere I 
 wrought this justice. I was greatly 
 weary both in mind and body, so that 
 taken unawares my wits would have 
 been too feeble to meet cunning by 
 cunning, and my body too weary to 
 bear any encounter that called for over- 
 much exertion. 
 
 65
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 Alone and by myself back to the 
 wood I hied with my golden dishes, 
 and these I hid secure in a spot that I 
 could well remember, 'twas under the 
 roots of a great tree. I was on my 
 knees engaged in this business, when 
 suddenly I looked about me, and be- 
 hold, the hairy man of two days before 
 was a-watching of me with much curi- 
 osity. Straightway I arose and ad- 
 vanced towards him, but he stepped 
 back as at our first meeting. I stood 
 still and waited for him to speak. 
 There was no great fear on his face as 
 there had been when we had first en- 
 countered the other, yet no one word 
 did he say, only clenched his hairy fist 
 and pointed with his other arm in the 
 direction of the castle, uttering strange 
 sounds and grinding his teeth together 
 till the noise pained me. 
 
 " Thou too knowest the witch? " I 
 asked, and I bent my back as the Hag 
 of the Turret bent her back, and I 
 66
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 pulled at my beard and pointed to the 
 sides of my mouth so as to call to his 
 mind the two fangs of the witch. 
 
 He understood my meaning, for he 
 smiled and shook his head up and 
 down ; then he sprang high into the air 
 and trod hard with his feet on the 
 earth, as if to stamp the life out of 
 some prostrate body. 
 
 " Aye, we will trample her to death, 
 and worse, far worse!" I cried. 
 
 For answer this hairy man neighed 
 like a horse, and then ran away into 
 the wood without sign or word. 
 
 I turned to my gold platters, that 
 were still where I had placed them, and I 
 marvelled much at the strange conduct 
 of this hairy heathen that ran all naked 
 in the wood, and hated the witch 
 with as great a hatred as mine own. 
 All the while my head ached sore and 
 my eyes smarted, and, had I possessed 
 a mirror, I would have seen that they 
 were red. I was not easily rid of the 
 67
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 noxious gas that I had breathed, and 
 at sunset I laid me down to rest, some- 
 what sick of body and greatly weary 
 and worn out. 
 
 It was yet more lonesome than be- 
 fore to lie thus lone and companion- 
 less, and often in the night I awoke, 
 and, wondering at the emptiness of 
 my arms and missing the familiar 
 breathing at my side, I cried aloud: 
 " Satan, old friend, where stay you? " 
 till I remembered that he had been 
 slain by black magic, and that on the 
 morrow I would up to the turret and 
 slay the hag that dwelt there, without 
 question or other word.
 
 Chapter IV 
 
 was little of mercy and 
 JL little of sweetness in my heart 
 when I next ascended the stairway 
 that led to the chamber where dwelt 
 the Hag of the Turret. Three steps 
 did I take at a time, and in my right 
 hand was a sword of good steel, the 
 best of those that hung on the walls 
 in the great hall below. Carefully I 
 had sharpened and ground the edge, 
 and there was little flesh that was 
 human that the keen blade would not 
 divide. 
 
 Well I remember how my eyeballs 
 were aflame with hatred and lust of 
 blood, how my throat was hard and 
 dry and my teeth firm set. There was 
 no softness in me as I thought of the 
 69
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 woman's years and helpless state, and 
 swiftly the stone stairs fell back under 
 the spring of my stride. She had 
 sought to kill me I that had done her 
 no wrong, and my cat, Satan, she 
 had slain with as black a cunning as 
 any that I had as yet encountered. 
 The blood of Thomas Snoad cried loud 
 for vengeance, and the grip on my 
 sword-hilt tightened at the thought of 
 how it would cleave and make a part- 
 ing in the yellow wisps of hair, then 
 downward to the chin through the 
 coarse beard and the Hag of the 
 Turret would work no more evil, what- 
 ever else might befall. 
 
 I flung open her chamber door, and 
 she advanced to meet me with the 
 same cunning smile that was her 
 wonted mask. Then she read the 
 message in my eyes and in my hand, 
 and down at my feet she flung herself, 
 sore afraid and trembling. 
 
 " Speak!" she cried. " Nay, look 
 70
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 not at me thus! What have I done? 
 What is my fault? " 
 
 I made no answer to her question. 
 
 " I give thee one minute's grace for 
 prayer," said I; " and pray thy hard- 
 est, for afterwards thou shalt die a 
 swift death." 
 
 Again she asked me for reason and 
 explanation of my harsh conduct, but 
 I uttered no word. Still I stood with 
 lowered blade, counting the seconds 
 till I should have counted sixty. The 
 last ten I spoke aloud, so that the tor- 
 ture and the suspense might be the 
 greater. 
 
 " Fifty -seven!" I said. ''Fifty- 
 eight!" I hardly knew my own voice, 
 'twas that stern and hard. " Fifty- 
 nine!" "Six "I began, but 
 
 stopped short, for the hag had sprung 
 to her feet, and with a terrible cry as 
 of a wild panther at bay, she crossed 
 the room to where hung on the wall 
 the heavy curtain of red silk.
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 " Don Diego, my father, I crave thy 
 help!" she cried aloud, and her voice 
 shrieked high and unearthly such a 
 voice as neither human man nor wo- 
 man has ever heard or uttered. With 
 her lean hand she drew aside the cur- 
 tain, and there stood before me a man 
 with coal-black eyes, so hard, so pierc- 
 ing, that they froze the blood in my 
 veins, and the marrow in my back 
 so that I was held fast, and stood 
 still and rigid, as I have seen birds 
 pause, fixed and motionless, when 
 held fast by the glassy eyes of a 
 serpent. The naked blade dropped 
 from my ice-cold hand on to the 
 floor, for I was transfixed and rendered 
 without strength; and perforce had I 
 to gaze and yet gaze more, with both 
 my eyes sealed fast to the eyes of this 
 apparition. 
 
 I recall this new figure well, and, in- 
 deed, with good reason. 'Twas a man 
 of middle age, clad in black velvet, and 
 72
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 with a. bare head. The face I shall 
 never forget; so proud, so fierce, so 
 saturnine was its expression that even 
 now, with eyes closed, I can see it as 
 distinct to-day as I could on that, our 
 first and last encounter. The com- 
 plexion was dark, swarthy as that of a 
 Spaniard; on the chin was a peaked 
 beard, and the hair on the man's head 
 was coal-black; yet beyond all stood 
 out the two eyes that held me fast as 
 if by magic. 
 
 Thus stood I, spellbound and unable 
 to stir hand or foot, and round me 
 walked the bent hag, gleeful of mood, 
 rubbing her two hands round about 
 each other, and mewing with pleasure 
 like some great cat. For awhile she 
 hovered round about me, enjoying to 
 the full my discomfiture; then, from a 
 chest, she brought out a mirror, and 
 for an instant she held it 'twixt me and 
 the coal-black eyes that gripped mine 
 own. The face that I saw was ghastly 
 73
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 white under my brown beard, on my 
 brow stood glassy beads of sweat, the 
 lines of fear made my face lowly and 
 mean, and mine eyes were wide open 
 and without life or power. She with- 
 drew the mirror, and once again I was 
 spellbound by the sable figure with the 
 evil glance. 
 
 " Shall I draw the curtain?" she 
 whispered in my ear. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 There was no sound, but she marked 
 the words on my lips. 
 
 "You have seen sufficient; would 
 you not like yet one more look?" 
 
 She held the silk in her bony hand. 
 
 " No! for the sake of the Virgin " 
 
 The words stuck in my throat for I 
 was hoarse with terror. 
 
 " Swear thou wilt leave me in peace, 
 and never more enter this chamber!" 
 
 " I swear!" 
 
 I would have sworn away my hopes 
 
 74
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 of life and Heaven in that moment, so 
 empty was I of power and courage. 
 
 " Now go!" she cried, and the cur- 
 tain was drawn once more over those 
 hell-born eyes. Her hand still 
 clutched the silk, and at any moment 
 the man in black might once more 
 stand before me. 
 
 Hastily I turned to the doorway, yet 
 before I left the chamber she held the 
 mirror once more before my face ; but 
 all that I saw was a mist on the glass, 
 and there was no reflection either of 
 my face or aught else. 
 
