Caribbean: a novel Part 12

'Cut him off, Isaac. No good ever comes from brothers in contention.'

'He owns half my land.'

Oldmixon, who delighted in making immediate decisions, growled: 'Time may be at hand, Isaac, when men like your brother will be gone from this island ... forever. Prepare for that day.'

When Isaac told his wife that Oldmixon had agreed with her att.i.tude about Will, she said: 'We won't blemish Christmas and let's celebrate New Year's together, but after that, out he goes, land or no land.'

It was a tense holiday season, despite the fact that Barbados never seemed lovelier. Palm trees bowed in that heaven-sent wind, blowing always hard from the east, and on Christmas Day the three Tatums carried their dinner to a hill on the edge of Bridgetown, where Isaac, in a burst of brotherly affection which he knew would soon be terminated, said: 'That divine easterly wind, it never fails us. It protects our independence, Will, and our freedom.' When Clarissa asked how that could be, he said in a dreamlike voice: 'Why was Barbados, of all the Caribee islands, unpopulated when Columbus pa.s.sed through to the north? Why did the Spanish never conquer this island? Why have the French and the Dutch and the others captured one island after another, but never Barbados? Why are we so special, as if G.o.d looks over us?'

'You mean the wind?' Will asked, and his brother clapped him on the shoulder: 'That I do. The wind from the east that bends those trees, as it has unfailingly for a thousand years. All the nations I've mentioned have wanted to conquer Barbados. They've known it was the choicest island in the Caribees, with the best land, the best crops. But to conquer us, they would have to sail their s.h.i.+ps from the west where the other islands are, to the east where we are, and they cannot breast that furious wind.'

Clarissa asked: 'Then how did the English land?'

'Because they came as friends. They could take their time and ease their way in. No one on sh.o.r.e shooting at them.' And he directed his wife and brother to study an incoming Dutch merchant s.h.i.+p that had been trying for two exasperating days to beat against the wind and make the harbor.

'Imagine it a wars.h.i.+p,' Isaac almost chortled, 'coming to do us damage. It would stand out there almost motionless, caught in the wind, and our guns would pound it to pieces,' and the others could see that what he said was true. 'But if we want to capture All Saints, which we may have to do before long, we load up our s.h.i.+ps, move them into the stream, and ride right down that furious wind, landing on All Saints forty minutes after they first see us.'

For some minutes they contemplated the beneficence that the easterly wind provided and felt themselves enveloped in a warm family companions.h.i.+p, but then Will broke the spell by asking: 'Why would we want to invade All Saints? n.o.body there but Indians,' and Isaac said sharply: 'The time of testing may be at hand. We cannot risk leaving any island unguarded ... to fall under control of the king's enemies.'

'Do you think we could capture it?' Will asked, almost innocently, and his brother snapped: 'We're more powerful than you might think. These islands may prove to be the salvation of England.' He rose, moved about nervously, then came to stand over his brother: 'You might be interested to know that secret messengers from Virginia and Carolina, two of the strongest American colonies, have crept into Barbados recently to a.s.sure us that they'll join us if we make a stroke for the king. The Bahamas, too.'

Will, who had been talking geography and maritime affairs with Captain Brongersma and his Dutch pirates, laughed at his brother's pretensions: 'Do you know how big the Bahamas are? How many people there are in Virginia? Parliament would muster a fleet in three weeks ...'

'Don't talk treason,' Clarissa snapped, and Will shot back: 'Don't you talk sheer nonsense,' and before they could retreat to the calming influence of their house, half owned by Isaac, half by Will, Clarissa had shouted in a loud voice: 'You better leave us, Will. Today. You're headed for the gallows.'

Will, not one to point out that she was dismissing him from a house that was half his, stalked back to their dwelling in silence, grabbed together such belongings as he had, and departed for his sister's home above the drapery shop run by her husband, Timothy Pennyfeather.

In 1650 the various political storms in Little England accelerated into hurricanes, for on the third of May the men like Thomas Oldmixon governing the island in a de facto manner declared the entire island loyal to King Charles II, the uncrowned claimant who was still in protective exile in France. But all of England remained under the control of the Roundhead Parliament and most of the North American colonies were obedient to its rule. Even the majority of the British islands of the Caribbean had turned against the Royalists, but here was stout little Barbados defying overwhelming adverse power and declaring that it would remain loyal to the new king until the rest of the world regained its senses. The Bahamas and certain Royalists in the southern American colonies let it be known that they, too, sympathized with the action of Barbados, which made the distribution of power about ten for Barbados, ten thousand for Parliament.

But Oldmixon and his optimistic Cavalier planters never wavered. As soon as news spread through the island that the decision had been made, noisy support came from every corner, and thoughtful Royalists began to collect guns and ammunition against the day when an enemy fleet might appear off Bridgetown and attempt a landing and an occupation. Oldmixon, supported by his eager aide Isaac Tatum, started drilling troops; small fortresses were erected; watches were maintained.

