"Forgive me, mother, mother, once for all!" cried Amyas, throwing his arms round her neck.
"I have nothing to forgive, my son, my son! And shall I lose thee, also?""If I be killed, you will have two martyrs of your blood, mother!--"Mrs.Leigh bowed her head, and was silent.Amyas caught up his hat and sword, and darted forth toward Bideford.
Amyas literally danced into Sir Richard's hall, where he stood talking earnestly with various merchants and captains.
"Gloria, gloria! gentles all! The devil is broke loose at last;and now we know where to have him on the hip!""Why so merry, Captain Leigh, when all else are sad?" said a gentle voice by his side.
"Because I have been sad a long time, while all else were merry, dear lady.Is the hawk doleful when his hood is pulled off, and he sees the heron flapping right ahead of him?""You seem to forget the danger and the woe of us weak women, sir?""I don't forget the danger and the woe of one weak woman, madam, and she the daughter of a man who once stood in this room," said Amyas, suddenly collecting himself, in a low stern voice."And Idon't forget the danger and the woe of one who was worth a thousand even of her.I don't forget anything, madam.""Nor forgive either, it seems."
"It will be time to talk of forgiveness after the offender has repented and amended; and does the sailing of the Armada look like that?""Alas, no! God help us!"
"He will help us, madam," said Amyas.
"Admiral Leigh," said Sir Richard, "we need you now, if ever.Here are the queen's orders to furnish as many ships as we can; though from these gentlemen's spirit, I should say the orders were well-nigh needless."
"Not a doubt, sir; for my part, I will fit my ship at my own charges, and fight her too, as long as I have a leg or an arm left.""Or a tongue to say, never surrender, I'll warrant!" said an old merchant."You put life into us old fellows, Admiral Leigh: but it will be a heavy matter for those poor fellows in Virginia, and for my daughter too, Madam Dare, with her young babe, as I hear, just born.""And a very heavy matter," said some one else, "for those who have ventured their money in these cargoes, which must lie idle, you see, now for a year maybe--and then all the cost of unlading again--"
"My good sir," said Grenville, "what have private interests to do with this day? Let us thank God if He only please to leave us the bare fee-simple of this English soil, the honor of our wives and daughters, and bodies safe from rack and fagot, to wield the swords of freemen in defence of a free land, even though every town and homestead in England were wasted with fire, and we left to rebuild over again all which our ancestors have wrought for us in now six hundred years.""Right, sir!" said Amyas."For my part, let my Virginian goods rot on the quay, if the worst comes to the worst.I begin unloading the Vengeance to-morrow; and to sea as soon as I can fill up my crew to a good fighting number."And so the talk ran on; and ere two days were past, most of the neighboring gentlemen, summoned by Sir Richard, had come in, and great was the bidding against each other as to who should do most.
Cary and Brimblecombe, with thirty tall Clovelly men, came across the bay, and without even asking leave of Amyas, took up their berths as a matter of course on board the Vengeance.In the meanwhile, the matter was taken up by families.The Fortescues (a numberless clan) offered to furnish a ship; the Chichesters another, the Stukelys a third; while the merchantmen were not backward.The Bucks, the Stranges, the Heards, joyfully unloaded their Virginian goods, and replaced them with powder and shot; and in a week's time the whole seven were ready once more for sea, and dropped down into Appledore pool, with Amyas as their admiral for the time being (for Sir Richard had gone by land to Plymouth to join the deliberations there), and waited for the first favorable wind to start for the rendezvous in the Sound.
At last, upon the twenty-first of June, the clank of the capstans rang merrily across the flats, and amid prayers and blessings, forth sailed that gallant squadron over the bar, to play their part in Britain's Salamis; while Mrs.Leigh stood watching as she stood once before, beside the churchyard wall: but not alone this time;for Ayacanora stood by her side, and gazed and gazed, till her eyes seemed ready to burst from their sockets.At last she turned away with a sob,--"And he never bade me good-bye, mother!"
"God forgive him! Come home and pray, my child; there is no other rest on earth than prayer for woman's heart!"They were calling each other mother and daughter then? Yes.The sacred fire of sorrow was fast burning out all Ayacanora's fallen savageness; and, like a Phoenix, the true woman was rising from those ashes, fair, noble, and all-enduring, as God had made her.