 Fearfully I sprang down stairs, in 
 haste and as though pursued by ten 
 million devils, for had I not been on the 
 near confines of hell and gazed on what 
 no human eye ever was fashioned to gaze 
 upon? For the eyes in my head were 
 without true sight, and all before them 
 was yellow and formless, as though I 
 had stared into the face of the sun and 
 been blinded by its glare. 
 75
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 Terror-struck and abject, I kept far 
 away from the castle till such time as 
 hunger forced me to the store-room 
 and the cellar. To drown my fear and 
 anguish, I drank deeper on that day 
 than I have ever drunk before or since. 
 My head was afire and 'my gait hap- 
 hazard when, with a flask of red wine 
 under each arm, I once more set out 
 for my lair in the woods. As I passed 
 through the great hall my attention 
 was aroused by a mirror, alike in 
 form and size to the one that the Hag 
 4 of the Turret had held before my face 
 in the morning. It lay on one of the 
 couches. 
 
 " There will be no fearsome face all 
 white and chattering now," said I 
 thickly, and I could feel the wine burn- 
 ing under my skin. My heart was 
 light and careless, and I picked up the 
 mirror and gazed into it; an instant 
 later I had dashed it to the ground, 
 where it splintered into a thousand 
 76
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 fragments; for by all Heaven and 
 earth, I had gazed at the same terror- 
 torn face, all white and bloodless, that 
 I had seen reflected in this very mirror 
 when it was held up between my eyes 
 and the apparition that was in the tur- 
 ret behind the heavy curtain of red silk ! 
 
 Hastily I left the castle and wan- 
 dered to a seat in the forsaken garden, 
 where I thought and quaked anew, for 
 the courage that the wine had lent me 
 was all but fled, and I was as a child 
 that has been burnt to the bone and is 
 once more face to face with the fire, 
 only 'twas Sorcery that I stood in awe 
 of, and I had suffered o'ermuch from 
 it. As I sat thus trembling in all my 
 four limbs, may I be lost in the deep- 
 est pit if the curst witch did not find 
 me out and make mock of me! 
 
 " Silas Fordred, master-mariner of 
 Hythe, where be thy courage and thy 
 cunning now? Ha! ha!" and she 
 laughed long and high in her throat. 
 77
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 I said no word, and my chin was on 
 my chest, that weary and spent was I. 
 
 ;< It was not well to threaten, aye, 
 and seek to slay an old woman that 
 had done thee no harm ! Even if thy 
 evil planning had succeeded it would 
 not have been well; the Hag of the 
 Turret would not have died un- 
 avenged, for thou art but a man a 
 weak, common man, with naught but 
 brute strength and a cowardly heart!" 
 
 " Get thee away! I have suffered 
 enough, so leave me in peace!" 
 
 " Not yet, I have not done with 
 thee yet. Come with me and I will 
 show thee a brave sight." 
 
 " Away old hag, or I shall do thee 
 harm!" I cried. 
 
 She laughed all around her mouth, 
 showing her toothless gums, and the 
 roots of the two brown fangs that were 
 on either side. Her hand went to 
 her girdle, and I could see the gleam 
 of a blood-red stone above her fingers 
 78
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 that were clutching the hilt of a long 
 dagger. 
 
 " Come! you will come?" she plead- 
 ed, for now her voice took on a wheed- 
 ling tone ; and she turned in the direc- 
 tion of the three chambers that stood 
 separate and side by side with closed 
 doors. 
 
 I followed her. Heaven alone know- 
 eth why I rose to my feet at her behest 
 and went the same way as she. All I 
 can say is that I had a lurking hope in 
 my heart that something of chance or 
 justice might deliver her into my 
 hands, and then 
 
 "You come! you obey me, Silas 
 Fordred! Do you hope to push me 
 across the threshold of the Dark Cham- 
 ber, eh?" and her hand went signifi- 
 cantly to the dagger-hilt with the great 
 ruby at its head. 
 
 She had read the thought of ven- 
 geance from my face, and silently I 
 vowed I would think no more; but, 
 79
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 when the fit moment arrived, I would 
 act, and she should die whatever dog's 
 death she had intended for me. 
 
 By now we had reached the three 
 chambers, and, as once before, and that 
 on a memorable occasion, two of the 
 doors were closed and the other stood 
 wide open. Curiously I gazed within, 
 the witch marking the direction of my 
 eyes, and noting with a great satisfac- 
 tion their expression of greed and lust 
 of gain ; for what I saw was a chamber 
 full of wide-open chests, and caskets 
 all full and over-running with coloured 
 gems and coined gold. 'Twas like 
 what I had seen in the windows of the 
 Lombards that change moneys, only 
 here were precious gems in such a 
 plenty and gold pieces by the bushel 
 and by the gallon ; such wealth as I 
 had never gazed on before aye, and 
 of whose mere existence I had not 
 dreamed. Though I tried my hardest, 
 I could not suppress all desire ; and, as 
 80
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 my eyes lit up, the bearded hag no- 
 ticed my thirst, and chuckled and 
 made strange noises of satisfaction. 
 
 " 'Tis some other devil's business, 
 of that I have no doubt," said I in- 
 wardly, and calming myself I stood 
 firm and cold before the doorway. 
 
 " Thou canst go and take what 
 wealth that pleases thee," cried the 
 hag in my ear. 
 
 I made no answer, but stood firm 
 and at a good space from the door- 
 way. 
 
 " Thou wilt have riches enough to 
 purchase a whole county ; thou wilt be 
 able to build schools and churches, and 
 thou wilt be the first commoner in all 
 Hythe Borough, plain Master Silas 
 Fordred the mariner." 
 
 I smiled disdainfully, the wine I had 
 recently drunk coming once more to 
 my aid. 
 
 " Nay, nay," I said. " I have had 
 enough of thy riches and thy lures, I 
 81
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 will none of them!" and I turned on 
 my heel. 
 
 " Surely, friend Silas," she cried, 
 " thou art but a fool, and not the 
 clever knave that I mistook thee for!" 
 
 ' ' Aye, aye, that I know well, and 
 more beside, ' ' said I with a smile, and 
 moved away from her. She was greatly 
 angered and the corners of her mouth 
 twitched with suppressed rage. Still 
 she hobbled after me, did this bent 
 hag. 
 
 " Come back, friend Silas! " she 
 called. " Come back and plunge both 
 thy arms into this wealth ; truly thou 
 shalt come to no harm nay more, I 
 will enter with thee!" 
 
 " Thrice have I answered thee, and 
 each time said I nay; let this be my 
 last word and thine!" and I stood 
 away from her with folded arms. 
 
 ' ' Truly thou makest me impatient ! 
 Enter with me now, or never shalt 
 thou enter the Chamber of Riches, and 
 82
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 a poor man shalt thou die, naked and 
 with an empty belly!" 
 
 I said no word in reply. 
 
 " Never in all thy life shalt thou 
 enter!'' she hissed in my ear. 
 
 " Calm thyself, bent hag, calm thy- 
 self; thy conduct befits not thy years!" 
 and I laughed aloud in her face, so 
 that she grew a deep yellow with rage 
 and hatred. With that I set off for 
 the wood, and left her spitting and 
 afume before the open doorway. 
 
 I had not gone many steps when I 
 turned round and saw that she was on 
 my heels, her lips white with passion, 
 her expression more evil and menacing 
 than I had as yet seen it, her eyes 
 fierce and glittering as a hawk's. 
 
 4 ' Thou wilt enter yon doorway, 
 Silas Fordred!" she cried, and beat 
 on the ground with her staff. 
 
 " I will not, thou moth-eaten fury! 
 get thee to the devil!" and I laughed 
 aloud in her face. 
 
 83
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 Her yellow visage changed to a deep 
 orange, and great veins stood out on 
 her lean cheeks and forehead. 
 
 " Thou wilt enter yon chamber, that 
 I swear, either alive or else dead ! but 
 enter yon chamber thou shalt! " and 
 her voice choked short in her neck. 
 
 " I shall not! " said I, quite cold. 
 
 " Thou shalt! " she shrieked. I 
 smiled broad into her face, so that, los- 
 ing all prudence and all self-command, 
 she spat and boiled at the mouth, hiss 
 ing like a serpent in pain. 
 
 I watched her with an indifferent eye. 
 
 "Thou shalt enter!" she cried; 
 " living or dead, thou shalt enter!" 
 and so saying she snatched the dagger 
 from her girdle and flew at me in a 
 fury of hate and bitter rage. 
 
