Sylvias Lovers | Page 5

in Monkshaven itself,
except at the time when they were brought into actual collision with the
people. They had the frank manners of their profession; they were
known to have served in those engagements, the very narrative of
which at this day will warm the heart of a Quaker, and they themselves
did not come prominently forward in the dirty work which,
nevertheless, was permitted and quietly sanctioned by them. So while
few Monkshaven people passed the low public-house over which the
navy blue-flag streamed, as a sign that it was the rendezvous of the
press-gang, without spitting towards it in sign of abhorrence, yet,
perhaps, the very same persons would give some rough token of respect
to Lieutenant Atkinson if they met him in High Street. Touching their
hats was an unknown gesture in those parts, but they would move their
heads in a droll, familiar kind of way, neither a wag nor a nod, but
meant all the same to imply friendly regard. The ship-owners, too,
invited him to an occasional dinner or supper, all the time looking
forward to the chances of his turning out an active enemy, and not by
any means inclined to give him 'the run of the house,' however many
unmarried daughters might grace their table. Still as he could tell a
rattling story, drink hard, and was seldom too busy to come at a short
notice, he got on better than any one could have expected with the
Monkshaven folk. And the principal share of the odium of his business
fell on his subordinates, who were one and all regarded in the light of
mean kidnappers and spies--'varmint,' as the common people esteemed
them: and as such they were ready at the first provocation to hunt and
to worry them, and little cared the press-gang for this. Whatever else

they were, they were brave and daring. They had law to back them,
therefore their business was lawful. They were serving their king and
country. They were using all their faculties, and that is always pleasant.
There was plenty of scope for the glory and triumph of outwitting;
plenty of adventure in their life. It was a lawful and loyal employment,
requiring sense, readiness, courage, and besides it called out that
strange love of the chase inherent in every man. Fourteen or fifteen
miles at sea lay the Aurora, good man-of-war; and to her were
conveyed the living cargoes of several tenders, which were stationed at
likely places along the sea-coast. One, the Lively Lady, might be seen
from the cliffs above Monkshaven, not so far away, but hidden by the
angle of the high lands from the constant sight of the townspeople; and
there was always the Randyvow-house (as the public-house with the
navy blue-flag was called thereabouts) for the crew of the Lively Lady
to lounge about, and there to offer drink to unwary passers-by. At
present this was all that the press-gang had done at Monkshaven.
CHAPTER II
HOME FROM GREENLAND

One hot day, early in October of the year 1796, two girls set off from
their country homes to Monkshaven to sell their butter and eggs, for
they were both farmers' daughters, though rather in different
circumstances; for Molly Corney was one of a large family of children,
and had to rough it accordingly; Sylvia Robson was an only child, and
was much made of in more people's estimation than Mary's by her
elderly parents. They had each purchases to make after their sales were
effected, as sales of butter and eggs were effected in those days by the
market-women sitting on the steps of the great old mutilated cross till a
certain hour in the afternoon, after which, if all their goods were not
disposed of, they took them unwillingly to the shops and sold them at a
lower price. But good housewives did not despise coming themselves
to the Butter Cross, and, smelling and depreciating the articles they
wanted, kept up a perpetual struggle of words, trying, often in vain, to
beat down prices. A housekeeper of the last century would have

thought that she did not know her business, if she had not gone through
this preliminary process; and the farmers' wives and daughters treated it
all as a matter of course, replying with a good deal of independent
humour to the customer, who, once having discovered where good
butter and fresh eggs were to be sold, came time after time to
depreciate the articles she always ended in taking. There was leisure for
all this kind of work in those days.
Molly had tied a knot on her pink-spotted handkerchief for each of the
various purchases she had to make; dull but important articles needed
for the week's consumption at home; if she forgot any one