Open warfare was avoided princ.i.p.ally because sensible Roundheads like Saltonstall kept their tempers under control, convincing themselves that Cromwell's men in London would not let them down, but four days after Oldmixon's decision to deliver Barbados to the king's defense, his Cavaliers received exhilarating support, for a s.h.i.+p arrived with news that excited Oldmixon and his supporters: 'Cromwell's government is sending out a new governor. Named Willoughby and said to be a secret Royalist.'

But an ordinary seaman, a surly fellow with his hair cut Roundhead style, quietly warned such islanders as he met: 'Careful of Lord Willoughby. He changes sides so fast that watchin' him makes you dizzy. Cavalier? Roundhead? Who can say which he is today or will be tomorrow?'

Three weeks later, when Francis, Fifth Baron Willoughby of Parham was rowed ash.o.r.e from an incoming s.h.i.+p, the waterfront was lined to watch his imperial arrival, and they saw in the prow of the little craft a handsome man standing very erect, sword at his side, sash across his breast, exuding an air of 'Here I come to take command,' and in the fast-paced days that followed, the islanders learned that their n.o.ble lord had indeed been three times a fanatic Cavalier, three times an equally determined Roundhead. In his latter incarnation he had once commanded troops obedient to the Parliament; in his former, he had been Speaker of the House of Lords and vociferously supportive of the king. Finally trapped in his contradictions, he had been sentenced to the Tower for hanging, but escaped by fleeing to Holland, where he loudly proclaimed that he had always been Royalist at heart. Incredible as it seemed at the time, after the beheading of Charles he once again served Cromwell, and it was a tribute to his flexibility in big affairs of state and his integrity in the little affairs of daily living that both Cavalier and Roundhead not only liked him, but actually trusted him in whatever position they gave him. He was a miracle of his age and exactly the kind of level-headed pragmatist Barbados needed at this time.

As soon as he had established headquarters he summoned Oldmixon, and let it be known that he, Lord Willoughby, intended pursuing exactly the course that Oldmixon had initiated. Then, on the latter's advice, he selected Isaac Tatum as his princ.i.p.al aide, and thus began Isaac's rise to power. Soon, he and Clarissa acquired from a sugar planter who was in disfavor because of his troublesome defense of Parliament a batch of eleven more slaves ... at a thieving price which Isaac was able to enforce because he had arranged for the man to be sent into exile.

With that lucky boost, Isaac appropriated in rapid succession three small plantations adjacent to his by the simple expedient of continuing to initiate moves which ended in the owners' deportation. With these forced departures he gained more slaves, until Oldmixon told him one evening as he and the Tatums were dining in the former's big house: 'Isaac, you're well started. But I must warn you-take steps to consolidate your holdings, for otherwise you might lose 'em all if Lord Willoughby is ever forced to leave the island and conditions revert. They have a way of doing that, you know.'

When Isaac asked: 'How do you protect yourself?' Oldmixon said from experience: 'Get papers which prove the lands are legally yours.' And taking that advice, the Tatums spent the summer of 1650 maneuvering so that Lord Willoughby was practically forced to issue papers which confirmed the Tatums in their owners.h.i.+p of the lands they had acquired in various questionable ways. In October of that year everyone among the leaders.h.i.+p on Barbados and especially the Tatums thanked their good fortune that Lord Willoughby had organized the island according to Royalist principles and issued land t.i.tles which clarified who owned what.

And then the Barbadian peace was shattered. Cromwell's men, having grown tired of the travesty of allowing this little island to ignore the rules that governed the rest of Great Britain, had issued orders to one of its finest admirals, Sir George Ayscue: 'a.s.semble a great fleet, sail to Barbados and reduce it to obedience. You are both authorized and commanded to land troops, surprise their forts, force the islanders to submission, beat down their castles and places of strength, and seize all s.h.i.+ps and vessels belonging to them or any other s.h.i.+ps trading there.'

When word of these draconian orders reached Barbados they did not, strangely enough, cause panic, for the islanders were secure in their belief that even though small and alone, they could stand against the entire British force of arms and send Admiral Ayscue scuttling back to England. At a dinner the host, Lord Willoughby, the week after the news arrived, told Oldmixon and Tatum: 'Sir George is an able seaman, and he'll get his fleet into the harbor down there, proper enough. But how will he land his troops? And if we deny him landing, what will his men eat? Where will they get their water? Mark my words, he'll wait here four or five months, then hurry on to Virginia and try to discipline them. Hold on! That's all we have to do, hold on, till England recovers her senses.'