 Well I remember how the long, lean 
 blade flashed 'twixt my face and the 
 sky, and how, an instant later, I had 
 her wrist tight in my two hands ; then 
 there was a noise as of a twig snap- 
 84
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 ping, and the bone of her arm, dry and 
 brittle with age, broke into two pieces, 
 while I fell forward as the strain gave 
 way. Quickly I arose to my feet, and 
 she was at me again, yet this time the 
 dagger lay on the ground, and she 
 came to me with wide-open mouth, 
 the brown fang on either side bare to 
 the roots ; the fingers of her one hand 
 were apart and curved like claws, and 
 the other arm hung loose at her side, 
 the lower half flapping idly to and fro 
 as she moved. Like to a tigress, with 
 the white froth on her parted lips, she 
 sprang at me, and I, mad with hate 
 and rage, forced my one hand through 
 her wide open jaws, while with the 
 other I clasped her lean legs at the 
 bend. High I held her in the air and 
 ran thus, she swinging above my head, 
 hissing and writhing with pain and 
 hatred. High above my head she 
 twisted and turned, and then I flung 
 her with all my strength, whirled her 
 85
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 clean and clear through the wide-open 
 doorway of the Chamber of Riches, 
 where were the coloured jewels and 
 the chests of gold. As the lean 
 shanks were freed and my hands drew 
 across the toothless gums, the two 
 fangs on the sides of her mouth snap- 
 ped short and fell at my feet, while 
 overhead there swished through the air 
 that cursed Hag of the Turret, to light 
 with all force amid the gold and pre- 
 cious gems. To earth she fell with a 
 rattling sound, and that was the last I 
 saw or ever shall see of her lean car- 
 case, for, in the self-same moment as 
 she touched ground, a broad sheet of 
 flame, yellow as the gold within, filled 
 the entire chamber, dropped from ceil- 
 ing to floor a curtain of fire. I gazed 
 breathless and awestruck at this spec- 
 tacle, yet with a keen joy in my heart 
 as I thought of the Hag of the Turret, 
 who must now be roasting within as 
 later she would broil in Hell. For the 
 86
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 space of ten seconds the broad flame 
 licked and waved, then it expired and 
 all was clear and simple as before, only 
 the Hag of the Turret was nowhere to 
 be seen, and for that I thanked God 
 and His Son and the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 At my feet, that had left deep 
 marks in the turf by reason of my last 
 great effort, were the two yellow fangs 
 that had broke short on my hand. 
 These I picked up and placed carefully 
 within my pouch as a remembrance of 
 the She-fiend from whose mouth they 
 had dropt; and you, who have seen 
 them at my house in Stade Street can 
 now understand why I troubled to 
 bring home with me ivory of so worth- 
 less a nature. 
 
 I knelt long and devoutly, praying 
 to the God that had rid me of so curst 
 a companion, voicing my thanks with 
 much direct and grateful speech ; and, 
 even when I could no more think of 
 fitting phrases, I still knelt with closed 
 87
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 eyes, as my thanks swelled in my heart 
 and spoke for me aye, and perhaps 
 with a sweeter tongue than the bald 
 utterances which were all that so sim- 
 ple a man as myself could think of 
 and weave into a prayer. At length, 
 these devotions and some tears having 
 eased my heart, I looked up, and in 
 front of me and on all fours was the 
 hairy man looking humbly into my 
 face. As our glances met, he pranced 
 around like a colt that is out at pas- 
 ture, put his face to the ground and 
 placed my hand to his head, so that I 
 wondered whether he did not mistake 
 me for a priest and was seeking my 
 blessing. I knew that he had seen me 
 at prayer, and that, perchance, I had 
 misled him into holding that I was 
 a priest. 
 
 " I am no friar," I cried, " but 
 plain Silas Fordred, master-mariner of 
 Hythe, that suffered shipwreck on this 
 accursed island some months since." 
 88
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 The hairy man spoke not, but, in- 
 stead, he made strange noises as do 
 the beasts of the forest, and signs with 
 his arms like unto a negro trader. 
 
 Once more he pressed my hand to 
 his head, and he was about to lay his 
 cheek against my feet, when I arose 
 with some choler. 
 
 " Hairy man," said I, " thou art 
 little better than a fool ! Bear thee as 
 a man, and not as a dog that has been 
 lately whipped!" 
 
 Yet again and for some time longer 
 he pranced for joy, and pointed first 
 to his eyes and then into the chamber 
 with the wide-open door, wherein the 
 witch had lately disappeared. 
 
 " Did'st see the somersault she 
 turned?" I asked. " 'Twas bravely 
 done, aye, thou naked one?" 
 
 He recognised the cheery tone of my 
 
 voice and once more skipped joyfully 
 
 toward me, while I, somewhat weary 
 
 of his too evident pleasure, smote him 
 
 89
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 heavily in the ribs, so that he was grat- 
 ified, yet not too much so. After I 
 had taken this precaution, he kept at 
 a safe distance from me, and though 
 ever and anon there came a smile into 
 the corner of his eye, he ventured no 
 more within reach of my foot or fist 
 till his joy was of a calmer nature. 
 
 After awhile I went into the castle, 
 the savage following close at my heel. 
 
 I had that day triumphed over the 
 Hag of the Turret, and the presence of 
 a companion aye, even of a compan- 
 ion that spoke no real tongue, and, 
 moreover, was hairy from head to toe, 
 had given me new hope and cour- 
 age ; so much so, that I resolved forth- 
 with, and while my revived manhood 
 was still hot within me, to mount the 
 turret stairway and see whether I could 
 not conquer the evil-eyed monster be- 
 yond the curtain, as I had conquered 
 the hag, his friend. 
 
 I had read the story of David and 
 90
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 Goliath, and I was minded to meet 
 this foe even as the Hebrew Harpist 
 had met the Philistine; but I, having 
 neither sling nor stone, took with me 
 instead a heavy hammer of iron, which 
 weapon I resolved to hurl at the evil 
 one's head the moment that the hairy 
 man, whom I should so instruct, had 
 withdrawn the curtain. 
 
 Stealthily, so as not to give alarm 
 and warning to the black-browed Sor- 
 cerer overhead, we mounted the nar- 
 row stairway, and, with some catching 
 at our breath, entered the doorway of 
 the turret chamber. Within this de- 
 serted apartment was deep stillness, 
 and at the far end hung the heavy cur- 
 tain of red silk, lengthways, from ceil- 
 ing to flagstone as before. With some 
 trouble and after a great making of 
 signs, I at length instructed my new- 
 found ally in his duty, and at a signal 
 from me the curtain was drawn aside, 
 and quick, before the sinister face had 
 91
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 power to hold me, I flung the ham- 
 mer at it with all my force. No 
 sooner had the haft left my hand than 
 a great fear seized upon me, and I 
 closed my eyes, wondering what dire 
 consequences would follow on my at- 
 tack. 
 
 I stood in darkness many long sec- 
 onds, expecting the turret to sway and 
 topple to the earth aye, yet stranger 
 and more hurtful events and mis- 
 chances did I think of, yet through 
 the stillness there came only one sound 
 the falling of a shower of splintered 
 glass that recalled the breaking of the 
 mirror that I had flung from me in 
 the morning. I opened my eyes, and 
 beyond the curtain that the hairy man 
 still held to his side (and his face was 
 in that moment a fine picture of varied 
 humours) there was naught but an 
 empty space, under which was in- 
 scribed in tall letters of ebony: 
 " DIGO RODRICOVEZ," 
 92
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 and on the floor of the chamber lay a 
 thousand fragments of glass. Many of 
 these I stooped over and gazed at with 
 much curiosity. Most of them were 
 portions of a mirror, so that in their 
 depths I caught glimpses of my own 
 face; on others were patches of black 
 velvet ; and in one I met the ear and 
 awful eye of the figure that had struck 
 such terror into me on that self-same 
 day. I put these pieces of glass aside 
 and pondered, while all the time the 
 hairy man stood awestruck and silent 
 before me. 
 
 " Man of the furry hide," said I at 
 last, " surely this was a mirror, much 
 such an one as that which carried the 
 imprint of my face this morning, and 
 in it yon demon and Heaven alone 
 knoweth where and what he be had 
 gazed at some one time or another. 
 His evil eye it was that, reflected in 
 this glass, transfixed and held me mo- 
 tionless some few hours since. 'Twas 
 93
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 no real man that I saw, but a shadow 
 wrought by black magic and strange 
 crafts. The witch, praise be to 
 Heaven, hath paid the price of her evil- 
 doings, and there will be no new Sorcery 
 on this island for many a long day!" 
 
