198 THE STORY OF THE BETTISOOMBE SKULL. 



that the son who did return brought his own black servant 

 and the skull of the servant of his dead brother. It used to be 

 said that these brothers were sent to Jamaica for work instead 

 of being butchered after the Monmouth Rebellion." But this 

 is a variant of the legend of which I was not previously aware. 

 Nevertheless, how the terrible results of the great tragedy 

 seemed to linger in the memory of the people of the West ! 



Before I finish I should like to be allowed to give one 

 more small yet pathetic incident which may fittingly close all 

 reference to Azariah Pinney " the Monmouth Rebel." 

 Considerable alterations had been made, as was only to be 

 expected, in the old house at Montravers since Azariah's time, 

 in particular, the addition by Mr. Huggins of a spacious 

 stone wing, which bears the marks of an incomplete finish, 

 the result, probably, of that depression in the sugar-cane 

 industry which has caused so many of the old estates (Pinney's 

 amongst the number) to pass into the hands of English West 

 Indian merchants and " advancers." On one occasion 

 the old dining-room the building being mostly of wood 

 was being pulled down, and Miss Huggins told me that she 

 remembered as a child this being done, and that as the work- 

 men were ripping a board from the ceiled partition under 

 one of the windows out fell a soldier's coat, with all the buttons 

 scattered on the floor ! Wonder and amazement were ex- 

 pressed by all that the coat had been built up in that way, 

 but the matter has always remained a mystery. An inquiry 

 from me could elicit nothing more than that ' ' it was certainly 

 a soldier's red coat," and that Miss Huggins believed that the 

 buttons were of silver or brass, but much blackened or 

 tarnished ; nothing of either had been retained. The question 

 naturally arises, whose coat could this have been ? The 

 answer as naturally suggests that it was Azariah Pinney's 

 uniform which he wore at Sedgmoor it is very unlikely that 

 he was actually captured in the fight and which was either 

 taken out with him to Nevis then to some extent a free 

 man or, more probably perhaps, had been sent out to him 

 there when times had become less troublous. Otherwise, 



