There Eustace stood, looking down on all that was left of the most sacred personage of Ireland; the man who, as he once had hoped, was to regenerate his native land, and bring the proud island of the West once more beneath that gentle yoke, in which united Christendom labored for the commonweal of the universal Church.
There he was, and with him all Eustace's dreams, in the very heart of that country which he had vowed, and believed as he vowed, was ready to rise in arms as one man, even to the baby at the breast (so he had said), in vengeance against the Saxon heretic, and sweep the hated name of Englishman into the deepest abysses of the surge which walled her coasts; with Spain and the Pope to back him, and the wealth of the Jesuits at his command; in the midst of faithful Catholics, valiant soldiers, noblemen who had pledged themselves to die for the cause, serfs who worshipped him as a demigod--starved to death in a bog! It was a pretty plain verdict on the reasonableness of his expectations; but not to Eustace Leigh.
It was a failure, of course; but it was an accident; indeed, to have been expected, in a wicked world whose prince and master, as all knew, was the devil himself; indeed, proof of the righteousness of the cause--for when had the true faith been other than persecuted and trampled under foot? If one came to think of it with eyes purified from the tears of carnal impatience, what was it but a glorious martyrdom?
"Blest Saunders!" murmured Eustace Leigh; "let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end he like this! Ora pro me, most excellent martyr, while I dig thy grave upon this lonely moor, to wait there for thy translation to one of those stately shrines, which, cemented by the blood of such as thee, shall hereafter rise restored toward heaven, to make this land once more 'The Isle of Saints.'"The corpse was buried; a few prayers said hastily; and Eustace Leigh was away again, not now to find Baltinglas; for it was more than his life was worth.The girl had told him of the English soldiers who had passed, and he knew that they would reach the earl probably before he did.The game was up; all was lost.So he retraced his steps, as a desperate resource, to the last place where he would be looked for, and after a month of disguising, hiding, and other expedients, found himself again in his native county of Devon, while Fitz-Eustace Viscount Baltinglas had taken ship for Spain, having got little by his famous argument to Ormond in behalf of his joining the Church of Rome, "Had not thine ancestor, blessed Thomas of Canterbury, died for the Church of Rome, thou hadst never been Earl of Ormond." The premises were certainly sounder than those of his party were wont to be; for it was to expiate the murder of that turbulent hero that the Ormond lands had been granted by Henry II.: but as for the conclusion therefrom, it was much on a par with the rest.
And now let us return to Raleigh and Amyas, as they jog along their weary road.They have many things to talk of; for it is but three days since they met.
Amyas, as you see, is coming fast into Raleigh's old opinion of Ireland.Raleigh, under the inspiration of a possible grant of Desmond's lands, looks on bogs and rocks transfigured by his own hopes and fancy, as if by the glory of a rainbow.He looked at all things so, noble fellow, even thirty years after, when old, worn out, and ruined; well for him had it been otherwise, and his heart had grown old with his head! Amyas, who knows nothing about Desmond's lands, is puzzled at the change.
"Why, what is this, Raleigh? You are like children sitting in the market-place, and nothing pleases you.You wanted to get to Court, and you have got there; and are lord and master, I hear, or something very like it, already--and as soon as fortune stuffs your mouth full of sweet-meats, do you turn informer on her?"Raleigh laughed insignificantly, but was silent.
"And how is your friend Mr.Secretary Spenser, who was with us at Smerwick?""Spenser? He has thriven even as I have; and he has found, as Ihave, that in ****** one friend at Court you make ten foes; but 'Oderint dum metuant' is no more my motto than his, Leigh.I want to be great--great I am already, they say, if princes' favor can swell the frog into an ox; but I want to be liked, loved--I want to see people smile when I enter.""So they do, I'll warrant," said Amyas.
"So do hyenas," said Raleigh; "grin because they are hungry, and Imay throw them a bone; I'll throw you one now, old lad, or rather a good sirloin of beef, for the sake of your smile.That's honest, at least, I'll warrant, whosoever's else is not.Have you heard of my brother Humphrey's new project?""How should I hear anything in this waste howling wilderness?""Kiss hands to the wilderness, then, and come with me to Newfoundland!""You to Newfoundland?"
"Yes.I to Newfoundland, unless my little matter here is settled at once.Gloriana don't know it, and sha'n't till I'm off.She'd send me to the Tower, I think, if she caught me playing truant.Icould hardly get leave to come hither; but I must out, and try my fortune.I am over ears in debt already, and sick of courts and courtiers.Humphrey must go next spring and take possession of his kingdom beyond seas, or his patent expires; and with him I go, and you too, my circumnavigating giant."And then Raleigh expounded to Amyas the details of the great Newfoundland scheme, which whoso will may read in the pages of Hakluyt.