 I looked at the tall letters of ebony 
 once more and repeated them many 
 times, marvelling greatly as to their 
 meaning and significance. Then a 
 thought came to me one that I had 
 strangely overlooked that filled my 
 breast and mind with new alarms: "If 
 the mirror I had shattered held but a 
 reflection of a Sorcerer, where was that 
 Sorcerer's self, and might not he at 
 any moment weave some new spell 
 about me aye, perchance at this pres- 
 ent instant he might be planning my 
 destruction?" 
 
 Many times I repeated the two ebon 
 words " DlGO R.ODRICOVEZ," marvel- 
 ling the while greatly as to what could 
 be their meaning and significance. 
 94
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 From the turret we once more de- 
 scended to the garden, where stood the 
 chamber that was the tomb of the Hag 
 of the Turret. The door was still wide 
 open and the wealth within tempted 
 me greatly, although I was well aware 
 of the uselessness of riches in my pres- 
 ent plight. Such is the force of custom 
 and habit. I made my way from 
 thence, resolved to let well alone and 
 to touch naught else that might in any 
 way tempt or cause me harm. I passed 
 the third chamber, and this time a 
 fresh doorway stood open, so that I 
 could gaze and satisfy my curiosity. 
 Now I saw clear into a room quaintly 
 alight and all rosy as is a sunset, and 
 within were lovely maidens that 
 neither stirred nor spoke, clad in won- 
 drous thin and gauzy garments, and of 
 a marvellous fair complexion that the 
 tender light made yet more strangely 
 beautiful. 
 
 " Hairy man," said I, " let us 
 95
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 away; this is some new spell!" and I 
 grasped his shoulder and the two of 
 us strode hastily from the spot, onward 
 through the garden. As I pressed for- 
 ward past the place where I had strug- 
 gled with the witch I made out some- 
 thing that glittered on the grass. 
 What I picked up was the dagger that 
 the hag had sought to kill me with, a 
 long blade of Spanish steel, and at its 
 hilt was a round ruby. This I stuck 
 into my belt that I had lately taken 
 from one of the rooms in the castle, 
 for my own leathern girdle was still 
 clenched by the brazen fist that swung 
 on the castle doorwway. This knife 
 you have seen in company with my 
 other belongings, and such of you as 
 are skilled in these matters can testify 
 as to the fineness of the workmanship 
 and the lustre of the precious stone at 
 its head. 
 
 The dusk was fast approaching and 
 the day was well-nigh sped. It had 
 96
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 been a day of great events and much 
 danger and activity, and many a time 
 within the last twenty-four hours had 
 my heart stuck fast in my throat and 
 my teeth chattered in my mouth, for 
 it is not given to every man to perform 
 deeds of valour without misgiving and 
 inward qualms; nay more, I dare 
 swear that the bravest hero one that 
 can face human enemies without know- 
 ing dread or fear would have shrunk 
 aghast at the black sorceries and other 
 superhuman dangers wherewith I had 
 that day done battle. Now my mind 
 was somewhat at rest, maybe that it 
 shared the same weariness that beset 
 my body; also was my hunger great 
 and my thirst of a similar quality. 
 Long did the hairy man and I sit 
 together in the store-room making a 
 giant's supper, and my belt hung idly 
 on my loins and I was scant of breath 
 when I had done. My new-found ally 
 sate beside me on the floor, eating with 
 97
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 great gusto and no little astonishment 
 at the source of our meal ; he, in com- 
 mon with myself, never before having 
 seen flesh that was preserved in sealed 
 tins, nor had he ever tasted wines and 
 heady liquors of any sort till this same 
 night. We drank wisely, and, in spite 
 of the manifest danger of the action, 
 fell asleep where we had eaten, this 
 being the first night that I had spent 
 under a roof since the day that I and 
 Thomas Snoad set out from Hythe.
 
 Chapter V 
 
 HAIRY MAN!" said I next 
 morning, as we rubbed our 
 eyes and stretched our limbs, for we 
 had slept deep, " henceforth thou shalt 
 be known as Esau, a fitter name and a 
 more ancient. Now, Esau, let us to 
 breakfast, and afterwards we will hold 
 a council and resolve on what measures 
 we can take to quit this thrice accurst 
 island, and all that it holds." 
 
 It was of little use, this converse 
 with Esau ; but it was good and cheer- 
 ing to hear the sound of my voice, 
 and, when I spoke, my companion 
 smiled with over-great intelligence, 
 although he understood no single word. 
 
 " Esau," said I, when our meal was 
 done, and we had lain for some time 
 99
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 on the floor a-blinking upward at the 
 roofing, " what shall we do now?" 
 
 I waited not for a reply, but con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " A ship we will build, even though 
 it be but a small one, and in it we shall 
 sail away from this witch-ridden land, 
 where naught is safe or of good 
 health." 
 
 Thereupon we arose, and made our 
 way to the great room beyond the hall, 
 the chamber that was like to a huge 
 smithy. Here there were axes and 
 saws and shipwright's tools in plenty; 
 also a barrow with wheels and a light 
 truck. These two carriages we filled 
 with all manner of implements, and 
 some sacks containing the smallware of 
 our trade. On the canvas of one of 
 these last was painted, strange to say, 
 in a black lettering, clavos de fierro, 
 words that signify ship's nails in the 
 Spanish tongue, a language with which 
 I am well acquainted from frequent 
 
 100
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 intercourse with the mariners of that 
 great nation. 
 
 Three times in all did Esau and I 
 make the journey, 'twixt the castle and 
 the sea shore. After our first journey 
 we built a rude hut wherein to place 
 the contents of our barrow; also a 
 somewhat stronger habitation that 
 would give us shelter at night time; 
 for I was o'erweary of sleeping in the 
 open, exposed to rain and whatever 
 wind and weather with which Provi- 
 dence might favour me. 
 
 Before we once more set our faces 
 inland, we bathed and made merry in 
 the sea, spending much such a day as 
 do English townsfolk who go to the 
 shore in summer-time. 
 
 All about us was unchanged, and the 
 great bronze idol kept watch and ward 
 over the coast, silent and passive as 
 ever, while at its feet the bleached 
 skeletons, all sundered in the middle, 
 were strewn here and there. At sight
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 of the strange god the smile vanished 
 from Esau's face, and he beat his head 
 on the sand and made moan, and with 
 clenched fist he cried aloud in the idol's 
 face, and made deep noises in his 
 throat that were his manner of cursing ; 
 so that I knew that he could be no 
 worshipper of the great bronze god. 
 
 "It is well, friend Esau," said I, 
 " and I am overjoyed to find thee not 
 idolatrous and a heathen, as are most 
 wild men." 
 
 After that we departed once more 
 inland, and on our return to the shore 
 we were laden with sheets and cloths 
 that we had taken from the great 
 beds, and wax and stout cords and 
 threads, for we would have to make 
 sails and shrouds for our mast. What 
 space we had over we filled with the 
 flesh that was in the sealed tins, and 
 flasks of wine, and swords and spears 
 from the great hall, with which wea- 
 pons we hoped to slay many of the 
 
 102
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 birds and beasts in the woods, so that 
 we might eat fresh meat every day. 
 
 All these goods were stowed care- 
 fully away in our hut, and then we set 
 to work on our ship, hewing down 
 trees in the woods, and labouring with 
 great vigour from daybreak to dusk. 
 In the evening when our work was 
 done we would walk round the coast 
 spying for a sail or sign of man, yet 
 none such did we ever see ; and always 
 there confronted us the great bronze 
 idol, with the thirteen white gems at 
 its throat. 
 
 Now, one day when we had walked 
 maybe half a league along the lonely 
 strand, we chanced on what seemed 
 to be a bower, and, as we came closer, 
 we could see that what we had mis- 
 taken for an arbour was a long low 
 house of wood with but three walls and 
 a roof, all overgrown with moss and 
 trailing plants. Carefully we ap- 
 proached, and walked round the house, 
 103
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 first on one side and then on the other, 
 till we came to the front that faced the 
 sea, the side that was open and had no 
 wall, and here we discerned the prow 
 of a small ship. The blood rushed to 
 my face at the sight, and I ran forward 
 in great haste so that my hands might 
 feel what mine eyes had beheld. Of 
 truth, it was a ship, wondrous light, 
 yet of a marvellous secure build, as I 
 that am a seaman could rightly vouch 
 for, and as you that have seen it with- 
 out my house in Stade Street can tes- 
 tify. 
 
