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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19801-h.zip b/19801-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4582c70 --- /dev/null +++ b/19801-h.zip diff --git a/19801-h/19801-h.htm b/19801-h/19801-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70428d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/19801-h/19801-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5234 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Drummer's Coat +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 15% ; + margin-right: 15% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +p.finis { text-align: center } + + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Drummer's Coat, by J. W. Fortescue + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Drummer's Coat + +Author: J. W. Fortescue + +Release Date: November 13, 2006 [EBook #19801] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRUMMER'S COAT *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""Hold mun fast, brave lads!"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="444" HEIGHT="655"> +<H3> +[Frontispiece: "Hold mun fast, brave lads!"] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Drummer's Coat +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by the +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Hon. J. W. Fortescue +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "The Story of a Red Deer" +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +With illustrations by +<BR> +H. M. Brock +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +London +<BR> +MacMillan and Co., Limited +<BR> +New York: The MacMillan Company +<BR> +1899 +<BR><BR> +<I>All rights reserved</I> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED +<BR> +LONDON AND BUNGAY. +<BR><BR> +First Edition, November 1899. +<BR> +Reprinted, December 1899. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO +<BR> +D. W. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFATORY NOTE +</H3> + +<P> +Lest a principal incident in this little tale should seem incredible, +it may be mentioned that an instance of a child being deprived of +speech for several days, at the bidding of a reputed witch, came under +the author's immediate notice less than three years ago, in a village +but three miles distant from his own home. +</P> + +<P> +It may be added that the military details in Chapter XIII. are all +drawn from authentic sources, mainly from the <I>Recollections of +Rifleman Harris</I> and the <I>History of the Fifty-Second Regiment</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CASTLE HILL, +<BR> +28th August, 1899. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TABLE OF CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="50%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="50%"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"HOLD MUN FAST, BRAVE LADS!" . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-038"> +BENT DOWN TO KISS ELSIE'S AS HE HAD KISSED HER MOTHER'S +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-055"> +"THE BIRD BEGAN TO PIPE A LITTLE TUNE" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-146"> +"STILL THE WOMAN LED THEM ON" +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE DRUMMER'S COAT +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<P> +In a deep wooded valley in the north of Devon stands the village of +Ashacombe. It is but a little village, of some twenty or thirty +cottages with white cob walls and low thatched roofs, running along the +sunny side of the valley for a little way, and then curving downward +across it to a little bridge of two tiny pointed arches, on the other +side of which stands a mill with a water-wheel. For a little stream +runs down this valley as down all Devonshire valleys; and as you look +up the water from the bridge you can see it winding and sparkling +through its margin of meadow, while the great oak woods hang still and +solemn above it, till some bold green headland slopes down and shuts it +from your sight; and you raise your eyes, and count fresh headlands +crossing each other right and left beyond it, fainter and fainter, till +at last they end in a little patch of purple heather, which seems to be +the end of all things. +</P> + +<P> +But when you look down the water, you find that the woods no longer +cover the sunny side of the valley so thickly, but that there is open +ground like a park. There is a gate by the bridge opening on to a +narrow road, which presently ends in two great spreading yews; and +through these you can see a lych-gate, and beyond it a little grey +church with a low grey tower. Close to this gate is a lodge of grey +stone, with a winding drive which guides your eye through the trees to +the gables of a house of the same grey stone, which peer up over the +trees on the ground above the church. Then beyond it the headlands of +green wood begin to cross each other again, lower and lower, till you +can follow them no more. +</P> + +<P> +So Ashacombe, as may easily be guessed, is a sleepy little village, +which sees little of the great world outside. But whatever it sees it +can see well, for the hill on which it stands is so much broken by +little clefts and hollows that some of the cottages stand level with +the road and some high above it; wherefore if you are not satisfied +with looking at anything on the road from the same level, you can go to +some neighbour's garden and gaze down upon it from above, or again you +can slip down from the road into the meadow (for the road is raised on +a wall) and scrutinise it carefully from below. Still sleepy though +the village may be, it is always beautifully neat and clean. The walls +are always of spotless white, and the thatch trim and in good repair. +The scrap of garden behind each cottage is well tended and full of +vegetables, and the scrap of garden in front gay with flowers; for +Ashacombe has never known the time when there was not a master or +mistress in the Hall who made the village their first care. Such it is +now, and such, if old pictures are to be trusted, it was with little +difference eighty years ago, at which time we are about to examine its +history. +</P> + +<P> +But if visitors come to Ashacombe it is to see not the village but the +Hall, for Bracefort Hall has some fame of its own. It is a beautiful +little house, built in the time of King Henry the Sixth, and therefore +in the shape of an H, with two gables marking the end of the +downstrokes, and a short length of grey roof standing for the +cross-bar. It faces to the south, so that the little court between the +gables is a veritable sun-trap, wherein grow magnolia and jessamine; +while roses, Dutch honeysuckle, clematis and wistaria cover the whole +front of the house and almost hide the mullioned windows. But the Hall +is even more attractive within than without, for from the moment when +you enter the door you find yourself among oak panels, oak carving and +old tapestry on every side and in every room. The house has but two +storeys, so that the rooms are not very large not very high, with the +exception of the hall, which fills both storeys of the cross-bar of the +H, from the floor to the roof. The ceiling is of open work, +beautifully carved; the walls are panelled high, and at the head of +each panel is painted a coat of arms showing the marriages of many +generations of Braceforts. Above the panels at one end of the hall are +huge coats of arms carved in stone and gorgeously coloured; and at the +other end is a gallery of carved oak with the gilded pipes of an organ +shining above it. A great part of the outer wall is taken up by a very +large mullioned window with quaint round panes, many of them filled +with old stained glass; and on the wall opposite to it is a great +fireplace of carved stone, the centre of it showing the crest of a +mailed arm and the motto, Dieu et bras fort. +</P> + +<P> +Above this fireplace hang some curious things—stags' horns, and +weapons of bygone times, and among them a buff coat, an iron helmet, a +cuirass, and two long straight swords, which evidently belonged to one +of the gentlemen with flowing love-locks and broad collars turned down +over their mail, whose portraits are hung on each side. But below +these is a more modern helmet, such a helmet as was worn by Light +Dragoons about a century ago, of lacquered leather with a huge comb of +fur, a scarlet turban wound about it, and a short plume of red and +white. Also there is a curved sword with a crimson sash draped round +it; and below these again, neatly spread in a glass case, is a quaint +little child's coat of yellow, with red collar, cuffs and lapels, two +tiny red wings at the shoulders and two tiny red tails behind; which +garment an inscription, now much faded, declares to be a drummer's coat +of the time of the Peninsular War. +</P> + +<P> +Now it is easy to guess to whom the Light Dragoon's helmet and sword +and sash belonged, for immediately on one side of it is a portrait of a +very handsome man with dark hair and eyes, dressed in a blue coat with +silver braid, with the crimson sash round his waist, the curved sword +at his side, and the identical helmet under his arm; and you may read +underneath the picture that it represents Captain Richard Bracefort, +who was killed at the battle of Salamanca. Close by, too, is a picture +of his charger, Billy Pitt, which he rode in the battle, and which +lived, as is written on the picture, for many years afterwards. Again, +as a pendant to the Captain's picture hangs a portrait of a lady, +showing a beautiful oval face with three chestnut curls on each side of +it and a mass of chestnut hair above, and two blue eyes as clear and as +pure as a child's; and underneath this portrait is written the name of +Lady Eleanor Bracefort, wife and widow of Captain Richard the Light +Dragoon. +</P> + +<P> +But how the drummer's coat ever found its way into Bracefort Hall there +is nothing to show. Nevertheless by that little coat there hangs a +tale; and though that tale is now nearly eighty years old, both the +Hall and the village are so little changed that it is perhaps worth the +telling. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + + +<P> +It was the 22nd of July 1820, and the shadows were beginning to +lengthen over Ashacombe village on a burning summer's afternoon. The +men were still at work, and most of the women also; for, early though +it was, a farmer was cutting a field of wheat over the hill on the far +side of the valley, a field which was always the first in the whole +parish to ripen. So the men were cutting and the women were binding, +for women did more work in the fields in those days than in these; and +now and again, when the booming of the mill-wheel ceased for a moment, +the sound of the hones on the sickles could be heard clinking musically +in the still heavy air. Two or three old women alone stood in their +porches, with their sun-bonnets over their neat white caps, gossiping +as they knitted, and speaking an occasional word to an old, old man who +sat in a high-backed chair basking in the sun. The children were all +down in the meadow below, the little maids mostly sitting in the shade +and making nosegays of forget-me-nots; while every boy that could walk, +and some of the maids also, were paddling in the little stream or +dancing about the bank in chase of such unhappy fish as had been too +lazy to leave the shallows when the stream was turned into the +mill-leat. Sometimes they were silent, and the next moment they broke +into chorus like a pack of hounds, while occasionally there came a +shrill rate from one of the old women who watched them from the +cottages, calling back some too venturesome boy from the deep water of +the mill-leat. +</P> + +<P> +So the old women gossiped and the children played, for the daily +coaches up and down had passed some hours before, and there was little +excitement to be looked for in the road after they were gone. +Presently the old women stopped and listened, for they heard the gate +at the lodge clang as it opened and shut, and two children's voices +crying merrily, "Oh, corporal, corporal, put on your watering-cap!" +Then one of the old women hastened, though with infirm steps, across +her little garden towards the road, and stood by the edge of it among +tall stalks of red valerian and a great plant of periwinkle which hung +down over the wall. And there came along the road a tall man with +grizzled hair, dressed in drab breeches and gaiters just like any other +man, but wearing on his head a flat blue cap, widening out from brim to +crown, with a yellow band round the forehead—the watering cap of a +Light Dragoon. He walked very erect, though he limped slightly with +one leg; and over one shoulder he carried a clean white stable-rubber, +neatly folded, with a stable-halter tied across it. Hanging on to his +hand on one side was a little boy of about nine years old with great +brown eyes and glossy black hair, dressed in a very short little brown +jacket with brown breeches buttoning on to it, and a broad white +collar. On the Corporal's other side and clinging tight to his other +hand skipped a little girl with wide blue eyes and fair hair, dressed +all in white, and with her face almost hidden under a little white +sun-bonnet. Both children carried a little wreath of laurel in their +hands and seemed to have some very important business before them, +until they caught sight of the old woman looking down upon them, when +they cried out "Sally! Sally!" and letting go the Corporal's hand ran +up the steep little steps to her, while the Corporal limped more slowly +after them. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, my dear hearts," said old Sally, "I minded that it was Sallymanky +day, and I said to myself that Master Dick and Miss Elsie would surely +be coming in for the ribbins. Shall us go in to house and fetch mun? +Then please to come in. Please to come right in, Mr. Brimacott," she +added, addressing the Corporal. So they passed through the little low +door into the cottage, and in two seconds the children were standing on +chairs and examining all the treasures on the walls. For Sally had +been a servant at Bracefort Hall, and was never so glad as when little +Dick and Elsie Bracefort came to pay her a visit; first because she +thought there was no family to equal the Braceforts in the whole wide +world, and secondly, because these children had lost their father at +Salamanca just eight years before to a day. And there were wonderful +things on the walls, too. First and foremost there were two coloured +pictures, one of France and Britannia joining hands, with a very woolly +lamb and a very singular lion lying down together at their feet; and +the other of Commerce and Plenty, represented as two very slender +ladies with very short waists, loading Britannia with corn and fruit +and flowers of the brightest colours. The children had heard Sally +tell the story of them fifty times but were quite content to hear it +again—how Sally had bought them of a hawker in the year 1802, for joy +that peace was come at last, and how that wicked Boney had plunged all +the world into war again. Then Dick jumped up and brought down a china +figure of a man in a blue coat on a prancing horse with his hand +pointing upwards, who was no other than Boney, the terrible Bonaparte +himself, as he appeared when crossing the Alps. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, the roog," said Sally, as Dick flourished the figure. "Many's the +time that I've wanted to throw he behind the fire. He tooked from me +my boy, my Jan; ah, you knows the story of my Jan, don't 'ee, my dear?" +she added turning to Elsie. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Elsie, who had heard the story so often as a mite of a +child that she told it herself with something of a Devonshire accent, +"poor Jan that 'listed for a soldier and went to Portingale to the +wars, and never come back, not he, nor wild Lucy that ran away for the +love of him, nor the boy that was born to them." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye," said the old woman to the Corporal, but smiling sadly on the +child. "Killed he was, so they said, but they couldn't tell how nor +where; and missing they was, but I never could find out nought about +mun, though I hope still to hear somewhat; but it must come soon for +it's ten years agone now, and I reckon that my time's a getting short." +</P> + +<P> +The Corporal nodded; but Dick had brought down another figure in china, +the figure of a man in a red coat with a hooked nose and two curves of +black whisker on his cheeks, underneath which was written WELLINGTON. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye," said old Sally, triumphantly, "that was the boy to give Boney +what vor. And now here's the wreaths, my dears, tied with the family +colours, blue and white. I've a had they ribbins forty years, ever +since the great election, when Bracefort was head of the poll, your +grandfather that was. And now you'm going to catch the old Billy Pitt, +I reckon; dear, dear, to think that the horse should still be here and +the captain gone." +</P> + +<P> +"But the Lieutenant's come back," said the Corporal. "Colonel +Fitzdenys, I should say, whom I mind as the captain's lieutenant; come +back only yesterday safe and sound from the Injies." +</P> + +<P> +"That's well," said Sally, "for a fine brave gentleman he is, as never +passes me without a kind word. But don't 'ee go yet for a minute, my +dears," and she hobbled away to a large glass bottle, took out two +sticks of toffee, such as she sold to the village boys for a halfpenny +a piece, and gave them to Dick and Elsie. +</P> + +<P> +The children took them gratefully, for it was little sweet stuff that +children got in those days; and old Sally watched them as they went up +the road, each of them breaking off a large piece for the Corporal. +</P> + +<P> +They had not long been gone when a new and strange figure suddenly +bounded into the road from the bank at the side. It was that of a +young man who seemed to be about five and twenty, short in stature and +slight in figure, and dressed in a long skirted coat, breeches and +gaiters, which were all alike full of rents and patches. He wore no +hat, but his head was so thickly covered by a shock of brown hair that +he did not seem to want one. His face was brown and sunburnt and +partly covered by a fair downy beard, which, though not thick, added to +his wild and untidy appearance; and his eyes were very large, grey and +vacant. He sprang down from the bank as though he had lived there all +his life, like a rabbit, and then moved on towards the village at a +strange shambling pace, straying from side to side of the road and +waving his arms meaninglessly. Suddenly he stopped, and pulling a +squirrel out of his pocket began to play with it, cooing and whistling +to it as it ran over his arms, and chirping when it stopped and threw +its tail over its back. The two seemed to be the very best of friends, +and after playing for some time the man moved on with the squirrel on +his shoulder, drawing closer to the village; when of a sudden the boys +at play in the stream broke into such a storm of yells that he jumped +up on the bank again to look at them, and stood there for a time gaping +and grinning from ear to ear at what he saw. +</P> + +<P> +For the boys had succeeded in driving a little eel into a corner and in +throwing it ashore; and there they were, dancing about like mad +creatures, unable to hold it, more than half afraid to touch it, but +always contriving to twitch the wretched wriggling thing further from +the water. One brave little maid managed for a moment to catch it in +her pinafore but dropped it instantly, as all the boys screamed: "Put +it down! he'll bite 'ee." And so they went on babbling their loudest, +when the ragged man in the road suddenly put the squirrel into his +pocket and ran down into the meadow, laughing louder than the loudest, +to take part in the fun. In spite of his long-skirted coat he was as +active as any of them, now clutching desperately at the eel with his +hand, now running at full speed for a few yards and then plunging down +on his knees, and all the while laughing and whinnying with a noise +more like that of a horse than of a man. The boys, though at first a +little startled at the appearance of such a figure in their midst, soon +screamed louder than ever with laughter at his strange antics; until at +last the ragged man got the eel fairly clamped between his fingers and +ran away with it, the whole of the children following him in full cry. +He had almost reached the road when his foot slipped and down he fell +violently on his face. The squirrel, scared to death, ran out of his +coat-pocket, and the eel slipped through his fingers into the long +grass by the ditch and was seen no more. +</P> + +<P> +The man got up looking dazed and foolish, with his hair full of +forget-me-nots, into which he had plunged in his fall. The children +gathered round him hooting and screaming; and he stared at them +grinning vacantly without a word. From shouts the boys soon went on to +taunts of "Shockhead! Shockhead!" but still the ragged man stood and +grinned, until at last two of them caught sight of the squirrel and +began to hunt it about the field. Then the man's whole demeanour +changed in an instant; and charging down upon the boys he gave them a +push which laid both of them flat on the ground, while the squirrel ran +hastily up his leg and nestled in terror against his cheek. Then he +began to look, with the air of a hunted beast, for some means of +escape. The two boys got up whimpering, more frightened than hurt, and +at the sight of their tears the merriment of the rest turned instantly +to anger. The boys remembered suddenly that their eel was gone, and +crowded round the man, yelling continuously, "Where's our ale? Where's +our ale? You've stole our ale." And the ragged man with drooping +shoulders and white scared face slunk along the fence under the road, +looking for a weak place by which he might scramble out of the field. +At last he found one and made a bound to climb up it; but the bank was +too steep and he fell back. The boys seeing that he was afraid of them +began to raise the cry of thief, or, as they called it, thafe. Half a +dozen of them ran round to the gate of the meadow to cut him off, while +the rest yelled round him like a pack of baying hounds, with cries of +"Thafe! Thafe! Thafe!" The man made a second attempt to climb up the +bank, and this time reached the top, where he lay for a few moments +sprawling, amid the jeers of his tormentors; and Tommy Fry, who was the +scapegrace of the village, picked up a clod of earth and threw it at +him. The clod, which was full of little stones, struck him full on the +cheek and drew blood. The man gave a little whine of pain, and +struggled quickly to his feet; but the boys were in the road before +him, and, worse than that, the women hearing the cry of thief were +hastening to the spot; for they thought of clean clothes that might be +drying on their garden hedges, and, if there be a creature which +villagers dread and detest, it is a tramp. The man looked fearfully up +and down the road, and saw that it was blocked on every side by +hurrying women and children; and then sinking down by the roadside he +buried his face in his hands and blubbered aloud, while the squirrel, +fully as frightened as he was, nestled close to his bleeding cheek. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was a babel of voices, scolding, complaining and accusing, +but the man sat blubbering and took no heed. Two or three children +were ready to start to fetch the men from the harvest-field, and one +old crone was declaiming with great eloquence on the iniquity of +tramps, when a strange woman suddenly forced her way through the crowd +to the sobbing man and took him by the arm. Her sun-bonnet was so tied +before her face that they could see little of it but two eyes, which +gleamed black and keen like the eyes of a hawk. She raised the man +gently to his feet, and then turned round fiercely upon the ring of +women and children about her. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," she said imperiously, "cease your bawling, and let mun go. The +poor soul a'nt done no harm to you, I'll warrant mun. Let mun go, and +shame upon 'ee." +</P> + +<P> +The man rose to his feet still blubbering, and the squirrel moved back +from his face. Then she saw the blood on his cheek, and her eyes +glowed like fire as she said in a voice that trembled with rage: +</P> + +<P> +"Who's been a drowing stones at my boy?" +</P> + +<P> +"He stole our ale," shouted Tommy Fry boldly, and the rest of the +children took up the chorus—"He stole our ale!" And Tommy Fry ended +the cry with the word, "Thafe." +</P> + +<P> +The strange woman turned upon him instantly. "<I>You</I> drowed the stone," +she said, quivering with rage. "<I>You</I> dare to call mun thafe. You +don't spake again till I tell 'ee—mind that. I'll tache 'ee to call +my boy names." And Tommy Fry shrank back with staring eyes, appalled +at her fury, while she put her arm again tighter round that of the +ragged man and began to lead him away. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, no," broke in a village woman who came up breathless at this +moment: "You'm too fast by half. 'Tis the like of he that we want to +catch, taking our linen off the hedges. I lost some but two months +agone, and I'll be bound 'twas he that did it. What was it was taked +away, Mary?" she asked, turning to one of the little girls. "Two pair +of stockings and a chimase or one pair of stockings and two chimases? +No, no, no; run, my dear, and fetch father home quick. No, stop! Here +comes Mr. Brimacott." +</P> + +<P> +And as she spoke there was a sound of hoofs and the Corporal appeared +leading a brown horse with a little wreath of laurel hung round his +ears and the white rubber spread over his back, on which were seated +Dick and Elsie, Dick riding in front brandishing his toffee, while +Elsie with her arm round his waist sat quietly behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"What's all this?" said the Corporal, as the horse pricked up his ears +over the hubbub before him; and without waiting for a moment he lifted +the two children to the ground. Then all the women came clamouring +round him with their complaints; and the Corporal frowned, for he loved +a tramp as little as any of them. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't true," said the strange woman firmly, "'tain't true. He's but +a poor harmless lad. Sarch mun, if you will, maister; ye won't find +nought." +</P> + +<P> +The Corporal eyed the ragged man keenly. "He looks to be a half-baked +body," he said as if to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, the poor thing's mazed," bleated out an old man who had hobbled +down to the edge of his garden to look on. +</P> + +<P> +"Has any one missed anything?" the Corporal went on after hearing the +rest of the story. "Who's got any clothes drying to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a long silence and much shaking of heads, till some one said: +"'Twas Mary Mugford was saying that she missed something or 'nother; +stockings, was it, or chimases, two months agone. Where's Mary +Mugford?" But Mary Mugford had discreetly retired, for she saw a new +figure coming up the road, the figure of a lady, tall and slender, +dressed all in black and with a huge black bonnet, from which there +peeped out the oval face with the chestnut curls and the great blue +eyes, which we saw in the picture at Bracefort Hall, with the name of +Lady Eleanor underneath it. Dick and Elsie ran to her at once, and the +Corporal shortening the horse's halter in one hand, drew himself up, +saluted, and made his report. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a poor half-witted lad, my Lady, and they thought he had stolen +some clothes. He got playing with the boys over an eel which they +caught, and let it get away, but I can't find that he meant no harm nor +hasn't taken nothing, but the boys got worriting him and scared him a +bit, I am afraid." +</P> + +<P> +The strange woman looked at the Corporal with softened eyes and a sigh +of relief; and then Lady Eleanor turned to her, with her hand resting +on Dick, who had come round to her side, and said very gently: +</P> + +<P> +"Is it true that he is not quite right in his head?" +</P> + +<P> +The strange woman nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you ever known him steal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never," she answered hoarsely. "'Tis seldom I let mun out of my sight +among strangers, but he slipped away from me to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"You have no other children?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered the woman, almost fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +"I see that the boys have hurt him," Lady Eleanor went on. "Bring him +down the road by the well, and let me wash the blood away;" and leading +the way she dipped her handkerchief into the water and was about to +wash the blood-stained face herself, but stopped and gave the +handkerchief to the woman. The villagers had withdrawn respectfully +apart, and the idiot, no longer frightened by their presence, had +ceased blubbering. He blinked foolishly while his face was washed; but +when it was clean he looked at Lady Eleanor's beautiful face and +grinned, and then at Dick and grinned wider, and lastly at Elsie and +grinned wider still. He looked so much like a great simple boy that +little Elsie came forward to give him what was left of her toffee, +whereupon Dick, not to be outdone, did the like, though there was not +much of his remaining. Finally the Corporal produced his share of +toffee also from his pockets and gave it to the children for the ragged +man, who seemed so much pleased that they did not regret parting with +it. +</P> + +<P> +"There is no harm done, I think," said Lady Eleanor to the woman, "but +it was a wicked thing to throw stones at him." +</P> + +<P> +"It's nought, thank you. Good-evening," said the woman, taking the +ragged man by the arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you far to go?" asked Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"A middling ways," was the only reply; and the woman turned round to go. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" said Lady Eleanor. "My name is Lady Eleanor Bracefort, and if +ever you want anything for your poor son, I hope you will tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, my Lady, he wants for nothing," answered the woman rather +gruffly, and turning the man round she led him away across the bridge. +They watched her until she disappeared, a tall powerful woman, with her +back somewhat bent, as if by carrying heavy burdens. +</P> + +<P> +Then Lady Eleanor turned to the children. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, my darlings! Give Master Dick a leg up, Corporal. Wo-ho, Billy; +now, Elsie, up behind him. How young the old horse looks, Corporal! +Are you ready? Walk, march." And away she walked fondling Billy Pitt +as she led him, and with good reason, for, old though he was, his legs +were as clean as a four-year-old's, his muzzle fine and taper, and his +eye full and bright, while he walked with the swinging easy stride that +surely tells of good blood. Indeed, but that his tail was docked +rather short, as was once the rule in the Light Dragoons, and that he +had a large scar on his neck, you could not have wished to see a +handsomer horse. So on they went, through the lychgate to the church; +and while the Corporal waited outside with the horse. Lady Eleanor and +the children went in. There at the back of a square family pew, among +strange old monuments, all showing heraldic shields coloured white and +blue, was a tablet: "To the memory of Captain Richard Bracefort of the +116th Light Dragoons, who fell in the glorious action of Salamanca, on +the 22nd of July, 1812, and was buried with his dead comrades on the +field of battle." Just below it was a second but smaller and simpler +tablet: "To the memory of Private John Dart, of the 128th Foot, and +late of this parish, who fell in the retreat to Corunna under Sir John +Moore, January 1809;" and in very small letters were added the words +"Erected by Eleanor Bracefort." Around both were the words, "Death is +swallowed up in Victory," and midway between the two, Dick placed the +wreath of laurel. Then they went back to the Corporal and Billy Pitt, +and returned, as they had come, to the Hall. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + + +<P> +Though there was more than one snug little room at Bracefort which +other people might have turned into a schoolroom, yet Lady Eleanor +always preferred, in the summer at any rate, to take the children with +her to the hall for their lessons. Her favourite seat was by the great +mullioned window, which shed light on everything in the rooms, and her +favourite teaching was to make every old picture or helmet or weapon on +the walls tell its story to the children. So on the day after +Salamanca Day she was sitting as usual in her corner by the window, on +a very stiff high-backed chair; for people did not lounge in those +days, and children were taught at meals to keep their thumbs on the +table to make them sit upright. Little Elsie sat by her on a smaller +but equally stiff chair, stitching diligently at her sampler, and Dick +stood before her glancing furtively over his shoulder. The blue sky +outside was so great a distraction to him that Lady Eleanor had turned +his back to the window, and set before him an old steel morion of the +time of Queen Elizabeth; and with this to inspire him, Dick was +struggling with the ballad of the Brave Lord Willoughby. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Dick," Lady Eleanor was saying, "we can do better than that. +Try again. 'For seven hours to all men's view—'" +</P> + +<P> +But just at this moment the Corporal came in. +</P> + +<P> +"If you please, my Lady, Betsy Fry's just come up. She's in a terrible +taking about her boy, and she's brought him up to see you." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. I'll come out and see her directly," said Lady Eleanor. +"Come, Dick,"—but Dick had turned half round and was smiling at the +Corporal. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, sir," said the Corporal returning, "heels together. Little +fingers on the seams of the overalls. Eyes to the front," and he +placed the boy's hands gently in position by his sides, and went out. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Dick," said Lady Eleanor. "'For seven hours—'" and the boy +began, with much prompting, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>For seven hours to all men's view<BR> +This fight endured sore,<BR> +Until our men so feeble grew<BR> +That they could fight no more.</I>"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Then his memory seemed to return, and he went on with great gusto: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>And then upon dead horses<BR> +Full savourly they eat,<BR> +And drank the puddle water—<BR> +They could no better get.</I>"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Then there was a dead stop. "'When they—'" said Lady Eleanor. "Oh, +Dick." +</P> + +<P> +"I always remember the puddle water, mother," said Dick reproachfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Elsie," said Lady Eleanor; and Elsie folded her hands over her work +and began: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>When they had fed so freely,<BR> +They kneeled upon the ground,<BR> +And praised God devoutly<BR> +For the favour they had found.</I>"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Then," broke in Dick triumphantly— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>Then beating up their colours<BR> +The fight they did renew,<BR> +And turning on the Spaniards,<BR> +A thousand more they slew.</I>"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"There, I know it now, mother, mayn't I go now and tell the Corporal to +saddle Prince for me? And mayn't Elsie come too?" +</P> + +<P> +So away the children ran, and there was the Corporal waiting outside +the door, as anxious to be off as themselves; while Lady Eleanor made +her way to see Betsy Fry, who was waiting by the old gate-house a few +yards away from the front door. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Betsy, what is it?" she said kindly, coming up to a woman of +rather hard features, who stood patiently in the shade with her +sun-bonnet fluttering in the breeze. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis about my Tommy, my Lady," said the woman curtseying. "Here, +Tommy, come 'vor, and take off your hat to her Ladyship," and she +pulled forward a frightened shrinking boy in a suit of corduroy, who +had hidden himself behind her. "Look to mun, my Lady, he that was the +most rompageous boy in Ashacombe, so quiet as a snail. And he can't +spake, my Lady, he can't spake." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't speak?" said Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't make mun spake, my Lady. I don't know if your Ladyship was to +try—" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Tommy," said Lady Eleanor, bending down towards the boy, in her +sweet winning tones, "what's the matter with you? Come along and tell +me, like a good boy." +</P> + +<P> +The lad came forward, for no one could resist Lady Eleanor's smile, and +opened his mouth confidently to speak; but he made only a few +inarticulate sounds, and then thrust his knuckles into his eyes and +began to cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come, don't be frightened. Try again," said Lady Eleanor +kindly; but the boy only continued sobbing and remained speechless. +Nor could all her endeavours succeed in making him utter a word. +</P> + +<P> +"He must recover his speech presently," she said, much puzzled. "He +has not lost the power of uttering sound." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, my Lady," said Mrs. Fry very confidently. "He can scream and +holly loud enough. I bate mun last night, poor soul, because he +wouldn't spake, and he scritched so loud that Mrs. Mugford come in, and +asked me what I was 'bout killing a pig at that time o' night; though +she knows very well that it was my pig that was drownded in the +mill-leat back along in the spring. So I says to her, 'Mrs. Mugford,' +I says, 'if those that talks about pigs would look to their own boys, +they wouldn't run off to sea and come home with the shakums,' I says; +'and if they would keep their fowls from scratting about in their +neighbours' gardens,' I says, 'they wouldn't run about crying for lost +chimases.' For there's hardly a day but I drive her fowls from my +garden, my Lady. And you mind her son, my Lady, him that went for a +marine, and what terrible shakums he had when he comed back from the +Injies. And I consider that they stolen chimases is a jidgment, my +Lady, a jidgment for the mischief her fowls have done in my garden—" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop, stop," said Lady Eleanor, whose eye had wandered to a shady spot +under the trees where the Corporal was lunging a steady old Exmoor pony +round and round, while Dick, with a pair of long gaiters added to his +attire, sat firmly on its back, though without saddle or stirrups. +"Tell me; has anything happened to the boy to frighten him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my Lady," answered Mrs. Fry, "I consider myself that the boy's +overlooked." +</P> + +<P> +"Overlooked?" said Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my Lady. For they do tell me that the woman that comed through +the village yesterday with the mazed body told my Tommy, 'You don't +spake again,' she says, 'till I tell 'ee.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! nonsense," said Lady Eleanor, "don't think of such stuff." +</P> + +<P> +"But she <I>did</I>," persisted Mrs. Fry, "and sure enough the boy can't +spake. She's overlooked mun! she's awitched mun, you may depend, my +Lady. And I'm sure if you'd a known who they two was, you wouldn't +never have let mun go. She's the old witch to Cossacombe, that's what +she is, though she a'nt never been this way afore, and the man's as bad +as she is, I'll be bound, though I never heard tell of he afore." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it was easy to see that he was but a poor half-witted creature," +said Lady Eleanor, "as harmless as a child; his mother told me that she +hardly let him out of her sight." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my Lady, 'tis all very well to say that the man's mazed," +answered Mrs. Fry almost forgetting her manners in her excitement, "but +what took mun down among the boys? Why, to take the ale from them! +And what is ales but sarpints, my Lady?" said Mrs. Fry throwing out her +hands, "and what makes the man so friendly with sarpints, that he must +come to save mun? <I>We</I> know, do you and I, my Lady, who is the old +sarpint and the father of sarpints. And then what was he doing with +that strange baste on his shoulder, my Lady?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it was only a tame squirrel," said Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"Squirrel, my lady," said Mrs. Fry mysteriously. "Aye, 'twas a +squirrel; but who knows but what it mayn't be a dragin when it gets +'oom?" +</P> + +<P> +"A squirrel turn into a dragon?" said Lady Eleanor. "I never heard +such childish stuff in my life; and I wouldn't have believed that a +sensible woman like you could have thought of such a thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I won't say as it <I>was</I> a dragin, my Lady," said Mrs. Fry, a +little abashed, "but they do say that the witch has to do with dragins. +She comes from out over the moor some place, she doth; and though she's +a seen on times about Cossacombe, no man can tell where she liveth nor +dare go sarch for mun. Jimmy Beer went out to look for mun two year +agone in the dimmet after Cossacombe revel, but the fog came down so +thick as a bag; and while he was a-wandering, a dragin (for so he saith +it was, though I never seed a dragin myself) passed so close to mun as +I be to you, my Lady, and when he looked to the ground he saw the mark +of his cloven hoof so plain as could be. And he was pixy-led all that +night, my Lady, was the old Jimmy, and when he come home all his money +was gone; so I reckon that the pixies is in league with the witches." +</P> + +<P> +"I suspect that Jimmy had drunk too much cider," said Lady Eleanor +severely; "he should have kept sober or stuck to the road, and then he +would not have brought back foolish stories about pixies and witches. +I wonder that you can believe in such things." +</P> + +<P> +"I know mun too well, my Lady," said Mrs. Fry mournfully. "There was +my pig back in the spring, so rasonable a pig as ever ate mate, until +the white witch to Gratton overlooked mun. And I never did the white +witch no harm, nor the pig didn't neither; but as they was driving the +pig along the road—and you know what pigs is, driving, my Lady,—the +white witch comes riding on his one-eyed donkey; and the pig runned +against the donkey, and the old man[1] muttered something or 'nother—" +</P> + +<P> +"But the old man is dead, I was told," said Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"'Eas fai! and so he is, my Lady, and a terrible job they had to bury +mun—thunder, lightning and hailstones so big as sloes. Dead he is, +and I won't jidge mun—but not afore he'd a doed the mischief, for but +three weeks afterward my pig falls into the mill-leat. So there's my +pig a drownded, and my Tommy so dumb as a haddock—can't go to school, +can't do nought but ate his mate and sit in the corner for all the +world like a moulting hen. Ah, they witches! I wish they was +a-burned, I do." And she hid her face in her apron and sobbed. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, hush!" said Lady Eleanor gently; but just then she was startled +by a little cry from Elsie; and there was Dick, who had just leaped his +pony over a low bar, tilted right forward on the pony's neck. "Sit +fast, sir, sit fast," cried the Corporal, as Dick floundered to regain +his seat; and with a desperate effort the boy recovered himself and sat +up, flushed and smiling. Elsie clapped her hands with delight, and a +strange man's voice shouted "Bravo!" at the sound of which Lady Eleanor +started and coloured for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis surely his lordship from Fitzdenys Court," said Mrs. Fry, who had +lowered her apron a little. "'Eas, 'tis. Now, my Lady, do 'ee plase +to spake to mun about my Tommy; for it's a poor job if his lordship +can't do something for the boy, and he the lord-lieutenant as can call +out the milishy any time." +</P> + +<P> +And as she spoke two gentlemen came cantering up through the park; so +Lady Eleanor bade Mrs. Fry take Tommy to the back-door and get +something for him and herself to eat. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] It is a fallacy to suppose that a white witch, in Devon, at any +rate, is necessarily a woman. The few that I have known were men. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + + +<P> +The two gentlemen dismounted at the gate giving their horses to their +groom, and then walked towards Lady Eleanor together. Both were +dressed in blue coats, buff waistcoats, and broad-brimmed white hats, +and wore riding trousers strapped very tightly over their boots. They +were evidently father and son, though the elder seemed almost as young +and alert as the younger. The old gentleman took off his hat, bent his +grey head over Lady Eleanor's out-stretched hand, and kissed it with +the old-fashioned courtesy which has now vanished. Then beckoning the +younger man forward, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I bring you back an old friend with a new title, Lady Eleanor. He has +just returned from India with a new scar on the right shoulder to +balance the old scar on the left, and with a letter from the +Commander-in-Chief, which he is too modest to show to his friends and +too proud to show to his enemies, if he has any—<I>Colonel</I> George +Fitzdenys." +</P> + +<P> +And the younger man came forward, tall, lean, wiry, and erect as the +Corporal himself. He wore the moustache which showed him to be a Light +Dragoon, and looked every inch a soldier; but though he could not have +been more than three or four and thirty, he had the sad expression of a +man who has found the years long. Still bronzed and brown though his +face was, he blushed just a little as he caught his father's proud +glance at him, and bent in his turn over Lady Eleanor's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Welcome back, Colonel Fitzdenys," she said very quietly; "we have not +lost sight of you in the Gazettes through all these years; and you are +quite recovered from your wound, I hope." +</P> + +<P> +"Wound! it was nothing," he said, "an arrow in the shoulder which your +boy would have laughed at." +</P> + +<P> +And then Lady Eleanor beckoned to the children to come up; and old Lord +Fitzdenys gave Dick two fingers and Elsie one, for he said that if her +hand was like her mother's it could not hold more. But Colonel George +gave Dick his whole hand, and bent down to kiss Elsie's as he had +kissed her mother's, which won her little heart completely. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-038"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-038.jpg" ALT="Bent down to kiss Elsie's as he had kissed her mother's." BORDER="2" WIDTH="448" HEIGHT="653"> +<H3> +[Illustration: Bent down to kiss Elsie's as he had kissed her mother's.] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Now, my dear lady," said the old gentleman, "I must ask you for the +favour of a few minutes' private conversation." +</P> + +<P> +"And I will stay with the children," said Colonel George, "for I want +to make friends again." +</P> + +<P> +Dick and Elsie were a little shy at being left alone with a stranger; +but before he could say a word to them the Corporal appeared leading +the pony towards the stable. He saluted Colonel Fitzdenys, and was +going on, but the Colonel at once called to him by name and shook his +hand warmly, while the Corporal beamed with pleasure, and said how glad +he was to see his honour returned in good health. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! do you know the Corporal?" asked Dick timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Know the Corporal?" said Colonel George. "I should think I did know +him, and a fine, brave fellow he is. Why, he saved my life once, he +and your father. I was lieutenant in your father's troop, and at the +very first skirmish in which we were engaged in the war, I was hit +here, in the shoulder, so that I could not hold my reins. My horse ran +away with me, right into the middle of the French, and there was not +another horse in the regiment that could catch him, except your +father's horse, Billy Pitt. But he came galloping after me as hard as +he could ride, and caught him; and Brimacott, who was his servant, +followed as fast as he could, and between them they brought me back +from the middle of the enemy, or perhaps I shouldn't be here now. So I +have good reason to remember Brimacott and Billy Pitt. Do you remember +Billy Pitt?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's here in the stable," said both the children in a breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Then let us go and see Billy Pitt, for he's a very old friend of +mine," said the Colonel, and away he walked to the stable with the +children following him. The old horse seemed to know him, for he +pricked his ears and kept nuzzling with his nose all over the Colonel's +coat, until he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out an apple for +him. "Look there," said the Colonel, passing his hand along the scar +on the horse's neck. "The time came for Billy to get wounded and for +me to look after him, as he had saved me. That was at Salamanca." He +stopped for a minute and laid his hands on the children's shoulders. +"Poor Billy had lost his master, you know, and came galloping up to me +with his saddle empty, for he knew my horse well. And then he remained +by my side, moving when I moved and stopping when I stopped, and +charging with us when we charged. He came out of the fight with this +cut on his neck. Poor Brimacott was badly wounded in the leg, and +there was no one to look after the old horse, so I sewed up Billy's +wound myself and kept him. He was well long before the Corporal—I +made him corporal, you know—and, indeed, poor Brimacott was never fit +for rough work again, so when he went home I sent Billy with him." +</P> + +<P> +Then nothing would serve the children but that Colonel Fitzdenys must +ride Billy again; so a snaffle was put into his mouth and the Colonel +mounted him bare-backed, and took him for a little turn in the park and +leaped him over the bar, to their great delight. Then all three went +back to the garden again, and the children began plying him with +questions. His own poor horse was dead, the Colonel told them; he had +carried him all through the Peninsular War but had been killed at +Waterloo. The Colonel himself had been in the wars in India since +then, and the name of the battle was Maheidpore, but the Duke of +Wellington was not there. He had seen the Duke, however, only a few +days before in London, but he wasn't dressed in his red coat and cocked +hat, and he believed that the Duke never slept in his red coat and +cocked hat now. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the Corporal like the Duke?" asked Dick anxiously. No! the Colonel +could not truthfully say that he was, but the Corporal was the bigger +man of the two, which was a consolation to the children. +</P> + +<P> +Then the children asked him about Boney, for Polly Short, who had been +their maid, had told them that he was a "riglar monster," and she had +heard it from her first cousin's wife's brother-law, who was a sergeant +of Marines. But the Colonel said that Polly was wrong, for he had seen +Boney himself at St. Helena, and he was not in the least like a +monster, but a little fat man with a pale face and auburn hair, not +nearly as big as the Corporal. And Boney had made no attempt to eat +him up, but had received him with the pleasantest smile that he had +ever seen, and had told him that English horses were good. "And of +course he was thinking of Billy," said Elsie, "when he said that." +</P> + +<P> +And then the Colonel brought out pencil and paper and drew pictures of +Boney and of the Duke, and of Bheels and Pindarrees and Mahrattas and +other strange people against whom he had fought in India. He also +assured Dick that he had drunk puddle-water, like Lord Willoughby's +men, and had been very glad to get it. Finally he produced a little +silver bangle hung with curious silver coins which he put on Elsie's +wrist for her very own, and a knife in a sheath for Dick. The knife +was not very sharp, but then the sheath was beautiful. So that by the +time when Lord Fitzdenys and Lady Eleanor came out to look for them, +they found the children hanging on to the Colonel's arms and calling +him Colonel George as if they had known him all their lives. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Fitzdenys called Colonel George to him; and he left the children +to join Lady Eleanor, who told him the story of Tommy Fry, and asked +him what he made of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Witchcraft, of course, is nonsense," he said, "but there are people +who can wield such influence as this over others, the power of a +stronger will over a weaker, I suppose. One hears of it often in +India. Probably the boy will recover in a day or two, when he gets +over his fright." +</P> + +<P> +"But if he does not?" said Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, if the doctor can't deal with it, the best thing we can do will +be to find the woman; and if she has bound the boy by force of her will +to be silent, to make her release him again. Where does she live?" +</P> + +<P> +"No one knows," said Lady Eleanor, and repeated what Mrs. Fry had told +her. +</P> + +<P> +"I never remember any one being pixy-led but that cider was at the +bottom of it," said Colonel George. "As to the dragon, I expect that +Jimmy Beer chanced upon an old stag which looked very big and terrible +in the mist, and that the print of his cloven hoof was the mark of his +slot in the ground. The moor is wide, but I cannot think it will be +very difficult to find this woman." +</P> + +<P> +"I should be greatly relieved if we could, if only to prevent her from +playing such tricks in future," said Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I will make it my business to find her," said Colonel George, "if +my father approves; and you need trouble yourself no more about the +matter, but leave it to me." +</P> + +<P> +Old Lord Fitzdenys quite approved, and stumped off by himself to look +at a shrub which he could never induce to grow at his own place. Then +the children came running up to show their treasures, and Lady Eleanor +looked into Colonel George's face with eyes full of gratitude, and said +"How good of you! You never forget them, and you are rather inclined +to spoil them. You did when you came back from the Peninsula, and +again after Waterloo, and now after all these years you are just the +same." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said quietly, "I am just the same. Why should I be changed?" +He stopped rather abruptly; and Lady Eleanor began a new subject by +saying that she wanted to hear all about India. So the two walked +about the garden talking, and seemed to have plenty to say. Indeed +they were still talking hard, and did not seem to want to be +interrupted, when old Lord Fitzdenys came back to say that it was time +for him to return. The old gentleman took his leave with the same +stately courtesy; but both the children put up their cheeks to be +kissed by Colonel George, who promised to come back to them soon. Then +seeing Mrs. Fry waiting outside they spoke a few words to her and took +a look at Tommy, whose mouth was smeared with brown sugar from Lady +Eleanor's still-room. The Corporal held open the gate with his best +salute, and they cantered down over the park, Colonel George turning in +his saddle to look back and wave his hand before they finally +disappeared from sight. +</P> + +<P> +"It is pleasant to see Colonel Fitzdenys again," said Lady Eleanor to +the Corporal, as he held the door for her. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a treat to look upon his face, my Lady," said the Corporal, "a +noble gentleman like that who never forgets the humblest of his +friends. I've always said that if I were not in your Ladyship's +service there is no one that I would serve so willingly as he. 'Tis no +wonder that his honour the Captain and he were friends, for there +wasn't two such gentlemen in the army." +</P> + +<P> +So when the children rejoined the Corporal they heard nothing but the +praises of Colonel Fitzdenys, of his bravery, his gentleness, and his +excellence as an officer; all of which they passed on in the evening to +Lady Eleanor, who seemed quite content to hear it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + + +<P> +Notwithstanding Colonel George's hopes, Tommy Fry remained dumb during +the next day, and the next, and the next; and Lady Eleanor became +seriously alarmed. She sent for the apothecary from the little +neighbouring town, by Colonel George's advice, and he duly arrived in +his yellow gig; but he frankly confessed that he could do nothing. So +he wisely went away, as Mrs. Fry indignantly put it, without leaving so +much as a drench behind him, or taking so much as a drop of blood from +the boy, whereas every one knew (or at any rate the villagers did) that +the evil spirit, which no doubt possessed poor Tommy, might have left +him if a convenient outlet had been made with a lancet, or if the boy +had swallowed a few doses of the nastiest possible medicine such as +evil spirits find it impossible to live with. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor having failed, a local preacher was called in, who with the +assistance of certain of his flock screamed and sang and raved over +Tommy for several hours, making such a noise as set Lady Eleanor's +peacocks screaming till they could scream no more. The boy was at +first rather terrified, but as his helpers became more vehement and +their antics more grotesque, he lost his fright and was intensely +amused. Finally the whole congregation rose and, headed by the +preacher, rushed out of the house with wild cries that the evil spirit +had left Tommy and that they would hunt it out of the village. None +the less the boy remained dumb; so that the evil spirit, if ever it had +thought of going, had certainly changed its mind very quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Both doctor and preacher having failed, Mrs. Fry was at her wits' end; +but her neighbours pointed out that witchcraft could be met only by +witchcraft; and a remark made by her nearest neighbour, Mrs. Mugford, +soon brought her round to their mind. "'Tisn't witchcraft," said Mrs. +Mugford very loudly in Mrs. Fry's hearing, "'tis a jidgment on evil +tongues, and the sins of parents that's visited on the children. The +mother goeth back and vor biting and slandering, and the mouth of the +innocent child is stopped." Mrs. Fry wept with rage as she heard the +words, for she had no answer ready. But she was more than ever +convinced from that moment that it was witchcraft which had wrought the +mischief in poor Tommy, and that only further witchcraft could undo it. +Despite the sad end of her pig, owing to the malignant influence of the +white witch of Gratton, she now lamented the death of the old man and +wished that he were back, if only for one day, that she might consult +him and show her contempt for Mrs. Mugford. As things were, she was +fain to fall back on her neighbours to learn where some wizard or wise +women of equal power could be discovered; and it was with dismay that +she found that not one of any repute was to hand nearer than the +borders of Dartmoor, fifty miles away. In vain she questioned hawkers, +waggoners, and the guards of the coaches, any passing folks in fact +that had seen the world; not one could enlighten her. +</P> + +<P> +The neighbours, however, were ready enough with suggestions of their +own, of which the commonest was that Tommy's tongue should be split +with a silver sixpence. It is possible that some attempt might have +been made to perform this operation, for abundance of sixpences were +offered for the purpose; and there was a crooked one of the time of +Queen Anne from which great things were expected, for it was said to +have been given by the Queen herself when, touching children for the +King's Evil. Unfortunately, however, not one of these designs escaped +the keen ears of Mrs. Mugford, who at once communicated them to the +Corporal. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis not that I hold with them as slanders their neighbours, Mr. +Brimacott," she said, "nor that I bear no malice against them that +can't let a poor boy go to sea to sarve the King without a-saying that +his mother drave mun from home. I could tell of many in this parish as +isn't no better than they should be, and yet takes her Ladyship's +kindness and charity as if no one hadn't no right to it but themselves. +I could tell of such, but I won't, not I. But I'm not going to stand +by and see an innocent boy's tongue cut out of his mouth; though I +wouldn't say, Mr. Brimacott, but what there's tongues in the parish +that would be the better for cutting." +</P> + +<P> +It was in this appalling form that the projected operation with the +sixpence made its way through the Corporal to Lady Eleanor, who was +horrified. She at once sent for both Mrs. Mugford and Mrs. Fry to get +at the truth of the story, and gave them such a scolding for their +folly and their quarrelsomeness that they departed weeping hand in +hand, in deep sympathy with each other as two thoroughly ill-used +women. They were a little frightened too, for though they had long +known Lady Eleanor as the gentlest and kindest of creatures, they now +found out that her beautiful face could be stern, and her voice sharp +and severe in rebuke; but for all their crying they knew in their +hearts that they liked her all the better for it. +</P> + +<P> +So all attempts to heal Tommy by magic were stopped; and meanwhile +Colonel George scoured the moor in all directions without the least +success in finding out anything about the strange woman and her idiot +son. He had ridden first to Cossacombe, which was twenty miles away on +the other side of the moor, and had heard that the woman had been seen +there occasionally, but the idiot never; in fact no one seemed to know +anything about him. He learned also that she had brought down some +honey for sale on the day following her appearance at Ashacombe, and +had bought a sack of oatmeal at the mill, which she had taken away on a +scarecrow of an Exmoor pony. There were of course sundry stories of +her, but these were dark and uncertain, and of no value for tracing her +to her dwelling place. Then Colonel George took long rides over the +moor, crossing it this way and that from end to end, in the hope of +finding what he sought; for he had made up his mind that this strange +couple were lodged somewhere in the waste of bog and heather. But he +failed to find the least trace of them; and indeed the moor is wide now +and was far wider and wilder and more desolate in those days, before +there was a fence or a ditch to be found in the whole of it. Then +stag-hunting began, and Colonel George felt confident that with so many +people galloping over the moorland in all directions he must certainly +learn something; but here again he was disappointed. Still he went on +trying day after day, and very often came home by Ashacombe, when he +did not fail to call at Bracefort Hall, where everybody was glad to see +him, whatever the failure of his efforts. +</P> + +<P> +Thus a whole month passed away without any change in Tommy Fry or any +sign that might give hope of discovering the strange woman. Lady +Eleanor then became very unhappy indeed, and blamed herself for letting +her go without further inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George still insisted that all would soon right itself, for he +was pained to see how much Lady Eleanor took the matter to heart, but +in truth he too was at his wits' end. And indeed those two distressed +themselves over Tommy Fry far more than anybody else; for Mrs. Fry +gained great importance from her boy's misfortune. Folks from +neighbouring villages came to see for themselves if the story that they +had heard was true; and from time to time some gentleman passing to or +from the hunting-field would drop in, when Tommy was produced and +proved to be speechless, while Mrs. Fry told the tale with every +harrowing detail. The great Lord Fitzdenys himself came once, and the +doctor regained favour in Mrs. Fry's eyes by bringing another doctor to +see what he called "this interesting case;" and as none of the +gentlemen ever went away without giving a few pence to the boy and a +few shillings to his mother, the family of Fry gained both dignity and +profit. Nor were the Frys at first the only gainers, for, Tommy being +of a generous nature, there was an uncommon demand for Sally Dart's +toffee, until Mrs. Fry, perceiving how quickly his money disappeared, +thought it prudent to take care of it for him. +</P> + +<P> +Then suddenly one day there came an event which revived all the hopes +of Colonel George and Lady Eleanor. For one beautiful evening while +Dick and Elsie were wandering with the Corporal round the fence of the +park to pick blackberries, they heard a strange whistling in the wood +beyond. At first they thought that it was a bird, but the Corporal +said that he had never heard such a bird in his life, though the sound +seemed to pass so swiftly from place to place that it was difficult to +think what it might be. They followed the sound along the fence for a +little way, and then suddenly the Corporal shaded his eyes with his +hand for a moment, and telling the children to wait till he came back, +ran away down the fence as fast as his lame leg would carry him, turned +into the wood by a hunting-gate and disappeared. The children wondered +for a time what could have happened, but discovering some very fine +ripe blackberries soon turned to picking and tasting them again, when +suddenly they heard the whistling close to them, and again still +closer; and presently there was a little rustle through the bushes, and +there stood the idiot before them, still whistling. They were at first +a little frightened, but too much astonished to cry out; and the ragged +creature (for he had just the same appearance as when they had first +seen him) grinned at them so kindly that they could not help smiling +back. He looked round him nervously for a moment and then holding up +his finger as if to bid them keep silence, he scrambled down from the +fence to them, and produced a rudely made cage of hazel-wands from +under his coat. This he opened, and took from it a bullfinch, which +perched on his finger without attempting to fly away. Then he whistled +a few notes and the bird began to pipe a little tune, though the man +was obliged to remind him of his note now and again. Then he whistled +few more notes and the bird piped another tune or part of one, after +which he lifted the bird to his face and the little creature laid its +beak against his lips. He then listened nervously for a few seconds, +shut he bird up in the cage again, put the cage into little Elsie's +hand, nodding and smiling all the time, jumped over the fence into the +wood and was gone. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-055"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-055.jpg" ALT="The bird began to pipe a little tune." BORDER="2" WIDTH="452" HEIGHT="652"> +<H3> +[Illustration: The bird began to pipe a little tune.] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The Corporal came back a few minutes later, very hot, out of breath, +and very nearly out of temper. He had caught sight of some one in the +wood, he said, a poacher or some one who had no business there, and +made sure to have caught him or at any rate to have found out who he +was. But when he heard the children's story he opened his eyes wide +and said that they had better go home at once; and that very same +evening he rode over to Fitzdenys Court with a letter from Lady Eleanor +to Colonel George. But the children were far too much taken up by the +bullfinch to think of anything else, for the bird took courage to pipe +a little to Dick's whistling, and then they discovered that one of his +tunes was "The British Grenadiers." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George duly came over next morning and was not a little +astonished to hear what had happened, but could not explain it in the +least. "The children will solve this mystery before I shall, you will +see," he said to Lady Eleanor, laughing, "and I may as well give up the +attempt." +</P> + +<P> +"But do you not think that this proves these two people to be harmless +and innocent?" asked Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"You judged them to be so from the first," he answered, "and that is +sufficient for me." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Eleanor hesitated for a moment, and then said that he must come +and see the bullfinch. So Elsie produced the bird with great pride, +and Colonel George recognised one tune as "The British Grenadiers" and +the other as part of "Lillibulero," the famous marching song which was +so popular with King William's soldiers. "Strange," he said, "that +both tunes should be marching tunes. What can it mean?" +</P> + +<P> +But before they had done with the bullfinch, a frightened woman came +hurrying up with the news that old Sally Dart was taken bad. She had +got up as usual and begun to lay the fire, but the neighbours seeing no +more of her had entered the cottage and found her lying on the floor, +speechless, with one side of her face pulled down. Lady Eleanor at +once sent for the doctor, and walked down with Colonel George to see +what she could do; but as they came back they found that there was +fresh excitement in another quarter. The village preacher's cow had +also been taken bad; her calf was dead already, and it was doubtful if +the cow could be saved. Finally, Mrs. Mugford was seen weeping over +the ghastly heads of six or eight fowls which lay in a heap before her +door. The said fowls, so Colonel George ascertained from her, had +strayed away in the previous night, which she had never known them do +before, and the keeper had found the heads scattered about the wood not +far from an earth where an old vixen was known to have brought up a +litter of cubs. What could have possessed the fowls Mrs. Mugford +couldn't say, for her old stag (and she selected the head of a +venerable cock from the heap as she spoke, to give point to her remark) +was so sensible as a Christian almost. +</P> + +<P> +"What a day of misfortunes!" said Lady Eleanor, as they left the +disconsolate woman. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed," said Colonel George, "I only hope that they may end +here. Listen!" And as he spoke the voice of Mrs. Fry rose high from +the garden above. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said, "the mazed man was up to the park yesterday. The +young gentleman and the little lady seed mun; and the witch wasn't far +away, you may depend. She's a-witched mun all; that's what it is; and +now maybe," she added with a triumphant glance at the weeping Mrs. +Mugford, "there's some as won't be so sartain as they was as to the +doings of witches." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Eleanor gave a little laugh, but turned suddenly grave, and asked +Colonel George anxiously, "Do you think that they really believe it?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is no doubt that they believe it," he said quietly. "It is best +to face facts." +</P> + +<P> +"But if it should lead to trouble?" said Lady Eleanor. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait till the trouble comes," he said, "and then send for me. You may +be sure that I shall come." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + + +<P> +The day of misfortunes brought about very much such results as Colonel +George had foreseen. Old Sally Dart, it is true, recovered, though she +was sadly shaken; and she declared, as soon as she could speak, that +she was not going yet awhile, not at any rate till she had heard the +full story of her Jan's death. But on the other hand the preacher's +cow did die, and as the preacher himself was but a small farmer of +eight or ten acres of land, the loss to him was very serious. Mrs. +Mugford, too, was thoroughly converted to belief in witchcraft by the +loss of her fowls; though since Tommy Fry's noise no longer disturbed +her, and her fowls were no longer numerous enough to make havoc of Mrs. +Fry's garden, she and Mrs. Fry lived for the present in comparative +peace. Hoping therefore to do something to destroy the belief in +witches and to soften the harsh feeling against them, Lady Eleanor +wrote to the parson to speak on the subject in next Sunday's sermon. +</P> + +<P> +Her hopes, however, were not very great. There was no parson living in +the village, the parish being so small that it was joined to another +and served by an old, old man, who wore his hair in powder and droned +through one service only on Sundays in the little dark church at +Ashacombe. The congregation was always small, and perhaps the three +most enthusiastic members were Dick, Elsie, and the Corporal. For the +Corporal had inherited a violoncello, or as it was always called in the +village, a bass viol, from his father, and played it in the little +gallery along with the two violins, flageolet and bassoon that formed +the rest of the band. The notes that he could play were few, though +sufficient for the humble needs of the church, but the children had no +doubt that he was the finest performer in the world, and watched +anxiously for the minute when he should begin sawing away at the +strings, and the choir should break (very much through their noses) +into the anthem, "I will arise, I will arise and goo tu my va-ther," +with which the service always began. +</P> + +<P> +The old parson, though he did attempt to fulfil Lady Eleanor's wishes +in his sermon, only succeeded in being duller and longer than usual, +and neither Dick nor Elsie could understand what he was talking about. +Moreover they had been much distracted by a printed handbill which they +had seen on the church door, headed in large letters by the word +"Deserted," with the description of a deserter named Henry Bale from +the Royal Marines, set forth in the usual terms—"Height five feet four +inches, fair hair, grey eyes; when last seen was dressed in his +regimentals," and so on. This had set Dick thinking very seriously, +for the Corporal had always told him that no man was so bad as he that +deserted his colours and ran away from the King's service; and he had +hardly believed that such people could exist. And the bill had set +other people thinking too, for a reward of two guineas was offered for +this deserter, which made sundry poor mouths water; so that altogether +the parson's long sermon was not much listened to, many heads being +occupied with an attempt to remember some strange man five feet four +inches in height, with fair hair and grey eyes, and dressed in +regimentals. +</P> + +<P> +When service was over, the Corporal solemnly packed up his bass viol in +a bag of green baize, and was about to carry it off, when he was +stopped by the village preacher, who begged the loan of it for the +evening. But the Corporal, who as a soldier and Lady Eleanor's servant +was a staunch supporter of Church and King, did not like the preacher, +who was always railing against all authority and driving silly maids +into hysterics with his ravings; so he answered him very civilly (for +he never quarrelled with any one) that he was afraid he could not. The +preacher, however, would not take no for an answer, and tried to +wheedle the Corporal, who at last told him very decidedly that his +father had played that viol in the church at Fitzdenys for forty years, +and he himself at Ashacombe for near seven years more, and that he +would be hanged if it should ever enter a chapel so long as he was +alive. With which words he drew himself up to his full height and +stalked away. +</P> + +<P> +The preacher was not a little annoyed, for he wanted the viol for his +own service at the chapel, where he was going to preach directly +contrary to the old parson. Moreover at the close of his service there +was to be a collection to make good to him the loss of his cow, so that +it was important to him that all should go off as well as possible. +However, notwithstanding the absence of the viol, his discourse was +enough to gain for him a good collection, to strengthen the general +belief in witches, and to influence the minds of the villagers against +them; for he singled out those who dealt leniently with witches for +punishment, either in the near or distant future, which was just what +his congregation was glad to hear. Not that the preacher was a bad +man, certainly not worse than his neighbours, but he was as ignorant +and superstitious as any of them. +</P> + +<P> +Great cackling there was among the women when the discourse was ended. +It was Lady Eleanor who had delivered the witch and the idiot out of +their hands; but the villagers could not suspect her of harm who was +always so thoughtful and kind, and who had given more than any one +towards replacing the preacher's cow. "But her ladyship's that +tender-hearted, you see," they said, "and the best of folks is +sometimes mistook;" and they shook their heads solemnly, each thinking +in her heart that she knew of at least one excellent person who was +never mistaken. But who was it that had excused the mazed man to her +ladyship? The Corporal. Who had contrived to be out of the way, +though in charge of the children, when the mazed man came to them? The +Corporal again. +</P> + +<P> +So the whisper went round that the Corporal was in league with the +witch; and the preacher, who had not forgotten about the bass viol, +though he said only a few mysterious words, seemed rather to agree. +Then Mrs. Fry revealed the fact that she had suspected the Corporal +from the first; for to begin with he was a soldier. +</P> + +<P> +"And what drove he to 'list?" she asked indignantly. "No good, I'll +warrant mun. 'Tisn't good that drives men to 'list. There was Jan +Dart that 'listed twenty year agone, and 'ticed away Lucy Clatworthy to +follow mun, her that was only child of Jeremiah Clatworthy up to +Loudacott; and the old Jeremiah got drinking and died after she left +mun. And there's Jan's old mother, poor soul, that loved mun as the +apple of her eye, waiting here alone, and I reckon her time's short. +No! I knows what it is when men go for sojers." +</P> + +<P> +It was perhaps fortunate that Mrs. Mugford was not at chapel that +evening or there might have been angry words; but the rest of the +women, having no interest in soldiers, with perfect honesty agreed with +Mrs. Fry, and lamented that her ladyship should be so misguided as to +employ a man like the Corporal, for it would surely end in no +good,—sojers never did. Look at Mrs. Mugford's boy that went for a +marine, and came back with the shakums so bad that you could hear his +teeth chattering a mile away when the fit was on him. The conversation +would have lingered long on the symptoms of "shakums," or in other +words of ague, had not some one called to mind the bill on the +church-door about the deserter. Then the tongues were set wagging +afresh. Two guineas were a lot of money, they said, but soldiers was +often badly served, and 'twas no wonder they runned away. But it +wasn't well to have strange men about the place, least of all sojers, +for they never learned no good. +</P> + +<P> +The mention of strange men about the place of course brought back the +subject of the idiot, and then the thought occurred to one of the women +that he might be the deserter in question. The idea was at once taken +up by her companions, and the more they talked, the more likely it +seemed to them. The man had been driven from his regiment probably +because of his evil doings, and was come to Ashacombe to plague them; +and all agreed that it would be very pleasant to earn two guineas by +the catching of him. Mrs. Fry went home brimful of this new notion and +poured it out to Mrs. Mugford, who listened with unusual interest, and +without either contradiction or interruption, which was a most unusual +thing. But at last she broke out with much earnestness: +</P> + +<P> +"You'm right, you may depend, Mrs. Fry; you'm right. That mazed man is +the man that they'm a-sarching for; and it's my belief that he isn't +mazed at all but so well in his head as you and I be,—just pretending +like. And you'm right about that Brimacott too, and I do hope that +every one will let mun know that he's not welcome in Ashacombe. He's a +prying man and a tale-bearing man, that's what I believe he is, and all +to deceive her ladyship and keep friends with the witch. But we'll +catch that mazed man for all his pretending, and there there will be +two guineas for you and me." +</P> + +<P> +Any one else but Mrs. Fry might have thought it strange for the +Corporal to be called a tale-bearer by the very woman who had told +tales against her; but Mrs. Fry was not a clever woman, and after all +she had suffered under Lady Eleanor's tongue through the Corporal's +report. Lady Eleanor knew that if the Corporal told her anything that +went on in the village, which he very rarely did, it was right that she +should know it; but that was not Mrs. Fry's opinion. So the two agreed +that the Corporal was an enemy to the village, though, as is usually +the way, they never thought of complaining to Lady Eleanor of him. +</P> + +<P> +But had Mrs. Fry stayed at home instead of going to chapel, she would +have understood better the meaning of Mrs. Mugford's words. For having +packed off her husband, who was a feeble creature, to take the children +out for a walk, Mrs. Mugford stationed herself at a window from which +she could see any one that came down from the woods at the back of the +house; and after a time she saw a shortish man, fair-haired and +blue-eyed, walk stealthily down to her. He was a miserable-looking +fellow, with a pinched white face, matted hair and new-grown beard, and +dressed only in a shirt and a pair of light-blue soldier's trousers. +She smuggled him quickly into the house and locked the door; and when +after a quarter of an hour the door opened again, and after due looking +round the man was let out, he was dressed like an ordinary labourer. +He carried bread and bacon tied up in a handkerchief in his hand, and +disappeared into the wood as quickly as he could; and as soon as he was +gone Mrs. Mugford very solemnly put the trousers and shirt, that he had +worn when he came in, upon the fire and burned them. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + + +<P> +So another fortnight passed away, and nothing happened to disturb the +usual peace of Ashacombe. Nothing was seen or heard of the idiot or +his mother nor of any one who corresponded to the description of the +deserter. The Corporal indeed realised that the tone of the village +towards him was not so friendly as before, but he set that down to the +preacher's influence and took little notice of it; for indeed he cared +little so long as he was with Lady Eleanor and the children, and could +count Colonel Fitzdenys among his friends. +</P> + +<P> +But up at the Hall there were heavy hearts; for Lady Eleanor had +spoken, not for the first time, to Colonel George about sending Dick to +school, and he had answered that it was high time for him to go, as it +was a bad thing for boys to stay too long at home with their mothers; +and he said that he himself had been sent to school at six, whereas +Dick was already nine. He added that by chance he had heard of a good +school while passing through London, and would arrange matters for her +if she wished it. It was rather strange, by the way, that Colonel +George always happened by chance to know everything that could save +Lady Eleanor trouble. So with a sigh Lady Eleanor had assented that +Dick should go; and it had been settled that he should leave in a few +weeks. Dick was rather triumphant, Elsie rather jealous, the Corporal +in secret rather sad, and Lady Eleanor very melancholy. +</P> + +<P> +So one day early in September Lady Eleanor promised the children that +for an unusual treat they should have a ride with the Corporal rather +further than usual on to the moor. She would not ride herself, for her +favourite horse was lame, but settled that she would drive them some +way up the valley in the afternoon, and there meet the Corporal, who +would go on before them leading the ponies, and ride with them on to +the moor. Accordingly on the appointed day the Corporal rode through +the village on old Billy, leading a pony on each side. Not a soul +wished him good-day, and the Corporal felt that all were making +unpleasant remarks—indeed he caught the words, "Dear! to think that +they sweet children should be trusted to such as he." +</P> + +<P> +But he trotted on without taking any notice, up the valley to the +appointed meeting-place. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Eleanor drove up rather late, for the horse-flies had been very +troublesome; and the children seeing the grey pony which drew them +covered all over with little flecks of blood, had constantly entreated +her to stop while they jumped down and knocked the flies off him. At +last, however, she came. The children mounted their ponies, Dick very +proud of a new saddle and stirrups to which he had been promoted after +leaping the bar bare-backed, and they rode away up a grass path to the +covert, kissing their hands as they went. +</P> + +<P> +And then Lady Eleanor turned round and drove down the valley, feeling +very lonely and unhappy over the prospect of losing Dick. Her thoughts +wandered back to her first meeting with Richard Bracefort, the handsome +captain of Light Dragoons, her engagement, her wedding in a London +drawing-room, and her first visit to Bracefort Hall. Then had come +some two years of happy life in country-quarters. Those were pleasant +days to look back on, when her husband would come in from parade and +say that he believed he had in his troop as good officers and men as +were to be found in the service; while George Fitzdenys, the +lieutenant, would tell her that there were few such officers as her +husband to be found in the Army, and the little cornet, who was little +more than a boy, would be lavish in praise of both. Her maid again was +always repeating to her what Brimacott, then her husband's +soldier-servant, said of the devotion of the men to the captain. +Finally there came the crowning happiness of the birth of the children; +and she still remembered seeing a little knot of troopers gathered +round the diminutive creatures called Dick and Elsie. +</P> + +<P> +But, very soon after, came the miserable day when the regiment was +ordered on active service, and she rode with her husband at the head of +his troop to the rendezvous. She could see him still as he appeared +mounted on Billy Pitt that day. Then followed the embarkation of men +and horses, and a desperate struggle with Billy, who objected to be +slung on board; and finally the last glimpse of sails disappearing over +the horizon and the long drive westward to Bracefort Hall. There old +Mr. Bracefort's delight over her arrival and over the children had +almost brought happiness back to her again; and cheerful letters from +Spain kept hope alive. But when the regiment reached the front, the +tragedy of war soon made itself felt. George Fitzdenys was badly +wounded in the first skirmish, two of the best troopers were killed and +others wounded; and, after that, twelve months of service seemed to cut +off member after member of what Fitzdenys had called the happiest troop +in the Army. The little cornet was shot dead, the troop-sergeant-major +drowned while crossing a treacherous ford, this trooper maimed for +life, that trooper—but she could not bear to think of it. And then +came the morning in August when old Mr. Bracefort had come in white and +trembling to break to her the news of Salamanca. It was well that in +those dreary days she had been obliged to look after him and give him +the comfort which he tried, but in vain, to give to her. She +remembered how, for all his courage, the old gentleman had drooped and +died after the death of his son, and how all ties with the old life +seemed to be severed, but for George Fitzdenys' letters of sympathy. +Then she recalled the arrival of Brimacott and Billy Pitt, which seemed +to mark the end of one stage of her life and the beginning of a new, +and yet to carry the last relics of the past continuously into the +present. All had been peaceful since then; the war had done its worst +for her, and her only link with Spain now lay in the messages, always +punctually delivered by old Lord Fitzdenys in person, that Captain +Fitzdenys sent his respectful service to her and hoped that she and the +children were well. She remembered how she had dreaded her first +meeting with Captain Fitzdenys after the peace, and how he seemed to +have realised that her whole life now lay in the children, and had made +friends with them at once. He had helped her through some difficulties +of business and had then rushed off to the campaign of Waterloo; and he +had come back safe and sound only to run away again after a few months +to India. And now he was back once more, in time to be of help to her; +but Dick must go to school and the happy home must be broken up again. +She sighed sadly, wondering where it all would end. +</P> + +<P> +In this frame of mind she returned and sat in the hall waiting for the +children to come back. Six o'clock came, and there was no sign of +them. The long twilight faded slowly without a sound of hoofs on the +drive; seven o'clock struck; and she rang the bell and asked if nothing +had been seen of the Corporal and the children. The answer was +"Nothing;" and she waited in growing anxiety, listening for the trample +of the ponies or the sound of the children's voices, but hearing only +the ticking of the clock; until unable to endure the suspense, she went +out and walked first into the yard and then into the road by which they +should come. The night was fine, but overcast by light clouds of grey +mist, through which the moon pierced but very faintly. More than once +her hopes were raised by the sound of hoofs, and dashed to the ground +by the drone of wheels or by the appearance of a fat farmer jogging +home. She asked more than one if they had seen a man on a brown horse +and two children on ponies, but they only answered "no," and wished her +civilly good night. In this way the rumour passed through the village +that the Corporal and the children were missing; and many wondered, but +made no doubt that they would be back presently. As Lady Eleanor came +back to the house, the clock struck eight, and she returned to the Hall +with a deadly sinking at her heart. A quarter of an hour later, she +heard the Corporal's step, limping heavier than usual, and jumped to +her feet; and the Corporal came in, looking white and haggard and +weary, but braced himself to his usual erect attitude when he saw her, +and stood at attention. +</P> + +<P> +Then he told his story quietly and clearly. They had ridden right up +to the highest point of a ridge, as they had designed, to look over the +moor to the coast of Wales; and while they were standing there a deer +had come by, and they had ridden down a little further to see what +should come next. And then the hounds had come up in full cry and only +half-a-dozen horsemen, among whom was Colonel Fitzdenys, anywhere near +them. Old Billy was so much excited that the Corporal could hardly +hold him, and at last the old horse fairly bolted away with him and the +two ponies after him. The Corporal had managed to pull up Billy, but +the two ponies had shot past him, both the children crying out with +delight, and while galloping on to catch them Billy had come down in a +boggy place, and the corporal supposed that he himself must have been a +bit stunned, for when he got up he found that he had let go of his rein +and that Billy and everybody else had disappeared. He had followed the +tracks of the horse as well as he could and had found him in the next +combe by the water, but had had a deal of trouble to catch him; and +though he had shouted and holloaed for the children he had neither seen +nor heard anything of them. Then as soon as he had ridden to the top +of the hill again, the mist came down thick and heavy, and there was no +seeing anything. So with some trouble he found his way back to the +road, being obliged to travel slowly, as the old horse had lamed +himself. He had left word at every house that he passed, and parties +had gone up the road in the valley with lanterns. "I hope and trust, +my Lady," said the Corporal in conclusion, "that Master Dick and Miss +Elsie have followed the hunt to the end, for his honour the colonel +will see to them. A man that I met on the road promised to carry a +message to Fitzdenys Court, but the deer was travelling fast, so I +doubt if the colonel will come home to-night unless so be as he must. +But, if you please, my Lady, I'll just take another horse and ride over +to the Court myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Can nothing more be done?" said Lady Eleanor, calmed in spite of +herself by the Corporal's calmness and forethought. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, I fear, my Lady," he answered sadly; "it's terrible thick out +over." +</P> + +<P> +"But you are hurt," said Lady Eleanor, noticing the paleness of his +face, and the effort which it cost him to walk. +</P> + +<P> +"It's nothing, my Lady," he said. "I'd sooner have lost both legs than +that this should have come." And he bowed and limped out; but within +an hour and a half he came galloping back with Colonel George, who had +met him on the road, and was hurrying over to say that though he had +ridden to the death of the hunted stag he had seen nothing of the +children then nor at any other time. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the fog as thick on the moor as they say?" asked Lady Eleanor, +speaking bravely, though she was white to the lips. +</P> + +<P> +"So thick that without a compass I could not have found my way across +it," said Colonel George. "It is right that you should know the truth. +But the farmers on the edge of the moor know what has happened and are +riding as far as they dare with whistles and horns—Brimacott saw to +that—and I propose to join them myself at once." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall go with you," said Lady Eleanor, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George hesitated for a moment and then answered as quietly: "Be +it so; then you must ride my horse, which is cleverer on the moor than +any of yours. I will take my groom's, and you must let him have a +horse to take back some directions from me to Fitzdenys. Brimacott, +with your permission, shall watch the road by which you drove out this +morning, in case the ponies should find their way there." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Eleanor soon came down in her habit, impatient to start, but found +Colonel George writing, with a tray of food and drink set down by him. +"You cannot start until you have eaten something," was all that he +said. "We may have a long ride and a long watch before us;" and Lady +Eleanor gulped down a few morsels, for she felt, while hardly knowing +why, that Colonel George had taken command and that she must obey +orders. In a few minutes he finished writing and sent the letter back +to Fitzdenys Court. Then he slung a field-glass over his shoulders; +and Lady Eleanor's heart sank low as she walked with him to the door, +for she perceived that he expected the search to be prolonged beyond +the night. "Courage," he said, as if reading her thoughts; and they +went out and rode away together into the dark. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + + +<P> +And what had become of Dick and Elsie? The account given by the +Corporal had, of course, been perfectly true. It was Dick who had been +the first to see the hunted stag about a quarter of a mile away, +travelling along at that steady lurching gallop which seems so slow and +is so astonishingly swift; and it had needed all the Corporal's +firmness to keep the boy from galloping after him on the spot. And +then after a time the hounds had come on upon the line of the deer, +their great white bodies conspicuous as they strode on in long drawn +file across the waste of pale green grass, and the sound of their deep +voices booming faintly over the vast solitude. Surely and steadily +they pressed on, seeming like the deer to move but slowly, but in +reality running their hardest with a swinging relentless stride. There +was something almost dreamlike in this strange procession as it moved +on between green earth and blue heaven, with none to see it, as it +appeared, but the white-winged curlew which whistled mournfully +overhead. But presently a little group of horsemen appeared on the far +side of the hounds, just six of them in all. The old huntsman was +leading them, in his long skirted coat and double-peaked cap, as Dick +had often seen him, with his little legs thrust forward, his old body +bent over his saddle-bow, and his eyes glued to his hounds. Just a few +yards from him rode Colonel George, erect and easy, but also evidently +with no eyes for anything but the hounds; and close after him came +three more, while the sixth was a full hundred yards behind. +</P> + +<P> +And all the time the Corporal and the children kept moving down, as if +drawn by some fascination, insensibly closer to them. Old Billy was +worrying at his bit and dancing about, and the ponies squeaking and +dancing round him; until for the sake of peace the Corporal allowed the +old horse to move in the direction which he desired, when an impatient +trot soon turned after a few huge strides to an impatient canter, and +Billy put his head down and was off. And off the ponies went also, for +they had taken the bit in their teeth and meant to catch the hindmost +of the horsemen if they could; and neither Dick nor Elsie turned their +heads, or they would have seen Billy plunge deep into a patch of bog, +and come down heavily, throwing the Corporal far over his head. So on +they went, flying down the long slope before them, dashed across a +little stream at its foot in hot pursuit of the last of the horsemen, +and on again along a little track on the other side. The ascent was a +little steep beyond the stream, but the ponies struggled gamely up, and +then another long slope stretched downward before them, beyond which +rose a great bank of heather. The hounds had already reached the +heather and were breasting the ascent, but their voices could be heard +now and then, and the last of the horsemen was not many hundred yards +ahead. So away the ponies went again, the children nothing loth, for +they doubted not but that the Corporal was near them. By the time that +they reached the foot of the slope the ponies were beginning to roll a +little, but they splashed through the next little stream as lively as +ever, and began to gallop up through the heather on the other side. +The horseman whom the children were following was still just in sight, +hugging his horse up the ascent; but first his horse's tail disappeared +over the hill, then only his shoulders were visible, then only his hat, +and presently he vanished from sight altogether. And Dick hustled his +pony up the hill to catch him, and Elsie hustled hers after him; but +the feeble gallop soon became a slow trot, and the trot became feebler +and feebler in spite of all the hustling. Before long both ponies were +sobbing heavily, and it was only with great difficulty that the +children kept them going fast enough to regain sight of their leader. +Presently the ponies came to a dead stop, and Dick looked about him for +the Corporal; but the Corporal was nowhere to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +As a matter of fact the Corporal at that moment was just rising to his +feet, and wondering whether he was on his head or his heels. For old +Billy on finding himself in the bog had plunged madly about, +girth-deep, until he had pumped all the wind out of himself, when he +had waited quietly to recover his breath and floundered out on to the +sound ground, shaking such a shower of brown drops over the Corporal as +brought him to himself and made him stagger to his feet, rub his eyes, +and remember where he was. He soon made out in which direction Billy +was gone and presently caught sight of him, making his way to the water +to drink; but the horse was not going to let himself be caught at once, +and led the Corporal a long dance down by the water-side, where, of +course, he could see nothing of the children, though he kept hallooing +from time to time in the hope that they would hear him. +</P> + +<P> +And meanwhile the children looked round and round, wondering where they +had come from and where they should go to. They had not the least idea +where they were, and they could see no one and hear no one; but they +laid their heads together and decided that they had better go on to the +top of the hill before them, from which, as Dick said, they would be +able to see further. So as soon as the ponies had recovered their wind +they went on upward, and presently to their delight they saw far ahead +of them the horseman whom they had followed, no longer moving but +stopped still. They hustled the ponies into a gallop once more, when +to their dismay the man began to move slowly on away from them. They +called out at the top of their voices but could not make him hear, in +fact he seemed rather to quicken his pace. So they drove the ponies on +again, not noticing that tufts of grass were beginning to show +themselves in the heather over which they rode. Then the man suddenly +turned to his left and went galloping on, and the children turned also +to catch him by cutting off the corner; but the ponies seemed unable to +travel very fast, and presently Dick's pony after some desperate +floundering came right down on his nose, shooting the boy gently over +his ears, where he landed with his head and shoulders in a shallow pool +of brown peaty water. +</P> + +<P> +Dick jumped to his feet at once, for he was not a bit frightened, and +caught the pony easily; but he felt a little humiliated, for he could +just see that his white collar was stained with brown mud, and he did +not like the trickling of the water down his back. It took him a few +minutes to repair damages, and when he put his foot into the stirrup to +jump up again, the saddle began to turn round on the pony's back, and +he had to jump down again hastily and try to set the saddle right while +Elsie held the pony's rein. But while he was heaving with all his +little strength, the pony's back suddenly sank before him, and Elsie +cried out that Stonecrop (for that was the pony's name) was going to +lie down. Like a wise little woman she gave the rein a jerk, which +brought Stonecrop's head up and kept him on his legs; but Stonecrop was +so much annoyed that he whisked round and tugged so hard at the rein +that he drew it over his head; and Dick had only just time to catch +hold of it before Elsie was obliged to let go, for fear of being pulled +out of her saddle. Then Stonecrop, who was now still more annoyed and +had quite recovered his wind, refused for a long time to allow the rein +to be put over his head again, but kept dodging and backing until he +drove Elsie almost to despair. At last he backed into some soft ground +where he could not move very quickly, and Dick threw the rein over his +head; after which Stonecrop decided to behave himself, and actually +stood still for a moment to let Dick mount him. The saddle very nearly +turned round as he did so, but Elsie held on stoutly to the stirrup on +the other side, and, once mounted, Dick soon set the saddle straight +again by his weight; but both of the children were wearied and +disheartened by all these misfortunes, for Stonecrop had kept them +waiting by his antics for more than half an hour. +</P> + +<P> +Then they looked about them again for some one to guide them, and +particularly for the Corporal; but the Corporal, as luck would have it, +though he was trying his best to find them, never came within eyesight +or earshot of them. Besides, Billy was so lame that he could not ride +him very fast, and the Corporal himself was not so sure of his way but +that he had to keep looking out sharply to remember where he was. So +seeing no help Dick and Elsie made up their minds that they must try to +find their own way home, though they had little idea in which direction +to start, for they had never been so far on the moor before. The +rolling hills and grass and heather seemed to be very much the same on +every side, and there was no road nor track to guide them. Dick did +indeed think of following the hoof-marks of their own ponies backward, +for he had heard the Corporal tell stories how lost and tired soldiers +had rejoined an army on the march by sticking to its tracks; but +unfortunately this was not very easy. Very soon they made up their +minds that the first thing to be done was to get clear of the +treacherous ground on which they stood, for the ponies floundered +terribly, and in one desperate scramble over a very soft place Dick let +his whip fall and could not find it again. Still on they went, and at +last came to a little trickle of water in a hollow, running between +what seemed to be sound green grass; but the ponies refused to cross +it; and it was well that they did so, for it was deeper and more +dangerous than any ground that they had yet traversed. So there was +nothing for it but to follow the water in the hope that the ground +would improve; and accordingly they did follow it, upward. The stream +grew smaller and smaller, and Dick hugged himself with the idea that +when it disappeared altogether they would be able to travel faster. +But, on the contrary, the ground grew worse instead of better, for +water underground makes worse foothold than water flowing honestly +above, and very soon they lost all sense of their direction in the +difficulty of keeping the ponies on their legs at all. At last after +several very unpleasant struggles they luckily found their way out of +the worst of the bog; but there seemed to be no end to the tract of +mixed grass and heather, which is always treacherous to ride over; and +the ponies were constantly in difficulties. Then to Dick's joy at last +they came upon tracks of a horse or pony, and there was something to +guide them, though it was very often difficult to find and follow it. +They wandered on, however, until Dick's eye caught the gleam of silver, +and there lay his lost whip; so that, after all their riding, they had +but wandered round and round and come back to the place from which they +had started. +</P> + +<P> +Poor Elsie, who was getting very tired, was very much disheartened, but +Dick choked down his vexation and disappointment, for it was at any +rate something for him to recover his whip, which he valued greatly. +Stonecrop was too much blown now to give much trouble, so he jumped off +and picked it up safely, and then he and Elsie held a long +consultation, and at last agreed to make straight for a high hill +towards which the sun was sinking. So they turned their ponies' heads +towards it, and started again, keeping their eyes steadily on a mound +or barrow on the hill-top. In a short time they found themselves clear +of the boggy ground; and the ponies stepped out so bravely that they +felt sure that they were going right. So they trotted on, greatly +encouraged, and came to a stream babbling over its bed of yellow +stones, though the ground beyond it was so steep that they were obliged +to follow it for some distance before they could find a way across. +Thus they were compelled to move slowly, and Elsie suddenly gave a +little shiver, and both she and Dick realised that the air was grown +chill and that the light was beginning to fail. Still they pressed the +ponies on, and at last they caught sight again of the barrow on the +hill, though, to their disappointment, it seemed little nearer than +before. Then even while they watched it, a great bank of gray mist +suddenly came rolling out of the west and blotted out the barrow and +the ridge on which it stood. Still they rode on towards the same +point, until, almost before they knew it, the mist was upon them and +they could not see fifty yards away. Their hearts sank within them as +the darkness gathered round them, but though they drew closer together +they said nothing, for the ponies still travelled on with confidence, +and they hoped that all the while they were drawing nearer to the +barrow. But the mist struck damp and cold through them, weary and +fasting as they were, and they had much ado to keep up each other's +spirits. So they wandered on, until the ponies, as if they felt that +their little riders had lost resolution, came to a dead stop. A keen +breeze came out of the west, chilling the two children to the bone; and +Stonecrop turning his head to the wind broke out into a long wailing +whinny, which brought home to the children such a sense of their +loneliness and desolation that Elsie looked blankly at Dick and Dick as +blankly at Elsie, and neither found heart to say a word. +</P> + +<P> +So they sat in their saddles for a minute or two silent and hopeless, +when suddenly both ponies pricked their ears and snuffed at the wind, +and Stonecrop again raised a loud but more cheerful whinny. And out of +the mist faint and far distant came the sound of a whinny in answer. +Then Elsie stopped, checked the tears that were rising to her eyes, and +looked at Dick, who was listening intently. He had some thought of +jumping off and saying his prayers, except that he was not sure how +Stonecrop would behave; but, even while he reflected, Stonecrop's knees +began to bend as if to lie down again, and then he caught hold of the +pony by the head and gave him a cut with his whip that drove him on in +a hurry. "Come along, Elsie," he said resolutely, "if we can reach +that horse we may find some one to help us. Perhaps it may be Billy." +And off he went dead up wind at a good round pace, which warmed them +both and put them into better heart; and Dick broke into a cantering +song which the Corporal had taught him, and sang it in time to +Stonecrop's pace. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>Oh, a soldier's son, and a soldier's son,<BR> +He must never go back, but always go on.<BR> +Though it may be hard, he must always try,<BR> +Though he may be hurt, he must never cry.<BR> +He must never lose heart nor seem distressed,<BR> +But pluck up his courage and do his best.<BR> +And so struggle on, and on, and on,<BR> +For that's the way for a soldier's son.</I>"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Now nothing is more certain than that, if you wish to find your way +through a fog, you must travel in the direction that you have chosen as +fast as you can. Very soon the children found themselves going down +rather a steep descent, when Stonecrop again stopped and whinnied, and +an answering whinny once more came faintly out of the mist. So they +kept on their way down and came to a stream, where Dick guided his pony +across and up the ascent on the other side. But Stonecrop after +scrambling up for a little way deliberately came back to the water and +followed it downwards, sometimes in the bed of the stream, sometimes on +the bank by the side; and Dick let him go, feeling confident that the +pony knew better than he. So they went splashing down for a long way, +wondering what would come next, until Stonecrop again stopped and +whinnied; and a little further on they came upon another little stream, +running into that which they were following, where the pony turned and +followed the new water upward. A little further on he gave a kind of +whispered grunt of satisfaction, and presently there came the sound not +only of neighing but of pattering hoofs, and a pony suddenly came +trotting out of the mist towards them. He stopped and whinnied gently, +turned round, trotted back for some way, then stood and whinnied again, +while the children's ponies hastened their own pace towards him. Then +the sound of a shrill whistle came down the water, and the strange pony +at once turned and cantered away towards it; but Stonecrop only moved +the faster in the same direction, giving a loud scream to call him +back. And now a faint light came dancing down by the water, drawing +closer and closer to the children till they could see that it was a man +carrying a lantern. Nearer and nearer it came, and Dick cleared his +throat and began, "Oh, please—," whereupon the man stopped so short +that Dick stopped too, and Elsie came up close to him and clung to his +arm. Then the light disappeared and the man gave a peculiar whistle. +It was answered by the same whistle at a distance, and the children +waited with beating hearts till the light appeared again; and at last a +woman's voice said very roughly out of the mist, +</P> + +<P> +"Who's there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, please, we have lost our way," said Dick; "please, please tell us +the way home." +</P> + +<P> +A suspicious grunt was the only answer; and Dick hastened to go on, +"Oh, please, we mean no harm, but we've lost our way. It's only Elsie +and me." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said the woman's voice, as if in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's only Dick and me," said Elsie in her most reassuring voice, +but, like Dick, forgetting her grammar. +</P> + +<P> +And then a curious, cackling laugh sounded out of the mist; the lantern +came bounding forward, and before she could realise what had happened, +Elsie found her skirt seized and a great rough head scrubbing against +it. She gave a cry of terror, but directly afterwards the lantern +showed her the face of the idiot, which grinned at her with delight for +a moment and then bent again to kiss her skirt. Then another figure +came out of the darkness, seized the lantern and held it first to her +face and then to Dick's. They saw that it was the idiot's mother, and +Dick again repeated, though with much secret fear, that they had lost +their way. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no one with 'ee?" asked the woman astonished. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Dick sadly. "We're lost." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, my dear tender hearts," said the woman in a voice of great pity, +"to think of that. But don't 'ee cry, my dear," for she could hear +Elsie sobbing gently, "don't 'ee cry, for 'tis all well now. See now, +my house is close by, and you'm safe, both of 'ee. Come long with me, +and don't be afeared; I'll take care of 'ee and take 'ee home safe +enough. To think of that now—" and so she went on, leading the way +for them with the lantern for another quarter of a mile up the water, +till she stopped, and saying, "Now, my dears, we'm home," lifted Elsie +from her saddle and carried her under a low doorway, and then coming +back, called Dick in also, leaving the ponies in charge of the idiot. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + + +<P> +It was but a very little house in which the children found themselves; +and it took some time for them to make it out, for there was no light +but that of a feeble rushlight in a horn lantern, and the faint glow of +a peat fire. But after a while they perceived that it was built of +sods of turf and lined with heather, neatly fixed into the turf by +wooden pegs such as gardeners use; while the ceiling was also of +heather, laid crosswise against ashen poles. The fire-place seemed to +be built of round stones, evidently taken from a stream, which were +plastered together with clay; and the chimney was carried outside the +wall. Across the chimney was fixed an iron bar, from which hung a rude +chain that appeared to have been made of old horse-shoes, and at the +end of the chain was an iron pot. The only furniture was a low table +of turf, which was built in the middle of the floor, and a couple of +three-legged stools; and besides the iron pot on the fire, a +frying-pan, a jug or two, a couple of wooden bowls and as many +platters, there was hardly a vessel or a plate to be seen. The house, +though of but one room, had one portion of it shut off by a low screen +made of ash-poles and heather; and a similar screen lying against the +wall appeared to take the place of a front door, when a front door was +needed. +</P> + +<P> +Little Elsie was so tired that she sank down at once on the low table +of turf, and Dick staggered in, very stiff from long riding, and sat +down by her side. But the old woman bustled into the room behind the +screen and returned with a great armful of heather which she threw on +the floor, and lifting the girl gently on to it, laid her down with her +back resting against the table, as comfortable as could be. Then she +fetched a jug full of milk, and although the milk tasted rather strong +and the children were not accustomed to drink out of a jug, they were +both too hungry to be particular. She then fetched another armful of +heather for Dick, and bade him make himself comfortable too, when, +laying her hand upon his shoulder she said, "Why, bless your life! the +boy's so wet as a fisher; and where ever be I to find 'ee dry clothes? +Dear, dear, this is a bad job." And she ran to the door where the +idiot was standing with the ponies, and said something which the +children could not understand. Dick jumped to his feet, for the +Corporal had impressed upon him that a good dragoon always looks after +his horse before he looks after himself; but the old woman stopped him +at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you be put about for the ponies, my dear. My Jan will look to +mun and hobble mun, and bring in saddles and bridles, and when they've +a rolled they'll pick up a bit of mate and do well enough, I'll warrant +mun." +</P> + +<P> +Then she again went behind the screen, brought out a box, and began +turning over what seemed to be clothes inside it, shaking her head and +talking to herself, until at last she said, "'Eas! this it must be." +And she brought forward a little coat such as Dick had never seen +before. It was of yellow, with a scarlet collar, facings and cuffs, +there were two little red wings at the shoulders, and two little red +tails at the back; and the buttons were of brass with a number in Roman +letters upon it. Dick was not sure of the number, for he had not yet +quite mastered Roman letters, and could never find the Psalms in church +except by remembering the day of the month. Then she bade him take off +his wet jacket, hung it near the chimney to dry, and helped him into +the little coat, which was really not much too big for him. Dick +turned himself round and strutted with delight in a way that set Elsie +laughing in spite of her weariness; but the old woman smiled rather +sadly, turned back the red cuffs, as the sleeves were rather too long +for Dick, and pinned a shawl over the coat so that it could not be +seen. She became cheerful again, however, and said: "But you'm hungry, +my little lady. Now what shall I get you to ate?" +</P> + +<P> +"Please may I have some bread and butter?" asked Elsie; but the old +woman shook her head. "I have got neither bread nor butter," she said; +"but think now—a bit of porridge and a drop of milk, and a bit of +honey—how will that do? Jan!" she called out. +</P> + +<P> +The idiot came in grinning at the children, but she shook her finger at +him and made a sign, at which he nodded and went out again. Then she +blew up the fire and added a few sticks to it, and taking oatmeal out +of a sack which lay in one corner, and water from a wooden pitcher, +began to make the porridge. Presently Jan came in again with half a +dozen little trout, ready for cooking, and bending down at another +corner of the fire was soon very busy over them. The porridge was +quickly ready, and though the children had never eaten it before, and +were not accustomed to pewter spoons and wooden bowls, yet the +heather-honey, which was given to them with it, was so delicious that +they found it good enough. +</P> + +<P> +By the time that the porridge was all gone, the fish were cooked and +served up on the two wooden platters with some salt; but now came a +difficulty, for there were nothing but the same two spoons to eat them +with, and it is not easy to eat a trout with a spoon, especially if one +has been brought up not to use one's fingers. But the old woman soon +settled matters by splitting up the fish with a knife and taking out +the bones; after which both spoons were soon hard at work and the fish +disappeared as rapidly as the porridge; for little trout, freshly +caught from a moorland stream, are sweet enough, as all that have eaten +them are aware. Finally the old woman laid before the children a huge +pan full of stewed whorts; and as there were no plates left, nor as +much as a saucer to be produced, they just helped themselves with their +spoons out of the pan and ate as much as they wanted, which, after the +porridge and trout, was not a very great deal. +</P> + +<P> +Then they looked at the idiot, who had taken the squirrel out of his +pocket and was fondling it and purring to it in his own strange way. +He gave it to them also to make friends with, and seeing that they were +fond of animals he went to the door and whistled; and presently there +came trotting up a little hind of a year old, which walked in at the +door as if she had been accustomed to live in a house all her life, and +reared up like a begging dog on her hind legs to eat a bunch of +mountain-ash berries which he held over her head. Then he gave the +berries to the children, and the hind poked her little cool nose into +their hands to get at the food, so tame was she; while the old woman +told them how the idiot had found the poor little thing as a calf, +bleating beside the dead body of her dam, and had brought her home and +reared her. +</P> + +<P> +But the children's eyes soon began to blink, and before long they were +more than half asleep; so the old woman brought in more heather and +made them up two little beds, and laid them down in their clothes. +They had a faint idea, both of them, that some one took off their shoes +and loosened their clothes about their necks, but they were too +comfortable (for heather makes the best of rude beds) to think very +much about it; and when Elsie felt vaguely that something warm was +thrown over her and that a voice said "Good-night," she had only just +wakefulness enough to whisper back good-night and to put up her cheek +to be kissed. Dick also curled up as though heather was his usual bed; +and very soon both were asleep, though at first rather fitfully and +restlessly, for they were over-tired. But whenever they woke for a +moment they were lulled to sleep by the voice of the woman, who sat on +a stool watching them and crooning a song to herself. The children +were too sleepy to catch the words, but they were as follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>Oh! whither away that ye fly so fast,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Ye black crows croaking loud?</SPAN><BR> +And what have ye sped that ye wheel so wide<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Above yon grey dust cloud?</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>We spy two hosts of fighting men,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">The blue coats and the red.</SPAN><BR> +For mile on mile in rank and file<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">They come with even tread.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>And brave and bright on brass and steel<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">The slanting sunbeams fall.</SPAN><BR> +Like giant snakes, with glittering flakes,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Their columns wind and crawl.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>The red march north and the blue march south,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And we wheel betwixt the twain;</SPAN><BR> +And we hear their song, as they tramp along,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Rise joyous from the plain.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>The red march north and the blue march south,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the daylight wanes apace,</SPAN><BR> +'Till their fires gleam bright through the falling night,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the twain rest face to face.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>And the morning's thunder shall be of guns,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the morning's mist of smoke,</SPAN><BR> +And higher and higher o'er din and fire,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">We crows shall rise and croak.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>While the ranks of red and the ranks of blue<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">In mingled swathes are shorn;</SPAN><BR> +As the poppies nigh to the cornflowers lie,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">At the reaping of the corn.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>Oh! merry to stoop over chasing hounds,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">As they speed through field and wood,</SPAN><BR> +When their bristles rise, and with flaming eyes<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">They yell for blood, for blood.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>And merry to croak at the hunted fox,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">When his brush trails draggling down,</SPAN><BR> +And his strength is spent, and his back is bent,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And his tongue lolls parched and brown.</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"<I>But merriest far to wheel o'er the fight<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Of the blue coats and the red,</SPAN><BR> +'Till the fire has ceased, and we swoop to the feast<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Which the strife of men has spread."</SPAN></I><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Dick's last vision before he fell asleep was of her strange figure bent +forward and watching, but he was a little startled when he woke in the +morning and remembered where he was; for he was not accustomed to sleep +in his clothes, still less in such a coat as the yellow one with the +red facings, which he found upon his back. Elsie also was much +astonished; and the sight of Dick in so strange a garment half +frightened her for a moment. But the old woman was so kind and gentle +that they were reassured, particularly when she told them that in a +very few hours she hoped they would be at home. There was indeed some +difficulty about washing, for there was no such thing as jug or basin +in the house; and, as to tubs, you would not have found them in those +days in any country-house in England. The woman told Dick that all her +own washing was done in the stream, so Dick went out to wash his face +in it; but the mist still hung thick over the moor, the air was sharp +and cold and the water colder still; so that both he and Elsie were +satisfied with very little washing. When they went back, they found +that the old woman had set the two stools close to the fire for them +and was making the porridge; so they breakfasted off porridge and +trout, as they had supped on them the day before; and then the old +woman gave Dick his own jacket and asked him to take off the yellow +one. Dick was a little reluctant to part with it, and asked what it +was and where it came from; but she only answered that it was a long +story. He followed it with his eyes to see the last of it as she +folded it up and put it away, and she smiled rather sadly as she saw +him. "I can't a let you have it yet, my dear," she said, guessing his +thoughts, "and maybe when I can spare it for 'ee you won't care for to +take it. But if ever it goes from me it shall go to you, that I +promise 'ee, if so be as I can get it to 'ee." +</P> + +<P> +Then they ran out to see the idiot saddle the ponies, with which he was +already as friendly as if he had known them all his life. All animals +seemed to take to him, for he had pets without end. The two +nanny-goats and the little hind followed him like dogs; the squirrel +was always in his pocket or on his shoulder; and a jackdaw and a +magpie, both of them pinioned, fluttered after him wherever he went, +chattering and scolding as though the place belonged to them. Then the +children mounted their ponies and off they started, the idiot leading +the way on his own ragged pony, which he rode barebacked and with a +halter only for bridle; Dick came next, and then Elsie with the old +woman walking by her side. The mist was as thick as ever, but this +seemed to make no difference to the idiot, as he guided them up the +stream for a little distance and on over the rough yellow grass. The +ground was very deep and much cut by tiny clefts that carried the water +away from the bog, but the idiot went on straight and unconcerned as +though he were on a high road, though often his pony floundered +hock-deep. So on they went for a full hour with the mist whirling +about them, the children being kept warm in spite of the bitter cold +air, by their excitement, and by the constant scrambling of the ponies. +At last they reached firmer soil, but after travelling over it for a +little way the idiot stopped and held up his hand; and the children +listening with all their ears thought they made out the faint sound of +a horn. At a sign from his mother the idiot turned, and presently the +children found themselves going down hill and realised that the mist +was not so thick about them. A little further on they reached the edge +of a wood, where the idiot led his pony into a hollow and hobbled it, +and guided them into the trees on foot. +</P> + +<P> +It was not pleasant riding now, for the ground was very steep, and the +trees very thick and low; and when after long scrambling down they came +to a stream at the bottom of the hill, the children found no better +path than a very rough track by the water, full of great boulders, over +which the ponies stumbled continually. Presently they crossed the +water, and then for the first time the children perceived that the +woman was no longer with them, though where she had left them they +could not tell. Still the idiot guided them on through the woods, +uphill and down and across more than one stream, till at last he led +them into a grass path, where after walking for some time he suddenly +stopped and listened. Then pointing down it, he grinned and touched up +Stonecrop to make him trot, and after running for some time alongside +them, dropped behind. Dick began to think that the path was familiar +to him, and the ponies began to pull, as though they knew it also. In +another five minutes they came down into the road by which they had +driven up on the previous morning, and there stood the Corporal and +another servant, both of them mounted, not a hundred yards away. +</P> + +<P> +Dick shouted joyfully, and the Corporal galloping hastily up, +dismounted and ran to them. He was white, haggard and unshorn, and for +a time only patted their ponies apparently unable to speak. Then he +looked up the valley at the hills, and seeing that they were clear of +mist told the other servant to get up to the top of the hill and make +the signal, and to look sharp about it; upon which the servant turned +his horse up the path and galloped away like one possessed. Then the +Corporal turned to the children and asked them who had brought them +back; and when they told him they noticed for the first time that the +idiot was not with them. They called and shouted for him several +times, but he never came; and then they rode back with the Corporal, +telling their adventures as they went. +</P> + +<P> +But far behind them on one of the highest points of the moor stood +Colonel George and their mother. She was now deadly white, with great +black rings round her eyes, for she was worn out with watching and +anxiety; but she would not give in. She had dismounted and was sitting +on the heather, while Colonel George with his field-glass laid across +his horse's saddle conned the moor anxiously in every direction. The +mist was only just gone, and he seemed to have much to look at, for a +long line of horsemen was sweeping before him over the moor, searching +for the children. At last he set down the glass and rubbed his eyes, +for he had been in the saddle for nearly twenty-four hours, and taking +a flask from his pocket poured out a little for Lady Eleanor. She +shook her head as he brought it, but he only said "You must;" and then +she drank a mouthful or two. He was just about to drink himself when +he hastily slipped the flask into his pocket, and taking out the +field-glass looked long and earnestly through it. Then he tied a large +white handkerchief to his whip, waved it three times over his head and +looked again through the glass, after which he kept on waving for some +time. Then after a last look he put away the glass, and walked slowly, +leading both horses, to the place where he had left Lady Eleanor. She +was lying back with her face covered with her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he said gently. "The Corporal has found them and they are safe +and well. I made them repeat the signal twice, so that I am quite +sure, and I have signalled to the search-parties to go home. Let me +put you on your horse." +</P> + +<P> +See looked up like one dazed; but there was Colonel George holding out +his hand to her, so she took it and rose to her feet; and then she +seized the hand between both of hers and wrung it hard without a word. +He lifted her into the saddle, and no sooner was he mounted than she +started to gallop down the hill at a pace which made it hard for +Colonel George to keep up with her. Away she flew, and he felt +thankful that she was a fine horsewoman and mounted on his horse +instead of her own, which was not nearly so clever over rough ground; +though he could not help reflecting that he could never have found it +in his conscience to hustle a horse of hers as she hustled his. There +were two or three valleys to cross, which gave the animals a little +respite, but not much, for Lady Eleanor went equally fast, uphill, +downhill and on the level. So that when they arrived at the Hall +Colonel George, after seeing Lady Eleanor run in to the children, only +looked at his horse's heaving flanks, shook his head, and led him off +to the stable to look after him himself. There he heard the whole +story from the Corporal, and leaving a message for Lady Eleanor that he +would call next day, rode back very quietly to Fitzdenys Court. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + + +<P> +It need hardly be said that when her first joy over the recovery of the +children was over, Lady Eleanor's instant thought was for the strange +woman and her idiot son, who had befriended them and saved them for +her. She longed to thank and to reward them, but she could not think +how to find them; and moreover it was plain that, for some reason which +she could not divine, the woman wished to keep out of her way. It was +difficult for her to believe that there could be any harm in the woman, +after the care that she had taken of the children; but on the other +hand there was Tommy Fry, still speechless. She was thankful when +Colonel George came over next day, that she might discuss matters with +him. +</P> + +<P> +But he was as much at a loss as she was. He had examined all the +people who had gone out to search for the children, but not one of them +had seen a sign of any dwelling where the strange woman could live. He +was, however, struck by Dick's account of the little coat that he had +worn; for it seemed, he said, to be a drummer's coat, and he could not +imagine how such people should possess such a garment. As he spoke, +the bullfinch broke into the first bars of "The British Grenadiers;" +and then the same thought occurred to Colonel George as had seized upon +the minds of the villagers—Was it possible that the idiot was a +deserter, or that he and his mother were harbouring a deserter? But he +kept his thoughts to himself, for he knew the terrible punishment to +which a deserter would be liable, and did not wish Lady Eleanor to +think of such a thing. +</P> + +<P> +But however the gentry might doubt at the Hall, the folks in the +village found no difficulty in accounting for everything. It was the +witch who had enticed the children on to the moor and made them lose +themselves; and, though she had sent them back safe and sound, it was +impossible to say what trouble she might have in store for them. One +soft-hearted woman did indeed suggest that no witch could have power to +hurt such dear innocent angels; but Mrs. Fry promptly rose up in arms +against her, for was not her Tommy also a dear innocent angel, though +to be sure he was but a poor boy, whereas her Ladyship's children were +rich? Then Mrs. Mugford came forward with her explanation, which was, +that the Corporal, as had already been suspected, was undoubtedly in +league with the witch, and had led the children into her clutches. It +might be that the witch could not hurt them; but certain it was that, +when all the country was out searching for them, she had led them +straight back to the Corporal. As to the Corporal being thrown from +his horse, Mrs. Mugford had heard such stories before; and it was +strange that he had found his way home safe enough though he had left +the children to be eaten alive, for aught he knew. It was strange, +too, that he was waiting in the right place for the children next day +when the witch brought them down, and that the witch had vanished, as +Mrs. Mugford averred, in a cloud of brimstone smoke. +</P> + +<P> +So the feeling against the Corporal in the village increased, and not +the less because he looked ill for some days after the children's +adventure, owing partly to the shaking which he had received in his +fall, and partly to the miserable hours of anxiety and watching that +had succeeded to it. The villagers of course attributed his appearance +to the torment of a guilty conscience, and no one was more careful to +dwell on this explanation than Mrs. Mugford, with a vehemence which +surprised even Mrs. Fry, who knew the sharpness of her tongue better +than her neighbours. +</P> + +<P> +The Corporal took no more heed of the villagers' coldness than before; +for a new matter had come forward to occupy his thoughts. While he was +walking one day with the children through the wood above the village, +Dick suddenly stopped and said that he had certainly seen a man +slinking off the path into the covert; and the Corporal at once hurried +to the spot in the hope that it might be the idiot. Making his way +through the thicket he presently came upon a man lying down in some +bracken and evidently anxious to conceal himself. The fellow was +ragged, unkempt and bearded, but he was not the idiot, and he seemed +terrified at being discovered, stammering out something about meaning +no harm, and begging to be allowed to go. The Corporal sent the +children a little apart, felt the man's pockets to be sure that he was +not a poacher, and bade him begone and think himself lucky to escape so +easily. +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen you before," he said, looking hard at him, "and I shall know +you again. You know you have no business here, and if I catch you +again, it will be the worse for you." But though he let the man go, he +puzzled himself all day to think where he had seen him before. +</P> + +<P> +And now the annual fair at Kingstoke, the little town that lay nearest +to Ashacombe, was at hand, and all kinds of strange people were to be +seen on the road. There were hawkers and cheapjacks with persuasive +tongues, which the villagers found difficult to resist; swarthy gipsies +with gaudy red and yellow handkerchiefs, whom they kept at a safe +distance; and great lumbering vans containing fat ladies, and learned +pigs and two-headed calves, which roused their curiosity greatly. +Finally one day a loud noise of drumming brought Dick and Elsie flying +down the road, and there was a recruiting serjeant as large as life, +with red coat, white trousers and plumed shako hung with ribbons, and +with him a drummer and a fifer. The two last had stopped playing by +the time that the children reached them, and were apparently not best +pleased, for Mrs. Mugford had flown out at them directly they appeared +with, "No, no. 'Tis no use for the like of you to come here. We won't +have naught to do with the like of you, taking our boys away to be +treated no better than dogs." And all the other women had shaken their +heads knowingly and looked askance at the red coats; so that, as all +the men were out at work and as there seemed to be little chance of +obtaining refreshment, the serjeant simply scowled and moved on. He +and his companions looked dusty and thirsty, for the day was hot, and +the drummer and fifer, who were both very young, looked tired and +hungry as well. In fact they had only played in the hope of being +offered a drink, which hope Mrs. Mugford's tongue had effectually +extinguished for them. +</P> + +<P> +So on they went along the road, followed by Dick and Elsie, who were +deeply disappointed; but close by the lodge the children saw the +Corporal, and running forward to him prayed him to ask the serjeant to +give them a tune. The serjeant evidently recognised the Corporal as an +old soldier, for he wished him good-day; and the Corporal then asked +him if he would play something for little master and mistress. +</P> + +<P> +"Will little master give us something to wet our whistle with?" asked +the serjeant. "We have had a longish march to-day, eight miles already +and six more to go, and there's little to be got on the road. It's a +wild country hereabout." +</P> + +<P> +At a word from the Corporal Dick flew up to the house with Elsie at his +heels, to ask his mother's leave, and meanwhile the serjeant asked the +Corporal if he knew anything of the deserter from the Marines whose +description was on all the churchdoors, as he was said to be somewhere +in those parts. Presently Dick returned breathless with a message to +the recruiting party to come up to the Hall, where the fife and drum +struck up, and Lady Eleanor came out to say that soldiers were always +welcome, and this with a gracious condescension which in itself was +nearly as good as a glass of beer to a thirsty man. Then the serjeant +followed the Corporal towards the back door; and the drummer, who was a +good-natured lad, seeing how Dick stared at his drum, took it off, and +shortening the slings put them over his head. Lady Eleanor at once +called to Dick that he was keeping the drummer from his dinner; but the +drummer replied that he was sure little master would take care of the +drum and that he was very welcome; and Dick begged so hard to be +allowed to keep it for a little while that Lady Eleanor after some +hesitation gave in, only bidding Dick not to make too much noise close +to the house. +</P> + +<P> +So off Dick strutted, followed by Elsie, tapping from time to time, +till on reaching a quiet place under the trees in the park, he was very +glad to take the drum off and turn it round very carefully, looking at +the Royal Arms and the names of battles that were painted round them. +Then he began tapping again, when all of a sudden there was a rustle +behind them, and there stood the familiar figure of the idiot Jan, with +his face grinning wider than usual. The children were startled and +were on the point of running to the house, but he held up his finger as +usual and beckoned to Dick to go on beating; though after hearing a tap +or two he shook his head and, taking up the drum, let out the slings +and put them over his own head. Then he squared his shoulders and +threw out his chest, and bringing up his elbows in a line with his chin +he beat two taps loudly with each stick, slowly at first and gradually +faster and faster till the taps blended together in a long, loud roll. +Then he stopped and grinned at the children, who were staring with +amazement and delight; and then beating two short rolls he began to +march up and down whistling the tune "Lillibulero," which the bullfinch +piped, and beating in perfect time with all his might. +</P> + +<P> +So intent was he on his music that neither he nor the children noticed +the serjeant, who with halberd in hand came walking up with the drummer +and fifer close behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"What have we here?" said the serjeant, eyeing the strange figure +before him. "Where did you learn to beat like that, my man?" he went +on, laying a heavy hand on the idiot's shoulder. The idiot glanced +round with a start, and uttering a whine of terror slipped away from +the serjeant's hand, swung the drum on to his back, and made off as +fast as his legs would carry him. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the meaning of this?" said the serjeant staring for a moment. +"The deserter for a guinea! After him boys, quick! There's a reward +out for him." And away went the drummer and fifer in pursuit, while +the serjeant followed as fast as he could; and the children, after +gazing for a time in bewildered alarm, ran back to the house. The +idiot ran like the wind, but in his first terror he had taken the wrong +direction and was flying down towards the village. Reaching the drive +before his pursuers he gained on them somewhat, but he fumbled at the +gate by the lodge and let them get close to him. He broke away, +however, and was running gallantly through the village with the lads +hard after him, when down the road came the ample figure of Mrs. +Mugford, who put down the pitcher that she was carrying and stood right +in his way with her arms spread out wide. She did not dare actually to +stop him, but she so confused him that in another few yards the drummer +and fifer had caught him each by an arm. The idiot cowered abject and +trembling between them, and the three stood panting and breathless, +while Mrs. Mugford exhorted at the top of her voice, +</P> + +<P> +"Hold mun fast, brave lads!" she cried, in a very different tone from +that which she had lately used to the soldiers. "Hold mun fast! +That's the man you was a looking vor. Hold mun fast! Ah, you roog; so +we've a got 'ee at last, and now 'twill be the jail and the gallows for +'ee sure enough. Ah! you may whine and guggle, but you won't get away, +not this time." Her cries brought every woman in the village to the +spot, and solemn were the shakings of heads, and loud the recalling of +prophecies that vengeance would soon overtake the wicked. Then the +serjeant came elbowing his way through the crowd, and was hailed +instantly, like the drummer and fifer, by Mrs. Mugford. "That's the +man you'm a looking for, maister; and a bad one he is. Hold mun fast, +maister; and don't let mun go, whatever." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! you know him, do you?" said the serjeant. "Well, you can trust +him to me. Take the drum off his back, my lads, and bring him along." +</P> + +<P> +But the idiot seemed hardly able to move; and they had not taken him +far, with the women and children still crowding round them, when they +were stopped by his mother, who came hastening up the road and planted +herself full in the way. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, then," she said sharply, "what be doing to that boy? Let mun go. +He's a done no harm to you, I reckon. Let mun go, I tell 'ee. Where +be taking mun?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, mistress, no hard words," answered the serjeant. "I don't know +who you are; but this young man's my prisoner, and to Kingstoke he must +go tonight, and before the nearest justice to-morrow for a deserter." +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, and for a witch too and you with mun," yelled Mrs. Fry; and she +and the women with her raised a howl that was not pleasant to hear. +"She's awitched my boy," screamed Mrs. Fry high above the rest. "She's +a witch and she ought to be drownded in the river." +</P> + +<P> +The serjeant looked puzzled, and was relieved to see the Corporal come +limping up the road; but Mrs. Mugford no sooner saw him than she +screamed at the top of her voice, "Ah, don't 'ee listen to he, maister. +'Twas he that let mun go weeks agone, and there's been nothing but bad +work for us all since then. He's so bad as any o' mun; 'twas he that +let mun take her Ladyship's childer; and we'm not going to be plagued +with witches no more. Lave the witches to us. We knows what to do +with mun." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you got against the man?" asked the Corporal of the serjeant. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a deserter," said the serjeant shortly, "and it seems that these +women know him well enough, if you don't." +</P> + +<P> +"He ain't no deserter," said the idiot's mother savagely, "he wasn't +never 'listed." +</P> + +<P> +"Then how comes he to drum as he did?" retorted the serjeant. "Our own +drummers couldn't beat better." +</P> + +<P> +The woman clenched her fists in despair, and the Corporal looked very +grave; but he no sooner tried to speak to the serjeant than the women +again raised a yell that he was not to be trusted, and renewed their +cry that they would be troubled with witches no longer, but would drown +them in the river and have done with them. At last they worked +themselves up into such a state of fury that the Corporal saw that they +meant mischief, and said sharply to the serjeant that if he didn't look +out they would take his prisoner from him. Even while he spoke they +made a rush, but the serjeant had his wits about him and brought down +his halberd to the charge, just in time to stop them. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, enough of this," he said sternly. "I know nothing about your +witches and nonsense, but this young man's my prisoner, and if you +don't leave him to me it will be the worse for you. Take him along, +lads." +</P> + +<P> +So the drummer and fifer led the idiot down the road, while the +serjeant, with his halberd still at the charge, kept the women at bay; +and thus slowly they passed clear of the village while the women and +children, after following for a time with yells and execrations, at +last dropped behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, mistress," said the serjeant to the idiot's mother, "you'd best +look out for yourself, I expect, and go away." +</P> + +<P> +The woman turned upon him with a scornful laugh. "Do you suppose I be +afraid of they?" she said. "Not I; and if 'ee think that I'm a going +to leave my boy—here, let mun go," she said resolutely, shoving away +the drummer's arm—"you've naught against mun. I tell 'ee he wasn't +never 'listed." +</P> + +<P> +The serjeant removed her hand instantly. "None of that," he said. +"You can come along with him as far as you will, but the justice will +see to the rest to-morrow morning." +</P> + +<P> +The woman glanced at the Corporal in despair, but the Corporal could +only shake his head. "Best go quietly along with him, mistress," he +said; "I'll go to her Ladyship and do what I can." Then he turned to +the serjeant and said: "I believe you've got hold of the wrong man; for +this is only a poor half-witted lad, not the man that you want. Don't +be hard on him." +</P> + +<P> +"Not I, if he gives no trouble," said the serjeant. So he went on with +his charge along the road to Kingstoke, the idiot staggering along on +his mother's arm between the fifer and the drummer, and he himself +walking behind. And the Corporal limped up over the park as quickly as +he could to the Hall. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + + +<P> +Great was Lady Eleanor's distress when she heard from the Corporal what +had happened. "Ah, if only Colonel Fitzdenys had been here!" she +repeated more than once; but she could think of nothing that could be +done except to send a letter at once to the colonel to tell him the +whole story and to ask him to be present at Kingstoke, which lay close +to Fitzdenys, when the prisoner should be brought up next morning. +This was the Corporal's suggestion; but Lady Eleanor noticed that he +was unusually silent and subdued, and she was rather surprised when he +asked leave rather mysteriously to be absent from the house for the +rest of the day. But she trusted him so implicitly that she granted +his request without hesitation, and the Corporal, having sent off the +letter, went out for the evening by himself. +</P> + +<P> +The truth was that he was bitterly hurt and indignant at the hard words +that Mrs. Mugford had used towards him, of having betrayed the children +to the witch on the moor. The bare idea that he should have been false +to his mistress and to the children, whom he worshipped, made him +furious; and he went out with the determination of giving Mrs. Mugford +a bit of his mind before night, but, like a wise man, not until he had +thought the matter well over during a solitary walk. So he made his +way through the woods and in due time came to the place where Dick had +pointed out to him the ragged man, whom he had found skulking in the +fern a short time before. Then it flashed across him suddenly that +this man might be the deserter, and he blamed himself for his stupidity +in not thinking of it at first. Once again he racked his brains to +remember where he had seen the man before, for certainly he had seen +him or some one very like him; and with his mind full of Mrs. Mugford +he suddenly recalled her son Henry, who had enlisted for a marine, and +had once come back on sick-leave. The more he thought of it, the more +certain he was that the man whom he had found was Henry Mugford, for +though he had not seen him for some years he had never heard that he +had been discharged. That would account for Mrs. Mugford's anxiety to +keep the Corporal out of the village, and to get the idiot arrested, +for it would probably be some days before a serjeant of Marines could +arrive from Plymouth, or the idiot himself could be sent there, to +decide if he were the deserter Henry Bale or not. And, as to the name, +the Corporal knew well enough by experience that men constantly +enlisted under assumed names, while Bale was a likely name for this +particular man to choose, as it had been Mrs. Mugford's own before she +married. +</P> + +<P> +Thus reflecting, the Corporal turned along the path that led through +the woods lying above the village, stopped when he saw the roofs of the +cottages below him, and went down through the covert towards the hedge +that parted the cottage-gardens from it. It was dusk, so that he had +little difficulty in remaining unseen, and as he drew nearer to the two +cottages where Mrs. Fry and Mrs. Mugford lived, he heard the voices of +the pair in violent altercation in the garden below. +</P> + +<P> +"You said so plain as could be that you'd a-share the two guineas with +me," Mrs. Fry was saying indignantly. "That's what you said." +</P> + +<P> +"And don't I say that I'll give 'ee five shillings?" retorted Mrs. +Mugford, "and that's more than nine out of ten would give. 'Twas I +catched mun and not you. If I hadn't stopped mun in the road they'd +never have catched mun at all, and 'twas a chance then that he might +have killed me, mazed as he is. And you've a-taken pounds and pounds +from the gentry for the harm that was done your Tommy, and never given +me so much as a penny, though I've a-showed mun many times when you +wasn't in house." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Mrs. Fry defiantly, "then we'll see what people say when I +tells what I've a-seen of a man coming round to your house night-times +these weeks and weeks, and you going out to mun with bread and mate. +I've a-seen mun, for all that you was so false." +</P> + +<P> +Then they dropped their voices, and Mrs. Mugford appeared to be making +new offers. But the Corporal had heard enough. Keeping himself +carefully concealed he walked along the hedge until he found a rack +over it, which seemed to be well worn, leading down to the cottages +below, and by this rack he curled himself up in the bushes, and waited. +In a short time the village was dark and silent, for in those days +oil-lamps were never seen in a cottage; and the Corporal found waiting +rather cold work, but he had bivouacked on colder nights in the wars, +and lay patiently in his place. A little after ten the moon rose, but +it was full eleven o'clock before the Corporal heard the bushes rustle, +and at last made out a man creeping cautiously alongside the hedge. +Nearer and nearer he came, straight to the rack in the hedge, where +after pausing for a moment to listen, he was beginning to scramble up; +when the Corporal suddenly laid hold of his ankles, brought him +sprawling down, rolled him into the hedge-trough, and was instantly on +top of him, with his knee on his chest and his hand on his throat. The +unfortunate creature was too much paralysed by fright to resist; and +the Corporal soon dragged his face round into the moonlight and saw +that he had caught the man that he wanted. +</P> + +<P> +"So you've come here again, Henry Bale," said the Corporal; "I told you +that it would be the worse for you, if you did." +</P> + +<P> +"My name's Mugford," gasped the man, now struggling a little. +</P> + +<P> +"And when did you get your discharge?" asked the Corporal; "and why are +you hanging about the woods instead of living with your mother like an +honest man? But when you're back at Plymouth they'll know you as Henry +Bale fast enough, I'll warrant." +</P> + +<P> +The man trembled, and begged abjectly for mercy; but the Corporal only +pulled out a knife, without relaxing his hold on his throat, turned him +over on his face, and cut his waistband. "Now," he said, "the best +thing that you can do is to surrender and come quietly along with me. +Give me your hands." And pulling a piece of twine from his pocket he +tied the man's thumbs together behind his back. Then raising him to +his feet he shoved him over the rack in the hedge, and led him past +Mrs. Mugford's windows, where a rushlight was burning, into the road +and so to the stables at Bracefort. There he locked his prisoner into +a separate loose-box with a barred window, having first tied his wrists +before him, instead of his thumbs behind him; and then he sought out +pen and paper and wrote; a letter to Colonel Fitzdenys, which, though +it was not very long, took him much time to write, and ran as follows:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Honoured Col.—these are to inform you that I have the deserter Henry +Bale saf under lock and kay which is all at present from your honour's +most ob't humble serv't.—J. BRIMACOTT." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +He put the letter into his pocket, and drawing a mattress before the +door of the loose-box, went fast asleep on it till dawn, when he called +a sleepy stable-boy from the rooms above and bade him ride over with +the letter to Fitzdenys Court. +</P> + +<P> +By eight o'clock Colonel Fitzdenys arrived at a gallop from Fitzdenys +Court. Having seen and questioned the Corporal's prisoner, who made a +full confession, he left a message that he would return as soon as +possible, and that he would want to see Mrs. Fry and Tommy; after which +he rode back again, as fast as he had come, to Kingstoke. There his +business was soon finished, for when the idiot was brought up before +him (which he had already arranged to be done) he was able to discharge +him directly, since he himself had ascertained that the true deserter +had been captured. But none the less he gave the serjeant a guinea to +console him for his disappointment in having caught the wrong man. +</P> + +<P> +Then he went to speak to the idiot's mother and to tell her how sorry +he was for the mistake that had been made; for the two had been locked +up all night in Kingstoke. She did not receive him kindly, however, +for all that she said was: "It's very well to be sorry now, and I don't +say, sir, that it's no fault of yours, but they've agone nigh to kill +my boy with their doings;" and indeed the idiot was so weak and white +that he could hardly stand. Still more distressed was she when Colonel +Fitzdenys told her that she could not go yet, but that she must first +visit Bracefort Hall. She tried hard to obtain his leave to go to her +own place at once, but he insisted, though with all possible kindness, +that she must come with him to the Hall, and that then she should be +free to go where she would. So very reluctantly she got into a +market-cart with her son, who sat like a lifeless thing beside her, and +was driven off, while Colonel Fitzdenys cantered on before them. +</P> + +<P> +When the market-cart reached the door of the Hall, Lady Eleanor was +there waiting to welcome her and to thank her for all that she had done +for her own children; but the woman only said coldly that she was very +welcome, and seemed to have no thought but for her idiot son, who +remained sunk in the same abject condition. They brought him wine, +which revived him enough to set him crying a little, but he would take +no notice of anything. For a moment the woman softened, when Dick and +Elsie came in and thanked her prettily for the kindness that she had +shown to them, and she tried to rouse her son to take notice of them. +But he only went on crying; and she was evidently much distressed. +</P> + +<P> +Then the Corporal came to say that Mrs. Fry was come and had brought +Tommy with her; on which Colonel Fitzdenys told the woman outright that +she had been accused of bewitching the boy and depriving him of his +speech. The woman's hard manner at once returned, and she laughed loud +and scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"That's only their lies," she said. "How should I take away a boy's +speech? they'm all agin me and my boy; that's all it is." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they say that he can't speak," said Colonel Fitzdenys. "You +shall tell him to speak yourself, and then we shall be able to judge." +</P> + +<P> +So Mrs. Fry was called in and told to hold her tongue, and Tommy, who +had hidden himself in her skirts, was brought forward. The woman no +sooner saw him than her eyes gleamed, and she said: "That's the one who +throwed stones at my boy and called mun thafe. He not spake? He can +spake well enough if he has a mind, I'll warrant mun." +</P> + +<P> +"But his mother says that he cannot," said Colonel Fitzdenys. "See for +yourself," and he led the trembling boy forward. "Tell him to speak to +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Spake, boy," said the woman not very amiably. "You can spake well +enough, can't 'ee?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas," said Tommy nervously, to his mother's intense surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"There! what did I tell 'ee?" said the woman contemptuously. "'Twas +only their lies. He can spake so well as you and I." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Fry, much taken aback, seized hold of the boy in amazement; but he +begged so hard to be let go as to leave no doubt that his speech was +restored; and Lady Eleanor lost no time in sending him off with his +mother. +</P> + +<P> +Then Lady Eleanor again thanked the idiot's mother for all that she had +done for her own children, and asked what she could do for her; but the +woman would accept no money nor reward, nothing but a few cakes which +the children brought to her to take home for her son. Lady Eleanor +offered her everything that she could think of, even to a remote +cottage in the woods where she would certainly live undisturbed; but +the woman only begged that she might not be asked to say where she +lived nor to give any account of herself. She was quite alone with her +son, she said, and lived an honest harmless life. As to Tommy Fry, she +could not understand how any words of hers could have taken his speech +from him; it was nonsense, and the women were fools. Finally, she said +that if Lady Eleanor really wished to be kind she would let them go and +not try to find them again; but she faithfully promised that if +anything went wrong, she would come to her first for help. +</P> + +<P> +So Lady Eleanor seeing that she was in earnest promised to do as she +had said; and the woman thanked her with real gratitude. Then Dick and +Elsie came in again to say good-bye, and the woman, taking her son by +the arm, led him away. He moved so feebly that Lady Eleanor offered +her a pony for him to ride, but his mother refused, though with many +thanks; so the two passed away slowly across the park, and disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there is Tommy Fry cured at any rate," said Colonel Fitzdenys. +"And I believe that the woman spoke the truth, when she said that she +did not know what she had done to him. And now I must see to this man +who is locked up in the stable." +</P> + +<P> +But even while he spoke the Corporal came to say that Mrs. Mugford was +come, and begged to be allowed to see her Ladyship. So in the poor +thing came, crying her eyes out, to confess that her son in the stable +was the true deserter, and to beg her Ladyship to have mercy and not to +yield him up, giving such an account of the punishment that awaited him +as nearly turned Lady Eleanor sick; for those were rough days in the +army. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George meanwhile stood by without uttering a word; and when +Mrs. Mugford had crawled from the room, utterly broken down, and Lady +Eleanor turned to him with tears in her eyes, too much moved to speak, +he only shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"The fellow must be given up and sent back to his corps," he said. "He +has already got an innocent man into trouble, and even if he had not I +am bound in duty to send him back." +</P> + +<P> +"Could you not do something to intercede for him and save him from this +horrible punishment?" asked Lady Eleanor. "I should be so thankful if +you would." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George hesitated. "I have no wish to harm the poor wretch," he +said, "but there are other men in the same case, very likely less +guilty, who have no one to intercede for them. It is a question of +discipline." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't be so hard," pleaded Lady Eleanor, "you who are always so +gentle. You, who have done so much for me, grant me this one little +thing more." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George looked at the beautiful face before him, and Lady +Eleanor knew that she had gained her point. "Well, well," he said at +last; "I will write on his behalf, and better still I will get my +father to write also, which will have more effect. But it is all +wrong," he added; "it is not discipline." +</P> + +<P> +"I am quite sure that it will be all right," said Lady Eleanor with +great decision. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George shook his head smiling; but he and old Lord Fitzdenys +wrote, as he had promised; and it may as well be said that they +obtained pardon for Henry Mugford the deserter. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + + +<P> +The village was not a little awed by the strange turn that affairs had +taken, for the two noisiest tongues in it had been silenced, Mrs. Fry's +by the restoration of her Tommy's power of speech, Mrs. Mugford's by +the arrest of her son. The Corporal had been vindicated and his +slanderers confounded; but Lady Eleanor as usual did all that she could +to make unpleasant things as little unpleasant as possible. The +deserter was sent away to Plymouth so quietly that hardly any one found +it out, and his disconsolate mother was somewhat comforted by Lady +Eleanor's assurance that everything would be done to obtain mercy for +him. Moreover the Corporal declared that he would not touch the two +guineas reward that he had earned, but would hand them over to Lady +Eleanor to spend for the good of the parish as she should think best; +which fact leaking out through the servants at the Hall did much to +regain for him the goodwill that he had so unjustly lost. +</P> + +<P> +Another thing also helped to restore harmony; for Dick could not leave +home for school without going round to say good-bye to all his friends, +and these were so numerous that there was hardly a cottage at which he +did not step in, being always sure of welcome and good wishes. The +farewells ended with a visit to old Sally Dart, who, feeble and +crippled though she was, had prepared a great feast of hot potato-cake +(which was made under her own eye by a neighbour, since she was too +weak to make it herself) honey and clouted cream; while the little +silver cream-jug and the six silver spoons, which the old squire and +his lady had given her at her marriage, were all brought out for so +great an occasion. A great meal they ate, the Corporal attacking his +potato-cake and cream as heartily as Dick himself; and when all the old +stories had been related for the fiftieth time, old Sally produced the +greatest treasure that she owned, a little snuff-box mounted in silver, +which had been made from the horn of an ox that had been roasted whole +at the great election, when old Squire Bracefort had stood at the head +of the poll. This she gave to Dick for his own, and then setting the +boy in front of her she put his hair off his forehead and begged him +that if ever any child or children of her son Jan should appear, he +would be kind to them for her sake, and that he would think of this +when he looked at the box. Dick promised this readily, though he was a +little puzzled at her earnestness; and then she bade him good-bye and +God bless him, and prayed that he might grow up to be such another man +as his father had been. So the children and the Corporal returned to +the Hall thoughtful and subdued, though the children hardly knew why. +</P> + +<P> +Two days later, early in the morning, Dick and the Corporal drove off +to meet the coach. Little Elsie stood on the steps crying silently, +but Dick was so much excited at the prospect of the journey, that he +held up bravely, and fluttered his handkerchief out of the window as +long as the house was in sight. So Lady Eleanor and Elsie waited until +the handkerchief could be seen no more, and then went in sadly +together. Lessons were a heavy task that morning; and when they were +over and Elsie was gone out, Lady Eleanor felt lonely and depressed and +out of heart with everything. She was roused by the sound of a horse +on the gravel; and presently Colonel Fitzdenys came in to say that he +had seen Dick off by the coach, and that the boy was in good spirits. +Lady Eleanor never felt more thankful for his presence than on that +morning; but they had not talked for very long, when a maid-servant +came in with a scared face to say that the strange woman from the moor +was come, and begged, if she might, to see her Ladyship directly. +</P> + +<P> +So Lady Eleanor went out and Colonel George with her; and there the +woman was, with her face ghastly white, her eyes wild and weary, and +every line in her countenance ploughed thrice as deep as when they had +last seen her. She was sitting in a chair which the frightened maid +had brought to her, but rose wearily as Lady Eleanor came to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you in trouble, my poor soul?" said Lady Eleanor, shocked at her +appearance. "Tell me what has happened!" and she motioned to her to +sit down again. +</P> + +<P> +The woman waited for a moment and then said in a hard voice, "'Tis my +boy Jan; I can't rightly tell what's wrong wi' mun"—and then she +stopped, but seeing the sympathy in Lady Eleanor's eyes broke out +hurriedly, "Oh, my Lady, I believe that they've a-killed mun. Since I +took mun home three days agone he won't eat and won't take no notice of +naught, but lieth still; and 'twas only when I left mun for a minute +that he made a kind of crying and clung to me like. I had to carry mun +home herefrom the day I left you." +</P> + +<P> +"You carried him home?" broke in Colonel George astonished. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the woman simply; "'most all the way, for he soon gived out +walking; and ever since he's growed weaker and weaker, till this +morning at daylight he didn't take notice of me no longer, so then I +was obliged to leave mun"—she stopped a minute and went on in a harder +voice—"I couldn't help it; I come to ask you if you could spare mun a +drop of wine or what you think might do mun good, for"—she stopped +again and buried her face in her hands. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Eleanor did not speak; she only laid her hand gently on the +woman's shoulder, which sank down and down until she was bent double. +Colonel George at once slipped out of the room and presently returned +with wine, which he gave to Lady Eleanor. The woman revived when she +had drunk a little, and then Colonel George said to her: "Now, my good +woman, you must let me go back with you to your son and take with me +some things for him. Don't be afraid"—(for the woman was shaking her +head)—"I am your friend and you may trust me to keep your secret if +you have any to keep. Think, now, if I know the way, you can stay with +your son and I can bring him up whatever he wants on any day that you +please; and I'll bind myself not to show the way to any one, nor to +come back except on the day that you choose." +</P> + +<P> +The woman hesitated and looked from Colonel George to Lady Eleanor, who +said: "Colonel Fitzdenys is right. You can trust him, and you will +show him the way; and I must come too in case I can be of use. +Remember that you saved my children for me." +</P> + +<P> +The woman still shook her head, but she was evidently wavering. +Colonel George's tone of quiet authority at last prevailed with her, +and she consented to show them the way, saying gruffly that she would +always prefer a soldier, who knew what he was about, to a doctor. But +she refused to ride a pony which Lady Eleanor offered to her, and +insisted on starting off by herself, appointing a place in a valley by +the edge of the moor where she promised to meet them without fail. And +with that she strode away across the park, while Lady Eleanor ordered +her horse and ran to put on her habit. +</P> + +<P> +The horses were soon ready, and Colonel George and Lady Eleanor started +off; but it was only by a long circuit that they could ride to the +appointed spot on horseback, and when they reached it the woman was +already there before them. She then led them by a very rough path, +which was unknown to Colonel George, to the very head of a deep combe, +where the oak coppice grew thinner and thinner until at last it died +out in the open moor. Among these thin trees was a rough Exmoor pony, +hobbled, which the woman caught and mounted, and then led the way +straight on over the hill. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand this," said Colonel George to Lady Eleanor, "I have +always been told that the ground before us was impassable. It is the +bog in which most of the rivers in the moor rise. I have crossed it a +mile east and west of this after deer, and the ground is bad enough +there; but I had no idea that it could be crossed here." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the woman, who had evidently overheard him, "the deer don't +never cross here, but I know my way across well enough." +</P> + +<P> +These were the only words that she spoke during the ride, except now +and again to bid her companions keep to right or left, for presently +they were on the treacherous ground across which she had guided the +children, and the horses sank deeper in it than the ponies. With all +his knowledge and experience of the moor the colonel found it difficult +to pick his way, and Lady Eleanor's horse floundered so deep that she +was once or twice obliged to dismount before he could get out. Still +the woman led them on until at last the worst of the ground was past, +though the horses still sank at least fetlock-deep at every step. The +watershed was left behind and the ground began to fall rapidly, though +it was so heavily seamed by a network of deep drains dug by the water +through the turf, that without a guide any one would have found it +almost impossible to find a way out. Colonel George watched carefully +for landmarks as he went on, and looked out keenly for the hut, but +could see nothing. Once or twice the woman smiled grimly as she saw +his eyes roving in every direction, and the colonel smiled back and +said: "It's a good job that the deer do not cross here, mistress, for +no horse could live with them;" but she only shook her head and said +nothing. +</P> + +<P> +At length the rank red and yellow grass of the boggy ground showed a +patch or two of heather. They were riding upon a ridge between two +streams, and Colonel George was wondering which of the two they were +about to follow, when the woman turned sharply downward on one side and +followed the stream up for a little way; and then suddenly there opened +out a little cross combe, so deep and narrow that the colonel might +have been excused for not seeing it. At one point a mass of rock rose +out abruptly from the earth, which had evidently turned the water from +above, so that for a short distance the stream ran almost the reverse +way to its true course. Against the rock the washing of centuries had +thrown up a bank of pebbles, now thickly overgrown with grass; and +there lay the hut, almost invisible from any point, against the rock, +sheltered from the westerly gales and gathering more of the eastern and +southern sun than could have been thought possible. The goats ran +bleating towards the three as they rode up, for they had not been +milked that morning; and the woman's face was set hard as she went to +the door of the hut and presently returned to beckon Lady Eleanor in. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-146"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-146.jpg" ALT="Still the woman led them on." BORDER="2" WIDTH="444" HEIGHT="645"> +<H3> +[Illustration: Still the woman led them on.] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +It was little that could be seen of the sick man, except a white +shrunken face and closed eyes, as he lay on his bed of heather, with +every description of garment piled upon him. He lay quite still and +quiet, breathing rather heavily; and when his mother poured some wine +down his throat from the basket that Colonel George carried with him, +he only stirred slightly and composed himself again as it were to +sleep. Then Lady Eleanor came out to hold the horses and Colonel +George went in. She heard him ask a few questions, and when he came +out he could only shrug his shoulders in answer to her inquiring +glance. "I can make nothing of it and get nothing out of her," he +said, "but I have seen that look on a man's face before, and it is not +a look that I like to see. She seems unwilling to tell anything of the +reason for his illness, but there must be some story at the bottom of +it all, if we could only get at it. Go in and try." +</P> + +<P> +So Lady Eleanor went in, while Colonel George stood at the door holding +the horses, and sat for a time looking at the sick man in silence, till +at last she asked the woman if she thought the bandsmen had hurt him +when they seized him. +</P> + +<P> +"No, 'twasn't the bandsmen," said the woman absently, and without +looking up; "'twas the sarjint as did it." +</P> + +<P> +"What did the serjeant do to him?" asked Colonel George from the door. +"It is a shameful thing if he hurt him, for Brimacott told me that he +had begged him not to be hard on him." +</P> + +<P> +But the woman gave no answer, seeming rather ashamed to have said so +much; and after another silence Lady Eleanor asked another question or +two which was answered very shortly, and said something about calling +in a doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"Doctor, no!" answered the woman fiercely. "They never do nought but +bleed a man to death." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure?" said Colonel George. "I know there were army-doctors +who used to bleed men disgracefully. You remember," he added, turning +for a moment to Lady Eleanor, "what Charlie Napier of the Fiftieth +wrote from Hythe, that the doctors thought bleeding to death the best +way of recovering sick soldiers. But I don't suppose, my good woman, +that you have ever had to do with such." +</P> + +<P> +"What! not I?" said the woman scornfully, but instantly restrained +herself and stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"I should give him a drop more wine from time to time, mistress," said +Colonel George, as if taking no notice of what she had said; and +hitching the reins of the horses round the poles of the hut he took a +spoon, and poured a little between the sick man's lips himself. "The +poor fellow's dreadfully weak," he went on. "Was he ever sick or hurt +as a boy, mistress? Did you ever see him taken like this before? If +you could tell us, we might know better how to treat him." And as he +asked the question he looked straight into the woman's face, very +keenly but very kindly, and she dropped her eyes with a half sigh. +"You see," he went on, "my Lady's little son came home and told us of a +coat that you had put on him, which sounded to me like a drummer's +coat; though of course as I haven't seen it I may be quite wrong; but I +was wondering if he had ever been a soldier, as I am myself, and been +wounded at some time." +</P> + +<P> +"No, he wasn't never a soldier," said the woman hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said Colonel George; "it was his knowing how to drum that made me +think so. And so you had to carry the poor fellow all this way the +other day? Well, it's more than many a strong man could have done. +Many's the man I've seen break down from the weight of his pack, and +many's the wife I've seen take the load off her husband's back and +carry it for him like a brave soul." He looked up at the woman and saw +her eyes glisten. "Ay," he said, "you've seen it too, maybe? Now, my +good mistress, just tell me what the serjeant did to your son here, or +what has happened to him to bring him to this state." +</P> + +<P> +The woman hesitated long. "'Tis a long story," she said at last, "but +maybe it's time that it was told; for I'm thinking that before long +there may be none to tell it. You've been kind to my boy, the both of +'ee, and you've a promised to keep my secret. So if you have a mind to +hear, I'll tell 'ee." +</P> + +<P> +So Colonel George stood in the doorway holding the horses, while Lady +Eleanor sat on the turfen table by the sick man; and the woman began +her story. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + + +<P> +"Years agone, long afore you ever come this way, my Lady, my father +lived not above seven or eight mile herefrom, up to Loudacott; you must +surely have heard the name of the place. Well, there he lived with his +own bit of land, for he was a yeoman, he was, and the Clatworthys had +lived up to Loudacott hundreds of years, as he used to tell me. There +wasn't but the three of us, my father—Jeremiah Clatworthy was his +name—my mother and myself; for I was the only child they had a-living. +It's a lonely place, is Loudacott, and it wasn't many folks that we saw +there when I was a child; but when I growed up into a comely maid, and +men seed me now and again to market or fairing time, they began to come +a-courting; for 'twasn't me only that they would get, but forty acre of +land with me, if father liked mun well. There was more came than you'd +a think for, plenty enough to turn the head of a silly maid; and there +was one that father favoured particular, for he had land close nigh by +Loudacott, but I didn't like he—never could. There wasn't but one +that pleased me, and that was Jan Dart. You know his old mother that +lives to Ashacombe, or used to live, for they tell me that she's +a-dying. She couldn't never abide the name of me, Jan's mother +couldn't; and father, he couldn't abide Jan. For his father hadn't +been more than a servant with the old squire, nor his mother neither, +and Jan, he'd a been bound 'prentice to a shoemaker, and wasn't long +out of his time; while we was the Clatworthys to Loudacott. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the men come, and I was well enough pleased to keep mun dancing +round me, and poor Jan with the rest of mun, for you may depend that I +wasn't going to let he go. I'd a-been a bit spoiled, for my mother had +had a boy and another maid besides me, and fine children too, as I've +been told; but she'd a-lost the both of them o' smallpox, so that there +wasn't but me left. So I couldn't tell what to do, for I know'd but +one thing for sartain, that the man that father wanted for me wasn't +the man that I wanted for myself. But there was a wise woman—Betsy +Lavacombe her name was, I mind well, but what use to tell you +that?—that I used to see; and terrible afeared of her the folks was. +It was she that built this house, and no one knew where she lived +except myself, nor knoweth till this day. But I wasn't afeared of her, +for I had a-helped her more than once, and used to put out a bit of +mate for her now and again when I could; and she would always carry any +message from me to Jan or from Jan to me. And I asked her many times +which of mun I should marry, but she wouldn't never tell me more than +that I should cross the sea and come back with gold. 'That's enough +for 'ee,' she would say, 'don't ask no more. You shall cross the sea +and there will be lords and gentlemen with 'ee, and your bed shall be +so good as theirs, and you shall come back with gold.' +</P> + +<P> +"So time went on and Jan kept courting o' me and I kept a playing with +Jan, as foolish maids will, till at last one day, I forget what it was +I said to mun, but he flinged away like a mazed man. 'I'll never come +nigh 'ee again,' he said, 'you'll have to find me if you want to see me +more; and till you find me you won't never find a man as loves you so +well as I do.' And I laughed so as he could hear as he walked away, +for I made no doubt but he'd come again so soon as I called mun. And I +mind well then that the old Betsy comed out of a hedge soon +afterward—she'd a been listening, I reckon—and saith she, 'Shall I +call mun back to 'ee now? Best lose no time,' she saith. But I let +mun go, for I depended that he'd come back, though I don't deny that I +wasn't easy. +</P> + +<P> +"And it wasn't above a week afterward that the old Betsy cometh back +and saith, 'You'd best have let me call mun back when I told 'ee'; and +then she told me that a serjeant was come to Ashacombe and that Jan was +listed for a sojer and was agone. It was evening then and I heard +mother calling, so I went into house like a dumb thing, for I couldn't +think what I should do without Jan; and I minded the words that he had +said, that I must come and find mun if I wanted to see him more; and I +lay awake all night a-crying to think that I couldn't tell where to +seek for mun, for find mun I must. But next day when I went out I +glimpsed the old Betsy on the road not far away and whistled to her +(for she never showed herself about Loudacott if she could help, but +watched for me and whistled), and when she saw my face, 'Where's your +rosy cheeks gone, my dear?' she saith. 'A red coat's red enough +without they to dye mun, I reckon.' But she wouldn't tell me where he +was agone, till I said that if she did not I would go out to find mun +for myself. 'Do you mane that?' she saith—I mind it as if 'twas +yesterday—'Then I'll take 'ee to mun. 'Ere, look 'ee! I'll give 'ee +time to think about it, and if you mane to go sarch for mun, do you +meet me here with your clothes o' this day fortnight when the moon +rises.' +</P> + +<P> +"And with that she went away and showed herself down Ashacombe ways +'most every day, to make folks think she was busy thereabouts—that +false and artful she was. But when the days was gone, and mortal long +days they was to me, she was waiting for me as she said, for I wasn't +agoing to change my mind; and then it was that she brought me to this +house and told me to mark the way well. We stayed here till night, and +then we started off walking across the moor, the both of us, until +morning, for she wasn't going to let a maid like me walk by myself, she +said. We took a bit of mate with us and flint and steel, and many was +the things that she taught to me on the road for a body to make herself +nighly as comfortable in the open air as in ever a house. +</P> + +<P> +"We walked night-times only till we was fifty miles away from home, and +then we could keep the road middling well, though I kept my bonnet tied +across my face. And so we drew nigh to Gloucester town, and then the +old Betsy told me that Jan was there with his ridgment, and that I must +find he by myself. And she wished me good-bye, and then the poor soul +fell a-crying, for she said that there was no one left now to be kind +to her. 'And there's hard times before 'ee, my tender,' she saith—I +mind the words well—'but not yet. Good luck will be with 'ee first +along. There's a man loves 'ee, and a man he is; make the most of mun. +You shall cross the sea and come back with gold, but don't 'ee forget +my little house, and if I bean't there, dig under the table, and think +kindly of the old Betsy.' +</P> + +<P> +"So she went back and I walked into the town alone, feeling terrible +fluttered; but I hadn't a-gone very far before I meets with a man in a +red coat and his hair a-powdered, a-walking along by hisself, for it +was evening. I looked at mun and hardly knowed mun at first; but Jan +it was, and beautiful he looked in his ridgmentals sure enough. The +old Betsy had a-promised me good luck first along, and yet I was most +afraid to speak to mun, though nobody was by. And when he saw me he +turned so white as death, and saith quite hoarse like, 'Lucy, what do +you here?' And I couldn't say no more than 'I've a come to find you, +Jan.' And the blood come back into his face, and we didn't want to say +no more, not then. Dear Lord! That was a day! +</P> + +<P> +"We was married so soon as could be, though a sojer's pay is little +enough, as <I>you</I> know, your honour; for the half of what is given is +took away again, so far as I can see. But Jan could always make +something with his shoe-making, while I could wash, and get many a +little job besides from the officers' ladies. So we did middling well, +and Jan got one of the men that was a bit of a scollard to write to his +mother, and got a hawker to take the letter along for the mending of +his shoes. And in six months the hawker came back to say that mother +was dead and that father had sold Loudacott and was gone to live in the +town, where he was drinking and doing no good. I reckon 'twas the old +Betsy had told mun; and I suppose that really 'twas all o' my account, +but 'twas too late to think of that. And it was less than six months +after this news come that my boy was a-born—" +</P> + +<P> +She stopped a minute to pass her hand over the sick man's head, and +went on: +</P> + +<P> +"A beautiful boy he was, sure enough, and glad I was, when he was about +a twelvemonth old, that the peace came and there was no chance for Jan +to be sent to the war. Scores of men was discharged, but Jan said we +should do better to stay, for there wasn't nowhere for us to go to if +we went, and he'd a got fond of the sojer's life, as I had, so long as +I was with he; and they was glad to keep so fine a man. But then the +war come again, and a terrible way I was in, for they said the ridgment +was sure to be sent soon to the Injies or some place. But it chanced +that another ridgment was raising a new battalion in Gloucester, and +there was a young chap that was got into trouble and wanted to cross +the sea as soon as might be, so wished, if he could, to change with +Jan. And by good luck 'twas done, and we was sent to the new +battalion. So there we stayed to Gloucester nighly four year. Those +was the days when they said that Boney was a-coming over, but he never +come, as you know very well, for he didn't dare. +</P> + +<P> +"And at Gloucester it was that I had a little maid born to me, so sweet +a little maid as ever was seen, with blue eyes and golden hair like +your own little lady's. But there was a terrible lot of sickness among +the men. Whether it was that our other battalion brought it back from +Egypt, I can't tell, but so it was. The men died fast, for all that +the doctors would do was to bleed mun like pigs; and whether it was +that, or what it was, I couldn't say, but the little maid sickened and +died, when she was fifteen months old. Jan was terrible distressed, I +mind, and so was I; but since then I've a-thought often that it was +better so. +</P> + +<P> +"But Jan and the boy kept well and strong, and as the boy growed +bigger, he got mazed with soldiering. Nothing would sarve mun but he +must be a drummer; and one of the drummers took up with mun and taught +mun almost so soon as he was big enough to hold the sticks, and it was +wonderful to see how quick he learned. It was pretty, too, to see his +little hands a-twinkling, for very soon he could beat so well as any of +mun. So he became a bit of a favourite, for he was a sweet pretty boy, +and the officers took notice of mun, and the tailor he made mun a +little coat and breeches and dressed mun out for all the world like a +riglar drummer. For the tailor's wife hadn't no children you see, my +Lady, and was wonderful took up with my boy; and Jan he made her a +beautiful pair of shoes in return, I mind. And it was a saying that +our ridgment had the smallest drummer in the army, and the best. Look +'ee, I've a kept the very coat." +</P> + +<P> +And she pulled the outer clothes off the sick man's chest, and showed +the little coat which Dick had worn, tied by the sleeves about his +neck. He moved slightly and his mother poured a few drops of wine +between his lips; but he made no further sign of revival, and she went +on with her story. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it was in the year seven, I mind well, that the other battalion +of the ridgment was sent to the war in Denmark and then on to +Portingale. I didn't like that, for it seemed that the war was coming +nigh home to us, and our good luck had lasted long; and I couldn't +never get the old Betsy's words out of my head, that I must cross the +sea. And at last in the autumn of the next year, the year eight that +was, the day come. Our battalion was ordered to find men to fill up +the place of those that was dead in the other battalion, and Jan was +a-chosen for one. There was only six women to every company allowed to +go with them, and they was drawed by lot. Ah, well I mind the drawing +of they lots. It was pity to see the poor wives a-screeching and +crying, as one after another was told that she must bide home. Many a +one was on her knees to the officer begging mun to take her, and the +officer hisself oftentimes was near crying as he was forced to say No. +My turn came at last, and I was drawn to go; and then I couldn't help +a-crying so loud as any of mun for joy. +</P> + +<P> +"So we was put a board ship with Jan, the boy and I was, and away we +went to sea; and the poor things that was left behind stood crying, and +the men aboard cheered and cheered again. Many's the time I've +a-thought of that day. I reckon you've a knowed what it is yourself, +my Lady, to see the ships sail away; but I was happy enough, for I was +with Jan. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we got to Lisbon, where Sir John Moore was a-waiting for us; and +the army marched away from Portingale into Spain. The women was all +told that they might sail back to England if they would; but 'twasn't +likely that any would leave their husbands, let alone me who was only +just come. So we marched with the army, and long marches it was, they +winter days, nighly five hundred mile in six weeks as I've been told. +But Jan kept up brave, for he was a strong man, and I was always +hearty, while the boy tramped along wonderful too; and when he was +a-tired there was always Jan or others of the men would carry mun, or I +would carry mun for a time myself. And what I had learned from the old +Betsy 'bout walking and camping sarved me well, for I was nigh so handy +as any of mun. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, after six weeks we come to a place—I forget the name—something +like sago I think it was." +</P> + +<P> +"Sahagun," said Colonel George. +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, that was it; and there we was told we women must bide while the +men went vor against the French. And then I began to think that the +bad luck of which the old Betsy had a-spoke was come at last. It was +two days before Christmas, I mind well, and we wondered what ever +Christmas Day would bring. But the very next day the news come that +the French was stronger than we, and that we must go back; and many +ridgments turned back that very day. But we waited, for Jan's ridgment +was gone farther on, expecting mun all through the night, and in the +morning sure enough they came; and out we ran through the snow, for the +snow was on the ground, and there was Jan alive and well, but a bit +tired. But there wasn't no time for rest; and we had to go on to once. +The rain came down, the snow began to thaw, and the roads was so slushy +and heavy that it was miserable travelling. The men was angry too at +turning away from the French, and they kept asking if the time wasn't +never coming to halt: but on they had to go. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy soon began to tire, for the way was terrible soggy, and Jan +carried mun for a bit: but he hadn't had but little to ate and had +marched a long ways already. So before very long Jan was obliged to +give mun to me, and I carried mun along as best I could. But I +couldn't help dropping behind a bit, for Jan said that I could catch +mun up first halt, and that the boy would be able to get along better +after being carried a bit. I couldn't get no help, for all the men +that I saw was so tired as I was, and worse. Now and again one would +fall down not able to go no furder, and it's my belief that every one +of mun would have done the like if it hadn't been for the General +(Craufurd was the name of mun) who rode up and down, driving mun on as +if they'd a-been sheep. But he wouldn't let mun go like sheep, not he. +'Kape your ranks and move on. No straggling,' he kept saying. And +you'd see the men a-looking up and scowling at mun: but he was +a-scowling worse than they, and if they didn't mind he'd break out at +them like a mad thing; and then look out! I never see a man fly into +such passions as he, swearing and cursing in his strange Scotch tongue. +You'd have thought he was going to kill the men, and sometimes I +believe he would, for he talked of hanging mun often enough. +</P> + +<P> +"It was late at night before we got to the town where we was to rest; +and the boy was so bate that it was all I could do to bring mun in. +'Twas raining so heavy that we couldn't light a fire out of doors, so +there was little to eat; but I got a bit for the boy, and Jan tried to +mend my shoes, which was in a sad way; but there was many crying out to +have their shoes mended, and he was that tired that he couldn't do +naught, but falled asleep over his awl and bristles. The next morning +it was march again, tired as we was. The boy was fresher after a bit +of sleep and could walk for a bit, and Jan and me managed to get mun +along so well as we could; but we growed weaker and he growed weaker +every day. How many days and nights it was I can't tell, for there was +no rest, and the French was said to be close by; so days and nights we +tramped on, through the wind and the rain and the sleet; and every day +there was more men dropped down. There was hardly a pair of shoes +among the lot, officers nor men, and our feet was cut and bleeding; but +still that General Craufurd kept driving of us on. He was always the +first ready to start, and there he would stand waiting, his beard all +white with frost on the bitter mornings, looking to the men with their +clothes all in rags, so cold and stiff and faint that they was hardly +able to move; and this I will say, that he favoured hisself no more +than he favoured the men. It was terrible to see mun looking them +over, for you could see that he feeled for them; but then he would open +his mouth and give the word to march in a voice that made you jump to +hear. And when once they was a-moving, if ever a man dropped behind, a +sarjint went at mun for all the world like a sheep-dog, and a dog that +knowed how to use his teeth too. My boy got terrible 'feared of they +sarjints, for he heard mun use rough words, ay, and more than words, to +our men, and more than once he thought the sarjint was speaking to he, +and clinged to me tight, poor little soul; and night-times he would +wake and cry that the sarjint was come for mun. +</P> + +<P> +"It must have been nighly a week after we started that General Craufurd +tooked a different road from we; and we went on without mun. And then +we found what it was to have such a man, hard though he was in driving +us 'vor and keeping the men in order. For we came to a town where +there was stores and stores of wine; and there the sojers, that had +marched on before us, was lying in the gutter by scores, or staggering +about the streets more like to pigs than Christian men. I seed General +Moore that night. Ah! that was a man. The handsomest man in the army +they said he was, for all that one of his cheeks was scarred where a +bullet had gone through it years before; and sure enough I never see a +finer man 'cepting my Jan. But he was terrible stern too, and I never +saw man look so dark and angry as he did then. I seed mun many times +afterward, for he was always a-looking to the rear where our ridgment +was, a-helping and encouraging so well as he could. Well, I got a drop +of wine for the boy—it was the morning of New Year's day I mind—which +did mun good, and next morning we started again. +</P> + +<P> +"But worse was avore us than we had left behind, for till now the +cavalry had been behind us and had kept away the French; but now the +cavalry was sent forward, and there was nothing betwixt us and the +enemy. Two days afterward the French came upon us sure enough, and the +muskets was going all night. I couldn't sleep, for I knowed that Jan +was there, but sat with the boy, who was lying by me, tossing and +tumbling, for he was ill with the wet, and the cold, and the long ways. +Some women that was with me told me to go to sleep and not be a fule, +for 'twas naught but a scrimmage; but I couldn't do that. Ah, the +night was long; but a bit before dawn the boy grew quiet, and as the +light come in I heard our men was a-coming back, and runned out to see +Jan. And there was Jan's company a-standing in line and the sarjint +calling the roll. I heard mun call Jan Dart, but couldn't hear Jan's +voice answer; but there was a chance that he might be carrying a +wounded man or something or another, so I called 'Jan Dart, can anyone +say where Jan Dart is?' but no one answered; and then the captain asked +the same, and a man stepped out and said that he had seen mun fall. +And I cried out, 'Oh take me to mun,' and the captain (a kind gentleman +he always was) told the man to show me where he seed mun last; but he +saith, 'You mustn't stay long, my poor woman, for the French will be +here again directly;' and I knowed what that meant. So the man showed +me the way and there was Jan, sure enough, a-lying on his face. I +turned mun over, and, as I did, his hand fell across my knees, and his +face was so quiet that I thought for a minute that he was only +a-dropped asleep from weariness; but it wasn't of no use, for he was +dead—shot through the heart. +</P> + +<P> +"And there I reckon I should have stayed, spite of all that the officer +said; but the man took me by the arm and told me to come on. 'The +saints rock his soul to rest in glory,' he saith, crossing hisself, for +he was an Irishman, 'and have mercy on us that is still living;' and +then I remembered the boy, and I left Jan and come away. The boy was +terrible weak and ailing, but we set off to walk, though very soon I +had to carry mun; and so I dropped behind. The road lay through the +mountains now, and was terrible rough and steep, while the snow come +down and made the ways so slippy that it was hard to move without +falling. But on I went, I can't tell how, though there was many that +dropped behind me and never come up again. That march was terrible +long, and the boy kept crying to be put down; but when I laid mun down +for a minute or two he couldn't rest for long, but would cry out again +that the sarjint was after mun, so I had to pick mun up and go on again. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon that it must have been the next day—but I can't tell, for +days turns to years at such times—that as I was a tramping on I seed a +crowd of women a-stooping down to the ground to gather up something or +another, and scrambling, and fighting, and squabbling like a lot of +fowls when they'm fed. It was money they was a-fighting for. The oxen +a-drawing the carts with the money was foundered, and the Gineral had +gived orders to throw the money away. I picked up some few pieces +myself, thinking it might buy something for the boy, but there was one +woman that loaded herself like a bee with dollars, and said she would +be a lady when she got home. +</P> + +<P> +"After that, she and I was a good bit together, she carrying her +dollars and I carrying the boy; but the way grew worse and worse, and +but for the boy I think that I should have gived out myself as so many +did. Once I remember I saw a sojer and his wife a-lying down by the +wayside; they couldn't go no farther and had lain down to die together; +and I wished that it had been Jan and me; but I had the boy on my back +and I went on. Well, I won't tell you what terrible sights we saw on +the road; but I'll tell 'ee this, that I have seen grown men a-sobbing +like children for pain and cold and hunger. It was enough to turn the +head of a grown man, let alone a child. And so it was that after a +time the boy stopped crying and complaining and went quite quiet. I +couldn't think what was come to mun, that he was always a-staring and +never speaking nor taking no notice; but I reckoned that if I could +carry mun on to the end, he would recover hisself. And I did carry mun +on to the end to—what was the name of the place again?—something like +currants it was." +</P> + +<P> +"Corunna?" said Colonel George. +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, that was it, Corinner—but when we got there, there wasn't no +ships, and General Moore had to fight the French and bate mun before he +could sail home. And he was a-killed, poor gentleman, he was, as you +know, and many other brave men besides. But we and the sick and the +wounded was put aboard before the battle was fought, and a strange +thing there was that happened. The woman that had taken the dollars +come aboard with me, but her hands were so full that she gave me a part +of the money to hold, while she climbed from the boat to the ship's +side. And as she stepped on the ladder, her foot slipped, and she fell +into the sea and sank like a stone; for she had dollars sewn up in her +clothes so heavy, that down she went and never come up again. So there +was I left with what she give me, and as her husband was killed in the +battle and there wasn't no one else belonging to her to take the money, +I reckoned I might keep it. And then one day I thought of what the old +Betsy had said, that I should cross the sea and bring back gold, though +it wasn't gold, but silver. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, on board ship the boy didn't change, though he got a bit +stronger in his body. We had a terrible storm on the way home, and for +all I could do I couldn't keep mun from being knocked about; the ship +rolling and plunging so that the men could hardly save themselves. And +when we got home and was set ashore on the beach, I could see that my +boy wasn't the only one that was gone wrong. I tell 'ee, my Lady, that +some men was even blind with the toil of that march, and hunger and +cold and misery. +</P> + +<P> +"So there I was alone with my boy, for hardly a man of Jan's company +was left and not many of the whole ridgment, while what there was of +them was mostly sick. 'Twas lucky that I had money, or I can't think +what I should have done. But the worst was that my boy remained just +the same as he was. I showed mun to the doctors, and they took blood +from mun once and wanted to take more, but I wouldn't have that, for +I'd a-seen what they was with their lancets if they was let alone; and +at last they telled me that his mind was gone and wouldn't never come +back. But he grew stronger in his body after a bit, and I was able to +take mun abroad; and though he liked the sound of the drums he was a +bit frightened at the sight of a red coat, for fear that it should be a +sarjint, and if it was a sarjint he would run like a rabbit. So I was +obliged to move away as soon as I could; but go where I would there was +no peace, for he'd a-lost his speech except some few sounds, and I +couldn't let mun run with other children, for they always make sport of +such poor things as he. So for a long time we wandered from place to +place, getting little but hard words, though the boy was happy enough, +I believe; for living in the air as we did he took up with every bird +and every beast that he could find, and they seem to know mun for a +friend. Many was the young one that he took and made so tame as could +be. +</P> + +<P> +"Then at last the money began to run short, for all that I was careful, +and that now and again we could earn a little bit; so I minded what old +Betsy Lavacombe had said, and thought I would go back and find she. It +was a long way to go, but we walked on day after day till we got nigh +to the moor, when I chose my road very careful and walked night-times +only till we come to this house. The old Betsy was agone, and the +house was nigh failed to pieces, and I've a-heard since that she was +found drowned in a lime-pit some years back. But I digged under the +table as the old Betsy had said, and there deep down was a box wrapped +up in a sheepskin, full of silver money, and a little gold too. How +she got it, I can't tell, unless she took it from her husband, who had +been a sailor, as she told me once, though sailors isn't given to +saving. So we built up the house again and here I made up my mind to +live, where no one couldn't hurt my boy, for he was shy of grown-up +folks, and children won't leave mun alone. +</P> + +<P> +"So here we've a-been now these many years, and the boy's been so happy +as could be. Jackdaws, hedgehogs, squirrels, deer, naught comes amiss +to mun: and he knows the moor and the woods so well as the deer +themselves. He growed stronger too, though I wouldn't never take him +with me when I went down to the villages to buy meal: but he would +always keep out of sight and wait for me. And I suppose that just +lately he may have been getting a bit better in his head, for he runned +down to join the children that day when I come to Ashacombe, as you +remember; and for all that he was a bit frightened then, he was so took +up with your little lady that I hadn't the heart to keep mun from going +to look at her, though I was always hid not very far from mun. It was +me that your servant saw in the woods the day Jan brought the +bullfinch; but Lord, Lord, I never thought that it would have come to +this." +</P> + +<P> +She stopped, and pulling the clothes aside looked sadly at the sick +man's face. "See there," she said in a hard, changed voice, "that's +how he looked often when we was marching back to Corinner. I thought +that I should never get mun back alive then, but I did hope never to +see mun look so again. And though he can't spake I know what he's +a-thinking. He thinks that the sarjint's come for mun, and it's a +killed the heart within mun." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + + +<P> +There was a long silence when Lucy Dart came to the end of her story. +There were parts of it that struck home to Lady Eleanor, for was not +she also the widow of a soldier who had been killed in action? But +what moved her and Colonel George above all was the change in the +woman's face. While she was talking of her young days her features +were softer; but as she neared the end of her story they grew harder +and harder until they assumed an expression of worn, dogged despair, as +though she still felt the stress of those terrible days in the retreat +to Corunna. She was ghastly pale also, and seemed quite exhausted when +she came to the last word; and both of her visitors recalled her words, +that she had carried her son, a grown man, most of the many miles from +Bracefort to the hut where he now lay. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George broke the silence by telling Lucy that she must take +care to keep up her own strength as well as her son's, and that he +would come back the next day with a fresh store of provisions for them +both. He begged at the same time to be allowed to bring the doctor +with him, but Lucy positively refused. A doctor could do no good, she +said; and she begged that the colonel would not come again until the +day after to-morrow, as she wished to be left alone. +</P> + +<P> +So with a heavy heart Lady Eleanor bade her good-bye, and they left her +bent over the body of her son; Colonel George saying that he could find +his way back over the bog without help. And so indeed he did, with a +skill which to Lady Eleanor seemed marvellous; but she said not a word +to him until they reached the high ridge, on a point of which she had +once rested while the searching parties were scouring the moor for her +lost children, as weary with watching and misery as the woman from whom +she had just parted. And then for the first time there occurred to her +the readiness, quickness and foresight with which Colonel George had +arranged everything, not only for the finding of the children, but for +letting her know by signal what had happened, for better or worse, as +early as possible. Involuntarily she quickened her horse's pace a +little as she thought of her race home to the children, after they were +found; and then came the chilling remembrance that, when she reached +home, Dick would not be there. She pulled up, and looked round for +Colonel George, who had dropped somewhat behind her, and was gazing at +the glorious prospect of moor and valley and woodland that was spread +out before him. Instantly he was at her side. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid that we have not the same excuse for scampering home +to-day," he said, divining her thoughts; "poor old Dick is well on his +way by now. Well, the Corporal will be back in a few days to tell us +all about him; and I hope to see him myself before long, as he will be +close to London." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you are going?" said Lady Eleanor, "for how long?" +</P> + +<P> +"For a long time," he said, "I am going abroad again. Three months is +not very long leave after a six months' voyage perhaps, but I am a +soldier and must go where I am told. But I don't start for another +month," he added, "so I hope to clear up this little trouble for you +before I go." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Eleanor stifled a little cry. "Going away again so soon?" she +said. "Surely you are not wanted already?" But she checked herself +and went on calmly. "Then you think there is nothing very serious the +matter with that poor idiot after all?" +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George shook his head. "I am not a doctor," he answered, "but +I confess that I think very badly of him, and I believe that the woman +is right, and that a doctor would be useless." +</P> + +<P> +They rode on silently for a time, when Colonel George said, "That poor +woman looked nearly as ill as her son. She went through terrible +things before Corunna, but the last few days must have been almost +worse. The strain of carrying him all that distance from Bracefort +must have been more than she could really stand. She has no one except +him in the world, and if he be taken from her, I cannot think how she +will struggle on alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Lady Eleanor, as if talking to herself, "it is terrible to +be left alone." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel George glanced at her quickly, but she was looking sadly +straight in front of her, and he rode on for some way further in +silence before he broke out almost fiercely, "When I lost my best +friend at Salamanca, my first thought was for her who by his death was +left alone. When I came back after the peace I should have asked her, +if I had dared, to live alone no longer, but to come and live with me. +But I dared not, and went away again, dreading every day lest I might +no longer find her alone when I came back. And now I am about +accepting an appointment at the Cape and leaving her alone again, when +God knows, all I care for in this world is to throw up my commission +and stay with her—always, if she will let me. Eleanor, it is +true—you are more than all the world to me. Tell me, shall I go or +stay?" +</P> + +<P> +Lady Eleanor flushed deeply but rode on in silence; and Colonel George +added very gently: +</P> + +<P> +"One word more; whatever your answer, remember that you can count upon +me always for your faithful friend." +</P> + +<P> +So they rode on without a word for some way further till they came to +two rough tracks, of which one led to Fitzdenys Court and the other to +Bracefort, where Colonel George pulled up and looked at her straight in +the face. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it go or stay?