The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer Part 9

"There is the list, senor," answered George, laying the doc.u.ment on the table. "Take it, I pray you, and let me have an instant reply to my demand."

The Father Superior took the list and ran his eye over it, ponderingly.

Then he laid it down again and said:

"Senor Englishman, I cannot possibly answer your question offhand, for I do not tax my memory to recollect exactly how every person who enters the walls of this building has been dealt with. But if you will suffer me to ring for my secretary I have no doubt that, with his a.s.sistance, I can furnish you with the information you require."

"By all means," a.s.sented George; and the Father Superior thereupon turned to the wall and jerked a bell rope. A slight interval followed, and then a very frightened priest entered.

"Holy Father," he began, "the building is in the possession of armed men--" and then, catching sight for the first time of George and the two soldiers, who were standing somewhat in the shadow, he stopped short, at the same time making the sign of the Cross.

"Yes, proceed, Fray Matthew," exhorted the other. "You were saying that the building is in the possession of armed men. What else?"

"They have taken the gaoler, your Eminence, locked him in one of his own cells, and are now liberating the prisoners including one whom they have taken out of the very torture chamber itself."

"Is this true, senor?" demanded the Father Superior. "And, if so, is this sacrilege being committed by your orders?"

"I know not whether that man's story is true or not," said George, "but I think it exceedingly probable; and, if so, it is certainly being done by my orders. As to the sacrilege of the thing--" the young man shrugged his shoulders expressively.

The Holy Father also shrugged his shoulders, as though to say--"Well, if you are struck dead, don't blame me; it will only be what you richly deserve." Then he turned to Fray Matthew.

"Fray," he said, "bring me hither the book containing the record of persons admitted to the Inquisition during the past year, with particulars of the manner in which they have been dealt with."

The priest, with another frightened glance at George and the two stolid- looking soldiers, hurriedly retired; and as he vanished through the doorway the Father Superior coolly turned his back upon the Englishman and, sauntering to the nearest window, stood gazing contemplatively through it into the garden, which, George observed, was all ablaze with tropical flora. And there he remained, taking not the slightest notice of his self-invited visitors until, after an absence of some ten minutes, the Fray returned, bearing two enormous books under his arm, the which he laid upon the table. Then, sauntering back to the table as leisurely as he had left it, the Holy Father took up the list which George had handed to him, considered it for a moment, opened one of the two books which had been brought to him, referred to an index, and then turned over the pages of the book until he found the one which he wanted. Then he ran his finger down a column, paused, and looked up.

"Here," he said, looking up and addressing George, "is the entry referring to the first man on your list. It states that, after having been put to the question in various ways, he died, on--such a date, in his cell."

"Thank you," said George. "Now, before we go any farther, I must ask you to kindly explain exactly what you mean when you speak of a man being 'put to the question.'"

For the first time the Father Superior exhibited distinct symptoms of uneasiness. He hesitated perceptibly, and at length replied:

"The expression refers to certain means which are adopted in extreme cases when, for instance, the subject displays great obduracy, to persuade him to renounce his heresy, accept the canons of the true faith, and humbly sue for admission into the bosom of the Catholic Church."

"But that only partially answers my question," retorted George. "You speak of 'certain means which are adopted in extreme cases.' What, precisely, is the nature of those means to which you refer?"

The Holy Father's uneasiness visibly increased, and he began to fence with the question.

"I take it," he said, after some consideration, "that you, my son, are a heretic, otherwise you would not be ignorant of the meaning of the expressions which I have used. That being the case, it seems necessary for me to explain that the Holy Inquisition is an inst.i.tution which has been established for the especial purpose of saving the souls of heathens and heretics, even at the expense of their bodies, if need be.

The human soul is of infinitely greater value than the human body; and it has been found that physical pain exerts a most beneficent influence upon those obdurate ones who evince a disinclination to accept the-- the--"

"Thanks," interrupted George; "I will not trouble you to go on, for I think I now clearly understand what putting a person to the question means. It means, does it not--in plain, unvarnished language--the infliction upon an individual of such excruciating, such diabolical, torment that in most cases the individual will agree to anything you choose to suggest, will accept any kind of doctrine you choose to thrust upon him, rather than submit to further tortures?"