 This strange vessel had neither mast, 
 sail, nor oar. It was all open and 
 bare, save but for a single cabin that 
 was furnished for extreme comfort and 
 ease, and, at the one end, the body of 
 the vessel was made solid with wooden 
 planking, atop of which were three 
 handles of silver, wrought like the han- 
 dles of a door. At first I feared that 
 the ship was of witchcraft like unto the 
 104
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 other marvels that I had encountered 
 in this island; neverthless, Esau and 
 myself slept that night secure within 
 the cabin, without evil dream or other 
 harm, so that on the morrow I be- 
 thought me that this was of good 
 omen, and, be the silver handles what 
 they might, I would venture across the 
 seas in this strange barque. 
 
 Under the ship was a wooden stage, 
 long and broad, with wheels that I 
 greased with the fat of a beast, so that, 
 without great ado, Esau and I were 
 able to float our new-found prize, and, 
 with the oars that we had already 
 fashioned, we rowed near a league 
 along the shore without mishap, save 
 that Esau, who was no waterman, did 
 fall heavily backward more times than 
 once. The last part of our journey 
 was performed at some speed, for this 
 barque was marvellously light, being 
 mostly built of cork that weighs but 
 little ; and what steel and timber that 
 105
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 was used in its construction was of a 
 fine quality, very strong, yet in nowise 
 weighty. 
 
 Thankful was I that Providence had 
 put in my path the thing that of all 
 things I most desired; and now that 
 we had a vessel, I resolved that we 
 would put to sea with the least possible 
 delay, and get us away from the hea- 
 then land where but to be alive was a 
 great danger. 
 
 Yet, before we hoisted our sail to 
 the winds and disappeared down the 
 horizon, I resolved to make one last 
 journey to the castle on the hill-top, 
 for our stores of flesh and wine were 
 getting low, and I had hidden my gold 
 platters in the wood; and these I re- 
 solved to take with us, they being of 
 great price. 
 
 Esau and I had made us a mast and 
 
 a stout sail with all needful tackle in 
 
 the shape of shrouds and sheets, and 
 
 we had only to get provisions and 
 
 106
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 fresh water aboard before setting out 
 to a port of safety. 
 
 Once more we went a-journeying 
 with our two barrows through the 
 woods and pasture lands that lay be- 
 tween the seashore and the castle. 
 As ever, the brazen hand still clenched 
 my girdle of leather and the gate stood 
 wide open. 
 
 First of all we went down to my old 
 lair in the woods and loaded the gold 
 vessels into my barrow, and then we 
 spent some time going to and fro 
 with armfuls of provisions and flasks 
 of wine till both our barrows could 
 hold no more. This done, we had a 
 farewell repast in the store-room, and 
 we sat making merry till Esau sudden- 
 ly sprang up and ran swiftly to the 
 gateway; then he rushed madly down- 
 hill to the wood, signing with his head 
 and arms that he would return ere sun- 
 down. Marvelling greatly as to the 
 meaning of this sudden flight, I 
 107
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 watched him disappear in the foliage, 
 and then for the last time I wandered 
 through the castle. All was still as 
 death and utterly deserted, and yet, 
 thought I, as I sat in the great smith's 
 shop, " It would be well were I to 
 save other shipwrecked mariners from 
 the spells and sorceries that had done 
 unto death Thomas Snoad and Satan, 
 the black cat ; and from which I my- 
 self had but barely escaped, and of 
 which Esau, the hairy man, stood in 
 such evident fear." Therefore, I hied 
 me to the cellar where were the barrels 
 of gunpowder that I have spoken of 
 before, and, labouring hard, I piled 
 eight of these in the great hall, five I 
 left below they were sufficient to 
 have destroyed a city one barrel I 
 placed at the closed doorway of the 
 Dark Chamber, and, as I was rolling 
 another towards the chamber with the 
 beauteous maidens and the rosy light, 
 whom should I espy but Esau, greatly 
 ioS
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 exercised in mind and body, driving 
 before him a wild pig that ran shriek- 
 ing and in evident dread. The hairy 
 man followed as swift as any hare, and 
 in his hand he held a stout cudgel, 
 with which he ever and anon bela- 
 boured the terrified hog. 
 
 Amazed, I surveyed this strange 
 spectacle, wondering to what end could 
 serve this baiting and harrying of the 
 ill-looking creature. We were all 
 three of us going in the direction of the 
 chamber with the lovely maidens, and, 
 as I approached, I could see that the 
 door stood wide open as ever, and that 
 the damsels were wondrous fair to gaze 
 upon. From these pleasant reflections 
 my mind was called back to my com- 
 rade, who now fell to thwacking the 
 wild pig more mercilessly than before, 
 so that the airs were filled with a 
 piteous squealing that, mingled with 
 the cries of Esau, made as great a 
 tumult as the island had ever listened 
 109
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 to. I marked the open door and then 
 I guessed what Esau was attempting. 
 With a final blow he drove the wild 
 pig, now frantic with fear and pain, 
 across the threshold of the chamber, 
 and then I saw what manner of fate 
 would have overtaken me, had I been 
 foolish enough or hasty enough to have 
 yielded to this great tempting and to 
 have ventured into that house. The 
 wild pig rushed headlong to its fate, as 
 ghastly and as merciless a doom as any 
 that e'er befel living man or beast. 
 For one moment it stood within, hesi- 
 tating which way to turn, and casting 
 a wild eye over its shoulder at its bar- 
 barous pursuer; then, like to the 
 gnashing of a thousand hungry teeth, 
 there fell from roof to floor of the 
 chamber countless sharp-pointed spears 
 that dropped vertically, with a great 
 clamour and clashing of steel as the 
 metal heads struck the flag-stones. 
 Upon every square foot of flooring
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 there fell sure and straight no less than 
 three of these sharp-pointed rods of 
 iron, so that as I looked the chamber 
 was barred from wall to wall, thick 
 with iron staves as is a forest with 
 trees. By eighteen such spears was 
 pierced the wild pig, held hard and 
 fast, so that he died upright standing 
 dead and bleeding on his four legs. 
 The lovely maidens neither stirred nor 
 made signs either of horror or joy; 
 they stood silent, untouched and unin- 
 jured, while all about them was bar on 
 bar of iron. 
 
 So this was the special devilment 
 that overhung the third chamber, and 
 straightway I rolled my cask to its very 
 threshold in the same manner as I had 
 placed another against the doorway of 
 the Dark Chamber. Esau and I 
 fetched yet another barrel and this we 
 stood upright before the Chamber of 
 Riches, so that the ashes of the Hag 
 of the Turret and her last dwelling
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 place might be scattered in one com- 
 mon eruption. 
 
 All that there now remained for me 
 to do, was to lay a powder train 'twixt 
 all these barrels, which I cheerily set 
 about, making a black line, thick and 
 heavy, that ran from the cellar to the 
 great hall and to the three chambers, 
 then downhill to the wood. This 
 done, we returned for our two barrows, 
 that we trundled along to a good mile 
 beyond where ended the train of gun- 
 powder. 
 
 It was now quite dark, and we 
 moved hastily, I holding in my hand a 
 box of the red-tipped splinters of wood 
 that when rubbed hard burst into 
 flame. Cautiously and with great care 
 I set fire to the end of the powder 
 train, and then the two of us ran till 
 we were out of breath. Presently 
 there were two reports and a bright 
 flame spread like sheet-lightning across 
 the night. 
 
 112
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 " The Chambers! " I cried, as a 
 third explosion rang out. 
 
 We were now beyond the wood in 
 an open country, and we could see the 
 castle on the hill-top stand dark 
 against the sky. An instant later and 
 the countryside stood out green and 
 gold as in broad daylight, and turret 
 and walls toppled and fell as does a 
 child's house that is built of wooden 
 bricks, and then was blotted out and 
 clouded with a huge volume of smoke, 
 thick, dense and opaque; afterwards, 
 silence and black night, and all was 
 still and peaceful as before. 
 
 Esau, the hairy man, had witnessed 
 this great spectacle, and now frantic 
 with delight he capered about me and 
 knelt at my feet and put his lips to my 
 hands till I had perforce to kick him 
 hard so that he might take himself 
 away and be grateful with a lesser 
 show of devotion. This he did, rub- 
 
 "3
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 bing his flanks and the other spots 
 where my foot had dwelt. 
 
