The Fishguard Invasion by the French in 1797 Read online

  CHAPTER IV.THE PRIEST’S PEEP-HOLE.

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

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

  We had reached the village of Llanunda, when we heard a considerable bodyof the enemy marching along the road near us, on their way to takepossession of our rocky nest on the top of Carnunda. This very strongposition formed the enemy’s outpost, and it ought to have been a matterof no small difficulty to oust them therefrom, had they but plantedthemselves firmly in it.

  To our great dismay we now heard voices approaching us from the otherside; these proved to be some of the foraging parties making themselvesacquainted with the larders and cellars of all the neighbouring houses.We crouched down lower among the gorse bushes, and I at least knewprecisely the sensations experienced by a hunted and hiding hare. Whenthis 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 knowa 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. Itwas a small but ancient building, full of queer holes and corners, withthe which Nancy was better acquainted than I was, it being her parishchurch. The door was happily unfastened, but no Frenchmen had as yetinvaded the sacred building, for we took the precaution of lookingthrough the “leper’s hole” as soon as we had entered the porch. Theleper’s hole is a little square window, the sides of which are so slopedas to command a view of the interior of the church, more especially ofthe chancel; so that in the old times even these miserable wretches—setapart in the porch—might still behold the high altar.

  We then looked with eagerness through this orifice, and perceived gladlythat the building was dark and empty. So pushing open the door, weentered 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 theplace and the situation. Neither were to my mind when I came to think ofit.

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

  “Wait a bit, Dan, till I fetch my breath—and don’t talk; they may hearyou,” 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: thechurch 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 helpit. Well, if you won’t be quiet, I suppose I’d better show you theplace. 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 darknessof the place, all blocked up with high pews according to the fashion ofthe time. In my after-career I had often occasion to reprove theoccupiers of like boxes, who, trusting to their wooden walls to screenthem, slumbered happily within a few yards of me, utterly forgetful ofthe 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 inmy 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 inmy 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 Ifelt wolfish.

  “Not I. I had my dinner as usual. I put it in my pocket in case ofmeeting—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 Frenchsince I had seen them so near in Brestgarn kitchen, and since they hadnabbed Llewelyn.

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

  Nancy dexterously lifted one off its hinges, while I, mounted on the backof a pew, groped my way into a pitch dark cavity in the wall, theentrance to which was situated at the height of some three or four feetabove the floor-level.

  “Take care, there are steps,” said Nan, just as I had discovered the factby 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 certainlya wonderful woman, with a head on her shoulders.

  At this moment I felt that it was so, for I was propelled somewhatviolently upward by the member in question. I can also add my testimonythat she was a hard-headed woman. She was also perhaps a littlehard-hearted, for in answer to my remonstrance, “Hold hard, Nancy, thathurts!” 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 twirlingstair, that my head was opposite an opening just at the place where theroof of the church sprung; one of the oaken beams was, in fact, a littlescooped out to make room for this slit, which being under the heavyshadow of the woodwork was almost completely screened from the glances ofthose below; while to the person placed behind this coign of ’vantage thewhole 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 afriend to go up there and keep an eye on the congregation—see who went tosleep, and what they were at altogether,” explained Nan; but at thismoment her eloquence came to a sudden end. Our voices and our heartsdied within us, for there came to our ears the dreaded but expectedsound—the clamorous jabber of many tongues.

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

  “They won’t come into a church—they won’t rob a church!” I whispered toAnn, leaning my head down close to her’s—a difficult feat, but I was asthin 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 equallycorrect. She had fixed the pew-door by this time, and she held it firmlyin its place by the handle, which she had taken care to put on the inwardside 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 atBrestgarn, on the chance of finding some one behind it,” I whispered tomy companion
as this comfortable idea flashed through my mind, even theterror of the French failing to curb my natural love of suggesting aterror.

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

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

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

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

  “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 becamepossessed by a desire to know what these men were doing. Very cautiouslyI raised my head. I feared my hair must be standing on end, which wouldmake it more perceptible by an inch or two. Instinct had made me takeoff my hat as we entered the building; in crossing the dark aisle I haddropped it, and I hoped sincerely no one would find it, as it might leadto unpleasant investigations. Planted finally on my hands and knees, Iraised myself till my eyes were on a level with the lowest part of thepriest’s peep-hole, and then, even veiling my eyes with half-closed lidsas a precaution, I glanced furtively forth at the foreign maraudersbeneath me. They had not gone through the ceremony of removing theirhats, and their object in entering the sacred edifice was evidentlysimply the hope of plunder. With the butt ends of their muskets theyknocked and thrust at everything, as if to ascertain of what it was made,and whether anything of value might not be concealed within it. Onehalf-drunken fellow came and gave a mighty bang to the cushion belongingto the pulpit, which he snatched from its proper position and dashedagainst the wall, immediately under my spy-hole. I imagine that theworthy incumbent must have been less given to pulpit thumping than mostof his fellows, for out flew a cloud of dust, reaching even to mynostrils. A smothered sneeze was the result. Instantly I felt myselfviolently pulled by the leg from below; indeed, so provoked was Nancythat she could not resist giving me a shake, though I am sure the candidreader will allow I was not to blame in the matter.

  Unluckily the Frenchman had heard the sneeze, and some animatedconversation went on between him and his companions, who, however, seemedinclined to ridicule his assertions. Judging from the tone of theirremarks (for Nancy held too tight a grip of me to allow of my seeinganything), I should say that their language to each other was not sopolite as one might have expected from men of their nation. However, myparticular enemy did not seem inclined to allow himself to be set downafter this fashion; for, dropping his cushion, he proceeded to make aninvestigation with his clubbed musket. Walls, pews, and benches, hethumped them all indiscriminately, giving a sounding whack to the doorwhich closed our retreat. But Nancy’s knees did not flinch, though theymust have received a most unpleasant jar. Luckily the entrance to thehidden stair was in a very dark and out-of-the way corner, and also at avery unusual height from the ground. Mercifully at this moment ourtormentor’s attention was distracted by a shout from his comrades, whohad entered the little vestry, and had forced open the cupboardcontaining the sacramental vessels. These were very ancient, and were ofsilver, and the glee of the finders was easily understood even by thosein our retired situation.

  Others of the invaders broke open the chest containing the parishrecords, but, much disappointed by the nature of the contents, they toreforth the documents and tossed them on the floor of the church. Humannature was no longer to be restrained, neither by fear nor by Ann, so Ionce more popped my head up and beheld a strange sight. One of the menhad thrown a torch in among the parchments and papers, a bright flamelighted up the dark interior of the church, and shone on the fierce facesof the men around the fire, two of whom were struggling for thepossession of the communion cup.

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

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

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

  In this way, by a sharp fact, indeed, no other than Nancy’s elbow, I madethe discovery that, in spite of my uncomfortable position, I must havefallen 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 theaction of the extraordinary events of the day and the many bewilderingthings 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 Frenchleft us choking in the smoke till I felt that elbow of Nancy’s, of whichI took no notice. Indifferent to this silent scorn, she now pulled mevigorously by the leg.

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

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