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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Micah Clarke, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+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: Micah Clarke
+       His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph,
+       Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Posting Date: March 11, 2009 [EBook #9504]
+Release Date: December, 2005
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICAH CLARKE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lionel G. Sear
+
+
+
+
+
+MICAH CLARKE
+
+HIS STATEMENT AS MADE TO HIS THREE GRANDCHILDREN JOSEPH, GERVAS, AND
+REUBEN DURING THE HARD WINTER OF 1734
+
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+I. OF CORNET JOSEPH CLARKE OF THE IRONSIDES.
+
+II. OF MY GOING TO SCHOOL AND OF MY COMING THENCE.
+
+III. OF TWO FRIENDS OF MY YOUTH.
+
+IV. OF THE STRANGE FISH THAT WE CAUGHT AT SPITHEAD.
+
+V. OF THE MAN WITH THE DROOPING LIDS.
+
+VI. OF THE LETTER THAT CAME FROM THE LOWLANDS.
+
+VII. OF THE HORSEMAN WHO RODE FROM THE WEST.
+
+VIII. OF OUR START FOR THE WARS.
+
+IX. OF A PASSAGE OF ARMS AT THE BLUE BOAR.
+
+X. OF OUR PERILOUS ADVENTURE ON THE PLAIN.
+
+XI. OF THE LONELY MAN AND THE GOLD CHEST.
+
+XII. OF CERTAIN PASSAGES UPON THE MOOR.
+
+XIII. OF SIR GERVAS JEROME, KNIGHT BANNERET OF THE COUNTY OF SURREY.
+
+XIV. OF THE STIFF-LEGGED PARSON AND HIS FLOCK.
+
+XV. OF OUR BRUSH WITH THE KING'S DRAGOONS.
+
+XVI. OF OUR COMING TO TAUNTON.
+
+XVII. OF THE GATHERING IN THE MARKET-SQUARE.
+
+XVIII. OF MASTER STEPHEN TIMEWELL, MAYOR OF TAUNTON.
+
+XIX. OF A BRAWL IN THE NIGHT.
+
+XX. OF THE MUSTER OF THE MEN OF THE WEST.
+
+XXI. OF MY HAND-GRIPS WITH THE BRANDENBURGER.
+
+XXII. OF THE NEWS FROM HAVANT.
+
+XXIII. OF THE SNARE ON THE WESTON ROAD.
+
+XXIV. OF THE WELCOME THAT MET ME AT BADMINTON.
+
+XXV. OF STRANGE DOINGS IN THE BOTELER DUNGEON.
+
+XXVI. OF THE STRIFE IN THE COUNCIL.
+
+XXVII OF THE AFFAIR NEAR KEYNSHAM BRIDGE.
+
+XXVIII OF THE FIGHT IN WELLS CATHEDRAL.
+
+XXIX. OF THE GREAT CRY FROM THE LONELY HOUSE.
+
+XXX OF THE SWORDSMAN WITH THE BROWN JACKET.
+
+XXXI. OF THE MAID OF THE MARSH AND THE BUBBLE WHICH ROSE FROM THE
+          BOG.
+
+XXXII. OF THE ONFALL AT SEDGEMOOR.
+
+XXXIII. OF MY PERILOUS ADVENTURE AT THE MILL.
+
+XXXIV. OF THE COMING OF SOLOMON SPRENT.
+
+XXXV. OF THE DEVIL IN WIG AND GOWN.
+
+XXXVI. OF THE END OF IT ALL.
+
+          APPENDIX
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I. Of Cornet Joseph Clarke of the Ironsides
+
+It may be, my dear grandchildren, that at one time or another I
+have told you nearly all the incidents which have occurred during my
+adventurous life. To your father and to your mother, at least, I know
+that none of them are unfamiliar. Yet when I consider that time wears
+on, and that a grey head is apt to contain a failing memory, I am
+prompted to use these long winter evenings in putting it all before
+you from the beginning, that you may have it as one clear story in your
+minds, and pass it on as such to those who come after you. For now that
+the house of Brunswick is firmly established upon the throne and that
+peace prevails in the land, it will become less easy for you every
+year to understand how men felt when Englishmen were in arms against
+Englishmen, and when he who should have been the shield and the
+protector of his subjects had no thought but to force upon them what
+they most abhorred and detested.
+
+My story is one which you may well treasure up in your memories, and
+tell again to others, for it is not likely that in this whole county of
+Hampshire, or even perhaps in all England, there is another left alive
+who is so well able to speak from his own knowledge of these events,
+or who has played a more forward part in them. All that I know I shall
+endeavour soberly and in due order to put before you. I shall try to
+make these dead men quicken into life for your behoof, and to call back
+out of the mists of the past those scenes which were brisk enough in
+the acting, though they read so dully and so heavily in the pages of the
+worthy men who have set themselves to record them. Perchance my words,
+too, might, in the ears of strangers, seem to be but an old man's
+gossip. To you, however, who know that these eyes which are looking at
+you looked also at the things which I describe, and that this hand has
+struck in for a good cause, it will, I know, be different. Bear in mind
+as you listen that it was your quarrel as well as our own in which
+we fought, and that if now you grow up to be free men in a free land,
+privileged to think or to pray as your consciences shall direct, you may
+thank God that you are reaping the harvest which your fathers sowed in
+blood and suffering when the Stuarts were on the throne.
+
+I was born then in the year 1664, at Havant, which is a flourishing
+village a few miles from Portsmouth off the main London road, and there
+it was that I spent the greater part of my youth. It is now as it was
+then, a pleasant, healthy spot, with a hundred or more brick cottages
+scattered along in a single irregular street, each with its little
+garden in front, and maybe a fruit tree or two at the back. In the
+middle of the village stood the old church with the square tower, and
+the great sun-dial like a wrinkle upon its grey weather-blotched face.
+On the outskirts the Presbyterians had their chapel; but when the Act of
+Uniformity was passed, their good minister, Master Breckinridge, whose
+discourses had often crowded his rude benches while the comfortable pews
+of the church were empty, was cast into gaol, and his flock dispersed.
+As to the Independents, of whom my father was one, they also were under
+the ban of the law, but they attended conventicle at Emsworth, whither
+we would trudge, rain or shine, on every Sabbath morning. These meetings
+were broken up more than once, but the congregation was composed of such
+harmless folk, so well beloved and respected by their neighbours, that
+the peace officers came after a time to ignore them, and to let them
+worship in their own fashion. There were Papists, too, amongst us, who
+were compelled to go as far as Portsmouth for their Mass. Thus, you see,
+small as was our village, we were a fair miniature of the whole country,
+for we had our sects and our factions, which were all the more bitter
+for being confined in so narrow a compass.
+
+My father, Joseph Clarke, was better known over the countryside by the
+name of Ironside Joe, for he had served in his youth in the Yaxley
+troop of Oliver Cromwell's famous regiment of horse, and had preached
+so lustily and fought so stoutly that old Noll himself called him out
+of the ranks after the fight at Dunbar, and raised him to a cornetcy.
+It chanced, however, that having some little time later fallen into an
+argument with one of his troopers concerning the mystery of the Trinity,
+the man, who was a half-crazy zealot, smote my father across the face, a
+favour which he returned by a thrust from his broadsword, which sent his
+adversary to test in person the truth of his beliefs. In most armies
+it would have been conceded that my father was within his rights
+in punishing promptly so rank an act of mutiny, but the soldiers of
+Cromwell had so high a notion of their own importance and privileges,
+that they resented this summary justice upon their companion. A
+court-martial sat upon my father, and it is likely that he would have
+been offered up as a sacrifice to appease the angry soldiery, had not
+the Lord Protector interfered, and limited the punishment to dismissal
+from the army. Cornet Clarke was accordingly stripped of his buff
+coat and steel cap, and wandered down to Havant, where he settled into
+business as a leather merchant and tanner, thereby depriving Parliament
+of as trusty a soldier as ever drew blade in its service. Finding
+that he prospered in trade, he took as wife Mary Shepstone, a young
+Churchwoman, and I, Micah Clarke, was the first pledge of their union.
+
+My father, as I remember him first, was tall and straight, with a great
+spread of shoulder and a mighty chest. His face was craggy and stern,
+with large harsh features, shaggy over-hanging brows, high-bridged
+fleshy nose, and a full-lipped mouth which tightened and set when he
+was angry. His grey eyes were piercing and soldier-like, yet I have seen
+them lighten up into a kindly and merry twinkle. His voice was the most
+tremendous and awe-inspiring that I have ever listened to. I can well
+believe what I have heard, that when he chanted the Hundredth Psalm as
+he rode down among the blue bonnets at Dunbar, the sound of him rose
+above the blare of trumpets and the crash of guns, like the deep roll of
+a breaking wave. Yet though he possessed every quality which was
+needed to raise him to distinction as an officer, he had thrown off his
+military habits when he returned to civil life. As he prospered and grew
+rich he might well have worn a sword, but instead he would ever bear a
+small copy of the Scriptures bound to his girdle, where other men hung
+their weapons. He was sober and measured in his speech, and it was
+seldom, even in the bosom of his own family, that he would speak of the
+scenes which he had taken part in, or of the great men, Fleetwood and
+Harrison, Blake and Ireton, Desborough and Lambert, some of whom had
+been simple troopers like himself when the troubles broke out. He was
+frugal in his eating, backward in drinking, and allowed himself no
+pleasures save three pipes a day of Oronooko tobacco, which he kept ever
+in a brown jar by the great wooden chair on the left-hand side of the
+mantelshelf.
+
+Yet for all his self-restraint the old leaven would at times begin to
+work in him, and bring on fits of what his enemies would call fanaticism
+and his friends piety, though it must be confessed that this piety
+was prone to take a fierce and fiery shape. As I look back, one or two
+instances of that stand out so hard and clear in my recollection that
+they might be scenes which I had seen of late in the playhouse, instead
+of memories of my childhood more than threescore years ago, when the
+second Charles was on the throne.
+
+The first of these occurred when I was so young that I can remember
+neither what went before nor what immediately after it. It stuck in my
+infant mind when other things slipped through it. We were all in the
+house one sultry summer evening, when there came a rattle of kettledrums
+and a clatter of hoofs, which brought my mother and my father to the
+door, she with me in her arms that I might have the better view. It was
+a regiment of horse on their way from Chichester to Portsmouth, with
+colours flying and band playing, making the bravest show that ever my
+youthful eyes had rested upon. With what wonder and admiration did I
+gaze at the sleek prancing steeds, the steel morions, the plumed hats
+of the officers, the scarfs and bandoliers. Never, I thought, had such
+a gallant company assembled, and I clapped my hands and cried out in my
+delight. My father smiled gravely, and took me from my mother's arms.
+'Nay, lad,' he said, 'thou art a soldier's son, and should have more
+judgment than to commend such a rabble as this. Canst thou not, child as
+thou art, see that their arms are ill-found, their stirrup-irons rusted,
+and their ranks without order or cohesion? Neither have they thrown out
+a troop in advance, as should even in times of peace be done, and their
+rear is straggling from here to Bedhampton. Yea,' he continued, suddenly
+shaking his long arm at the troopers, and calling out to them, 'ye are
+corn ripe for the sickle and waiting only for the reapers!' Several of
+them reined up at this sudden out-flame. 'Hit the crop-eared rascal over
+the pate, Jack!' cried one to another, wheeling his horse round; but
+there was that in my father's face which caused him to fall back into
+the ranks again with his purpose unfulfilled. The regiment jingled on
+down the road, and my mother laid her thin hands upon my father's arm,
+and lulled with her pretty coaxing ways the sleeping devil which had
+stirred within him.
+
+On another occasion which I can remember, about my seventh or eighth
+year, his wrath burst out with more dangerous effect. I was playing
+about him as he worked in the tanning-yard one spring afternoon, when
+in through the open doorway strutted two stately gentlemen, with
+gold facings to their coats and smart cockades at the side of their
+three-cornered hats. They were, as I afterwards understood, officers of
+the fleet who were passing through Havant, and seeing us at work in the
+yard, designed to ask us some question as to their route. The younger of
+the pair accosted my father and began his speech by a great clatter of
+words which were all High Dutch to me, though I now see that they were a
+string of such oaths as are common in the mouth of a sailor; though why
+the very men who are in most danger of appearing before the Almighty
+should go out of their way to insult Him, hath ever been a mystery to
+me. My father in a rough stern voice bade him speak with more reverence
+of sacred things, on which the pair of them gave tongue together,
+swearing tenfold worse than before, and calling my father a canting
+rogue and a smug-faced Presbytery Jack. What more they might have said I
+know not, for my father picked up the great roller wherewith he smoothed
+the leather, and dashing at them he brought it down on the side of one
+of their heads with such a swashing blow, that had it not been for his
+stiff hat the man would never have uttered oath again. As it was, he
+dropped like a log upon the stones of the yard, while his companion
+whipped out his rapier and made a vicious thrust; but my father, who was
+as active as he was strong, sprung aside, and bringing his cudgel down
+upon the outstretched arm of the officer, cracked it like the stem of
+a tobacco-pipe. This affair made no little stir, for it occurred at
+the time when those arch-liars, Oates, Bedloe, and Carstairs, were
+disturbing the public mind by their rumours of plots, and a rising of
+some sort was expected throughout the country. Within a few days all
+Hampshire was ringing with an account of the malcontent tanner of
+Havant, who had broken the head and the arm of two of his Majesty's
+servants. An inquiry showed, however, that there was no treasonable
+meaning in the matter, and the officers having confessed that the first
+words came from them, the Justices contented themselves with imposing a
+fine upon my father, and binding him over to keep the peace for a period
+of six months.
+
+I tell you these incidents that you may have an idea of the fierce and
+earnest religion which filled not only your own ancestor, but most of
+those men who were trained in the parliamentary armies. In many ways
+they were more like those fanatic Saracens, who believe in conversion by
+the sword, than the followers of a Christian creed. Yet they have this
+great merit, that their own lives were for the most part clean and
+commendable, for they rigidly adhered themselves to those laws which
+they would gladly have forced at the sword's point upon others. It is
+true that among so many there were some whose piety was a shell for
+their ambition, and others who practised in secret what they denounced
+in public, but no cause however good is free from such hypocritical
+parasites. That the greater part of the saints, as they termed
+themselves, were men of sober and God-fearing lives, may be shown by the
+fact that, after the disbanding of the army of the Commonwealth, the old
+soldiers flocked into trade throughout the country, and made their mark
+wherever they went by their industry and worth. There is many a wealthy
+business house now in England which can trace its rise to the thrift and
+honesty of some simple pikeman of Ireton or Cromwell.
+
+But that I may help you to understand the character of your
+great-grandfather, I shall give an incident which shows how fervent and
+real were the emotions which prompted the violent moods which I have
+described. I was about twelve at the time, my brothers Hosea and Ephraim
+were respectively nine and seven, while little Ruth could scarce have
+been more than four. It chanced that a few days before a wandering
+preacher of the Independents had put up at our house, and his religious
+ministrations had left my father moody and excitable. One night I had
+gone to bed as usual, and was sound asleep with my two brothers beside
+me, when we were roused and ordered to come downstairs. Huddling on our
+clothes we followed him into the kitchen, where my mother was sitting
+pale and scared with Ruth upon her knee.
+
+'Gather round me, my children,' he said, in a deep reverent voice, 'that
+we may all appear before the throne together. The kingdom of the Lord is
+at hand-oh, be ye ready to receive Him! This very night, my loved ones,
+ye shall see Him in His splendour, with the angels and the archangels in
+their might and their glory. At the third hour shall He come-that very
+third hour which is now drawing upon us.'
+
+'Dear Joe,' said my mother, in soothing tones, 'thou art scaring thyself
+and the children to no avail. If the Son of Man be indeed coming, what
+matters it whether we be abed or afoot?'
+
+'Peace, woman,' he answered sternly; 'has He not said that He will come
+like a thief in the night, and that it is for us to await Him? Join
+with me, then, in prayerful outpourings that we may be found as those in
+bridal array. Let us offer up thanks that He has graciously vouchsafed
+to warn us through the words of His servant. Oh, great Lord, look down
+upon this small flock and lead it to the sheep fold! Mix not the
+little wheat with the great world of chaff. Oh, merciful Father! look
+graciously upon my wife, and forgive her the sin of Erastianism, she
+being but a woman and little fitted to cast off the bonds of antichrist
+wherein she was born. And these too, my little ones, Micah and Hosea,
+Ephraim and Ruth, all named after Thy faithful servants of old, oh let
+them stand upon Thy right hand this night!' Thus he prayed on in a wild
+rush of burning, pleading words, writhing prostrate upon the floor
+in the vehemence of his supplication, while we, poor trembling mites,
+huddled round our mother's skirts and gazed with terror at the contorted
+figure seen by the dim light of the simple oil lamp. On a sudden the
+clang of the new church clock told that the hour had come. My father
+sprang from the floor, and rushing to the casement, stared up with wild
+expectant eyes at the starry heavens. Whether he conjured up some vision
+in his excited brain, or whether the rush of feeling on finding that his
+expectations were in vain, was too much for him, it is certain that
+he threw his long arms upwards, uttered a hoarse scream, and tumbled
+backwards with foaming lips and twitching limbs upon the ground. For an
+hour or more my poor mother and I did what we could to soothe him, while
+the children whimpered in a corner, until at last he staggered slowly to
+his feet, and in brief broken words ordered us to our rooms. From that
+time I have never heard him allude to the matter, nor did he ever give
+us any reason why he should so confidently have expected the second
+coming upon that particular night. I have learned since, however,
+that the preacher who visited us was what was called in those days a
+fifth-monarchy man, and that this particular sect was very liable to
+these premonitions. I have no doubt that something which he had said had
+put the thought into my father's head, and that the fiery nature of the
+man had done the rest.
+
+So much for your great-grandfather, Ironside Joe. I have preferred to
+put these passages before you, for on the principle that actions speak
+louder than words, I find that in describing a man's character it is
+better to give examples of his ways than to speak in broad and general
+terms. Had I said that he was fierce in ins religion and subject to
+strange fits of piety, the words might have made little impression
+upon you; but when I tell you of his attack upon the officers in the
+tanning-yard, and his summoning us down in the dead of the night to
+await the second coming, you can judge for yourselves the lengths to
+which his belief would carry him. For the rest, he was an excellent man
+of business, fair and even generous in his dealings, respected by all
+and loved by few, for his nature was too self-contained to admit of much
+affection. To us he was a stern and rigid father, punishing us heavily
+for whatever he regarded as amiss in our conduct. He bad a store of such
+proverbs as 'Give a child its will and a whelp its fill, and neither
+will strive,' or 'Children are certain cares and uncertain comforts,'
+wherewith he would temper my mother's more kindly impulses. He could not
+bear that we should play trick-track upon the green, or dance with the
+other children upon the Saturday night.
+
+As to my mother, dear soul, it was her calm, peaceful influence which
+kept my father within bounds, and softened his austere rule. Seldom
+indeed, even in his darkest moods, did the touch of her gentle hand and
+the sound of her voice fail to soothe his fiery spirit. She came of a
+Church stock, and held to her religion with a quiet grip which was proof
+against every attempt to turn her from it. I imagine that at one time
+her husband had argued much with her upon Arminianism and the sin of
+simony, but finding his exhortations useless, he had abandoned the
+subject save on very rare occasions. In spite of her Episcopacy,
+however, she remained a staunch Whig, and never allowed her loyalty to
+the throne to cloud her judgment as to the doings of the monarch who sat
+upon it.
+
+Women were good housekeepers fitly years ago, but she was conspicuous
+among the best. To see her spotless cuffs and snowy kirtle one would
+scarce credit how hard she laboured. It was only the well ordered house
+and the dustless rooms which proclaimed her constant industry. She
+made salves and eyewaters, powders and confects, cordials and persico,
+orangeflower water and cherry brandy, each in its due season, and all of
+the best. She was wise, too, in herbs and simples. The villagers and the
+farm labourers would rather any day have her advice upon their ailments
+than that of Dr. Jackson of Purbrook, who never mixed a draught under
+a silver crown. Over the whole countryside there was no woman more
+deservedly respected and more esteemed both by those above her and by
+those beneath.
+
+Such were my parents as I remember them in my childhood. As to myself, I
+shall let my story explain the growth of my own nature. My brothers and
+my sister were all brownfaced, sturdy little country children, with no
+very marked traits save a love of mischief controlled by the fear of
+their father. These, with Martha the serving-maid, formed our whole
+household during those boyish years when the pliant soul of the child
+is hardening into the settled character of the man. How these influences
+affected me I shall leave for a future sitting, and if I weary you by
+recording them, you must remember that I am telling these things rather
+for your profit than for your amusement; that it may assist you in your
+journey through life to know how another has picked out the path before
+you.
+
+
+
+Chapter II. Of my going to school and of my coming thence.
+
+
+With the home influences which I have described, it may be readily
+imagined that my young mind turned very much upon the subject of
+religion, the more so as my father and mother took different views upon
+it. The old Puritan soldier held that the bible alone contained all
+things essential to salvation, and that though it might be advisable
+that those who were gifted with wisdom or eloquence should expound the
+Scriptures to their brethren, it was by no means necessary, but rather
+hurtful and degrading, that any organised body of ministers or of
+bishops should claim special prerogatives, or take the place of
+mediators between the creature and the Creator. For the wealthy
+dignitaries of the Church, rolling in their carriages to their
+cathedrals, in order to preach the doctrines of their Master, who wore
+His sandals out in tramping over the countryside, he professed the most
+bitter contempt; nor was he more lenient to those poorer members of the
+clergy who winked at the vices of their patrons that they might secure
+a seat at their table, and who would sit through a long evening of
+profanity rather than bid good-bye to the cheesecakes and the wine
+flask. That such men represented religious truth was abhorrent to
+his mind, nor would he even give his adhesion to that form of church
+government dear to the Presbyterians, where a general council of the
+ministers directed the affairs of their church. Every man was, in his
+opinion, equal in the eyes of the Almighty, and none had a right to
+claim any precedence over his neighbour in matters of religion. The book
+was written for all, and all were equally able to read it, provided that
+their minds were enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
+
+My mother, on the other hand, held that the very essence of a church
+was that it should have a hierarchy and a graduated government within
+itself, with the king at the apex, the archbishops beneath him, the
+bishops under their control, and so down through the ministry to the
+common folk. Such was, in her opinion, the Church as established in the
+beginning, and no religion without these characteristics could lay any
+claim to being the true one. Ritual was to her of as great importance
+as morality, and if every tradesman and farmer were allowed to invent
+prayers, and change the service as the fancy seized him, it would be
+impossible to preserve the purity of the Christian creed. She agreed
+that religion was based upon the Bible, but the Bible was a book which
+contained much that was obscure, and unless that obscurity were
+cleared away by a duly elected and consecrated servant of God, a
+lineal descendant of the Disciples, all human wisdom might not serve to
+interpret it aright. That was my mother's position, and neither argument
+nor entreaty could move her from it. The only question of belief on
+which my two parents were equally ardent was their mutual dislike
+and distrust of the Roman Catholic forms of worship, and in this the
+Churchwoman was every whit as decided as the fanatical Independent.
+
+It may seem strange to you in these days of tolerance, that the
+adherents of this venerable creed should have met with such universal
+ill-will from successive generations of Englishmen. We recognise now
+that there are no more useful or loyal citizens in the state than our
+Catholic brethren, and Mr. Alexander Pope or any other leading Papist is
+no more looked down upon for his religion than was Mr. William Penn
+for his Quakerism in the reign of King James. We can scarce credit how
+noblemen like Lord Stafford, ecclesiastics like Archbishop Plunkett,
+and commoners like Langhorne and Pickering, were dragged to death on
+the testimony of the vilest of the vile, without a voice being raised in
+their behalf; or how it could be considered a patriotic act on the part
+of an English Protestant to carry a flail loaded with lead beneath his
+cloak as a menace against his harmless neighbours who differed from
+him on points of doctrine. It was a long madness which has now happily
+passed off, or at least shows itself in a milder and rarer form.
+
+Foolish as it appears to us, there were some solid reasons to account
+for it. You have read doubtless how, a century before I was born, the
+great kingdom of Spain waxed and prospered. Her ships covered every
+sea. Her troops were victorious wherever they appeared. In letters, in
+learning, in all the arts of war and peace they were the foremost nation
+in Europe. You have heard also of the ill-blood which existed between
+this great nation and ourselves; how our adventurers harried their
+possessions across the Atlantic, while they retorted by burning such
+of our seamen as they could catch by their devilish Inquisition, and by
+threatening our coasts both from Cadiz and from their provinces in the
+Netherlands. At last so hot became the quarrel that the other nations
+stood off, as I have seen the folk clear a space for the sword-players
+at Hockley-in-the-Hole, so that the Spanish giant and tough little
+England were left face to face to fight the matter out. Throughout all
+that business it was as the emissary of the Pope, and as the avenger of
+the dishonoured Roman Church, that King Philip professed to come. It
+is true that Lord Howard and many another gentleman of the old religion
+fought stoutly against the Dons, but the people could never forget that
+the reformed faith had been the flag under which they had conquered, and
+that the blessing of the Pontiff had rested with their opponents. Then
+came the cruel and foolish attempt of Mary to force upon them a creed
+for which they had no sympathy, and at the heels of it another great
+Roman Catholic power menaced our liberty from the Continent. The growing
+strength of France promoted a corresponding distrust of Papistry in
+England, which reached a head when, at about the time of which I write,
+Louis XIV. threatened us with invasion at the very moment when, by
+the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he showed his intolerant spirit
+towards the faith which we held dear. The narrow Protestantism of
+England was less a religious sentiment than a patriotic reply to
+the aggressive bigotry of her enemies. Our Catholic countrymen were
+unpopular, not so much because they believed in Transubstantiation, as
+because they were unjustly suspected of sympathising with the Emperor or
+with the King of France. Now that our military successes have secured us
+against all fear of attack, we have happily lost that bitter religious
+hatred but for which Oates and Dangerfield would have lied in vain.
+
+In the days when I was young, special causes had inflamed this dislike
+and made it all the more bitter because there was a spice of fear
+mingled with it. As long as the Catholics were only an obscure faction
+they might be ignored, but when, towards the close of the reign of the
+second Charles, it appeared to be absolutely certain that a Catholic
+dynasty was about to fill the throne, and that Catholicism was to be the
+court religion and the stepping-stone to preferment, it was felt that
+a day of vengeance might be at hand for those who had trampled upon
+it when it was defenceless. There was alarm and uneasiness amongst all
+classes. The Church of England, which depends upon the monarch as an
+arch depends upon the keystone; the nobility, whose estates and coffers
+had been enriched by the plunder of the abbeys; the mob, whose ideas of
+Papistry were mixed up with thumbscrews and Fox's Martyrology, were all
+equally disturbed. Nor was the prospect a hopeful one for their cause.