 So was that accursed castle wiped 
 from off the face of this earth, and 
 thus were Satan, the black cat, and 
 Thomas Snoad, my fellow-adventurer, 
 avenged fully and to the hilt.
 
 Chapter VI 
 
 / T % HERE was a feeling of triumph in 
 -* my heart as once more we jour- 
 neyed to the sea-shore, to embark on 
 our good ship and set sail across the 
 green waters. Manfully we pushed 
 our barrows before us, I singing brave 
 songs as I strode, and, though our 
 loads were weightier than they had 
 ever been before, our two carriages 
 seemed wondrous light and easy of 
 guidance. 
 
 Hope is a wondrous well, and I had 
 drunk deep of its waters, a rare medi- 
 cine, that, after these many days of 
 fear and terror, was bringing my man- 
 hood back to me and implanting new 
 courage in my heart. Our ship stood 
 ready, and carefully we stowed away 
 "5
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 our provisions and the spoils of the 
 Dark Chamber. The next two days 
 we went a-hunting, slaying whatever 
 beast or fowl came in our way, so that 
 we might have fresh meat in plenty. 
 Many gourds we filled with fresh water 
 from a stream, and, on the third day, 
 we resolved that we would hoist our 
 sail at sunrise on the following morning 
 and then away. 
 
 The last eve I paid a visit of farewell 
 to the great bronze idol. The thirteen 
 diamond stones sparkled as never they 
 had sparkled before, and, as I gazed, 
 a huge desire seized on me and grew so 
 strong that I, feeling that with the 
 new ship had come new strength and 
 power, swore loudly and with many 
 oaths that the jewels should be mine. 
 
 In the morning when all was ready 
 and we had only to push off from the 
 shore to be free and beyond the reach 
 of the evil and the magic that lurked 
 within this bewitched island, I helped 
 
 116
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 Esau to float our ship and instructed 
 him to get out the oars and row close 
 along the shore till he was opposite 
 the spot where stood the brazen idol, 
 making sign to him that I would join 
 him at that place, swimming straight 
 out from the shore onto our vessel. 
 
 He set off without misgiving of any 
 kind, while I, walking rapidly, was 
 presently face to face with the great 
 figure and the glistening stones. So 
 that I might have the more courage I 
 talked wildly in the idol's brazen face, 
 with strange grimaces and much mock- 
 ery, saying, ' ' Thou art a false god and 
 the jewels be not thine," beside other 
 things unwise to recall. Also did I 
 roll my tongue at the dumb figure and 
 I spat with scorn on the sand at its 
 feet. For in the night-time, as I lay 
 awake, I had thought of a plan where- 
 by I might reach the necklet, and now 
 I approached the great idol with a 
 rope that I made fast about its waist, 
 117
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 using great caution and keeping well 
 without the reach of the brazen arms. 
 I had thought that I might approach 
 the idol from behind, using to that end 
 the half of my rope that hung from 
 the hips to the ground beside me, for, 
 by aid of the rope, I could reach the 
 figure's middle, from thence I could 
 easily climb to the brazen shoulders, 
 and then the gems would be mine. 
 
 At first I tried to ascend the rope 
 with my hands, dragging my body 
 after me ; but the idol was at too great 
 a height from the ground, and I had 
 not sufficient strength to reach its 
 waist, where I would have obtained a 
 foothold. I attempted this manner of 
 reaching the necklace till I was well 
 nigh fit to drop from exhaustion, and 
 then, this having failed, another plan 
 came to me. I would use my feet, 
 steadying myself by the rope and thus 
 climb, step by step, to the idol's waist, 
 much as children, holding their father's 
 118
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 hands, climb from his knee to his thigh 
 and then upward over his body to his 
 shoulders. Once more I attempted to 
 ascend the huge figure, but the pol- 
 ished bronze was all smooth and slip- 
 pery as is winter ice, so that my feet 
 could get no foothold and moved as 
 if they had been greased with fat, and 
 after every few steps I had to begin 
 afresh. Seven times I fell, hanging by 
 the rope in mid-air and swinging to and 
 fro without control of my body. At the 
 seventh fall I was mad with rage and 
 fury, for I am of a hot temper, and, 
 losing hold of my rope furiously did I 
 run round to the face of the great 
 figure, crying, " Idol, thou art a false 
 god, and I, Silas Fordred, fear thee 
 not, nay, nor an hundred of thy 
 breed!" and much more of a like na- 
 ture. With that I climbed in a mad 
 heat onto the great knee, still calling 
 out aloud my defiance, from thence I 
 onto the loins, and, as my hand 
 119
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 pressed on the outstanding breast, I 
 head a noise as of metal grinding 
 against metal and the brazen arms 
 quivered, while, in that self-same mo- 
 ment, I loosed my hold and fell heavily 
 to earth, and over my head I heard the 
 clash of the great arms as they met 
 the body 'twas as the striking of a 
 bell. I lay on the sea-shore, stunned 
 and dazed from my fall, and then the 
 ground beside me shook and there was 
 a noise as of thunder that is near. For 
 some moments I was without sense or 
 understanding, and when my mind 
 once more became live and active and 
 I had rubbed my eyes, wondering the 
 while whether I was on earth and alive 
 or dead and in the realms beyond, 
 there came back to me the clash of the 
 giant arms and the memory of how I 
 had striven to wrest the necklet from 
 the brazen throat. 
 
 The sun was strong in my eyes and 
 I raised my head trying to discover the 
 
 120
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 exact nature of what had befallen, 
 and behold, at my side lay one half of 
 the bronze idol, that was broken across 
 the middle and in two parts, as were 
 Thomas Snoad and the skeletons that 
 lay about and around it. The lower 
 half of the figure was still seated, rigid 
 and meaningless; the upper part had 
 fallen onto the earth beside me, and on 
 its neck glistened and shone the thir- 
 teen great diamonds. Slowly it dawned 
 upon me what had befallen, and I ex- 
 plained the reason of the severed body 
 thus: the brazen arms had found no 
 body to break their force, and they 
 had closed with all their might and 
 weight on the brass body of the idol's 
 self, and had sundered it as they had 
 sundered the flesh and bones of poor 
 Thomas Snoad, my friend. 
 
 Now I rose to my feet and tore the 
 necklet from the brazen throat that lay 
 all helpless at my side, and the stones 
 were set in fine gold, and close at hand 
 
 121
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 they were even larger and brighter 
 than they had seemed when sparkling 
 up on high above my head. 
 
 Gleefully I put the jewels into my 
 pouch, where were also the fangs that 
 I had broke from the jaw of the Hag 
 of the Turret, and then a great fear 
 seized on me ; for, though I am a man, 
 pious and a believer in the one and 
 only God and His Son Jesus and the 
 Virgin Mary, yet still did I dread that 
 the idol might seek to avenge what I 
 had caused to befall, and quick and 
 straight, without halting, yet ever and 
 anon looking backward over my shoul- 
 der to see whether or not I was pur- 
 sued, I ran as fast as my legs could 
 bear me to the water's edge and spied 
 for my ship and Esau, who was rowing 
 her close in shore. They were near at 
 hand, and, with a cry of joy, I plunged 
 into the surf, first feeling at my pouch 
 to see that the diamonds were secure 
 within; then I turned hastily to the 
 
 122
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 land, a new wave of dread surging 
 through my body. Esau marked the 
 swiftness with which I struck out from 
 the shore, and I swam like one pos- 
 sessed, for, following me with the 
 speed of the wind was the sable figure 
 of the turret, he whose image I had 
 destroyed with a hammer the vile 
 Sorcerer himself. At last I clambered 
 over the side of the ship, and without 
 a word I sprang in a cold sweat of fear 
 and despair to the rope that would 
 hoist our sail, and when Esau knew 
 that I was tugging for the dear life, he, 
 too, came over and worked beside me, 
 though with a surprised look in his 
 face as if he wondered as to the cause 
 of this excessive fear and haste. 
 
 " Look, look!" I cried, " he follows 
 us!" and I pointed to the shore, and 
 Esau looked and shook his head. 
 " There is nothing, you say? " and I, 
 too, turned my eyes landward, yet all 
 I could see was the flat foreshore with 
 123
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 the sundered idol and the woods and 
 foliage beyond. Only when we were 
 far from land, with the sea spreading 
 white under our keel, did I regain my 
 composure and throw off the fear that 
 had seized upon me as I escaped with 
 my booty. 
 