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Go now," she said with some difficulty; "come back,—not to-morrow, +but when you return from visiting the hut on the day after." +</P> + +<P> +"If I come back to you, I shall stay," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Come back," she repeated, "but leave me for to-morrow; and now +good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +So she gave him her hand, and they went their different ways; but both +stopped and looked back after they had gone a hundred yards, to the +great surprise and disgust of their horses, who were impatient to get +home. +</P> + +<P> +But next morning Colonel George received a hurried note from Lady +Eleanor saying she had been disturbed in the night by the sound of +footsteps on the gravel by the house; and that, though she could see +nothing at the time, the maids on opening the door had found the +drummer's coat lying on the step. She therefore feared that something +was gone wrong and begged Colonel Fitzdenys, despite his promise, to +ride up to the hut on the moor without delay. +</P> + +<P> +Of course the colonel started off at once, and when he caught sight of +the hut he noticed that the goats were unmilked and bleating pitifully +round the door. As he drew nearer, the jackdaw and magpie came hopping +out, cawing with mouths wide open; and then he jumped off his horse, +tied him up, and knocked with his whip against the pole which formed +the door-post. There was no answer, and he went in. The idiot was +lying as he had seen him on the previous day, but the troubled look was +gone from his face; and across him with her head close to his lay his +mother, while the squirrel with his little bright eyes was sitting up +by the heads of both. The woman's skirts were dripping wet, as though +she had walked through dewy grass, and she lay quite still. The +colonel laid his hand on the man's forehead; and it was quite cold. +Then he took the woman's hand and that also was cold. He had seen such +sights too often in the wars to be dismayed at finding himself alone +with the dead. "He must have died at sunset," he said to himself, "and +she walked over to Bracefort in the night in distraction and came back +to die before sunrise. No wonder, after such a strain as carrying him +all those miles." He left the two where they lay, and was about to put +the door in its place and go; but the goats clamoured so loud that he +stopped to milk them, which he had learned to do in India, and finding +the meat that he had brought on the previous day untouched in the +basket, he gave some scraps to the magpie and the jackdaw, and ferreted +about till he had discovered some nuts in the hut for the squirrel. +Then he set the door in its place and rode straight for Bracefort. +</P> + +<P> +When he reached the hill-top he saw some one riding upward; and +galloping down soon found himself face to face with Lady Eleanor. In +spite of what she had said on the day before she seemed very happy to +see him twenty-four hours earlier than she had appointed, and it was +not for some minutes that they came to the matter which had brought +them together again. Then Colonel George told her what he had seen at +the hut, though he found it hard to tell her anything so sad at such a +time. She listened with many tears, but when she had recovered herself +somewhat, she told Colonel George that there was one person more who +must hear the story of Lucy Dart at once. +</P> + +<P> +So when they came to Bracefort they went to see old Sally Dart, who had +become weaker again in the last few days, and had taken to her bed. +She brightened up as they came in, and before either of them could say +a word, bade them, as if she knew for what they were come, to tell them +about her Jan. So they told her how he had fallen in fair fight with +the French, among the rear-guard, which had covered itself with glory +in the retreat; and she said that it was well. And they told her how +Lucy his wife had stuck to him faithfully through all the hardship of +war, that she had carried his boy to the end, when men were dying all +round of fatigue and despair, and had brought him out alive, by her +patience and courage, though injured for life; and that she had devoted +herself wholly to him in the years that followed and died from grief +when he died. They kept back from her any more than this lest they +should grieve her, but old Sally was satisfied without asking +questions, for which indeed she had little strength, but said that it +was well, and that she would now go in peace. Then she wished them +both good-bye and hoped they might live long and happily together, +though they had told her nothing of what had passed between themselves; +and those were the last words that she spoke, for she was stricken for +the second time that evening and after lingering for a day and a night +departed in peace, as she had said. +</P> + +<P> +So there were three graves dug in the little churchyard; and +grandmother, mother and son were buried together, so that the mourners +for old Sally did honour also to the two whom they had treated as +outcasts. The goats, the old pony, the magpie, the jackdaw and the +squirrel were all brought down at the same time and made over to Elsie; +and the little drummer's coat still lies in the glass case at Bracefort +Hall. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But it was all many, many years ago; and there are few now living in +Ashacombe village who remember to have heard from their parents the +story of the witch of Cossacombe. There are many more monuments now in +the churches both at Ashacombe and Fitzdenys than there were then; but +those who read from them of George, Lord Fitzdenys, who fought in the +Peninsula, at Waterloo, and at Maheidpore, and of Eleanor his beloved +wife, think little or know nothing of the manner in which they were +brought together. Still less do they know of the part played in the +matter by John Brimacott, sometime of the Light Dragoons, who died in +their household after forty years of good and faithful service. Those +again who read an inscription to the memory of General Sir Richard +Bracefort, Colonel of the 116th Lancers, who fought in the Punjaub, +cannot tell that this was once little Dick, who was lost on the moor, +nor that Elizabeth his widowed sister, whose memory also is preserved +in Ashacombe church, was once little Elsie who was lost with him. But +folks still pause to look at the tablet which records the death of +Private John Dart in the retreat to Corunna, and of Lucy his wife, who +after his fall carried her son of nine years old to the British ships, +and having devoted the rest of her life to the care of him, who by +God's visitation could take no care for himself, was found dead upon +his body when he died. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Drummer's Coat, by J. W. Fortescue + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRUMMER'S COAT *** + +***** This file should be named 19801-h.htm or 19801-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/8/0/19801/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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W. Fortescue + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Drummer's Coat + +Author: J. W. Fortescue + +Release Date: November 13, 2006 [EBook #19801] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRUMMER'S COAT *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "Hold mun fast, brave lads!"] + + + + + +The Drummer's Coat + + +by the + +Hon. J. W. Fortescue + + +Author of "The Story of a Red Deer" + + + +With illustrations by + +H. M. Brock + + + + +London + +MacMillan and Co., Limited + +New York: The MacMillan Company + +1899 + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED + +LONDON AND BUNGAY. + + +First Edition, November 1899. + +Reprinted, December 1899. + + + + +TO + +D. W. + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +Lest a principal incident in this little tale should seem incredible, +it may be mentioned that an instance of a child being deprived of +speech for several days, at the bidding of a reputed witch, came under +the author's immediate notice less than three years ago, in a village +but three miles distant from his own home. + +It may be added that the military details in Chapter XIII. are all +drawn from authentic sources, mainly from the _Recollections of +Rifleman Harris_ and the _History of the Fifty-Second Regiment_. + +CASTLE HILL, + +28th August, 1899. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"HOLD MUN FAST, BRAVE LADS!" . . . _Frontispiece_ + +BENT DOWN TO KISS ELSIE'S AS HE HAD KISSED HER MOTHER'S + +"THE BIRD BEGAN TO PIPE A LITTLE TUNE" + +"STILL THE WOMAN LED THEM ON" + + + + +THE DRUMMER'S COAT + + +CHAPTER I + +In a deep wooded valley in the north of Devon stands the village of +Ashacombe. It is but a little village, of some twenty or thirty +cottages with white cob walls and low thatched roofs, running along the +sunny side of the valley for a little way, and then curving downward +across it to a little bridge of two tiny pointed arches, on the other +side of which stands a mill with a water-wheel. For a little stream +runs down this valley as down all Devonshire valleys; and as you look +up the water from the bridge you can see it winding and sparkling +through its margin of meadow, while the great oak woods hang still and +solemn above it, till some bold green headland slopes down and shuts it +from your sight; and you raise your eyes, and count fresh headlands +crossing each other right and left beyond it, fainter and fainter, till +at last they end in a little patch of purple heather, which seems to be +the end of all things. + +But when you look down the water, you find that the woods no longer +cover the sunny side of the valley so thickly, but that there is open +ground like a park. There is a gate by the bridge opening on to a +narrow road, which presently ends in two great spreading yews; and +through these you can see a lych-gate, and beyond it a little grey +church with a low grey tower. Close to this gate is a lodge of grey +stone, with a winding drive which guides your eye through the trees to +the gables of a house of the same grey stone, which peer up over the +trees on the ground above the church. Then beyond it the headlands of +green wood begin to cross each other again, lower and lower, till you +can follow them no more. + +So Ashacombe, as may easily be guessed, is a sleepy little village, +which sees little of the great world outside. But whatever it sees it +can see well, for the hill on which it stands is so much broken by +little clefts and hollows that some of the cottages stand level with +the road and some high above it; wherefore if you are not satisfied +with looking at anything on the road from the same level, you can go to +some neighbour's garden and gaze down upon it from above, or again you +can slip down from the road into the meadow (for the road is raised on +a wall) and scrutinise it carefully from below. Still sleepy though +the village may be, it is always beautifully neat and clean. The walls +are always of spotless white, and the thatch trim and in good repair. +The scrap of garden behind each cottage is well tended and full of +vegetables, and the scrap of garden in front gay with flowers; for +Ashacombe has never known the time when there was not a master or +mistress in the Hall who made the village their first care. Such it is +now, and such, if old pictures are to be trusted, it was with little +difference eighty years ago, at which time we are about to examine its +history. + +But if visitors come to Ashacombe it is to see not the village but the +Hall, for Bracefort Hall has some fame of its own. It is a beautiful +little house, built in the time of King Henry the Sixth, and therefore +in the shape of an H, with two gables marking the end of the +downstrokes, and a short length of grey roof standing for the +cross-bar. It faces to the south, so that the little court between the +gables is a veritable sun-trap, wherein grow magnolia and jessamine; +while roses, Dutch honeysuckle, clematis and wistaria cover the whole +front of the house and almost hide the mullioned windows. But the Hall +is even more attractive within than without, for from the moment when +you enter the door you find yourself among oak panels, oak carving and +old tapestry on every side and in every room. The house has but two +storeys, so that the rooms are not very large not very high, with the +exception of the hall, which fills both storeys of the cross-bar of the +H, from the floor to the roof. The ceiling is of open work, +beautifully carved; the walls are panelled high, and at the head of +each panel is painted a coat of arms showing the marriages of many +generations of Braceforts. Above the panels at one end of the hall are +huge coats of arms carved in stone and gorgeously coloured; and at the +other end is a gallery of carved oak with the gilded pipes of an organ +shining above it. A great part of the outer wall is taken up by a very +large mullioned window with quaint round panes, many of them filled +with old stained glass; and on the wall opposite to it is a great +fireplace of carved stone, the centre of it showing the crest of a +mailed arm and the motto, Dieu et bras fort. + +Above this fireplace hang some curious things--stags' horns, and +weapons of bygone times, and among them a buff coat, an iron helmet, a +cuirass, and two long straight swords, which evidently belonged to one +of the gentlemen with flowing love-locks and broad collars turned down +over their mail, whose portraits are hung on each side. But below +these is a more modern helmet, such a helmet as was worn by Light +Dragoons about a century ago, of lacquered leather with a huge comb of +fur, a scarlet turban wound about it, and a short plume of red and +white. Also there is a curved sword with a crimson sash draped round +it; and below these again, neatly spread in a glass case, is a quaint +little child's coat of yellow, with red collar, cuffs and lapels, two +tiny red wings at the shoulders and two tiny red tails behind; which +garment an inscription, now much faded, declares to be a drummer's coat +of the time of the Peninsular War. + +Now it is easy to guess to whom the Light Dragoon's helmet and sword +and sash belonged, for immediately on one side of it is a portrait of a +very handsome man with dark hair and eyes, dressed in a blue coat with +silver braid, with the crimson sash round his waist, the curved sword +at his side, and the identical helmet under his arm; and you may read +underneath the picture that it represents Captain Richard Bracefort, +who was killed at the battle of Salamanca. Close by, too, is a picture +of his charger, Billy Pitt, which he rode in the battle, and which +lived, as is written on the picture, for many years afterwards. Again, +as a pendant to the Captain's picture hangs a portrait of a lady, +showing a beautiful oval face with three chestnut curls on each side of +it and a mass of chestnut hair above, and two blue eyes as clear and as +pure as a child's; and underneath this portrait is written the name of +Lady Eleanor Bracefort, wife and widow of Captain Richard the Light +Dragoon. + +But how the drummer's coat ever found its way into Bracefort Hall there +is nothing to show. Nevertheless by that little coat there hangs a +tale; and though that tale is now nearly eighty years old, both the +Hall and the village are so little changed that it is perhaps worth the +telling. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +It was the 22nd of July 1820, and the shadows were beginning to +lengthen over Ashacombe village on a burning summer's afternoon. The +men were still at work, and most of the women also; for, early though +it was, a farmer was cutting a field of wheat over the hill on the far +side of the valley, a field which was always the first in the whole +parish to ripen. So the men were cutting and the women were binding, +for women did more work in the fields in those days than in these; and +now and again, when the booming of the mill-wheel ceased for a moment, +the sound of the hones on the sickles could be heard clinking musically +in the still heavy air. Two or three old women alone stood in their +porches, with their sun-bonnets over their neat white caps, gossiping +as they knitted, and speaking an occasional word to an old, old man who +sat in a high-backed chair basking in the sun. The children were all +down in the meadow below, the little maids mostly sitting in the shade +and making nosegays of forget-me-nots; while every boy that could walk, +and some of the maids also, were paddling in the little stream or +dancing about the bank in chase of such unhappy fish as had been too +lazy to leave the shallows when the stream was turned into the +mill-leat. Sometimes they were silent, and the next moment they broke +into chorus like a pack of hounds, while occasionally there came a +shrill rate from one of the old women who watched them from the +cottages, calling back some too venturesome boy from the deep water of +the mill-leat. + +So the old women gossiped and the children played, for the daily +coaches up and down had passed some hours before, and there was little +excitement to be looked for in the road after they were gone. +Presently the old women stopped and listened, for they heard the gate +at the lodge clang as it opened and shut, and two children's voices +crying merrily, "Oh, corporal, corporal, put on your watering-cap!" +Then one of the old women hastened, though with infirm steps, across +her little garden towards the road, and stood by the edge of it among +tall stalks of red valerian and a great plant of periwinkle which hung +down over the wall. And there came along the road a tall man with +grizzled hair, dressed in drab breeches and gaiters just like any other +man, but wearing on his head a flat blue cap, widening out from brim to +crown, with a yellow band round the forehead--the watering cap of a +Light Dragoon. He walked very erect, though he limped slightly with +one leg; and over one shoulder he carried a clean white stable-rubber, +neatly folded, with a stable-halter tied across it. Hanging on to his +hand on one side was a little boy of about nine years old with great +brown eyes and glossy black hair, dressed in a very short little brown +jacket with brown breeches buttoning on to it, and a broad white +collar. On the Corporal's other side and clinging tight to his other +hand skipped a little girl with wide blue eyes and fair hair, dressed +all in white, and with her face almost hidden under a little white +sun-bonnet. Both children carried a little wreath of laurel in their +hands and seemed to have some very important business before them, +until they caught sight of the old woman looking down upon them, when +they cried out "Sally! Sally!" and letting go the Corporal's hand ran +up the steep little steps to her, while the Corporal limped more slowly +after them. + +"Ah, my dear hearts," said old Sally, "I minded that it was Sallymanky +day, and I said to myself that Master Dick and Miss Elsie would surely +be coming in for the ribbins. Shall us go in to house and fetch mun? +Then please to come in. Please to come right in, Mr. Brimacott," she +added, addressing the Corporal. So they passed through the little low +door into the cottage, and in two seconds the children were standing on +chairs and examining all the treasures on the walls. For Sally had +been a servant at Bracefort Hall, and was never so glad as when little +Dick and Elsie Bracefort came to pay her a visit; first because she +thought there was no family to equal the Braceforts in the whole wide +world, and secondly, because these children had lost their father at +Salamanca just eight years before to a day. And there were wonderful +things on the walls, too. First and foremost there were two coloured +pictures, one of France and Britannia joining hands, with a very woolly +lamb and a very singular lion lying down together at their feet; and +the other of Commerce and Plenty, represented as two very slender +ladies with very short waists, loading Britannia with corn and fruit +and flowers of the brightest colours. The children had heard Sally +tell the story of them fifty times but were quite content to hear it +again--how Sally had bought them of a hawker in the year 1802, for joy +that peace was come at last, and how that wicked Boney had plunged all +the world into war again. Then Dick jumped up and brought down a china +figure of a man in a blue coat on a prancing horse with his hand +pointing upwards, who was no other than Boney, the terrible Bonaparte +himself, as he appeared when crossing the Alps. + +"Ah, the roog," said Sally, as Dick flourished the figure. "Many's the +time that I've wanted to throw he behind the fire. He tooked from me +my boy, my Jan; ah, you knows the story of my Jan, don't 'ee, my dear?" +she added turning to Elsie. + +"Yes," said Elsie, who had heard the story so often as a mite of a +child that she told it herself with something of a Devonshire accent, +"poor Jan that 'listed for a soldier and went to Portingale to the +wars, and never come back, not he, nor wild Lucy that ran away for the +love of him, nor the boy that was born to them." + +"Aye," said the old woman to the Corporal, but smiling sadly on the +child. "Killed he was, so they said, but they couldn't tell how nor +where; and missing they was, but I never could find out nought about +mun, though I hope still to hear somewhat; but it must come soon for +it's ten years agone now, and I reckon that my time's a getting short." + +The Corporal nodded; but Dick had brought down another figure in china, +the figure of a man in a red coat with a hooked nose and two curves of +black whisker on his cheeks, underneath which was written WELLINGTON. + +"Aye," said old Sally, triumphantly, "that was the boy to give Boney +what vor. And now here's the wreaths, my dears, tied with the family +colours, blue and white. I've a had they ribbins forty years, ever +since the great election, when Bracefort was head of the poll, your +grandfather that was. And now you'm going to catch the old Billy Pitt, +I reckon; dear, dear, to think that the horse should still be here and +the captain gone." + +"But the Lieutenant's come back," said the Corporal. "Colonel +Fitzdenys, I should say, whom I mind as the captain's lieutenant; come +back only yesterday safe and sound from the Injies." + +"That's well," said Sally, "for a fine brave gentleman he is, as never +passes me without a kind word. But don't 'ee go yet for a minute, my +dears," and she hobbled away to a large glass bottle, took out two +sticks of toffee, such as she sold to the village boys for a halfpenny +a piece, and gave them to Dick and Elsie. + +The children took them gratefully, for it was little sweet stuff that +children got in those days; and old Sally watched them as they went up +the road, each of them breaking off a large piece for the Corporal. + +They had not long been gone when a new and strange figure suddenly +bounded into the road from the bank at the side. It was that of a +young man who seemed to be about five and twenty, short in stature and +slight in figure, and dressed in a long skirted coat, breeches and +gaiters, which were all alike full of rents and patches. He wore no +hat, but his head was so thickly covered by a shock of brown hair that +he did not seem to want one. His face was brown and sunburnt and +partly covered by a fair downy beard, which, though not thick, added to +his wild and untidy appearance; and his eyes were very large, grey and +vacant. He sprang down from the bank as though he had lived there all +his life, like a rabbit, and then moved on towards the village at a +strange shambling pace, straying from side to side of the road and +waving his arms meaninglessly. Suddenly he stopped, and pulling a +squirrel out of his pocket began to play with it, cooing and whistling +to it as it ran over his arms, and chirping when it stopped and threw +its tail over its back. The two seemed to be the very best of friends, +and after playing for some time the man moved on with the squirrel on +his shoulder, drawing closer to the village; when of a sudden the boys +at play in the stream broke into such a storm of yells that he jumped +up on the bank again to look at them, and stood there for a time gaping +and grinning from ear to ear at what he saw. + +For the boys had succeeded in driving a little eel into a corner and in +throwing it ashore; and there they were, dancing about like mad +creatures, unable to hold it, more than half afraid to touch it, but +always contriving to twitch the wretched wriggling thing further from +the water. One brave little maid managed for a moment to catch it in +her pinafore but dropped it instantly, as all the boys screamed: "Put +it down! he'll bite 'ee." And so they went on babbling their loudest, +when the ragged man in the road suddenly put the squirrel into his +pocket and ran down into the meadow, laughing louder than the loudest, +to take part in the fun. In spite of his long-skirted coat he was as +active as any of them, now clutching desperately at the eel with his +hand, now running at full speed for a few yards and then plunging down +on his knees, and all the while laughing and whinnying with a noise +more like that of a horse than of a man. The boys, though at first a +little startled at the appearance of such a figure in their midst, soon +screamed louder than ever with laughter at his strange antics; until at +last the ragged man got the eel fairly clamped between his fingers and +ran away with it, the whole of the children following him in full cry. +He had almost reached the road when his foot slipped and down he fell +violently on his face. The squirrel, scared to death, ran out of his +coat-pocket, and the eel slipped through his fingers into the long +grass by the ditch and was seen no more. + +The man got up looking dazed and foolish, with his hair full of +forget-me-nots, into which he had plunged in his fall. The children +gathered round him hooting and screaming; and he stared at them +grinning vacantly without a word. From shouts the boys soon went on to +taunts of "Shockhead! Shockhead!" but still the ragged man stood and +grinned, until at last two of them caught sight of the squirrel and +began to hunt it about the field. Then the man's whole demeanour +changed in an instant; and charging down upon the boys he gave them a +push which laid both of them flat on the ground, while the squirrel ran +hastily up his leg and nestled in terror against his cheek. Then he +began to look, with the air of a hunted beast, for some means of +escape. The two boys got up whimpering, more frightened than hurt, and +at the sight of their tears the merriment of the rest turned instantly +to anger. The boys remembered suddenly that their eel was gone, and +crowded round the man, yelling continuously, "Where's our ale? Where's +our ale? You've stole our ale." And the ragged man with drooping +shoulders and white scared face slunk along the fence under the road, +looking for a weak place by which he might scramble out of the field. +At last he found one and made a bound to climb up it; but the bank was +too steep and he fell back. The boys seeing that he was afraid of them +began to raise the cry of thief, or, as they called it, thafe. Half a +dozen of them ran round to the gate of the meadow to cut him off, while +the rest yelled round him like a pack of baying hounds, with cries of +"Thafe! Thafe! Thafe!" The man made a second attempt to climb up the +bank, and this time reached the top, where he lay for a few moments +sprawling, amid the jeers of his tormentors; and Tommy Fry, who was the +scapegrace of the village, picked up a clod of earth and threw it at +him. The clod, which was full of little stones, struck him full on the +cheek and drew blood. The man gave a little whine of pain, and +struggled quickly to his feet; but the boys were in the road before +him, and, worse than that, the women hearing the cry of thief were +hastening to the spot; for they thought of clean clothes that might be +drying on their garden hedges, and, if there be a creature which +villagers dread and detest, it is a tramp. The man looked fearfully up +and down the road, and saw that it was blocked on every side by +hurrying women and children; and then sinking down by the roadside he +buried his face in his hands and blubbered aloud, while the squirrel, +fully as frightened as he was, nestled close to his bleeding cheek. + +Then there was a babel of voices, scolding, complaining and accusing, +but the man sat blubbering and took no heed. Two or three children +were ready to start to fetch the men from the harvest-field, and one +old crone was declaiming with great eloquence on the iniquity of +tramps, when a strange woman suddenly forced her way through the crowd +to the sobbing man and took him by the arm. Her sun-bonnet was so tied +before her face that they could see little of it but two eyes, which +gleamed black and keen like the eyes of a hawk. She raised the man +gently to his feet, and then turned round fiercely upon the ring of +women and children about her. + +"Now," she said imperiously, "cease your bawling, and let mun go. The +poor soul a'nt done no harm to you, I'll warrant mun. Let mun go, and +shame upon 'ee." + +The man rose to his feet still blubbering, and the squirrel moved back +from his face. Then she saw the blood on his cheek, and her eyes +glowed like fire as she said in a voice that trembled with rage: + +"Who's been a drowing stones at my boy?" + +"He stole our ale," shouted Tommy Fry boldly, and the rest of the +children took up the chorus--"He stole our ale!" And Tommy Fry ended +the cry with the word, "Thafe." + +The strange woman turned upon him instantly. "_You_ drowed the stone," +she said, quivering with rage. "_You_ dare to call mun thafe. You +don't spake again till I tell 'ee--mind that. I'll tache 'ee to call +my boy names." And Tommy Fry shrank back with staring eyes, appalled +at her fury, while she put her arm again tighter round that of the +ragged man and began to lead him away. + +"No, no, no," broke in a village woman who came up breathless at this +moment: "You'm too fast by half. 'Tis the like of he that we want to +catch, taking our linen off the hedges. I lost some but two months +agone, and I'll be bound 'twas he that did it. What was it was taked +away, Mary?" she asked, turning to one of the little girls. "Two pair +of stockings and a chimase or one pair of stockings and two chimases? +No, no, no; run, my dear, and fetch father home quick. No, stop! Here +comes Mr. Brimacott." + +And as she spoke there was a sound of hoofs and the Corporal appeared +leading a brown horse with a little wreath of laurel hung round his +ears and the white rubber spread over his back, on which were seated +Dick and Elsie, Dick riding in front brandishing his toffee, while +Elsie with her arm round his waist sat quietly behind him. + +"What's all this?" said the Corporal, as the horse pricked up his ears +over the hubbub before him; and without waiting for a moment he lifted +the two children to the ground. Then all the women came clamouring +round him with their complaints; and the Corporal frowned, for he loved +a tramp as little as any of them. + +"'Tain't true," said the strange woman firmly, "'tain't true. He's but +a poor harmless lad. Sarch mun, if you will, maister; ye won't find +nought." + +The Corporal eyed the ragged man keenly. "He looks to be a half-baked +body," he said as if to himself. + +"Aye, the poor thing's mazed," bleated out an old man who had hobbled +down to the edge of his garden to look on. + +"Has any one missed anything?" the Corporal went on after hearing the +rest of the story. "Who's got any clothes drying to-day?" + +There was a long silence and much shaking of heads, till some one said: +"'Twas Mary Mugford was saying that she missed something or 'nother; +stockings, was it, or chimases, two months agone. Where's Mary +Mugford?" But Mary Mugford had discreetly retired, for she saw a new +figure coming up the road, the figure of a lady, tall and slender, +dressed all in black and with a huge black bonnet, from which there +peeped out the oval face with the chestnut curls and the great blue +eyes, which we saw in the picture at Bracefort Hall, with the name of +Lady Eleanor underneath it. Dick and Elsie ran to her at once, and the +Corporal shortening the horse's halter in one hand, drew himself up, +saluted, and made his report. + +"It's a poor half-witted lad, my Lady, and they thought he had stolen +some clothes. He got playing with the boys over an eel which they +caught, and let it get away, but I can't find that he meant no harm nor +hasn't taken nothing, but the boys got worriting him and scared him a +bit, I am afraid." + +The strange woman looked at the Corporal with softened eyes and a sigh +of relief; and then Lady Eleanor turned to her, with her hand resting +on Dick, who had come round to her side, and said very gently: + +"Is it true that he is not quite right in his head?" + +The strange woman nodded. + +"Have you ever known him steal?" + +"Never," she answered hoarsely. "'Tis seldom I let mun out of my sight +among strangers, but he slipped away from me to-day." + +"You have no other children?" + +"No," answered the woman, almost fiercely. + +"I see that the boys have hurt him," Lady Eleanor went on. "Bring him +down the road by the well, and let me wash the blood away;" and leading +the way she dipped her handkerchief into the water and was about to +wash the blood-stained face herself, but stopped and gave the +handkerchief to the woman. The villagers had withdrawn respectfully +apart, and the idiot, no longer frightened by their presence, had +ceased blubbering. He blinked foolishly while his face was washed; but +when it was clean he looked at Lady Eleanor's beautiful face and +grinned, and then at Dick and grinned wider, and lastly at Elsie and +grinned wider still. He looked so much like a great simple boy that +little Elsie came forward to give him what was left of her toffee, +whereupon Dick, not to be outdone, did the like, though there was not +much of his remaining. Finally the Corporal produced his share of +toffee also from his pockets and gave it to the children for the ragged +man, who seemed so much pleased that they did not regret parting with +it. + +"There is no harm done, I think," said Lady Eleanor to the woman, "but +it was a wicked thing to throw stones at him." + +"It's nought, thank you. Good-evening," said the woman, taking the +ragged man by the arm. + +"Have you far to go?" asked Lady Eleanor. + +"A middling ways," was the only reply; and the woman turned round to go. + +"Stop!" said Lady Eleanor. "My name is Lady Eleanor Bracefort, and if +ever you want anything for your poor son, I hope you will tell me." + +"Thank you, my Lady, he wants for nothing," answered the woman rather +gruffly, and turning the man round she led him away across the bridge. +They watched her until she disappeared, a tall powerful woman, with her +back somewhat bent, as if by carrying heavy burdens. + +Then Lady Eleanor turned to the children. + +"Now, my darlings! Give Master Dick a leg up, Corporal. Wo-ho, Billy; +now, Elsie, up behind him. How young the old horse looks, Corporal! +Are you ready? Walk, march." And away she walked fondling Billy Pitt +as she led him, and with good reason, for, old though he was, his legs +were as clean as a four-year-old's, his muzzle fine and taper, and his +eye full and bright, while he walked with the swinging easy stride that +surely tells of good blood. Indeed, but that his tail was docked +rather short, as was once the rule in the Light Dragoons, and that he +had a large scar on his neck, you could not have wished to see a +handsomer horse. So on they went, through the lychgate to the church; +and while the Corporal waited outside with the horse. Lady Eleanor and +the children went in. There at the back of a square family pew, among +strange old monuments, all showing heraldic shields coloured white and +blue, was a tablet: "To the memory of Captain Richard Bracefort of the +116th Light Dragoons, who fell in the glorious action of Salamanca, on +the 22nd of July, 1812, and was buried with his dead comrades on the +field of battle." Just below it was a second but smaller and simpler +tablet: "To the memory of Private John Dart, of the 128th Foot, and +late of this parish, who fell in the retreat to Corunna under Sir John +Moore, January 1809;" and in very small letters were added the words +"Erected by Eleanor Bracefort." Around both were the words, "Death is +swallowed up in Victory," and midway between the two, Dick placed the +wreath of laurel. Then they went back to the Corporal and Billy Pitt, +and returned, as they had come, to the Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Though there was more than one snug little room at Bracefort which +other people might have turned into a schoolroom, yet Lady Eleanor +always preferred, in the summer at any rate, to take the children with +her to the hall for their lessons. Her favourite seat was by the great +mullioned window, which shed light on everything in the rooms, and her +favourite teaching was to make every old picture or helmet or weapon on +the walls tell its story to the children. So on the day after +Salamanca Day she was sitting as usual in her corner by the window, on +a very stiff high-backed chair; for people did not lounge in those +days, and children were taught at meals to keep their thumbs on the +table to make them sit upright. Little Elsie sat by her on a smaller +but equally stiff chair, stitching diligently at her sampler, and Dick +stood before her glancing furtively over his shoulder. The blue sky +outside was so great a distraction to him that Lady Eleanor had turned +his back to the window, and set before him an old steel morion of the +time of Queen Elizabeth; and with this to inspire him, Dick was +struggling with the ballad of the Brave Lord Willoughby. + +"Come, Dick," Lady Eleanor was saying, "we can do better than that. +Try again. 'For seven hours to all men's view--'" + +But just at this moment the Corporal came in. + +"If you please, my Lady, Betsy Fry's just come up. She's in a terrible +taking about her boy, and she's brought him up to see you." + +"Very well. I'll come out and see her directly," said Lady Eleanor. +"Come, Dick,"--but Dick had turned half round and was smiling at the +Corporal. + +"Come, sir," said the Corporal returning, "heels together. Little +fingers on the seams of the overalls. Eyes to the front," and he +placed the boy's hands gently in position by his sides, and went out. + +"Now, Dick," said Lady Eleanor. "'For seven hours--'" and the boy +began, with much prompting, + + "_For seven hours to all men's view + This fight endured sore, + Until our men so feeble grew + That they could fight no more._" + +Then his memory seemed to return, and he went on with great gusto: + + "_And then upon dead horses + Full savourly they eat, + And drank the puddle water-- + They could no better get._" + +Then there was a dead stop. "'When they--'" said Lady Eleanor. "Oh, +Dick." + +"I always remember the puddle water, mother," said Dick reproachfully. + +"Elsie," said Lady Eleanor; and Elsie folded her hands over her work +and began: + + "_When they had fed so freely, + They kneeled upon the ground, + And praised God devoutly + For the favour they had found._" + + +"Then," broke in Dick triumphantly-- + + "Then beating up their colours + The fight they did renew, + And turning on the Spaniards, + A thousand more they slew." + + +"There, I know it now, mother, mayn't I go now and tell the Corporal to +saddle Prince for me? And mayn't Elsie come too?" + +So away the children ran, and there was the Corporal waiting outside +the door, as anxious to be off as themselves; while Lady Eleanor made +her way to see Betsy Fry, who was waiting by the old gate-house a few +yards away from the front door. + +"Well, Betsy, what is it?" she said kindly, coming up to a woman of +rather hard features, who stood patiently in the shade with her +sun-bonnet fluttering in the breeze. + +"'Tis about my Tommy, my Lady," said the woman curtseying. "Here, +Tommy, come 'vor, and take off your hat to her Ladyship," and she +pulled forward a frightened shrinking boy in a suit of corduroy, who +had hidden himself behind her. "Look to mun, my Lady, he that was the +most rompageous boy in Ashacombe, so quiet as a snail. And he can't +spake, my Lady, he can't spake." + +"Can't speak?" said Lady Eleanor. + +"I can't make mun spake, my Lady. I don't know if your Ladyship was to +try--" + +"Why, Tommy," said Lady Eleanor, bending down towards the boy, in her +sweet winning tones, "what's the matter with you? Come along and tell +me, like a good boy." + +The lad came forward, for no one could resist Lady Eleanor's smile, and +opened his mouth confidently to speak; but he made only a few +inarticulate sounds, and then thrust his knuckles into his eyes and +began to cry. + +"Come, come, don't be frightened. Try again," said Lady Eleanor +kindly; but the boy only continued sobbing and remained speechless. +Nor could all her endeavours succeed in making him utter a word. + +"He must recover his speech presently," she said, much puzzled. "He +has not lost the power of uttering sound." + +"No, no, my Lady," said Mrs. Fry very confidently. "He can scream and +holly loud enough. I bate mun last night, poor soul, because he +wouldn't spake, and he scritched so loud that Mrs. Mugford come in, and +asked me what I was 'bout killing a pig at that time o' night; though +she knows very well that it was my pig that was drownded in the +mill-leat back along in the spring. So I says to her, 'Mrs. Mugford,' +I says, 'if those that talks about pigs would look to their own boys, +they wouldn't run off to sea and come home with the shakums,' I says; +'and if they would keep their fowls from scratting about in their +neighbours' gardens,' I says, 'they wouldn't run about crying for lost +chimases.' For there's hardly a day but I drive her fowls from my +garden, my Lady. And you mind her son, my Lady, him that went for a +marine, and what terrible shakums he had when he comed back from the +Injies. And I consider that they stolen chimases is a jidgment, my +Lady, a jidgment for the mischief her fowls have done in my garden--" + +"Stop, stop," said Lady Eleanor, whose eye had wandered to a shady spot +under the trees where the Corporal was lunging a steady old Exmoor pony +round and round, while Dick, with a pair of long gaiters added to his +attire, sat firmly on its back, though without saddle or stirrups. +"Tell me; has anything happened to the boy to frighten him?" + +"Well, my Lady," answered Mrs. Fry, "I consider myself that the boy's +overlooked." + +"Overlooked?" said Lady Eleanor. + +"Yes, my Lady. For they do tell me that the woman that comed through +the village yesterday with the mazed body told my Tommy, 'You don't +spake again,' she says, 'till I tell 'ee.'" + +"Oh! nonsense," said Lady Eleanor, "don't think of such stuff." + +"But she _did_," persisted Mrs. Fry, "and sure enough the boy can't +spake. She's overlooked mun! she's awitched mun, you may depend, my +Lady. And I'm sure if you'd a known who they two was, you wouldn't +never have let mun go. She's the old witch to Cossacombe, that's what +she is, though she a'nt never been this way afore, and the man's as bad +as she is, I'll be bound, though I never heard tell of he afore." + +"Why, it was easy to see that he was but a poor half-witted creature," +said Lady Eleanor, "as harmless as a child; his mother told me that she +hardly let him out of her sight." + +"Well, my Lady, 'tis all very well to say that the man's mazed," +answered Mrs. Fry almost forgetting her manners in her excitement, "but +what took mun down among the boys? Why, to take the ale from them! +And what is ales but sarpints, my Lady?" said Mrs. Fry throwing out her +hands, "and what makes the man so friendly with sarpints, that he must +come to save mun? _We_ know, do you and I, my Lady, who is the old +sarpint and the father of sarpints. And then what was he doing with +that strange baste on his shoulder, my Lady?" + +"Why, it was only a tame squirrel," said Lady Eleanor. + +"Squirrel, my lady," said Mrs. Fry mysteriously. "Aye, 'twas a +squirrel; but who knows but what it mayn't be a dragin when it gets +'oom?" + +"A squirrel turn into a dragon?" said Lady Eleanor. "I never heard +such childish stuff in my life; and I wouldn't have believed that a +sensible woman like you could have thought of such a thing." + +"Well, I won't say as it _was_ a dragin, my Lady," said Mrs. Fry, a +little abashed, "but they do say that the witch has to do with dragins. +She comes from out over the moor some place, she doth; and though she's +a seen on times about Cossacombe, no man can tell where she liveth nor +dare go sarch for mun. Jimmy Beer went out to look for mun two year +agone in the dimmet after Cossacombe revel, but the fog came down so +thick as a bag; and while he was a-wandering, a dragin (for so he saith +it was, though I never seed a dragin myself) passed so close to mun as +I be to you, my Lady, and when he looked to the ground he saw the mark +of his cloven hoof so plain as could be. And he was pixy-led all that +night, my Lady, was the old Jimmy, and when he come home all his money +was gone; so I reckon that the pixies is in league with the witches." + +"I suspect that Jimmy had drunk too much cider," said Lady Eleanor +severely; "he should have kept sober or stuck to the road, and then he +would not have brought back foolish stories about pixies and witches. +I wonder that you can believe in such things." + +"I know mun too well, my Lady," said Mrs. Fry mournfully. "There was +my pig back in the spring, so rasonable a pig as ever ate mate, until +the white witch to Gratton overlooked mun. And I never did the white +witch no harm, nor the pig didn't neither; but as they was driving the +pig along the road--and you know what pigs is, driving, my Lady,--the +white witch comes riding on his one-eyed donkey; and the pig runned +against the donkey, and the old man[1] muttered something or 'nother--" + +"But the old man is dead, I was told," said Lady Eleanor. + +"'Eas fai! and so he is, my Lady, and a terrible job they had to bury +mun--thunder, lightning and hailstones so big as sloes. Dead he is, +and I won't jidge mun--but not afore he'd a doed the mischief, for but +three weeks afterward my pig falls into the mill-leat. So there's my +pig a drownded, and my Tommy so dumb as a haddock--can't go to school, +can't do nought but ate his mate and sit in the corner for all the +world like a moulting hen. Ah, they witches! I wish they was +a-burned, I do." And she hid her face in her apron and sobbed. + +"Hush, hush!" said Lady Eleanor gently; but just then she was startled +by a little cry from Elsie; and there was Dick, who had just leaped his +pony over a low bar, tilted right forward on the pony's neck. "Sit +fast, sir, sit fast," cried the Corporal, as Dick floundered to regain +his seat; and with a desperate effort the boy recovered himself and sat +up, flushed and smiling. Elsie clapped her hands with delight, and a +strange man's voice shouted "Bravo!" at the sound of which Lady Eleanor +started and coloured for a moment. + +"'Tis surely his lordship from Fitzdenys Court," said Mrs. Fry, who had +lowered her apron a little. "'Eas, 'tis. Now, my Lady, do 'ee plase +to spake to mun about my Tommy; for it's a poor job if his lordship +can't do something for the boy, and he the lord-lieutenant as can call +out the milishy any time." + +And as she spoke two gentlemen came cantering up through the park; so +Lady Eleanor bade Mrs. Fry take Tommy to the back-door and get +something for him and herself to eat. + + + +[1] It is a fallacy to suppose that a white witch, in Devon, at any +rate, is necessarily a woman. The few that I have known were men. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The two gentlemen dismounted at the gate giving their horses to their +groom, and then walked towards Lady Eleanor together. Both were +dressed in blue coats, buff waistcoats, and broad-brimmed white hats, +and wore riding trousers strapped very tightly over their boots. They +were evidently father and son, though the elder seemed almost as young +and alert as the younger. The old gentleman took off his hat, bent his +grey head over Lady Eleanor's out-stretched hand, and kissed it with +the old-fashioned courtesy which has now vanished. Then beckoning the +younger man forward, he said: + +"I bring you back an old friend with a new title, Lady Eleanor. He has +just returned from India with a new scar on the right shoulder to +balance the old scar on the left, and with a letter from the +Commander-in-Chief, which he is too modest to show to his friends and +too proud to show to his enemies, if he has any--_Colonel_ George +Fitzdenys." + +And the younger man came forward, tall, lean, wiry, and erect as the +Corporal himself. He wore the moustache which showed him to be a Light +Dragoon, and looked every inch a soldier; but though he could not have +been more than three or four and thirty, he had the sad expression of a +man who has found the years long. Still bronzed and brown though his +face was, he blushed just a little as he caught his father's proud +glance at him, and bent in his turn over Lady Eleanor's hand. + +"Welcome back, Colonel Fitzdenys," she said very quietly; "we have not +lost sight of you in the Gazettes through all these years; and you are +quite recovered from your wound, I hope." + +"Wound! it was nothing," he said, "an arrow in the shoulder which your +boy would have laughed at." + +And then Lady Eleanor beckoned to the children to come up; and old Lord +Fitzdenys gave Dick two fingers and Elsie one, for he said that if her +hand was like her mother's it could not hold more. But Colonel George +gave Dick his whole hand, and bent down to kiss Elsie's as he had +kissed her mother's, which won her little heart completely. + +[Illustration: Bent down to kiss Elsie's as he had kissed her mother's.] + +"Now, my dear lady," said the old gentleman, "I must ask you for the +favour of a few minutes' private conversation." + +"And I will stay with the children," said Colonel George, "for I want +to make friends again." + +Dick and Elsie were a little shy at being left alone with a stranger; +but before he could say a word to them the Corporal appeared leading +the pony towards the stable. He saluted Colonel Fitzdenys, and was +going on, but the Colonel at once called to him by name and shook his +hand warmly, while the Corporal beamed with pleasure, and said how glad +he was to see his honour returned in good health. + +"Oh! do you know the Corporal?" asked Dick timidly. + +"Know the Corporal?" said Colonel George. "I should think I did know +him, and a fine, brave fellow he is. Why, he saved my life once, he +and your father. I was lieutenant in your father's troop, and at the +very first skirmish in which we were engaged in the war, I was hit +here, in the shoulder, so that I could not hold my reins. My horse ran +away with me, right into the middle of the French, and there was not +another horse in the regiment that could catch him, except your +father's horse, Billy Pitt. But he came galloping after me as hard as +he could ride, and caught him; and Brimacott, who was his servant, +followed as fast as he could, and between them they brought me back +from the middle of the enemy, or perhaps I shouldn't be here now. So I +have good reason to remember Brimacott and Billy Pitt. Do you remember +Billy Pitt?" + +"He's here in the stable," said both the children in a breath. + +"Then let us go and see Billy Pitt, for he's a very old friend of +mine," said the Colonel, and away he walked to the stable with the +children following him. The old horse seemed to know him, for he +pricked his ears and kept nuzzling with his nose all over the Colonel's +coat, until he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out an apple for +him. "Look there," said the Colonel, passing his hand along the scar +on the horse's neck. "The time came for Billy to get wounded and for +me to look after him, as he had saved me. That was at Salamanca." He +stopped for a minute and laid his hands on the children's shoulders. +"Poor Billy had lost his master, you know, and came galloping up to me +with his saddle empty, for he knew my horse well. And then he remained +by my side, moving when I moved and stopping when I stopped, and +charging with us when we charged. He came out of the fight with this +cut on his neck. Poor Brimacott was badly wounded in the leg, and +there was no one to look after the old horse, so I sewed up Billy's +wound myself and kept him. He was well long before the Corporal--I +made him corporal, you know--and, indeed, poor Brimacott was never fit +for rough work again, so when he went home I sent Billy with him." + +Then nothing would serve the children but that Colonel Fitzdenys must +ride Billy again; so a snaffle was put into his mouth and the Colonel +mounted him bare-backed, and took him for a little turn in the park and +leaped him over the bar, to their great delight. Then all three went +back to the garden again, and the children began plying him with +questions. His own poor horse was dead, the Colonel told them; he had +carried him all through the Peninsular War but had been killed at +Waterloo. The Colonel himself had been in the wars in India since +then, and the name of the battle was Maheidpore, but the Duke of +Wellington was not there. He had seen the Duke, however, only a few +days before in London, but he wasn't dressed in his red coat and cocked +hat, and he believed that the Duke never slept in his red coat and +cocked hat now. + +"Is the Corporal like the Duke?" asked Dick anxiously. No! the Colonel +could not truthfully say that he was, but the Corporal was the bigger +man of the two, which was a consolation to the children. + +Then the children asked him about Boney, for Polly Short, who had been +their maid, had told them that he was a "riglar monster," and she had +heard it from her first cousin's wife's brother-law, who was a sergeant +of Marines. But the Colonel said that Polly was wrong, for he had seen +Boney himself at St. Helena, and he was not in the least like a +monster, but a little fat man with a pale face and auburn hair, not +nearly as big as the Corporal. And Boney had made no attempt to eat +him up, but had received him with the pleasantest smile that he had +ever seen, and had told him that English horses were good. "And of +course he was thinking of Billy," said Elsie, "when he said that." + +And then the Colonel brought out pencil and paper and drew pictures of +Boney and of the Duke, and of Bheels and Pindarrees and Mahrattas and +other strange people against whom he had fought in India. He also +assured Dick that he had drunk puddle-water, like Lord Willoughby's +men, and had been very glad to get it. Finally he produced a little +silver bangle hung with curious silver coins which he put on Elsie's +wrist for her very own, and a knife in a sheath for Dick. The knife +was not very sharp, but then the sheath was beautiful. So that by the +time when Lord Fitzdenys and Lady Eleanor came out to look for them, +they found the children hanging on to the Colonel's arms and calling +him Colonel George as if they had known him all their lives. + +Lord Fitzdenys called Colonel George to him; and he left the children +to join Lady Eleanor, who told him the story of Tommy Fry, and asked +him what he made of it. + +"Witchcraft, of course, is nonsense," he said, "but there are people +who can wield such influence as this over others, the power of a +stronger will over a weaker, I suppose. One hears of it often in +India. Probably the boy will recover in a day or two, when he gets +over his fright." + +"But if he does not?" said Lady Eleanor. + +"Why, if the doctor can't deal with it, the best thing we can do will +be to find the woman; and if she has bound the boy by force of her will +to be silent, to make her release him again. Where does she live?" + +"No one knows," said Lady Eleanor, and repeated what Mrs. Fry had told +her. + +"I never remember any one being pixy-led but that cider was at the +bottom of it," said Colonel George. "As to the dragon, I expect that +Jimmy Beer chanced upon an old stag which looked very big and terrible +in the mist, and that the print of his cloven hoof was the mark of his +slot in the ground. The moor is wide, but I cannot think it will be +very difficult to find this woman." + +"I should be greatly relieved if we could, if only to prevent her from +playing such tricks in future," said Lady Eleanor. + +"Then I will make it my business to find her," said Colonel George, "if +my father approves; and you need trouble yourself no more about the +matter, but leave it to me." + +Old Lord Fitzdenys quite approved, and stumped off by himself to look +at a shrub which he could never induce to grow at his own place. Then +the children came running up to show their treasures, and Lady Eleanor +looked into Colonel George's face with eyes full of gratitude, and said +"How good of you! You never forget them, and you are rather inclined +to spoil them. You did when you came back from the Peninsula, and +again after Waterloo, and now after all these years you are just the +same." + +"Yes," he said quietly, "I am just the same. Why should I be changed?" +He stopped rather abruptly; and Lady Eleanor began a new subject by +saying that she wanted to hear all about India. So the two walked +about the garden talking, and seemed to have plenty to say. Indeed +they were still talking hard, and did not seem to want to be +interrupted, when old Lord Fitzdenys came back to say that it was time +for him to return. The old gentleman took his leave with the same +stately courtesy; but both the children put up their cheeks to be +kissed by Colonel George, who promised to come back to them soon. Then +seeing Mrs. Fry waiting outside they spoke a few words to her and took +a look at Tommy, whose mouth was smeared with brown sugar from Lady +Eleanor's still-room. The Corporal held open the gate with his best +salute, and they cantered down over the park, Colonel George turning in +his saddle to look back and wave his hand before they finally +disappeared from sight. + +"It is pleasant to see Colonel Fitzdenys again," said Lady Eleanor to +the Corporal, as he held the door for her. + +"It's a treat to look upon his face, my Lady," said the Corporal, "a +noble gentleman like that who never forgets the humblest of his +friends. I've always said that if I were not in your Ladyship's +service there is no one that I would serve so willingly as he. 