+Charles was a very lukewarm Protestant, and indeed showed upon his
+deathbed that he was no Protestant at all. There was no longer any
+chance of his having legitimate offspring. The Duke of York, his younger
+brother, was therefore heir to the throne, and he was known to be an
+austere and narrow Papist, while his spouse, Mary of Modena, was
+as bigoted as himself. Should they have children, there could be
+no question but that they would be brought up in the faith of their
+parents, and that a line of Catholic monarchs would occupy the throne
+of England. To the Church, as represented by my mother, and to
+Nonconformity, in the person of my father, this was an equally
+intolerable prospect.
+
+I have been telling you all this old history because you will find, as
+I go on, that this state of things caused in the end such a seething and
+fermenting throughout the nation that even I, a simple village lad, was
+dragged into the whirl and had my whole life influenced by it. If I did
+not make the course of events clear to you, you would hardly understand
+the influences which had such an effect upon my whole history. In the
+meantime, I wish you to remember that when King James II. ascended the
+throne he did so amid a sullen silence on the part of a large class of
+his subjects, and that both my father and my mother were among those who
+were zealous for a Protestant succession.
+
+My childhood was, as I have already said, a gloomy one. Now and again
+when there chanced to be a fair at Portsdown Hill, or when a passing
+raree showman set up his booth in the village, my dear mother would
+slip a penny or two from her housekeeping money into my hand, and with
+a warning finger upon her lip would send me off to see the sights. These
+treats were, however, rare events, and made such a mark upon my mind,
+that when I was sixteen years of age I could have checked off upon my
+fingers all that I had ever seen. There was William Harker the strong
+man, who lifted Farmer Alcott's roan mare; and there was Tubby Lawson
+the dwarf, who could fit himself into a pickle jar--these two I well
+remember from the wonder wherewith they struck my youthful soul. Then
+there was the show of the playing dolls, and that of the enchanted
+island and Mynheer Munster from the Lowlands, who could turn himself
+round upon a tight-rope while playing most sweetly upon a virginal.
+Last, but far the best in my estimation, was the grand play at the
+Portsdown Fair, entitled 'The true and ancient story of Maudlin, the
+merchant's daughter of Bristol, and of her lover Antonio. How they were
+cast away on the shores of Barbary, where the mermaids are seen floating
+upon the sea and singing in the rocks, foretelling their danger.' This
+little piece gave me keener pleasure than ever in after years I received
+from the grandest comedies of Mr. Congreve and of Mr. Dryden, though
+acted by Kynaston, Betterton, and the whole strength of the King's own
+company. At Chichester once I remember that I paid a penny to see the
+left shoe of the youngest sister of Potiphar's wife, but as it looked
+much like any other old shoe, and was just about the size to have fitted
+the show-woman, I have often feared that my penny fell into the hands of
+rogues.
+
+There were other shows, however, which I might see for nothing, and yet
+were more real and every whit as interesting as any for which I
+paid. Now and again upon a holiday I was permitted to walk down to
+Portsmouth--once I was even taken in front of my father upon his pad
+nag, and there I wandered with him through the streets with wondering
+eyes, marvelling over the strange sights around me. The walls and the
+moats, the gates and the sentinels, the long High Street with the great
+government buildings, and the constant rattle of drums and blare of
+trumpets; they made my little heart beat quicker beneath my sagathy
+stuff jacket. Here was the house in which some thirty years before the
+proud Duke of Buckingham had been struck down by the assassin's dagger.
+There, too, was the Governor's dwelling, and I remember that even as I
+looked he came riding up to it, red-faced and choleric, with a nose such
+as a Governor should have, and his breast all slashed with gold. 'Is he
+not a fine man?' I said, looking up at my father. He laughed and drew
+his hat down over his brows. 'It is the first time that I have seen Sir
+Ralph Lingard's face,' said he, 'but I saw his back at Preston fight.
+Ah, lad, proud as he looks, if he did but see old Noll coming in through
+the door he would not think it beneath him to climb out through the
+window!' The clank of steel or the sight of a buff-coat would always
+serve to stir up the old Roundhead bitterness in my father's breast.
+
+But there were other sights in Portsmouth besides the red-coats and
+their Governor. The yard was the second in the kingdom, after Chatham,
+and there was ever some new war-ship ready upon the slips. Then there
+was a squadron of King's ships, and sometimes the whole fleet at
+Spithead, when the streets would be full of sailors, with their faces as
+brown as mahogany and pigtails as stiff and hard as their cutlasses. To
+watch their rolling gait, and to hear their strange, quaint talk,
+and their tales of the Dutch wars, was a rare treat to me; and I have
+sometimes when I was alone fastened myself on to a group of them, and
+passed the day in wandering from tavern to tavern. It chanced one day,
+however, that one of them insisted upon my sharing his glass of Canary
+wine, and afterwards out of roguishness persuaded me to take a second,
+with the result that I was sent home speechless in the carrier's cart,
+and was never again allowed to go into Portsmouth alone. My father was
+less shocked at the incident than I should have expected, and reminded
+my mother that Noah had been overtaken in a similar manner. He also
+narrated how a certain field-chaplain Grant, of Desborough's regiment,
+having after a hot and dusty day drunk sundry flagons of mum, had
+thereafter sung certain ungodly songs, and danced in a manner unbecoming
+to his sacred profession. Also, how he had afterwards explained that
+such backslidings were not to be regarded us faults of the individual,
+but rather as actual obsessions of the evil one, who contrived in this
+manner to give scandal to the faithful, and selected the most godly for
+his evil purpose. This ingenious defence of the field-chaplain was the
+saving of my back, for my father, who was a believer in Solomon's axiom,
+had a stout ash stick and a strong arm for whatever seemed to him to be
+a falling away from the true path.
+
+From the day that I first learned my letters from the horn-book at my
+mother's knee I was always hungry to increase my knowledge, and never a
+piece of print came in my way that I did not eagerly master. My father
+pushed the sectarian hatred of learning to such a length that he was
+averse to having any worldly books within his doors. (Note A, Appendix)
+I was dependent therefore for my supply upon one or two of my friends in
+the village, who lent me a volume at a time from their small libraries.
+These I would carry inside my shirt, and would only dare to produce when
+I could slip away into the fields, and lie hid among the long grass, or
+at night when the rushlight was still burning, and my father's snoring
+assured me that there was no danger of his detecting me. In this way
+I worked up from Don Bellianis of Greece and the 'Seven Champions,'
+through Tarleton's 'Jests' and other such books, until I could take
+pleasure in the poetry of Waller and of Herrick, or in the plays of
+Massinger and Shakespeare. How sweet were the hours when I could lay
+aside all thought of freewill and of predestination, to lie with my
+heels in the air among the scented clover, and listen to old Chaucer
+telling the sweet story of Grisel the patient, or to weep for the chaste
+Desdemona, and mourn over the untimely end of her gallant spouse. There
+were times as I rose up with my mind full of the noble poetry, and
+glanced over the fair slope of the countryside, with the gleaming sea
+beyond it, and the purple outline of the Isle of Wight upon the horizon;
+when it would be borne in upon me that the Being who created all this,
+and who gave man the power of pouring out these beautiful thoughts, was
+not the possession of one sect or another, or of this nation or that,
+but was the kindly Father of every one of the little children whom
+He had let loose on this fair playground. It grieved me then, and it
+grieves me now, that a man of such sincerity and lofty purpose as your
+great grandfather should have been so tied down by iron doctrines, and
+should imagine his Creator to be so niggard of His mercy as to withhold
+it from nine-and-ninety in the hundred. Well, a man is as he is trained,
+and if my father bore a narrow mind upon his broad shoulders, he has at
+least the credit that he was ready to do and to suffer all things
+for what he conceived to be the truth. If you, my dears, have more
+enlightened views, take heed that they bring you to lead a more
+enlightened life.
+
+When I was fourteen years of age, a yellow-haired, brown-faced lad, I
+was packed off to a small private school at Petersfield, and there I
+remained for a year, returning home for the last Saturday in each month.
+I took with me only a scanty outfit of schoolbooks, with Lilly's 'Latin
+Grammar,' and Rosse's 'View of all the Religions in the World from the
+Creation down to our own Times,' which was shoved into my hands by my
+good mother as a parting present. With this small stock of letters I
+might have fared badly, had it not happened that my master, Mr. Thomas
+Chillingfoot, had himself a good library, and took a pleasure in
+lending his books to any of his scholars who showed a desire to improve
+themselves. Under this good old man's care I not only picked up some
+smattering of Latin and Greek, but I found means to read good English
+translations of many of the classics, and to acquire a knowledge of the
+history of my own and other countries. I was rapidly growing in mind as
+well as in body, when my school career was cut short by no less an event
+than my summary and ignominious expulsion. How this unlooked-for ending
+to my studies came about I must now set before you.
+
+Petersfield had always been a great stronghold of the Church, having
+hardly a Nonconformist within its bounds. The reason of this was that
+most of the house property was owned by zealous Churchmen, who refused
+to allow any one who differed from the Established Church to settle
+there. The Vicar, whose name was Pinfold, possessed in this manner great
+power in the town, and as he was a man with a high inflamed countenance
+and a pompous manner, he inspired no little awe among the quiet
+inhabitants. I can see him now with his beaked nose, his rounded
+waistcoat, and his bandy legs, which looked as if they had given way
+beneath the load of learning which they were compelled to carry. Walking
+slowly with right hand stiffly extended, tapping the pavement at every
+step with his metal-headed stick, he would pause as each person passed
+him, and wait to see that he was given the salute which he thought due
+to his dignity. This courtesy he never dreamed of returning, save in
+the case of some of his richer parishioners; but if by chance it were
+omitted, he would hurry after the culprit, and, shaking his stick in his
+face, insist upon his doffing his cap to him. We youngsters, if we met
+him on our walks, would scuttle by him like a brood of chickens passing
+an old turkey cock, and even our worthy master showed a disposition to
+turn down a side-street when the portly figure of the Vicar was seen
+rolling in our direction. This proud priest made a point of knowing the
+history of every one within his parish, and having learnt that I was the
+son of an Independent, he spoke severely to Mr. Chillingfoot upon the
+indiscretion which he had shown in admitting me to his school. Indeed,
+nothing but my mother's good name for orthodoxy prevented him from
+insisting upon my dismissal.
+
+At the other end of the village there was a large day-school. A constant
+feud prevailed between the scholars who attended it and the lads who
+studied under our master. No one could tell how the war broke out, but
+for many years there had been a standing quarrel between the two, which
+resulted in skirmishes, sallies, and ambuscades, with now and then a
+pitched battle. No great harm was done in these encounters, for the
+weapons were usually snowballs in winter and pine-cones or clods of
+earth in the summer. Even when the contest got closer and we came to
+fisticuffs, a few bruises and a little blood was the worst that could
+come of it. Our opponents were more numerous than we, but we had the
+advantage of being always together and of having a secure asylum upon
+which to retreat, while they, living in scattered houses all over the
+parish, had no common rallying-point. A stream, crossed by two bridges,
+ran through the centre of the town, and this was the boundary which
+separated our territories from those of our enemies. The boy who crossed
+the bridge found himself in hostile country.
+
+It chanced that in the first conflict which occurred after my arrival at
+the school I distinguished myself by singling out the most redoubtable
+of our foemen, and smiting him such a blow that he was knocked helpless
+and was carried off by our party as a prisoner. This feat of arms
+established my good name as a warrior, so I came at last to be regarded
+as the leader of our forces, and to be looked up to by bigger boys than
+myself. This promotion tickled my fancy so much, that I set to work to
+prove that I deserved it by devising fresh and ingenious schemes for the
+defeat of our enemies.
+
+One winter's evening news reached us that our rivals were about to make
+a raid upon us under cover of night, and that they proposed coming by
+the little used plank bridge, so as to escape our notice. This bridge
+lay almost out of the town, and consisted of a single broad piece of
+wood without a rail, erected for the good of the town clerk, who lived,
+just opposite to it. We proposed to hide ourselves amongst the bushes on
+our side of the stream, and make an unexpected attack upon the invaders
+as they crossed. As we started, however, I bethought me of an ingenious
+stratagem which I had read of as being practised in the German wars, and
+having expounded it to the great delight of my companions, we took Mr.
+Chillingfoot's saw, and set off for the seat of action.
+
+On reaching the bridge all was quiet and still. It was quite dark and
+very cold, for Christmas was approaching. There were no signs of our
+opponents. We exchanged a few whispers as to who should do the daring
+deed, but as the others shrank from it, and as I was too proud to
+propose what I dare not execute, I gripped the saw, and sitting
+astraddle upon the plank set to work upon the very centre of it.
+
+My purpose was to weaken it in such a way that, though it would bear the
+weight of one, it would collapse when the main body of our foemen were
+upon it, and so precipitate them into the ice-cold stream. The water was
+but a couple of feet deep at the place, so that there was nothing for
+them but a fright and a ducking. So cool a reception ought to deter
+them from ever invading us again, and confirm my reputation as a daring
+leader. Reuben Lockarby, my lieutenant, son of old John Lockarby of the
+Wheatsheaf, marshalled our forces behind the hedgerow, whilst I sawed
+vigorously at the plank until I had nearly severed it across. I had no
+compunction about the destruction of the bridge, for I knew enough of
+carpentry to see that a skilful joiner could in an hour's work make
+it stronger than ever by putting a prop beneath the point where I had
+divided it. When at last I felt by the yielding of the plank that I had
+done enough, and that the least strain would snap it, I crawled quietly
+off, and taking up my position with my schoolfellows, awaited the coming
+of the enemy.
+
+I had scarce concealed myself when we heard the steps of some one
+approaching down the footpath which led to the bridge. We crouched
+behind the cover, convinced that the sound must come from some scout
+whom our foemen had sent on in front--a big boy evidently, for his step
+was heavy and slow, with a clinking noise mingling with it, of which we
+could make nothing. Nearer came the sound and nearer, until a shadowy
+figure loomed out of the darkness upon the other side, and after pausing
+and peering for a moment, came straight for the bridge. It was only as
+he was setting foot upon the plank and beginning gingerly to pick his
+way across it, that we discerned the outlines of the familiar form, and
+realised the dreadful truth that the stranger whom we had taken for the
+advance guard of our enemy was in truth none other than Vicar Pinfold,
+and that it was the rhythmic pat of his stick which we heard mingling
+with his footfalls. Fascinated by the sight, we lay bereft of all power
+to warn him--a line of staring eyeballs. One step, two steps, three
+steps did the haughty Churchman take, when there was a rending crack,
+and he vanished with a mighty splash into the swift-flowing stream. He
+must have fallen upon his back, for we could see the curved outline
+of his portly figure standing out above the surface as he struggled
+desperately to regain his feet. At last he managed to get erect, and
+came spluttering for the bank with such a mixture of godly ejaculations
+and of profane oaths that, even in our terror, we could not keep from
+laughter. Rising from under his feet like a covey of wild-fowl, we
+scurried off across the fields and so back to the school, where, as you
+may imagine, we said nothing to our good master of what had occurred.
+
+The matter was too serious, however, to be hushed up. The sudden chill
+set up some manner of disturbance in the bottle of sack which the Vicar
+had just been drinking with the town clerk, and an attack of gout set in
+which laid him on his back for a fortnight. Meanwhile an examination of
+the bridge had shown that it had been sawn across, and an inquiry traced
+the matter to Mr. Chillingfoot's boarders. To save a wholesale expulsion
+of the school from the town, I was forced to acknowledge myself as both
+the inventor and perpetrator of the deed. Chillingfoot was entirely in
+the power of the Vicar, so he was forced to read me a long homily
+in public--which he balanced by an affectionate leave-taking in
+private--and to expel me solemnly from the school. I never saw my old
+master again, for he died not many years afterwards; but I hear that his
+second son William is still carrying on the business, which is larger
+and more prosperous than of old. His eldest son turned Quaker and went
+out to Penn's settlement, where he is reported to have been slain by the
+savages.
+
+This adventure shocked my dear mother, but it found great favour in the
+eyes of my father, who laughed until the whole village resounded
+with his stentorian merriment. It reminded him, he said, of a similar
+stratagem executed at Market Drayton by that God-fearing soldier Colonel
+Pride, whereby a captain and three troopers of Lunsford's own regiment
+of horse had been drowned, and many others precipitated into a river, to
+the great glory of the true Church and to the satisfaction of the
+chosen people. Even of the Church folk many were secretly glad at the
+misfortune which had overtaken the Vicar, for his pretensions and his
+pride had made him hated throughout the district.
+
+By this time I had grown into a sturdy, broad-shouldered lad, and every
+month added to my strength and my stature. When I was sixteen I could
+carry a bag of wheat or a cask of beer against any man in the village,
+and I could throw the fifteen-pound putting-stone to a distance of
+thirty-six feet, which was four feet further than could Ted Dawson, the
+blacksmith. Once when my father was unable to carry a bale of skins out
+of the yard, I whipped it up and bare it away upon my shoulders. The
+old man would often look gravely at me from under his heavy thatched
+eyebrows, and shake his grizzled head as he sat in his arm-chair puffing
+his pipe. 'You grow too big for the nest, lad,' he would say. 'I doubt
+some of these days you'll find your wings and away!' In my heart I
+longed that the time would come, for I was weary of the quiet life of
+the village, and was anxious to see the great world of which I had heard
+and read so much. I could not look southward without my spirit stirring
+within me as my eyes fell upon those dark waves, the white crests of
+which are like a fluttering signal ever waving to an English youth and
+beckoning him to some unknown but glorious goal.
+
+
+
+Chapter III. Of Two Friends of my Youth
+
+
+I fear, my children, that you will think that the prologue is over long
+for the play; but the foundations must be laid before the building is
+erected, and a statement of this sort is a sorry and a barren thing
+unless you have a knowledge of the folk concerned. Be patient, then,
+while I speak to you of the old friends of my youth, some of whom you
+may hear more of hereafter, while others remained behind in the country
+hamlet, and yet left traces of our early intercourse upon my character
+which might still be discerned there.
+
+Foremost for good amongst all whom I knew was Zachary Palmer, the
+village carpenter, a man whose aged and labour-warped body contained the
+simplest and purest of spirits. Yet his simplicity was by no means the
+result of ignorance, for from the teachings of Plato to those of Hobbes
+there were few systems ever thought out by man which he had not studied
+and weighed. Books were far dearer in my boyhood than they are now,
+and carpenters were less well paid, but old Palmer had neither wife nor
+child, and spent little on food or raiment. Thus it came about that on
+the shelf over his bed he had a more choice collection of books--few as
+they were in number--than the squire or the parson, and these books he
+had read until he not only understood them himself, but could impart
+them to others.
+
+This white-bearded and venerable village philosopher would sit by his
+cabin door upon a summer evening, and was never so pleased as when
+some of the young fellows would slip away from their bowls and their
+quoit-playing in order to lie in the grass at his feet, and ask him
+questions about the great men of old, their words and their deeds. But
+of all the youths I and Reuben Lockarby, the innkeeper's son, were his
+two favourites, for we would come the earliest and stop the latest to
+hear the old man talk. No father could have loved his children better
+than he did us, and he would spare no pains to get at our callow
+thoughts, and to throw light upon whatever perplexed or troubled us.
+Like all growing things, we had run our heads against the problem of
+the universe. We had peeped and pryed with our boyish eyes into those
+profound depths in which the keenest-sighted of the human race had seen
+no bottom. Yet when we looked around us in our own village world, and
+saw the bitterness and rancour which pervaded every sect, we could not
+but think that a tree which bore such fruit must have something amiss
+with it. This was one of the thoughts unspoken to our parents which
+we carried to good old Zachary, and on which he had much to say which
+cheered and comforted us.
+
+'These janglings and wranglings,' said he, 'are but on the surface,
+and spring from the infinite variety of the human mind, which will ever
+adapt a creed to suit its own turn of thought. It is the solid core that
+underlies every Christian creed which is of importance. Could you
+but live among the Romans or the Greeks, in the days before this new
+doctrine was preached, you would then know the change that it has
+wrought in the world. How this or that text should be construed is a
+matter of no moment, however warm men may get over it. What is of the
+very greatest moment is, that every man should have a good and solid
+reason for living a simple, cleanly life. This the Christian creed has
+given us.'
+
+'I would not have you be virtuous out of fear,' he said upon another
+occasion. 'The experience of a long life has taught me, however, that
+sin is always punished in this world, whatever may come in the next.
+There is always some penalty in health, in comfort, or in peace of
+mind to be paid for every wrong. It is with nations as it is with
+individuals. A book of history is a book of sermons. See how the
+luxurious Babylonians were destroyed by the frugal Persians, and how
+these same Persians when they learned the vices of prosperity were put
+to the sword by the Greeks. Read on and mark how the sensual Greeks were
+trodden down by the more robust and hardier Romans, and finally how the
+Romans, having lost their manly virtues, were subdued by the nations
+of the north. Vice and destruction came ever hand in hand. Thus did
+Providence use each in turn as a scourge wherewith to chastise the
+follies of the other. These things do not come by chance. They are part
+of a great system which is at work in your own lives. The longer you
+live the more you will see that sin and sadness are never far apart, and
+that no true prosperity can exist away from virtue.'
+
+A very different teacher was the sea-dog Solomon Sprent, who lived in
+the second last cottage on the left-hand side of the main street of the
+village. He was one of the old tarpaulin breed, who had fought under
+the red cross ensign against Frenchman, Don, Dutchman, and Moor, until a
+round shot carried off his foot and put an end to his battles for ever.
+In person he was thin, and hard, and brown, as lithe and active as a
+cat, with a short body and very long arms, each ending in a great hand
+which was ever half closed as though shutting on a rope. From head to
+foot he was covered with the most marvellous tattooings, done in blue,
+red, and green, beginning with the Creation upon his neck and winding up
+with the Ascension upon his left ankle. Never have I seen such a walking
+work of art. He was wont to say that had he been owned and his body cast
+up upon some savage land, the natives might have learned the whole of
+the blessed gospel from a contemplation of his carcass. Yet with sorrow
+I must say that the seaman's religion appeared to have all worked into
+his skin, so that very little was left for inner use. It had broken out
+upon the surface, like the spotted fever, but his system was clear of
+it elsewhere. He could swear in eleven languages and three-and-twenty
+dialects, nor did he ever let his great powers rust for want of
+practice. He would swear when he was happy or when he was sad, when he
+was angry or when he was loving, but this swearing was so mere a trick
+of speech, without malice or bitterness, that even my father could
+hardly deal harshly with the sinner. As time passed, however, the old
+man grew more sober and more thoughtful, until in his latter days he
+went back to the simple beliefs of his childhood, and learned to fight
+the devil with the same steady courage with which he had faced the
+enemies of his country.
+
+Old Solomon was a never-failing source of amusement and of interest to
+my friend Lockarby and myself. On gala days he would have us in to dine
+with him, when he would regale us with lobscouse and salmagundi, or
+perhaps with an outland dish, a pillaw or olla podrida, or fish broiled
+after the fashion of the Azores, for he had a famous trick of cooking,
+and could produce the delicacies of all nations. And all the time that
+we were with him he would tell us the most marvellous stories of Rupert,
+under whom he served; how he would shout from the poop to his squadron
+to wheel to the right, or to charge, or to halt, as the case might be,
+as if he were still with his regiment of horse. Of Blake, too, he had
+many stories to tell. But even the name of Blake was not so dear to our
+old sailor as was that of Sir Christopher Mings. Solomon had at one time
+been his coxswain, and could talk by the hour of those gallant deeds
+which had distinguished him from the day that he entered the navy as a
+cabin boy until he fell upon his own quarter-deck, a full admiral of the
+red, and was borne by his weeping ship's company to his grave in Chatham
+churchyard. 'If so be as there's a jasper sea up aloft,' said the old
+seaman, 'I'll wager that Sir Christopher will see that the English flag
+has proper respect paid to it upon it, and that we are not fooled by
+foreigners. I've served under him in this world, and I ask nothing
+better than to be his coxswain in the next--if so be as he should chance
+to have a vacancy for such.' These remembrances would always end in the
+brewing of an extra bowl of punch, and the drinking of a solemn bumper
+to the memory of the departed hero.
+
+Stirring as were Solomon Sprent's accounts of his old commanders, their
+effect upon us was not so great as when, about his second or third
+glass, the floodgates of his memory would be opened, and he would pour
+out long tales of the lands which he had visited, and the peoples which
+he had seen. Leaning forward in our seats with our chins resting upon
+our hands, we two youngsters would sit for hours, with our eyes fixed
+upon the old adventurer, drinking in his words, while he, pleased at the
+interest which he excited, would puff slowly at his pipe and reel off
+story after story of what he had seen or done. In those days, my dears,
+there was no Defoe to tell us the wonders of the world, no _Spectator_
+to lie upon our breakfast table, no Gulliver to satisfy our love of
+adventure by telling us of such adventures as never were. Not once in
+a month did a common newsletter fall into our hands. Personal hazards,
+therefore, were of more value then than they are now, and the talk of a
+man like old Solomon was a library in itself. To us it was all real. His
+husky tones and ill-chosen words were as the voice of an angel, and our
+eager minds filled in the details and supplied all that was wanting in
+his narratives. In one evening we have engaged a Sallee rover off the
+Pillars of Hercules; we have coasted down the shores of the African
+continent, and seen the great breakers of the Spanish Main foaming upon
+the yellow sand; we have passed the black ivory merchants with their
+human cargoes; we have faced the terrible storms which blow ever around
+the Cape de Boa Esperanza; and finally, we have sailed away out over the
+great ocean beyond, amid the palm-clad coral islands, with the knowledge
+that the realms of Prester John lie somewhere behind the golden haze
+which shimmers upon the horizon. After such a flight as that we would
+feel, as we came back to the Hampshire village and the dull realities
+of country life, like wild birds who had been snared by the fowler and
+clapped into narrow cages. Then it was that the words of my father, 'You
+will find your wings some day and fly away,' would come back to me, and
+set up such a restlessness as all the wise words of Zachary Palmer could
+not allay.
+
+
+Chapter IV. Of the Strange Fish that we Caught at Spithead
+
+One evening in the month of May 1685, about the end of the first week
+of the month, my friend Reuben Lockarby and I borrowed Ned Marley's
+pleasure boat, and went a-fishing out of Langston Bay. At that time I
+was close on one-and-twenty years of age, while my companion was one
+year younger. A great intimacy had sprung up between us, founded on
+mutual esteem, for he being a little undergrown man was proud of my
+strength and stature, while my melancholy and somewhat heavy spirit took
+a pleasure in the energy and joviality which never deserted him, and
+in the wit which gleamed as bright and as innocent as summer lightning
+through all that he said. In person he was short and broad, round-faced,
+ruddy-cheeked, and in truth a little inclined to be fat, though he would
+never confess to more than a pleasing plumpness, which was held, he
+said, to be the acme of manly beauty amongst the ancients. The stern
+test of common danger and mutual hardship entitle me to say that no
+man could have desired a stauncher or more trusty comrade. As he was
+destined to be with me in the sequel, it was but fitting that he should
+have been at my side on that May evening which was the starting-point of
+our adventures.