After this strategy had been refined, and heartily approved, a toast was drunk to 'King Charles II, absent for the moment in France but soon to rule,' and then Milord said: 'I do despise that name they're trying to foist on us. Great Britain. Started in my father's time when James Stuart ascended to the joint throne. "First and Sixt" we always called him-King James First of England, Sixth of Scotland. But out of deference to Scotland, Wales and Ireland, the new name had to be Great Britain. What an ugly, formless pair of words, meaning nothing. We're English, and our land is England, and I make bold to propose another toast: "To England. May she soon return to her senses." In the meantime, thank G.o.d for Little England.' And to that fine toast all raised their gla.s.ses.

When conversation resumed, Willoughby asked Isaac: 'How's your brother doing? Oldmixon here warns me he's become a bit of a problem,' and Tatum replied: 'He has, Milord. Fallen under the spell of Saltonstall. I see little of him, and would like to see less.'

'We must sort such relations.h.i.+ps out, Tatum. Now then, this man Ayscue they're sending is no fool. We'll need all our wits to fend him off. But we shall do it,' and with this stern resolve he finished the report he had been working on before dinner. An exact transcription of his words ill.u.s.trates the curious orthography of those times: I a.s.sure ye Lordshps that ye siergnt Majjor hath taken a verry great deal of Paines getting ye troopes inn fiteing Trimm. He hath binn up early and Downe late inn devizing how to protekt his Majties interests agaynst ye allegations and Clames wch ye Planters of ths Ile hath lodged.

Some days later, a small s.h.i.+p put into Bridgetown with tremendous news, and desiring to inspirit his forces, Willoughby directed Oldmixon and Tatum to gather as many of the Cavalier planters as possible, and when the leading men of the island were a.s.sembled, he informed them: 'Prince Rupert, the king's nephew and the strategist behind all the battles the Royalists won, has been made Admiral of the Fleet, loyal to our new king in France, and he's heading here to save us from Ayscue and his Roundheads.'

Rousing cheers greeted this information, for no military man then alive, regardless of his nation, had the exalted reputation enjoyed by this handsome, das.h.i.+ng prince upon whom destiny obviously smiled. His presence in the Caribbean could mean an enormous difference, and as the meeting continued the Cavaliers became more certain with each gla.s.s of ale consumed that Rupert would punish Ayscue and end the forthcoming war before it began. 'It'll be all over by Christmas,' Oldmixon predicted loudly, and with others making even more extravagant interpretations of what Rupert's coming might mean, the heartened Cavaliers dispersed.

When Willoughby was alone, he mused: I may well die on this island, but I will never surrender it. Ayscue will have to fight his way ash.o.r.e inch by inch. Oh! How shameful it would be if I were the man to lose this heavenly isle! Not me, not me!

His mind now turned to Prince Rupert and he desperately wished he had some local Cavalier he could trust, because he wanted to disclose the suspicions that haunted him. He certainly could not discuss sensitive issues with Thomas Oldmixon: Too blatant, too conceited, too lacking in judicious knowledge. And he had no taste whatever for any talk of serious matters with Isaac Tatum: Too sycophantic, too grasping ... He considered these two adjectives, and shook his head: How d.a.m.ning. Could one speak worse of a friend?

He was thus forced to evaluate the coming tests without counsel, and his conclusions were bleak: Prince Rupert is a gallant man. I headed his ground troops twice during his great cavalry charges and once served afloat with him. He was a real man, as handsome as his uniforms. But Admiral Rupert! Dear G.o.d, I doubt if he knows one end of a s.h.i.+p from tother. On a horse, a genius. On a s.h.i.+p, in charge of a dozen other s.h.i.+ps, a complete a.s.s. We're in deep trouble this night. G.o.ds of war, pray for me.

His predictions concerning Rupert's naval abilities proved accurate, for after an unconscionable waste of time, when the cavalry genius did finally head to the rescue of Barbados, he ran into minor troubles, as his navigator reported later: When we were about fifty leagues east of Barbados on what I took to be a perfect heading, some outlook spied a small s.h.i.+p which looked as if she might be Dutch and richly laden, so we set sail after her, but she proved faster and we never caught her. During said chase Admiral Rupert's s.h.i.+p sprang such a great leak that we had sore trouble trying to keep her afloat, and when the chase ended we found we had overrun our reckonings and had pa.s.sed Barbados in the night without seeing it. We doubled back but never did find it, and the troops we carried for the islands' defense were wasted.

What was worse, Rupert, while searching for Barbados, sailed his squadron headlong into the tail of a Caribbean hurricane off Martinique, and in the violent tossing about of his s.h.i.+ps lost much of his force, including his gallant brother Maurice, also a land fighter. Ignominiously, he crept back to Europe, leaving Barbados in worse condition than when he started out to save it.

