The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn: A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot

It was already dark. Jacob had been partaking of one of Martin Holt's hospitable suppers. Cuthbert had been absent, and Mistress Susan had remarked with some acrimony that the young man was growing a deal too fine in his ways for them. He came and went just at pleasure; and she did not think it well to encourage him in his idleness and irregularities. Martin opined that he had been amusing himself by watching the preparations for the grand doings on the morrow. The King was in London, and would open his Parliament the next day. Little was being talked of but that event all over London that night.

And now, on reaching his home, Jacob found this brief missive awaiting him, and started forth again, wondering not a little whither it would lead him. The streets were almost empty. Budge Row was dark and silent as the grave. Yet as he looked up at the tall narrow house, a window from above was softly opened, and a low voice over his head spoke in soft, urgent accents:

"Hist! make no sound. Wait but a moment. I will open to you."

Jacob waited, and almost immediately the door was cautiously opened, and a head looked round, a pair of dark eyes peering up into his face.

"It is well, Jacob Dyson, thou hast come," said the same voice, in the lowest of low whispers. "But I may not speak with thee here. Thou must come with me elsewhere. Tyrrel's men are in this house, carousing in their cups. But they have ears like the wild things of the forest. I may not bring thee within the door. They think that I be gone to my chamber to sleep. They will seek me no more tonight. And before the morrow dawns our task must be accomplished."

"And what is that task?" asked Jacob breathlessly.

"To free Cuthbert Trevlyn from the bonds that hold him; to save him from the power of those who will, when the morning dawns; deliver him up to the emissaries of the law as one who has taken part in the vilest plot that has ever been conceived by heart of man!"

Jacob started, and faced his companion, who was hurrying him along the dark streets at a rapid pace.

"Plot, woman! what dost thou mean?" he cried, alarmed and distrustful, and yet impelled to let her lead him whither she would, dominated by the power of her strong will. "I must know more of this matter ere I go further. I have heard fell whispers ere now, but I know not what their truth be. I am a peaceable, law-abiding citizen. I mix myself not up in such doubtful matters. Speak plainly, and tell me what thou knowest, and what evil or harm threatens Cuthbert Trevlyn, or I vow I will go no further with thee. I will not be made a tool of; I will not walk in the dark."

He stopped short, and she did the same, still holding his arm in a close clutch. They had reached one of the many city churches; the big building loomed up before them dark and tall. The wise woman drew her companion within the shelter of the deep porch. Here they could speak at will; none could overhear them now.

"I will tell thee all in as few words as may be. Thou knowest me as the wise woman of Budge Row; but once I was the queen of the woodland, the queen of the gipsy tribes there, and I still hold some power over the children of the forest. They still bring me news of all that passes there. Cuthbert Trevlyn has found the lost treasure, and in finding it has killed one of the tribe. Hatred and greed have been alike stirred up. Many are bound together against him. If he cannot be snatched this night from the clutches into which he has let himself fall-oh, why would he not heed my warnings? – nothing can avail to save him.

"Listen, Jacob Dyson. Tyrrel, the notable highwayman, upon whose head a price has long been set, has this night taken Cuthbert Trevlyn prisoner, hoping to win from him the secret of the hidden treasure which now lies in his keeping. Cuthbert has refused to tell him aught; and now he purposes to strive to turn this to good account for himself by delivering him up to the officers of the law upon the morrow, as being concerned in a fearful plot that tomorrow will make the ears of all England tingle.

"Dost thou stare at that? hast thou indeed heard aught of it? There have been whispers abroad; but the matter hath been kept wondrous close. Cuthbert Trevlyn has by his hardihood, his curiosity, and his fidelity to friends, who are no true friends to him, placed himself in jeopardy. He ought to be in hiding now; for if upon the morrow the name of Trevlyn gets noised abroad, there will be scant mercy shown him by the judges of this land."

"Cuthbert a prisoner! Cuthbert delivered up to judgment!" cried Jacob, aghast. "What meanest thou, woman? What hath he done?"

"He bath done no evil; but he hath shown himself imprudent and reckless. He has been seen in company he ought to have fled; he has visited places against which he was warned. Tyrrel knows this. Tyrrel knows how to turn to his advantage everything of like nature. Tyrrel will give him up at the moment when hue and cry is being made for all concerned in this matter. He will give him up, and men will bear witness where and how he was seized, where and how he has been seen before this. Men's minds will be all aflame with rage and fear. The wildest tale will obtain credence, and there be nothing so wild in what they may truly say of Cuthbert Trevlyn. The Tower gates will close upon him, and they will only open to him when he is led forth to die. Have I not lived long enough to know that? If he he not saved tonight, nothing can avail to save him afterwards."

Jacob felt a strange thrill run through him at these words,

"And why dost thou tell me this, of all men, woman? What can I do to save him?"

He saw that she had raised her face as if to strive to scan the expression on his; but the darkness foiled her, neither could he see aught but the gleam of her dark eyes.

"I come to thee because time presses, and I know not where else to turn. Thou hast been his friend before; wilt thou play a friend's part now, even if it be fraught with peril?"

Jacob paused a few seconds before replying, and then said simply, "What can I do?"

"I will tell thee," answered Esther, speaking rapidly. "Cuthbert Trevlyn lies bound in a house not far away. Tomorrow, so soon as the news of the plot is noised abroad, and all is in commotion to discover the conspirators, he will be delivered up to those who are searching for these; and if thou knewest as much as I, thou wouldst know that nothing then can save him. But there be yet twelve hours before this can happen, and if he can be rescued within those twelve hours, and lodged with me in my house at Budge Row, I will undertake to hide him so well till all hue and cry be past and over that none shall find him; and before the glad Yuletide season has come to rejoice men's hearts, he shall be free to go where he will and show his face with the best of them."