+
+We pulled out beyond the Warner Sands to a place half-way between them
+and the Nab, where we usually found bass in plenty. There we cast the
+heavy stone which served us as an anchor overboard, and proceeded to
+set our lines. The sun sinking slowly behind a fog-bank had slashed the
+whole western sky with scarlet streaks, against which the wooded slopes
+of the Isle of Wight stood out vaporous and purple. A fresh breeze was
+blowing from the south-east, flecking the long green waves with crests
+of foam, and filling our eyes and lips with the smack of the salt spray.
+Over near St. Helen's Point a King's ship was making her way down the
+channel, while a single large brig was tacking about a quarter of a mile
+or less from where we lay. So near were we that we could catch a glimpse
+of the figures upon her deck as she heeled over to the breeze, and could
+bear the creaking of her yards and the flapping of her weather-stained
+canvas as she prepared to go about.
+
+'Look ye, Micah,' said my companion, looking up from his fishing-line.
+'That is a most weak-minded ship--a ship which will make no way in the
+world. See how she hangs in the wind, neither keeping on her course nor
+tacking. She is a trimmer of the seas--the Lord Halifax of the ocean.'
+
+'Why, there is something amiss with her,' I replied, staring across with
+hand-shaded eyes. 'She yaws about as though there were no one at the
+helm. Her main-yard goes aback! Now it is forward again! The folk on her
+deck seem to me to be either fighting or dancing. Up with the anchor,
+Reuben, and let us pull to her.'
+
+'Up with the anchor and let us get out of her way,' he answered, still
+gazing at the stranger. 'Why will you ever run that meddlesome head of
+yours into danger's way? She flies Dutch colours, but who can say whence
+she really comes? A pretty thing if we were snapped up by a buccaneer
+and sold in the Plantations!'
+
+'A buccaneer in the Solent!' cried I derisively. 'We shall be seeing the
+black flag in Emsworth Creek next. But hark! What is that?'
+
+The crack of a musket sounded from aboard the brig. Then came a moment's
+silence and another musket shot rang out, followed by a chorus of shouts
+and cries. Simultaneously the yards swung round into position, the sails
+caught the breeze once more, and the vessel darted away on a course
+which would take her past Bembridge Point out to the English Channel. As
+she flew along her helm was put hard down, a puff of smoke shot out
+from her quarter, and a cannon ball came hopping and splashing over
+the waves, passing within a hundred yards of where we lay. With this
+farewell greeting she came up into the wind again and continued her
+course to the southward.
+
+'Heart o' grace!' ejaculated Reuben in loose lipped astonishment. 'The
+murdering villains!'
+
+'I would to the Lord that King's ship would snap them up!' cried I
+savagely, for the attack was so unprovoked that it stirred my bile.
+'What could the rogues have meant? They are surely drunk or mad!'
+
+'Pull at the anchor, man, pull at the anchor!' my companion shouted,
+springing up from the seat. 'I understand it! Pull at the anchor!'
+
+'What then?' I asked, helping him to haul the great stone up, hand over
+hand, until it came dripping over the side.
+
+'They were not firing at us, lad. They were aiming at some one in the
+water between us and them. Pull, Micah! Put your back into it! Some poor
+fellow may he drowning.'
+
+'Why, I declare!' said I, looking over my shoulder as I rowed, 'there
+is his head upon the crest of a wave. Easy, or we shall be over him! Two
+more strokes and be ready to seize him! Keep up, friend! There's help at
+hand!'
+
+'Take help to those who need help' said a voice out of the sea. 'Zounds,
+man, keep a guard on your oar! I fear a pat from it very much more than
+I do the water.'
+
+These words were delivered in so calm and self-possessed a tone that all
+concern for the swimmer was set at rest. Drawing in our oars we faced
+round to have a look at him. The drift of the boat had brought us so
+close that he could have grasped the gunwale had he been so minded.
+
+'Sapperment!' he cried in a peevish voice; 'to think of my brother Nonus
+serving me such a trick! What would our blessed mother have said could
+she have seen it? My whole kit gone, to say nothing of my venture in
+the voyage! And now I have kicked off a pair of new jack boots that
+cost sixteen rix-dollars at Vanseddar's at Amsterdam. I can't swim in
+jack-boots, nor can I walk without them.'
+
+'Won't you come in out of the wet, sir?' asked Reuben, who could scarce
+keep serious at the stranger's appearance and address. A pair of long
+arms shot out of the water, and in a moment, with a lithe, snake-like
+motion, the man wound himself into the boat and coiled his great length
+upon the stern-sheets. Very lanky he was and very thin, with a craggy
+hard face, clean-shaven and sunburned, with a thousand little wrinkles
+intersecting it in every direction. He had lost his hat, and his short
+wiry hair, slightly flecked with grey, stood up in a bristle all over
+his head. It was hard to guess at his age, but he could scarce have been
+under his fiftieth year, though the ease with which he had boarded our
+boat proved that his strength and energy were unimpaired. Of all his
+characteristics, however, nothing attracted my attention so much as his
+eyes, which were almost covered by their drooping lids, and yet looked
+out through the thin slits which remained with marvellous brightness and
+keenness. A passing glance might give the idea that he was languid and
+half asleep, but a closer one would reveal those glittering, shifting
+lines of light, and warn the prudent man not to trust too much to his
+first impressions.
+
+'I could swim to Portsmouth,' he remarked, rummaging in the pockets of
+his sodden jacket; 'I could swim well-nigh anywhere. I once swam from
+Gran on the Danube to Buda, while a hundred thousand Janissaries
+danced with rage on the nether bank. I did, by the keys of St. Peter!
+Wessenburg's Pandours would tell you whether Decimus Saxon could
+swim. Take my advice, young men, and always carry your tobacco in a
+water-tight metal box.'
+
+As he spoke he drew a flat box from his pocket, and several wooden
+tubes, which he screwed together to form a long pipe. This he stuffed
+with tobacco, and having lit it by means of a flint and steel with a
+piece of touch-paper from the inside of his box, he curled his legs
+under him in Eastern fashion, and settled down to enjoy a smoke. There
+was something so peculiar about the whole incident, and so preposterous
+about the man's appearance and actions, that we both broke into a roar
+of laughter, which lasted until for very exhaustion we were compelled
+to stop. He neither joined in our merriment nor expressed offence at
+it, but continued to suck away at his long wooden tube with a perfectly
+stolid and impassive face, save that the half-covered eyes glinted
+rapidly backwards and forwards from one to the other of us.
+
+'You will excuse our laughter, sir,' I said at last; 'my friend and I
+are unused to such adventures, and are merry at the happy ending of it.
+May we ask whom it is that we have picked up?'
+
+'Decimus Saxon is my name,' the stranger answered; 'I am the tenth child
+of a worthy father, as the Latin implies. There are but nine betwixt me
+and an inheritance. Who knows? Small-pox might do it, or the plague!'
+
+'We heard a shot aboard of the brig,' said Reuben.
+
+'That was my brother Nonus shooting at me,' the stranger observed,
+shaking his head sadly.
+
+'But there was a second shot.'
+
+'Ah, that was me shooting at my brother Nonus.'
+
+'Good lack!' I cried. 'I trust that thou hast done him no hurt.'
+
+'But a flesh wound, at the most,' he answered. 'I thought it best to
+come away, however, lest the affair grow into a quarrel. I am sure that
+it was he who trained the nine-pounder on me when I was in the water.
+It came near enough to part my hair. He was always a good shot with a
+falconet or a mortar-piece. He could not have been hurt, however, to get
+down from the poop to the main-deck in the time.'
+
+There was a pause after this, while the stranger drew a long knife from
+his belt, and cleaned out his pipe with it. Reuben and I took up our
+oars, and having pulled up our tangled fishing-lines, which had been
+streaming behind the boat, we proceeded to pull in towards the land.
+
+'The question now is,' said the stranger, 'where we are to go to?'
+
+'We are going down Langston Bay,' I answered.
+
+'Oh, we are, are we?' he cried, in a mocking voice; 'you are sure of it
+eh? You are certain we are not going to France? We have a mast and sail
+there, I see, and water in the beaker. All we want are a few fish,
+which I hear are plentiful in these waters, and we might make a push for
+Barfleur.'
+
+'We are going down Langston Bay,' I repeated coldly.
+
+'You see might is right upon the waters,' he explained, with a smile
+which broke his whole face up into crinkles. 'I am an old soldier, a
+tough fighting man, and you are two raw lads. I have a knife, and you
+are unarmed. D'ye see the line of argument? The question now is, Where
+are we to go?'
+
+I faced round upon him with the oar in my hand. 'You boasted that you
+could swim to Portsmouth,' said I, 'and so you shall. Into the water
+with you, you sea-viper, or I'll push you in as sure as my name is Micah
+Clarke.'
+
+'Throw your knife down, or I'll drive the boat hook through you,' cried
+Reuben, pushing it forward to within a few inches of the man's throat.
+
+'Sink me, but this is most commendable!' he said, sheathing his weapon,
+and laughing softly to himself. 'I love to draw spirit out of the young
+fellows. I am the steel, d'ye see, which knocks the valour out of your
+flint. A notable simile, and one in every way worthy of that most witty
+of mankind, Samuel Butler. This,' he continued, tapping a protuberance
+which I had remarked over his chest, 'is not a natural deformity, but is
+a copy of that inestimable "Hudibras," which combines the light touch
+of Horace with the broader mirth of Catullus. Heh! what think you of the
+criticism?'
+
+'Give up that knife,' said I sternly.
+
+'Certainly,' he replied, handing it over to me with a polite bow. 'Is
+there any other reasonable matter in which I can oblige ye? I will
+give up anything to do ye pleasure-save only my good name and soldierly
+repute, or this same copy of "Hudibras," which, together with a Latin
+treatise upon the usages of war, written by a Fleming and printed in
+Liege in the Lowlands, I do ever bear in my bosom.'
+
+I sat down beside him with the knife in my hand. 'You pull both oars,'
+I said to Reuben; 'I'll keep guard over the fellow and see that he plays
+us no trick. I believe that you are right, and that he is nothing better
+than a pirate. He shall be given over to the justices when we get to
+Havant.'
+
+I thought that our passenger's coolness deserted him for a moment, and
+that a look of annoyance passed over his face.
+
+'Wait a bit!' he said; 'your name, I gather is Clarke, and your home is
+Havant. Are you a kinsman of Joseph Clarke, the old Roundhead of that
+town?'
+
+'He is my father,' I answered.
+
+'Hark to that, now!' he cried, with a throb of laughter; 'I have a
+trick of falling on my feet. Look at this, lad! Look at this!' He drew
+a packet of letters from his inside pocket, wrapped in a bit of tarred
+cloth, and opening it he picked one out and placed it upon my knee.
+'Read!' said he, pointing at it with his long thin finger.
+
+It was inscribed in large plain characters, 'To Joseph Clarke, leather
+merchant of Havant, by the hand of Master Decimus Saxon, part-owner of
+the ship _Providence_, from Amsterdam to Portsmouth.' At each side it
+was sealed with a massive red seal, and was additionally secured with a
+broad band of silk.
+
+'I have three-and-twenty of them to deliver in the neighbourhood,' he
+remarked. 'That shows what folk think of Decimus Saxon. Three-and-twenty
+lives and liberties are in my hands. Ah, lad, invoices and bills of
+lading are not done up in that fashion. It is not a cargo of Flemish
+skins that is coming for the old man. The skins have good English hearts
+in them; ay, and English swords in their fists to strike out for freedom
+and for conscience. I risk my life in carrying this letter to your
+father; and you, his son, threaten to hand me over to the justices! For
+shame! For shame! I blush for you!'
+
+'I don't know what you are hinting at,' I answered. 'You must speak
+plainer if I am to understand you.'
+
+'Can we trust him?' he asked, jerking his head in the direction of
+Reuben.
+
+'As myself.'
+
+'How very charming!' said he, with something between a smile and
+a sneer. 'David and Jonathan--or, to be more classical and less
+scriptural, Damon and Pythias--eh?' These papers, then, are from the
+faithful abroad, the exiles in Holland, ye understand, who are thinking
+of making a move and of coming over to see King James in his own country
+with their swords strapped on their thighs. The letters are to those
+from whom they expect sympathy, and notify when and where they will make
+a landing. Now, my dear lad, you will perceive that instead of my being
+in your power, you are so completely in mine that it needs but a word
+from me to destroy your whole family. Decimus Saxon is staunch, though,
+and that word shall never be spoken.'
+
+'If all this be true,' said I, 'and if your mission is indeed as you
+have said, why did you even now propose to make for France?'
+
+'Aptly asked, and yet the answer is clear enough,' he replied; 'sweet
+and ingenuous as are your faces, I could not read upon them that ye
+would prove to be Whigs and friends of the good old cause. Ye might have
+taken me to where excisemen or others would have wanted to pry and peep,
+and so endangered my commission. Better a voyage to France in an open
+boat than that.'
+
+'I will take you to my father,' said I, after a few moments' thought.
+'You can deliver your letter and make good your story to him. If you
+are indeed a true man, you will meet with a warm welcome; but should you
+prove, as I shrewdly suspect, to be a rogue, you need expect no mercy.'
+
+'Bless the youngster! he speaks like the Lord High Chancellor of
+England! What is it the old man says?
+
+          "He could not ope
+           His mouth, but out there fell a trope."
+
+But it should be a threat, which is the ware in which you are fond of
+dealing.
+
+          "He could not let
+           A minute pass without a threat."
+
+How's that, eh? Waller himself could not have capped the couplet
+neater.'
+
+All this time Reuben had been swinging away at his oars, and we had made
+our way into Langston Bay, down the sheltered waters of which we were
+rapidly shooting. Sitting in the sheets, I turned over in my mind
+all that this waif had said. I had glanced over his shoulder at the
+addresses of some of the letters--Steadman of Basingstoke, Wintle
+of Alresford, Fortescue of Bognor, all well-known leaders of the
+Dissenters. If they were what he represented them to be, it was no
+exaggeration to say that he held the fortunes and fates of these men
+entirely in his hands. Government would be only too glad to have a valid
+reason for striking hard at the men whom they feared. On the whole it
+was well to tread carefully in the matter, so I restored our prisoner's
+knife to him, and treated him with increased consideration. It was
+well-nigh dark when we beached the boat, and entirely so before we
+reached Havant, which was fortunate, as the bootless and hatless state
+of our dripping companion could not have failed to set tongues wagging,
+and perhaps to excite the inquiries of the authorities. As it was, we
+scarce met a soul before reaching my father's door.
+
+
+
+Chapter V. Of the Man with the Drooping Lids
+
+My mother and my father were sitting in their high-backed chairs on
+either side of the empty fireplace when we arrived, he smoking his
+evening pipe of Oronooko, and she working at her embroidery. The moment
+that I opened the door the man whom I had brought stepped briskly in,
+and bowing to the old people began to make glib excuses for the lateness
+of his visit, and to explain the manner in which we had picked him up. I
+could not help smiling at the utter amazement expressed upon my mother's
+face as she gazed at him, for the loss of his jack-boots exposed a pair
+of interminable spindle-shanks which were in ludicrous contrast to the
+baggy low country knee-breeches which surmounted them. His tunic was
+made of coarse sad-coloured kersey stuff with flat new gilded brass
+buttons, beneath which was a whitish callamanca vest edged with silver.
+Round the neck of his coat was a broad white collar after the Dutch
+fashion, out of which his long scraggy throat shot upwards with his
+round head and bristle of hair balanced upon the top of it, like the
+turnip on a stick at which we used to throw at the fairs. In this guise
+he stood blinking and winking in the glare of light, and pattering out
+his excuses with as many bows and scrapes as Sir Peter Witling in the
+play. I was in the act of following him into the room, when Reuben
+plucked at my sleeve to detain me.
+
+'Nay, I won't come in with you, Micah,' said he; 'there's mischief
+likely to come of all this. My father may grumble over his beer jugs,
+but he's a Churchman and a Tantivy for all that. I'd best keep out of
+it.'
+
+'You are right,' I answered. 'There is no need for you to meddle in the
+business. Be mum as to all that you have heard.'
+
+'Mum as a mouse,' said he, and pressing my hand turned away into the
+darkness. When I returned to the sitting-room I found that my mother had
+hurried into the kitchen, where the crackling of sticks showed that she
+was busy in building a fire. Decimus Saxon was seated at the edge of
+the iron-bound oak chest at the side of my father, and was watching him
+keenly with his little twinkling eyes, while the old man was fixing
+his horn glasses and breaking the seals of the packet which his strange
+visitor had just handed to him.
+
+I saw that when my father looked at the signature at the end of the
+long, closely written letter he gave a whiff of surprise and sat
+motionless for a moment or so staring at it. Then he turned to the
+commencement and read it very carefully through, after which he turned
+it over and read it again. Clearly it brought no unwelcome news, for his
+eyes sparkled with joy when he looked up from his reading, and more than
+once he laughed aloud. Finally he asked the man Saxon how it had come
+into his possession, and whether he was aware of the contents.
+
+'Why, as to that,' said the messenger, 'it was handed to me by no less
+a person than Dicky Rumbold himself, and in the presence of others whom
+it's not for me to name. As to the contents, your own sense will tell
+you that I would scarce risk my neck by bearing a message without I
+knew what the message was. I am no chicken at the trade, sir. Cartels,
+_pronunciamientos_, challenges, flags of truce, and proposals for
+waffenstillstands, as the Deutschers call it--they've all gone through
+my hands, and never one, gone awry.'
+
+'Indeed!' quoth my father. 'You are yourself one of the faithful?'
+
+'I trust that I am one of those who are on the narrow and thorny track,'
+said he, speaking through his nose, as was the habit of the extreme
+sectaries.
+
+'A track upon which no prelate can guide us,' said my father.
+
+'Where man is nought and the Lord is all,' rejoined Saxon.
+
+'Good! good!' cried my father. 'Micah, you shall take this worthy man
+to my room, and see that he hath dry linen, and my second-best suit of
+Utrecht velvet. It may serve until his own are dried. My boots, too,
+may perchance be useful--my riding ones of untanned leather. A hat with
+silver braiding hangs above them in the cupboard. See that he lacks for
+nothing which the house can furnish. Supper will be ready when he hath
+changed his attire. I beg that you will go at once, good Master Saxon,
+lest you take a chill.'
+
+'There is but one thing that we have omitted,' said our visitor,
+solemnly rising up from his chair and clasping his long nervous hands
+together. 'Let us delay no longer to send up a word of praise to the
+Almighty for His manifold blessings, and for the mercy wherewith He
+plucked me and my letters out of the deep, even as Jonah was saved from
+the violence of the wicked ones who hurled him overboard, and it may be
+fired falconets at him, though we are not so informed in Holy Writ. Let
+us pray, my friends!' Then in a high-toned chanting voice he offered up
+a long prayer of thanksgiving, winding up with a petition for grace and
+enlightenment for the house and all its inmates. Having concluded by a
+sonorous amen, he at last suffered himself to be led upstairs; while
+my mother, who had slipped in and listened with much edification to his
+words, hurried away to prepare him a bumper of green usquebaugh with ten
+drops of Daffy's Elixir therein, which was her sovereign recipe against
+the effects of a soaking. There was no event in life, from a christening
+to a marriage, but had some appropriate food or drink in my mother's
+vocabulary, and no ailment for which she had not some pleasant cure in
+her well-stocked cupboards.
+
+Master Decimus Saxon in my father's black Utrecht velvet and untanned
+riding boots looked a very different man to the bedraggled castaway who
+had crawled like a conger eel into our fishing-boat. It seemed as if he
+had cast off his manner with his raiment, for he behaved to my mother
+during supper with an air of demure gallantry which sat upon him better
+than the pert and flippant carriage which he had shown towards us in the
+boat. Truth to say, if he was now more reserved, there was a very good
+reason for it, for he played such havoc amongst the eatables that there
+was little time for talk. At last, after passing from the round of cold
+beef to a capon pasty, and topping up with a two-pound perch, washed
+down by a great jug of ale, he smiled upon us all and told us that his
+fleshly necessities were satisfied for the nonce. 'It is my rule,' he
+remarked, 'to obey the wise precept which advises a man to rise from
+table feeling that he could yet eat as much as he has partaken of.'
+
+'I gather from your words, sir, that you have yourself seen hard
+service,' my father remarked when the board had been cleared and my
+mother had retired for the night.
+
+'I am an old fighting man,' our visitor answered, screwing his pipe
+together, 'a lean old dog of the hold-fast breed. This body of mine
+bears the mark of many a cut and slash received for the most part in
+the service of the Protestant faith, though some few were caught for the
+sake of Christendom in general when warring against the Turk. There is
+blood of mine, sir, Spotted all over the map of Europe. Some of it, I
+confess, was spilled in no public cause, but for the protection of mine
+own honour in the private duello or holmgang, as it was called among the
+nations of the north. It is necessary that a cavaliero of fortune, being
+for the greater part a stranger in a strange land, should be somewhat
+nice in matters of the sort, since he stands, as it were, as the
+representative of his country, whose good name should be more dear to
+him than his own.'
+
+'Your weapon on such occasions was, I suppose, the sword?' my father
+asked, shifting uneasily in his seat, as he would do when his old
+instincts were waking up.
+
+'Broadsword, rapier, Toledo, spontoon, battle-axe, pike or half-pike,
+morgenstiern, and halbert. I speak with all due modesty, but with
+backsword, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, single falchion, case of
+falchions, or any other such exercise, I will hold mine own against any
+man that ever wore neat's leather, save only my elder brother Quartus.'
+
+'By my faith,' said my father with his eyes shining, 'were I twenty
+years younger I should have at you! My backsword play hath been thought
+well of by stout men of war. God forgive me that my heart should still
+turn to such vanities.'
+
+'I have heard godly men speak well of it,' remarked Saxon. 'Master
+Richard Rumbold himself spake of your deeds of arms to the Duke of
+Argyle. Was there not a Scotsman, one Storr or Stour?'
+
+'Ay, ay! Storr of Drumlithie. I cut him nigh to the saddle-bow in a
+skirmish on the eve of Dunbar. So Dicky Rumbold had not forgotten it,
+eh? He was a hard one both at praying and at fighting. We have ridden
+knee to knee in the field, and we have sought truth together in the
+chamber. So, Dick will be in harness once again! He could not be still
+if a blow were to be struck for the trampled faith. If the tide of war
+set in this direction, I too--who knows? who knows?'
+
+'And here is a stout man-at-arms,' said Saxon, passing his hand down my
+arm.' He hath thew and sinew, and can use proud words too upon occasion,
+as I have good cause to know, even in our short acquaintance. Might it
+not be that he too should strike in this quarrel?'
+
+'We shall discuss it,' my father answered, looking thoughtfully at me
+from under his heavy brows. 'But I pray you, friend Saxon, to give us
+some further account upon these matters. My son Micah, as I understand,
+hath picked you out of the waves. How came you there?'
+
+Decimus Saxon puffed at his pipe for a minute or more in silence, as one
+who is marshalling facts each in its due order.
+
+'It came about in this wise,' he said at last. 'When John of Poland
+chased the Turk from the gates of Vienna, peace broke out in the
+Principalities, and many a wandering cavaliero like myself found his
+occupation gone. There was no war waging save only some petty Italian
+skirmish, in which a soldier could scarce expect to reap either dollars
+or repute, so I wandered across the Continent, much cast down at the
+strange peace which prevailed in every quarter. At last, however, on
+reaching the Lowlands, I chanced to hear that the _Providence_, owned
+and commanded by my two brothers, Nonus and Quartus, was about to start
+from Amsterdam for an adventure to the Guinea coast. I proposed to them
+that I should join them, and was accordingly taken into partnership on
+condition that I paid one-third of the cost of the cargo. While waiting
+at the port I chanced to come across some of the exiles, who, having
+heard of my devotion to the Protestant cause, brought me to the Duke and
+to Master Rumbold, who committed these letters to my charge. This makes
+it clear how they came into my possession.'
+
+'But not how you and they came into the water,' my father suggested.
+
+'Why, that was but the veriest chance,' the adventurer answered with
+some little confusion of manner. 'It was the _fortuna belli_, or more
+properly _pacis_. I had asked my brothers to put into Portsmouth that I
+might get rid of these letters, on which they replied in a boorish and
+unmannerly fashion that they were still waiting for the thousand guineas
+which represented my share of the venture. To this I answered with
+brotherly familiarity that it was a small thing, and should be paid
+for out of the profits of our enterprise. Their reply was I that I had
+promised to pay the money down, and that money down they must have. I
+then proceeded to prove, both by the Aristotelian and by the Platonic
+or deductive method, that having no guineas in my possession it was
+impossible for me to produce a thousand of them, at the same time
+pointing out that the association of an honest man in the business was
+in itself an ample return for the money, since their own reputations had
+been somewhat blown on. I further offered in the same frank and friendly
+spirit to meet either of them with sword or with pistol, a proposal
+which should have satisfied any honour-loving Cavaliero. Their base
+mercantile souls prompted them, however, to catch up two muskets, one of
+which Nonus discharged at me, and it is likely that Quartus would have
+followed suit had I not plucked the gun from his hand and unloaded it to
+prevent further mischief. In unloading it I fear that one of the slugs
+blew a hole in brother Nonus. Seeing that there was a chance of further
+disagreements aboard the vessel, I at once decided to leave her, in
+doing which I was forced to kick off my beautiful jack-boots, which were
+said by Vanseddars himself to be he finest pair that ever went out of
+his shop, square-toed, double-soled--alas! alas!'
+
+'Strange that you should have been picked up by the son of the very man
+to whom you had a letter.'
+
+'The working of Providence,' Saxon answered. 'I have two-and-twenty
+other letters which must all be delivered by hand. If you will permit me
+to use your house for a while, I shall make it my headquarters.'
+
+'Use it as though it were your own,' said my father.
+
+'Your most grateful servant, sir,' he cried, jumping up and bowing
+with his hand over his heart. 'This is indeed a haven of rest after the
+ungodly and profane company of my brothers. Shall we then put up a hymn,
+and retire from the business of the day?'
+
+My father willingly agreed, and we sang 'Oh, happy land!' after which
+our visitor followed me to his room, bearing with him the unfinished
+bottle of usquebaugh which my mother had left on the table. He took it
+with him, he explained, as a precaution against Persian ague, contracted
+while battling against the Ottoman, and liable to recur at strange
+moments. I left him in our best spare bedroom, and returned to my
+father, who was still seated, heavy with thought, in his old corner.
+
+'What think you of my find, Dad?' I asked.
+
+'A man of parts and of piety,' he answered; 'but in truth he has brought
+me news so much after my heart, that he could not be unwelcome were he
+the Pope of Rome.'
+
+'What news, then?'
+
+'This, this!' he cried joyously, plucking the letter out of his bosom.