Admiral Ayscue was considerably more efficient than Prince Rupert, but even so, he required exactly one full year-October 1650 to October 1651-to organize, a.s.semble, and train his fleet of seven vessels plus its two thousand troops and get them across the ocean to Barbados. In the meantime, the islanders appeared to be going about their business ignorant of the fact that beneath them rested a keg of black powder to which was attached a very long fuse slowly but resolutely burning toward the explosion point. Lord Willoughby continued to give entertainments at his rude mansion, where wealthy planters, who sold their new crops of sugar surrept.i.tiously to s.h.i.+ps sneaking in from Holland, a.s.sured one another that 'this idiot Ayscue will never get his s.h.i.+ps into the bay down there,' and increasing pressure was placed on Roundheads like Saltonstall.

But the apparent levity of these Cavaliers could not hide the fact that they, too, felt increasing uncertainty as months pa.s.sed and no Roundhead s.h.i.+ps appeared on the horizon, while Roundheads asked with noticeable irritation: 'Will the d.a.m.ned s.h.i.+ps never arrive?' Meanwhile, both groups went to their chosen churches on Sundays as required by law, with ten times more wors.h.i.+pers attending the Church of England services than were gathered in the scattered chapels serving such dissidents as the Methodists and Quakers. Barbados continued to be a beautiful island, one of the most beautiful, but it was not a relaxed one.

The tension did not affect young Will Tatum, sixteen years old and enjoying his small room above the Pennyfeather shop on the main street of Bridgetown. Many reasons accounted for this: his sister was a gentle soul who tolerated his peculiarities in a way that his more proper sister-in-law never could; he found excitement and freedom in life along the waterfront; he appreciated for the first time the orderly Dutch quality of Bridgetown's buildings, some of them squat stone affairs of great dignity, topped by red roofs, others, like the one the Pennyfeather shop occupied, built of dark wood properly joined; but mostly because of the delightful fact that in James Bigsby's neat butcher-baker-kitchenware shop across the street there was a fourteen-year-old daughter Betsy, whose quiet smile and carefully attended braids set the hearts of several young men beating at a faster pace. She was a sober girl, reserved in public, soft-spoken with friends. She was never a blatant flirt like some of the other Barbados girls of the middle cla.s.s, and she created a sense of well-being wherever she moved. Not so tall as Will, she complemented him perfectly, he thought, on the few occasions when he was able to stand beside her or speak with her by chance in the street; and frequently that year he had the warm fantasy of having her with him in four rooms above a little shop, like Nell and Timothy in theirs.

There is little in nature more lovely to watch, more rea.s.suring to the human spirit, than the behavior of a pretty fourteen-year-old girl, newly aware of her powers, who wants to attract the approval of a sixteen-year-old boy. Softly she dances along the village street, in a dozen subtle ways she makes herself more attractive, her voice drops to a lower level, and her eyes run riot, sending new messages and startling promises never even dreamt of before. This year the knowing citizens of Bridgetown watched with amused approval as the proper daughter of their storekeeper took notice of the Tatum boy and practiced on him her yet-tentative arts of coquetry.

Will, himself awakened by the experience, was encouraged to speculate on such matters by the fact that his sister was big with child that autumn, and he marveled that she could move about and tend customers when so heavily burdened, and the more he studied Nell, the more he appreciated Betsy, imagining her going about in the same manner with his child. It was a confusing, instructive period in his life, made more perplexing by the arrival in the harbor of Captain Brongersma's Stadhouder, and when he grabbed a rowboat to be first aboard the intrepid trader, he found its captain a much-sobered man.

'Lad, we had a sorry chase after we left you last. Saw this rich Spanish prize, overtook her easily, boarded as usual, and I was leading our men when suddenly a company of well-armed soldiers that had been kept in hiding leaped at us from nowhere-and I want you to see what happened.' Taking Will out onto the deck, he showed him the sun-bleached stains where Dutch blood was spilled after the Spanish soldiers reversed tables and boarded the Stadhouder, with deadly effect.

'We might have lost our s.h.i.+p,' Brongersma said sadly when he returned to his cabin, 'but when that threatened, our men proved valiant. Cut ... slash ... fire the gun down his throat ... back we drove them to their own s.h.i.+p. And off it sailed to Sevilla, off we limped back to Amsterdam.'

This conversation had a profound effect on Will Tatum, and during the next days people in Bridgetown saw the boy suddenly stop in the middle of a path to engage in imaginary warfare against the Spanish: 'Cut, slash, fire the gun down his throat, back we drove them.' He never visualized the Dutch defeat, nor the dead men on the Stadhouder's deck; he could think only of the glory. But so obsessed did he become with this story that one day he quietly arranged for Betsy Bigsby to accompany him out to the s.h.i.+p, and Captain Brongersma fell in love with her: 'What a tidy little mistress ... those golden braids! Ah, that I had a daughter like you!'