 Esau had all the while gazed at me 
 in wonder and with some joy, for he 
 had marked the broken god, yet had 
 he not understood what actual occur- 
 rences had taken place during my ab- 
 sence that forenoon. With much 
 making of signs I told him all that was 
 possible, and when I held the great 
 gems before his eyes he blinked and 
 smiled, dazzled by their exceeding 
 beauty and joyful to think that I had 
 overcome the dread figure that guarded 
 those shores. 
 
 That night, with sail hoist over our 
 heads, we were far out to sea, and the 
 land of strange witchcrafts and fear- 
 some spells was nowheres to be seen, 
 124
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 while all around us stretched and 
 sighed the great waters. 
 
 Yet one more mystery came to pass 
 ere we were quit of the Sorcerer's coast 
 wherein we had fared so evilly, and 
 this time we were fortune's favourites 
 and the new spell worked us a service. 
 
 I have spoken before of the three 
 handles that are of solid silver and like 
 to those on a door, that you may see 
 for yourselves on the strange barque. 
 Though now you may turn and wrench 
 these handles and naught befalls, yet, 
 when on the third day of our voyage 
 and I have sworn it I turned the middle 
 handle out of mere curiosity, straight- 
 way did the ship proceed with speed 
 some ten times greater than before, as 
 though stirred and pressed forward by 
 some strange miracle, like unto one of 
 those that are told of in the Holy 
 Book. Like an arrow it clove the 
 waters and the spray danced joyfully 
 at it flanks, while the sweet, cool wind 
 
 125
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 played on our faces and made the blood 
 under our cheeks quick and flush with 
 motion. Again I turned the handle, and 
 then the ship moved as it had moved 
 before with but a single sail. Another 
 handle was a rudder that steered mar- 
 vellous sure, so that when both spells 
 were at work we progressed with great 
 ease and swiftness. For seven days and 
 seven nights we shot forward like a 
 sea-bird, although our sail lay idle 
 aboard; then we dropped down to a 
 dead stillness, drifting idly as the waters 
 listed, and, though I turned the 
 handles all manner of ways the ship 
 went none the faster. The magic that 
 had given us wings had ceased, and we 
 rehoist our sail and went onward at a 
 more natural speed. All the time our 
 eyes were turned to the north and to 
 the south and eastwards and westwards, 
 seeking for a ship or a land where there 
 were men, so that we might be informed 
 as to what strange seas we were sailing, 
 126
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 and in what direction lay the good port 
 of Hythe and England, my own native 
 land. 
 
 Though we had left the Fearsome 
 Island and all its witchcrafts behind us, 
 yet were our hardships in no ways 
 ended; indeed, when I think aright, 
 meseems that they were but just be- 
 gun, for, what are sudden death and 
 dangers quick and violent compared 
 to the slow tortures of hunger and 
 thirst! Looking backward in the en- 
 forced leisure of our aimless sailing, 
 and I had many a long hour wherein 
 to think of what was past, I discovered 
 that, for all my self-commiseration, 
 there was a certain pleasurable excite- 
 ment mingled with the fears and dan- 
 gers I had encountered during my 
 sojourn on the witchcurst land that I 
 had quitted. From one hour to an- 
 other I had been lost in wonder and 
 thought, not knowing what the next 
 might bring forth, and, together with 
 127
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 this insecurity, there was a certain se- 
 cret blessing that I had not hitherto 
 recognized ; for, had I not learned to 
 know and to believe in myself, and 
 had I not been tried and tempted as 
 are few men; and was I not the 
 stronger and the manlier for all these 
 wrestlings? I had issued unharmed 
 from countless dangers, and, for much 
 of my present safety and security, I 
 had but to thank my own ready wit 
 and courage; and, on the day when 
 Esau and myself set out on our home- 
 ward voyage, I felt more of a man, 
 aye, a man strong and of a clear brain, 
 than ever I had felt before or since 
 either, for that matter and it seemed 
 that, in spite of the many anxious and 
 troubled days and nights that I had 
 lately undergone, still had I much to be 
 grateful for. 
 
 Yet there was a far stronger and a 
 more wearisome test of courage and 
 manhood before me than any I had 
 128
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 undergone, and, though 'twas of a less 
 entertaining nature, yet, nevertheless, 
 was its mark deeper and more lasting 
 than all my struggles against witchcraft 
 and black sorcery. 
 
 The first days of our voyage were 
 idly spent ; I had much to think on, 
 and Esau was content to watch me 
 and prepare our food. Above our 
 heads were blue skies, and I have ever 
 observed that when the heavens are 
 without cloud the heart of man doth 
 also beat serene and joyful. On our 
 setting out I had made Esau wear a 
 suit of blue cloth that I had taken 
 express from the castle, for I knew 
 that as we sailed the airs would grow 
 colder and he would feel the lack of 
 garments. He wore this costume for 
 the first two days of our voyage, and, 
 though I could see that it irked him, 
 he made no sign of disapproval. On 
 the morning of the third day he was 
 hairy and naked as before, and, when 
 129
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 I questioned him, he pointed to the 
 waters, and I could not but smile, so 
 like an idle child was he with his ex- 
 cuses and shamelessness. We had 
 fair weather for the first two weeks of 
 our voyage, and though this be a long 
 time when passed on the open sea and 
 with but a single companion and he 
 devoid of reasonable speech, yet, the 
 whole while was I of a stout heart and 
 exceeding cheery. All these days we 
 had spied neither sail nor land, though 
 from morn till eve we kept an eager 
 watch, and through the night we 
 looked hard for light and a beacon. I 
 had taught Esau that seamanship which 
 was needful for the safe conduct of our 
 ship, and he was greatly content to 
 serve me, though marvelling greatly 
 at the vast expanse of ocean that 
 seemed to have no ending. By-and- 
 by the warm airs through which we 
 had passed grew cooler, and overhead 
 the blue of the sky took on a paler 
 130
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 hue. The sea too grew more boister- 
 ous, and Esau, the hairy man, that 
 was no sailor, was sick and greatly 
 troubled. He lay quite still in the 
 cabin with his two hands pressed to his 
 middle, and the big tears ran down the 
 sides of his face and he made moan 
 and groaned, so that I who listened 
 was sore moved and pitiful. After 
 awhile the cold airs took hold of him 
 and he lay below and coughed till my 
 heart grew heavy within me. For 
 some days we encountered stormy 
 weather, after which came a great calm, 
 and for more than a week we lay quite 
 still, while our sail hung idle on the 
 mast. By now we had lost all count 
 of time and I was sore perplexed and 
 doubtful, wondering with some misgiv- 
 ing as to how this voyage would end. 
 Yet another misfortune was in store 
 for us, for the provisions that we had 
 aboard grew less and less, and day 
 for day we ate but half our fill and 
 131
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 we were athirst from morn to night, 
 never daring to drink largely from our 
 fast emptying gourds. At first when 
 we encountered the dead calm I have 
 spoken of we made some efforts with 
 our oars, but, after awhile, our feeble- 
 ness of mind and body proved too 
 strong and we were content to drift 
 idly, a prey to all manner of hopeless 
 thoughts. Many a time in those long 
 days did I wish that I had been con- 
 tent to remain on the island, and in 
 Esau's eyes, that were large and re- 
 proachful, I saw the same misgiving. 
 Yet now 'twas too late to turn back, 
 and we floated from night to morning 
 with still another comrade to bear us 
 company and keep watch, so that we 
 were three on board the ship, and our 
 names were, Esau and Silas Fordred, 
 and the Evil Conscience of Silas For- 
 dred. 
 
 Those days were overlong, and I 
 grew thin and haggard with thought, 
 132
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 hunger and inaction. In the morning 
 of each new day I would reflect that I 
 had done what I had done, meaning no 
 harm and with all good intent ; yet, in 
 the afternoon, when for hours I had 
 gazed on Esau, lying quite still and 
 with a deadly cough in his chest, 
 groaning heavily from sickness and evil 
 nourishment, my conscience smote me, 
 and I felt that I was both a brute and 
 a fool for having bartered dry land and 
 ample meat for this desert of green sea 
 that gave forth nothing. Then I 
 thought that, had we had better for- 
 tune, and had we encountered a vessel 
 that had aided us, I would have had 
 no cause for self-reproach. I pondered 
 on these things hour after hour, and 
 my thoughts were but a circle, and in 
 this circle I wandered continually and 
 ever, so that what my brain held was 
 of little use to me and of much harm. 
 Greatly and often did I fear that my 
 reason might desert me, and that some
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 day I should be discovered on the open 
 sea, mad and with a vacant gaze, all 
 alone save but for a naked savage, and 
 he nigh dead from hunger, sickness 
 and thirst a pretty picture, truly, and 
 by no means over-pleasant to dwell 
 with continuously. 
 