+'I will read it to you, lad. Nay, perhaps I had best sleep the night
+upon it, and read it to-morrow when our heads are clearer. May the Lord
+guide my path, and confound the tyrant! Pray for light, boy, for my life
+and yours may be equally at stake.'
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI. Of the Letter that came from the Lowlands
+
+In the morning I was up betimes, and went forthwith, after the country
+fashion, to our quest's room to see if there was aught in which I could
+serve him. On pushing at his door, I found that it was fastened, which
+surprised me the more as I knew that there was neither key nor bolt upon
+the inside. On my pressing against it, however, it began to yield, and
+I could then see that a heavy chest which was used to stand near the
+window had been pulled round in order to shut out any intrusion. This
+precaution, taken under my father's roof, as though he were in a den of
+thieves, angered me, and I gave a butt with my shoulder which cleared
+the box out of the way, and enabled me to enter the room.
+
+The man Saxon was sitting up in bed, staring about him as though he
+were not very certain for the moment where he was. He had tied a white
+kerchief round his head by way of night bonnet, and his hard-visaged,
+clean-shaven face, looking out through this, together with his bony
+figure, gave him some resemblance to a gigantic old woman. The bottle
+of usquebaugh stood empty by his bedside. Clearly his fears had been
+realised, and he had had an attack of the Persian ague.
+
+'Ah, my young friend!' he said at last. 'Is it, then, the custom of this
+part of the country to carry your visitor's rooms by storm or escalado
+in the early hours of the morning?'
+
+'Is it the custom,' I answered sternly, 'to barricade up your door when
+you are sleeping under the roof-tree of an honest man? What did you
+fear, that you should take such a precaution?'
+
+'Nay, you are indeed a spitfire,' he replied, sinking back upon the
+pillow, and drawing the clothes round him, 'a feuerkopf as the Germans
+call it, or sometimes tollkopf, which in its literal significance
+meaneth a fool's head. Your father was, as I have heard, a strong and a
+fierce man when the blood of youth ran in his veins; but you, I should
+judge, are in no way behind him. Know, then, that the bearer of papers
+of import, _documenta preciosa sed periculosa_, is bound to leave
+nought to chance, but to guard in every way the charge which hath been
+committed to him. True it is that I am in the house of an honest man,
+but I know not who may come or who may go during the hours of the night.
+Indeed, for the matter of that--but enough is said. I shall be with you
+anon.'
+
+'Your clothes are dry and are ready for you,' I remarked.
+
+'Enough! enough!' he answered. 'I have no quarrel with the suit which
+your father has lent me. It may be that I have been used to better, but
+they will serve my turn. The camp is not the court.'
+
+It was evident to me that my father's suit was infinitely better, both
+in texture and material, than that which our visitor had brought
+with him. As he had withdrawn his head, however, entirely beneath the
+bedclothes, there was nothing more to be said, so I descended to the
+lower room, where I found toy father busily engaged fastening a new
+buckle to his sword-belt while my mother and the maid were preparing the
+morning meal.
+
+'Come into the yard with me, Micah,' quoth my father; 'I would have
+a word with you.' The workmen had not yet come to their work, so we
+strolled out into the sweet morning air, and seated ourselves on the low
+stone bankment on which the skins are dressed.
+
+'I have been out here this morning trying my hand at the broadsword
+exercise, 'said he; 'I find that I am as quick as ever on a thrust, but
+my cuts are sadly stiff. I might be of use at a pinch, but, alas! I
+am not the same swordsman who led the left troop of the finest horse
+regiment that ever followed a kettledrum. The Lord hath given, and the
+Lord hath taken away! Yet, if I am old and worn, there is the fruit of
+my loins to stand in my place and to wield the same sword in the same
+cause. You shall go in my place, Micah.'
+
+'Go! Go whither?'
+
+'Hush, lad, and listen! Let not your mother know too much, for the
+hearts of women are soft. When Abraham offered up his eldest born, I
+trow that he said little to Sarah on the matter. Here is the letter.
+Know you who this Dicky Rumbold is?'
+
+'Surely I have heard you speak of him as an old companion of yours.'
+
+'The same--a staunch man and true. So faithful was he--faithful even to
+slaying--that when the army of the righteous dispersed, he did not lay
+aside his zeal with his buff-coat. He took to business as a maltster at
+Hoddesdon, and in his house was planned the famous Rye House Plot, in
+which so many good men were involved.'
+
+'Was it not a foul assassination plot?' I asked.
+
+'Nay, nay, be not led away by terms! It is a vile invention of the
+malignants that these men planned assassination. What they would do they
+purposed doing in broad daylight, thirty of them against fifty of the
+Royal Guard, when Charles and James passed on their way to Newmarket. If
+the royal brothers got pistol-bullet or sword-stab, it would be in open
+fight, and at the risk of their attackers. It was give and take, and no
+murder.'
+
+He paused and looked inquiringly at me; but I could not truthfully
+say that I was satisfied, for an attack upon the lives of unarmed and
+unsuspecting men, even though surrounded by a bodyguard, could not, to
+my mind, be justified.
+
+'When the plot failed,' my father continued, 'Rumbold had to fly for his
+life, but he succeeded in giving his pursuers the slip and in making his
+way to the Lowlands. There he found that many enemies of the Government
+had gathered together. Repeated messages from England, especially from
+the western counties and from London, assured them that if they would
+but attempt an invasion they might rely upon help both in men and in
+money. They were, however, at fault for some time for want of a leader
+of sufficient weight to carry through so large a project; but now
+at last they have one, who is the best that could have been singled
+out--none other than the well-beloved Protestant chieftain James, Duke
+of Monnmouth, son of Charles II.'
+
+'Illegitimate son,' I remarked.
+
+'That may or may not be. There are those who say that Lucy Walters was
+a lawful wife. Bastard or no, he holds the sound principles of the true
+Church, and he is beloved by the people. Let him appear in the West, and
+soldiers will rise up like the flowers in the spring time.'
+
+He paused, and led me away to the farther end of the yard, for the
+workmen had begun to arrive and to cluster round the dipping trough.
+
+'Monmouth is coming over,' he continued, 'and he expects every brave
+Protestant man to rally to his standard. The Duke of Argyle is to
+command a separate expedition, which will set the Highlands of Scotland
+in a blaze. Between them they hope to bring the persecutor of the
+faithful on his knees. But I hear the voice of the man Saxon, and I must
+not let him say that I have treated him in a churlish fashion. Here is
+the letter, lad. Read it with care, and remember that when brave men are
+striving for their rights it is fitting that one of the old rebel house
+of Clarke should be among them.'
+
+I took the letter, and wandering off into the fields, I settled myself
+under a convenient tree, and set myself to read it. This yellow sheet
+which I now hold in my hand is the very one which was brought by Decimus
+Saxon, and read by me that bright May morning under the hawthorn shade.
+I give it to you as it stands;
+
+
+'To my friend and companion in the cause of the Lord, Joseph
+Clarke.--Know, friend, that aid and delivery is coming upon Israel,
+and that the wicked king and those who uphold him shall be smitten and
+entirely cast down, until their place in the land shall know them no
+more. Hasten, then, to testify to thy own faith, that in the day of
+trouble ye be not found wanting.
+
+'It has chanced from time to time that many of the suffering Church,
+both from our own land and from among the Scots, have assembled in this
+good Lutheran town of Amsterdam, until enough are gathered together to
+take a good work in hand. For amongst our own folk there are my
+Lord Grey of Wark, Wade, Dare of Taunton, Ayloffe, Holmes, Hollis,
+Goodenough, and others whom thou shalt know. Of the Scots there are the
+Duke of Argyle, who has suffered sorely for the Covenant, Sir Patrick
+Hume, Fletcher of Saltoun, Sir John Cochrane, Dr. Ferguson, Major
+Elphinstone, and others. To these we would fain have added Locke and old
+Hal Ludlow, but they are, as those of the Laodicean Church, neither cold
+nor warm.
+
+'It has now come to pass, however, that Monmouth, who has long lived in
+dalliance with the Midianitish woman known by the name of Wentworth, has
+at last turned him to higher things, and has consented to make a bid for
+the crown. It was found that the Scots preferred to follow a chieftain
+of their own, and it has therefore been determined that Argyle--M'Callum
+More, as the breechless savages of Inverary call him--shall command a
+separate expedition landing upon the western coast of Scotland. There
+he hopes to raise five thousand Campbells, and to be joined by all the
+Covenanters and Western Whigs, men who would make troops of the old
+breed had they but God-fearing officers with an experience of the chance
+of fields and the usages of war. With such a following he should be able
+to hold Glasgow, and to draw away the King's force to the north. Ayloffe
+and I go with Argyle. It is likely that our feet may be upon Scottish
+ground before thy eyes read these words.
+
+'The stronger expedition starts with Monmouth, and lands at a fitting
+place in the West, where we are assured that we have many friends. I
+cannot name the spot lest this letter miscarry, but thou shalt hear
+anon. I have written to all good men along the coast, bidding them to
+be prepared to support the rising. The King is weak, and hated by the
+greater part of his subjects. It doth but need one good stroke to bring
+his crown in the dust. Monmouth will start in a few weeks, when his
+equipment is finished and the weather favourable. If thou canst come,
+mine old comrade, I know well that thou wilt need no bidding of mine to
+bring thee to our banner. Should perchance a peaceful life and waning
+strength forbid thy attendance, I trust that thou wilt wrestle for us
+in prayer, even as the holy prophet of old; and perchance, since I hear
+that thou hast prospered according to the things of this world, thou
+mayst be able to fit out a pikeman or two, or to send a gift towards the
+military chest, which will be none too plentifully lined. We trust
+not to gold, but to steel and to our own good cause, yet gold will be
+welcome none the less. Should we fall, we fall like men and Christians.
+Should we succeed, we shall see how the perjured James, the persecutor
+of the saints with the heart like a nether millstone, the man who smiled
+when the thumbs of the faithful were wrenched out of their sockets at
+Edinburgh--we shall see how manfully he can bear adversity when it falls
+to his lot. May the hand of the Almighty be over us!
+
+'I know little of the bearer of this, save that he professes to be of
+the elect. Shouldst thou go to Monmouth's camp, see that thou take him
+with thee, for I hear that he hath had good experience in the German,
+Swedish, and Otttoman wars.--Yours in the faith of Christ, Richard
+Rumbold.
+
+'Present my services to thy spouse. Let her read Timothy chapter two,
+ninth to fifteenth verses.'
+
+
+This long letter I read very carefully, and then putting it in my pocket
+returned indoors to my breakfast. My father looked at me, as I entered,
+with questioning eyes, but I had no answer to return him, for my own
+mind was clouded and uncertain.
+
+That day Decimus Saxon left us, intending to make a round of the country
+and to deliver his letters, but promising to be back again ere long. We
+had a small mishap ere he went, for as we were talking of his journey
+my brother Hosea must needs start playing with my father's powder-flask,
+which in some way went off with a sudden fluff, spattering the walls
+with fragments of metal. So unexpected and loud was the explosion,
+that both my father and I sprang to our feet; but Saxon, whose back
+was turned to my brother, sat four-square in his chair without a glance
+behind him or a shade of change in his rugged face. As luck would have
+it, no one was injured, not even Hosea, but the incident made me think
+more highly of our new acquaintance. As he started off down the village
+street, his long stringy figure and strange gnarled visage, with my
+father's silver-braided hat cocked over his eye, attracted rather
+more attention than I cared to see, considering the importance of the
+missives which he bore, and the certainty of their discovery should he
+be arrested as a masterless man. Fortunately, however, the curiosity
+of the country folk did but lead them to cluster round their doors and
+windows, staring open-eyed, while he, pleased at the attention which
+he excited, strode along with his head in the air and a cudgel of
+mine twirling in his hand. He had left golden opinions behind him. My
+father's good wishes had been won by his piety and by the sacrifices
+which he claimed to have made for the faith. My mother he had taught how
+wimples are worn amongst the Serbs, and had also demonstrated to her a
+new method of curing marigolds in use in some parts of Lithuania. For
+myself, I confess that I retained a vague distrust of the man, and
+was determined to avoid putting faith in him more than was needful. At
+present, however, we had no choice hut to treat him as an ambassador
+from friends.
+
+And I? What was I to do? Should I follow my father's wishes, and draw
+my maiden sword on behalf of the insurgents, or should I stand aside and
+see how events shaped themselves? It was more fitting that I should
+go than he. But, on the other hand, I was no keen religious zealot.
+Papistry, Church, Dissent, I believed that there was good in all of
+them, but that not one was worth the spilling of human blood. James
+might be a perjurer and a villain, but he was, as far as I could see,
+the rightful king of England, and no tales of secret marriages or black
+boxes could alter the fact that his rival was apparently an illegitimate
+son, and as such ineligible to the throne. Who could say what evil act
+upon the part of a monarch justified his people in setting him aside?
+Who was the judge in such a case? Yet, on the other hand, the man had
+notoriously broken his own pledges, and that surely should absolve
+his subjects from their allegiance. It was a weighty question for a
+country-bred lad to have to settle, and yet settled it must be, and that
+speedily. I took up my hat and wandered away down the village street,
+turning the matter over in my head.
+
+But it was no easy thing for me to think seriously of anything in the
+hamlet; for I was in some way, my dear children, though I say it myself,
+a favourite with the young and with the old, so that I could not walk
+ten paces without some greeting or address. There were my own brothers
+trailing behind me, Baker Mitford's children tugging at my skirts, and
+the millwright's two little maidens one on either hand. Then, when I had
+persuaded these young rompers to leave me, out came Dame Fullarton the
+widow, with a sad tale about how her grindstone had fallen out of its
+frame, and neither she nor her household could lift it in again. That
+matter I set straight and proceeded on my way; but I could not pass the
+sign of the Wheatsheaf without John Lockarby, Reuben's father, plunging
+out at me and insisting upon my coming in with him for a morning cup.
+
+'The best glass of mead in the countryside, and brewed under my own
+roof,' said he proudly, as he poured it into the flagon. 'Why, bless
+you, master Micah, a man with a frame like yours wants store o' good
+malt to keep it up wi'.'
+
+'And malt like this is worthy of a good frame to contain it,' quoth
+Reuben, who was at work among the flasks.
+
+'What think ye, Micah?' said the landlord. 'There was the Squire o'
+Milton over here yester morning wi' Johnny Ferneley o' the Bank side,
+and they will have it that there's a man in Fareham who could wrestle
+you, the best of three, and find your own grip, for a good round stake.'
+
+'Tut! tut!' I answered; 'you would have me like a prize mastiff, showing
+my teeth to the whole countryside. What matter if the man can throw me,
+or I him?'
+
+'What matter? Why, the honour of Havant,' quoth he. 'Is that no matter?
+But you are right,' he continued, draining off his horn. 'What is all
+this village life with its small successes to such as you? You are as
+much out of your place as a vintage wine at a harvest supper. The whole
+of broad England, and not the streets of Havant, is the fit stage for
+a man of your kidney. What have you to do with the beating of skins and
+the tanning of leather?'
+
+'My father would have you go forth as a knight-errant, Micah,' said
+Reuben, laughing. 'You might chance to get your own skin beaten and your
+own leather tanned.'
+
+'Who ever knew so long a tongue in so short a body?' cried the
+innkeeper. 'But in good sooth, Master Micah, I am in sober earnest when
+I say that you are indeed wasting the years of your youth, when life is
+sparkling and clear, and that you will regret it when you have come to
+the flat and flavourless dregs of old age.'
+
+'There spoke the brewer,' said Reuben; 'but indeed, Micah, my father is
+right, for all that he hath such a hops-and-water manner of putting it.'
+
+'I will think over it,' I answered, and with a nod to the kindly couple
+proceeded on my way.
+
+Zachariah Palmer was planing a plank as I passed. Looking up he bade me
+good-morrow.
+
+'I have a book for you, lad,' he said.
+
+'I have but now finished the "Comus,"' I answered, for he had lent me
+John Milton's poem. 'But what is this new book, daddy?'
+
+'It is by the learned Locke, and treateth of states and statecraft. It
+is but a small thing, but if wisdom could show in the scales it would
+weigh down many a library. You shall have it when I have finished it,
+to-morrow mayhap or the day after. A good man is Master Locke. Is he not
+at this moment a wanderer in the Lowlands, rather than bow his knee to
+what his conscience approved not of?'
+
+'There are many good men among the exiles, are there not?' said I.
+
+'The pick of the country,' he answered. 'Ill fares the land that drives
+the highest and bravest of its citizens away from it. The day is coming,
+I fear, when every man will have to choose betwixt his beliefs and his
+freedom. I am an old man, Micah boy, but I may live long enough to see
+strange things in this once Protestant kingdom.'
+
+'But if these exiles had their way,' I objected, 'they would place
+Monmouth upon the throne, and so unjustly alter the succession.'
+
+'Nay, nay,' old Zachary answered, laying down his plane. 'If they use
+Monmouth's name, it is but to strengthen their cause, and to show that
+they have a leader of repute. Were James driven from the throne, the
+Commons of England in Parliament assembled would be called upon to
+name his successor. There are men at Monmouth's back who would not stir
+unless this were so.'
+
+'Then, daddy,' said I, 'since I can trust you, and since you will tell
+me what you do really think, would it be well, if Monmouth's standard be
+raised, that I should join it?'
+
+The carpenter stroked his white beard and pondered for a while. 'It is a
+pregnant question,' he said at last, 'and yet methinks that there is but
+one answer to it, especially for your father's son. Should an end be put
+to James's rule, it is not too late to preserve the nation in its old
+faith; but if the disease is allowed to spread, it may be that even the
+tyrant's removal would not prevent his evil seed from sprouting. I hold,
+therefore, that should the exiles make such an attempt, it is the duty
+of every man who values liberty of conscience to rally round them. And
+you, my son, the pride of the village, what better use could you make
+of your strength than to devote it to helping to relieve your country
+of this insupportable yoke? It is treasonable and dangerous
+counsel--counsel which might lead to a short shrift and a bloody
+death--but, as the Lord liveth, if you were child of mine I should say
+the same.'
+
+So spoke the old carpenter with a voice which trembled with earnestness,
+and went to work upon his plank once more, while I, with a few words of
+gratitude, went on my way pondering over what he had said to me. I had
+not gone far, however, before the hoarse voice of Solomon Sprent broke
+in upon my meditations.
+
+'Hoy there! Ahoy!' he bellowed, though his mouth was but a few yards
+from my ear. 'Would ye come across my hawse without slacking weigh? Clew
+up, d'ye see, clew up!'
+
+'Why, Captain,' I said, 'I did not see you. I was lost in thought.'
+
+'All adrift and without look-outs,' quoth he, pushing his way through
+the break in the garden hedge. 'Odd's niggars, man! friends are not
+so plentiful, d'ye see, that ye need pass 'em by without a dip o' the
+ensign. So help me, if I had had a barker I'd have fired a shot across
+your bows.'
+
+'No offence, Captain,' said I, for the veteran appeared to be nettled;
+'I have much to think of this morning.'
+
+'And so have I, mate,' he answered, in a softer voice. 'What think ye of
+my rig, eh?' He turned himself slowly round in the sunlight as he spoke,
+and I perceived that he was dressed with unusual care. He had a blue
+suit of broadcloth trimmed with eight rows of buttons, and breeches of
+the same material with great bunches of ribbon at the knee. His vest
+was of lighter blue picked out with anchors in silver, and edged with
+a finger's-breadth of lace. His boot was so wide that he might have had
+his foot in a bucket, and he wore a cutlass at his side suspended from a
+buff belt, which passed over his right shoulder.
+
+'I've had a new coat o' paint all over,' said he, with a wink.
+'Carramba! the old ship is water-tight yet. What would ye say, now, were
+I about to sling my hawser over a little scow, and take her in tow?'
+
+'A cow!' I cried.
+
+'A cow! what d'ye take me for? A wench, man, and as tight a little craft
+as ever sailed into the port of wedlock.'
+
+'I have heard no better news for many a long day,' said I; 'I did not
+even know that you were betrothed. When thou is the wedding to be?'
+
+'Go slow, friend--go slow, and heave your lead-line! You have got out
+of your channel, and are in shoal water. I never said as how I was
+betrothed.'
+
+'What then?' I asked.
+
+'I am getting up anchor now, to run down to her and summon her. Look
+ye, lad,' he continued, plucking off his cap and scratching his
+ragged locks; 'I've had to do wi' wenches enow from the Levant to the
+Antilles--wenches such as a sailorman meets, who are all paint and
+pocket. It's but the heaving of a hand grenade, and they strike their
+colours. This is a craft of another guess build, and unless I steer wi'
+care she may put one in between wind and water before I so much as
+know that I am engaged. What think ye, heh? Should I lay myself boldly
+alongside, d'ye see, and ply her with small arms, or should I work
+myself clear and try a long range action? I am none of your slippery,
+grease-tongued, long-shore lawyers, but if so be as she's willing for a
+mate, I'll stand by her in wind and weather while my planks hold out.'
+
+'I can scarce give advice in such a case,' said I, 'for my experience is
+less than yours. I should say though that you had best speak to her from
+your heart, in plain sailor language.'
+
+'Aye, aye, she can take it or leave it. Phoebe Dawson it is, the sister
+of the blacksmith. Let us work back and have a drop of the right Nants
+before we go. I have an anker newly come, which never paid the King a
+groat.'
+
+'Nay, you had best leave it alone,' I answered.
+
+'Say you so? Well, mayhap you are right. Throw off your moorings, then,
+and clap on sail, for we must go.'
+
+'But I am not concerned,' said I.
+
+'Not concerned! Not--' he was too much overcome to go on, and could
+but look at me with a face full of reproach. 'I thought better of you,
+Micah. Would you let this crazy old hulk go into action, and not stand
+by to fire a broadside?'
+
+'What would you have me do then?'
+
+'Why, I would have you help me as the occasion may arise. If I start
+to board her, I would have you work across the bows so as to rake
+her. Should I range, up on the larboard quarter, do you lie, on the
+starboard. If I get crippled, do you draw her fire until I refit. What,
+man, you would not desert me!'
+
+The old seaman's tropes and maritime conceits were not always
+intelligible to me, but it was clear that he had set his heart upon my
+accompanying him, which I was equally determined not to do. At last
+by much reasoning I made him understand that my presence would be more
+hindrance than help, and would probably be fatal to his chances of
+success.
+
+'Well, well,' he grumbled at last, 'I've been concerned in no such
+expedition before. An' it be the custom for single ships to engage, I'll
+stand to it alone. You shall come with me as consort, though, and stand
+to and fro in the offing, or sink me if I stir a step.'
+
+My mind was full of my father's plans and of the courses which lay
+before me. There seemed to be no choice, however, as old Solomon was
+in dead earnest, but to lay the matter aside for the moment and see the
+upshot of this adventure.
+
+'Mind, Solomon,' said I, 'I don't cross the threshold.'
+
+'Aye, aye, mate. You can please yourself. We have to beat up against the
+wind all the way. She's on the look-out, for I hailed her yesternight,
+and let her know as how I should bear down on her about seven bells of
+the morning watch.'
+
+I was thinking as we trudged down the road that Phoebe would need to be
+learned in sea terms to make out the old man's meaning, when he pulled
+up short and clapped his hands to his pockets.
+
+'Zounds!' he cried, 'I have forgot to bring a pistol.'
+
+'In Heaven's name!' I said in amazement, 'what could you want with a
+pistol?'
+
+'Why, to make signals with,' said he. 'Odds me that I should have forgot
+it! How is one's consort to know what is going forward when the flagship
+carries no artillery? Had the lass been kind I should have fired one
+gun, that you might know it.'
+
+'Why,' I answered, 'if you come not out I shall judge that all is well.
+If things go amiss I shall see you soon.'
+
+'Aye--or stay! I'll hoist a white jack at the port-hole. A white jack
+means that she hath hauled down her colours. Nombre de Dios, when I
+was a powder-boy in the old ship _Lion_, the day that we engaged the
+_Spiritus Sanctus_ of two tier o' guns--the first time that ever I heard
+the screech of ball--my heart never thumped as it does now. What say ye
+if we run back with a fair wind and broach that anker of Nants?'
+
+'Nay, stand to it, man,' said I; for by this time, we had come to the
+ivy-clad cottage behind which was the village smithy. 'What, Solomon!
+an English seaman never feared a foe, either with petticoats or without
+them.'
+
+'No, curse me if he did!' quoth Solomon, squaring his shoulders, 'never
+a one, Don, Devil, or Dutchman; so here goes for her!' So saying he made
+his way into the cottage, leaving me standing by the garden wicket, half
+amused and half annoyed at this interruption to my musings.
+
+As it proved, the sailor had no very great difficulty with his suit, and
+soon managed to capture his prize, to use his own language. I heard from
+the garden the growling of his gruff voice, and a good deal of shrill
+laughter ending in a small squeak, which meant, I suppose, that he was
+coming to close quarters. Then there was silence for a little while, and
+at last I saw a white kerchief waving from the window, and perceived,
+moreover, that it was Phoebe herself who was fluttering it. Well, she
+was a smart, kindly-hearted lass, and I was glad in my heart that the
+old seaman should have such a one to look after him.
+
+Here, then, was one good friend settled down finally for life. Another
+warned me that I was wasting my best years in the hamlet. A third, the
+most respected of all, advised me openly to throw in my lot with the
+insurgents, should the occasion arise. If I refused, I should have
+the shame of seeing my aged father setting off for the wars, whilst
+I lingered at home. And why should I refuse? Had it not long been the
+secret wish of my heart to see something of the great world, and what
+fairer chance could present itself? My wishes, my friend's advice, and
+my father's hopes all pointed in the one direction.
+
+'Father,' said I, when I returned home, 'I am ready to go where you
+will.'
+
+'May the Lord be glorified!' he cried solemnly. 'May He watch over
+your young life, and keep your heart steadfast to the cause which is
+assuredly His!'
+
+And so, my dear grandsons, the great resolution was taken, and I found
+myself committed to one side in the national quarrel.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII. Of the Horseman who rode from the West
+
+My father set to work forthwith preparing for our equipment, furnishing
+Saxon out as well as myself on the most liberal scale, for he was
+determined that the wealth of his age should be as devoted to the cause
+as was the strength of his youth. These arrangements had to be carried
+out with the most extreme caution, for there were many Prelatists in
+the village, and in the present disturbed state of the public mind any
+activity on the part of so well known a man would have at once attracted
+attention. So carefully did the wary old soldier manage matters,
+however, that we soon found ourselves in a position to start at an
+hour's notice, without any of our neighbours being a whit the wiser.
+
+His first move was to purchase through an agent two suitable horses at
+Chichester fair, which were conveyed to the stables of a trusty Whig
+farmer living near Portchester, who was ordered to keep them until
+they were called for. Of these animals one was a mottled grey, of great
+mettle and power, standing seventeen and a half hands high, and well up
+to my weight, for in those days, my dears, I had not laid on flesh, and
+weighed a little under sixteen stone for all my height and strength.