This and much more did the eager gipsy pour into Jacob's astonished ears as he stood in the shadow of the deep porch. Every detail of the capture was made known to him, the whole plot laid bare, as she had heard it from the lips of the men who had borne Cuthbert ashore, and had then been so cunningly plied with heating liquor by the astute old woman that they had babbled freely of those very things that Tyrrel would fain have had held secret as the grave, at least for twenty-four hours longer.

Jacob listened, and as he listened his mind was strangely stirred. Here was his rival in deadly peril of his life; and if Cuthbert were once to be removed from his path, had not Cherry almost promised, in time, to be his wife? And had he not done all he knew to warn Cuthbert from just those friendships and associations which had ended by placing him in this terrible peril? Could anything more be looked for from him? What did this strange woman think that he could accomplish?

Cuthbert was truly his friend and comrade. He had proved it once by risking his life to aid and abet him. But now what could he do? And surely in these perilous times, when all men knew they must walk warily, it behoved him to take heed to his steps.

"And what can I do?" he asked, as the woman paused.

"Art thou willing to strive to save him at some peril to thyself?"

Jacob paused for a full minute. A host of tumultuous feelings rushed and surged through his brain. A thousand conflicting impulses swayed him as he revolved the situation with all the rapidity of quickened thought.

It was but a minute, yet it seemed like an hour to him before he placed his hand upon that of the eager woman and answered steadily:

"I am willing."

She clutched his hand and held it fast.

"My heart did not deceive me. I knew that thou wert a true man. Jacob Dyson, listen to my words, and take good heed to them, and I will strive so to work that no harm shall befall thee, albeit I may not deny that thou mayest stand in some jeopardy. Take and put on this long cloak that I carry beneath my arm; wrap it well about thee, and turn up its collar that it hide well thy face. Pull thy hat down over thy eyes-so. And now take this ring and put it upon thy finger. I have told thee where Cuthbert Trevlyn is lodged this night. Go to the house and ask speech of Master Dibbler. When thou seest him, show him that ring, and tell him that Esther, the wise woman, has sent thee with it, and that she desires him to let thee have a brief interview alone with his prisoner, who has something to say to thee for me of the utmost value to all. Show not thy face, show only the ring, and unless I be greatly deceived, he will take thee to the prisoner forthwith, and lock thee up together alone. The rest thou canst almost divine. Thou must lose no time, but cut the cords that bind him, wrap him in this cloak-ye are much of a height-and so muffled he may well pass out in the darkness unheeded. Thou must stay behind in the prison bound as he was bound. In the morning thou wilt be given over to the officers of the law; for I misdoubt me much that Dibbler will ever find out the trick that has been played upon him. He never saw Cuthbert Trevlyn before, and I trow he has scarce observed what manner of man he is. He will deliver thee up for one Cuthbert Trevlyn, taken in the act of fleeing to the house where the conspirators are known to lodge.

"But I trow that thy father's solid weight and Esther's acuteness can soon serve to set thee at liberty. It will be an easy task to show to all the world that thou art Jacob Dyson, a peaceable citizen, and that thou hast been wrongly apprehended in the place of another. Thou wilt be able to prove that at the hour men say they found thee in that dark garden thou wast in thy father's or thine uncle's house. Thy captors will be confused, enraged, bewildered, and will have to explain how they come to be striving to pass off Jacob Dyson as an evil doer. I trow well we can turn the tables upon them.

"Art thou willing to run some small peril for the sake of serving one who has called thee friend?"

And Jacob, with scarce a moment's pause, replied once again, "I am willing."

Next day, the morning of the fifth of November, 1605, dawned clear and still and bright. London was early astir; for was not the King to open his Parliament that day? and were not hundreds of loyal subjects going to line the streets to see the procession pass? If the King were not popular, the Prince of Wales, Prince Henry, was; and a sight was a sight to the simple folk of those days, even as it is still.

But before long a curious change passed over the face of the London streets. A breath-a whisper-a fleeting rumour. Men's faces grew suddenly pale and grave. Women uttered sharp exclamations of astonishment and fear. People pressed together into knots, asking quick questions and awaiting the answers in breathless expectancy; and presently the whispers became changed into open cries and shouts. A smothered roar as of execration and menace ran through the streets, being caught up and passed from mouth to mouth till it was surging along like a great billow on the wide Atlantic sea.

"A Popish plot!"

"Down with the Papists!"

"Blow up the whole of the Parliament Houses-King, Lords, and Commons!"

"Heard ye ever the like before?"

"Taken in the very act-with the barrels of gunpowder laid ready, and the slow match in his hand!"

"A curse upon all such vile traitors!"

"A curse upon the Papists!"

"England will never know peace till she has destroyed them root and branch!"

"Down with the whole brood of them-the vile scum of a vile race!"

These and many like cries were passing through the crowd in great, gusty shouts. Martin Holt, standing at the door of his shop, was just taking in the sense of what was passing, and anxiously ruminating upon the fact that Cuthbert had not been home all the night, when Abraham Dyson came hurrying up, his face pale with apprehension.

"Good Master Holt, hast thou heard the news?"

"That the Papists have tried to blow up the Parliament Houses? Can such a thing be true?"

"As true as daylight; there is no manner of doubt as to that. But I have another trouble than that, which has been happily averted. They tell me my boy has been arrested as one of the conspirators. I am about to hasten down and inquire into it.

"Martin, where is Cuthbert?"