He spent the better part of an hour showing her the mementos he had acquired in sailing the various seas, and when she asked about running blockades, he told her: 'See that man aloft? He watches for the arrival of English wars.h.i.+ps, and when he sees one he shouts out "Danger west!"-and off we hurry, because we can sail faster than your English s.h.i.+ps can.'

'But if you're unlawful,' she asked in her small, inquisitive voice, 'why do the Englishmen ash.o.r.e welcome you so heartily?' and he asked: 'What's your father do, missy?' and she said: 'The store on the big street that sells everything.' He laughed: 'Ah, yes! You ask your father why he's so happy to see me come,' and she looked at him bewitchingly and whispered: 'Don't you think I know?'

Will had questions of his own about fighting against Spaniards, and in sharp, brief responses the Dutch freebooter summarized what life aboard the Stadhouder was like: 'Fifteen days' run in the sun, nothing but work. Ten days in calm, row like h.e.l.l. Three days in a storm, bail and pray. Then you spot a Spanish s.h.i.+p, but you can't catch her. Then you do catch one, but she's guarded by troops. Then you flee an English patrol boat. Finally, if G.o.d smiles, you come upon an unprotected Spaniard loaded with silver, and the long trip's been worth the effort.' He dropped his voice: 'But only if you're brave when boarding time comes.'

Betsy Bigsby, listening intently, s.h.i.+vered at the thought of bloodshed, but from the corner of her eye she saw that Will was leaning forward eagerly, his eyes ablaze, and as they left the s.h.i.+p she said: 'Captain, I think you may have found a new hand,' and Brongersma threw his arm about Will.

In mid-1651 the tempo on Barbados accelerated, and apprehension about when Ayscue's fleet might arrive goaded the Cavaliers surrounding Lord Willoughby to pa.s.s harsh measures which he would never have proposed if left to his own decisions. All known Roundheads were removed from positions of influence; Cavaliers were organized into regiments and trained in tactics for repelling landing forces; and in a move which shocked the island, the princ.i.p.al Roundhead leaders were stuffed onto a boat and s.h.i.+pped back to England. Will Tatum halted his quiet courts.h.i.+p of Betsy Bigsby long enough to ride out to Henry Saltonstall's plantation on the hill east of town to say farewell to that honorable man as he vacated the stone house his father had built, and both men were close to showing tears when they parted.

'Look after the plantation,' Saltonstall said before he mounted his horse and rode down to the waterfront and exile.

The s.h.i.+p had not left harbor before Isaac Tatum had come to claim Saltonstall's property, and he had with him, in Clarissa's care, papers certifying that 'the property once known as Saltonstall Manor, owned by the notorious traitor Henry of said name, is attainted and turned over to the owners.h.i.+p of Isaac Tatum, loyal servant of King Charles II and officer in the Leeward Regiment, said owners.h.i.+p to be perpetual to said Tatum and heirs.' The Tatums slept in their new home that night, and each had dreams of endless honors in the years ahead, for when the Saltonstall lands were added to those he and Clarissa had already acquired, the Tatums were going to have one of the top three or four Barbados plantations, every field laden with sugarcane.

But when Roundhead friends alerted Will Tatum, asleep in his little room above the drapery store, to the ominous news that his brother had appropriated the Saltonstall house and lands, he borrowed a horse, rode out to the estate, and banged on the door till his brother appeared: 'What have you done, Isaac?'

'Only what the law provides. Henry Saltonstall is a proved enemy of the king and has been banished forever. His lands have been attainted and pa.s.sed on to me, as a loyal servant.'

Will was so outraged by his brother's arrogant behavior that he sprang at him, and there would have been a serious altercation had not Clarissa appeared in her nightgown, with a peremptory shout: 'Will, what are you doing?' and when tempers cooled she gave her young brother-in-law sober advice: 'I've been watching you, Will. You're headed for trouble, the most serious trouble. Barbados is to be Cavalier, now and forever, and there'll be no place for you. Why don't you leave the way Saltonstall and those others did?'

Will's jaw tightened: 'You stole my land from me, and the other little pieces from men who couldn't protect themselves. But by G.o.d, you'll not steal Mr. Saltonstall's land. I'll not allow it.' But as he stomped off to his borrowed horse he heard Clarissa's sharp threat: 'Will, you used the Lord's name in vain. You'll hear from the church authorities.'

In the days that followed, while Will sought in vain for some way to reverse the usurpation of his friend's property, he forgot his sister-in-law's threat, for Nell was about to give birth. It was he who ran for the midwife and tended the shop until the baby was born, and it was he who stood by the bed when the baby was nestled in his sister's loving arms. 'He's to be called Ned, and if anything happens to Timothy, you're to look after him.' Hands were shaken across the bed, and Will even stooped down to shake the infant's tiny hand as if to confirm that now his nephew was his responsibility.