"Well--of course--that is putting the matter very, very crudely,"

admitted the Father Superior; "still, regarding the statement broadly, it is--well--in the main--very nearly true. But there is this to be said, this very important--"

"Quite unnecessary, I a.s.sure you," interposed George. "The broad fact is that you convert by means of bodily torment; and in some cases-- where, as you say, 'the subject displays great obduracy,' the torment is so extreme and so protracted that the unhappy wretch dies under it. Is not that so?"

"Yes--if you choose to so put it," answered the Father Superior, "that is so. But again I must protest against the extreme crudity, the--"

"And," interrupted George, "this poor unfortunate fellow, the first on my list, is one of those who so died, is he not?"

"Really, senor," protested the Holy Father--"you--you--are not--are not giving--this matter--quite--quite fair--"

"Answer me, senor, without equivocation; did, or did not this man, of whom we are now speaking, die as the result of your h.e.l.lish torments?"

rapped out George, suddenly becoming exasperated and heavily smiting the table with his clenched fist.

"Reverend Father," here interposed Fray Matthew, who could scarcely articulate because of his chattering teeth, "I pray you give me leave to retire. The violence of this heretic, this man of blood, frightens me."

"No," answered George, before the other could speak. "Being here, you will remain. It is possible that I may need you to supply me with information which your superior may be unwilling or unable to give.

Now, senor"--turning to the Father Superior--"answer me."

"Then--since you insist," replied the Father Superior, "I can only reply that the man certainly did die as the result of being put to the question."

"Very well," returned George, taking up the list and making a note upon it. "Now, as to the next one?"

And again the long, tedious process of question and equivocation was gone through, over and over, until every name upon the list had been dealt with, when it finally appeared that, of the sixteen unhappy Englishmen who had become involved in the meshes of that terrible inst.i.tution, the Holy Inquisition, no less than six had been burnt alive at the stake in the last _auto-da-fe_, seven had died miserably as the result of the torments to which they had been subjected, and a poor residue of three only still languished in their cells!

"And," demanded George, when he had studied and fully digested the details of this terrible list--"who is responsible for this tremendous acc.u.mulation of ghastly human suffering and these h.e.l.lish murders?

You?"

"No, thank G.o.d! not I," a.s.serted the Father Superior, now trembling for his life, and with all his recent arrogance completely evaporated. "I am merely the Head of the strictly ecclesiastical section of the inst.i.tution; I have nothing whatever to do with the proselytising, which is undertaken by, and is entirely in the hands of, the Grand Inquisitor and his a.s.sistants."

"And where," asked George, "are these people to be found?"

"They are probably in--the--the--room--where--in which--persons are put to--to--the question," was the stammered reply.

"Ah!" exclaimed George. "I presume you mean the place which the fray, here, has more briefly designated as the 'torture chamber.' Very well; I must see the place, and also the Grand Inquisitor and his a.s.sistants; I have something very important to say to those--'m--people. Lead the way, reverend senor, if you please." Then, turning to the two armed men who guarded the door, he added--"Take charge of these two men. For the present, they are prisoners."

The Father Superior possessed a certain knowledge of English, for as the last words pa.s.sed George's lips the terrified ecclesiastic quavered:

"Prisoners, senor? Prisoners? What--what--do you mean? How dare you interfere with my liberty? This is downright, rank sacrilege; and if you dare to treat any of the inmates of this inst.i.tution--and especially any members of the Holy Office--otherwise than with the utmost deference, you will--will--suffer severely for it."

"Pray lead on, senor," retorted George, waving the agitated man toward the door. "Surely you must realise by this time that the inst.i.tution and all within it are in my power. And I am what you please to term a 'heretic'; the thunders of your Church have no terrors for me; I regard you and your a.s.sociates merely as men who have been guilty of certain most atrocious crimes, and I am here for the express purpose of punis.h.i.+ng the guilty ones."

