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Howard Roger Garis
With Force and Arms: A Tale of Love and Salem Witchcraft
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066215767
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. THE GOVERNOR’S COMMISSION.
CHAPTER II. OF THE SCARLET SNOW.
CHAPTER IV. HOW I CAST THE KNIFE.
CHAPTER V. OF THE STONE BY THE BROOK.
CHAPTER VII. OF THE HORSEMAN ON THE BEACH.
CHAPTER VIII. THE BATTLE AT THE FORT.
CHAPTER IX. HOW THE FRENCH TOOK PEMAQUID.
CHAPTER X. THE MAN AT THE INN.
CHAPTER XI. A MAN AND HIS WIFE.
CHAPTER XII. THE TIME OF PERIL.
CHAPTER XIV. A SENTENCE OF DEATH.
CHAPTER XV. PEINE FORTE ET DURE.
CHAPTER XVI. HOW WE BROKE GAOL.
CHAPTER XVII. THE NEWS NANETTE BROUGHT ME.
CHAPTER XVIII. HOW THE EAGLE SAILED.
CHAPTER XIX. HOW I FOUND LUCILLE.
CHAPTER XX. A WATCH IN THE NIGHT.
CHAPTER XXI. OF THE VOYAGE OF LUCILLE.
CHAPTER XXII. A DUEL ON THE SANDS.
CHAPTER XXIII. SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT.
CHAPTER XXIV. HOW SIMON KEPT HIS OATH.
CHAPTER XXV. IN THE NAME OF THE KING.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE END OF CAPTAIN AMHERST.
CHAPTER XXIX. AN ORDER FROM THE KING.
WITH FORCE AND ARMS.
CHAPTER I.
THE GOVERNOR’S COMMISSION.
As I left the presence of His Excellency I encountered, in the doorway, a man who was entering with every appearance of haste. We came against each other full tilt. For the moment the shock threw us apart.
“Zounds! But you are a clumsy fellow!” he exclaimed, limping toward me, the expression of pain on his face showing that I must have hurt him. “Could you not look whither you were going? You stepped on my foot like a very horse,” and the words came testily.
He scowled as he prepared to pass by me.
My hand was on my sword, for he was most insulting.
“Sir!” I exclaimed, “for the pain I have caused you I am regretful. As for ‘clumsy fellows,’ look to yourself, sir!”
My weapon was out on the instant. He was not a second behind me. The steel blades crossed with a clash.
“What is this, sirs?” cried Sir William Phips, Massachusetts’s Governor, whose room I had just left. He hastened toward us.
“What mean you two, with your swords out in the Council Chamber, like a pair of swashbucklers over a card game? Put them up at once, you Captain Amherst; and you, also, Sir George. You are both at fault. This must go no further; do you hear? If it does, you may reckon with me on the quarter deck.”
My opponent and I were startled. Somewhat abashed, he whom the Governor called Sir George, sheathed his weapon, I following his action.
I looked at the man. He was tall and well built. His clothing was of good quality, with fine lace and ruffles; his sword a trusty blade, set in a hilt, studded with red stones. On his face there was a haughty look, yet withal, a trace of sadness. He gazed sharply at me, seeming about to put a question, but the Governor was beckoning him, and he passed me without a word, scowling darkly, into the chamber of His Excellency. Then I went out.
There came a time, afterward, when I wished with all my heart, that our swords had come into use, that day; a time when I would have given much to have seen him dead before me. But there was another way.
I felt within my jacket to see if my papers were safe, for on them, now, depended my good fortune. I had come to Boston town without friends, and almost on a forlorn hope, for England was no longer a safe place for me, with a relentless enemy following close on my heels at every step. My mission had succeeded better than I had dared to hope,