+A critic might have said that Covenant, for so I named my steed, was a
+trifle heavy about the head and neck, but I found him a trusty, willing
+brute, with great power and endurance. Saxon, who when fully accoutred
+could scarce have weighed more than twelve stone, had a light bay
+Spanish jennet, of great speed and spirit. This mare he named Chloe,
+'after a godly maiden of his acquaintance,' though, as my father
+remarked, there was a somewhat ungodly and heathenish smack about the
+appellation. These horses and their harness were bought and held ready
+without my father appearing in the matter in any way.
+
+This important point having been settled, there was the further question
+of arms to be discussed, which gave rise to much weighty controversy
+between Decimus Saxon and my father, each citing many instances from
+their own experiences where the presence or absence of some taslet
+or arm-guard had been of the deepest import to the wearer. Your
+great-grandfather had set his heart upon my wearing the breastplate
+which still bore the dints of the Scottish spears at Dunbar, but on
+trying it on we found it was too small for me. I confess that this was a
+surprise, for when I looked back at the awe with which I had regarded
+my father's huge proportions, it was marvellous to me to have
+this convincing proof that I had outgrown him. By ripping down the
+side-leather and piercing holes through which a lace could be passed, my
+mother managed to arrange it so that I could wear it without discomfort.
+A pair of taslets or thigh-pieces, with guards for the upper arm and
+gauntlets, were all borrowed from the old Parliamentary equipment,
+together with the heavy straight sword and pair of horse pistols which
+formed the usual weapons of a cavalier. My father had chosen me a
+head-piece in Portsmouth, fluted, with good barrets, padded inside with
+soft leather, very light and yet very strong. When fully equipped,
+both Saxon and my father agreed that I had all that was requisite for
+a well-appointed soldier. Saxon had purchased a buff-coat, a steel cap,
+and a pair of jack-boots, so that with the rapier and pistols which my
+father had presented him with, he was ready to take the field at any
+time.
+
+There would, we hoped, be no great difficulty in our reaching Monmouth's
+forces when the hour came. In those troublous times the main roads were
+so infested by highwaymen and footpads, that it was usual for travellers
+to carry weapons and even armour for their protection. There was no
+reason therefore why our appearance should excite suspicion. Should
+questions be asked, Saxon had a long story prepared, to the effect that
+we were travelling to join Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort, to whose
+household we belonged. This invention he explained to me, with many
+points of corroboration which I was to furnish, but when I said
+positively that I should rather be hanged as a rebel than speak a
+falsehood, he looked at me open-eyed, and shook his head as one much
+shocked. A few weeks of campaigning, he said, would soon cure me of my
+squeamishness. For himself, no more truthful child had ever carried a
+horn-book, but he had learned to lie upon the Danube, and looked upon
+it as a necessary part of the soldier's upbringing. 'For what are all
+stratagems, ambuscades, and outfalls but lying upon a large scale?' he
+argued. 'What is an adroit commander but one who hath a facility for
+disguising the truth? When, at the battle of Senlac, William the Norman
+ordered his men to feign flight in order that they might break his
+enemy's array, a wile much practised both by the Scythians of old and by
+the Croats of our own day, pray what is it but the acting of a lie? Or
+when Hannibal, having tied torches to the horns of great droves of oxen,
+caused the Roman Consuls to imagine that his army was in retreat, was it
+not a deception or infraction of the truth?--a point well brought out
+by a soldier of repute in the treatise "An in bello dolo uti liceat;
+an apud hostes falsiloquio uti liceat." And so if, after these great
+models, I in order to gain mine ends do announce that we are bound to
+Beaufort when we are in truth making for Monmouth, is it not in accord
+with the usages of war and the customs of great commanders?' All which
+specious argument I made no attempt to answer, beyond repeating that he
+might avail himself of the usage, but that he must not look to me for
+corroboration. On the other hand, I promised to hold my speech and to
+say nothing which might hamper him, with which pledge he was forced to
+be contented.
+
+And now at last, my patient listeners, I shall be able to carry you out
+of the humble life of the village, and to cease my gossip of the men who
+were old when I was young, and who are now lying this many a year in
+the Bedhampton churchyard. You shall come with me now, and you shall see
+England as it was in those days, and you shall hear of how we set forth
+to the wars, and of all the adventures which overtook us. And if what
+I tell you should ever chance to differ from what you have read in the
+book of Mr. Coke or of Mr. Oldmixon, or of any one else who has set
+these matters down in print, do ye bear in mind that I am telling of
+what I saw with these very eyes, and that I have helped to make history,
+which is a higher thing than to write it.
+
+It was, then, towards nightfall upon the twelfth day of June 1685 that
+the news reached our part of the country that Monmouth had landed the
+day before at Lyme, a small seaport on the boundary between Dorsetshire
+and Devonshire. A great beacon blaze upon Portsdown Hill was the first
+news that we had of it, and then came a rattling and a drumming
+from Portsmouth, where the troops were assembled under arms. Mounted
+messengers clattered through the village street with their heads low on
+their horses' necks, for the great tidings must be carried to London,
+that the Governor of Portsmouth might know how to act. (Note B,
+Appendix.) We were standing at our doorway in the gloaming, watching
+the coming and the going, and the line of beacon fires which were
+lengthening away to the eastward, when a little man galloped up to the
+door and pulled his panting horse up.
+
+'Is Joseph Clarke here?' he asked.
+
+'I am he,' said my father.
+
+'Are these men true?' he whispered, pointing with his whip at Saxon and
+myself. 'Then the trysting-place is Taunton. Pass it on to all whom ye
+know. Give my horse a bait and a drink, I beg of ye, for I must get on
+my way.'
+
+My young brother Hosea looked to the tired creature, while we brought
+the rider inside and drew him a stoup of beer. A wiry, sharp-faced man
+he was, with a birth-mark upon his temple. His face and clothes were
+caked with dust, and his limbs were so stiff from the saddle that he
+could scarce put one foot before another.
+
+'One horse hath died under me,' he said, 'and this can scarce last
+another twenty miles. I must be in London by morning, for we hope that
+Danvers and Wildman may be able to raise the city. Yester-evening I left
+Monmouth's camp. His blue flag floats over Lyme.'
+
+'What force hath he?' my father asked anxiously.
+
+'He hath but brought over leaders. The force must come from you folk at
+home. He has with him Lord Grey of Wark, with Wade, the German Buyse,
+and eighty or a hundred more. Alas! that two who came are already lost
+to us. It is an evil, evil omen.'
+
+'What is amiss, then?'
+
+'Dare, the goldsmith of Taunton, hath been slain by Fletcher of Saltoun
+in some child's quarrel about a horse. The peasants cried out for the
+blood of the Scot, and he was forced to fly aboard the ships. A sad
+mishap it is, for he was a skilful leader and a veteran soldier.'
+
+'Aye, aye,' cried Saxon impatiently, 'there will be some more skilful
+leaders and veteran soldiers in the West presently to take his place.
+But if he knew the usages of war, how came it that he should fight upon
+a private quarrel at such a time?' He drew a flat brown book from
+his bosom, and ran his long thin finger down the table of contents.
+'Subisectio nona'--'here is the very case set forth, "An in hello
+publico provocatus ad duellum privatae amicitiae causa declinare
+possit," in which the learned Fleming layeth it down that a man's
+private honour must give way to the good of the cause. Did it not happen
+in my own case that, on the eve of the raising of the Anlagerung of
+Vienna, we stranger officers having been invited to the tent of the
+General, it chanced that a red-headed Irisher, one O'Daffy, an ancient
+in the regiment of Pappenheimer, did claim precedence of me on the
+ground of superiority of blood? On this I drew my glove across his face,
+not, mark ye, in anger, but as showing that I differed in some degree
+from his opinion. At which dissent he did at once offer to sustain his
+contention, but I, having read this subsection to him, did make it clear
+to him that we could not in honour settle the point until the Turk was
+chased from the city. So after the onfall--'
+
+'Nay, sir, I may hear the narrative some future day,' said the
+messenger, staggering to his feet. 'I hope to find a relay at
+Chichester, and time presses. Work for the cause now, or be slaves for
+ever. Farewell!' He clambered into his saddle, and we heard the clatter
+of his hoofs dying away down the London road.
+
+'The time hath come for you to go, Micah,' said my father solemnly.'
+Nay, wife, do not weep, but rather hearten the lad on his way by a
+blithe word and a merry face. I need not tell you to fight manfully
+and fearlessly in this quarrel. Should the tide of war set in this
+direction, you may find your old father riding by your side. Let us now
+bow down and implore the favour of the Almighty upon this expedition.'
+
+We all knelt down in the low-roofed, heavy-raftered room while the old
+man offered up an earnest, strenuous prayer for our success. Even now,
+as I speak to ye, that group rises up before mine eyes. I see once
+again your ancestor's stern, rugged face, with his brows knitted and
+his corded hands writhed together in the fervour of his supplication. My
+mother kneels beside him with the tears trickling down her sweet, placid
+face, stifling her sobs lest the sound of them make my leave-taking more
+bitter. The children are in the sleeping-room upstairs, and we hear the
+patter of their bare feet upon the floor. The man Saxon sprawls across
+one of the oaken chairs, half kneeling, half reclining, with his long
+legs trailing out behind, and his face buried in his hands. All round
+in the flickering light of the hanging lamp I see the objects which have
+been so familiar to me from childhood--the settle by the fireplace,
+the high-back stiff-elbowed chairs, the stuffed fox above the door, the
+picture of Christian viewing the Promised Land from the summit of the
+Delectable Mountains--all small trifles in themselves, but making up
+among them the marvellous thing we call home, the all-powerful lodestone
+which draws the wanderer's heart from the farther end of the earth.
+Should I ever see it again save in my dreams--I, who was leaving this
+sheltered cove to plunge into the heart of the storm?
+
+The prayer finished, we all rose with the exception of Saxon, who
+remained with his face buried in his hands for a minute or so before
+starting to his feet. I shrewdly suspect that he had been fast asleep,
+though he explained that he had paused to offer up an additional
+supplication. My father placed his hands upon my head and invoked the
+blessing of Heaven upon me. He then drew my companion aside, and I
+heard the jingling of coin, from which I judge that he was giving him
+something wherewith to start upon his travels. My mother clasped me to
+her heart, and slipped a small square of paper into my hand, saying that
+I was to look at it at my leisure, and that I should make her happy if
+I would but conform to the instructions contained in it. This I promised
+to do, and tearing myself away I set off down the darkened village
+street, with my long-limbed companion striding by my side.
+
+It was close upon one in the morning, and all the country folk had been
+long abed. Passing the Wheatsheaf and the house of old Solomon, I could
+not but wonder what they would think of my martial garb were they afoot.
+I had scarce time to form the same thought before Zachary Palmer's
+cottage when his door flew open, and the carpenter came running out with
+his white hair streaming in the fresh night breeze.
+
+'I have been awaiting you, Micah,' he cried. 'I had heard that Monmouth
+was up, and I knew that you would not lose a night ere starting. God
+bless you, lad, God bless you! Strong of arm and soft of heart, tender
+to the weak and stern to the oppressor, you have the prayers and the
+love of all who know you.' I pressed his extended hands, and the last
+I saw of my native hamlet was the shadowy figure of the carpenter as he
+waved his good wishes to me through the darkness.
+
+We made our way across the fields to the house of Whittier, the Whig
+farmer, where Saxon got into his war harness. We found our horses ready
+saddled and bridled, for my father had at the first alarm sent a message
+across that we should need them. By two in the morning we were breasting
+Portsdown Hill, armed, mounted, and fairly started on our journey to the
+rebel camp.
+
+
+Chapter VIII. Of our Start for the Wars
+
+All along the ridge of Portsdown Hill we had the lights of Portsmouth
+and of the harbour ships twinkling beneath us on the left, while on
+the right the Forest of Bere was ablaze with the signal fires which
+proclaimed the landing of the invader. One great beacon throbbed upon
+the summit of Butser, while beyond that, as far as eye could reach,
+twinkling sparks of light showed how the tidings were being carried
+north into Berkshire and eastward into Sussex. Of these fires, some were
+composed of faggots piled into heaps, and others of tar barrels set upon
+poles. We passed one of these last just opposite to Portchester, and the
+watchers around it, hearing the tramp of our horses and the clank of
+our arms, set up a loud huzza, thinking doubtless that we were King's
+officers bound for the West.
+
+Master Decimus Saxon had flung to the winds the precise demeanour which
+he had assumed in the presence of my father, and rattled away with many
+a jest and scrap of rhyme or song as we galloped through the darkness.
+
+'Gadzooks!' said he frankly, 'it is good to be able to speak freely
+without being expected to tag every sentence with a hallelujah or an
+amen.'
+
+'You were ever the leader in those pious exercises,' I remarked drily.
+
+'Aye, indeed. You have nicked it there! If a thing must be done, then
+take a lead in it, whatever it may be. A plaguy good precept, which has
+stood me in excellent stead before now. I cannot bear in mind whether I
+told you how I was at one time taken prisoner by the Turks and conveyed
+to Stamboul. There were a hundred of us or more, but the others either
+perished under the bastinado, or are to this day chained to an oar in
+the Imperial Ottoman galleys, where they are like to remain until they
+die under the lash, or until some Venetian or Genoese bullet finds its
+way into their wretched carcasses. I alone came off with my freedom.'
+
+'And pray, how did you make your escape?' I asked.
+
+'By the use of the wit wherewith Providence hath endowed me,' he
+answered complacently; 'for, seeing that their accursed religion is the
+blind side of these infidels, I did set myself to work upon it. To this
+end I observed the fashion in which our guard performed their morning
+and evening exercises, and having transformed my doublet into a praying
+cloth, I did imitate them, save only that I prayed at greater length and
+with more fervour.'
+
+'What!' I cried in horror. 'You did pretend to be a Mussulman?'
+
+'Nay, there was no pretence. I became a Mussulman. That, however,
+betwixt ourselves, as it might not stand me in very good stead with some
+Reverend Aminadab Fount-of-Grace in the rebel camp, who is no admirer of
+Mahmoud.'
+
+I was so astounded at the impudence of this confession, coming from the
+mouth of one who had been leading the exercises of a pious Christian
+family, that I was fairly bereft of speech. Decimus Saxon whistled a few
+bars of a sprightly tune, and then continued--
+
+'My perseverance in these exercises soon led to my being singled out
+from among the other prisoners, until I so prevailed upon my gaolers
+that the doors were opened for me, and I was allowed out on condition
+of presenting myself at the prison gates once a day. What use, think ye,
+did I make of my freedom?'
+
+'Nay, you are capable of anything,' said I.
+
+'I set off forthwith to their chief mosque--that of St. Sophia. When the
+doors opened and the muezzin called, I was ever the first to hurry into
+devotions and the last to leave them. Did I see a Mussulman strike his
+head upon the pavement, I would strike mine twice. Did I see him bend
+and bow, I was ready to prostrate myself. In this way ere long the piety
+of the converted Giaour became the talk of the city, and I was provided
+with a hut in which to make my sacred meditations. Here I might have
+done well, and indeed I had well-nigh made up my mind to set up as
+a prophet and write an extra chapter to the Koran, when some foolish
+trifle made the faithful suspicious of my honesty. It was but some
+nonsense of a wench being found in my hut by some who came to consult
+me upon a point of faith, but it was enough to set their heathen tongues
+wagging; so I thought it wisest to give them the slip in a Levantine
+coaster and leave the Koran uncompleted. It is perhaps as well, for it
+would be a sore trial to have to give up Christian women and pork, for
+their garlic-breathing houris and accursed kybobs of sheep's flesh.'
+
+We had passed through Fareham and Botley during this conversation, and
+were now making our way down the Bishopstoke road. The soil changes
+about here from chalk to sand, so that our horses' hoofs did but make
+a dull subdued rattle, which was no bar to our talk--or rather to my
+companion's, for I did little more than listen. In truth, my mind was so
+full of anticipations of what was before us, and of thoughts of the
+home behind, that I was in no humour for sprightly chatter. The sky was
+somewhat clouded, but the moon glinted out between the rifts, showing
+us the long road which wound away in front of us. On either side were
+scattered houses with gardens sloping down toward the road. The heavy,
+sickly scent of strawberries was in the air.
+
+'Hast ever slain a man in anger?' asked Saxon, as we galloped along.
+
+'Never,' I answered.
+
+'Ha! You will find that when you hear the clink of steel against steel,
+and see your foeman's eyes, you will straightway forget all rules,
+maxims, and precepts of the fence which your father or others may have
+taught you.'
+
+'I have learned little of the sort,' said I. My father did but teach
+me to strike an honest downright blow. This sword can shear through a
+square inch of iron bar.'
+
+'Scanderbeg's sword must have Scanderbeg's arm,' he remarked. 'I
+have observed that it is a fine piece of steel. One of the real old
+text-compellers and psalm-expounders which the faithful drew in the days
+of yore, when they would:
+
+          "Prove their religion orthodox,
+           By Apostolic blows and knocks."
+
+You have not fenced much, then?'
+
+'Scarce at all,' said I.
+
+'It is as well. With an old and tried swordsman like myself, knowledge
+of the use of his weapon is everything; but with a young Hotspur of your
+temper, strength and energy go for much. I have oft remarked that those
+who are most skilled at the shooting of the popinjay, the cleaving of
+the Turk's head, and other such sports, are ever laggards in the field.
+Had the popinjay a crossbow as well, and an arrow on the string, or
+had the Turk a fist as well as a head, our young gallant's nerves would
+scarce be as steady over the business. I make no doubt, Master Clarke,
+that we shall make trusty comrades. What saith old Butler?
+
+          "Never did trusty squire with knight,
+           Or knight with squire ere jump more right."
+
+I have scarce dared to quote "Hudibras" for these weeks past, lest I
+should set the Covenant fermenting in the old man's veins.'
+
+'If we are indeed to be comrades,' said I sternly, 'you must learn to
+speak with more reverence and less flippancy of my father, who would
+assuredly never have harboured you had he heard the tale which you have
+told me even now.'
+
+'Belike not,' the adventurer answered, chuckling to himself. 'It is a
+long stride from a mosque to a conventicle. But be not so hot-headed,
+my friend. You lack that repose of character which will come to you,
+no doubt, in your more mature years. What, man! within five minutes of
+seeing me you would have smitten me on the head with an oar, and ever
+since you have been like a bandog at my heels, ready to hark if I do but
+set my foot over what you regard as the straight line. Remember that you
+go now among men who fight on small occasion of quarrel. A word awry may
+mean a rapier thrust.'
+
+'Do you bear the same in mind,' I answered hotly; 'my temper is
+peaceful, but covert threats and veiled menace I shall not abide.'
+
+'Odd's mercy!' he cried. 'I see that you will start carving me anon, and
+take me to Monmouth's camp in sections. Nay, nay, we shall have fighting
+enow without falling out among ourselves. What houses are those on the
+left?'
+
+'The village of Swathling,' I replied. 'The lights of Bishopstoke lie to
+the right, in the hollow.'
+
+'Then we are fifteen miles on our way, and methinks there is already
+some faint flush of dawn in the east. Hullo, what have we here? Beds
+must be scarce if folks sleep on the highways.'
+
+A dark blur which I had remarked upon the roadway in front of us had
+resolved itself as we approached into the figure of a man, stretched
+at full length, with his face downwards, and his head resting upon his
+crossed arms.
+
+'Some reveler, mayhap, from the village inn,' I remarked.
+
+'There's blood in the air,' said Saxon, raising up his beak-like nose
+like a vulture which scents carrion. 'Methinks he sleeps the sleep which
+knows no waking.'
+
+He sprang down from his saddle, and turned the figure over upon his
+back. The cold pale light of the early dawn shimmering upon his staring
+eyes and colourless face showed that the old soldier's instinct was
+correct, and that he had indeed drawn his last breath.
+
+'Here's a pretty piece of work,' said Saxon, kneeling by the dead man's
+side and passing his hands over his pockets. 'Footpads, doubtless. Not a
+stiver in his pockets, nor as much as a sleeve-link to help pay for the
+burial.'
+
+'How was he slain!' I asked in horror, looking down at the poor vacant
+face, the empty house from which the tenant had departed.
+
+'A stab from behind and a tap on the head from the butt of a pistol.
+He cannot have been dead long, and yet every groat is gone. A man of
+position, too, I should judge from his dress--broadcloth coat by the
+feel, satin breeches, and silver buckles on his shoes. The rogues must
+have had some plunder with him. Could we but run across them, Clarke, it
+would be a great and grand thing.'
+
+'It would indeed,' said I heartily. 'What greater privilege than to
+execute justice upon such cowardly murderers!'
+
+'Pooh! pooh!' he cried. 'Justice is a slippery dame, and hath a
+two-edged sword in her hand. We may have enough of justice in our
+character as rebels to give us a surfeit of it. I would fain overtake
+these robbers that we may relieve them of their _spolia opima_, together
+with any other wealth which they may have unlawfully amassed. My learned
+friend the Fleming layeth it down that it is no robbery to rob a robber.
+But where shall we conceal this body?'
+
+'Wherefore should we conceal it?' I asked.
+
+'Why, man, unused to war or the precautions of a warrior, you must yet
+see that should this body be found here, there will be a hue and cry
+through the country, and that strangers like ourselves will be arrested
+on suspicion. Should we clear ourselves, which is no very easy matter,
+the justice will at least want to know whence we come and whither we
+go, which may lead to inquiries that may bode us little good. I shall
+therefore take the liberty, mine unknown and silent friend, of dragging
+you into yon bushes, where for a day or two at least you are like to lie
+unobserved, and so bring no harm upon honest men.'
+
+'For God's sake do not treat it so unkindly,' I cried, springing down
+from my horse and laying my hand upon my companion's arm. 'There is no
+need to trail it in so unseemly a fashion. If it must be moved hence, I
+shall carry it with all due reverence. 'So saying, I picked the body up
+in my arms, and bearing it to a wayside clump of yellow gorse bushes, I
+laid it solemnly down and drew the branches over it to conceal it.
+
+'You have the thews of an ox and the heart of a woman, 'muttered my
+companion. 'By the Mass, that old white-headed psalm-singer was right;
+for if my memory serves me, he said words to that effect. A few handfuls
+of dust will hide the stains. Now we may jog upon our way without any
+fear of being called upon to answer for another man's sins. Let me but
+get my girth tightened and we may soon be out of danger's way.'
+
+'I have had to do,' said Saxon, as we rode onwards, 'with many gentry
+of this sort, with Albanian brigands, the banditti of Piedmont, the
+Lanzknechte and Freiritter of the Rhine, Algerine picaroons, and other
+such folk. Yet I cannot call to mind one who hath ever been able to
+retire in his old age on a sufficient competence. It is but a precarious
+trade, and must end sooner or later in a dance on nothing in a tight
+cravat, with some kind friend tugging at your legs to ease you of any
+breath that you might have left.'
+
+'Nor does that end all,' I remarked.
+
+'No. There is Tophet behind and the flames of hell. So our good friends
+the parsons tell us. Well, if a man is to make no money in this world,
+be hanged at the end of it, and finally burn for ever, he hath assuredly
+wandered on to a thorny track. If, on the other hand, one could always
+lay one's hands on a well-lined purse, as those rogues have done
+to-night, one might be content to risk something in the world to come.'
+
+'But what can the well-filled purse do for them?' said I. 'What will
+the few score pieces which these bloodthirsty wretches have filched from
+this poor creature avail them when their own hour of death comes round?'
+
+'True,' said Saxon dryly; 'they may, however, prove useful in the
+meantime. This you say is Bishopstoke. What are the lights over yonder?'
+
+'They come, I think, from Bishop's Waltham,' I answered.
+
+'We must press on, for I would fain be in Salisbury before it is broad
+day. There we shall put our horses up until evening and have some rest,
+for there is nothing gained by man or beast coming jaded to the wars.
+All this day the western roads will be crowded with couriers, and mayhap
+patrolled by cavalry as well, so that we cannot show our faces upon it
+without a risk of being stopped and examined. Now if we lie by all day,
+and push on at dusk, keeping off the main road and making our way across
+Salisbury Plain and the Somersetshire downs, we shall be less likely to
+come to harm.'
+
+'But what if Monmouth be engaged before we come up to him?' I asked.
+
+'Then we shall have missed a chance of getting our throats cut. Why,
+man, supposing that he has been routed and entirely dispersed, would
+it not be a merry conceit for us to appear upon the scene as two loyal
+yeomen, who had ridden all the way from Hampshire to strike in against
+the King's enemies? We might chance to get some reward in money or in
+land for our zeal. Nay, frown not, for I was but jesting. Breathe our
+horses by walking them up this hill. My jennet is as fresh as when we
+started, but those great limbs of thine are telling upon the grey.'
+
+The patch of light in the east had increased and broadened, and the sky
+was mottled with little pink feathers of cloud. As we passed over
+the low hills by Chandler's Ford and Romsey we could see the smoke of
+Southampton to the south-east, and the broad dark expanse of the New
+Forest with the haze of morning hanging over it. A few horsemen passed
+us, pricking along, too much engrossed in their own errand to inquire
+ours. A couple of carts and a long string of pack-horses, laden
+principally with bales of wool, came straggling along a byroad, and
+the drivers waved their broad hats to us and wished us God-speed. At
+Dunbridge the folk were just stirring, and paused in taking down the
+cottage shutters to come to the garden railings and watch us pass. As we
+entered Dean, the great red sun pushed its rosy rim over the edge of the
+horizon, and the air was filled with the buzz of insects and the sweet
+scent of the morning. We dismounted at this latter village, and had a
+cup of ale while resting and watering the horses. The landlord could
+tell us nothing about the insurgents, and indeed seemed to care very
+little about the matter one way or the other. 'As long as brandy pays a
+duty of six shillings and eightpence a gallon, and freight and leakage
+comes to half a crown, while I am expected to sell it at twelve
+shillings, it matters little to me who is King of England. Give me a
+king that will prevent the hop-blight and I am his man.' Those were the
+landlord's politics, and I dare say a good many more were of his way of
+thinking.
+
+From Dean to Salisbury is all straight road with moor, morass, and
+fenland on either side, broken only by the single hamlet of Aldersbury,
+just over the Wiltshire border. Our horses, refreshed by the short rest,
+stepped out gallantly, and the brisk motion, with the sunlight and the
+beauty of the morning, combined to raise our spirits and cheer us after
+the depression of the long ride through the darkness, and the incident
+of the murdered traveller. Wild duck, widgeon, and snipe flapped up from
+either side of the road at the sound of the horses' hoofs, and once a
+herd of red deer sprang to their feet from among the ferns and scampered
+away in the direction of the forest. Once, too, when passing a dense
+clump of trees, we saw a shadowy white creature half hidden by the
+trunks, which must, I fancy, have been one of those wild cattle of
+which I have heard the peasants speak, who dwell in the recesses of
+the southern woods, and are so fierce and intractable that none dare
+approach them. The breadth of the view, the keenness of the air, and the
+novelty of the sense of having great work to do, all combined to send a
+flush of life through my veins such as the quiet village existence
+had never been able to give. My more experienced companion felt the
+influence too, for he lifted up a cracked voice and broke into a droning
+chant, which he assured me was an Eastern ode which had been taught him
+by the second sister of the Hospodar of Wallachia.
