Sea-Dogs All! A Tale of Forest and Sea   By: Tom Bevan (1868-)

A Tale of Forest and Sea

by

TOM BEVAN

Author of "Red Dickon the Outlaw," "The Fen Robbers," etc., etc.

[Frontispiece: Dolly stood near the fire, her face rosy with the heat]

Thomas Nelson and Sons London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and New York 1911

CONTENTS.

I. The Man in Black II. The Plotters III. Two Friends IV. Johnnie Morgan takes a Walk V. Master Windybank VI. A Sinister Meeting VII. In the Toils VIII. Master Windybank walks abroad IX. The Hunt X. Master Windybank rebels XI. Darkness and the River XII. Snaring a Flock of Night Ravens XIII. A Double Fight XIV. What happened in Westbury Steeple XV. A Letter from Court XVI. To London Town XVII. Sir Walter as Chaperon XVIII. Three Broken Mariners XIX. Paignton Rob's Story XX. Rob dines at "Ye Swanne" XXI. Morgan goes to Whitehall XXII. The Queen XXIII. Johnnie sees many Sights XXIV. Two Chance Wayfarers XXV. Brother Basil XXVI. All on a bright March Morning XXVII. In Plymouth XXVIII. The Parlour of the "Blue Dolphin" XXIX. The Widow's House XXX. Ho! for the Spanish Main XXXI. In the Bay of San Joseph XXXII. A Glimpse of the Fabled City XXXIII. Wandering in a Maze XXXIV. Flood and Fever XXXV. A Foe XXXVI. The Attack on the Village XXXVII. Council Fires in Two Places XXXVIII. The Way back XXXIX. John Oxenham's Creek XL. A Haven of Peace XLI. The Trap XLII. Captives XLIII. In Panama XLIV. The Trial XLV. For Faith and Country! XLVI. The Galley Slaves XLVII. Hernando speaks XLVIII. The Revolt of the Slaves XLIX. Eastward Ho! L. Home LI. The Forest again and the Sea

List of Illustrations

Cover art

Dolly stood near the fire, her face rosy with the heat . . Frontispiece

The odds were hopelessly against him.

SEA DOGS ALL!

Chapter I.

THE MAN IN BLACK.

The river path along the Severn shore at Gatcombe was almost knee deep with turbid water, and only a post here and there showed where river ordinarily ended and firm land began. Fishers and foresters stood in the pelting rain and buffeting wind anxiously calculating what havoc the sudden summer storm might work, helpless themselves to put forth a hand to save anything from its fury. Stout doors and firm casements (both were needed in the river side hamlet) bent with the fury of the sou' wester that beat upon them. The tide roared up the narrowing estuary like a mill race, and the gale tore off the tops of the waves, raised them with the lashing raindrops, and hurled both furiously against everything that fringed the shore. Gatcombe Pill leapt and plunged muddily between its high, red banks, and the yellow tide surged up the opening and held back the seething waters like a dam. There was black sky above, and many coloured earth and water below.

The lading jetty against the village only appeared at odd moments above the tumult of waters, and a couple of timber ships that lay on the north side, partially loaded, were plunging and leaping at their anchor cables like two dogs at the end of their chains. Great oaken logs bobbed up and down like corks, or raced with the current upstream; the product of many weeks' timber cutting in the forest would be scattered as driftwood from Gloucester to the shores of Devon and Wales.