That night, in a confusion of happy and tense emotions, he roamed the streets of Bridgetown, looking at the trim houses, the prosperous shops and the rea.s.suring English s.h.i.+ps idling with their copious goods coming into Barbados and their holds heavy with sugar heading out, for despite the threats of naval warfare, commerce had to move. Talking aloud to himself, he tried to sort out the thoughts swirling in his head: 'I don't want to go into exile like Mr. Saltonstall, I like this island. And I don't want to leave Betsy. And if the promised s.h.i.+ps ever arrive out there, certain Cavaliers are going to be knocked in the head.' He was almost determined at that moment to move to the windward side of the island where a number of Roundhead adherents were forming a regiment to oppose the Cavaliers if fighting began, which it threatened to do. But he remembered his discussions aboard the Dutch freebooter: Now, that's a life! A man with spirit could have excitement on such a s.h.i.+p. Then common sense took over: I promised Nell I'd look after Ned, and I certainly want to look after Betsy, if she'll have me. And now the overriding question which was tormenting far more Barbadians these days than merely Will: But what to do when the Roundhead s.h.i.+ps arrive?

The suspense ended on 10 October 1651, when Admiral Ayscue's fleet of seven s.h.i.+ps and two thousand fighting men hove to, some in the bay off Bridgetown, others well down the coast where the troops had a chance of landing unopposed. The great battle between land-based Cavaliers and s.h.i.+pbound Roundheads was about to begin.

While the rulers of Parliament were extremely desirous of humiliating Barbados to prevent the lingering sore of Royalist sympathy from spreading, they did not send to do this job some harebrained fire-eater who would storm ash.o.r.e and shoot up everything in sight. With commendable English caution they nominated a remarkably stable man, veteran of peaceable negotiation rather than military bombast, and from the first moment Sir George Ayscue drew within sight of Barbados, he acted with exemplary restraint. Indeed, he stood offsh.o.r.e during most of October, all of November and much of December, hoping to gain a peaceful settlement of differences. His patience worn by Willoughby's st.u.r.dy defiance, he finally came ash.o.r.e with his two thousand men, and desultory engagements ensued without much loss of life-poor b.u.mbling Timothy Pennyfeather being among the few casualties.

In them, Thomas Oldmixon behaved gallantly for the Cavaliers, as did Isaac Tatum, but with only just enough courage to allow himself to be seen in the fighting but never close enough to the Roundheads to be damaged by them. Will Tatum, on the other hand, took heroic steps to make contact with the invading force and fight along with it. He gave such a good account of himself that when the Roundheads returned to their s.h.i.+ps for safety and supplies, they took him with them as a valued guide, and in that capacity he informed them about the confiscation of Henry Saltonstall's plantation. 'That will soon be corrected,' Ayscue's men promised. However, the gentlemanly fighting did not resume, for both Willoughby and Ayscue realized that each could do great damage to the other, but that neither was going to win an outright military victory. Accordingly, as early as the second week in January 1652, the two sides met in a historic series of sessions in the Mermaid Tavern at the port town of Oistins, where they contrived one of the most sensible and just doc.u.ments ever to end a war. In grave, conciliatory terms the governor and the admiral stated the principles on which Little England, too beautiful an island to destroy, would henceforth be governed, and some of the terms would resound in British history: ARTICLE 1. That a liberty of conscience shall be allowed to all ...

ARTICLE 4. That no man shall be imprisoned or put out of his possession without due proceedings according to the known laws of England ...

ARTICLE 9. That the people of this island shall be free to trade with England and with any nations that do trade with and are in amity with England ...

ARTICLE 11. That all persons shall be free at any time to transport themselves and their estates when and where they think fit ...

ARTICLE 12. That all persons on both sides be discharged and set free, and that all horses, cattle, servants, Negroes and other goods be returned to their right owners ...

ARTICLE 15. That the three small vessels now on ground before Bridgetown do remain the property of their owners with liberty to sail to any port laden ...

ARTICLE 17. That all such persons of this island whose estates have been sequestered or detained from them be forthwith restored to their plantations ...

ARTICLE 19. That the government of this island be by a Governor, Council and a.s.sembly, according to the ancient and usual custom here ...

Article 20 contained an unusual provision: That since most of the island's troubles had been caused by 'loose, base and uncivil language,' a law be pa.s.sed 'with a heavy penalty' forbidding 'any reviling speeches remembering or raveling into former differences and reproaching any man with the cause that he formerly defended.'