The Father Superior evidently realised that, after this, there was no more to be said, and, between the two men-at-arms, and closely followed by the s.h.i.+vering fray, he accordingly pa.s.sed out of the room and down a long corridor, into another, until a small door was reached, which, with evident fear and reluctance, he at length threw open, disclosing a most remarkable scene.

The chamber thus revealed was a very large and lofty one, lighted by three large windows set high in the wall and heavily grated outside.

And although the windows were all wide open, the atmosphere was oppressively close, and it was also charged with a very peculiar odour, evidently arising in part at least from the fumes of an ignited charcoal brazier, containing several curious-looking iron instruments thrust deep into its glowing heart. Immediately under the windows, and running the entire width of the chamber, was a platform or dais, some three feet high, the front portion of which was occupied by a long table, behind which were ranged nine chairs, the middle chair being of a much more ornate character than the rest, the carving of it being ecclesiastical in character, and upon the table, before each chair, was a supply of paper, pens and ink. The dais was a wooden structure, and was carpeted with black material; the tablecloth also was black, with the sacred monogram I.H.S. above a cross and surmounted by a crown of thorns embroidered upon it in silver thread. The floor of the remaining part of the chamber was flagged with paving slabs, and was bare, while the walls and ceiling were coloured black. In the centre of the wall behind the dais, between two of the four windows, hung an enormous crucifix, the figure of the Redeemer, very finely carved in wood and realistically painted in the colours of nature, being life-size. At the end of the room opposite the dais was an engine or machine which even those who had never seen such a thing before might easily have identified as a rack; and there were four chairs, two on either side of the room, of such elaborate and sinister construction that there could be no question as to their being designed for the purpose of inflicting various kinds of ingenious and exquisite agony upon the unhappy occupants; while, in addition to these there was an instrument which clearly betrayed itself as a specimen of the notorious "boot." Hung here and there upon the walls were other curious-looking instruments, the uses of which were not so readily determinable; and there were also a number of suggestive and sinister-looking ropes and pulleys depending from the ceiling.

Such a room, so furnished, could not possibly fail to fix the attention of any person entering it for the first time, even in the character of a mere spectator, and George Saint Leger gazed about him for quite a minute with a feeling of keen curiosity that rapidly changed to mingled horror and anger as he began to recognise the character and purpose of the several objects that met his gaze; and then he turned to its occupants; for although, in order to present a clear and unconfused picture of the chamber, only its inanimate contents have thus far been referred to, the room was by no means empty of human occupants. On the contrary, in addition to those who had already entered, immediately inside the door, one on either side of it, stood two of Ba.s.set's men-at- arms, with drawn swords and c.o.c.ked pistols in their hands, while the nine chairs on the dais were occupied by nine motionless figures completely shrouded in garments of black cloth, wearing upon their heads a curious pointed head-dress, also of black cloth, which completely hid their heads and faces, but in which two holes were cut for them to see through. Seated in one of the torture chairs, but with the torturing apparatus now thrown out of gear, was a most dreadful-looking object bearing the semblance of a terribly emaciated man, worn to mere skin and bone by privation and suffering, clad in rags, his hair and beard long and unkempt, his skin and features white and bloodless, his eyes dim with anguish, the sweat of keen protracted agony still pouring out of him, while three ruffianly-looking men clad in scarlet ministered to him under Ba.s.set's supervision. A fourth figure in scarlet lay motionless upon the nagged floor, his att.i.tude proclaiming that death had suddenly overtaken him, while a blue-rimmed puncture in the centre of his forehead, from which blood still trickled, told clearly enough the manner of his death.

For a long minute young Saint Leger gazed about him with fast increasing horror as he realised the diabolical purpose of the several engines that met his eye; then, gaspingly, he spoke.

"So!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "This is the chamber in which you torture your fellow creatures until in their agony they are fain to say whatever it pleases you that they should say, even to denying their faith, is it, senor?"

"Nay, senor," answered the Father Superior, "say not that it is _I_ who do these things. I have already repudiated all responsibility for what happens in this chamber. It is the Grand Inquisitor and his a.s.sistant Inquisitors who reign supreme here. There they sit; ask them."

George stalked across to the middle of the chamber, and wheeled about, facing the row of nine motionless figures occupying the chairs.