+
+'Anent Monmouth,' he remarked, coming back suddenly to the realities of
+our position. 'It is unlikely that he can take the field for some days,
+though much depends upon his striking a blow soon, and so raising the
+courage of his followers before the King's troops can come down upon
+him. He has, mark ye, not only his troops to find, but their weapons,
+which is like to prove a more difficult matter. Suppose he can raise
+five thousand men--and he cannot stir with less--he will not have one
+musket in five, so the rest must do as they can with pikes and bills, or
+such other rude arms as they can find. All this takes time, and though
+there may be skirmishes, there can scarce be any engagement of import
+before we arrive.'
+
+'He will have been landed three or four days ere we reach him,' said I.
+
+'Hardly time for him with his small staff of officers to enrol his men
+and divide them into regiments. I scarce expect to find him at Taunton,
+though we were so directed. Hast ever heard whether there are any rich
+Papists in those parts?'
+
+'I know not,' I replied.
+
+'If so there might be plate chests and silver chargers, to say nothing
+of my lady's jewels and other such trifles to reward a faithful soldier.
+What would war be without plunder! A bottle without the wine--a shell
+without the oyster. See the house yonder that peeps through the trees.
+I warrant there is a store of all good things under that roof, which you
+and I might have for the asking, did we but ask with our swords in our
+grip. You are my witness that your father did give and not lend me this
+horse.'
+
+'Why say you that, then?'
+
+'Lest he claim a half of whatever booty I may chance to gain. What saith
+my learned Fleming under the heading "an qui militi equum praebuit,
+praedae ab eo captae particeps esse debeat?" which signifieth "whether
+he who lendeth a horse hath a claim on the plunder of him who borroweth
+it." In this discourse he cites a case wherein a Spanish commander
+having lent a steed to one of his captains, and the said captain having
+captured the general of the enemy, the commander did sue him for a
+half share of the twenty thousand crowns which formed the ransom of the
+prisoner. A like case is noted by the famous Petrinus Bellus in his book
+"De Re Militari," much read by leaders of repute.' (Note C. Appendix.)
+
+'I can promise you,' I answered, 'that no such claim shall ever be made
+by my father upon you. See yonder, over the brow of the hill, how the
+sun shines upon the high cathedral tower, which points upwards with its
+great stone finger to the road that every man must travel.'
+
+'There is good store of silver and plate in these same churches,' quoth
+my companion. 'I remember that at Leipsic, when I was serving my first
+campaign, I got a candlestick, which I was forced to sell to a Jew
+broker for a fourth of its value; yet even at his price it sufficed to
+fill my haversack with broad pieces.'
+
+It chanced that Saxon's mare had gained a stride or two upon mine whilst
+he spoke, so that I was able to get a good view of him without turning
+my head. I had scarce had light during our ride to see how his harness
+sat upon him, but now I was amazed on looking at him to mark the change
+which it had wrought in the man. In his civil dress his lankiness and
+length of limb gave him an awkward appearance, but on horse-back, with
+his lean, gaunt face looking out from his steel cap, his breastplate
+and buff jacket filling out his figure, and his high boots of untanned
+leather reaching to the centre of his thighs, he looked the veteran
+man-at-arms which he purported to be. The ease with which he sat his
+horse, the high, bold expression upon his face, and the great length of
+his arms, all marked him as one who could give a good account of himself
+in a fray. In his words alone I could have placed little trust, but
+there was that in his bearing which assured even a novice like myself
+that he was indeed a trained man of war.
+
+'That is the Avon which glitters amongst the trees,' I remarked. 'We are
+about three miles from Salisbury town.'
+
+'It is a noble spire,' said he, glancing at the great stone spire in
+front of us. 'The men of old would seem to have spent all their days in
+piling stones upon stones. And yet we read of tough battles and shrewd
+blows struck, showing that they had some time for soldierly relaxation,
+and were not always at this mason work.'
+
+'The Church was rich in those days,' I answered, shaking my bridle, for
+Covenant was beginning to show signs of laziness. 'But here comes one
+who might perhaps tell us something of the war.'
+
+A horseman who bore traces of having ridden long and hard was rapidly
+approaching us. Both rider and steed were grey with dust and splashed
+with mire, yet he galloped with loosened rein and bent body, as one to
+whom every extra stride is of value.
+
+'What ho, friend!' cried Saxon, reining his mare across the road so as
+to bar the man's passage. 'What news from the West?'
+
+'I must not tarry,' the messenger gasped, slackening his speed for an
+instant. 'I bear papers of import from Gregory Alford, Mayor of Lyme, to
+Ins Majesty's Council. The rebels make great head, and gather together
+like bees in the swarming time. There are some thousands in arms
+already, and all Devonshire is on the move. The rebel horse under Lord
+Grey hath been beaten back from Bridport by the red militia of Dorset,
+but every prickeared Whig from the Channel to the Severn is making his
+way to Monmouth.' With this brief summary of the news he pushed his way
+past us and clattered on in a cloud of dust upon his mission.
+
+'The broth is fairly on the fire, then,' quoth Decimus Saxon, as we rode
+onwards. 'Now that skins have been slit the rebels may draw their swords
+and fling away their scabbards, for it's either victory for them or
+their quarters will be dangling in every market town of the county. Heh,
+lad? we throw a main for a brave stake.'
+
+'Marked ye that Lord Grey had met with a check,' said I.
+
+'Pshaw! it is of no import. A cavalry skirmish at the most, for it is
+impossible that Monmouth could have brought his main forces to Bridport;
+nor would he if he could, for it is out of his track. It was one of
+those three-shots-and-a-gallop affrays, where each side runs away and
+each claims the victory. But here we are in the streets of Salisbury.
+Now leave the talking to me, or your wrong-headed truthfulness may lay
+us by the heels before our time.'
+
+Passing down the broad High Street we dismounted in front of the Blue
+Boar inn, and handed our tired horses over to the ostler, to whom
+Saxon, in a loud voice, and with many rough military oaths, gave strict
+injunctions as to their treatment. He then clanked into the inn parlour,
+and throwing himself into one chair with his feet upon another, he
+summoned the landlord up before him, and explained our needs in a tone
+and manner which should give him a due sense of our quality.
+
+'Of your best, and at once,' quoth he. 'Have your largest double-couched
+chamber ready with your softest lavender-scented sheets, for we have had
+a weary ride and must rest. And hark ye, landlord, no palming off your
+stale, musty goods as fresh, or of your washy French wines for the true
+Hainault vintage. I would have you to understand that my friend here and
+I are men who meet with some consideration in the world, though we
+care not to speak our names to every underling. Deserve well of us,
+therefore, or it may be the worse for you.'
+
+This speech, combined with my companion's haughty manner and fierce
+face, had such an effect upon the landlord that he straightway sent
+us in the breakfast which had been prepared for three officers of the
+Blues, who were waiting for it in the next apartment. This kept them
+fasting for another half-hour, and we could hear their oaths and
+complaints through the partition while we were devouring their capon and
+venison pie. Having eaten a hearty meal and washed it down with a bottle
+of Burgundy we sought our room, and throwing our tired limbs upon the
+bed, were soon in a deep slumber.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX. Of a Passage of Arms at the Blue Boar
+
+I had slept several hours when I was suddenly aroused by a prodigious
+crash, followed by the clash of arms and shrill cries from the lower
+floor. Springing to my feet I found that the bed upon which my comrade
+had lain was vacant, and that the door of the apartment was opened. As
+the uproar still continued, and as I seemed to discern his voice in the
+midst of it, I caught up my sword, and without waiting to put on either
+head-piece, steel-breast, or arm-plates, I hurried to the scene of the
+commotion.
+
+The hall and passage were filled with silly maids and staring drawers,
+attracted, like myself, by the uproar. Through these I pushed my way
+into the apartment where we had breakfasted in the morning, which was
+a scene of the wildest disorder. The round table in the centre had
+been tilted over upon its side, and three broken bottles of wine, with
+apples, pears, nuts, and the fragments of the dishes containing them,
+were littered over the floor. A couple of packs of cards and a dice-box
+lay amongst the scattered feast. Close by the door stood Decimus Saxon,
+with his drawn rapier in his hand and a second one beneath his feet,
+while facing him there was a young officer in a blue uniform, whose face
+was reddened with shame and anger, and who looked wildly about the room
+as though in search of some weapon to replace that of which he had been
+deprived. He might have served Cibber or Gibbons as a model for a statue
+of impotent rage. Two other officers dressed in the same blue uniform
+stood by their comrade, and as I observed that they had laid their hands
+upon the hilts of their swords, I took my place by Saxon's side, and
+stood ready to strike in should the occasion arise.
+
+'What would the maitre d'armes say--the maitre d'escrime?' cried my
+companion. 'Methinks he should lose his place for not teaching you to
+make a better show. Out on him! Is this the way that he teaches the
+officers of his Majesty's guard to use their weapons?'
+
+'This raillery, sir,' said the elder of the three, a squat, brown,
+heavy-faced man, 'is not undeserved, and yet might perchance be
+dispensed with. I am free to say that our friend attacked you somewhat
+hastily, and that a little more deference should have been shown by so
+young a soldier to a cavalier of your experience.'
+
+The other officer, who was a fine-looking, noble-featured man, expressed
+himself in much the same manner. 'If this apology will serve,' said he,
+'I am prepared to join in it. If, however, more is required, I shall be
+happy to take the quarrel upon myself.'
+
+'Nay, nay, take your bradawl!' Saxon answered good-humouredly, kicking
+the sword towards his youthful opponent. 'But, mark you! when you would
+lunge, direct your point upwards rather than down, for otherwise you
+must throw your wrist open to your antagonist, who can scarce fail to
+disarm you. In quarte, tierce, or saccoon the same holds good.'
+
+The youth sheathed his sword, but was so overcome by his own easy defeat
+and the contemptuous way in which his opponent had dismissed him, that
+he turned and hurried out of the room. Meanwhile Decimus Saxon and the
+two officers set to work getting the table upon its legs and restoring
+the room to some sort of order, in which I did what I could to assist
+them.
+
+'I held three queens for the first time to-day,' grumbled the soldier of
+fortune. 'I was about to declare them when this young bantam flew at my
+throat. He hath likewise been the cause of our losing three flasks of
+most excellent muscadine. When he hath drunk as much bad wine as I have
+been forced to do, he will not be so hasty in wasting the good.'
+
+'He is a hot-headed youngster,' the older officer replied, 'and a little
+solitary reflection added to the lesson which you have taught him may
+bring him profit. As for the muscadine, that loss will soon be repaired,
+the more gladly as your friend here will help us to drink it.'
+
+'I was roused by the crash of weapons,' said I, 'and I scarce know now
+what has occurred.'
+
+'Why, a mere tavern brawl, which your friend's skill and judgment
+prevented from becoming serious. I prythee take the rush-bottomed chair,
+and do you, Jack, order the wine. If our comrade hath spilled the last
+it is for us to furnish this, and the best the cellars contain. We have
+been having a hand at basset, which Mr. Saxon here playeth as skilfully
+as he wields the small-sword. It chanced that the luck ran against young
+Horsford, which doubtless made him prone to be quick in taking offence.
+Your friend in conversation, when discoursing of his experiences in
+foreign countries, remarked that the French household troops were to
+his mind brought to a higher state of discipline than any of our own
+regiments, on which Horsford fired up, and after a hot word or two they
+found themselves, as you have seen, at drawn bilbo. The boy hath seen no
+service, and is therefore over-eager to give proof of his valour.'
+
+'Wherein,' said the tall officer, 'he showed a want of thought towards
+me, for had the words been offensive it was for me, who am a senior
+captain and brevet-major, to take it up, and not for a slip of a cornet,
+who scarce knows enough to put his troop through the exercise.'
+
+'You say right, Ogilvy,' said the other, resuming his seat by the table
+and wiping the cards which had been splashed by the wine.' Had the
+comparison been made by an officer of Louis's guard for the purpose
+of contumely and braggadocio, it would then indeed have become us to
+venture a passado. But when spoken by an Englishman of ripe experience
+it becomes a matter of instructive criticism, which should profit rather
+than annoy.'
+
+'True, Ambrose,' the other answered. 'Without such criticism a force
+would become stagnant, and could never hope to keep level with those
+continental armies, which are ever striving amongst themselves for
+increased efficacy.'
+
+So pleased was I at these sensible remarks on the part of the strangers,
+that I was right glad to have the opportunity of making their closer
+acquaintance over a flask of excellent wine. My father's prejudices
+had led me to believe that a King's officer was ever a compound of the
+coxcomb and the bully, but I found on testing it that this idea, like
+most others which a man takes upon trust, had very little foundation
+upon truth. As a matter of fact, had they been dressed in less warlike
+garb and deprived of their swords and jack-boots, they would have passed
+as particularly mild-mannered men, for their conversation ran in the
+learned channels, and they discussed Boyle's researches in chemistry and
+the ponderation of air with much gravity and show of knowledge. At
+the same time, their brisk bearing and manly carriage showed that in
+cultivating the scholar they hail not sacrificed the soldier.
+
+'May I ask, sir,' said one of them, addressing Saxon, 'whether in
+your wide experiences you have ever met with any of those sages and
+philosophers who have conferred such honour and fame upon France and
+Germany?'
+
+My companion looked ill at ease, as one who feels that he has been taken
+off his ground. 'There was indeed one such at Nurnberg,' he answered,
+'one Gervinus or Gervanus, who, the folk said, could turn an ingot of
+iron into an ingot of gold as easily as I turn this tobacco into ashes.
+Old Pappenheimer shut him up with a ton of metal, and threatened to put
+the thumbikins upon him unless he changed it into gold pieces. I can
+vouch for it that there was not a yellow boy there, for I was captain of
+the guard and searched the whole dungeon through. To my sorrow I say it,
+for I had myself added a small iron brazier to the heap, thinking that
+if there should be any such change it would be as well that I should
+have some small share in the experiment.'
+
+'Alchemy, transmutation of metals, and the like have been set aside by
+true science,' remarked the taller officer. 'Even old Sir Thomas Browne
+of Norwich, who is ever ready to plead the cause of the ancients, can
+find nothing to say in favour of it. From Trismegistus downwards through
+Albertus Magnus, Aquinas, Raymond Lullius, Basil Valentine, Paracelsus,
+and the rest, there is not one who has left more than a cloud of words
+behind him.'
+
+'Nor did the rogue I mention,' said Saxon. 'There was another,
+Van Helstatt, who was a man of learning, and cast horoscopes in
+consideration of some small fee or honorarium. I have never met so wise
+a man, for he would talk of the planets and constellations as though he
+kept them all in his own backyard. He made no more of a comet than if it
+were a mouldy china orange, and he explained their nature to us, saying
+that they were but common stars which had had a hole knocked in them, so
+that their insides or viscera protruded. He was indeed a philosopher!'
+
+'And did you ever put his skill to the test?' asked one of the officers,
+with a smile.
+
+'Not I, forsooth, for I have ever kept myself clear of black magic or
+diablerie of the sort. My comrade Pierce Scotton, who was an Oberst
+in the Imperial cavalry brigade, did pay him a rose noble to have his
+future expounded. If I remember aright, the stars said that he was
+over-fond of wine and women--he had a wicked eye and a nose like a
+carbuncle. 'They foretold also that he would attain a marshal's baton
+and die at a ripe age, which might well have come true had he not been
+unhorsed a month later at Ober-Graustock, and slain by the hoofs of his
+own troop. Neither the planets nor even the experienced farrier of
+the regiment could have told that the brute would have foundered so
+completely.'
+
+The officers laughed heartily at my companion's views, and rose from
+their chairs, for the bottle was empty and the evening beginning to
+draw in. 'We have work to do here,' said the one addressed as Ogilvy.
+'Besides, we must find this foolish boy of ours, and tell him that it is
+no disgrace to be disarmed by so expert a swordsman. We have to prepare
+the quarters for the regiment, who will be up to join Churchill's
+forces not later than to-night. Ye are yourselves bound for the West, I
+understand?'
+
+'We belong to the Duke of Beaufort's household,' said Saxon.
+
+'Indeed! I thought ye might belong to Portman's yellow regiment of
+militia. I trust that the Duke will muster every man he can, and make
+play until the royal forces come up.'
+
+'How many will Churchill bring?' asked my companion carelessly.
+
+'Eight hundred horse at the most, but my Lord Feversham will follow
+after with close on four thousand foot.'
+
+'We may meet on the field of battle, if not before,' said I, and we bade
+our friendly enemies a very cordial adieu.
+
+'A skilful equivoque that last of yours, Master Micah,' quoth Decimus
+Saxon, 'though smacking of double dealing in a truth-lover like
+yourself. If we meet them in battle I trust that it may be with
+chevaux-de-frise of pikes and morgenstierns before us, and a litter of
+caltrops in front of them, for Monmouth has no cavalry that could stand
+for a moment against the Royal Guards.'
+
+'How came you to make their acquaintance?' I asked.
+
+'I slept a few hours, but I have learned in camps to do with little
+rest. Finding you in sound slumber, and hearing the rattle of the
+dice-box below, I came softly down and found means to join their
+party--whereby I am a richer man by fifteen guineas, and might have
+had more had that young fool not lugged out at me, or had the talk not
+turned afterwards upon such unseemly subjects as the laws of chemistry
+and the like. Prythee, what have the Horse Guards Blue to do with the
+laws of chemistry? Wessenburg of the Pandours would, even at his own
+mess table, suffer much free talk--more perhaps than fits in with the
+dignity of a leader. Had his officers ventured upon such matter as
+this, however, there would have been a drum-head court-martial, or a
+cashiering at the least.'
+
+Without stopping to dispute either Master Saxon's judgment or that of
+Wessenburg of the Pandours, I proposed that we should order an evening
+meal, and should employ the remaining hour or two of daylight in looking
+over the city. The principal sight is of course the noble cathedral,
+which is built in such exact proportion that one would fail to
+understand its great size did one not actually enter it and pace round
+the long dim aisles. So solemn were its sweeping arches and the long
+shafts of coloured light which shone through the stained-glass windows,
+throwing strange shadows amongst the pillars, that even my companion,
+albeit not readily impressed, was silent and subdued. It was a great
+prayer in stone.
+
+On our way back to the inn we passed the town lock-up, with a railed
+space in front of it, in which three great black-muzzled bloodhounds
+were stalking about, with fierce crimsoned eyes and red tongues lolling
+out of their mouths. They were used, a bystander told us, for the
+hunting down of criminals upon Salisbury Plain, which had been a refuge
+for rogues and thieves, until this means had been adopted for following
+them to their hiding-places. It was well-nigh dark before we returned to
+the hostel, and entirely so by the time that we had eaten our suppers,
+paid our reckoning, and got ready for the road.
+
+Before we set off I bethought me of the paper which my mother had
+slipped into my hand on parting, and drawing it from my pouch I read
+it by the rushlight in our chamber. It still bore the splotches of the
+tears which she had dropped on it, poor soul, and ran in this wise:--
+
+'Instructions from Mistress Mary Clarke to her son Micah, on the twelfth
+day of June in the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and eighty-five.
+
+'On occasion of his going forth, like David of old, to do battle
+with the Goliath of Papistry, which hath overshadowed and thrown into
+disrepute that true and reverent regard for ritual which should exist in
+the real Church of England, as ordained by law.
+
+'Let these points be observed by him, namely, to wit:
+
+'1. Change your hosen when the occasion serves. You have two pairs in
+your saddle-bag, and can buy more, for the wool work is good in the
+West.
+
+'2. A hare's foot suspended round the neck driveth away colic.
+
+'3. Say the Lord's Prayer night and morning. Also read the scriptures,
+especially Job, the Psalms, and the Gospel according to St. Matthew.
+
+'4. Daffy's elixir possesses extraordinary powers in purifying the blood
+and working off all phlegms, humours, vapours, or rheums. The dose is
+five drops. A small phial of it will be found in the barrel of your left
+pistol, with wadding around it lest it come to harm.
+
+'5. Ten golden pieces are sewn into the hem of your under doublet. Touch
+them not, save as a last resource.
+
+'6. Fight stoutly for the Lord, and yet I pray you, Micah, be not too
+forward in battle, but let others do their turn also.
+
+Press not into the heart of the fray, and yet flinch not from the
+standard of the Protestant faith.
+
+'And oh, Micah, my own bright boy, come back safe to your mother, or my
+very heart will break!
+
+'And the deponent will ever pray.'
+
+
+The sudden gush of tenderness in the last few lines made the tears
+spring to my eyes, and yet I could scarce forbear from smiling at the
+whole composition, for my dear mother had little time to cultivate the
+graces of style, and it was evidently her thought that in order to make
+her instructions binding it was needful to express them in some sort of
+legal form. I had little time to think over her advice, however, for I
+had scarce finished reading it before the voice of Decimus Saxon, and
+the clink of the horses' hoofs upon the cobble-stones of the yard,
+informed me that all was ready for our departure.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X. Of our Perilous Adventure on the Plain
+
+We were not half a mile from the town before the roll of kettledrums and
+the blare of bugles swelling up musically through the darkness announced
+the arrival of the regiment of horse which our friends at the inn had
+been expecting.
+
+'It is as well, perhaps,' said Saxon, 'that we gave them the slip,
+for that young springald might have smelled a rat and played us some
+ill-turn. Have you chanced to see my silken kerchief?'
+
+'Not I,' I answered.
+
+'Nay, then, it must have fallen from my bosom during our ruffle. I
+can ill afford to leave it, for I travel light in such matters. Eight
+hundred men, quoth the major, and three thousand to follow. Should I
+meet this same Oglethorpe or Ogilvy when the little business is over,
+I shall read him a lesson on thinking less of chemistry and more of
+the need of preserving military precautions. It is well always to be
+courteous to strangers and to give them information, but it is well also
+that the information should be false.'
+
+'As his may have been,' I suggested.
+
+'Nay, nay, the words came too glibly from his tongue. So ho, Chloe, so
+ho! She is full of oats and would fain gallop, but it is so plaguy dark
+that we can scarce see where we are going.'
+
+We had been trotting down the broad high-road shimmering vaguely white
+in the gloom, with the shadowy trees dancing past us on either side,
+scarce outlined against the dark background of cloud. We were now coming
+upon the eastern edge of the great plain, which extends forty miles one
+way and twenty the other, over the greater part of Wiltshire and past
+the boundaries of Somersetshire. The main road to the West skirts this
+wilderness, but we had agreed to follow a less important track,
+which would lead us to our goal, though in a more tedious manner. Its
+insignificance would, we hoped, prevent it from being guarded by the
+King's horse. We had come to the point where this byroad branches off
+from the main highway when we heard the clatter of horses' hoofs behind
+us.
+
+'Here comes some one who is not afraid to gallop,' I remarked.
+
+'Halt here in the shadow!' cried Saxon, in a short, quick whisper. 'Have
+your blade loose in the scabbard. He must have a set errand who rides so
+fast o' nights.'
+
+Looking down the road we could make out through the darkness a shadowy
+blur which soon resolved itself into man and horse. The rider was
+well-nigh abreast of us before he was aware of our presence, when he
+pulled up his steed in a strange, awkward fashion, and faced round in
+our direction.
+
+'Is Micah Clarke there?' he said, in a voice which was strangely
+familiar to my ears.
+
+'I am Micah Clarke,' said I.
+
+'And I am Reuben Lockarby,' cried our pursuer, in a mock heroic voice.
+'Ah, Micah lad, I'd embrace you were it not that I should assuredly fall
+out of the saddle if I attempted it, and perchance drag you along. That
+sudden pull up well-nigh landed me on the roadway. I have been sliding
+off and clambering on ever since I bade goodbye to Havant. Sure, such a
+horse for slipping from under one was never bestridden by man.'
+
+'Good Heavens, Reuben!' I cried in amazement, 'what brings you all this
+way from home?'
+
+'The very same cause which brings you, Micah, and also Don Decimo Saxon,
+late of the Solent, whom methinks I see in the shadow behind you. How
+fares it, oh illustrious one?'
+
+'It is you, then, young cock of the woods!' growled Saxon, in no very
+overjoyed voice.
+
+'No less a person,' said Reuben. 'And now, my gay cavalieros, round with
+your horses and trot on your way, for there is no time to be lost. We
+ought all to be at Taunton to-morrow.'
+
+'But, my dear Reuben,' said I, 'it cannot be that you are coming with us
+to join Monmouth. What would your father say? This is no holiday jaunt,
+but one that may have a sad and stern ending. At the best, victory can
+only come through much bloodshed and danger. At the worst, we are as
+like to wind up upon a scaffold as not.'
+
+'Forwards, lads, forwards!' cried he, spurring on his horse, 'it is all
+arranged and settled. I am about to offer my august person, together
+with a sword which I borrowed and a horse which I stole, to his most
+Protestant highness, James, Duke of Monmouth.'
+
+'But how comes it all?' I asked, as we rode on together. 'It warms my
+very heart to see you, but you were never concerned either in religion
+or in politics. Whence, then, this sudden resolution?'
+
+'Well, truth to tell,' he replied, 'I am neither a king's man nor a
+duke's man, nor would I give a button which sat upon the throne. I do
+not suppose that either one or the other would increase the custom of
+the Wheatsheaf, or want Reuben Lockarby for a councillor. I am a Micah
+Clarke man, though, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet;
+and if he rides to the wars, may the plague strike me if I don't stick
+to his elbow!' He raised his hand excitedly as he spoke, and instantly
+losing his balance, he shot into a dense clump of bushes by the roadside
+whence his legs flapped helplessly in the darkness.
+
+'That makes the tenth,' said he, scrambling out and clambering into
+his saddle once more. 'My father used to tell me not to sit a horse too
+closely. "A gentle rise and fall," said the old man. Egad, there is more
+fall than rise, and it is anything but gentle.'
+
+'Odd's truth!' exclaimed Saxon. 'How in the name of all the saints in
+the calendar do you expect to keep your seat in the presence of an enemy
+if you lose it on a peaceful high-road?'
+
+'I can but try, my illustrious,' he answered, rearranging his ruffled
+clothing. 'Perchance the sudden and unexpected character of my movements
+may disconcert the said enemy.'