'Tis no +wonder that his honour the Captain and he were friends, for there +wasn't two such gentlemen in the army." + +So when the children rejoined the Corporal they heard nothing but the +praises of Colonel Fitzdenys, of his bravery, his gentleness, and his +excellence as an officer; all of which they passed on in the evening to +Lady Eleanor, who seemed quite content to hear it. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Notwithstanding Colonel George's hopes, Tommy Fry remained dumb during +the next day, and the next, and the next; and Lady Eleanor became +seriously alarmed. She sent for the apothecary from the little +neighbouring town, by Colonel George's advice, and he duly arrived in +his yellow gig; but he frankly confessed that he could do nothing. So +he wisely went away, as Mrs. Fry indignantly put it, without leaving so +much as a drench behind him, or taking so much as a drop of blood from +the boy, whereas every one knew (or at any rate the villagers did) that +the evil spirit, which no doubt possessed poor Tommy, might have left +him if a convenient outlet had been made with a lancet, or if the boy +had swallowed a few doses of the nastiest possible medicine such as +evil spirits find it impossible to live with. + +The doctor having failed, a local preacher was called in, who with the +assistance of certain of his flock screamed and sang and raved over +Tommy for several hours, making such a noise as set Lady Eleanor's +peacocks screaming till they could scream no more. The boy was at +first rather terrified, but as his helpers became more vehement and +their antics more grotesque, he lost his fright and was intensely +amused. Finally the whole congregation rose and, headed by the +preacher, rushed out of the house with wild cries that the evil spirit +had left Tommy and that they would hunt it out of the village. None +the less the boy remained dumb; so that the evil spirit, if ever it had +thought of going, had certainly changed its mind very quickly. + +Both doctor and preacher having failed, Mrs. Fry was at her wits' end; +but her neighbours pointed out that witchcraft could be met only by +witchcraft; and a remark made by her nearest neighbour, Mrs. Mugford, +soon brought her round to their mind. "'Tisn't witchcraft," said Mrs. +Mugford very loudly in Mrs. Fry's hearing, "'tis a jidgment on evil +tongues, and the sins of parents that's visited on the children. The +mother goeth back and vor biting and slandering, and the mouth of the +innocent child is stopped." Mrs. Fry wept with rage as she heard the +words, for she had no answer ready. But she was more than ever +convinced from that moment that it was witchcraft which had wrought the +mischief in poor Tommy, and that only further witchcraft could undo it. +Despite the sad end of her pig, owing to the malignant influence of the +white witch of Gratton, she now lamented the death of the old man and +wished that he were back, if only for one day, that she might consult +him and show her contempt for Mrs. Mugford. As things were, she was +fain to fall back on her neighbours to learn where some wizard or wise +women of equal power could be discovered; and it was with dismay that +she found that not one of any repute was to hand nearer than the +borders of Dartmoor, fifty miles away. In vain she questioned hawkers, +waggoners, and the guards of the coaches, any passing folks in fact +that had seen the world; not one could enlighten her. + +The neighbours, however, were ready enough with suggestions of their +own, of which the commonest was that Tommy's tongue should be split +with a silver sixpence. It is possible that some attempt might have +been made to perform this operation, for abundance of sixpences were +offered for the purpose; and there was a crooked one of the time of +Queen Anne from which great things were expected, for it was said to +have been given by the Queen herself when, touching children for the +King's Evil. Unfortunately, however, not one of these designs escaped +the keen ears of Mrs. Mugford, who at once communicated them to the +Corporal. + +"'Tis not that I hold with them as slanders their neighbours, Mr. +Brimacott," she said, "nor that I bear no malice against them that +can't let a poor boy go to sea to sarve the King without a-saying that +his mother drave mun from home. I could tell of many in this parish as +isn't no better than they should be, and yet takes her Ladyship's +kindness and charity as if no one hadn't no right to it but themselves. +I could tell of such, but I won't, not I. But I'm not going to stand +by and see an innocent boy's tongue cut out of his mouth; though I +wouldn't say, Mr. Brimacott, but what there's tongues in the parish +that would be the better for cutting." + +It was in this appalling form that the projected operation with the +sixpence made its way through the Corporal to Lady Eleanor, who was +horrified. She at once sent for both Mrs. Mugford and Mrs. Fry to get +at the truth of the story, and gave them such a scolding for their +folly and their quarrelsomeness that they departed weeping hand in +hand, in deep sympathy with each other as two thoroughly ill-used +women. They were a little frightened too, for though they had long +known Lady Eleanor as the gentlest and kindest of creatures, they now +found out that her beautiful face could be stern, and her voice sharp +and severe in rebuke; but for all their crying they knew in their +hearts that they liked her all the better for it. + +So all attempts to heal Tommy by magic were stopped; and meanwhile +Colonel George scoured the moor in all directions without the least +success in finding out anything about the strange woman and her idiot +son. He had ridden first to Cossacombe, which was twenty miles away on +the other side of the moor, and had heard that the woman had been seen +there occasionally, but the idiot never; in fact no one seemed to know +anything about him. He learned also that she had brought down some +honey for sale on the day following her appearance at Ashacombe, and +had bought a sack of oatmeal at the mill, which she had taken away on a +scarecrow of an Exmoor pony. There were of course sundry stories of +her, but these were dark and uncertain, and of no value for tracing her +to her dwelling place. Then Colonel George took long rides over the +moor, crossing it this way and that from end to end, in the hope of +finding what he sought; for he had made up his mind that this strange +couple were lodged somewhere in the waste of bog and heather. But he +failed to find the least trace of them; and indeed the moor is wide now +and was far wider and wilder and more desolate in those days, before +there was a fence or a ditch to be found in the whole of it. Then +stag-hunting began, and Colonel George felt confident that with so many +people galloping over the moorland in all directions he must certainly +learn something; but here again he was disappointed. Still he went on +trying day after day, and very often came home by Ashacombe, when he +did not fail to call at Bracefort Hall, where everybody was glad to see +him, whatever the failure of his efforts. + +Thus a whole month passed away without any change in Tommy Fry or any +sign that might give hope of discovering the strange woman. Lady +Eleanor then became very unhappy indeed, and blamed herself for letting +her go without further inquiry. + +Colonel George still insisted that all would soon right itself, for he +was pained to see how much Lady Eleanor took the matter to heart, but +in truth he too was at his wits' end. And indeed those two distressed +themselves over Tommy Fry far more than anybody else; for Mrs. Fry +gained great importance from her boy's misfortune. Folks from +neighbouring villages came to see for themselves if the story that they +had heard was true; and from time to time some gentleman passing to or +from the hunting-field would drop in, when Tommy was produced and +proved to be speechless, while Mrs. Fry told the tale with every +harrowing detail. The great Lord Fitzdenys himself came once, and the +doctor regained favour in Mrs. Fry's eyes by bringing another doctor to +see what he called "this interesting case;" and as none of the +gentlemen ever went away without giving a few pence to the boy and a +few shillings to his mother, the family of Fry gained both dignity and +profit. Nor were the Frys at first the only gainers, for, Tommy being +of a generous nature, there was an uncommon demand for Sally Dart's +toffee, until Mrs. Fry, perceiving how quickly his money disappeared, +thought it prudent to take care of it for him. + +Then suddenly one day there came an event which revived all the hopes +of Colonel George and Lady Eleanor. For one beautiful evening while +Dick and Elsie were wandering with the Corporal round the fence of the +park to pick blackberries, they heard a strange whistling in the wood +beyond. At first they thought that it was a bird, but the Corporal +said that he had never heard such a bird in his life, though the sound +seemed to pass so swiftly from place to place that it was difficult to +think what it might be. They followed the sound along the fence for a +little way, and then suddenly the Corporal shaded his eyes with his +hand for a moment, and telling the children to wait till he came back, +ran away down the fence as fast as his lame leg would carry him, turned +into the wood by a hunting-gate and disappeared. The children wondered +for a time what could have happened, but discovering some very fine +ripe blackberries soon turned to picking and tasting them again, when +suddenly they heard the whistling close to them, and again still +closer; and presently there was a little rustle through the bushes, and +there stood the idiot before them, still whistling. They were at first +a little frightened, but too much astonished to cry out; and the ragged +creature (for he had just the same appearance as when they had first +seen him) grinned at them so kindly that they could not help smiling +back. He looked round him nervously for a moment and then holding up +his finger as if to bid them keep silence, he scrambled down from the +fence to them, and produced a rudely made cage of hazel-wands from +under his coat. This he opened, and took from it a bullfinch, which +perched on his finger without attempting to fly away. Then he whistled +a few notes and the bird began to pipe a little tune, though the man +was obliged to remind him of his note now and again. Then he whistled +few more notes and the bird piped another tune or part of one, after +which he lifted the bird to his face and the little creature laid its +beak against his lips. He then listened nervously for a few seconds, +shut he bird up in the cage again, put the cage into little Elsie's +hand, nodding and smiling all the time, jumped over the fence into the +wood and was gone. + +[Illustration: The bird began to pipe a little tune.] + +The Corporal came back a few minutes later, very hot, out of breath, +and very nearly out of temper. He had caught sight of some one in the +wood, he said, a poacher or some one who had no business there, and +made sure to have caught him or at any rate to have found out who he +was. But when he heard the children's story he opened his eyes wide +and said that they had better go home at once; and that very same +evening he rode over to Fitzdenys Court with a letter from Lady Eleanor +to Colonel George. But the children were far too much taken up by the +bullfinch to think of anything else, for the bird took courage to pipe +a little to Dick's whistling, and then they discovered that one of his +tunes was "The British Grenadiers." + +Colonel George duly came over next morning and was not a little +astonished to hear what had happened, but could not explain it in the +least. "The children will solve this mystery before I shall, you will +see," he said to Lady Eleanor, laughing, "and I may as well give up the +attempt." + +"But do you not think that this proves these two people to be harmless +and innocent?" asked Lady Eleanor. + +"You judged them to be so from the first," he answered, "and that is +sufficient for me." + +Lady Eleanor hesitated for a moment, and then said that he must come +and see the bullfinch. So Elsie produced the bird with great pride, +and Colonel George recognised one tune as "The British Grenadiers" and +the other as part of "Lillibulero," the famous marching song which was +so popular with King William's soldiers. "Strange," he said, "that +both tunes should be marching tunes. What can it mean?" + +But before they had done with the bullfinch, a frightened woman came +hurrying up with the news that old Sally Dart was taken bad. She had +got up as usual and begun to lay the fire, but the neighbours seeing no +more of her had entered the cottage and found her lying on the floor, +speechless, with one side of her face pulled down. Lady Eleanor at +once sent for the doctor, and walked down with Colonel George to see +what she could do; but as they came back they found that there was +fresh excitement in another quarter. The village preacher's cow had +also been taken bad; her calf was dead already, and it was doubtful if +the cow could be saved. Finally, Mrs. Mugford was seen weeping over +the ghastly heads of six or eight fowls which lay in a heap before her +door. The said fowls, so Colonel George ascertained from her, had +strayed away in the previous night, which she had never known them do +before, and the keeper had found the heads scattered about the wood not +far from an earth where an old vixen was known to have brought up a +litter of cubs. What could have possessed the fowls Mrs. Mugford +couldn't say, for her old stag (and she selected the head of a +venerable cock from the heap as she spoke, to give point to her remark) +was so sensible as a Christian almost. + +"What a day of misfortunes!" said Lady Eleanor, as they left the +disconsolate woman. + +"Yes, indeed," said Colonel George, "I only hope that they may end +here. Listen!" And as he spoke the voice of Mrs. Fry rose high from +the garden above. + +"Yes," she said, "the mazed man was up to the park yesterday. The +young gentleman and the little lady seed mun; and the witch wasn't far +away, you may depend. She's a-witched mun all; that's what it is; and +now maybe," she added with a triumphant glance at the weeping Mrs. +Mugford, "there's some as won't be so sartain as they was as to the +doings of witches." + +Lady Eleanor gave a little laugh, but turned suddenly grave, and asked +Colonel George anxiously, "Do you think that they really believe it?" + +"There is no doubt that they believe it," he said quietly. "It is best +to face facts." + +"But if it should lead to trouble?" said Lady Eleanor. + +"Wait till the trouble comes," he said, "and then send for me. You may +be sure that I shall come." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The day of misfortunes brought about very much such results as Colonel +George had foreseen. Old Sally Dart, it is true, recovered, though she +was sadly shaken; and she declared, as soon as she could speak, that +she was not going yet awhile, not at any rate till she had heard the +full story of her Jan's death. But on the other hand the preacher's +cow did die, and as the preacher himself was but a small farmer of +eight or ten acres of land, the loss to him was very serious. Mrs. +Mugford, too, was thoroughly converted to belief in witchcraft by the +loss of her fowls; though since Tommy Fry's noise no longer disturbed +her, and her fowls were no longer numerous enough to make havoc of Mrs. +Fry's garden, she and Mrs. Fry lived for the present in comparative +peace. Hoping therefore to do something to destroy the belief in +witches and to soften the harsh feeling against them, Lady Eleanor +wrote to the parson to speak on the subject in next Sunday's sermon. + +Her hopes, however, were not very great. There was no parson living in +the village, the parish being so small that it was joined to another +and served by an old, old man, who wore his hair in powder and droned +through one service only on Sundays in the little dark church at +Ashacombe. The congregation was always small, and perhaps the three +most enthusiastic members were Dick, Elsie, and the Corporal. For the +Corporal had inherited a violoncello, or as it was always called in the +village, a bass viol, from his father, and played it in the little +gallery along with the two violins, flageolet and bassoon that formed +the rest of the band. The notes that he could play were few, though +sufficient for the humble needs of the church, but the children had no +doubt that he was the finest performer in the world, and watched +anxiously for the minute when he should begin sawing away at the +strings, and the choir should break (very much through their noses) +into the anthem, "I will arise, I will arise and goo tu my va-ther," +with which the service always began. + +The old parson, though he did attempt to fulfil Lady Eleanor's wishes +in his sermon, only succeeded in being duller and longer than usual, +and neither Dick nor Elsie could understand what he was talking about. +Moreover they had been much distracted by a printed handbill which they +had seen on the church door, headed in large letters by the word +"Deserted," with the description of a deserter named Henry Bale from +the Royal Marines, set forth in the usual terms--"Height five feet four +inches, fair hair, grey eyes; when last seen was dressed in his +regimentals," and so on. This had set Dick thinking very seriously, +for the Corporal had always told him that no man was so bad as he that +deserted his colours and ran away from the King's service; and he had +hardly believed that such people could exist. And the bill had set +other people thinking too, for a reward of two guineas was offered for +this deserter, which made sundry poor mouths water; so that altogether +the parson's long sermon was not much listened to, many heads being +occupied with an attempt to remember some strange man five feet four +inches in height, with fair hair and grey eyes, and dressed in +regimentals. + +When service was over, the Corporal solemnly packed up his bass viol in +a bag of green baize, and was about to carry it off, when he was +stopped by the village preacher, who begged the loan of it for the +evening. But the Corporal, who as a soldier and Lady Eleanor's servant +was a staunch supporter of Church and King, did not like the preacher, +who was always railing against all authority and driving silly maids +into hysterics with his ravings; so he answered him very civilly (for +he never quarrelled with any one) that he was afraid he could not. The +preacher, however, would not take no for an answer, and tried to +wheedle the Corporal, who at last told him very decidedly that his +father had played that viol in the church at Fitzdenys for forty years, +and he himself at Ashacombe for near seven years more, and that he +would be hanged if it should ever enter a chapel so long as he was +alive. With which words he drew himself up to his full height and +stalked away. + +The preacher was not a little annoyed, for he wanted the viol for his +own service at the chapel, where he was going to preach directly +contrary to the old parson. Moreover at the close of his service there +was to be a collection to make good to him the loss of his cow, so that +it was important to him that all should go off as well as possible. +However, notwithstanding the absence of the viol, his discourse was +enough to gain for him a good collection, to strengthen the general +belief in witches, and to influence the minds of the villagers against +them; for he singled out those who dealt leniently with witches for +punishment, either in the near or distant future, which was just what +his congregation was glad to hear. Not that the preacher was a bad +man, certainly not worse than his neighbours, but he was as ignorant +and superstitious as any of them. + +Great cackling there was among the women when the discourse was ended. +It was Lady Eleanor who had delivered the witch and the idiot out of +their hands; but the villagers could not suspect her of harm who was +always so thoughtful and kind, and who had given more than any one +towards replacing the preacher's cow. "But her ladyship's that +tender-hearted, you see," they said, "and the best of folks is +sometimes mistook;" and they shook their heads solemnly, each thinking +in her heart that she knew of at least one excellent person who was +never mistaken. But who was it that had excused the mazed man to her +ladyship? The Corporal. Who had contrived to be out of the way, +though in charge of the children, when the mazed man came to them? The +Corporal again. + +So the whisper went round that the Corporal was in league with the +witch; and the preacher, who had not forgotten about the bass viol, +though he said only a few mysterious words, seemed rather to agree. +Then Mrs. Fry revealed the fact that she had suspected the Corporal +from the first; for to begin with he was a soldier. + +"And what drove he to 'list?" she asked indignantly. "No good, I'll +warrant mun. 'Tisn't good that drives men to 'list. There was Jan +Dart that 'listed twenty year agone, and 'ticed away Lucy Clatworthy to +follow mun, her that was only child of Jeremiah Clatworthy up to +Loudacott; and the old Jeremiah got drinking and died after she left +mun. And there's Jan's old mother, poor soul, that loved mun as the +apple of her eye, waiting here alone, and I reckon her time's short. +No! I knows what it is when men go for sojers." + +It was perhaps fortunate that Mrs. Mugford was not at chapel that +evening or there might have been angry words; but the rest of the +women, having no interest in soldiers, with perfect honesty agreed with +Mrs. Fry, and lamented that her ladyship should be so misguided as to +employ a man like the Corporal, for it would surely end in no +good,--sojers never did. Look at Mrs. Mugford's boy that went for a +marine, and came back with the shakums so bad that you could hear his +teeth chattering a mile away when the fit was on him. The conversation +would have lingered long on the symptoms of "shakums," or in other +words of ague, had not some one called to mind the bill on the +church-door about the deserter. Then the tongues were set wagging +afresh. Two guineas were a lot of money, they said, but soldiers was +often badly served, and 'twas no wonder they runned away. But it +wasn't well to have strange men about the place, least of all sojers, +for they never learned no good. + +The mention of strange men about the place of course brought back the +subject of the idiot, and then the thought occurred to one of the women +that he might be the deserter in question. The idea was at once taken +up by her companions, and the more they talked, the more likely it +seemed to them. The man had been driven from his regiment probably +because of his evil doings, and was come to Ashacombe to plague them; +and all agreed that it would be very pleasant to earn two guineas by +the catching of him. Mrs. Fry went home brimful of this new notion and +poured it out to Mrs. Mugford, who listened with unusual interest, and +without either contradiction or interruption, which was a most unusual +thing. But at last she broke out with much earnestness: + +"You'm right, you may depend, Mrs. Fry; you'm right. That mazed man is +the man that they'm a-sarching for; and it's my belief that he isn't +mazed at all but so well in his head as you and I be,--just pretending +like. And you'm right about that Brimacott too, and I do hope that +every one will let mun know that he's not welcome in Ashacombe. He's a +prying man and a tale-bearing man, that's what I believe he is, and all +to deceive her ladyship and keep friends with the witch. But we'll +catch that mazed man for all his pretending, and there there will be +two guineas for you and me." + +Any one else but Mrs. Fry might have thought it strange for the +Corporal to be called a tale-bearer by the very woman who had told +tales against her; but Mrs. Fry was not a clever woman, and after all +she had suffered under Lady Eleanor's tongue through the Corporal's +report. Lady Eleanor knew that if the Corporal told her anything that +went on in the village, which he very rarely did, it was right that she +should know it; but that was not Mrs. Fry's opinion. So the two agreed +that the Corporal was an enemy to the village, though, as is usually +the way, they never thought of complaining to Lady Eleanor of him. + +But had Mrs. Fry stayed at home instead of going to chapel, she would +have understood better the meaning of Mrs. Mugford's words. For having +packed off her husband, who was a feeble creature, to take the children +out for a walk, Mrs. Mugford stationed herself at a window from which +she could see any one that came down from the woods at the back of the +house; and after a time she saw a shortish man, fair-haired and +blue-eyed, walk stealthily down to her. He was a miserable-looking +fellow, with a pinched white face, matted hair and new-grown beard, and +dressed only in a shirt and a pair of light-blue soldier's trousers. +She smuggled him quickly into the house and locked the door; and when +after a quarter of an hour the door opened again, and after due looking +round the man was let out, he was dressed like an ordinary labourer. +He carried bread and bacon tied up in a handkerchief in his hand, and +disappeared into the wood as quickly as he could; and as soon as he was +gone Mrs. Mugford very solemnly put the trousers and shirt, that he had +worn when he came in, upon the fire and burned them. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +So another fortnight passed away, and nothing happened to disturb the +usual peace of Ashacombe. Nothing was seen or heard of the idiot or +his mother nor of any one who corresponded to the description of the +deserter. The Corporal indeed realised that the tone of the village +towards him was not so friendly as before, but he set that down to the +preacher's influence and took little notice of it; for indeed he cared +little so long as he was with Lady Eleanor and the children, and could +count Colonel Fitzdenys among his friends. + +But up at the Hall there were heavy hearts; for Lady Eleanor had +spoken, not for the first time, to Colonel George about sending Dick to +school, and he had answered that it was high time for him to go, as it +was a bad thing for boys to stay too long at home with their mothers; +and he said that he himself had been sent to school at six, whereas +Dick was already nine. He added that by chance he had heard of a good +school while passing through London, and would arrange matters for her +if she wished it. It was rather strange, by the way, that Colonel +George always happened by chance to know everything that could save +Lady Eleanor trouble. So with a sigh Lady Eleanor had assented that +Dick should go; and it had been settled that he should leave in a few +weeks. Dick was rather triumphant, Elsie rather jealous, the Corporal +in secret rather sad, and Lady Eleanor very melancholy. + +So one day early in September Lady Eleanor promised the children that +for an unusual treat they should have a ride with the Corporal rather +further than usual on to the moor. She would not ride herself, for her +favourite horse was lame, but settled that she would drive them some +way up the valley in the afternoon, and there meet the Corporal, who +would go on before them leading the ponies, and ride with them on to +the moor. Accordingly on the appointed day the Corporal rode through +the village on old Billy, leading a pony on each side. Not a soul +wished him good-day, and the Corporal felt that all were making +unpleasant remarks--indeed he caught the words, "Dear! to think that +they sweet children should be trusted to such as he." + +But he trotted on without taking any notice, up the valley to the +appointed meeting-place. + +Lady Eleanor drove up rather late, for the horse-flies had been very +troublesome; and the children seeing the grey pony which drew them +covered all over with little flecks of blood, had constantly entreated +her to stop while they jumped down and knocked the flies off him. At +last, however, she came. The children mounted their ponies, Dick very +proud of a new saddle and stirrups to which he had been promoted after +leaping the bar bare-backed, and they rode away up a grass path to the +covert, kissing their hands as they went. + +And then Lady Eleanor turned round and drove down the valley, feeling +very lonely and unhappy over the prospect of losing Dick. Her thoughts +wandered back to her first meeting with Richard Bracefort, the handsome +captain of Light Dragoons, her engagement, her wedding in a London +drawing-room, and her first visit to Bracefort Hall. Then had come +some two years of happy life in country-quarters. Those were pleasant +days to look back on, when her husband would come in from parade and +say that he believed he had in his troop as good officers and men as +were to be found in the service; while George Fitzdenys, the +lieutenant, would tell her that there were few such officers as her +husband to be found in the Army, and the little cornet, who was little +more than a boy, would be lavish in praise of both. Her maid again was +always repeating to her what Brimacott, then her husband's +soldier-servant, said of the devotion of the men to the captain. +Finally there came the crowning happiness of the birth of the children; +and she still remembered seeing a little knot of troopers gathered +round the diminutive creatures called Dick and Elsie. + +But, very soon after, came the miserable day when the regiment was +ordered on active service, and she rode with her husband at the head of +his troop to the rendezvous. She could see him still as he appeared +mounted on Billy Pitt that day. Then followed the embarkation of men +and horses, and a desperate struggle with Billy, who objected to be +slung on board; and finally the last glimpse of sails disappearing over +the horizon and the long drive westward to Bracefort Hall. There old +Mr. Bracefort's delight over her arrival and over the children had +almost brought happiness back to her again; and cheerful letters from +Spain kept hope alive. But when the regiment reached the front, the +tragedy of war soon made itself felt. George Fitzdenys was badly +wounded in the first skirmish, two of the best troopers were killed and +others wounded; and, after that, twelve months of service seemed to cut +off member after member of what Fitzdenys had called the happiest troop +in the Army. The little cornet was shot dead, the troop-sergeant-major +drowned while crossing a treacherous ford, this trooper maimed for +life, that trooper--but she could not bear to think of it. And then +came the morning in August when old Mr. Bracefort had come in white and +trembling to break to her the news of Salamanca. It was well that in +those dreary days she had been obliged to look after him and give him +the comfort which he tried, but in vain, to give to her. She +remembered how, for all his courage, the old gentleman had drooped and +died after the death of his son, and how all ties with the old life +seemed to be severed, but for George Fitzdenys' letters of sympathy. +Then she recalled the arrival of Brimacott and Billy Pitt, which seemed +to mark the end of one stage of her life and the beginning of a new, +and yet to carry the last relics of the past continuously into the +present. All had been peaceful since then; the war had done its worst +for her, and her only link with Spain now lay in the messages, always +punctually delivered by old Lord Fitzdenys in person, that Captain +Fitzdenys sent his respectful service to her and hoped that she and the +children were well. She remembered how she had dreaded her first +meeting with Captain Fitzdenys after the peace, and how he seemed to +have realised that her whole life now lay in the children, and had made +friends with them at once. He had helped her through some difficulties +of business and had then rushed off to the campaign of Waterloo; and he +had come back safe and sound only to run away again after a few months +to India. And now he was back once more, in time to be of help to her; +but Dick must go to school and the happy home must be broken up again. +She sighed sadly, wondering where it all would end. + +In this frame of mind she returned and sat in the hall waiting for the +children to come back. Six o'clock came, and there was no sign of +them. The long twilight faded slowly without a sound of hoofs on the +drive; seven o'clock struck; and she rang the bell and asked if nothing +had been seen of the Corporal and the children. The answer was +"Nothing;" and she waited in growing anxiety, listening for the trample +of the ponies or the sound of the children's voices, but hearing only +the ticking of the clock; until unable to endure the suspense, she went +out and walked first into the yard and then into the road by which they +should come. The night was fine, but overcast by light clouds of grey +mist, through which the moon pierced but very faintly. More than once +her hopes were raised by the sound of hoofs, and dashed to the ground +by the drone of wheels or by the appearance of a fat farmer jogging +home. She asked more than one if they had seen a man on a brown horse +and two children on ponies, but they only answered "no," and wished her +civilly good night. In this way the rumour passed through the village +that the Corporal and the children were missing; and many wondered, but +made no doubt that they would be back presently. As Lady Eleanor came +back to the house, the clock struck eight, and she returned to the Hall +with a deadly sinking at her heart. A quarter of an hour later, she +heard the Corporal's step, limping heavier than usual, and jumped to +her feet; and the Corporal came in, looking white and haggard and +weary, but braced himself to his usual erect attitude when he saw her, +and stood at attention. + +Then he told his story quietly and clearly. They had ridden right up +to the highest point of a ridge, as they had designed, to look over the +moor to the coast of Wales; and while they were standing there a deer +had come by, and they had ridden down a little further to see what +should come next. And then the hounds had come up in full cry and only +half-a-dozen horsemen, among whom was Colonel Fitzdenys, anywhere near +them. Old Billy was so much excited that the Corporal could hardly +hold him, and at last the old horse fairly bolted away with him and the +two ponies after him. The Corporal had managed to pull up Billy, but +the two ponies had shot past him, both the children crying out with +delight, and while galloping on to catch them Billy had come down in a +boggy place, and the corporal supposed that he himself must have been a +bit stunned, for when he got up he found that he had let go of his rein +and that Billy and everybody else had disappeared. He had followed the +tracks of the horse as well as he could and had found him in the next +combe by the water, but had had a deal of trouble to catch him; and +though he had shouted and holloaed for the children he had neither seen +nor heard anything of them. Then as soon as he had ridden to the top +of the hill again, the mist came down thick and heavy, and there was no +seeing anything. So with some trouble he found his way back to the +road, being obliged to travel slowly, as the old horse had lamed +himself. He had left word at every house that he passed, and parties +had gone up the road in the valley with lanterns. "I hope and trust, +my Lady," said the Corporal in conclusion, "that Master Dick and Miss +Elsie have followed the hunt to the end, for his honour the colonel +will see to them. A man that I met on the road promised to carry a +message to Fitzdenys Court, but the deer was travelling fast, so I +doubt if the colonel will come home to-night unless so be as he must. +But, if you please, my Lady, I'll just take another horse and ride over +to the Court myself." + +"Can nothing more be done?" said Lady Eleanor, calmed in spite of +herself by the Corporal's calmness and forethought. + +"Nothing, I fear, my Lady," he answered sadly; "it's terrible thick out +over." + +"But you are hurt," said Lady Eleanor, noticing the paleness of his +face, and the effort which it cost him to walk. + +"It's nothing, my Lady," he said. "I'd sooner have lost both legs than +that this should have come." And he bowed and limped out; but within +an hour and a half he came galloping back with Colonel George, who had +met him on the road, and was hurrying over to say that though he had +ridden to the death of the hunted stag he had seen nothing of the +children then nor at any other time. + +"Is the fog as thick on the moor as they say?" asked Lady Eleanor, +speaking bravely, though she was white to the lips. + +"So thick that without a compass I could not have found my way across +it," said Colonel George. "It is right that you should know the truth. +But the farmers on the edge of the moor know what has happened and are +riding as far as they dare with whistles and horns--Brimacott saw to +that--and I propose to join them myself at once." + +"I shall go with you," said Lady Eleanor, quietly. + +Colonel George hesitated for a moment and then answered as quietly: "Be +it so; then you must ride my horse, which is cleverer on the moor than +any of yours. I will take my groom's, and you must let him have a +horse to take back some directions from me to Fitzdenys. Brimacott, +with your permission, shall watch the road by which you drove out this +morning, in case the ponies should find their way there." + +Lady Eleanor soon came down in her habit, impatient to start, but found +Colonel George writing, with a tray of food and drink set down by him. +"You cannot start until you have eaten something," was all that he +said. "We may have a long ride and a long watch before us;" and Lady +Eleanor gulped down a few morsels, for she felt, while hardly knowing +why, that Colonel George had taken command and that she must obey +orders. In a few minutes he finished writing and sent the letter back +to Fitzdenys Court. Then he slung a field-glass over his shoulders; +and Lady Eleanor's heart sank low as she walked with him to the door, +for she perceived that he expected the search to be prolonged beyond +the night. "Courage," he said, as if reading her thoughts; and they +went out and rode away together into the dark. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +And what had become of Dick and Elsie? The account given by the +Corporal had, of course, been perfectly true. It was Dick who had been +the first to see the hunted stag about a quarter of a mile away, +travelling along at that steady lurching gallop which seems so slow and +is so astonishingly swift; and it had needed all the Corporal's +firmness to keep the boy from galloping after him on the spot. And +then after a time the hounds had come on upon the line of the deer, +their great white bodies conspicuous as they strode on in long drawn +file across the waste of pale green grass, and the sound of their deep +voices booming faintly over the vast solitude. Surely and steadily +they pressed on, seeming like the deer to move but slowly, but in +reality running their hardest with a swinging relentless stride. There +was something almost dreamlike in this strange procession as it moved +on between green earth and blue heaven, with none to see it, as it +appeared, but the white-winged curlew which whistled mournfully +overhead. But presently a little group of horsemen appeared on the far +side of the hounds, just six of them in all. The old huntsman was +leading them, in his long skirted coat and double-peaked cap, as Dick +had often seen him, with his little legs thrust forward, his old body +bent over his saddle-bow, and his eyes glued to his hounds. Just a few +yards from him rode Colonel George, erect and easy, but also evidently +with no eyes for anything but the hounds; and close after him came +three more, while the sixth was a full hundred yards behind. + +And all the time the Corporal and the children kept moving down, as if +drawn by some fascination, insensibly closer to them. Old Billy was +worrying at his bit and dancing about, and the ponies squeaking and +dancing round him; until for the sake of peace the Corporal allowed the +old horse to move in the direction which he desired, when an impatient +trot soon turned after a few huge strides to an impatient canter, and +Billy put his head down and was off. And off the ponies went also, for +they had taken the bit in their teeth and meant to catch the hindmost +of the horsemen if they could; and neither Dick nor Elsie turned their +heads, or they would have seen Billy plunge deep into a patch of bog, +and come down heavily, throwing the Corporal far over his head. So on +they went, flying down the long slope before them, dashed across a +little stream at its foot in hot pursuit of the last of the horsemen, +and on again along a little track on the other side. The ascent was a +little steep beyond the stream, but the ponies struggled gamely up, and +then another long slope stretched downward before them, beyond which +rose a great bank of heather. The hounds had already reached the +heather and were breasting the ascent, but their voices could be heard +now and then, and the last of the horsemen was not many hundred yards +ahead. So away the ponies went again, the children nothing loth, for +they doubted not but that the Corporal was near them. By the time that +they reached the foot of the slope the ponies were beginning to roll a +little, but they splashed through the next little stream as lively as +ever, and began to gallop up through the heather on the other side. +The horseman whom the children were following was still just in sight, +hugging his horse up the ascent; but first his horse's tail disappeared +over the hill, then only his shoulders were visible, then only his hat, +and presently he vanished from sight altogether. And Dick hustled his +pony up the hill to catch him, and Elsie hustled hers after him; but +the feeble gallop soon became a slow trot, and the trot became feebler +and feebler in spite of all the hustling. Before long both ponies were +sobbing heavily, and it was only with great difficulty that the +children kept them going fast enough to regain sight of their leader. +Presently the ponies came to a dead stop, and Dick looked about him for +the Corporal; but the Corporal was nowhere to be seen. + +As a matter of fact the Corporal at that moment was just rising to his +feet, and wondering whether he was on his head or his heels. For old +Billy on finding himself in the bog had plunged madly about, +girth-deep, until he had pumped all the wind out of himself, when he +had waited quietly to recover his breath and floundered out on to the +sound ground, shaking such a shower of brown drops over the Corporal as +brought him to himself and made him stagger to his feet, rub his eyes, +and remember where he was. He soon made out in which direction Billy +was gone and presently caught sight of him, making his way to the water +to drink; but the horse was not going to let himself be caught at once, +and led the Corporal a long dance down by the water-side, where, of +course, he could see nothing of the children, though he kept hallooing +from time to time in the hope that they would hear him. + +And meanwhile the children looked round and round, wondering where they +had come from and where they should go to. They had not the least idea +where they were, and they could see no one and hear no one; but they +laid their heads together and decided that they had better go on to the +top of the hill before them, from which, as Dick said, they would be +able to see further. So as soon as the ponies had recovered their wind +they went on upward, and presently to their delight they saw far ahead +of them the horseman whom they had followed, no longer moving but +stopped still. They hustled the ponies into a gallop once more, when +to their dismay the man began to move slowly on away from them. They +called out at the top of their voices but could not make him hear, in +fact he seemed rather to quicken his pace. So they drove the ponies on +again, not noticing that tufts of grass were beginning to show +themselves in the heather over which they rode. Then the man suddenly +turned to his left and went galloping on, and the children turned also +to catch him by cutting off the corner; but the ponies seemed unable to +travel very fast, and presently Dick's pony after some desperate +floundering came right down on his nose, shooting the boy gently over +his ears, where he landed with his head and shoulders in a shallow pool +of brown peaty water. + +Dick jumped to his feet at once, for he was not a bit frightened, and +caught the pony easily; but he felt a little humiliated, for he could +just see that his white collar was stained with brown mud, and he did +not like the trickling of the water down his back. It took him a few +minutes to repair damages, and when he put his foot into the stirrup to +jump up again, the saddle began to turn round on the pony's back, and +he had to jump down again hastily and try to set the saddle right while +Elsie held the pony's rein. But while he was heaving with all his +little strength, the pony's back suddenly sank before him, and Elsie +cried out that Stonecrop (for that was the pony's name) was going to +lie down. Like a wise little woman she gave the rein a jerk, which +brought Stonecrop's head up and kept him on his legs; but Stonecrop was +so much annoyed that he whisked round and tugged so hard at the rein +that he drew it over his head; and Dick had only just time to catch +hold of it before Elsie was obliged to let go, for fear of being pulled +out of her saddle. Then Stonecrop, who was now still more annoyed and +had quite recovered his wind, refused for a long time to allow the rein +to be put over his head again, but kept dodging and backing until he +drove Elsie almost to despair. At last he backed into some soft ground +where he could not move very quickly, and Dick threw the rein over his +head; after which Stonecrop decided to behave himself, and actually +stood still for a moment to let Dick mount him. The saddle very nearly +turned round as he did so, but Elsie held on stoutly to the stirrup on +the other side, and, once mounted, Dick soon set the saddle straight +again by his weight; but both of the children were wearied and +disheartened by all these misfortunes, for Stonecrop had kept them +waiting by his antics for more than half an hour. + +Then they looked about them again for some one to guide them, and +particularly for the Corporal; but the Corporal, as luck would have it, +though he was trying his best to find them, never came within eyesight +or earshot of them. Besides, Billy was so lame that he could not ride +him very fast, and the Corporal himself was not so sure of his way but +that he had to keep looking out sharply to remember where he was. So +seeing no help Dick and Elsie made up their minds that they must try to +find their own way home, though they had little idea in which direction +to start, for they had never been so far on the moor before. The +rolling hills and grass and heather seemed to be very much the same on +every side, and there was no road nor track to guide them. Dick did +indeed think of following the hoof-marks of their own ponies backward, +for he had heard the Corporal tell stories how lost and tired soldiers +had rejoined an army on the march by sticking to its tracks; but +unfortunately this was not very easy. Very soon they made up their +minds that the first thing to be done was to get clear of the +treacherous ground on which they stood, for the ponies floundered +terribly, and in one desperate scramble over a very soft place Dick let +his whip fall and could not find it again. Still on they went, and at +last came to a little trickle of water in a hollow, running between +what seemed to be sound green grass; but the ponies refused to cross +it; and it was well that they did so, for it was deeper and more +dangerous than any ground that they had yet traversed. So there was +nothing for it but to follow the water in the hope that the ground +would improve; and accordingly they did follow it, upward. The stream +grew smaller and smaller, and Dick hugged himself with the idea that +when it disappeared altogether they would be able to travel faster. +But, on the contrary, the ground grew worse instead of better, for +water underground makes worse foothold than water flowing honestly +above, and very soon they lost all sense of their direction in the +difficulty of keeping the ponies on their legs at all. At last after +several very unpleasant struggles they luckily found their way out of +the worst of the bog; but there seemed to be no end to the tract of +mixed grass and heather, which is always treacherous to ride over; and +the ponies were constantly in difficulties. Then to Dick's joy at last +they came upon tracks of a horse or pony, and there was something to +guide them, though it was very often difficult to find and follow it. +They wandered on, however, until Dick's eye caught the gleam of silver, +and there lay his lost whip; so that, after all their riding, they had +but wandered round and round and come back to the place from which they +had started. + +Poor Elsie, who was getting very tired, was very much disheartened, but +Dick choked down his vexation and disappointment, for it was at any +rate something for him to recover his whip, which he valued greatly. +Stonecrop was too much blown now to give much trouble, so he jumped off +and picked it up safely, and then he and Elsie held a long +consultation, and at last agreed to make straight for a high hill +towards which the sun was sinking. So they turned their ponies' heads +towards it, and started again, keeping their eyes steadily on a mound +or barrow on the hill-top. In a short time they found themselves clear +of the boggy ground; and the ponies stepped out so bravely that they +felt sure that they were going right. So they trotted on, greatly +encouraged, and came to a stream babbling over its bed of yellow +stones, though the ground beyond it was so steep that they were obliged +to follow it for some distance before they could find a way across. +Thus they were compelled to move slowly, and Elsie suddenly gave a +little shiver, and both she and Dick realised that the air was grown +chill and that the light was beginning to fail. Still they pressed the +ponies on, and at last they caught sight again of the barrow on the +hill, though, to their disappointment, it seemed little nearer than +before. Then even while they watched it, a great bank of gray mist +suddenly came rolling out of the west and blotted out the barrow and +the ridge on which it stood. Still they rode on towards the same +point, until, almost before they knew it, the mist was upon them and +they could not see fifty yards away. Their hearts sank within them as +the darkness gathered round them, but though they drew closer together +they said nothing, for the ponies still travelled on with confidence, +and they hoped that all the while they were drawing nearer to the +barrow. But the mist struck damp and cold through them, weary and +fasting as they were, and they had much ado to keep up each other's +spirits. So they wandered on, until the ponies, as if they felt that +their little riders had lost resolution, came to a dead stop. A keen +breeze came out of the west, chilling the two children to the bone; and +Stonecrop turning his head to the wind broke out into a long wailing +whinny, which brought home to the children such a sense of their +loneliness and desolation that Elsie looked blankly at Dick and Dick as +blankly at Elsie, and neither found heart to say a word. + +So they sat in their saddles for a minute or two silent and hopeless, +when suddenly both ponies pricked their ears and snuffed at the wind, +and Stonecrop again raised a loud but more cheerful whinny. And out of +the mist faint and far distant came the sound of a whinny in answer. +Then Elsie stopped, checked the tears that were rising to her eyes, and +looked at Dick, who was listening intently. He had some thought of +jumping off and saying his prayers, except that he was not sure how +Stonecrop would behave; but, even while he reflected, Stonecrop's knees +began to bend as if to lie down again, and then he caught hold of the +pony by the head and gave him a cut with his whip that drove him on in +a hurry. "Come along, Elsie," he said resolutely, "if we can reach +that horse we may find some one to help us. Perhaps it may be Billy." +And off he went dead up wind at a good round pace, which warmed them +both and put them into better heart; and Dick broke into a cantering +song which the Corporal had taught him, and sang it in time to +Stonecrop's pace. + + "_Oh, a soldier's son, and a soldier's son, + He must never go back, but always go on. + Though it may be hard, he must always try, + Though he may be hurt, he must never cry. + He must never lose heart nor seem distressed, + But pluck up his courage and do his best. + And so struggle on, and on, and on, + For that's the way for a soldier's son._" + +Now nothing is more certain than that, if you wish to find your way +through a fog, you must travel in the direction that you have chosen as +fast as you can. Very soon the children found themselves going down +rather a steep descent, when Stonecrop again stopped and whinnied, and +an answering whinny once more came faintly out of the mist. So they +kept on their way down and came to a stream, where Dick guided his pony +across and up the ascent on the other side. But Stonecrop after +scrambling up for a little way deliberately came back to the water and +followed it downwards, sometimes in the bed of the stream, sometimes on +the bank by the side; and Dick let him go, feeling confident that the +pony knew better than he. So they went splashing down for a long way, +wondering what would come next, until Stonecrop again stopped and +whinnied; and a little further on they came upon another little stream, +running into that which they were following, where the pony turned and +followed the new water upward. A little further on he gave a kind of +whispered grunt of satisfaction, and presently there came the sound not +only of neighing but of pattering hoofs, and a pony suddenly came +trotting out of the mist towards them. He stopped and whinnied gently, +turned round, trotted back for some way, then stood and whinnied again, +while the children's ponies hastened their own pace towards him. Then +the sound of a shrill whistle came down the water, and the strange pony +at once turned and cantered away towards it; but Stonecrop only moved +the faster in the same direction, giving a loud scream to call him +back. And now a faint light came dancing down by the water, drawing +closer and closer to the children till they could see that it was a man +carrying a lantern. Nearer and nearer it came, and Dick cleared his +throat and began, "Oh, please--," whereupon the man stopped so short +that Dick stopped too, and Elsie came up close to him and clung to his +arm. Then the light disappeared and the man gave a peculiar whistle. +It was answered by the same whistle at a distance, and the children +waited with beating hearts till the light appeared again; and at last a +woman's voice said very roughly out of the mist, + +"Who's there?" + +"Oh, please, we have lost our way," said Dick; "please, please tell us +the way home." + +A suspicious grunt was the only answer; and Dick hastened to go on, +"Oh, please, we mean no harm, but we've lost our way. It's only Elsie +and me." + +"Ah!" said the woman's voice, as if in surprise. + +"Yes, it's only Dick and me," said Elsie in her most reassuring voice, +but, like Dick, forgetting her grammar. + +And then a curious, cackling laugh sounded out of the mist; the lantern +came bounding forward, and before she could realise what had happened, +Elsie found her skirt seized and a great rough head scrubbing against +it. She gave a cry of terror, but directly afterwards the lantern +showed her the face of the idiot, which grinned at her with delight for +a moment and then bent again to kiss her skirt. Then another figure +came out of the darkness, seized the lantern and held it first to her +face and then to Dick's. They saw that it was the idiot's mother, and +Dick again repeated, though with much secret fear, that they had lost +their way. + +"Is there no one with 'ee?" asked the woman astonished. + +"No," said Dick sadly. "We're lost." + +"Why, my dear tender hearts," said the woman in a voice of great pity, +"to think of that. But don't 'ee cry, my dear," for she could hear +Elsie sobbing gently, "don't 'ee cry, for 'tis all well now. See now, +my house is close by, and you'm safe, both of 'ee. Come long with me, +and don't be afeared; I'll take care of 'ee and take 'ee home safe +enough. To think of that now--" and so she went on, leading the way +for them with the lantern for another quarter of a mile up the water, +till she stopped, and saying, "Now, my dears, we'm home," lifted Elsie +from her saddle and carried her under a low doorway, and then coming +back, called Dick in also, leaving the ponies in charge of the idiot. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +It was but a very little house in which the children found themselves; +and it took some time for them to make it out, for there was no light +but that of a feeble rushlight in a horn lantern, and the faint glow of +a peat fire. But after a while they perceived that it was built of +sods of turf and lined with heather, neatly fixed into the turf by +wooden pegs such as gardeners use; while the ceiling was also of +heather, laid crosswise against ashen poles. The fire-place seemed to +be built of round stones, evidently taken from a stream, which were +plastered together with clay; and the chimney was carried outside the +wall. Across the chimney was fixed an iron bar, from which hung a rude +chain that appeared to have been made of old horse-shoes, and at the +end of the chain was an iron pot. The only furniture was a low table +of turf, which was built in the middle of the floor, and a couple of +three-legged stools; and besides the iron pot on the fire, a +frying-pan, a jug or two, a couple of wooden bowls and as many +platters, there was hardly a vessel or a plate to be seen. The house, +though of but one room, had one portion of it shut off by a low screen +made of ash-poles and heather; and a similar screen lying against the +wall appeared to take the place of a front door, when a front door was +needed. + +Little Elsie was so tired that she sank down at once on the low table +of turf, and Dick staggered in, very stiff from long riding, and sat +down by her side. But the old woman bustled into the room behind the +screen and returned with a great armful of heather which she threw on +the floor, and lifting the girl gently on to it, laid her down with her +back resting against the table, as comfortable as could be. Then she +fetched a jug full of milk, and although the milk tasted rather strong +and the children were not accustomed to drink out of a jug, they were +both too hungry to be particular. She then fetched another armful of +heather for Dick, and bade him make himself comfortable too, when, +laying her hand upon his shoulder she said, "Why, bless your life! the +boy's so wet as a fisher; and where ever be I to find 'ee dry clothes? +Dear, dear, this is a bad job." And she ran to the door where the +idiot was standing with the ponies, and said something which the +children could not understand. Dick jumped to his feet, for the +Corporal had impressed upon him that a good dragoon always looks after +his horse before he looks after himself; but the old woman stopped him +at the door. + +"Don't you be put about for the ponies, my dear. My Jan will look to +mun and hobble mun, and bring in saddles and bridles, and when they've +a rolled they'll pick up a bit of mate and do well enough, I'll warrant +mun." + +Then she again went behind the screen, brought out a box, and began +turning over what seemed to be clothes inside it, shaking her head and +talking to herself, until at last she said, "'Eas! this it must be." +And she brought forward a little coat such as Dick had never seen +before. It was of yellow, with a scarlet collar, facings and cuffs, +there were two little red wings at the shoulders, and two little red +tails at the back; and the buttons were of brass with a number in Roman +letters upon it. Dick was not sure of the number, for he had not yet +quite mastered Roman letters, and could never find the Psalms in church +except by remembering the day of the month. Then she bade him take off +his wet jacket, hung it near the chimney to dry, and helped him into +the little coat, which was really not much too big for him. Dick +turned himself round and strutted with delight in a way that set Elsie +laughing in spite of her weariness; but the old woman smiled rather +sadly, turned back the red cuffs, as the sleeves were rather too long +for Dick, and pinned a shawl over the coat so that it could not be +seen. She became cheerful again, however, and said: "But you'm hungry, +my little lady. Now what shall I get you to ate?" + +"Please may I have some bread and butter?" asked Elsie; but the old +woman shook her head. "I have got neither bread nor butter," she said; +"but think now--a bit of porridge and a drop of milk, and a bit of +honey--how will that do? Jan!" she called out. + +The idiot came in grinning at the children, but she shook her finger at +him and made a sign, at which he nodded and went out again. Then she +blew up the fire and added a few sticks to it, and taking oatmeal out +of a sack which lay in one corner, and water from a wooden pitcher, +began to make the porridge. Presently Jan came in again with half a +dozen little trout, ready for cooking, and bending down at another +corner of the fire was soon very busy over them. The porridge was +quickly ready, and though the children had never eaten it before, and +were not accustomed to pewter spoons and wooden bowls, yet the +heather-honey, which was given to them with it, was so delicious that +they found it good enough. + +By the time that the porridge was all gone, the fish were cooked and +served up on the two wooden platters with some salt; but now came a +difficulty, for there were nothing but the same two spoons to eat them +with, and it is not easy to eat a trout with a spoon, especially if one +has been brought up not to use one's fingers. But the old woman soon +settled matters by splitting up the fish with a knife and taking out +the bones; after which both spoons were soon hard at work and the fish +disappeared as rapidly as the porridge; for little trout, freshly +caught from a moorland stream, are sweet enough, as all that have eaten +them are aware. Finally the old woman laid before the children a huge +pan full of stewed whorts; and as there were no plates left, nor as +much as a saucer to be produced, they just helped themselves with their +spoons out of the pan and ate as much as they wanted, which, after the +porridge and trout, was not a very great deal. + +Then they looked at the idiot, who had taken the squirrel out of his +pocket and was fondling it and purring to it in his own strange way. +He gave it to them also to make friends with, and seeing that they were +fond of animals he went to the door and whistled; and presently there +came trotting up a little hind of a year old, which walked in at the +door as if she had been accustomed to live in a house all her life, and +reared up like a begging dog on her hind legs to eat a bunch of +mountain-ash berries which he held over her head. Then he gave the +berries to the children, and the hind poked her little cool nose into +their hands to get at the food, so tame was she; while the old woman +told them how the idiot had found the poor little thing as a calf, +bleating beside the dead body of her dam, and had brought her home and +reared her. + +But the children's eyes soon began to blink, and before long they were +more than half asleep; so the old woman brought in more heather and +made them up two little beds, and laid them down in their clothes. +They had a faint idea, both of them, that some one took off their shoes +and loosened their clothes about their necks, but they were too +comfortable (for heather makes the best of rude beds) to think very +much about it; and when Elsie felt vaguely that something warm was +thrown over her and that a voice said "Good-night," she had only just +wakefulness enough to whisper back good-night and to put up her cheek +to be kissed. Dick also curled up as though heather was his usual bed; +and very soon both were asleep, though at first rather fitfully and +restlessly, for they were over-tired. But whenever they woke for a +moment they were lulled to sleep by the voice of the woman, who sat on +a stool watching them and crooning a song to herself. The children +were too sleepy to catch the words, but they were as follows: + + "_Oh! whither away that ye fly so fast, + Ye black crows croaking loud? + And what have ye sped that ye wheel so wide + Above yon grey dust cloud?_ + + "_We spy two hosts of fighting men, + The blue coats and the red. + For mile on mile in rank and file + They come with even tread._ + + "_And brave and bright on brass and steel + The slanting sunbeams fall. + Like giant snakes, with glittering flakes, + Their columns wind and crawl._ + + "_The red march north and the blue march south, + And we wheel betwixt the twain; + And we hear their song, as they tramp along, + Rise joyous from the plain._ + + "_The red march north and the blue march south, + And the daylight wanes apace, + 'Till their fires gleam bright through the falling night, + And the twain rest face to face._ + + "_And the morning's thunder shall be of guns, + And the morning's mist of smoke, + And higher and higher o'er din and fire, + We crows shall rise and croak._ + + "_While the ranks of red and the ranks of blue + In mingled swathes are shorn; + As the poppies nigh to the cornflowers lie, + At the reaping of the corn._ + + "_Oh! merry to stoop over chasing hounds, + As they speed through field and wood, + When their bristles rise, and with flaming eyes + They yell for blood, for blood._ + + "_And merry to croak at the hunted fox, + When his brush trails draggling down, + And his strength is spent, and his back is bent, + And his tongue lolls parched and brown._ + + "_But merriest far to wheel o'er the fight + Of the blue coats and the red, + 'Till the fire has ceased, and we swoop to the feast + Which the strife of men has spread._" + + +Dick's last vision before he fell asleep was of her strange figure bent +forward and watching, but he was a little startled when he woke in the +morning and remembered where he was; for he was not accustomed to sleep +in his clothes, still less in such a coat as the yellow one with the +red facings, which he found upon his back. Elsie also was much +astonished; and the sight of Dick in so strange a garment half +frightened her for a moment. But the old woman was so kind and gentle +that they were reassured, particularly when she told them that in a +very few hours she hoped they would be at home. There was indeed some +difficulty about washing, for there was no such thing as jug or basin +in the house; and, as to tubs, you would not have found them in those +days in any country-house in England. The woman told Dick that all her +own washing was done in the stream, so Dick went out to wash his face +in it; but the mist still hung thick over the moor, the air was sharp +and cold and the water colder still; so that both he and Elsie were +satisfied with very little washing. When they went back, they found +that the old woman had set the two stools close to the fire for them +and was making the porridge; so they breakfasted off porridge and +trout, as they had supped on them the day before; and then the old +woman gave Dick his own jacket and asked him to take off the yellow +one. Dick was a little reluctant to part with it, and asked what it +was and where it came from; but she only answered that it was a long +story. He followed it with his eyes to see the last of it as she +folded it up and put it away, and she smiled rather sadly as she saw +him. "I can't a let you have it yet, my dear," she said, guessing his +thoughts, "and maybe when I can spare it for 'ee you won't care for to +take it. But if ever it goes from me it shall go to you, that I +promise 'ee, if so be as I can get it to 'ee." + +Then they ran out to see the idiot saddle the ponies, with which he was +already as friendly as if he had known them all his life. All animals +seemed to take to him, for he had pets without end. The two +nanny-goats and the little hind followed him like dogs; the squirrel +was always in his pocket or on his shoulder; and a jackdaw and a +magpie, both of them pinioned, fluttered after him wherever he went, +chattering and scolding as though the place belonged to them. Then the +children mounted their ponies and off they started, the idiot leading +the way on his own ragged pony, which he rode barebacked and with a +halter only for bridle; Dick came next, and then Elsie with the old +woman walking by her side. The mist was as thick as ever, but this +seemed to make no difference to the idiot, as he guided them up the +stream for a little distance and on over the rough yellow grass. The +ground was very deep and much cut by tiny clefts that carried the water +away from the bog, but the idiot went on straight and unconcerned as +though he were on a high road, though often his pony floundered +hock-deep. So on they went for a full hour with the mist whirling +about them, the children being kept warm in spite of the bitter cold +air, by their excitement, and by the constant scrambling of the ponies. +At last they reached firmer soil, but after travelling over it for a +little way the idiot stopped and held up his hand; and the children +listening with all their ears thought they made out the faint sound of +a horn. At a sign from his mother the idiot turned, and presently the +children found themselves going down hill and realised that the mist +was not so thick about them. A little further on they reached the edge +of a wood, where the idiot led his pony into a hollow and hobbled it, +and guided them into the trees on foot. + +It was not pleasant riding now, for the ground was very steep, and the +trees very thick and low; and when after long scrambling down they came +to a stream at the bottom of the hill, the children found no better +path than a very rough track by the water, full of great boulders, over +which the ponies stumbled continually. Presently they crossed the +water, and then for the first time the children perceived that the +woman was no longer with them, though where she had left them they +could not tell. Still the idiot guided them on through the woods, +uphill and down and across more than one stream, till at last he led +them into a grass path, where after walking for some time he suddenly +stopped and listened. Then pointing down it, he grinned and touched up +Stonecrop to make him trot, and after running for some time alongside +them, dropped behind. Dick began to think that the path was familiar +to him, and the ponies began to pull, as though they knew it also. In +another five minutes they came down into the road by which they had +driven up on the previous morning, and there stood the Corporal and +another servant, both of them mounted, not a hundred yards away. + +Dick shouted joyfully, and the Corporal galloping hastily up, +dismounted and ran to them. He was white, haggard and unshorn, and for +a time only patted their ponies apparently unable to speak. Then he +looked up the valley at the hills, and seeing that they were clear of +mist told the other servant to get up to the top of the hill and make +the signal, and to look sharp about it; upon which the servant turned +his horse up the path and galloped away like one possessed. Then the +Corporal turned to the children and asked them who had brought them +back; and when they told him they noticed for the first time that the +idiot was not with them. They called and shouted for him several +times, but he never came; and then they rode back with the Corporal, +telling their adventures as they went. + +But far behind them on one of the highest points of the moor stood +Colonel George and their mother. She was now deadly white, with great +black rings round her eyes, for she was worn out with watching and +anxiety; but she would not give in. She had dismounted and was sitting +on the heather, while Colonel George with his field-glass laid across +his horse's saddle conned the moor anxiously in every direction. The +mist was only just gone, and he seemed to have much to look at, for a +long line of horsemen was sweeping before him over the moor, searching +for the children. At last he set down the glass and rubbed his eyes, +for he had been in the saddle for nearly twenty-four hours, and taking +a flask from his pocket poured out a little for Lady Eleanor. She +shook her head as he brought it, but he only said "You must;" and then +she drank a mouthful or two. He was just about to drink himself when +he hastily slipped the flask into his pocket, and taking out the +field-glass looked long and earnestly through it. Then he tied a large +white handkerchief to his whip, waved it three times over his head and +looked again through the glass, after which he kept on waving for some +time. Then after a last look he put away the glass, and walked slowly, +leading both horses, to the place where he had left Lady Eleanor. She +was lying back with her face covered with her hands. + +"Come," he said gently. "The Corporal has found them and they are safe +and well. I made them repeat the signal twice, so that I am quite +sure, and I have signalled to the search-parties to go home. Let me +put you on your horse." + +See looked up like one dazed; but there was Colonel George holding out +his hand to her, so she took it and rose to her feet; and then she +seized the hand between both of hers and wrung it hard without a word. +He lifted her into the saddle, and no sooner was he mounted than she +started to gallop down the hill at a pace which made it hard for +Colonel George to keep up with her. Away she flew, and he felt +thankful that she was a fine horsewoman and mounted on his horse +instead of her own, which was not nearly so clever over rough ground; +though he could not help reflecting that he could never have found it +in his conscience to hustle a horse of hers as she hustled his. There +were two or three valleys to cross, which gave the animals a little +respite, but not much, for Lady Eleanor went equally fast, uphill, +downhill and on the level. So that when they arrived at the Hall +Colonel George, after seeing Lady Eleanor run in to the children, only +looked at his horse's heaving flanks, shook his head, and led him off +to the stable to look after him himself. There he heard the whole +story from the Corporal, and leaving a message for Lady Eleanor that he +would call next day, rode back very quietly to Fitzdenys Court. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +It need hardly be said that when her first joy over the recovery of the +children was over, Lady Eleanor's instant thought was for the strange +woman and her idiot son, who had befriended them and saved them for +her. She longed to thank and to reward them, but she could not think +how to find them; and moreover it was plain that, for some reason which +she could not divine, the woman wished to keep out of her way. It was +difficult for her to believe that there could be any harm in the woman, +after the care that she had taken of the children; but on the other +hand there was Tommy Fry, still speechless. She was thankful when +Colonel George came over next day, that she might discuss matters with +him. + +But he was as much at a loss as she was. He had examined all the +people who had gone out to search for the children, but not one of them +had seen a sign of any dwelling where the strange woman could live. He +was, however, struck by Dick's account of the little coat that he had +worn; for it seemed, he said, to be a drummer's coat, and he could not +imagine how such people should possess such a garment. As he spoke, +the bullfinch broke into the first bars of "The British Grenadiers;" +and then the same thought occurred to Colonel George as had seized upon +the minds of the villagers--Was it possible that the idiot was a +deserter, or that he and his mother were harbouring a deserter? But he +kept his thoughts to himself, for he knew the terrible punishment to +which a deserter would be liable, and did not wish Lady Eleanor to +think of such a thing. + +But however the gentry might doubt at the Hall, the folks in the +village found no difficulty in accounting for everything. It was the +witch who had enticed the children on to the moor and made them lose +themselves; and, though she had sent them back safe and sound, it was +impossible to say what trouble she might have in store for them. One +soft-hearted woman did indeed suggest that no witch could have power to +hurt such dear innocent angels; but Mrs. Fry promptly rose up in arms +against her, for was not her Tommy also a dear innocent angel, though +to be sure he was but a poor boy, whereas her Ladyship's children were +rich? Then Mrs. Mugford came forward with her explanation, which was, +that the Corporal, as had already been suspected, was undoubtedly in +league with the witch, and had led the children into her clutches. It +might be that the witch could not hurt them; but certain it was that, +when all the country was out searching for them, she had led them +straight back to the Corporal. As to the Corporal being thrown from +his horse, Mrs. Mugford had heard such stories before; and it was +strange that he had found his way home safe enough though he had left +the children to be eaten alive, for aught he knew. It was strange, +too, that he was waiting in the right place for the children next day +when the witch brought them down, and that the witch had vanished, as +Mrs. Mugford averred, in a cloud of brimstone smoke. + +So the feeling against the Corporal in the village increased, and not +the less because he looked ill for some days after the children's +adventure, owing partly to the shaking which he had received in his +fall, and partly to the miserable hours of anxiety and watching that +had succeeded to it. The villagers of course attributed his appearance +to the torment of a guilty conscience, and no one was more careful to +dwell on this explanation than Mrs. Mugford, with a vehemence which +surprised even Mrs. Fry, who knew the sharpness of her tongue better +than her neighbours. + +The Corporal took no more heed of the villagers' coldness than before; +for a new matter had come forward to occupy his thoughts. While he was +walking one day with the children through the wood above the village, +Dick suddenly stopped and said that he had certainly seen a man +slinking off the path into the covert; and the Corporal at once hurried +to the spot in the hope that it might be the idiot. Making his way +through the thicket he presently came upon a man lying down in some +bracken and evidently anxious to conceal himself. The fellow was +ragged, unkempt and bearded, but he was not the idiot, and he seemed +terrified at being discovered, stammering out something about meaning +no harm, and begging to be allowed to go. The Corporal sent the +children a little apart, felt the man's pockets to be sure that he was +not a poacher, and bade him begone and think himself lucky to escape so +easily. + +"I've seen you before," he said, looking hard at him, "and I shall know +you again. You know you have no business here, and if I catch you +again, it will be the worse for you." But though he let the man go, he +puzzled himself all day to think where he had seen him before. + +And now the annual fair at Kingstoke, the little town that lay nearest +to Ashacombe, was at hand, and all kinds of strange people were to be +seen on the road. There were hawkers and cheapjacks with persuasive +tongues, which the villagers found difficult to resist; swarthy gipsies +with gaudy red and yellow handkerchiefs, whom they kept at a safe +distance; and great lumbering vans containing fat ladies, and learned +pigs and two-headed calves, which roused their curiosity greatly. +Finally one day a loud noise of drumming brought Dick and Elsie flying +down the road, and there was a recruiting serjeant as large as life, +with red coat, white trousers and plumed shako hung with ribbons, and +with him a drummer and a fifer. The two last had stopped playing by +the time that the children reached them, and were apparently not best +pleased, for Mrs. Mugford had flown out at them directly they appeared +with, "No, no. 'Tis no use for the like of you to come here. We won't +have naught to do with the like of you, taking our boys away to be +treated no better than dogs." And all the other women had shaken their +heads knowingly and looked askance at the red coats; so that, as all +the men were out at work and as there seemed to be little chance of +obtaining refreshment, the serjeant simply scowled and moved on. He +and his companions looked dusty and thirsty, for the day was hot, and +the drummer and fifer, who were both very young, looked tired and +hungry as well. In fact they had only played in the hope of being +offered a drink, which hope Mrs. Mugford's tongue had effectually +extinguished for them. + +So on they went along the road, followed by Dick and Elsie, who were +deeply disappointed; but close by the lodge the children saw the +Corporal, and running forward to him prayed him to ask the serjeant to +give them a tune. The serjeant evidently recognised the Corporal as an +old soldier, for he wished him good-day; and the Corporal then asked +him if he would play something for little master and mistress. + +"Will little master give us something to wet our whistle with?" asked +the serjeant. "We have had a longish march to-day, eight miles already +and six more to go, and there's little to be got on the road. It's a +wild country hereabout." + +At a word from the Corporal Dick flew up to the house with Elsie at his +heels, to ask his mother's leave, and meanwhile the serjeant asked the +Corporal if he knew anything of the deserter from the Marines whose +description was on all the churchdoors, as he was said to be somewhere +in those parts. Presently Dick returned breathless with a message to +the recruiting party to come up to the Hall, where the fife and drum +struck up, and Lady Eleanor came out to say that soldiers were always +welcome, and this with a gracious condescension which in itself was +nearly as good as a glass of beer to a thirsty man. Then the serjeant +followed the Corporal towards the back door; and the drummer, who was a +good-natured lad, seeing how Dick stared at his drum, took it off, and +shortening the slings put them over his head. Lady Eleanor at once +called to Dick that he was keeping the drummer from his dinner; but the +drummer replied that he was sure little master would take care of the +drum and that he was very welcome; and Dick begged so hard to be +allowed to keep it for a little while that Lady Eleanor after some +hesitation gave in, only bidding Dick not to make too much noise close +to the house. + +So off Dick strutted, followed by Elsie, tapping from time to time, +till on reaching a quiet place under the trees in the park, he was very +glad to take the drum off and turn it round very carefully, looking at +the Royal Arms and the names of battles that were painted round them. +Then he began tapping again, when all of a sudden there was a rustle +behind them, and there stood the familiar figure of the idiot Jan, with +his face grinning wider than usual. The children were startled and +were on the point of running to the house, but he held up his finger as +usual and beckoned to Dick to go on beating; though after hearing a tap +or two he shook his head and, taking up the drum, let out the slings +and put them over his own head. Then he squared his shoulders and +threw out his chest, and bringing up his elbows in a line with his chin +he beat two taps loudly with each stick, slowly at first and gradually +faster and faster till the taps blended together in a long, loud roll. +Then he stopped and grinned at the children, who were staring with +amazement and delight; and then beating two short rolls he began to +march up and down whistling the tune "Lillibulero," which the bullfinch +piped, and beating in perfect time with all his might. + +So intent was he on his music that neither he nor the children noticed +the serjeant, who with halberd in hand came walking up with the drummer +and fifer close behind him. + +"What have we here?" said the serjeant, eyeing the strange figure +before him. "Where did you learn to beat like that, my man?" he went +on, laying a heavy hand on the idiot's shoulder. The idiot glanced +round with a start, and uttering a whine of terror slipped away from +the serjeant's hand, swung the drum on to his back, and made off as +fast as his legs would carry him. + +"What's the meaning of this?" said the serjeant staring for a moment. +"The deserter for a guinea! After him boys, quick! There's a reward +out for him." And away went the drummer and fifer in pursuit, while +the serjeant followed as fast as he could; and the children, after +gazing for a time in bewildered alarm, ran back to the house. The +idiot ran like the wind, but in his first terror he had taken the wrong +direction and was flying down towards the village. Reaching the drive +before his pursuers he gained on them somewhat, but he fumbled at the +gate by the lodge and let them get close to him. He broke away, +however, and was running gallantly through the village with the lads +hard after him, when down the road came the ample figure of Mrs. +Mugford, who put down the pitcher that she was carrying and stood right +in his way with her arms spread out wide. She did not dare actually to +stop him, but she so confused him that in another few yards the drummer +and fifer had caught him each by an arm. The idiot cowered abject and +trembling between them, and the three stood panting and breathless, +while Mrs. Mugford exhorted at the top of her voice, + +"Hold mun fast, brave lads!" she cried, in a very different tone from +that which she had lately used to the soldiers. "Hold mun fast! +That's the man you was a looking vor. Hold mun fast! Ah, you roog; so +we've a got 'ee at last, and now 'twill be the jail and the gallows for +'ee sure enough. Ah! you may whine and guggle, but you won't get away, +not this time." Her cries brought every woman in the village to the +spot, and solemn were the shakings of heads, and loud the recalling of +prophecies that vengeance would soon overtake the wicked. Then the +serjeant came elbowing his way through the crowd, and was hailed +instantly, like the drummer and fifer, by Mrs. Mugford. "That's the +man you'm a looking for, maister; and a bad one he is. Hold mun fast, +maister; and don't let mun go, whatever." + +"Ah! you know him, do you?" said the serjeant. "Well, you can trust +him to me. Take the drum off his back, my lads, and bring him along." + +But the idiot seemed hardly able to move; and they had not taken him +far, with the women and children still crowding round them, when they +were stopped by his mother, who came hastening up the road and planted +herself full in the way. + +"Now, then," she said sharply, "what be doing to that boy? Let mun go. +He's a done no harm to you, I reckon. Let mun go, I tell 'ee. Where +be taking mun?" + +"Come, mistress, no hard words," answered the serjeant. "I don't know +who you are; but this young man's my prisoner, and to Kingstoke he must +go tonight, and before the nearest justice to-morrow for a deserter." + +"Ay, and for a witch too and you with mun," yelled Mrs. Fry; and she +and the women with her raised a howl that was not pleasant to hear. +"She's awitched my boy," screamed Mrs. Fry high above the rest. "She's +a witch and she ought to be drownded in the river." + +The serjeant looked puzzled, and was relieved to see the Corporal come +limping up the road; but Mrs. Mugford no sooner saw him than she +screamed at the top of her voice, "Ah, don't 'ee listen to he, maister. +'Twas he that let mun go weeks agone, and there's been nothing but bad +work for us all since then. He's so bad as any o' mun; 'twas he that +let mun take her Ladyship's childer; and we'm not going to be plagued +with witches no more. Lave the witches to us. We knows what to do +with mun." + +"What have you got against the man?" asked the Corporal of the serjeant. + +"He's a deserter," said the serjeant shortly, "and it seems that these +women know him well enough, if you don't." + +"He ain't no deserter," said the idiot's mother savagely, "he wasn't +never 'listed." + +"Then how comes he to drum as he did?" retorted the serjeant. "Our own +drummers couldn't beat better." + +The woman clenched her fists in despair, and the Corporal looked very +grave; but he no sooner tried to speak to the serjeant than the women +again raised a yell that he was not to be trusted, and renewed their +cry that they would be troubled with witches no longer, but would drown +them in the river and have done with them. At last they worked +themselves up into such a state of fury that the Corporal saw that they +meant mischief, and said sharply to the serjeant that if he didn't look +out they would take his prisoner from him. Even while he spoke they +made a rush, but the serjeant had his wits about him and brought down +his halberd to the charge, just in time to stop them. + +"Now, enough of this," he said sternly. "I know nothing about your +witches and nonsense, but this young man's my prisoner, and if you +don't leave him to me it will be the worse for you. Take him along, +lads." + +So the drummer and fifer led the idiot down the road, while the +serjeant, with his halberd still at the charge, kept the women at bay; +and thus slowly they passed clear of the village while the women and +children, after following for a time with yells and execrations, at +last dropped behind. + +"Now, mistress," said the serjeant to the idiot's mother, "you'd best +look out for yourself, I expect, and go away." + +The woman turned upon him with a scornful laugh. "Do you suppose I be +afraid of they?" she said. "Not I; and if 'ee think that I'm a going +to leave my boy--here, let mun go," she said resolutely, shoving away +the drummer's arm--"you've naught against mun. I tell 'ee he wasn't +never 'listed." + +The serjeant removed her hand instantly. "None of that," he said. +"You can come along with him as far as you will, but the justice will +see to the rest to-morrow morning." + +The woman glanced at the Corporal in despair, but the Corporal could +only shake his head. "Best go quietly along with him, mistress," he +said; "I'll go to her Ladyship and do what I can." Then he turned to +the serjeant and said: "I believe you've got hold of the wrong man; for +this is only a poor half-witted lad, not the man that you want. Don't +be hard on him." + +"Not I, if he gives no trouble," said the serjeant. So he went on with +his charge along the road to Kingstoke, the idiot staggering along on +his mother's arm between the fifer and the drummer, and he himself +walking behind. And the Corporal limped up over the park as quickly as +he could to the Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Great was Lady Eleanor's distress when she heard from the Corporal what +had happened. "Ah, if only Colonel Fitzdenys had been here!" she +repeated more than once; but she could think of nothing that could be +done except to send a letter at once to the colonel to tell him the +whole story and to ask him to be present at Kingstoke, which lay close +to Fitzdenys, when the prisoner should be brought up next morning. +This was the Corporal's suggestion; but Lady Eleanor noticed that he +was unusually silent and subdued, and she was rather surprised when he +asked leave rather mysteriously to be absent from the house for the +rest of the day. But she trusted him so implicitly that she granted +his request without hesitation, and the Corporal, having sent off the +letter, went out for the evening by himself. + +The truth was that he was bitterly hurt and indignant at the hard words +that Mrs. Mugford had used towards him, of having betrayed the children +to the witch on the moor. The bare idea that he should have been false +to his mistress and to the children, whom he worshipped, made him +furious; and he went out with the determination of giving Mrs. Mugford +a bit of his mind before night, but, like a wise man, not until he had +thought the matter well over during a solitary walk. So he made his +way through the woods and in due time came to the place where Dick had +pointed out to him the ragged man, whom he had found skulking in the +fern a short time before. Then it flashed across him suddenly that +this man might be the deserter, and he blamed himself for his stupidity +in not thinking of it at first. Once again he racked his brains to +remember where he had seen the man before, for certainly he had seen +him or some one very like him; and with his mind full of Mrs. Mugford +he suddenly recalled her son Henry, who had enlisted for a marine, and +had once come back on sick-leave. The more he thought of it, the more +certain he was that the man whom he had found was Henry Mugford, for +though he had not seen him for some years he had never heard that he +had been discharged. That would account for Mrs. Mugford's anxiety to +keep the Corporal out of the village, and to get the idiot arrested, +for it would probably be some days before a serjeant of Marines could +arrive from Plymouth, or the idiot himself could be sent there, to +decide if he were the deserter Henry Bale or not. And, as to the name, +the Corporal knew well enough by experience that men constantly +enlisted under assumed names, while Bale was a likely name for this +particular man to choose, as it had been Mrs. Mugford's own before she +married. + +Thus reflecting, the Corporal turned along the path that led through +the woods lying above the village, stopped when he saw the roofs of the +cottages below him, and went down through the covert towards the hedge +that parted the cottage-gardens from it. It was dusk, so that he had +little difficulty in remaining unseen, and as he drew nearer to the two +cottages where Mrs. Fry and Mrs. Mugford lived, he heard the voices of +the pair in violent altercation in the garden below. + +"You said so plain as could be that you'd a-share the two guineas with +me," Mrs. Fry was saying indignantly. "That's what you said." + +"And don't I say that I'll give 'ee five shillings?" retorted Mrs. +Mugford, "and that's more than nine out of ten would give. 'Twas I +catched mun and not you. If I hadn't stopped mun in the road they'd +never have catched mun at all, and 'twas a chance then that he might +have killed me, mazed as he is. And you've a-taken pounds and pounds +from the gentry for the harm that was done your Tommy, and never given +me so much as a penny, though I've a-showed mun many times when you +wasn't in house." + +"Well," said Mrs. Fry defiantly, "then we'll see what people say when I +tells what I've a-seen of a man coming round to your house night-times +these weeks and weeks, and you going out to mun with bread and mate. +I've a-seen mun, for all that you was so false." + +Then they dropped their voices, and Mrs. Mugford appeared to be making +new offers. But the Corporal had heard enough. Keeping himself +carefully concealed he walked along the hedge until he found a rack +over it, which seemed to be well worn, leading down to the cottages +below, and by this rack he curled himself up in the bushes, and waited. +In a short time the village was dark and silent, for in those days +oil-lamps were never seen in a cottage; and the Corporal found waiting +rather cold work, but he had bivouacked on colder nights in the wars, +and lay patiently in his place. A little after ten the moon rose, but +it was full eleven o'clock before the Corporal heard the bushes rustle, +and at last made out a man creeping cautiously alongside the hedge. +Nearer and nearer he came, straight to the rack in the hedge, where +after pausing for a moment to listen, he was beginning to scramble up; +when the Corporal suddenly laid hold of his ankles, brought him +sprawling down, rolled him into the hedge-trough, and was instantly on +top of him, with his knee on his chest and his hand on his throat. The +unfortunate creature was too much paralysed by fright to resist; and +the Corporal soon dragged his face round into the moonlight and saw +that he had caught the man that he wanted. + +"So you've come here again, Henry Bale," said the Corporal; "I told you +that it would be the worse for you, if you did." + +"My name's Mugford," gasped the man, now struggling a little. + +"And when did you get your discharge?" asked the Corporal; "and why are +you hanging about the woods instead of living with your mother like an +honest man? But when you're back at Plymouth they'll know you as Henry +Bale fast enough, I'll warrant." + +The man trembled, and begged abjectly for mercy; but the Corporal only +pulled out a knife, without relaxing his hold on his throat, turned him +over on his face, and cut his waistband. "Now," he said, "the best +thing that you can do is to surrender and come quietly along with me. +Give me your hands." And pulling a piece of twine from his pocket he +tied the man's thumbs together behind his back. Then raising him to +his feet he shoved him over the rack in the hedge, and led him past +Mrs. Mugford's windows, where a rushlight was burning, into the road +and so to the stables at Bracefort. There he locked his prisoner into +a separate loose-box with a barred window, having first tied his wrists +before him, instead of his thumbs behind him; and then he sought out +pen and paper and wrote; a letter to Colonel Fitzdenys, which, though +it was not very long, took him much time to write, and ran as follows:-- + + +"Honoured Col.--these are to inform you that I have the deserter Henry +Bale saf under lock and kay which is all at present from your honour's +most ob't humble serv't.--J. BRIMACOTT." + + +He put the letter into his pocket, and drawing a mattress before the +door of the loose-box, went fast asleep on it till dawn, when he called +a sleepy stable-boy from the rooms above and bade him ride over with +the letter to Fitzdenys Court. + +By eight o'clock Colonel Fitzdenys arrived at a gallop from Fitzdenys +Court. Having seen and questioned the Corporal's prisoner, who made a +full confession, he left a message that he would return as soon as +possible, and that he would want to see Mrs. Fry and Tommy; after which +he rode back again, as fast as he had come, to Kingstoke. There his +business was soon finished, for when the idiot was brought up before +him (which he had already arranged to be done) he was able to discharge +him directly, since he himself had ascertained that the true deserter +had been captured. But none the less he gave the serjeant a guinea to +console him for his disappointment in having caught the wrong man. + +Then he went to speak to the idiot's mother and to tell her how sorry +he was for the mistake that had been made; for the two had been locked +up all night in Kingstoke. She did not receive him kindly, however, +for all that she said was: "It's very well to be sorry now, and I don't +say, sir, that it's no fault of yours, but they've agone nigh to kill +my boy with their doings;" and indeed the idiot was so weak and white +that he could hardly stand. Still more distressed was she when Colonel +Fitzdenys told her that she could not go yet, but that she must first +visit Bracefort Hall. She tried hard to obtain his leave to go to her +own place at once, but he insisted, though with all possible kindness, +that she must come with him to the Hall, and that then she should be +free to go where she would. So very reluctantly she got into a +market-cart with her son, who sat like a lifeless thing beside her, and +was driven off, while Colonel Fitzdenys cantered on before them. + +When the market-cart reached the door of the Hall, Lady Eleanor was +there waiting to welcome her and to thank her for all that she had done +for her own children; but the woman only said coldly that she was very +welcome, and seemed to have no thought but for her idiot son, who +remained sunk in the same abject condition. They brought him wine, +which revived him enough to set him crying a little, but he would take +no notice of anything. For a moment the woman softened, when Dick and +Elsie came in and thanked her prettily for the kindness that she had +shown to them, and she tried to rouse her son to take notice of them. +But he only went on crying; and she was evidently much distressed. + +Then the Corporal came to say that Mrs. Fry was come and had brought +Tommy with her; on which Colonel Fitzdenys told the woman outright that +she had been accused of bewitching the boy and depriving him of his +speech. The woman's hard manner at once returned, and she laughed loud +and scornfully. + +"That's only their lies," she said. "How should I take away a boy's +speech? they'm all agin me and my boy; that's all it is." + +"Well, they say that he can't speak," said Colonel Fitzdenys. "You +shall tell him to speak yourself, and then we shall be able to judge." + +So Mrs. Fry was called in and told to hold her tongue, and Tommy, who +had hidden himself in her skirts, was brought forward. The woman no +sooner saw him than her eyes gleamed, and she said: "That's the one who +throwed stones at my boy and called mun thafe. He not spake? He can +spake well enough if he has a mind, I'll warrant mun." + +"But his mother says that he cannot," said Colonel Fitzdenys. "See for +yourself," and he led the trembling boy forward. "Tell him to speak to +you." + +"Spake, boy," said the woman not very amiably. "You can spake well +enough, can't 'ee?" + +"Yas," said Tommy nervously, to his mother's intense surprise. + +"There! what did I tell 'ee?" said the woman contemptuously. "'Twas +only their lies. He can spake so well as you and I." + +Mrs. Fry, much taken aback, seized hold of the boy in amazement; but he +begged so hard to be let go as to leave no doubt that his speech was +restored; and Lady Eleanor lost no time in sending him off with his +mother. + +Then Lady Eleanor again thanked the idiot's mother for all that she had +done for her own children, and asked what she could do for her; but the +woman would accept no money nor reward, nothing but a few cakes which +the children brought to her to take home for her son. Lady Eleanor +offered her everything that she could think of, even to a remote +cottage in the woods where she would certainly live undisturbed; but +the woman only begged that she might not be asked to say where she +lived nor to give any account of herself. She was quite alone with her +son, she said, and lived an honest harmless life. As to Tommy Fry, she +could not understand how any words of hers could have taken his speech +from him; it was nonsense, and the women were fools. Finally, she said +that if Lady Eleanor really wished to be kind she would let them go and +not try to find them again; but she faithfully promised that if +anything went wrong, she would come to her first for help. + +So Lady Eleanor seeing that she was in earnest promised to do as she +had said; and the woman thanked her with real gratitude. Then Dick and +Elsie came in again to say good-bye, and the woman, taking her son by +the arm, led him away. He moved so feebly that Lady Eleanor offered +her a pony for him to ride, but his mother refused, though with many +thanks; so the two passed away slowly across the park, and disappeared. + +"Well, there is Tommy Fry cured at any rate," said Colonel Fitzdenys. +"And I believe that the woman spoke the truth, when she said that she +did not know what she had done to him. And now I must see to this man +who is locked up in the stable." + +But even while he spoke the Corporal came to say that Mrs. Mugford was +come, and begged to be allowed to see her Ladyship. So in the poor +thing came, crying her eyes out, to confess that her son in the stable +was the true deserter, and to beg her Ladyship to have mercy and not to +yield him up, giving such an account of the punishment that awaited him +as nearly turned Lady Eleanor sick; for those were rough days in the +army. + +Colonel George meanwhile stood by without uttering a word; and when +Mrs. Mugford had crawled from the room, utterly broken down, and Lady +Eleanor turned to him with tears in her eyes, too much moved to speak, +he only shook his head. + +"The fellow must be given up and sent back to his corps," he said. "He +has already got an innocent man into trouble, and even if he had not I +am bound in duty to send him back." + +"Could you not do something to intercede for him and save him from this +horrible punishment?" asked Lady Eleanor. "I should be so thankful if +you would." + +Colonel George hesitated. "I have no wish to harm the poor wretch," he +said, "but there are other men in the same case, very likely less +guilty, who have no one to intercede for them. It is a question of +discipline." + +"Oh, don't be so hard," pleaded Lady Eleanor, "you who are always so +gentle. You, who have done so much for me, grant me this one little +thing more." + +Colonel George looked at the beautiful face before him, and Lady +Eleanor knew that she had gained her point. "Well, well," he said at +last; "I will write on his behalf, and better still I will get my +father to write also, which will have more effect. But it is all +wrong," he added; "it is not discipline." + +"I am quite sure that it will be all right," said Lady Eleanor with +great decision. + +Colonel George shook his head smiling; but he and old Lord Fitzdenys +wrote, as he had promised; and it may as well be said that they +obtained pardon for Henry Mugford the deserter. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The village was not a little awed by the strange turn that affairs had +taken, for the two noisiest tongues in it had been silenced, Mrs. Fry's +by the restoration of her Tommy's power of speech, Mrs. Mugford's by +the arrest of her son. The Corporal had been vindicated and his +slanderers confounded; but Lady Eleanor as usual did all that she could +to make unpleasant things as little unpleasant as possible. The +deserter was sent away to Plymouth so quietly that hardly any one found +it out, and his disconsolate mother was somewhat comforted by Lady +Eleanor's assurance that everything would be done to obtain mercy for +him. Moreover the Corporal declared that he would not touch the two +guineas reward that he had earned, but would hand them over to Lady +Eleanor to spend for the good of the parish as she should think best; +which fact leaking out through the servants at the Hall did much to +regain for him the goodwill that he had so unjustly lost. + +Another thing also helped to restore harmony; for Dick could not leave +home for school without going round to say good-bye to all his friends, +and these were so numerous that there was hardly a cottage at which he +did not step in, being always sure of welcome and good wishes. The +farewells ended with a visit to old Sally Dart, who, feeble and +crippled though she was, had prepared a great feast of hot potato-cake +(which was made under her own eye by a neighbour, since she was too +weak to make it herself) honey and clouted cream; while the little +silver cream-jug and the six silver spoons, which the old squire and +his lady had given her at her marriage, were all brought out for so +great an occasion. A great meal they ate, the Corporal attacking his +potato-cake and cream as heartily as Dick himself; and when all the old +stories had been related for the fiftieth time, old Sally produced the +greatest treasure that she owned, a little snuff-box mounted in silver, +which had been made from the horn of an ox that had been roasted whole +at the great election, when old Squire Bracefort had stood at the head +of the poll. This she gave to Dick for his own, and then setting the +boy in front of her she put his hair off his forehead and begged him +that if ever any child or children of her son Jan should appear, he +would be kind to them for her sake, and that he would think of this +when he looked at the box. Dick promised this readily, though he was a +little puzzled at her earnestness; and then she bade him good-bye and +God bless him, and prayed that he might grow up to be such another man +as his father had been. So the children and the Corporal returned to +the Hall thoughtful and subdued, though the children hardly knew why. + +Two days later, early in the morning, Dick and the Corporal drove off +to meet the coach. Little Elsie stood on the steps crying silently, +but Dick was so much excited at the prospect of the journey, that he +held up bravely, and fluttered his handkerchief out of the window as +long as the house was in sight. So Lady Eleanor and Elsie waited until +the handkerchief could be seen no more, and then went in sadly +together. Lessons were a heavy task that morning; and when they were +over and Elsie was gone out, Lady Eleanor felt lonely and depressed and +out of heart with everything. She was roused by the sound of a horse +on the gravel; and presently Colonel Fitzdenys came in to say that he +had seen Dick off by the coach, and that the boy was in good spirits. +Lady Eleanor never felt more thankful for his presence than on that +morning; but they had not talked for very long, when a maid-servant +came in with a scared face to say that the strange woman from the moor +was come, and begged, if she might, to see her Ladyship directly. + +So Lady Eleanor went out and Colonel George with her; and there the +woman was, with her face ghastly white, her eyes wild and weary, and +every line in her countenance ploughed thrice as deep as when they had +last seen her. She was sitting in a chair which the frightened maid +had brought to her, but rose wearily as Lady Eleanor came to her. + +"Are you in trouble, my poor soul?" said Lady Eleanor, shocked at her +appearance. "Tell me what has happened!" and she motioned to her to +sit down again. + +The woman waited for a moment and then said in a hard voice, "'Tis my +boy Jan; I can't rightly tell what's wrong wi' mun"--and then she +stopped, but seeing the sympathy in Lady Eleanor's eyes broke out +hurriedly, "Oh, my Lady, I believe that they've a-killed mun. Since I +took mun home three days agone he won't eat and won't take no notice of +naught, but lieth still; and 'twas only when I left mun for a minute +that he made a kind of crying and clung to me like. I had to carry mun +home herefrom the day I left you." + +"You carried him home?" broke in Colonel George astonished. + +"Yes," said the woman simply; "'most all the way, for he soon gived out +walking; and ever since he's growed weaker and weaker, till this +morning at daylight he didn't take notice of me no longer, so then I +was obliged to leave mun"--she stopped a minute and went on in a harder +voice--"I couldn't help it; I come to ask you if you could spare mun a +drop of wine or what you think might do mun good, for"--she stopped +again and buried her face in her hands. + +Lady Eleanor did not speak; she only laid her hand gently on the +woman's shoulder, which sank down and down until she was bent double. +Colonel George at once slipped out of the room and presently returned +with wine, which he gave to Lady Eleanor. The woman revived when she +had drunk a little, and then Colonel George said to her: "Now, my good +woman, you must let me go back with you to your son and take with me +some things for him. Don't be afraid"--(for the woman was shaking her +head)--"I am your friend and you may trust me to keep your secret if +you have any to keep. Think, now, if I know the way, you can stay with +your son and I can bring him up whatever he wants on any day that you +please; and I'll bind myself not to show the way to any one, nor to +come back except on the day that you choose." + +The woman hesitated and looked from Colonel George to Lady Eleanor, who +said: "Colonel Fitzdenys is right. You can trust him, and you will +show him the way; and I must come too in case I can be of use. +Remember that you saved my children for me." + +The woman still shook her head, but she was evidently wavering. +Colonel George's tone of quiet authority at last prevailed with her, +and she consented to show them the way, saying gruffly that she would +always prefer a soldier, who knew what he was about, to a doctor. But +she refused to ride a pony which Lady Eleanor offered to her, and +insisted on starting off by herself, appointing a place in a valley by +the edge of the moor where she promised to meet them without fail. And +with that she strode away across the park, while Lady Eleanor ordered +her horse and ran to put on her habit. + +The horses were soon ready, and Colonel George and Lady Eleanor started +off; but it was only by a long circuit that they could ride to the +appointed spot on horseback, and when they reached it the woman was +already there before them. She then led them by a very rough path, +which was unknown to Colonel George, to the very head of a deep combe, +where the oak coppice grew thinner and thinner until at last it died +out in the open moor. Among these thin trees was a rough Exmoor pony, +hobbled, which the woman caught and mounted, and then led the way +straight on over the hill. + +"I don't understand this," said Colonel George to Lady Eleanor, "I have +always been told that the ground before us was impassable. It is the +bog in which most of the rivers in the moor rise. I have crossed it a +mile east and west of this after deer, and the ground is bad enough +there; but I had no idea that it could be crossed here." + +"No," said the woman, who had evidently overheard him, "the deer don't +never cross here, but I know my way across well enough." + +These were the only words that she spoke during the ride, except now +and again to bid her companions keep to right or left, for presently +they were on the treacherous ground across which she had guided the +children, and the horses sank deeper in it than the ponies. With all +his knowledge and experience of the moor the colonel found it difficult +to pick his way, and Lady Eleanor's horse floundered so deep that she +was once or twice obliged to dismount before he could get out. Still +the woman led them on until at last the worst of the ground was past, +though the horses still sank at least fetlock-deep at every step. The +watershed was left behind and the ground began to fall rapidly, though +it was so heavily seamed by a network of deep drains dug by the water +through the turf, that without a guide any one would have found it +almost impossible to find a way out. Colonel George watched carefully +for landmarks as he went on, and looked out keenly for the hut, but +could see nothing. Once or twice the woman smiled grimly as she saw +his eyes roving in every direction, and the colonel smiled back and +said: "It's a good job that the deer do not cross here, mistress, for +no horse could live with them;" but she only shook her head and said +nothing. + +At length the rank red and yellow grass of the boggy ground showed a +patch or two of heather. They were riding upon a ridge between two +streams, and Colonel George was wondering which of the two they were +about to follow, when the woman turned sharply downward on one side and +followed the stream up for a little way; and then suddenly there opened +out a little cross combe, so deep and narrow that the colonel might +have been excused for not seeing it. At one point a mass of rock rose +out abruptly from the earth, which had evidently turned the water from +above, so that for a short distance the stream ran almost the reverse +way to its true course. Against the rock the washing of centuries had +thrown up a bank of pebbles, now thickly overgrown with grass; and +there lay the hut, almost invisible from any point, against the rock, +sheltered from the westerly gales and gathering more of the eastern and +southern sun than could have been thought possible. The goats ran +bleating towards the three as they rode up, for they had not been +milked that morning; and the woman's face was set hard as she went to +the door of the hut and presently returned to beckon Lady Eleanor in. + +[Illustration: Still the woman led them on.] + +It was little that could be seen of the sick man, except a white +shrunken face and closed eyes, as he lay on his bed of heather, with +every description of garment piled upon him. He lay quite still and +quiet, breathing rather heavily; and when his mother poured some wine +down his throat from the basket that Colonel George carried with him, +he only stirred slightly and composed himself again as it were to +sleep. Then Lady Eleanor came out to hold the horses and Colonel +George went in. She heard him ask a few questions, and when he came +out he could only shrug his shoulders in answer to her inquiring +glance. "I can make nothing of it and get nothing out of her," he +said, "but I have seen that look on a man's face before, and it is not +a look that I like to see. She seems unwilling to tell anything of the +reason for his illness, but there must be some story at the bottom of +it all, if we could only get at it. Go in and try." + +So Lady Eleanor went in, while Colonel George stood at the door holding +the horses, and sat for a time looking at the sick man in silence, till +at last she asked the woman if she thought the bandsmen had hurt him +when they seized him. + +"No, 'twasn't the bandsmen," said the woman absently, and without +looking up; "'twas the sarjint as did it." + +"What did the serjeant do to him?" asked Colonel George from the door. +"It is a shameful thing if he hurt him, for Brimacott told me that he +had begged him not to be hard on him." + +But the woman gave no answer, seeming rather ashamed to have said so +much; and after another silence Lady Eleanor asked another question or +two which was answered very shortly, and said something about calling +in a doctor. + +"Doctor, no!" answered the woman fiercely. "They never do nought but +bleed a man to death." + +"Are you sure?" said Colonel George. "I know there were army-doctors +who used to bleed men disgracefully. You remember," he added, turning +for a moment to Lady Eleanor, "what Charlie Napier of the Fiftieth +wrote from Hythe, that the doctors thought bleeding to death the best +way of recovering sick soldiers. But I don't suppose, my good woman, +that you have ever had to do with such." + +"What! not I?" said the woman scornfully, but instantly restrained +herself and stopped. + +"I should give him a drop more wine from time to time, mistress," said +Colonel George, as if taking no notice of what she had said; and +hitching the reins of the horses round the poles of the hut he took a +spoon, and poured a little between the sick man's lips himself. "The +poor fellow's dreadfully weak," he went on. "Was he ever sick or hurt +as a boy, mistress? Did you ever see him taken like this before? If +you could tell us, we might know better how to treat him." And as he +asked the question he looked straight into the woman's face, very +keenly but very kindly, and she dropped her eyes with a half sigh. +"You see," he went on, "my Lady's little son came home and told us of a +coat that you had put on him, which sounded to me like a drummer's +coat; though of course as I haven't seen it I may be quite wrong; but I +was wondering if he had ever been a soldier, as I am myself, and been +wounded at some time." + +"No, he wasn't never a soldier," said the woman hastily. + +"Ah," said Colonel George; "it was his knowing how to drum that made me +think so. And so you had to carry the poor fellow all this way the +other day? Well, it's more than many a strong man could have done. +Many's the man I've seen break down from the weight of his pack, and +many's the wife I've seen take the load off her husband's back and +carry it for him like a brave soul." He looked up at the woman and saw +her eyes glisten. "Ay," he said, "you've seen it too, maybe? Now, my +good mistress, just tell me what the serjeant did to your son here, or +what has happened to him to bring him to this state." + +The woman hesitated long. "'Tis a long story," she said at last, "but +maybe it's time that it was told; for I'm thinking that before long +there may be none to tell it. You've been kind to my boy, the both of +'ee, and you've a promised to keep my secret. So if you have a mind to +hear, I'll tell 'ee." + +So Colonel George stood in the doorway holding the horses, while Lady +Eleanor sat on the turfen table by the sick man; and the woman began +her story. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"Years agone, long afore you ever come this way, my Lady, my father +lived not above seven or eight mile herefrom, up to Loudacott; you must +surely have heard the name of the place. Well, there he lived with his +own bit of land, for he was a yeoman, he was, and the Clatworthys had +lived up to Loudacott hundreds of years, as he used to tell me. There +wasn't but the three of us, my father--Jeremiah Clatworthy was his +name--my mother and myself; for I was the only child they had a-living. +It's a lonely place, is Loudacott, and it wasn't many folks that we saw +there when I was a child; but when I growed up into a comely maid, and +men seed me now and again to market or fairing time, they began to come +a-courting; for 'twasn't me only that they would get, but forty acre of +land with me, if father liked mun well. There was more came than you'd +a think for, plenty enough to turn the head of a silly maid; and there +was one that father favoured particular, for he had land close nigh by +Loudacott, but I didn't like he--never could. There wasn't but one +that pleased me, and that was Jan Dart. You know his old mother that +lives to Ashacombe, or used to live, for they tell me that she's +a-dying. She couldn't never abide the name of me, Jan's mother +couldn't; and father, he couldn't abide Jan. For his father hadn't +been more than a servant with the old squire, nor his mother neither, +and Jan, he'd a been bound 'prentice to a shoemaker, and wasn't long +out of his time; while we was the Clatworthys to Loudacott. + +"Well, the men come, and I was well enough pleased to keep mun dancing +round me, and poor Jan with the rest of mun, for you may depend that I +wasn't going to let he go. I'd a-been a bit spoiled, for my mother had +had a boy and another maid besides me, and fine children too, as I've +been told; but she'd a-lost the both of them o' smallpox, so that there +wasn't but me left. So I couldn't tell what to do, for I know'd but +one thing for sartain, that the man that father wanted for me wasn't +the man that I wanted for myself. But there was a wise woman--Betsy +Lavacombe her name was, I mind well, but what use to tell you +that?--that I used to see; and terrible afeared of her the folks was. +It was she that built this house, and no one knew where she lived +except myself, nor knoweth till this day. But I wasn't afeared of her, +for I had a-helped her more than once, and used to put out a bit of +mate for her now and again when I could; and she would always carry any +message from me to Jan or from Jan to me. And I asked her many times +which of mun I should marry, but she wouldn't never tell me more than +that I should cross the sea and come back with gold. 'That's enough +for 'ee,' she would say, 'don't ask no more. You shall cross the sea +and there will be lords and gentlemen with 'ee, and your bed shall be +so good as theirs, and you shall come back with gold.' + +"So time went on and Jan kept courting o' me and I kept a playing with +Jan, as foolish maids will, till at last one day, I forget what it was +I said to mun, but he flinged away like a mazed man. 'I'll never come +nigh 'ee again,' he said, 'you'll have to find me if you want to see me +more; and till you find me you won't never find a man as loves you so +well as I do.' And I laughed so as he could hear as he walked away, +for I made no doubt but he'd come again so soon as I called mun. And I +mind well then that the old Betsy comed out of a hedge soon +afterward--she'd a been listening, I reckon--and saith she, 'Shall I +call mun back to 'ee now? Best lose no time,' she saith. But I let +mun go, for I depended that he'd come back, though I don't deny that I +wasn't easy. + +"And it wasn't above a week afterward that the old Betsy cometh back +and saith, 'You'd best have let me call mun back when I told 'ee'; and +then she told me that a serjeant was come to Ashacombe and that Jan was +listed for a sojer and was agone. It was evening then and I heard +mother calling, so I went into house like a dumb thing, for I couldn't +think what I should do without Jan; and I minded the words that he had +said, that I must come and find mun if I wanted to see him more; and I +lay awake all night a-crying to think that I couldn't tell where to +seek for mun, for find mun I must. But next day when I went out I +glimpsed the old Betsy on the road not far away and whistled to her +(for she never showed herself about Loudacott if she could help, but +watched for me and whistled), and when she saw my face, 'Where's your +rosy cheeks gone, my dear?' she saith. 'A red coat's red enough +without they to dye mun, I reckon.' But she wouldn't tell me where he +was agone, till I said that if she did not I would go out to find mun +for myself. 'Do you mane that?' she saith--I mind it as if 'twas +yesterday--'Then I'll take 'ee to mun. 'Ere, look 'ee! I'll give 'ee +time to think about it, and if you mane to go sarch for mun, do you +meet me here with your clothes o' this day fortnight when the moon +rises.' + +"And with that she went away and showed herself down Ashacombe ways +'most every day, to make folks think she was busy thereabouts--that +false and artful she was. But when the days was gone, and mortal long +days they was to me, she was waiting for me as she said, for I wasn't +agoing to change my mind; and then it was that she brought me to this +house and told me to mark the way well. We stayed here till night, and +then we started off walking across the moor, the both of us, until +morning, for she wasn't going to let a maid like me walk by myself, she +said. We took a bit of mate with us and flint and steel, and many was +the things that she taught to me on the road for a body to make herself +nighly as comfortable in the open air as in ever a house. + +"We walked night-times only till we was fifty miles away from home, and +then we could keep the road middling well, though I kept my bonnet tied +across my face. And so we drew nigh to Gloucester town, and then the +old Betsy told me that Jan was there with his ridgment, and that I must +find he by myself. And she wished me good-bye, and then the poor soul +fell a-crying, for she said that there was no one left now to be kind +to her. 'And there's hard times before 'ee, my tender,' she saith--I +mind the words well--'but not yet. Good luck will be with 'ee first +along. There's a man loves 'ee, and a man he is; make the most of mun. +You shall cross the sea and come back with gold, but don't 'ee forget +my little house, and if I bean't there, dig under the table, and think +kindly of the old Betsy.' + +"So she went back and I walked into the town alone, feeling terrible +fluttered; but I hadn't a-gone very far before I meets with a man in a +red coat and his hair a-powdered, a-walking along by hisself, for it +was evening. I looked at mun and hardly knowed mun at first; but Jan +it was, and beautiful he looked in his ridgmentals sure enough. The +old Betsy had a-promised me good luck first along, and yet I was most +afraid to speak to mun, though nobody was by. And when he saw me he +turned so white as death, and saith quite hoarse like, 'Lucy, what do +you here?' And I couldn't say no more than 'I've a come to find you, +Jan.' And the blood come back into his face, and we didn't want to say +no more, not then. Dear Lord! That was a day! + +"We was married so soon as could be, though a sojer's pay is little +enough, as _you_ know, your honour; for the half of what is given is +took away again, so far as I can see. But Jan could always make +something with his shoe-making, while I could wash, and get many a +little job besides from the officers' ladies. So we did middling well, +and Jan got one of the men that was a bit of a scollard to write to his +mother, and got a hawker to take the letter along for the mending of +his shoes. And in six months the hawker came back to say that mother +was dead and that father had sold Loudacott and was gone to live in the +town, where he was drinking and doing no good. I reckon 'twas the old +Betsy had told mun; and I suppose that really 'twas all o' my account, +but 'twas too late to think of that. And it was less than six months +after this news come that my boy was a-born--" + +She stopped a minute to pass her hand over the sick man's head, and +went on: + +"A beautiful boy he was, sure enough, and glad I was, when he was about +a twelvemonth old, that the peace came and there was no chance for Jan +to be sent to the war. Scores of men was discharged, but Jan said we +should do better to stay, for there wasn't nowhere for us to go to if +we went, and he'd a got fond of the sojer's life, as I had, so long as +I was with he; and they was glad to keep so fine a man. But then the +war come again, and a terrible way I was in, for they said the ridgment +was sure to be sent soon to the Injies or some place. But it chanced +that another ridgment was raising a new battalion in Gloucester, and +there was a young chap that was got into trouble and wanted to cross +the sea as soon as might be, so wished, if he could, to change with +Jan. And by good luck 'twas done, and we was sent to the new +battalion. So there we stayed to Gloucester nighly four year. Those +was the days when they said that Boney was a-coming over, but he never +come, as you know very well, for he didn't dare. + +"And at Gloucester it was that I had a little maid born to me, so sweet +a little maid as ever was seen, with blue eyes and golden hair like +your own little lady's. But there was a terrible lot of sickness among +the men. Whether it was that our other battalion brought it back from +Egypt, I can't tell, but so it was. The men died fast, for all that +the doctors would do was to bleed mun like pigs; and whether it was +that, or what it was, I couldn't say, but the little maid sickened and +died, when she was fifteen months old. Jan was terrible distressed, I +mind, and so was I; but since then I've a-thought often that it was +better so. + +"But Jan and the boy kept well and strong, and as the boy growed +bigger, he got mazed with soldiering. Nothing would sarve mun but he +must be a drummer; and one of the drummers took up with mun and taught +mun almost so soon as he was big enough to hold the sticks, and it was +wonderful to see how quick he learned. It was pretty, too, to see his +little hands a-twinkling, for very soon he could beat so well as any of +mun. So he became a bit of a favourite, for he was a sweet pretty boy, +and the officers took notice of mun, and the tailor he made mun a +little coat and breeches and dressed mun out for all the world like a +riglar drummer. For the tailor's wife hadn't no children you see, my +Lady, and was wonderful took up with my boy; and Jan he made her a +beautiful pair of shoes in return, I mind. And it was a saying that +our ridgment had the smallest drummer in the army, and the best. Look +'ee, I've a kept the very coat." + +And she pulled the outer clothes off the sick man's chest, and showed +the little coat which Dick had worn, tied by the sleeves about his +neck. He moved slightly and his mother poured a few drops of wine +between his lips; but he made no further sign of revival, and she went +on with her story. + +"Well, it was in the year seven, I mind well, that the other battalion +of the ridgment was sent to the war in Denmark and then on to +Portingale. I didn't like that, for it seemed that the war was coming +nigh home to us, and our good luck had lasted long; and I couldn't +never get the old Betsy's words out of my head, that I must cross the +sea. And at last in the autumn of the next year, the year eight that +was, the day come. Our battalion was ordered to find men to fill up +the place of those that was dead in the other battalion, and Jan was +a-chosen for one. There was only six women to every company allowed to +go with them, and they was drawed by lot. Ah, well I mind the drawing +of they lots. It was pity to see the poor wives a-screeching and +crying, as one after another was told that she must bide home. Many a +one was on her knees to the officer begging mun to take her, and the +officer hisself oftentimes was near crying as he was forced to say No. +My turn came at last, and I was drawn to go; and then I couldn't help +a-crying so loud as any of mun for joy. + +"So we was put a board ship with Jan, the boy and I was, and away we +went to sea; and the poor things that was left behind stood crying, and +the men aboard cheered and cheered again. Many's the time I've +a-thought of that day. I reckon you've a knowed what it is yourself, +my Lady, to see the ships sail away; but I was happy enough, for I was +with Jan. + +"Well, we got to Lisbon, where Sir John Moore was a-waiting for us; and +the army marched away from Portingale into Spain. The women was all +told that they might sail back to England if they would; but 'twasn't +likely that any would leave their husbands, let alone me who was only +just come. So we marched with the army, and long marches it was, they +winter days, nighly five hundred mile in six weeks as I've been told. +But Jan kept up brave, for he was a strong man, and I was always +hearty, while the boy tramped along wonderful too; and when he was +a-tired there was always Jan or others of the men would carry mun, or I +would carry mun for a time myself. And what I had learned from the old +Betsy 'bout walking and camping sarved me well, for I was nigh so handy +as any of mun. + +"Well, after six weeks we come to a place--I forget the name--something +like sago I think it was." + +"Sahagun," said Colonel George. + +"Ay, that was it; and there we was told we women must bide while the +men went vor against the French. And then I began to think that the +bad luck of which the old Betsy had a-spoke was come at last. It was +two days before Christmas, I mind well, and we wondered what ever +Christmas Day would bring. But the very next day the news come that +the French was stronger than we, and that we must go back; and many +ridgments turned back that very day. But we waited, for Jan's ridgment +was gone farther on, expecting mun all through the night, and in the +morning sure enough they came; and out we ran through the snow, for the +snow was on the ground, and there was Jan alive and well, but a bit +tired. But there wasn't no time for rest; and we had to go on to once. +The rain came down, the snow began to thaw, and the roads was so slushy +and heavy that it was miserable travelling. The men was angry too at +turning away from the French, and they kept asking if the time wasn't +never coming to halt: but on they had to go. + +"My boy soon began to tire, for the way was terrible soggy, and Jan +carried mun for a bit: but he hadn't had but little to ate and had +marched a long ways already. So before very long Jan was obliged to +give mun to me, and I carried mun along as best I could. But I +couldn't help dropping behind a bit, for Jan said that I could catch +mun up first halt, and that the boy would be able to get along better +after being carried a bit. I couldn't get no help, for all the men +that I saw was so tired as I was, and worse. Now and again one would +fall down not able to go no furder, and it's my belief that every one +of mun would have done the like if it hadn't been for the General +(Craufurd was the name of mun) who rode up and down, driving mun on as +if they'd a-been sheep. But he wouldn't let mun go like sheep, not he. +'Kape your ranks and move on. No straggling,' he kept saying. And +you'd see the men a-looking up and scowling at mun: but he was +a-scowling worse than they, and if they didn't mind he'd break out at +them like a mad thing; and then look out! I never see a man fly into +such passions as he, swearing and cursing in his strange Scotch tongue. +You'd have thought he was going to kill the men, and sometimes I +believe he would, for he talked of hanging mun often enough. + +"It was late at night before we got to the town where we was to rest; +and the boy was so bate that it was all I could do to bring mun in. +'Twas raining so heavy that we couldn't light a fire out of doors, so +there was little to eat; but I got a bit for the boy, and Jan tried to +mend my shoes, which was in a sad way; but there was many crying out to +have their shoes mended, and he was that tired that he couldn't do +naught, but falled asleep over his awl and bristles. The next morning +it was march again, tired as we was. The boy was fresher after a bit +of sleep and could walk for a bit, and Jan and me managed to get mun +along so well as we could; but we growed weaker and he growed weaker +every day. How many days and nights it was I can't tell, for there was +no rest, and the French was said to be close by; so days and nights we +tramped on, through the wind and the rain and the sleet; and every day +there was more men dropped down. There was hardly a pair of shoes +among the lot, officers nor men, and our feet was cut and bleeding; but +still that General Craufurd kept driving of us on. He was always the +first ready to start, and there he would stand waiting, his beard all +white with frost on the bitter mornings, looking to the men with their +clothes all in rags, so cold and stiff and faint that they was hardly +able to move; and this I will say, that he favoured hisself no more +than he favoured the men. It was terrible to see mun looking them +over, for you could see that he feeled for them; but then he would open +his mouth and give the word to march in a voice that made you jump to +hear. And when once they was a-moving, if ever a man dropped behind, a +sarjint went at mun for all the world like a sheep-dog, and a dog that +knowed how to use his teeth too. My boy got terrible 'feared of they +sarjints, for he heard mun use rough words, ay, and more than words, to +our men, and more than once he thought the sarjint was speaking to he, +and clinged to me tight, poor little soul; and night-times he would +wake and cry that the sarjint was come for mun. + +"It must have been nighly a week after we started that General Craufurd +tooked a different road from we; and we went on without mun. And then +we found what it was to have such a man, hard though he was in driving +us 'vor and keeping the men in order. For we came to a town where +there was stores and stores of wine; and there the sojers, that had +marched on before us, was lying in the gutter by scores, or staggering +about the streets more like to pigs than Christian men. I seed General +Moore that night. Ah! that was a man. The handsomest man in the army +they said he was, for all that one of his cheeks was scarred where a +bullet had gone through it years before; and sure enough I never see a +finer man 'cepting my Jan. But he was terrible stern too, and I never +saw man look so dark and angry as he did then. I seed mun many times +afterward, for he was always a-looking to the rear where our ridgment +was, a-helping and encouraging so well as he could. Well, I got a drop +of wine for the boy--it was the morning of New Year's day I mind--which +did mun good, and next morning we started again. + +"But worse was avore us than we had left behind, for till now the +cavalry had been behind us and had kept away the French; but now the +cavalry was sent forward, and there was nothing betwixt us and the +enemy. Two days afterward the French came upon us sure enough, and the +muskets was going all night. I couldn't sleep, for I knowed that Jan +was there, but sat with the boy, who was lying by me, tossing and +tumbling, for he was ill with the wet, and the cold, and the long ways. +Some women that was with me told me to go to sleep and not be a fule, +for 'twas naught but a scrimmage; but I couldn't do that. Ah, the +night was long; but a bit before dawn the boy grew quiet, and as the +light come in I heard our men was a-coming back, and runned out to see +Jan. And there was Jan's company a-standing in line and the sarjint +calling the roll. I heard mun call Jan Dart, but couldn't hear Jan's +voice answer; but there was a chance that he might be carrying a +wounded man or something or another, so I called 'Jan Dart, can anyone +say where Jan Dart is?' but no one answered; and then the captain asked +the same, and a man stepped out and said that he had seen mun fall. +And I cried out, 'Oh take me to mun,' and the captain (a kind gentleman +he always was) told the man to show me where he seed mun last; but he +saith, 'You mustn't stay long, my poor woman, for the French will be +here again directly;' and I knowed what that meant. So the man showed +me the way and there was Jan, sure enough, a-lying on his face. I +turned mun over, and, as I did, his hand fell across my knees, and his +face was so quiet that I thought for a minute that he was only +a-dropped asleep from weariness; but it wasn't of no use, for he was +dead--shot through the heart. + +"And there I reckon I should have stayed, spite of all that the officer +said; but the man took me by the arm and told me to come on. 'The +saints rock his soul to rest in glory,' he saith, crossing hisself, for +he was an Irishman, 'and have mercy on us that is still living;' and +then I remembered the boy, and I left Jan and come away. The boy was +terrible weak and ailing, but we set off to walk, though very soon I +had to carry mun; and so I dropped behind. The road lay through the +mountains now, and was terrible rough and steep, while the snow come +down and made the ways so slippy that it was hard to move without +falling. But on I went, I can't tell how, though there was many that +dropped behind me and never come up again. That march was terrible +long, and the boy kept crying to be put down; but when I laid mun down +for a minute or two he couldn't rest for long, but would cry out again +that the sarjint was after mun, so I had to pick mun up and go on again. + +"I reckon that it must have been the next day--but I can't tell, for +days turns to years at such times--that as I was a tramping on I seed a +crowd of women a-stooping down to the ground to gather up something or +another, and scrambling, and fighting, and squabbling like a lot of +fowls when they'm fed. It was money they was a-fighting for. The oxen +a-drawing the carts with the money was foundered, and the Gineral had +gived orders to throw the money away. I picked up some few pieces +myself, thinking it might buy something for the boy, but there was one +woman that loaded herself like a bee with dollars, and said she would +be a lady when she got home. + +"After that, she and I was a good bit together, she carrying her +dollars and I carrying the boy; but the way grew worse and worse, and +but for the boy I think that I should have gived out myself as so many +did. Once I remember I saw a sojer and his wife a-lying down by the +wayside; they couldn't go no farther and had lain down to die together; +and I wished that it had been Jan and me; but I had the boy on my back +and I went on. Well, I won't tell you what terrible sights we saw on +the road; but I'll tell 'ee this, that I have seen grown men a-sobbing +like children for pain and cold and hunger. It was enough to turn the +head of a grown man, let alone a child. And so it was that after a +time the boy stopped crying and complaining and went quite quiet. I +couldn't think what was come to mun, that he was always a-staring and +never speaking nor taking no notice; but I reckoned that if I could +carry mun on to the end, he would recover hisself. And I did carry mun +on to the end to--what was the name of the place again?--something like +currants it was." + +"Corunna?" said Colonel George. + +"Ay, that was it, Corinner--but when we got there, there wasn't no +ships, and General Moore had to fight the French and bate mun before he +could sail home. And he was a-killed, poor gentleman, he was, as you +know, and many other brave men besides. But we and the sick and the +wounded was put aboard before the battle was fought, and a strange +thing there was that happened. The woman that had taken the dollars +come aboard with me, but her hands were so full that she gave me a part +of the money to hold, while she climbed from the boat to the ship's +side. And as she stepped on the ladder, her foot slipped, and she fell +into the sea and sank like a stone; for she had dollars sewn up in her +clothes so heavy, that down she went and never come up again. So there +was I left with what she give me, and as her husband was killed in the +battle and there wasn't no one else belonging to her to take the money, +I reckoned I might keep it. And then one day I thought of what the old +Betsy had said, that I should cross the sea and bring back gold, though +it wasn't gold, but silver. + +"Well, on board ship the boy didn't change, though he got a bit +stronger in his body. We had a terrible storm on the way home, and for +all I could do I couldn't keep mun from being knocked about; the ship +rolling and plunging so that the men could hardly save themselves. And +when we got home and was set ashore on the beach, I could see that my +boy wasn't the only one that was gone wrong. I tell 'ee, my Lady, that +some men was even blind with the toil of that march, and hunger and +cold and misery. + +"So there I was alone with my boy, for hardly a man of Jan's company +was left and not many of the whole ridgment, while what there was of +them was mostly sick. 'Twas lucky that I had money, or I can't think +what I should have done. But the worst was that my boy remained just +the same as he was. I showed mun to the doctors, and they took blood +from mun once and wanted to take more, but I wouldn't have that, for +I'd a-seen what they was with their lancets if they was let alone; and +at last they telled me that his mind was gone and wouldn't never come +back. But he grew stronger in his body after a bit, and I was able to +take mun abroad; and though he liked the sound of the drums he was a +bit frightened at the sight of a red coat, for fear that it should be a +sarjint, and if it was a sarjint he would run like a rabbit. So I was +obliged to move away as soon as I could; but go where I would there was +no peace, for he'd a-lost his speech except some few sounds, and I +couldn't let mun run with other children, for they always make sport of +such poor things as he. So for a long time we wandered from place to +place, getting little but hard words, though the boy was happy enough, +I believe; for living in the air as we did he took up with every bird +and every beast that he could find, and they seem to know mun for a +friend. Many was the young one that he took and made so tame as could +be. + +"Then at last the money began to run short, for all that I was careful, +and that now and again we could earn a little bit; so I minded what old +Betsy Lavacombe had said, and thought I would go back and find she. It +was a long way to go, but we walked on day after day till we got nigh +to the moor, when I chose my road very careful and walked night-times +only till we come to this house. The old Betsy was agone, and the +house was nigh failed to pieces, and I've a-heard since that she was +found drowned in a lime-pit some years back. But I digged under the +table as the old Betsy had said, and there deep down was a box wrapped +up in a sheepskin, full of silver money, and a little gold too. How +she got it, I can't tell, unless she took it from her husband, who had +been a sailor, as she told me once, though sailors isn't given to +saving. So we built up the house again and here I made up my mind to +live, where no one couldn't hurt my boy, for he was shy of grown-up +folks, and children won't leave mun alone. + +"So here we've a-been now these many years, and the boy's been so happy +as could be. Jackdaws, hedgehogs, squirrels, deer, naught comes amiss +to mun: and he knows the moor and the woods so well as the deer +themselves. He growed stronger too, though I wouldn't never take him +with me when I went down to the villages to buy meal: but he would +always keep out of sight and wait for me. And I suppose that just +lately he may have been getting a bit better in his head, for he runned +down to join the children that day when I come to Ashacombe, as you +remember; and for all that he was a bit frightened then, he was so took +up with your little lady that I hadn't the heart to keep mun from going +to look at her, though I was always hid not very far from mun. It was +me that your servant saw in the woods the day Jan brought the +bullfinch; but Lord, Lord, I never thought that it would have come to +this." + +She stopped, and pulling the clothes aside looked sadly at the sick +man's face. "See there," she said in a hard, changed voice, "that's +how he looked often when we was marching back to Corinner. I thought +that I should never get mun back alive then, but I did hope never to +see mun look so again. And though he can't spake I know what he's +a-thinking. He thinks that the sarjint's come for mun, and it's a +killed the heart within mun." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +There was a long silence when Lucy Dart came to the end of her story. +There were parts of it that struck home to Lady Eleanor, for was not +she also the widow of a soldier who had been killed in action? But +what moved her and Colonel George above all was the change in the +woman's face. While she was talking of her young days her features +were softer; but as she neared the end of her story they grew harder +and harder until they assumed an expression of worn, dogged despair, as +though she still felt the stress of those terrible days in the retreat +to Corunna. She was ghastly pale also, and seemed quite exhausted when +she came to the last word; and both of her visitors recalled her words, +that she had carried her son, a grown man, most of the many miles from +Bracefort to the hut where he now lay. + +Colonel George broke the silence by telling Lucy that she must take +care to keep up her own strength as well as her son's, and that he +would come back the next day with a fresh store of provisions for them +both. He begged at the same time to be allowed to bring the doctor +with him, but Lucy positively refused. A doctor could do no good, she +said; and she begged that the colonel would not come again until the +day after to-morrow, as she wished to be left alone. + +So with a heavy heart Lady Eleanor bade her good-bye, and they left her +bent over the body of her son; Colonel George saying that he could find +his way back over the bog without help. And so indeed he did, with a +skill which to Lady Eleanor seemed marvellous; but she said not a word +to him until they reached the high ridge, on a point of which she had +once rested while the searching parties were scouring the moor for her +lost children, as weary with watching and misery as the woman from whom +she had just parted. And then for the first time there occurred to her +the readiness, quickness and foresight with which Colonel George had +arranged everything, not only for the finding of the children, but for +letting her know by signal what had happened, for better or worse, as +early as possible. Involuntarily she quickened her horse's pace a +little as she thought of her race home to the children, after they were +found; and then came the chilling remembrance that, when she reached +home, Dick would not be there. She pulled up, and looked round for +Colonel George, who had dropped somewhat behind her, and was gazing at +the glorious prospect of moor and valley and woodland that was spread +out before him. Instantly he was at her side. + +"I am afraid that we have not the same excuse for scampering home +to-day," he said, divining her thoughts; "poor old Dick is well on his +way by now. Well, the Corporal will be back in a few days to tell us +all about him; and I hope to see him myself before long, as he will be +close to London." + +"Then you are going?" said Lady Eleanor, "for how long?" + +"For a long time," he said, "I am going abroad again. Three months is +not very long leave after a six months' voyage perhaps, but I am a +soldier and must go where I am told. But I don't start for another +month," he added, "so I hope to clear up this little trouble for you +before I go." + +Lady Eleanor stifled a little cry. "Going away again so soon?" she +said. "Surely you are not wanted already?" But she checked herself +and went on calmly. "Then you think there is nothing very serious the +matter with that poor idiot after all?" + +Colonel George shook his head. "I am not a doctor," he answered, "but +I confess that I think very badly of him, and I believe that the woman +is right, and that a doctor would be useless." + +They rode on silently for a time, when Colonel George said, "That poor +woman looked nearly as ill as her son. She went through terrible +things before Corunna, but the last few days must have been almost +worse. The strain of carrying him all that distance from Bracefort +must have been more than she could really stand. She has no one except +him in the world, and if he be taken from her, I cannot think how she +will struggle on alone." + +"Yes," said Lady Eleanor, as if talking to herself, "it is terrible to +be left alone." + +Colonel George glanced at her quickly, but she was looking sadly +straight in front of her, and he rode on for some way further in +silence before he broke out almost fiercely, "When I lost my best +friend at Salamanca, my first thought was for her who by his death was +left alone. When I came back after the peace I should have asked her, +if I had dared, to live alone no longer, but to come and live with me. +But I dared not, and went away again, dreading every day lest I might +no longer find her alone when I came back. And now I am about +accepting an appointment at the Cape and leaving her alone again, when +God knows, all I care for in this world is to throw up my commission +and stay with her--always, if she will let me. Eleanor, it is +true--you are more than all the world to me. Tell me, shall I go or +stay?" + +Lady Eleanor flushed deeply but rode on in silence; and Colonel George +added very gently: + +"One word more; whatever your answer, remember that you can count upon +me always for your faithful friend." + +So they rode on without a word for some way further till they came to +two rough tracks, of which one led to Fitzdenys Court and the other to +Bracefort, where Colonel George pulled up and looked at her straight in +the face. + +"Is it go or stay?" he asked. + +"Go now," she said with some difficulty; "come back,--not to-morrow, +but when you return from visiting the hut on the day after." + +"If I come back to you, I shall stay," he answered. + +"Come back," she repeated, "but leave me for to-morrow; and now +good-bye." + +So she gave him her hand, and they went their different ways; but both +stopped and looked back after they had gone a hundred yards, to the +great surprise and disgust of their horses, who were impatient to get +home. + +But next morning Colonel George received a hurried note from Lady +Eleanor saying she had been disturbed in the night by the sound of +footsteps on the gravel by the house; and that, though she could see +nothing at the time, the maids on opening the door had found the +drummer's coat lying on the step. She therefore feared that something +was gone wrong and begged Colonel Fitzdenys, despite his promise, to +ride up to the hut on the moor without delay. + +Of course the colonel started off at once, and when he caught sight of +the hut he noticed that the goats were unmilked and bleating pitifully +round the door. As he drew nearer, the jackdaw and magpie came hopping +out, cawing with mouths wide open; and then he jumped off his horse, +tied him up, and knocked with his whip against the pole which formed +the door-post. There was no answer, and he went in. The idiot was +lying as he had seen him on the previous day, but the troubled look was +gone from his face; and across him with her head close to his lay his +mother, while the squirrel with his little bright eyes was sitting up +by the heads of both. The woman's skirts were dripping wet, as though +she had walked through dewy grass, and she lay quite still. The +colonel laid his hand on the man's forehead; and it was quite cold. +Then he took the woman's hand and that also was cold. He had seen such +sights too often in the wars to be dismayed at finding himself alone +with the dead. "He must have died at sunset," he said to himself, "and +she walked over to Bracefort in the night in distraction and came back +to die before sunrise. No wonder, after such a strain as carrying him +all those miles." He left the two where they lay, and was about to put +the door in its place and go; but the goats clamoured so loud that he +stopped to milk them, which he had learned to do in India, and finding +the meat that he had brought on the previous day untouched in the +basket, he gave some scraps to the magpie and the jackdaw, and ferreted +about till he had discovered some nuts in the hut for the squirrel. +Then he set the door in its place and rode straight for Bracefort. + +When he reached the hill-top he saw some one riding upward; and +galloping down soon found himself face to face with Lady Eleanor. In +spite of what she had said on the day before she seemed very happy to +see him twenty-four hours earlier than she had appointed, and it was +not for some minutes that they came to the matter which had brought +them together again. Then Colonel George told her what he had seen at +the hut, though he found it hard to tell her anything so sad at such a +time. She listened with many tears, but when she had recovered herself +somewhat, she told Colonel George that there was one person more who +must hear the story of Lucy Dart at once. + +So when they came to Bracefort they went to see old Sally Dart, who had +become weaker again in the last few days, and had taken to her bed. +She brightened up as they came in, and before either of them could say +a word, bade them, as if she knew for what they were come, to tell them +about her Jan. So they told her how he had fallen in fair fight with +the French, among the rear-guard, which had covered itself with glory +in the retreat; and she said that it was well. And they told her how +Lucy his wife had stuck to him faithfully through all the hardship of +war, that she had carried his boy to the end, when men were dying all +round of fatigue and despair, and had brought him out alive, by her +patience and courage, though injured for life; and that she had devoted +herself wholly to him in the years that followed and died from grief +when he died. They kept back from her any more than this lest they +should grieve her, but old Sally was satisfied without asking +questions, for which indeed she had little strength, but said that it +was well, and that she would now go in peace. Then she wished them +both good-bye and hoped they might live long and happily together, +though they had told her nothing of what had passed between themselves; +and those were the last words that she spoke, for she was stricken for +the second time that evening and after lingering for a day and a night +departed in peace, as she had said. + +So there were three graves dug in the little churchyard; and +grandmother, mother and son were buried together, so that the mourners +for old Sally did honour also to the two whom they had treated as +outcasts. The goats, the old pony, the magpie, the jackdaw and the +squirrel were all brought down at the same time and made over to Elsie; +and the little drummer's coat still lies in the glass case at Bracefort +Hall. + + +But it was all many, many years ago; and there are few now living in +Ashacombe village who remember to have heard from their parents the +story of the witch of Cossacombe. There are many more monuments now in +the churches both at Ashacombe and Fitzdenys than there were then; but +those who read from them of George, Lord Fitzdenys, who fought in the +Peninsula, at Waterloo, and at Maheidpore, and of Eleanor his beloved +wife, think little or know nothing of the manner in which they were +brought together. Still less do they know of the part played in the +matter by John Brimacott, sometime of the Light Dragoons, who died in +their household after forty years of good and faithful service. Those +again who read an inscription to the memory of General Sir Richard +Bracefort, Colonel of the 116th Lancers, who fought in the Punjaub, +cannot tell that this was once little Dick, who was lost on the moor, +nor that Elizabeth his widowed sister, whose memory also is preserved +in Ashacombe church, was once little Elsie who was lost with him. But +folks still pause to look at the tablet which records the death of +Private John Dart in the retreat to Corunna, and of Lucy his wife, who +after his fall carried her son of nine years old to the British ships, +and having devoted the rest of her life to the care of him, who by +God's visitation could take no care for himself, was found dead upon +his body when he died. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Drummer's Coat, by J. W. 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