In other words, let peace return to Little England and let past animosities be buried deep in memory. The strategy of these two just leaders worked; citizens of Barbados were still Cavalier or Roundhead but they did not flaunt their differences, and certainly no man abused the other for his past preferences. But it must not be thought that all deviousness of human nature was either purified or suppressed, for when Will Tatum, clutching in his left hand a copy of Article 17, hurried out to Henry Saltonstall's forfeited estate, demanding that it be returned to his custodians.h.i.+p, Isaac and Clarissa primly informed him that the Saltonstall case was different and that a secret agreement between Willoughby and Ayscue had exempted from the general amnesty that estate and two others that Isaac had seized. When Will, now a husky young fellow, threatened his brother, Clarissa warned him that Article 20, which forbade rough speech against former enemies, would be a cause for jailing, and he could do nothing but retreat, leaving his brother in possession of the plantations he had stolen.

During the next few years Will, taking the place of his brother-in-law, a.s.sumed responsibility for Tim's family and business, and though he still hoped one day to marry Betsy, could make no plans toward that end.

Then, in 1658, joyous word arrived. Oliver Cromwell was dead, and although the island's Cavaliers were infuriated to learn that their remorseless enemy had been buried in Westminster Abbey, they rejoiced that this menace was at last removed. Feasts were held, and Thomas Oldmixon invited as many of his neighbors as could borrow a horse to come and dine at his expense from long wooden tables set up under his trees. An improvised band played marches, and selected friends, the Isaac Tatums among them, gathered with him in the quiet of a back room to toast an event which now seemed not far removed: 'To King Charles II in France, soon to be in England!' and there was levity on Barbados.

In fact, the resurgence of the Cavaliers gave Isaac Tatum such confidence that when he and Clarissa returned to the former Saltonstall big house, he asked her to sit with him in the s.p.a.cious garden overlooking the distant sea: 'Cromwell's dead. The king is surely on his way back to London. We have the land we needed and sixty-nine slaves to tend the cane. The price of sugar was never higher. All's in order, except one thing.'

'What worries you?'

'Will. Nell told me the other day when I took a present to her son that Will was finally to marry that pretty little girl from across the street, father runs that strange shop where you can buy anything the last s.h.i.+p smuggled in. I forget her name.'

'What's wrong with that?'

'I'm afraid of Will. He becomes stronger in the community. People respect him. He could become a danger to us if he's listened to.'

'But what can he do?'

'He'll never surrender on this house, these lands. I'm sure he's been in contact with Saltonstall, wherever he is.'

'That's been settled, Isaac. We have more than enough papers.'

'Never enough if Saltonstall should gain the ear of the new king.'

'Not likely. He was too strong a Roundhead.'

'Look at the Roundheads here in Barbados. You'd think they won the war.'

'I believe I know a way to get rid of Will,' and some days later she rode into Bridgetown to accost her brother-in-law at the drapery shop. After paying respects to Nell and her well-behaved seven-year old, Clarissa took Will aside and told him bluntly: 'Will, there's no future for you on this island. You really should move on to London. There's more of your kind there.' When he scorned this suggestion, she said ominously: 'All right, Will, you've had your chance,' and off she flounced.

She did not return to the plantation, storming instead to the parish church, where she sought the clergyman already subservient to her because of her wealth: 'I have grievous news, Father, which I'm most loath to report, but my husband's brother, Will ...'

'I know him, a most uncertain fellow.'

'He's taken to blasphemy. Abuses the Lord's name most wantonly.'

'That's a grave charge, ma'am. Do you wish to lodge it formally?'

'I do,' she said sternly, and after reflection the clergyman replied hesitantly: 'You appreciate that this will mean the pillory for your brother?' She shocked him by adding with an obvious l.u.s.t for vengeance: 'I think he should be stigmatized, too, to make him mind his manners.'

At the utterance of the terrible word the churchman actually shuddered, for he could not support it: 'No, ma'am, that would be too harsh.' But when she insisted, the clergyman had to bethink her position in the community as well as his own, and supinely he consented: 'I will propose it to the authorities.'

When she reached home that evening she a.s.sured her husband: 'I'm sure we've scotched that snake. Never again will your brother be able to show his face in Barbados.'

The established church in the English islands enjoyed a special and important role. It was the guardian of both orthodoxy and propriety; it supported the government, especially when it involved royalty; since none of the islands had a press, it served as the disseminator of official news decisions, which is why the phrase 'Ordered to be read for three Sundays in all Parish Churches' appeared at the foot of doc.u.ments; and in an age when blasphemy was a major sin, it was the protector of public morals.

So when Clarissa Tatum accused her brother-in-law of blasphemy, the elders of the church in St. Michael's Parish had to listen, and when they had acc.u.mulated enough evidence against the young man they presented it to the magistrates, who sentenced him to 'stigmatism and two hours in the public pillory where the main roads cross in Bridgetown.' There, on a hot Wednesday at ten in the morning, a bonfire was prepared with so many short sticks of kindling that it would be sure to form a lively blaze, and when the flames were rea.s.suringly high, Will Tatum was led to the nearby pillory and his head and wrists were thrust into the frame that would keep his face immovable. Then, while the townspeople watched, some in horror, some with grim satisfaction, an officer of the church thrust the iron brand B, for blasphemer, into the flames, waited till it became red hot, then pressed it strongly into Will's left cheek, where it hissed until it drew blood and produced the permanent scar of the stigmata. Will fainted as some cried out in horror, and others in celebration of virtue's triumph.