 I shall write no more of there hard- 
 ships, suffice to say that I would not 
 endure them over again for all the 
 wealth that is in the universe, and, 
 believe me, there was more real suffer- 
 ing in these long weeks spent hungry 
 and in pain on the empty sea than in 
 all my traffickings with sorcerers and 
 idols of bronze. We had lost count of 
 time and most other things, and every 
 moment I was expecting the ghost of 
 Esau to be given up, when the good 
 ship Queen Marie of Plymouth crossed 
 our track and took us aboard. God 
 alone knows how long we had been 
 afloat and how near I had been unto 
 
 '34
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 death. Esau, that was a naked sav- 
 age, had less power of endurance than 
 I that can read and write and do wear 
 clothing, for, three days after we were 
 rescued, and though the captain of the 
 Queen Marie spared us no care or at- 
 tention, Esau, the hairy man, died in 
 my arms. He had been greatly ailing 
 when we had encountered the English 
 barque, coughing much and being 
 warm with fever, and there was no 
 strength left in him after the many 
 days he had thirsted and lived on in- 
 sufficient food. We buried him at sea, 
 and thus, of all the four that had dwelt 
 on the Fearsome Island, I alone sur- 
 vived. The two halves of Thomas 
 Snoad were buried on the sea-shore; 
 Satan, the black cat, died in the Dark 
 Chamber, as I have narrated; Esau, 
 the hairy man, died at sea on board 
 the ship Queen Marie from hunger, 
 thirst, and sickness brought on by ex-
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 posure to wind and weather, for he was 
 no seaman, but a naked savage of the 
 woods and dry land. 
 
 Thus, alone, did I return from the 
 first voyage I had undertaken on my 
 ship Brave Luck, that now lies fathoms 
 deep in an unknown sea, with riches 
 and wealth in plenty, yet the price I 
 had paid was a dear one, such as no 
 man dare pay a second time. 
 
 The captain of the Queen Marie 
 had made my strange barque with 
 the silver handles fast to his own 
 ship, so that I was able to bring it 
 hither, and, thirteen days after our 
 encounter, he landed me at Ply- 
 mouth, from which port I made my 
 way homeward, after rewarding my 
 rescuers fittingly with thanks and with 
 gold. 
 
 Thus did I return once more to 
 Hythe, and, hear ye, I have written 
 the truth and naught but what these 
 
 136
 
 The Fearsome Island 
 
 eyes have seen, and may God and the 
 Virgin save me if I speak untrue. 
 (Signed) SlLAS FORDRED, 
 
 Master Mariner of Hythe. 
 Witnessed by 
 
 EVAN the Welshman, 
 
 Town Clerk. 
 Dated February jd, 1660.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 SUCH is the narrative of Silas For- 
 dred, master mariner of Hythe, 
 the cinque port in the county of Kent. 
 Now on reading this strange story I 
 was greatly perplexed. It seemed dif 
 ficult to believe that this direct Eliza- 
 bethan mariner had fabricated the 
 string of events here reproduced, for, 
 by his own showing, he was a plain 
 and simple man, without overmuch im- 
 agination or phantasy, and I found it 
 indeed hard, with my extended knowl- 
 edge of man and woman, to set down 
 this yarn of Silas Fordred's as one 
 huge lie from beginning to end, as a 
 man of shorter sight and less penetra- 
 tion might have set it down. Often I 
 pondered over the strange land of the 
 bronze idol and what had happened 
 138
 
 Appendix 
 
 there, and the only clue I had to the 
 mystery was the inscription in tall 
 ebony letters: 
 
 " DIGO RODRICOVEZ," 
 which in truth was little help to me. 
 Yet for many months these two words 
 remained in my head, and often have 
 I seen them stand out clear and black 
 before my eyes. 
 
 Everything comes to him that waits, 
 so that one day as I was burrowing 
 among some old volumes in the great 
 library of the British Museum, I ran 
 across a large folio bound in brown 
 leather and printed in the Spanish 
 tongue. In that language was in- 
 scribed on the title page : The Life and 
 Adventures of Don Diego Rodriguez. 
 Again the words " DIGO RODRI- 
 COVEZ " came back to me, and 
 eagerly I read page after page of the 
 great volume. 
 
 From it I gathered that Don Diego 
 Rodriguez was a man of much cun- 
 139
 
 Appendix 
 
 ning, with great learning and skill in 
 alchemy. Towards the end of the fif- 
 teenth century he had become Grand 
 Inquisitor of Spain, and in that capa- 
 city had devised machines of so fiend- 
 ish a nature that his brother inquisitors 
 had held a council at which it was con- 
 clusively proved that Don Diego was 
 in league with the Devil, and it was 
 furthermore decided that for the wel- 
 fare and safety of the State, it were 
 well that the Grand Inquisitor should 
 leave the country and take his hellish 
 inventions elsewhere; for no man, 
 were he Cardinal or the King's own 
 self, was safe, as the Don could kill 
 without leaving wound or sign of poi- 
 son or other witness. In the same 
 year as that in which the council was 
 held, Don Diego had left Spain in a 
 curious vessel of his own construction, 
 that had neither mast nor sail nor gal- 
 ley-slave. He took with him the 
 whole of his vast wealth, and, such 
 140
 
 Appendix 
 
 was the dread that men had of him, 
 that no one made effort to deprive him 
 of his ill-gotten treasure. His sole 
 companion was a girl child, reputed to 
 be his daughter, and thus he set off 
 across the ocean. 
 
 The rest of his life is shrouded in 
 some mystery, and there is no absolute 
 certainty as to his [further movements. 
 Rumour hath it that he reached an 
 island, presumably one of the West 
 Indies, where he landed and caused 
 the natives to build him a great castle ; 
 also, that as soon as this was accomp- 
 lished he set to work to depopulate 
 the island by means of the same hellish 
 inventions that were the cause of his 
 banishment. 
 
 Such in brief was the story of Don 
 Diego Rodriguez, whom I hold to be 
 identical with Silas Fordred's " DIGO 
 RODRICOVEZ, " and, seeing that Silas 
 had but his memory and an imperfect 
 education to trust to, there is little to 
 141
 
 Appendix 
 
 wonder at in the fact that the Hythe 
 seaman should so misspell what he had 
 but read long months before. 
 
 What makes me further incline to an 
 implicit belief in this theory is, that 
 among other marvels accredited to the 
 Don was the power of making perma- 
 nent the reflection of a human face in 
 a mirror, a discovery somewhat akin to 
 our modern art of photography. This 
 will account for the figure behind the 
 red silk curtain, doubtless a reproduc- 
 tion of the Don's own features. The 
 reappearance of this figure when Silas 
 was escaping to his ship with the dia- 
 monds was no doubt due to the sea- 
 man's evil conscience merely an hallu- 
 cination of an excited brain. Most of 
 the other so-called marvels were skil- 
 fully constructed machines that any 
 mechanical engineer of the present day 
 could double ; that such was the case is 
 amply proved by the failure from rust 
 and unuse of the mechanism that 
 142
 
 Appendix 
 
 worked the giant sword-blade that 
 Silas encountered in the great hall. 
 Further, I have little doubt but that the 
 "Hag of the Turret" was the identical 
 girl-child, grown old, that accom- 
 panied Don Diego when he left Spain ; 
 naturally, Silas Fordred saw in this 
 bearded old woman a " witch " and a 
 " sorceress," and most men of his day, 
 even those of birth and education, 
 would have arrived at a similar conclu- 
 sion, especially after the episodes that 
 preceded the encounter. The hairy 
 man, Esau, was in all probability an 
 aboriginal native, one, or the child of 
 one, that had escaped the Don's 
 clutches. 
 
 I have only to add that, in my hum- 
 ble opinion, it must have been Don 
 Diego Rodriguez, and not Christo- 
 pher Columbus, that really discovered 
 America.
 
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