+
+'Well, well, there may be more truth in that than you are aware of,'
+quoth Saxon, riding upon Lockarby's bridle arm, so that there was scarce
+room for him to fall between us. 'I had sooner fight a man like that
+young fool at the inn, who knew a little of the use of his weapon, than
+one like Micah here, or yourself, who know nothing. You can tell what
+the one is after, but the other will invent a system of his own which
+will serve his turn for the nonce. Ober-hauptmann Muller was reckoned to
+be the finest player at the small-sword in the Kaiser's army, and could
+for a wager snick any button from an opponent's vest without cutting the
+cloth. Yet was he slain in an encounter with Fahnfuhrer Zollner, who was
+a cornet in our own Pandour corps, and who knew as much of the rapier as
+you do of horsemanship. For the rapier, be it understood, is designed
+to thrust and not to cut, so that no man wielding it ever thinks of
+guarding a side-stroke. But Zollner, being a long-armed man, smote his
+antagonist across the face with his weapon as though it had been a
+cane, and then, ere he had time to recover himself, fairly pinked him.
+Doubtless if the matter were to do again, the Oberhauptmann would have
+got his thrust in sooner, but as it was, no explanation or excuse could
+get over the fact that the man was dead.'
+
+'If want of knowledge maketh a dangerous swordsman,' quoth Reuben, 'then
+am I even more deadly than the unpronounceable gentleman whom you have
+mentioned. To continue my story, however, which I broke off in order to
+step down from my horse, I found out early in the morning that ye were
+gone, and Zachary Palmer was able to tell me whither. I made up my mind,
+therefore, that I would out into the world also. To this end I borrowed
+a sword from Solomon Sprent, and my father having gone to Gosport,
+I helped myself to the best nag in his stables--for I have too much
+respect for the old man to allow one of his flesh and blood to go
+ill-provided to the wars. All day I have ridden, since early morning,
+being twice stopped on suspicion of being ill-affected, but having the
+good luck to get away each time. I knew that I was close at your heels,
+for I found them searching for you at the Salisbury Inn.'
+
+Decimus whistled. 'Searching for us?' said he.
+
+'Yes. It seems that they had some notion that ye were not what ye
+professed to be, so the inn was surrounded as I passed, but none knew
+which road ye had taken.'
+
+'Said I not so?' cried Saxon. 'That young viper hath stirred up the
+regiment against us. We must push on, for they may send a party on our
+track.'
+
+'We are off the main road now, 'I remarked; 'even should they pursue us,
+they would be unlikely to follow this side track.'
+
+'Yet it would be wise to show them a clean pair of heels,' said Saxon,
+spurring his mare into a gallop. Lockarby and I followed his example,
+and we all three rode swiftly along the rough moorland track.
+
+We passed through scattered belts of pinewood, where the wild cat howled
+and the owl screeched, and across broad stretches of fenland and moor,
+where the silence was only broken by the booming cry of the bittern or
+the fluttering of wild duck far above our heads. The road was in parts
+overgrown with brambles, and was so deeply rutted and so studded with
+sharp and dangerous hollows, that our horses came more than once upon
+their knees. In one place the wooden bridge which led over a stream had
+broken down, and no attempt had been made to repair it, so that we were
+compelled to ride our horses girth deep through the torrent. At first
+some scattered lights had shown that we were in the neighbourhood of
+human habitations, but these became fewer as we advanced, until the last
+died away and we found ourselves upon the desolate moor which stretched
+away in unbroken solitude to the shadowy horizon. The moon had broken
+through the clouds and now shone hazily through wreaths of mist,
+throwing a dim light over the wild scene, and enabling us to keep to
+the track, which was not fenced in in any way and could scarce be
+distinguished from the plain around it.
+
+We had slackened our pace under the impression that all fear of pursuit
+was at an end, and Reuben was amazing us by an account of the excitement
+which had been caused in Havant by our disappearance, when through the
+stillness of the night a dull, muffled rat-tat-tat struck upon my ear.
+At the same moment Saxon sprang from his horse and listened intently
+with sidelong head.
+
+'Boot and saddle!' he cried, springing into his seat again. 'They are
+after us as sure as fate. A dozen troopers by the sound. We must shake
+them off, or goodbye to Monmouth.'
+
+'Give them their heads,' I answered, and striking spurs into our steeds,
+we thundered on through the darkness. Covenant and Chloe were as fresh
+as could be wished, and soon settled down into a long springy gallop.
+Our friend's horse however, had been travelling all day, and its
+long-drawn, laboured breathing showed that it could not hold out for
+long. Through the clatter of our horses' hoofs I could still from time
+to time hear the ominous murmur from behind us.
+
+'This will never do, Reuben,' said I anxiously, as the weary creature
+stumbled, and the rider came perilously near to shooting over its head.
+
+'The old horse is nearly foundered,' he answered ruefully. 'We are off
+the road now, and the rough ground is too much for her.'
+
+'Yes, we are off the track,' cried Saxon over his shoulder--for he led
+us by a few paces. 'Bear in mind that the Bluecoats have been on the
+march all day, so that their horses may also be blown. How in Himmel
+came they to know which road we took?'
+
+As if in answer to his ejaculation, there rose out of the still night
+behind us a single, clear, bell-like note, swelling and increasing in
+volume until it seemed to fill the whole air with its harmony.
+
+'A bloodhound!' cried Saxon.
+
+A second sharper, keener note, ending in an unmistakable howl, answered
+the first.
+
+'Another of them,' said he. 'They have loosed the brutes that we saw
+near the Cathedral. Gad! we little thought when we peered over the rails
+at them, a few hours ago, that they would so soon be on our own track.
+Keep a firm knee and a steady seat, for a slip now would be your last.'
+
+'Holy mother!' cried Reuben, 'I had steeled myself to die in battle--but
+to be dogsmeat! It is something outside the contract.'
+
+'They hold them in leash,' said Saxon, between his teeth, 'else they
+would outstrip the horses and be lost in the darkness.
+
+Could we but come on running water we might put them off our track.'
+
+'My horse cannot hold on at this pace for more than a very few minutes,'
+Reuben cried. 'If I break down, do ye go on, for ye must remember
+that they are upon your track and not mine. They have found cause for
+suspicion of the two strangers of the inn, but none of me.'
+
+'Nay, Reuben, we shall stand or fall together,' said I sadly, for at
+every step his horse grew more and more feeble. 'In this darkness they
+will make little distinction between persons.'
+
+'Keep a good heart,' shouted the old soldier, who was now leading us by
+twenty yards or more. 'We can hear them because the wind blows from that
+way, but it's odds whether they have heard us. Methinks they slacken in
+their pursuit.'
+
+'The sound of their horses has indeed grown fainter,' said I joyfully.
+
+'So faint that I can hear it no longer,' my companion cried.
+
+We reined up our panting steeds and strained our ears, but not a
+sound could we hear save the gentle murmur of the breeze amongst the
+whin-bushes, and the melancholy cry of the night-jar. Behind us the
+broad rolling plain, half light and half shadow, stretched away to
+the dim horizon without sign of life or movement. 'We have either
+outstripped them completely, or else they have given up the chase,' said
+I. 'What ails the horses that they should tremble and snort?'
+
+'My poor beast is nearly done for,' Reuben remarked, leaning forward and
+passing his hand down the creature's reeking neck.
+
+'For all that we cannot rest,' said Saxon. 'We may not be out of danger
+yet. Another mile or two may shake us clear. But I like it not.'
+
+'Like not what?'
+
+'These horses and their terrors. The beasts can at times both see and
+hear more than we, as I could show by divers examples drawn from mine
+own experience on the Danube and in the Palatinate, were the time and
+place more fitting. Let us on, then, before we rest.'
+
+The weary horses responded bravely to the call, and struggled onwards
+over the broken ground for a considerable time. At last we were thinking
+of pulling up in good earnest, and of congratulating ourselves upon
+having tired out our pursuers, when of a sudden the bell-like baying
+broke upon our ears far louder than it had been before--so loud, indeed,
+that it was evident that the dogs were close upon our heels.
+
+'The accursed hounds!' cried Saxon, putting spurs to his horse and
+shooting ahead of us; 'I feared as much. They have freed them from the
+leash. There is no escape from the devils, but we can choose the spot
+where we shall make our stand.'
+
+'Come on, Reuben,' I shouted. 'We have only to reckon with the dogs now.
+Their masters have let them loose, and turned back for Salisbury.'
+
+'Pray heaven they break their necks before they get there!' he cried.
+'They set dogs on us as though we were rats in a cock-pit. Yet they call
+England a Christian country! It's no use, Micah. Poor Dido can't stir
+another step.'
+
+As he spoke, the sharp fierce bay of the hounds rose again, clear and
+stern on the night air, swelling up from a low hoarse growl to a high
+angry yelp. There seemed to be a ring of exultation in their wild cry,
+as though they knew that their quarry was almost run to earth.
+
+'Not another step!' said Reuben Lockarby, pulling up and drawing his
+sword. 'If I must fight, I shall fight here.'
+
+'There could be no better place,' I replied. Two great jagged rocks rose
+before us, jutting abruptly out of the ground, and leaving a space of
+twelve or fifteen feet between them. Through this gap we rode, and
+I shouted loudly for Saxon to join us. His horse, however, had been
+steadily gaining upon ours, and at the renewed alarm had darted off
+again, so that he was already some hundred yards from us. It was useless
+to summon him, even could he hear our voices, for the hounds would be
+upon us before he could return.
+
+'Never heed him,' I said hurriedly. 'Do you rein your steed behind
+that rock, and I behind this. They will serve to break the force of the
+attack. Dismount not, but strike down, and strike hard.'
+
+On either side in the shadow of the rock we waited in silence for our
+terrible pursuers. Looking back at it, my dear children, I cannot but
+think that it was a great trial on such young soldiers as Reuben and
+myself to be put, on the first occasion of drawing our swords, into such
+a position. For I have found, and others have confirmed my opinion,
+that of all dangers that a man is called upon to face, that arising from
+savage and determined animals is the most unnerving. For with men there
+is ever the chance that some trait of weakness or of want of courage may
+give you an advantage over them, but with fierce beasts there is no such
+hope. We knew that the creatures to whom we were opposed could never
+be turned from our throats while there was breath in their bodies. One
+feels in one's heart, too, that the combat is an unequal one, for your
+life is precious at least to your friends, while their lives, what are
+they? All this and a great deal more passed swiftly through our minds
+as we sat with drawn swords, soothing our trembling horses as best we
+might, and waiting for the coming of the hounds.
+
+Nor had we long to wait. Another long, deep, thunderous bay sounded
+in our ears, followed by a profound silence, broken only by the quick
+shivering breathing of the horses. Then suddenly, and noiselessly, a
+great tawny brute, with its black muzzle to the earth, and its overhung
+cheeks napping on either side, sprang into the band of moonlight between
+the rocks, and on into the shadow beyond. It never paused or swerved for
+an instant, but pursued its course straight onwards without a glance
+to right or to left. Close behind it came a second, and behind that a
+third, all of enormous size, and looking even larger and more terrible
+than they were in the dim shifting light. Like the first, they took no
+notice of our presence, but bounded on along the trail left by Decimus
+Saxon.
+
+The first and second I let pass, for I hardly realised that they so
+completely overlooked us. When the third, however, sprang out into the
+moonlight, I drew my right-hand pistol from its holster, and resting
+its long barrel across my left forearm, I fired at it as it passed. The
+bullet struck the mark, for the brute gave a fierce howl of rage and
+pain, but true to the scent it never turned or swerved. Lockarby fired
+also as it disappeared among the brushwood, but with no apparent effect.
+So swiftly and so noiselessly did the great hounds pass, that they might
+have been grim silent spirits of the night, the phantom dogs of Herne
+the hunter, but for that one fierce yelp which followed my shot.
+
+'What brutes!' my companion ejaculated; 'what shall we do, Micah?'
+
+'They have clearly been laid on Saxon's trail,' said I. 'We must follow
+them up, or they will be too many for him. Can you hear anything of our
+pursuers?'
+
+'Nothing.'
+
+'They have given up the chase, then, and let the dogs loose as a last
+resource. Doubtless the creatures are trained to return to the town. But
+we must push on, Reuben, if we are to help our companion.'
+
+'One more spurt, then, little Dido,' cried Reuben; 'can you muster
+strength for one more? Nay, I have not the heart to put spurs to you. If
+you can do it, I know you will.'
+
+The brave mare snorted, as though she understood her riders words, and
+stretched her weary limbs into a gallop. So stoutly did she answer the
+appeal that, though I pressed Covenant to his topmost speed, she was
+never more than a few strides behind him.
+
+'He took this direction,' said I, peering anxiously out into the
+darkness. 'He can scarce have gone far, for he spoke of making a stand.
+Or, perhaps, finding that we are not with him, he may trust to the speed
+of his horse.'
+
+'What chance hath a horse of outstripping these brutes?' Reuben
+answered. 'They must run him to earth, and he knows it. Hullo! what have
+we here?'
+
+A dark dim form lay stretched in the moonlight in front of us. It was
+the dead body of a hound--the one evidently at which I had fired.
+
+'There is one of them disposed of, 'I cried joyously; 'we have but two
+to settle with now.'
+
+'As I spoke we heard the crack of two pistol-shots some little distance
+to the left. Heading our steeds in that direction, we pressed on at the
+top of our speed. Presently out of the darkness in front of us there
+arose such a roaring and a yelping as sent the hearts into our mouths.
+It was not a single cry, such as the hounds had uttered when they were
+on the scent, but a continuous deep-mouthed uproar, so fierce and so
+prolonged, that we could not doubt that they had come to the end of
+their run.
+
+'Pray God that they have not got him down!' cried Reuben, in a faltering
+voice.
+
+The same thought had crossed my own mind, for I have heard a similar
+though lesser din come from a pack of otter hounds when they had
+overtaken their prey and were tearing it to pieces. Sick at heart, I
+drew my sword with the determination that, if we were too late to save
+our companion, we should at least revenge him upon the four-footed
+fiends. Bursting through a thick belt of scrub and tangled gorse bushes,
+we came upon a scene so unlike what we had expected that we pulled up
+our horses in astonishment.
+
+A circular clearing lay in front of us, brightly illuminated by the
+silvery moonshine. In the centre of this rose a giant stone, one
+of those high dark columns which are found all over the plain, and
+especially in the parts round Stonehenge. It could not have been less
+than fifteen feet in height, and had doubtless been originally straight,
+but wind and weather, or the crumbling of the soil, had gradually
+suffered it to tilt over until it inclined at such an angle that an
+active man might clamber up to the summit. On the top of this ancient
+stone, cross-legged and motionless, like some strange carved idol of
+former days, sat Decimus Saxon, puffing sedately at the long pipe which
+was ever his comfort in moments of difficulty. Beneath him, at the base
+of the monolith, as our learned men call them, the two great bloodhounds
+were rearing and springing, clambering over each other's backs in their
+frenzied and futile eagerness to reach the impassive figure perched
+above them, while they gave vent to their rage and disappointment in the
+hideous uproar which had suggested such terrible thoughts to our mind.
+
+We had little time, however, to gaze at this strange scene, for upon our
+appearance the hounds abandoned their helpless attempts to reach Saxon,
+and flew, with a fierce snarl of satisfaction, at Reuben and myself.
+One great brute, with flaring eyes and yawning mouth, his white fangs
+glistening in the moonlight, sprang at my horse's neck; but I met him
+fair with a single sweeping cut, which shore away his muzzle, and left
+him wallowing and writhing in a pool of blood. Reuben, meanwhile, had
+spurred his horse forward to meet his assailant; but the poor tired
+steed flinched at the sight of the fierce hound, and pulled up suddenly,
+with the result that her rider rolled headlong into the very jaws of the
+animal. It might have gone ill with Reuben had he been left to his own
+resources. At the most he could only have kept the cruel teeth from
+his throat for a very few moments; but seeing the mischance, I drew my
+remaining pistol, and springing from my horse, discharged it full into
+the creature's flank while it struggled with my friend. With a last
+yell of rage and pain it brought its fierce jaws together in one wild
+impotent snap, and then sank slowly over upon its side, while Reuben
+crawled from beneath it, scared and bruised, but none the worse
+otherwise for his perilous adventure.
+
+'I owe you one for that, Micah,' he said gratefully. 'I may live to do
+as much for you.'
+
+'And I owe ye both one,' said Saxon, who had scrambled down from his
+place of refuge. 'I pay my debts, too, whether for good or evil. I might
+have stayed up there until I had eaten my jack-boots, for all the chance
+I had of ever getting down again. Sancta Maria! but that was a shrewd
+blow of yours, Clarke! The brute's head flew in halves like a rotten
+pumpkin. No wonder that they stuck to my track, for I have left both my
+spare girth and my kerchief behind me, which would serve to put them on
+Chloe's scent as well as mine own.'
+
+'And where is Chloe?' I asked, wiping my sword.
+
+'Chloe had to look out for herself. I found the brutes gaining on me,
+you see, and I let drive at them with my barkers; but with a horse
+flying at twenty mile an hour, what chance is there for a single slug
+finding its way home?' Things looked black then, for I had no time to
+reload, and the rapier, though the king of weapons in the duello, is
+scarce strong enough to rely upon on an occasion like this. As luck
+would have it, just as I was fairly puzzled, what should I come across
+but this handy stone, which the good priests of old did erect, as far as
+I can see, for no other purpose than to provide worthy cavalieros with
+an escape from such ignoble and scurvy enemies. I had no time to spare
+in clambering up it, for I had to tear my heel out of the mouth of the
+foremost of them, and might have been dragged down by it had he not
+found my spur too tough a morsel for his chewing. But surely one of my
+bullets must have readied its mark.' Lighting the touch-paper in his
+tobacco-box, he passed it over the body of the hound which had attacked
+me, and then of the other.
+
+'Why, this one is riddled like a sieve,' he cried. 'What do you load
+your petronels with, good Master Clarke?'
+
+'With two leaden slugs.'
+
+'Yet two leaden slugs have made a score of holes at the least! And of
+all things in this world, here is the neck of a bottle stuck in the
+brute's hide!'
+
+'Good heavens!' I exclaimed. 'I remember. My dear mother packed a bottle
+of Daffy's elixir in the barrel of my pistol.'
+
+'And you have shot it into the bloodhound!' roared Reuben. 'Ho! ho! When
+they hear that tale at the tap of the Wheatsheaf, there will be some
+throats dry with laughter. Saved my life by shooting a dog with a bottle
+of Daffy's elixir!'
+
+'And a bullet as well, Reuben, though I dare warrant the gossips will
+soon contrive to leave that detail out. It is a mercy the pistol did not
+burst. But what do you propose to do now, Master Saxon?'
+
+'Why, to recover my mare if it can anywise be done,' said the
+adventurer.' Though on this vast moor, in the dark, she will be as
+difficult to find as a Scotsman's breeches or a flavourless line in
+"Hudibras."'
+
+'And Reuben Lockarby's steed can go no further,' I remarked. 'But do
+mine eyes deceive me, or is there a glimmer of light over yonder?'
+
+'A Will-o'-the-wisp,' said Saxon.
+
+          "An _ignis fatuus_ that bewitches,
+           And leads men into pools and ditches."
+
+Yet I confess that it burns steady and clear, as though it came from
+lamp, candle, rushlight, lanthorn, or other human agency.'
+
+'Where there is light there is life,' cried Reuben. 'Let us make for it,
+and see what chance of shelter we may find there.'
+
+'It cannot come from our dragoon friends,' remarked Decimus. 'A murrain
+on them! how came they to guess our true character; or was it on the
+score of some insult to the regiment that that young Fahnfuhrer has set
+them on our track? If I have him at my sword's point again, he shall
+not come off so free. Well, do ye lead your horses, and we shall explore
+this light, since no better course is open to us.'
+
+Picking our way across the moor, we directed our course for the bright
+point which twinkled in the distance; and as we advanced we hazarded
+a thousand conjectures as to whence it could come. If it were a human
+dwelling, what sort of being could it be who, not content with living in
+the heart of this wilderness, had chosen a spot so far removed from the
+ordinary tracks which crossed it? The roadway was miles behind us, and
+it was probable that no one save those driven by such a necessity as
+that which had overtaken us would ever find themselves in that desolate
+region. No hermit could have desired an abode more completely isolated
+from all communion with his kind.
+
+As we approached we saw that the light did indeed come from a small
+cottage, which was built in a hollow, so as to be invisible from any
+quarter save that from which we approached it. In front of this humble
+dwelling a small patch of ground had been cleared of shrub, and in the
+centre of this little piece of sward our missing steed stood grazing at
+her leisure upon the scanty herbage. The same light which had attracted
+us had doubtless caught her eye, and drawn her towards it by hopes of
+oats and of water. With a grunt of satisfaction Saxon resumed possession
+of his lost property, and leading her by the bridle, approached the door
+of the solitary cottage.
+
+
+
+Chapter XI. Of the Lonely Man and the Gold Chest
+
+The strong yellow glare which had attracted us across the moor found its
+way out through a single narrow slit alongside the door which served the
+purpose of a rude window. As we advanced towards it the light changed
+suddenly to red, and that again to green, throwing a ghastly pallor over
+our faces, and especially heightening the cadaverous effect of Saxon's
+austere features. At the same time we became aware of a most subtle
+and noxious odour which poisoned the air all round the cottage.
+This combination of portents in so lonely a spot worked upon the old
+man-at-arms' superstitious feelings to such an extent that he paused
+and looked back at us inquiringly. Both Reuben and I were determined,
+however, to carry the adventure through, so he contented himself with
+falling a little behind us, and pattering to himself some exorcism
+appropriate to the occasion. Walking up to the door, I rapped upon it
+with the hilt of my sword and announced that we were weary travellers
+who were seeking a night's shelter.
+
+The first result of my appeal was a sound as of some one bustling
+rapidly about, with the clinking of metal and noise of the turning of
+locks. This died away into a hush, and I was about to knock once more
+when a crackling voice greeted us from the other side of the door.
+
+'There is little shelter here, gentlemen, and less provisions,' it said.
+'It is but six miles to Amesbury, where at the Cecil Arms ye shall find,
+I doubt not, all that is needful for man and for beast.'
+
+'Nay, nay, mine invisible friend,' quoth Saxon, who was much reassured
+by the sound of a human voice, 'this is surely but a scurvy reception.
+One of our horses is completely foundered, and none of them are in
+very good plight, so that we could no more make for the Cecil Arms at
+Amesbury than for the Gruner Mann at Lubeck. I prythee, therefore, that
+you will allow us to pass the remainder of the night under your roof.'
+
+At this appeal there was much creaking of locks and rasping of bolts,
+which ended in the door swinging slowly open, and disclosing the person
+who had addressed us.
+
+By the strong light which shone out from behind him we could see that
+he was a man of venerable aspect, with snow-white hair and a countenance
+which bespoke a thoughtful and yet fiery nature. The high pensive brow
+and flowing beard smacked of the philosopher, but the keen sparkling
+eye, the curved aquiline nose, and the lithe upright figure which the
+weight of years had been unable to bend, were all suggestive of the
+soldier. His lofty bearing, and his rich though severe costume of black
+velvet, were at strange variance with the humble nature of the abode
+which he had chosen for his dwelling-place.
+
+'Ho!' said he, looking keenly at us. 'Two of ye unused to war, and the
+other an old soldier. Ye have been pursued, I see!'
+
+'How did you know that, then?' asked Decimus Saxon.
+
+'Ah, my friend, I too have served in my time. My eyes are not so old but
+that they can tell when horses have been spurred to the utmost, nor is
+it difficult to see that this young giant's sword hath been employed in
+something less innocent than toasting bacon. Your story, however, can
+keep. Every true soldier thinks first of his horse, so I pray that you
+will tether yours without, since I have neither ostler nor serving man
+to whom I may entrust them.'
+
+The strange dwelling into which we presently entered had been prolonged
+into the side of the little hill against which it had been built, so
+as to form a very long narrow hall. The ends of this great room, as we
+entered, were wrapped in shadow, but in the centre was a bright glare
+from a brazier full of coals, over which a brass pipkin was suspended.
+Beside the fire a long wooden table was plentifully covered with curved
+glass flasks, basins, tubings, and other instruments of which I knew
+neither the name nor the purpose. A long row of bottles containing
+various coloured liquids and powders were arranged along a shelf, whilst
+above it another shelf bore a goodly array of brown volumes. For the
+rest there was a second rough-hewn table, a pair of cupboards, three or
+four wooden settles, and several large screens pinned to the walls
+and covered all over with figures and symbols, of which I could make
+nothing. The vile smell which had greeted us outside was very much worse
+within the chamber, and arose apparently from the fumes of the boiling,
+bubbling contents of the brazen pot.
+
+'Ye behold in me,' said our host, bowing courteously to us, 'the last of
+an ancient family. I am Sir Jacob Clancing of Snellaby Hall.'
+
+'Smellaby it should be, methinks,' whispered Reuben, in a voice which
+fortunately did not reach the ears of the old knight.
+
+'I pray that ye be seated,' he continued, 'and that ye lay aside your
+plates and headpieces, and remove your boots. Consider this to be your
+inn, and behave as freely. Ye will hold me excused if for a moment I
+turn my attention from you to this operation on which I am engaged,
+which will not brook delay.'
+
+Saxon began forthwith to undo his buckles and to pull off his harness,
+while Reuben, throwing himself into a chair, appeared to be too weary
+to do more than unfasten his sword-belt. For my own part, I was glad
+to throw off my gear, but I kept my attention all the while upon the
+movements of our host, whose graceful manners and learned appearance had
+aroused my curiosity and admiration.
+
+He approached the evil-smelling pot, and stirred it up with a face
+which indicated so much anxiety that it was clear that he had pushed his
+courtesy to us so far as to risk the ruin of some important experiment.
+Dipping his ladle into the compound, he scooped some up, and then poured
+it slowly back into the vessel, showing a yellow turbid fluid. The
+appearance of it evidently reassured him, for the look of anxiety
+cleared away from his features, and he uttered an exclamation of relief.
+Taking a handful of a whitish powder from a trencher at his side he
+threw it into the pipkin, the contents of which began immediately to
+seethe and froth over into the fire, causing the flames to assume
+the strange greenish hue which we had observed before entering. This
+treatment had the effect of clearing the fluid, for the chemist was
+enabled to pour off into a bottle a quantity of perfectly watery
+transparent liquid, while a brownish sediment remained in the vessel,
+and was emptied out upon a sheet of paper. This done, Sir Jacob Clancing
+pushed aside all his bottles, and turned towards us with a smiling face
+and a lighter air.
+
+'We shall see what my poor larder can furnish forth,' said he.
+'Meanwhile, this odour may be offensive to your untrained nostrils, so
+we shall away with it. He threw a few grains of some balsamic resin
+into the brazier, which at once filled the chamber with a most agreeable
+perfume. He then laid a white cloth upon the table, and taking from a
+cupboard a dish of cold trout and a large meat pasty, he placed them
+upon it, and invited us to draw up our settles and set to work.