Will remained unconscious for half an hour, but then the flies tormenting his wound and eyes revived him, and the throbbing pain resumed. Forced to listen to the scorn of the public and see his own brother Isaac and sister-in-law Clarissa riding past at a distance to mock him, he remained in the sun, head exposed, and suffered a public agony that had not been intended for minor dissidents like him. His wretchedness was alleviated by Nell and Betsy, two brave women who dared public censure by attending to him, bringing cloths to wipe his face and unguents to soothe the scar. They also brought drafts of cold water to ease his parched lips. Nell was at his side first, and after she was gone, with protests sounding in her ears, Betsy came by with salves and a look of tenderness to let him know she loved him.

At two in the afternoon he was released by a verger of the parish church, and some watchers wondered what he might do. On certain memorable occasions men punished like this had gone straight to the church officials who had consigned them to the pillory and thumped them roundly, and in one case a man had struck the person responsible for denouncing him so viciously that death resulted. Then there had to be a hanging, and as that doomed man approached the gallows he shouted for all to hear: 'May this whole island rot in h.e.l.l,' and he would have cursed more had not the black hood been drawn tight about his head.

Will Tatum did nothing like that. With a tight, fixed smile on his scarred and aching face he stalked through the silent crowd to his sister's shop, climbed the stairs, kissed Nell and thanked her, then shook hands with young Ned, and said: 'I'll be back to watch over you,' and disappeared down the stairs, walking straight down the street to the waterfront without having the courage to say farewell to Betsy Bigsby. With his cheek marked forever with the hideous B, he called for rowers from the Stadhouder still in the harbor, climbed aboard, and reported to Captain Brongersma: 'I want to fight Spaniards,' and he was seen no more on Barbados.

In the long years ahead he would sometimes think of Betsy before attacking a Spanish treasure s.h.i.+p, or in a jail in Spain, or even when slogging through a swamp-ridden jungle, and in his mind's eye she would be forever a beautiful girl of twenty with slim waist, braided hair and sparkling eyes. She would be with him in a hundred different scenes, always the same, always a burning memory, and for him she would never age. He would cherish her as the purest memory of an island which had not treated him well, perhaps because he did not treat it with the respect his brother did. He realized that night as he left Barbados that he was making a decision of profound importance. He was losing Betsy Bigsby, and might never see her again.

In 1660 the news that Barbados longed for arrived. Charles II was anointed King of England while perched upon the Stone of Scone, symbolizing the fact that he was also King of Scotland. Great celebrations were held which even reluctant Roundheads joined and there was general relief that things in Little England were back to normal.

As proof of everyone's desire to forget old animosities, a doc.u.ment arrived in Bridgetown in the latter part of 1661 that gave great joy to the island: 'His Majesty King Charles II has been pleased to award his faithful servants in Barbados seven baronetcies and six knighthoods,' and people cl.u.s.tered about Government House to learn who would henceforth be called 'Sir,' with older citizens explaining to younger: 'A baronetcy can be pa.s.sed in the family from generation to generation forever; but a knighthood expires at the death of the recipient.'

The seven baronetcies caused quite a stir, because four of them honored Cavaliers who had from the first moment been loyal to the king, while the last three went to Roundheads who had served their parliamentary cause honorably, bowing at last to the popular will. If any gesture in this troubled period gave evidence of England's desire to bind up old wounds, it was this bestowing of honors equally between victors and losers.

First on the list of baronets was, of course, Sir Thomas Oldmixon, who had never wavered in his loyalty, never drawn back from defense of his king's name, whether in debate or war. His selection was loudly applauded, as was that of Sir Geoffrey Wrentham, another valiant defender of the king, but there was almost equal praise for the first of the Roundheads, Sir Henry Saltonstall, present whereabouts unknown.

When the reading of the six ordinary knights began, Isaac Tatum and his wife stood transfixed. They knew they had been stalwart defenders of the king, and both their social and economic position on the island ent.i.tled them to recognition. Their plantation was one of the biggest, and their yearly s.h.i.+pment of clayed sugar to England was surpa.s.sed by that of no other Caribbean planter. In the war they had fought bravely though briefly for the king, so it was not preposterous for them to hope, but they knew that things did sometimes go awry.

The first two names were those of well-known Cavaliers: 'Sir John Witham, Sir Robert Le Gard.' No surprises there, but the next two were of former Roundheads, and the Tatums' brows began to show perspiration. But then came the clear voice of the clerk: 'Sir Isaac Tatum,' and he might have swooned had not his wife held him upright with a firm grip on his arm.