In the year of our Lord, 1797, there was a right fair day in February. The day was a Wednesday, the twenty-second of the month, and it was indeed the most pleasant day for that harsh season of the year that I can call to mind on looking back through the course of a long life. But it was not only the unusual beauty of it that made that Wednesday in February a day of mark, or I might scarcely have kept it stored in a corner of my mind for seventy years well-nigh—remarkable as fine days are in this climate that is chiefly renowned for fine rain; but for the reason that this particular Wednesday was a day of utmost astonishment to all the dwellers on this North Pembrokeshire coast, and (I may venture to add) a day of much consternation to most of them.

The French Frigates

A day still remembered by old Welsh fishwives, and still used by them as a means of terror wherewith to hush to sleep unquiet grandbabes, or to stir to patriotism stout but supine grandsons.

I was, at the time of which I speak, but a youth of fifteen, as thoughtless and careless as most lads of that age; not very sensible to danger, save when it presented itself face to face with me at no more than arm’s length, under which circumstances candour compels me to own I did not always enjoy it. I trust that I may say without undue boasting that I did not fear anything greatly as long as it was out of sight, for which reason I have often thought that had I been born a generation or two later, and had I selected a soldier’s career instead of that of a divine I might have fought excellently at a distance of a few miles from the enemy: though at close quarters I will admit that any unexpected danger might perchance produce a sense of amazement which the uncharitable might set down to faint-heartedness.

But that my nephews, nieces, and neighbours generally may know the truth concerning this matter—the landing of the French at Fishguard in 1797, I, Daniel Rowlands, clerk, being aged, but still of sound mind, have written this narrative—which when duly set forth will, I hope, convince the most sceptical as to the sort of spirit which animated my countrymen (if not myself), and still more my countrywomen.On this fair morning then, at about ten o’clock, when I ought to have been pursuing my studies under the fostering care of one of the clergy at St. David’s, I was in reality strolling along the headland of that name, led astray by the beauty of the day, which seemed too fair for book-lore; I was strolling along, doing nothing, thinking of nothing, wishing for nothing, yet, having found for the nonce the secret of true happiness, when I perceived a man on horseback approaching me at a furious rate. In spite of the pace at which he was advancing I recognised him as a servant of Trelethin.

“Whither so fast, John?” I shouted, in our own tongue. He was past me as I spoke.

“The French, the French!” came back to me on the breeze mingled with the sound of his horses’ rushing hoofs. His voice or my ears failed, for I heard no more save—when the thunder of the hoofs had ceased, the duller but more continuous thunder of the waves rolling in freshly at the foot of the rocks.

John’s words had left me much astonished. I knew—from my studies under the divine above referred to—that the French lived in France, where some of them had lately been engaged in beheading the rest with the help of a newly discovered machine. So much I knew, but why John Trelethin should yell “French” at me as he passed, riding apparently for his life, I knew not. What were the French to him or to me? As I advanced pondering the matter—but in a purely impersonal manner, and without any keen interest—at a little distance further along the cliff I espied the owner of Trelethin, John’s master, standing very firm on his legs against a background of bright sea, his head inclining somewhat backward, while with both his raised-up hands he clutched a long spy glass, the small end whereof was applied to his eye. Following the direction of his spy-glass, I perceived a yet more astounding sight—astounding to us used to the world of lonely waters that lay stretched out in front of our homes. Three ships of war were passing slowly along our coast not far from land, they were accompanied by a smaller craft, which Mr. Williams informed me was a lugger. As he had been a sailor I took his word for it—but it did not make things clearer. What did it all mean? What did those vessels—or their inhabitants want here? They carried the English colours, I saw that for myself when Mr. Williams obligingly lent me the instrument.

“Take a look for yourself, my boy,” he said—he was a man singularly free from pride—“Take a look at the blessed Frenchmen.” (He did not say exactly blessed, but out of respect to my cloth I subdue his expressions slightly.)

“Frenchmen!” I cried. Then those were the French in those three vessels. I did not count the lugger, not being sure of her. Strange to say the first thought that flitted through my brain was one of pure joy; here was an excuse, real, tangible, and startling, for having shirked my studies. With a little help from imagination (his and mine, which might act on each other as flint on steel, for he was an excitable man), I trusted I might so alarm my clerical guide and master as to make him quite forget the fact that I had given to St. David’s Head the time I should have given to my own. The excuse might be made effective even should they prove to be not quite really French.

“They’ve English colours, sir,” I said to Mr. Williams.

“Foreigners are deceitful,” says he, “up to any tricks. I can see the scoundrels swarming on the decks.” (For by this time he again had applied the spy-glass.) “Ah!” he continued, handing the glass to his wife who had joined us, “If it was but night now and a bit stormy, we might put out a false light or two and bring them on the rocks in no time.”

This was the moment afterwards immortalised by a local bard in these words—

“Mrs. Williams Trelethin was know every tide
From England to Greenland without guide.
Mrs. Williams Trelethin was take the spy-glass,
And then she cry out—There they Wass!”

The three tall ships sailed on calmly, with the clear shining of the sea around them, dark objects in all that flood of light. They went northward—along our Pembrokeshire coast, where (had Providence so willed it) they might have made shipwreck on the sharp rocks anywhere. However the day was too fair to admit of any such hope.

The alarm spread quickly; men and boys came bounding over the gorse in every direction; even the women, with the curiosity of their sex, came forth from their homesteads, leaving the cawl [51] and the children to mind themselves, while their natural caretakers gaped open-mouthed at the tall ships filled with untold dangers.

The crowd on the cliffs followed in the direction of the ships, keeping them ever in sight. Helter-skelter we ran along, crossing deep gullies, then along bare headlands covered only with gorse and large grey stones, then passing under a great mass of rock, like to some gaunt castle or fort (but alas, lacking cannon), then, at rare intervals, where a stream ran into the sea, we would dip suddenly into a smiling little valley filled with trees and bushes. But the stones and crags prevailed greatly over the softer scenes. I had now entered so fully into the spirit of this race that all thought of my studies passed away; the fear of the dominee was merged in the far greater fear of the French. And yet it was not wholly fear that possessed me, but a sort of tremor of excitement, and curiosity as to what might happen next. Noon passed, but none stopped for food—nor even (till we came to a village) for a Welshman’s comfort in perplexity—a glass of cwrw da. [52]

At two o’clock, for no apparent reason, the Frenchmen came to anchor. This was opposite to a rocky headland called Carn Gwastad, which forms a portion of Fishguard Bay, some distance to the west of the town of that name, and, by reason of an intervening headland, quite invisible from it, and in truth from most other places. We had now come from St. David’s Head, a distance of full ten miles, and I, for one, was glad to sit down on a gorse-bush and meditate a little as to what all these things might mean and where they were like to end, which I hardly dared to hope might somehow take the form of a bit of dinner for myself. To stay hunger I composed my mind for a nap while I reflected dreamily that my elders were taking more definite steps for the defence of their country; and the knowledge of this was gratifying to me.

Carregwastad

CHAPTER II.
THE LANDING.

Besides Mr. Williams’ John, who had been despatched at full speed to St. David’s to rouse the inhabitants, another man was sent to give the news to the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, while others wended their way to various points on the range of mountains which divides Pembrokeshire into two parts; the result of their mission being apparent when night fell and beacons flared along the line of heights from Vrenny Vawr to Carn Englyn—the mountain of the angels, so named from the angel-visits received by a pious hermit who dwelt thereon, and who probably lacked more ordinary society.

Many other messengers were sent in various directions, but though in this way persons at a distance were warned of danger, many of those who dwelt close by were as yet insensible of it. Chiefest of these was the owner of the old manor house, Trehowel, situated just above the bay where the ships were lying-to—of which house we shall hear more anon. Mr. Mortimer was of a generous and confiding disposition—and, as a bishop should be, he was in truth—much given to hospitality. He was, moreover, about to celebrate the marriage of his son, and he had made ample provision of cakes and ale, not to mention meats and spirits for this purpose. The wedding was to be on the following day (Thursday, the 23rd of February, to be exact); the new daughter-in-law was much to his mind, and therefore heart and hand were even more lavish than usual, when, looking out seaward from amidst the bridal greenery, his spirit was stirred within him by the sight of the British flag.

Nothing would serve this hospitable gentleman but that the English officers should partake of his good cheer; so his orders flew forth in every direction—compliments and invitations to the officers, and directions to the servants as to the setting forth of a sumptuous repast.

In the meantime one of the great ships, heaving anchor, had quietly slipped round the corner—by which I would say, rounded the next headland, Pen Anglas, in an undemonstrative manner. Thus coming in sight of the men occupying the fort near Fishguard; these fired as in duty and fair observance bound—a salute to the flag that had braved a thousand years, and had never in all that considerable period of time been put to a viler use than the present, when—hey presto! down came the British colours with a run, and up flew the tricolour in its stead—the red, white, and blue colours of the Republic of the French.

The astonishment of those men in the fort at this unexpected transformation-scene must have been akin to an electric shock such as may be produced on the unwary by the careless placing of a hand on a magnetic eel. They had been completely deceived by the mock flag, and were more unprepared for the change than those men who had already scrutinised the three frigates with very doubtful eyes as they made their way along the coast of Pembrokeshire.

All disguise was now over; the enemy showed under their true colours at last, and convinced even the most liberal-minded (including Mr. Mortimer) that they were not English. Though truly if they had desired to appear under their most appropriate colour they should have sailed under the black flag of piracy, for the men on board these frigates were little better than freebooters. Many of the older persons present were minded to take them for a new and enlarged edition of the Black Prince—a pirate ship which had eighteen years previously brought his broadside to bear on the town of Fishguard, and kept up an animated fire all day with his six-pounders. However, he caught a Tartar—the master of a smuggling craft, who returned the fire with such goodwill, aided by clever hands and a cannon at the edge of the cliffs, that the Black Prince sheered off. “Set a thief to catch a thief;” but it were ungrateful to think on that proverb.It was this circumstance which caused the fort at Fishguard to be erected, one of whose nine-pounders had just, in courtesy, saluted the frigate, who, not caring to face the other seven guns of the fort in anger, turned round speedily, and rejoined her companions at Carn Gwastad Point without loss of time.

On her way she intercepted a sloop which had—perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps from some nobler motive—ventured too near; probably the master of the sloop had not expected this sudden rearward movement—anyway he found himself a prisoner, and his boat a prize. I had jumped up from my reclining position, and stood watching his fate with anxiety and awe, knowing him to be a friend (for I was a Fishguard boy, and intimate with all the varieties of seamen to be found there), but being, at that distance, unable to tell which friend.All the other boats in the bay stood out to sea with all speed, scudding away with white sails stretched, reminding even a matter-of-fact boy who abhorred poetry, similes, and all such inventions of schoolmasters, suggesting even to me the sudden, outspread, white wings of a flock of ducks frightened by the unwelcome appearance, from round the corner, of a fox. They got away safe, but the captive sloop was towed in triumph by the frigate back to Carn Gwastad, where she found her sister ships were already disgorging their freight of soldiers.

The sun was setting as the first boats set down their load on British soil. There were not many spectators of this act (the only one of a like nature since 1066, as far as my knowledge—not very profound—of history went), the inhabitants of the district, when they perceived that the landing was to be on their own coast, having dispersed as quickly as a swarm of ants amongst whom a foreign body is introduced—each one making with the utmost speed for his own home in order to retreat with his valuables (including his family) further into the interior. I, however, was but young, and concluded that my family, who lived in Fishguard, could very well take care of themselves; while it was possible that my father, who was a somewhat stern parent, might not even accept the (to me) absolute necessity of keeping an eye on the French as a valid excuse for departing from my studies at St. David’s without leave from my master. I had a certain amount of fear of the French, I do not deny it; but it was as yet in the abstract, and was a very different thing from the absolute fear I had of my father when I caught him (and he caught me) in a bad mood. Besides, though I considered curiosity a childish and feminine quality, and as such infinitely beneath my dignity, still I must own I did feel a sort of craving desire to know what those people were going to do next. So, hidden in a gorse bush on a headland which commanded the creek, I watched the sun go down like a red ball into the sea, throwing a light as of blood on the muskets in the boats beneath me, making the dark figures that swarmed over the sides of the ships look darker and more grimy, lighting up the three-coloured flags that unfurled themselves to the night breeze. Then there came a long path of crimson right across the grey sea, which, dying out as the sun set, showed that this fair day was gone—a day too fair and sweet to be the setting for foul deeds.

Suddenly there rose a shriek, or, rather, a succession of shrieks breaking through the twilight quiet, and a young woman shot out like an arrow from the back door of Trehowel, darted past me without pausing to answer a question, and, shrieking all the time, fled away into the interior, clutching tightly in her hand a foaming jug of beer. I heard afterwards that she ran on for miles, still clutching that jug of beer, which she had been drawing for the (supposed) English officers; when at last her master had awakened to the fact that the French were actually at his doors. She ran thus for miles, not even stopping to drink the beer.

She was shortly after followed by Mr. Mortimer himself, who came across the courtyard laughing in spite of the seriousness of the occasion, for he must needs smile at a joke. He spied me, for indeed I had jumped up to question Sally, and he came towards me.

“The poor maid has had a scare,” said he, with a twinkle still in his eye. “But, in truth, Dan, my boy, I suppose it is time to be off.”

“Oh, there’s a pity,” said I; “about Master Mortimer’s wedding—and all the meats and drinks!”

“Well, yes, I never meant them for the parley-vous,” said he, mounting his horse which one of his farm-boys had brought out; “but I dare say they’ll enjoy them all the same—they won’t be wasted.”

He turned in the saddle to give a last look at his old house, standing dark against a yellow-green twilight sky, pranked out with all the mockery of boughs and flowery arches. The trees in the courtyard had not yet put forth their leaves, but branches of myrtles and ever-blooming gorse and great bunches of primroses had made the place gay. Mr. Mortimer’s face changed as he looked; he made no movement with the reins; he was very loath to leave his home. In his mind’s eye he was viewing the heap of smoking ruins he might see when next he came, and he seemed to be resolving to meet fate and the French on his own threshold, when a woman’s quick step came out of the now-deserted house.

“Oh, master,” she cried, running up to us, “ar’n’t you off yet! Quick, there isn’t a minute; they are coming up the hill. For the young master’s sake,” she whispered. “Remember, you have got the money and the papers. Quick!”

He nodded, then shaking his rein, rode off without a word.

“And what are you going to do, Nancy?” said I. “Isn’t it time for you to be off too?”

“Oh, no odds about me. I’ll slip off somehow, but I must get the silver spoons first.”Then she turned from me, and her voice broke suddenly.

“Wherever is Davy—oh, wherever is he?” she sobbed.

“Cheer up, Nancy, my maid,” said I, being well acquainted with her, and only ten years younger—an inequality made up for by my superior station and parts. “Wherever Davy is he’s in mischief—that you may take your davy of; but he always comes out of it somehow.”

I hope the reader will pardon this expression, but I was not at this time even a curate—being but fifteen—and the chance of my ever attaining that station seemed but remote.

At this moment the clang of arms and the sound of high-pitched voices broke on our ears.

“I’ll have those spoons if I die for it!” exclaimed Ann, who was not much given to the melting mood. “Run, Dan, make for Fishguard as fast as you can.” And without another word or a sign of personal fear, Ann George disappeared into the house.

I will not deny now, after the lapse of so many years, that my heart at this moment beat unpleasantly fast. I had already watched the landing of some of the French troops, but from a considerable distance, and there had been something unreal about the scene, something like to play-acting, or a dream; but now that I actually heard their voices, the effect was very different. They were really here, close by; there was no mistake about it. I had an almost overwhelming desire to take to my heels and run for it, but in spite of a very real fear, two feelings restrained me—one was a hesitation on account of Nancy, whom it seemed mean to desert; the other was that curiosity to which I have already alluded, and which powerfully possesses most of the inhabitants of these regions, but more especially the females. The twilight was rapidly sinking into darkness as I crouched lower among the bushes and peered out with eyes which doubtless resembled those of a frightened bird. Never hare in its form felt more of a flutter at the heart than I experienced as those screeching, and yet savage, voices drew nearer and nearer. I did not understand French, but if I had I trust I should not have understood the nature of the expressions those men were using. It must be remembered that at that time we were accustomed to think of a Frenchman as of a two-legged tiger—which we spelt with a y—and then perhaps the horror that thrilled me may be understood. Suddenly the vague terror was turned into reality, as between me and the dusky sky loomed forth a wild figure, then another and another, then a confused crowd.

I could stand no more. With one bound I passed from behind my bushes in through the back door of the house—

“Nancy, hang those spoons!” I spoke in Welsh, and I fear my expression was still more forcible. “Come this minute, I’ll wait no longer.”

“Why, who asked you to wait?” said Ann George, ungratefully. “I thought you’d be half-way to Goodwick ere this.”

At this moment her speech was interrupted by a sound as of thunder at the front door, while the parlour window came flying into the room before the butt-ends of French muskets. Even Ann George thought it now high time to take her leave.

So we departed as quickly and as silently as possible through the back door, while the front door was being shivered to atoms, and the enemy was pouring into the house over its remains. Quickly, indeed, we went now and the falling night favoured us; the enemy’s own noise too rendered the slight addition of our footfalls totally unobservable. All the space between Trehowel and the cliffs swarmed with Frenchmen, and the uproar was bewildering.

“They’ll make short work with your master’s ale, Nan,” I gasped, as we ran along under the cover of the earthen banks topped with gorse.

“Aye, and of the wine and the spirits, and of all the poor young master’s wedding feast. Oh, indeed, I wish I had known they were coming when I was baking those pies and brewing that ale!”

I did not waste my breath by inquiring the reason of this aspiration, for the hill was rather heavy on my lungs, and her meaning was obvious. In a very short time we had reached Brestgarn, the abode of a worthy divine, the Rev. David Bowen, whom we found about to depart hurriedly, he having been no quicker to hear the alarming tidings than his neighbour at Trehowel; but, having heard it, he and his family were off for the interior as fast as horses and fright could take them. Only one of his servants, a man named Llewelyn, volunteered to stay behind, to keep, as far as in him lay, an eye upon his master’s place and goods.

“Let us go to the top of Carnunda,” suggested this man. “We can see everything from there.”

Carnunda is a rock situated just above most things in this region; more especially just under it lies the tiny village and church of Llanunda—Unda being manifestly a saint, though I cannot truthfully say I ever heard anything about him—or her.We got up to the top of this carn then, and there snugly ensconced between huge boulders of stone—the place is large enough to hold six or seven hundred men, well protected by natural rock-work—we gazed on the scenes all around us.

First at the creek beneath us. It was now pitch dark—for the night was as black as the day had been bright—but the three tall ships of war were lighted up with cressets of fire; the lugger was there and the captured sloop, and the sea around them was alive with boats, still conveying troops to the land. The torches that they carried were reflected on the waves, elsewhere inky black—but here bearing long broken lines of light. Dark figures swarmed at the landing place, if so one could call, what was merely some flat slabs of rock; and all up the cliffs we saw ant-like beings crawling, and even (by the aid of a little imagination) we could fancy we heard their strong exclamations at the steepness of the path—made even steeper to them by the nature of their occupation, for they were rolling casks (evidently heavy) of gunpowder from where the boats landed them up to the top of the cliff. Some of these dark figures carried torches which shed a fierce glow for a small space through the black night. As we looked, one of the casks which had been by much effort shoved up to well-nigh the top of the cliffs, suddenly slipped from the Frenchmen’s hands and rolled rapidly down the declivity—the roll speedily becoming a succession of jumps and plunges, till with a wild leap the cask fled over a final precipice and disappeared in the sea.

“Thank the Lord for that,” said Llewelyn.

Nancy and I laughed aloud. It is impossible to give any idea of the exultation that we felt.“What words they are using over that!” said Nancy.

“Oh, don’t I wish we were near enough to hear them!” said I, totally unmindful of my future profession.

But shortly after we had even greater cause of rejoicing. The enemy (as we had already learnt to call them) were disembarking their cannon, and lowering these unwieldly articles of war into a long boat, but zeal outstripping discretion, they so over-weighted the boat, that lurching forward heavily she upset, and the whole of her cumbrous cargo was shortly at the bottom of the sea. It was a satisfaction even to think of it. Aye, and we may think of it still, for to this very day those foreign cannon are rolling about and rusting in the unquiet waters of Carrig Gwastad creek—a proof, should one ever be needed, of the truth of this strange story.

“Thank the Lord again,” said Llewelyn.

CHAPTER III.
THE FATE OF THE CLOCK.

Great bonfires now lit up the side of the hill beneath Trehowel—in the place still called the French camp—and scores of dark figures rushed about with torches flaring wildly in their hands; the whole scene reminding one forcibly of Pandemonium, that is, if one is capable of being reminded of a place one has never seen and that one has no desire to see.

Even the thought of it at the moment was unpleasant to me as bringing my neglected studies to my mind, so I hastily turned my attention once more to the French.The boats and the sailors had now returned to their ships, having landed the invading hordes (which was the term we usually applied to the Gallic soldiers), who now seemed more bent on cooking than on conquering, on supping than on surprising.

Cottage at Castell

We watched the erection of beams and bars over the huge fires; and the slinging on to the bars of great pots and pans of all sorts—mostly intimate friends of poor Nancy who watched all these proceedings with many a groan and warm ejaculation as she thought of all her wasted scrubbings in the back kitchen of Trehowel. The precise number of the men who landed that night on a bit (though remote) of Great Britain was fourteen hundred; of whom six hundred were regular troops, and eight hundred were convicts of the basest sort, described, indeed, in the pamphlets of the time as the sweepings of the gaols. Besides these, there were two women; and had the fourteen hundred been animated by the spirit which possessed these two of the weaker sex, the result might have been much more unpleasant to the Principality than it actually was.

The Welsh woman beside me was not by any means deficient in spirit either, it even sometimes took the form of temper, yet to my astonishment I heard the sound of sobs which could only proceed from her, as Llewelyn was hardly likely to relieve his feelings in this way.

“Oh, Master Dan, wherever is Davy?” she again asked. She called me “master” when she remembered what I was going to be, otherwise my father being only a small tradesman in Fishguard, I was more frequently called Dan. I do not think I have given any description of Ann George, boys do not, as a rule, think much of personal appearance; nor did I. My idea of Nancy had been chiefly connected with the peppermints she had been in the habit of giving me as a child; I thought her a person of a free and generous disposition. She was a tall, fine young woman of five and twenty, with dark hair and eyes (these last being dark grey not brown), decided but pretty eyebrows, a well-shaped nose, and rather large mouth which disclosed when she laughed or talked (which was frequently) handsome white teeth. In short, she was the type of a good-looking Welsh woman. She had also a healthy colour, a warm heart, and a splendid appetite. It was not very surprising that she had (or had had) two admirers.

I at once referred to this fact with a boy’s utter want of delicacy in matters of sentiment.

“What are you bothering about Davy for? I thought it was Jim you liked.”“Don’t you ever say that fellow’s name to me again, Dan’el,” said Nancy with animation, her tears dried up and her eyes sparkling. “I hope never to hear of James Bowen again so long as I live.”

I whistled. “Was that because he got into trouble for horse-stealing? Why, as to that, Davy’s none too particular.”

“Dear anwyl, Dan, talk of what you understand, or hold your tongue! What do I care for their customs and laws? ’Deed to goodness, nothing at all. As to James Bowen if it had been only that—but there, a child like you can’t understand things.”

“Can’t I!” I shouted, thoroughly incensed—of course we spoke in Welsh, and used a good many more exclamations than I have set down here. “Can’t I, indeed. I only know smuggling is—”

“Don’t quarrel, children,” said Llewelyn, who was of a quiet disposition. “And don’t shout or you’ll bring the French upon us. Silence holds it here. [80] Just look there!”

He pointed towards the opposite direction to that in which we had been looking, and where the French were still clambering about the cliffs dragging up the last of their barrels of ammunition and brandy. He pointed towards the steep road which leads from Goodwick to Fishguard. This road was thronged with people, horses, carts, furniture, cattle all mixed together, and all (the animate ones at least) making their way with such speed as their legs and the hill permitted away from the immediate neighbourhood of the invaders. The lights which some of them carried, and the glare from some gorse which had been set on fire, lit up the straggling, toiling multitude.

Further off the semi-circle of hills blazed with warning beacons. It was a sight never to be forgotten; a sight that had not been seen in this island for centuries. From our high nest in the rocks we had but to turn our heads to see all. In front of us to the north stretched the sea; a little to the north-west was the creek where the French had landed, where we could dimly discern the tall masts of the war-ships lighted up fitfully by cressets of fire. At the top of the cliff was Trehowel, and close by was the French camp surmounted by the tricolor flag. A little nearer us was Brestgarn, where Llewelyn lived, and just at our feet was the village and church of Llanunda. Goodwick lay to the east of us; there was a steep hill down to it, a magnificent flat of sands, with sea on one side and marsh on the other, and then a steep hill up from it leading ere long to Fishguard. The sea came round the corner from the north in order to form that deep and beautiful Goodwick Bay, where trees and rocks, gardens and wild waves, luxuriant vegetation and marshy barrenness are so strangely mixed. Behind all, to the south and southeast came the mountains; and towards the fastnesses therein most of these fugitives were wending their way.

“Deuks!” said Llewelyn, “they are coming out to see what they can get, the scoundrels; I must run back to Brestgarn.”

“Let me come,” said I, on the impulse of the moment—though my knees shook as I saw small dark clumps of men leaving the main mass and coming towards us; but Llewelyn inspired confidence, and curiosity has a courage of its own; then I suddenly bethought me of Ann George.

“But what will you do, Nancy?” I asked.

“I will go to my Aunt Jemima, I’ll be safe enough with her; don’t trouble about me, my dear,” said Nancy, our short-lived quarrel being happily over.

“That is in Fishguard, you can’t go there alone, wait a bit for me,” said I, with youthful assurance.

“I can hide you at Brestgarn if you want to come, but better go on to Fishguard,” said Llewelyn.

By this time, however, we were almost at the farm, for we had run down the steep side of Carnunda without any delay.

As we drew near to the house we found from the uproar therein that it was already full of Frenchmen. Very cautiously we approached a window and peeped in. We saw a strange sight. The kitchen was filled with ragged ruffianly fellows, all gesticulating with all their limbs, and screeching with all their lungs. Of course we did not understand a word they said, which, perhaps, was no loss under the circumstances. They were dressed in all sorts of uniforms—some of them in a dusky red (our soldiers’ coats dyed, as I afterwards heard), others wore the regular dark blue of the French army. An enormous fire blazed on the hearth, on which they had placed a large brass pan, geese and fowls only half-feathered had been hastily thrown into it, and now they were literally cramming it with butter, which they dug out of a cask they had dragged in from the dairy. Suddenly a shout arose, apparently from the ground beneath us.

“Deuks!” said Llewelyn, again. “They’ve found the port.”

Llewelyn did not allude to any of the harbours in the neighbourhood, but rather, it may be, to the lack of one, which had perhaps occasioned the wrecking of a vessel from Oporto laden with the wine of the district.

“No odds, don’t fret for the wine,” whispered Nancy. “We’ll get plenty again. I only hope there’s a good store of brandy in the houses, too.”

We got our brandy in a different way, but also inexpensively, and there was at times a considerable stock of it, and tobacco, too, in the farmhouse cellars.

Llewelyn, however, was much perturbed: he had volunteered to stay to look after the household goods, and he didn’t seem to be able to do much. The delight of the Frenchmen at such an unexpected treasure-trove was indeed exasperating. Down flowed the generous liquid through throats the outsides of which were much in want of shaving, elbows were raised, and voices also in the intervals of quaffing. Suddenly one man paused in his potations, the brass face of the old clock that stood in the corner had caught his eye, and the loud ticking of it had caught his ear. Screeching something that sounded like “enemy,” he levelled his musket and fired straight at the clock. The bullet went through the wood-work with a loud sound of splitting.

“Brenhin mawr!” yelled Llewelyn, forgetting all caution in his exasperation. “The scoundrels have shot our eight day clock!”

Unfortunately his remark was overheard; and indeed his yell shot into the midst of those rioting ruffians like a pebble into a wasp’s nest. Out they flew, evidently infuriated; but we waited for no explanations, taking to our heels on the instant, with the promptitude of extreme fear. Nan and I were light of heel, and favoured by the darkness—yet more black to those who came from that blaze of light—we got clear away; but turning ere long to look, we perceived that Llewelyn had not been so fortunate, he was older and a good deal heavier than we were; and then his righteous anger had rendered him rather breathless before he began to run. He was now surrounded by a crowd of foreigners, all jabbering and gesticulating as hard as possible. Our hearts were sore at having to leave our companion in this plight, but there was no help for it, to attempt a rescue would have been, under the circumstances, worse than folly. So we ran along across country, avoiding all roads, and making straight for Goodwick.

CHAPTER IV.
THE PRIEST’S PEEP-HOLE.

As Nancy and I puffed and panted in as noiseless a manner as possible up the steep hill from Brestgarn, we saw, or, more strictly speaking, we heard all around us, foraging parties of the enemy, who were making off with everything they could lay their hands upon. The screeching of poultry, the quacking of ducks, the cackling of geese, the grunting and squealing of pigs (I might go on as long as some foreign Delectus, but that I fear to weary the reader) together with the oaths and laughter of the Frenchmen, formed a medley of sound that might have been pleasing to the ears of a musician composing a symphony on rural sounds, but that to a more ordinary listener formed a hubbub of noise that was bewildering and extremely distasteful; while poor Nancy’s vexation at the fate of the dwellers in the farm-yard equalled her indignation at the use made of her well-scrubbed pans.

Not a single inhabitant of this district seemed to be left, every cottage was deserted; all had fled for the present, in order to turn again with greater force and rend the intruder—as one may draw back for a space so as to gain the necessary impetus for a spring.

We had reached the village of Llanunda, when we heard a considerable body of the enemy marching along the road near us, on their way to take possession of our rocky nest on the top of Carnunda. This very strong position formed the enemy’s outpost, and it ought to have been a matter of no small difficulty to oust them therefrom, had they but planted themselves firmly in it.

To our great dismay we now heard voices approaching us from the other side; these proved to be some of the foraging parties making themselves acquainted with the larders and cellars of all the neighbouring houses. We crouched down lower among the gorse bushes, and I at least knew precisely the sensations experienced by a hunted and hiding hare. When this danger, too, was happily overpast, at all events for the moment, Nancy whispered to me—

“Dan, they are a deal too near us here, and there’s more coming. I know a better hiding-place than this. Let’s make for the church.”

I assented willingly; and we made as fast as we could for the church. It was a small but ancient building, full of queer holes and corners, with the which Nancy was better acquainted than I was, it being her parish church. The door was happily unfastened, but no Frenchmen had as yet invaded the sacred building, for we took the precaution of looking through the “leper’s hole” as soon as we had entered the porch. The leper’s hole is a little square window, the sides of which are so sloped as to command a view of the interior of the church, more especially of the chancel; so that in the old times even these miserable wretches—set apart in the porch—might still behold the high altar.

We then looked with eagerness through this orifice, and perceived gladly that the building was dark and empty. So pushing open the door, we entered our sanctuary as though it had been a veritable city of refuge. Our first care was to secure the door as well as we could on the inside; then Nancy sat down in order to fetch her breath, while I reviewed the place and the situation. Neither were to my mind when I came to think of it.

“What have you come here for, Nan?” I inquired. “I don’t like it—we’ll be caught here like rats in a trap. We can’t hide in the pulpit. I’d rather a gorse-bush in the open, now.”

“Wait a bit, Dan, till I fetch my breath—and don’t talk; they may hear you,” said Nancy, not considering that she was talking herself.

“Oh do make haste with your breath,” said I, “and tell me where it is.” I was full of curiosity to know where her hiding-place could be: the church was pitch dark, a few minutes of silence there seemed an age. “It’s not in a vault, is it?” I continued.

“A vault—bless the boy—no! I’m not going into a vault before I can help it. Well, if you won’t be quiet, I suppose I’d better show you the place. It is at the other side of the church. Come across quietly, now.”

We did go across as quietly as we could, considering the pitch darkness of the place, all blocked up with high pews according to the fashion of the time. In my after-career I had often occasion to reprove the occupiers of like boxes, who, trusting to their wooden walls to screen them, slumbered happily within a few yards of me, utterly forgetful of the treachery of their own noses.

After having injured her shins several times over unexpected obstacles, Nancy sighed forth, “Oh for a light!”

“Oh for something to eat!” I responded. “I’ve got a flint and steel in my pocket; but I can’t eat that. You can have it if you like.”

“I daren’t strike a light,” said Nancy; “but I’ve got a bit of cheese in my pocket along with the silver spoons. Here, stretch out your hand.”“Don’t you want it?” I felt impelled by manners to say this, though I felt wolfish.

“Not I. I had my dinner as usual. I put it in my pocket in case of meeting—a friend.”

“Do your—friends like cheese?” I asked with my mouth full.

“You seem to, any way,” retorted Nancy. “I hear them coming.”

I bolted the cheese in a panic. I felt much more afraid of the French since I had seen them so near in Brestgarn kitchen, and since they had nabbed Llewelyn.

“Here’s the hole—you go first. I’ll close it up after us with a pew door.”

Nancy dexterously lifted one off its hinges, while I, mounted on the back of a pew, groped my way into a pitch dark cavity in the wall, the entrance to which was situated at the height of some three or four feet above the floor-level.“Take care, there are steps,” said Nan, just as I had discovered the fact by the aid of my shin-bone. She was still wrestling with the pew door, and I smothered my agony chiefly, I must own, from fear of the French.

“Get on a bit higher up, Dan,” whispered Ann, as she followed me, dragging the door after her as quietly as she could. Nancy was certainly a wonderful woman, with a head on her shoulders.

At this moment I felt that it was so, for I was propelled somewhat violently upward by the member in question. I can also add my testimony that she was a hard-headed woman. She was also perhaps a little hard-hearted, for in answer to my remonstrance, “Hold hard, Nancy, that hurts!” she merely said,

“Oh, do get on, Dan; I expect them here every minute.”

I did get on, and found after mounting half-a-dozen steps of a twirling stair, that my head was opposite an opening just at the place where the roof of the church sprung; one of the oaken beams was, in fact, a little scooped out to make room for this slit, which being under the heavy shadow of the woodwork was almost completely screened from the glances of those below; while to the person placed behind this coign of ’vantage the whole of the interior of the church was visible—chancel as well as nave.

“What a queer place—what’s it for, Nancy?” I asked.

“That is called the Priest’s Peep-hole; I suppose in old times he got a friend to go up there and keep an eye on the congregation—see who went to sleep, and what they were at altogether,” explained Nan; but at this moment her eloquence came to a sudden end. Our voices and our hearts died within us, for there came to our ears the dreaded but expected sound—the clamorous jabber of many tongues.

The sounds came from the churchyard, but I doubt if even a company of good Welsh ghosts would have frightened us as much as these earthly foreigners. Very, very earthly and carnal-minded did they seem to us at this moment.

“They won’t come into a church—they won’t rob a church!” I whispered to Ann, leaning my head down close to her’s—a difficult feat, but I was as thin as a lath then.

“Won’t they?” said Ann, scornfully. “You wait a minute—Hst!”

Nan’s appreciation of character and computation of time proved equally correct. She had fixed the pew-door by this time, and she held it firmly in its place by the handle, which she had taken care to put on the inward side when she lifted up the barrier across the entrance to the stair.“I hope they won’t fire through that like they did through the clock at Brestgarn, on the chance of finding some one behind it,” I whispered to my companion as this comfortable idea flashed through my mind, even the terror of the French failing to curb my natural love of suggesting a terror.

“Hst!” retorted Nan; “hold your tongue, can’t you, and keep your head down; don’t let them see you peeping, Dan!”

Nancy’s caution to me came not a moment too soon, for crash! a rush of men and muskets at the door, whose rickety bolts we had drawn when we entered, chiefly in the hope that they might not be tried. But if we drew them as a sort of charm, the spell was not strong enough, nor were the locks.

C-r-a-ck—crack! the feeble bolts gave a groan, and open flew the door with a sharp, splitting sound. In rushed ten or a dozen Frenchmen, tumbling over one another in their haste. The church was lighted up with a sudden blaze from their torches; this was all I saw, for on the entrance of the enemy I had ducked my head speedily. Ann could see still less, as she was crouched on the bottom step, and was keeping the door in its place with her knees.

The noise in the church was terrific, but yet to my ears the beating of my heart was still louder. The more I tried to silence it, the more it ticked.

“Perhaps they’ll think it’s a clock,” I reflected.

“Oh, dear! oh, dear!”

Yet after a while, as I grew more accustomed to the clamour, I became possessed by a desire to know what these men were doing. Very cautiously I raised my head. I feared my hair must be standing on end, which would make it more perceptible by an inch or two. Instinct had made me take off my hat as we entered the building; in crossing the dark aisle I had dropped it, and I hoped sincerely no one would find it, as it might lead to unpleasant investigations. Planted finally on my hands and knees, I raised myself till my eyes were on a level with the lowest part of the priest’s peep-hole, and then, even veiling my eyes with half-closed lids as a precaution, I glanced furtively forth at the foreign marauders beneath me. They had not gone through the ceremony of removing their hats, and their object in entering the sacred edifice was evidently simply the hope of plunder. With the butt ends of their muskets they knocked and thrust at everything, as if to ascertain of what it was made, and whether anything of value might not be concealed within it. One half-drunken fellow came and gave a mighty bang to the cushion belonging to the pulpit, which he snatched from its proper position and dashed against the wall, immediately under my spy-hole. I imagine that the worthy incumbent must have been less given to pulpit thumping than most of his fellows, for out flew a cloud of dust, reaching even to my nostrils. A smothered sneeze was the result. Instantly I felt myself violently pulled by the leg from below; indeed, so provoked was Nancy that she could not resist giving me a shake, though I am sure the candid reader will allow I was not to blame in the matter.

Unluckily the Frenchman had heard the sneeze, and some animated conversation went on between him and his companions, who, however, seemed inclined to ridicule his assertions. Judging from the tone of their remarks (for Nancy held too tight a grip of me to allow of my seeing anything), I should say that their language to each other was not so polite as one might have expected from men of their nation. However, my particular enemy did not seem inclined to allow himself to be set down after this fashion; for, dropping his cushion, he proceeded to make an investigation with his clubbed musket. Walls, pews, and benches, he thumped them all indiscriminately, giving a sounding whack to the door which closed our retreat. But Nancy’s knees did not flinch, though they must have received a most unpleasant jar. Luckily the entrance to the hidden stair was in a very dark and out-of-the way corner, and also at a very unusual height from the ground. Mercifully at this moment our tormentor’s attention was distracted by a shout from his comrades, who had entered the little vestry, and had forced open the cupboard containing the sacramental vessels. These were very ancient, and were of silver, and the glee of the finders was easily understood even by those in our retired situation.Others of the invaders broke open the chest containing the parish records, but, much disappointed by the nature of the contents, they tore forth the documents and tossed them on the floor of the church. Human nature was no longer to be restrained, neither by fear nor by Ann, so I once more popped my head up and beheld a strange sight. One of the men had thrown a torch in among the parchments and papers, a bright flame lighted up the dark interior of the church, and shone on the fierce faces of the men around the fire, two of whom were struggling for the possession of the communion cup.

“Great Heaven, we shall be burnt like rats, Nan!” I whispered to my companion, but she answered by her favourite expression, “Hst!”

One soldier, I imagine by way of a joke, now threw the pulpit cushion on the flames, whereupon such dense clouds of smoke arose as speedily cleared the church of the invaders, but alas, nearly stifled us, the lawful inhabitants. Luckily the floor of the church was of slate, and the fire was not very near any woodwork.

Nancy insisted that we must bear our suffocation in silence and motionless, and though my eyes watered and my heart rebelled, not a cough nor a wheeze, nor even a word, did I suffer to escape me, but to my thoughts at least I gave free rein. After a while these too played the truant, wandering away from my enemies and dreamily fixing themselves on my master at St. David’s, my school friends, my books, the moving waters that framed in every picture of my life, till, becoming more and more indistinct, I imagine that I must have fallen fast asleep, though this is a matter that none can speak of with any certainty till it comes to the sharp act of awakening, which act assures us, in the most matter-of-fact manner, that we have been asleep.

In this way, by a sharp fact, indeed, no other than Nancy’s elbow, I made the discovery that, in spite of my uncomfortable position, I must have fallen sound asleep, tired out by my long walk and many subsequent runs, and fatigued also by the number of new ideas forced on my mind by the action of the extraordinary events of the day and the many bewildering things I had seen and heard since breakfast time that morning.

It seemed to me to have been but a few minutes from the time the French left us choking in the smoke till I felt that elbow of Nancy’s, of which I took no notice. Indifferent to this silent scorn, she now pulled me vigorously by the leg.

“Wake up, Dan! Wake up, boy; we must get away from here at once; we ought to have gone long ago, but I fell asleep, worse luck. Come now, at once, it’s just daylight.”

We had, indeed, quite suddenly, as it seemed to me, reached the morning of Thursday.