+
+'I would that I had more toothsome fare to offer ye,' said he. 'Were
+we at Snellaby Hall, ye should not be put off in this scurvy fashion, I
+promise ye. This may serve, however, for hungry men, and I can still
+lay my hands upon a brace of bottles of the old Alicant.' So saying, he
+brought a pair of flasks out from a recess, and having seen us served
+and our glasses filled, he seated himself in a high-backed oaken chair
+and presided with old-fashioned courtesy over our feast. As we supped, I
+explained to him what our errand was, and narrated the adventures of the
+night, without making mention of our destination.
+
+'You are bound for Monmouth's camp,' he said quietly, when I had
+finished, looking me full in the face with his keen dark eyes. 'I know
+it, but ye need not fear lest I betray you, even were it in my power.
+What chance, think ye, hath the Duke against the King's forces?'
+
+'As much chance as a farmyard fowl against a spurred gamecock, did he
+rely only on those whom he hath with him,' Saxon answered. 'He hath
+reason to think, however, that all England is like a powder magazine,
+and he hopes to be the spark to set it alight.'
+
+The old man shook his head sadly. 'The King hath great resources,' he
+remarked. 'Where is Monmouth to get his trained soldiers?'
+
+'There is the militia,' I suggested.
+
+'And there are many of the old parliamentary breed, who are not too far
+gone to strike a blow for their belief,' said Saxon. 'Do you but get
+half-a-dozen broad-brimmed, snuffle-nosed preachers into a camp, and the
+whole Presbytery tribe will swarm round them like flies on a honey-pot.
+No recruiting sergeants will ever raise such an army as did Noll's
+preachers in the eastern counties, where the promise of a seat by the
+throne was thought of more value than a ten-pound bounty. I would I
+could pay mine own debts with these same promises.'
+
+'I should judge from your speech, sir,' our host observed, 'that you are
+not one of the sectaries. How comes it, then, that you are throwing the
+weight of your sword and your experience into the weaker scale?'
+
+'For the very reason that it is the weaker scale,' said the soldier of
+fortune. 'I should gladly have gone with my brother to the Guinea coast
+and had no say in the matter one way or the other, beyond delivering
+letters and such trifles. Since I must be doing something, I choose to
+fight for Protestantism and Monmouth. It is nothing to me whether James
+Stuart or James Walters sits upon the throne, but the court and army of
+the King are already made up. Now, since Monmouth hath both courtiers
+and soldiers to find, it may well happen that he may be glad of my
+services and reward them with honourable preferment.'
+
+'Your logic is sound,' said our host, 'save only that you have omitted
+the very great chance which you will incur of losing your head if the
+Duke's party are borne down by the odds against them.'
+
+'A man cannot throw a main without putting a stake on the board,' said
+Saxon.
+
+'And you, young sir,' the old man asked, 'what has caused you to take a
+hand in so dangerous a game?'
+
+'I come of a Roundhead stock,' I answered, 'and my folk have always
+fought for the liberty of the people and the humbling of tyranny. I come
+in the place of my father.'
+
+'And you, sir?' our questioner continued, looking at Reuben.
+
+'I have come to see something of the world, and to be with my friend and
+companion here,' he replied.
+
+'And I have stronger reasons than any of ye,' Sir Jacob cried, 'for
+appearing in arms against any man who bears the name of Stuart. Had I
+not a mission here which cannot be neglected, I might myself be tempted
+to hie westward with ye, and put these grey hairs of mine once more into
+the rough clasp of a steel headpiece. For where now is the noble castle
+of Snellaby, and where those glades and woods amidst which the Clancings
+have grown up, and lived and died, ere ever Norman William set his
+foot on English soil? A man of trade--a man who, by the sweat of his
+half-starved workers, had laid by ill-gotten wealth, is now the owner
+of all that fair property. Should I, the last of the Clancings, show
+my face upon it, I might be handed over to the village beadle as a
+trespasser, or scourged off it perhaps by the bowstrings of insolent
+huntsmen.'
+
+'And how comes so sudden a reverse of fortune?' I asked.
+
+'Fill up your glasses!' cried the old man, suiting the action to the
+word. 'Here's a toast for you! Perdition to all faithless princes!
+How came it about, ye ask? Why, when the troubles came upon the first
+Charles, I stood by him as though he had been mine own brother. At
+Edgehill, at Naseby, in twenty skirmishes and battles, I fought stoutly
+in his cause, maintaining a troop of horse at my own expense, formed
+from among my own gardeners, grooms, and attendants. Then the military
+chest ran low, and money must be had to carry on the contest. My silver
+chargers and candlesticks were thrown into the melting-pot, as were
+those of many another cavalier. They went in metal and they came out
+as troopers and pikemen. So we tided over a few months until again the
+purse was empty, and again we filled it amongst us. This time it was the
+home farm and the oak trees that went. Then came Marston Moor, and every
+penny and man was needed to repair that great disaster. I flinched not,
+but gave everything. This boiler of soap, a prudent, fat-cheeked man,
+had kept himself free from civil broils, and had long had a covetous eye
+upon the castle. It was his ambition, poor worm, to be a gentleman, as
+though a gabled roof and a crumbling house could ever make him that. I
+let him have his way, however, and threw the sum received, every guinea
+of it, into the King's coffers. And so I held out until the final ruin
+of Worcester, when I covered the retreat of the young prince, and may
+indeed say that save in the Isle of Man I was the last Royalist who
+upheld the authority of the crown. The Commonwealth had set a price upon
+my head as a dangerous malignant, so I was forced to take my passage in
+a Harwich ketch, and arrived in the Lowlands with nothing save my sword
+and a few broad pieces in my pocket.'
+
+'A cavalier might do well even then,' remarked Saxon. 'There are ever
+wars in Germany where a man is worth his hire. When the North Germans
+are not in arms against the Swedes or French, the South Germans are sure
+to be having a turn with the janissaries.'
+
+'I did indeed take arms for a time in the employ of the United
+Provinces, by which means I came face to face once more with mine old
+foes, the Roundheads. Oliver had lent Reynolds's brigade to the French,
+and right glad was Louis to have the service of such seasoned troops.
+'Fore God, I stood on the counterscarp at Dunkirk, and I found myself,
+when I should have been helping the defence, actually cheering on the
+attack. My very heart rose when I saw the bull-dog fellows clambering up
+the breach with their pikes at the trail, and never quavering in their
+psalm-tune, though the bullets sung around them as thick as bees in the
+hiving time. And when they did come to close hugs with the Flemings, I
+tell you they set up such a rough cry of soldierly joy that my pride
+in them as Englishmen overtopped my hatred of them as foes. However, my
+soldiering was of no great duration, for peace was soon declared, and
+I then pursued the study of chemistry, for which I had a strong turn,
+first with Vorhaager of Leyden, and later with De Huy of Strasburg,
+though I fear that these weighty names are but sounds to your ears.'
+
+'Truly,' said Saxon, 'there seemeth to be some fatal attraction in this
+same chemistry, for we met two officers of the Blue Guards in Salisbury,
+who, though they were stout soldierly men in other respects, had also a
+weakness in that direction.'
+
+'Ha!' cried Sir Jacob, with interest. 'To what school did they belong?'
+
+'Nay, I know nothing of the matter,' Saxon answered, 'save that they
+denied that Gervinus of Nurnberg, whom I guarded in prison, or any other
+man, could transmute metals.'
+
+'For Gervinus I cannot answer,' said our host, 'but for the possibility
+of it I can pledge my knightly word. However, of that anon. The time
+came at last when the second Charles was invited back to his throne,
+and all of us, from Jeffrey Hudson, the court dwarf, up to my Lord
+Clarendon, were in high feather at the hope of regaining our own once
+more. For my own claim, I let it stand for some time, thinking that it
+would be a more graceful act for the King to help a poor cavalier who
+had ruined himself for the sake of his family without solicitation on
+his part. I waited and waited, but no word came, so at last I betook
+myself to the levee and was duly presented to him. "Ah," said he,
+greeting me with the cordiality which he could assume so well, "you
+are, if I mistake not, Sir Jasper Killigrew?" "Nay, your Majesty,"
+I answered, "I am Sir Jacob Clancing, formerly of Snellaby Hall, in
+Staffordshire;" and with that I reminded him of Worcester fight and of
+many passages which had occurred to us in common. "Od's fish!" he cried,
+"how could I be so forgetful! And how are all at Snellaby?" I then
+explained to him that the Hall had passed out of my hands, and told him
+in a few words the state to which I had been reduced. His face clouded
+over and his manner chilled to me at once. "They are all on to me for
+money and for places," he said, "and truly the Commons are so niggardly
+to me that I can scarce be generous to others. However, Sir Jacob, we
+shall see what can be done for thee," and with that he dismissed me.
+That same night the secretary of my Lord Clarendon came to me, and
+announced with much form and show that, in consideration of my long
+devotion and the losses which I had sustained, the King was graciously
+pleased to make me a lottery cavalier.'
+
+'And pray, sir, what is a lottery cavalier?' I asked.
+
+'It is nothing else than a licensed keeper of a gambling-house. This
+was his reward to me. I was to be allowed to have a den in the piazza
+of Covent Garden, and there to decoy the young sparks of the town and
+fleece them at ombre. To restore my own fortunes I was to ruin others.
+My honour, my family, my reputation, they were all to weigh for
+nothing so long as I had the means of bubbling a few fools out of their
+guineas.'
+
+'I have heard that some of the lottery cavaliers did well,' remarked
+Saxon reflectively.
+
+'Well or ill, it way no employment for me. I waited upon the King and
+implored that his bounty would take another form. His only reply was
+that for one so poor I was strangely fastidious. For weeks I hung about
+the court--I and other poor cavaliers like myself, watching the royal
+brothers squandering upon their gaming and their harlots sums which
+would have restored us to our patrimonies. I have seen Charles put upon
+one turn of a card as much as would have satisfied the most exacting of
+us. In the parks of St. James, or in the Gallery at Whitehall, I still
+endeavoured to keep myself before his eyes, in the hope that some
+provision would be made for me. At last I received a second message from
+him. It was that unless I could dress more in the mode he could dispense
+with my attendance. That was his message to the old broken soldier who
+had sacrificed health, wealth, position, everything in the service of
+his father and himself.'
+
+'Shameful!' we cried, all three.
+
+'Can you wonder, then, that I cursed the whole Stuart race,
+false-hearted, lecherous, and cruel? For the Hall, I could buy it back
+to-morrow if I chose, but why should I do so when I have no heir?'
+
+'Ho, you have prospered then!' said Decimus Saxon, with one of his
+shrewd sidelong looks. 'Perhaps you have yourself found out how to
+convert pots and pans into gold in the way you have spoken of. But that
+cannot be, for I see iron and brass in this room which would hardly
+remain there could you convert it to gold.'
+
+'Gold has its uses, and iron has its uses,' said Sir Jacob oracularly.
+'The one can never supplant the other.'
+
+'Yet these officers,' I remarked, 'did declare to us that it was but a
+superstition of the vulgar.'
+
+'Then these officers did show that their knowledge was less than their
+prejudice. Alexander Setonius, a Scot, was first of the moderns to
+achieve it. In the month of March 1602 he did change a bar of lead into
+gold in the house of a certain Hansen, at Rotterdam, who hath testified
+to it. He then not only repeated the same process before three learned
+men sent by the Kaiser Rudolph, but he taught Johann Wolfgang Dienheim
+of Freibourg, and Gustenhofer of Strasburg, which latter taught it to my
+own illustrious master--'
+
+'Who in turn taught it to you,' cried Saxon triumphantly. 'I have no
+great store of metal with me, good sir, but there are my head-piece,
+back and breast-plate, taslets and thigh-pieces, together with my
+sword, spurs, and the buckles of my harness. I pray you to use your most
+excellent and praiseworthy art upon these, and I will promise within a
+few days to bring round a mass of metal which shall be more worthy of
+your skill.'
+
+'Nay, nay,' said the alchemist, smiling and shaking his head. 'It can
+indeed be done, but only slowly and in order, small pieces at a time,
+and with much expenditure of work and patience. For a man to enrich
+himself at it he must labour hard and long; yet in the end I will not
+deny that he may compass it. And now, since the flasks are empty and
+your young comrade is nodding in his chair, it will perhaps be as well
+for you to spend as much of the night as is left in repose.' He drew
+several blankets and rugs from a corner and scattered them over the
+floor. 'It is a soldier's couch,' he remarked; 'but ye may sleep on
+worse before ye put Monmouth on the English throne. For myself, it is
+my custom to sleep in an inside chamber, which is hollowed out of the
+hill.' With a few last words and precautions for our comfort he withdrew
+with the lamp, passing through a door which had escaped our notice at
+the further end of the apartment.
+
+Reuben, having had no rest since he left Havant, had already dropped
+upon the rugs, and was fast asleep, with a saddle for a pillow. Saxon
+and I sat for a few minutes longer by the light of the burning brazier.
+
+'One might do worse than take to this same chemical business,' my
+companion remarked, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. 'See you yon
+iron-bound chest in the corner?'
+
+'What of it?'
+
+'It is two thirds full of gold, which this worthy gentleman hath
+manufactured.'
+
+'How know you that?' I asked incredulously.
+
+'When you did strike the door panel with the hilt of your sword, as
+though you would drive it in, you may have heard some scuttling about,
+and the turning of a lock. Well, thanks to my inches, I was able to look
+through yon slit in the wall, and I saw our friend throw something into
+the chest with a chink, and then lock it. It was but a glance at the
+contents, yet I could swear that that dull yellow light could come from
+no metal but gold. Let us see if it be indeed locked.' Rising from his
+seat he walked over to the box and pulled vigorously at the lid.
+
+'Forbear, Saxon, forbear!' I cried angrily. 'What would our host say,
+should he come upon you?'
+
+'Nay, then, he should not keep such things beneath his roof. With a
+chisel or a dagger now, this might be prized open.'
+
+'By Heaven!' I whispered, 'if you should attempt it I shall lay you on
+your back.'
+
+'Well, well, young Anak! it was but a passing fancy to see the treasure
+again. Now, if he were but well favoured to the King, this would be
+fair prize of war. Marked ye not that he claimed to have been the last
+Royalist who drew sword in England? and he confessed that he had been
+proscribed as a malignant. Your father, godly as he is, would have
+little compunction in despoiling such an Amalekite. Besides, bethink
+you, he can make more as easily as your good mother maketh cranberry
+dumplings.'
+
+'Enough said!' I answered sternly. 'It will not bear discussion. Get ye
+to your couch, lest I summon our host and tell him what manner of man he
+hath entertained.'
+
+With many grumbles Saxon consented at last to curl his long limbs up
+upon a mat, whilst I lay by his side and remained awake until the mellow
+light of morning streamed through the chinks between the ill-covered
+rafters. Truth to tell, I feared to sleep, lest the freebooting habits
+of the soldier of fortune should be too strong for him, and he should
+disgrace us in the eyes of our kindly and generous entertainer. At last,
+however, his long-drawn breathing assured me that he was asleep, and I
+was able to settle down to a few hours of welcome rest.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII. Of certain Passages upon the Moor
+
+In the morning, after a breakfast furnished by the remains of our
+supper, we looked to our horses and prepared for our departure. Ere we
+could mount, however, our kindly host came running out to us with a load
+of armour in his arms.
+
+'Come hither,' said he, beckoning to Reuben. 'It is not meet, lad, that
+you should go bare-breasted against the enemy when your comrades are
+girt with steel. I have here mine own old breastplate and head-piece,
+which should, methinks, fit you, for if you have more flesh than I, I am
+a larger framework of a man. Ah, said I not so! Were't measured for you
+by Silas Thomson, the court armourer, it could not grip better. Now
+on with the head-piece. A close fit again. You are now a cavalier whom
+Monmouth or any other leader might be proud to see ride beneath his
+banner.'
+
+Both helmet and body-plates were of the finest Milan steel, richly
+inlaid with silver and with gold, and carved all over in rare and
+curious devices. So stern and soldierly was the effect, that the
+ruddy, kindly visage of our friend staring out of such a panoply had an
+ill-matched and somewhat ludicrous appearance.
+
+'Nay, nay,' cried the old cavalier, seeing a smile upon our features,
+'it is but right that so precious a jewel as a faithful heart should
+have a fitting casket to protect it.'
+
+'I am truly beholden to you, sir,' said Reuben; 'I can scarce find words
+to express my thanks. Holy mother! I have a mind to ride straight back
+to Havant, to show them how stout a man-at-arms hath been reared amongst
+them.'
+
+'It is steel of proof,' Sir Jacob remarked; 'a pistol-bullet might
+glance from it. And you,' he continued, turning to me, 'here is a small
+gift by which you shall remember this meeting. I did observe that you
+did cast a wistful eye upon my bookshelf. It is Plutarch's lives of the
+ancient worthies, done into English by the ingenious Mr. Latimer. Carry
+this volume with you, and shape your life after the example of the giant
+men whose deeds are here set forth. In your saddle-bag I place a small
+but weighty packet, which I desire you to hand over to Monmouth upon
+the day of your arrival in his camp. As to you, sir,' addressing Decimus
+Saxon, 'here is a slug of virgin gold for you, which may fashion into a
+pin or such like ornament. You may wear it with a quiet conscience, for
+it is fairly given to you and not filched from your entertainer whilst
+he slept.'
+
+Saxon and I shot a sharp glance of surprise at each other at this
+speech, which showed that our words of the night before were not unknown
+to him. Sir Jacob, however, showed no signs of anger, but proceeded to
+point out our road and to advise us as to our journey.
+
+'You must follow this sheep-track until you come on another and broader
+pathway which makes for the West,' said he. 'It is little used, and
+there is small chance of your falling in with any of your enemies upon
+it. This path will lead you between the villages of Fovant and Hindon,
+and soon to Mere, which is no great distance from Bruton, upon the
+Somersetshire border.'
+
+Thanking our venerable host for his great kindness towards us we gave
+rein to our horses, and left him once more to the strange solitary
+existence in which we had found him. So artfully had the site of
+his cottage been chosen, that when we looked back to give him a last
+greeting both he and his dwelling had disappeared already from our view,
+nor could we, among the many mounds and hollows, determine where the
+cottage lay which had given us such welcome shelter. In front of us and
+on either side the great uneven dun-coloured plain stretched away to the
+horizon, without a break in its barren gorse-covered surface. Over the
+whole expanse there was no sign of life, save for an occasional rabbit
+which whisked into its burrow on hearing our approach, or a few thin and
+hungry sheep, who could scarce sustain life by feeding on the coarse and
+wiry grass which sprang from the unfruitful soil.
+
+The pathway was so narrow that only one of us could ride upon it at a
+time, but we presently abandoned it altogether, using it simply as a
+guide, and galloping along side by side over the rolling plain. We were
+all silent, Reuben meditating upon his new corslet, as I could see from
+his frequent glances at it; while Saxon, with his eyes half closed, was
+brooding over some matter of his own. For my own part, my thoughts ran
+upon the ignominy of the old soldier's designs upon the gold chest, and
+the additional shame which rose from the knowledge that our host had in
+some way divined his intention. No good could come of an alliance with a
+man so devoid of all feelings of honour or of gratitude. So strongly did
+I feel upon it that I at last broke the silence by pointing to a
+cross path, which turned away from the one which we were pursuing, and
+recommending him to follow it, since he had proved that he was no fit
+company for honest men.
+
+'By the living rood!' he cried, laying his hand upon the hilt of his
+rapier,' have you taken leave of your senses? These are words such as no
+honourable cavaliero can abide.'
+
+'They are none the less words of truth,' I answered.
+
+His blade flashed out in an instant, while his mare bounded twice her
+length under the sharp dig of his spurs.
+
+'We have here,' he cried, reining her round, with his fierce lean face
+all of a quiver with passion, 'an excellent level stretch on which to
+discuss the matter. Out with your bilbo and maintain your words.'
+
+'I shall not stir a hair's-breadth to attack you,' I answered. 'Why
+should I, when I bear you no ill-will? If you come against me, however,
+I will assuredly beat you out of your saddle, for all your tricky sword
+play.' I drew my broadsword as I spoke, and stood upon my guard, for I
+guessed that with so old a soldier the onset would be sharp and sudden.
+
+'By all the saints in heaven!' cried Reuben, 'which ever of ye strikes
+first at the other I'll snap this pistol at his head. None of your
+jokes, Don Decimo, for by the Lord I'll let drive at you if you were my
+own mother's son. Put up your sword, for the trigger falls easy, and my
+finger is a twitching.'
+
+'Curse you for a spoil-sport!' growled Saxon, sulkily sheathing his
+weapon. 'Nay, Clarke,' he added, after a few moments of reflection,
+'this is but child's play, that two camarados with a purpose in view
+should fall out over such a trifle. I, who am old enough to be your
+father, should have known better than to have drawn upon you, for a
+boy's tongue wags on impulse and without due thought. Do but say that
+you have said more than you meant.'
+
+'My way of saying it may have been over plain and rough,' I answered,
+for I saw that he did but want a little salve where my short words had
+galled him. 'At the same time, our ways differ from your ways, and that
+difference must be mended, or you can be no true comrade of ours.'
+
+'All right, Master Morality,' quoth he, 'I must e'en unlearn some of the
+tricks of my trade. Od's feet, man, if ye object to me, what the henker
+would ye think of some whom I have known? However, let that pass. It
+is time that we were at the wars, for our good swords will not bide in
+their scabbards.
+
+          "The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty,
+           For want of fighting was grown rusty,
+           And ate into itself for lack
+           Of somebody to hew and hack."
+
+You cannot think a thought but old Samuel hath been before you.'
+
+'Surely we shall be at the end of this dreary plain presently,' Reuben
+cried. 'Its insipid flatness is enough to set the best of friends by the
+ears. We might be in the deserts of Libya instead of his most graceless
+Majesty's county of Wiltshire.'
+
+'There is smoke over yonder, upon the side of that hill,' said Saxon,
+pointing to the southward.
+
+'Methinks I see one straight line of houses there,' I observed, shading
+my eyes with my hand. 'But it is distant, and the shimmer of the sun
+disturbs the sight.'
+
+'It must be the hamlet of Hindon,' said Reuben. 'Oh, the heat of this
+steel coat! I wonder if it were very un-soldierly to slip it off and tie
+it about Dido's neck. I shall be baked alive else, like a crab in its
+shell. How say you, illustrious, is it contravened by any of those
+thirty-nine articles of war which you bear about in your bosom?'
+
+'The bearing of the weight of your harness, young man,' Saxon answered
+gravely, 'is one of the exercises of war, and as such only attainable by
+such practice as you are now undergoing. You have many things to learn,
+and one of them is not to present petronels too readily at folk's heads
+when you are on horseback. The jerk of your charger's movement even now
+might have drawn your trigger, and so deprived Monmouth of an old and
+tried soldier.'
+
+'There would be much weight in your contention,' my friend answered,
+'were it not that I now bethink me that I had forgot to recharge my
+pistol since discharging it at that great yellow beast yesternight.'
+
+Decimus Saxon shook his head sadly. 'I doubt we shall never make a
+soldier of you,' he remarked. 'You fall from your horse if the brute
+does bit change his step, you show a levity which will not jump with the
+gravity of the true soldado, you present empty petronels as a menace,
+and finally, you crave permission to tie your armour--armour which the
+Cid himself might be proud to wear--around the neck of your horse. Yet
+you have heart and mettle, I believe, else you would not be here.'
+
+'Gracias, Signor!' cried Reuben, with a bow which nearly unhorsed him;
+'the last remark makes up for all the rest, else had I been forced to
+cross blades with you, to maintain my soldierly repute.'
+
+'Touching that same incident last night,' said Saxon, 'of the chest
+filled, as I surmise, with gold, which I was inclined to take as lawful
+plunder, I am now ready to admit that I may have shown an undue haste
+and precipitance, considering that the old man treated us fairly.'
+
+'Say no more of it,' I answered, 'if you will but guard against such
+impulses for the future.'
+
+'They do not properly come from me,' he replied, 'but from Will
+Spotterbridge, who was a man of no character at all.'
+
+'And how comes he to be mixed up in the matter?' I asked curiously.
+
+'Why, marry, in this wise. My father married the daughter of this same
+Will Spotterbridge, and so weakened a good old stock by an unhealthy
+strain. Will was a rake-hell of Fleet Street in the days of James, a
+chosen light of Alsatia, the home of bullies and of brawlers. His blood
+hath through his daughter been transmitted to the ten of us, though I
+rejoice to say that I, being the tenth, it had by that time lost much
+of its virulence, and indeed amounts to little more than a proper pride,
+and a laudable desire to prosper.'
+
+'How, then, has it affected the race?' I asked.
+
+'Why,' he answered, 'the Saxons of old were a round-faced, contented
+generation, with their ledgers in their hands for six days and their
+bibles on the seventh. If my father did but drink a cup of small beer
+more than his wont, or did break out upon provocation into any fond
+oath, as "Od's niggers!" or "Heart alive!" he would mourn over it as
+though it were the seven deadly sins. Was this a man, think ye, in the
+ordinary course of nature to beget ten long lanky children, nine of
+whom might have been first cousins of Lucifer, and foster-brothers of
+Beelzebub?'
+
+'It was hard upon him,' remarked Reuben.
+
+'On him! Nay, the hardship was all with us. If he with his eyes
+open chose to marry the daughter of an incarnate devil like Will
+Spotterbridge, because she chanced to be powdered and patched to his
+liking, what reason hath he for complaint? It is we, who have the blood
+of this Hector of the taverns grafted upon our own good honest stream,
+who have most reason to lift up our voices.'
+
+'Faith, by the same chain of reasoning,' said Reuben, 'one of my
+ancestors must have married a woman with a plaguy dry throat, for both
+my father and I are much troubled with the complaint.'
+
+'You have assuredly inherited a plaguy pert tongue,' growled Saxon.
+'From what I have told you, you will see that our whole life is a
+conflict between our natural Saxon virtue and the ungodly impulses of
+the Spotterbridge taint. That of which you have had cause to complain
+yesternight is but an example of the evil to which I am subjected.'
+
+'And your brothers and sisters?' I asked; 'how hath this circumstance
+affected them?' The road was bleak and long, so that the old soldier's
+gossip was a welcome break to the tedium of the journey.
+
+'They have all succumbed,' said Saxon, with a groan. 'Alas, alas! they
+were a goodly company could they have turned their talents to better
+uses. Prima was our eldest born. She did well until she attained
+womanhood. Secundus was a stout seaman, and owned his own vessel when
+he was yet a young man. It was remarked, however, that he started on a
+voyage in a schooner and came back in a brig, which gave rise to some
+inquiry. It may be, as he said, that he found it drifting about in the
+North Sea, and abandoned his own vessel in favour of it, but they hung
+him before he could prove it. Tertia ran away with a north-country
+drover, and hath been on the run ever since. Quartus and Nonus have been
+long engaged in busying themselves over the rescue of the black folk
+from their own benighted and heathen country, conveying them over by the
+shipload to the plantations, where they may learn the beauties of the
+Christian religion. They are, however, men of violent temper and profane
+speech, who cherish no affection for their younger brother. