The Settlers

The Settlers, by William H. G.
Kingston

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Title: The Settlers A Tale of Virginia
Author: William H. G. Kingston
Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21482]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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SETTLERS ***

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The Settlers
A Tale of Virginia
by William H G Kingston

CHAPTER ONE.
The abode of Captain Amyas Layton overlooked the whole of
Plymouth Sound. It stood on the eastern side near its northern end, on
the wood-covered heights which rise above that magnificent estuary.
From the windows could be seen the town of Plymouth, with its inner
harbour, on which floated many a stout bark of varied rig and size;
some engaged in the coasting trade, others just arrived from foreign
voyages, and others destined to carry the flag of England to far-off
lands. In front of the house had been set up a tall flagstaff, which the
captain was wont on high days and holidays to deck with gay banners,
or at other times to employ in making signals to vessels in the Sound.
The grounds were surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge, above
which was a gateway adorned with curiously carved images once
serving as the figure-heads of two Spanish galleys. The house itself,
constructed chiefly of a framework of massive timber, filled in with
stone or brick, had no pretensions to architectural beauty, albeit its
wide, projecting eaves, its large chimneys, and latticed windows, with
its neat, well-kept garden full of gay flowers, gave it a picturesque and
quaint appearance. Above the low wall on the inner side of the moat,
was planted a battery of brass cannon, elaborately ornamented, and
evidently also taken from the Spaniards; though they were placed there
as trophies of victories won rather than for use. In truth, the old
seaman's dwelling, full as it was of many other warlike engines, had no
pretensions to the character of a fortress; it had been his fancy to gather
within its walls the spoils of many a hard-fought fight to remind him of
days gone by, especially when he had sailed out of Plymouth Sound in
his stout bark in company with the gallant Lord Howard, Drake,
Frobisher, Hawkins, and other brave seamen whose names are known
to fame, to make fierce onslaught on the vaunting Spaniards, as their
proud Armada swept up the Channel. The porch at the front entrance
was adorned with Spanish handiwork--a portion of the stern-gallery of
the huge Saint Nicholas; while at each corner of the building were fixed
other parts of that mighty galleon, or of some other ship of the many
which had been, by God's good providence, delivered into the hands of
those whom the haughty Spaniards came vainly threatening to enslave.

The house contained a good-sized dining-hall. At one end was a broad
fireplace, and mantelpiece supported by richly carved figures, also
taken from the stern-gallery of a Spanish bark. Above it appeared the
model of the Golden Lion, the captain's own ship. The walls were
adorned with breastplates and morions, swords and matchlocks, huge
pistols, with other weapons of curious form, and three banners captured
from the foe, regarded by the captain as the chiefest of his trophies.
Here, too, were also bows and arrows, spears and clubs, and various
implements, remembrances of the last voyage he had made to America.
The captain was walking to and fro in the shade. In his hand was a long
pipe with a huge bowl, from which he ever and anon sucked up a
mouthful of smoke, which, as he again puffed it out, rose in light
wreaths above his head. Sometimes, as he sent them forth slowly, now
from one side of his mouth, now from the other, as a ship fires her
broadsides at her foes, he would stop and gaze at the vanishing vapour,
his thoughts apparently wandering to distant times and regions far away,
now taking a glance down the Sound to watch for any tall ship which
might be coming up from the westward, now looking along the road.
His countenance, though that of a man still hale and hearty, showed
signs of many a hard fight with human foes and fierce storms, as far as
it could be distinguished amid the curling locks which hung down from
beneath the low-crowned hat adorned by a single feather, and the bushy
beard and long mustachios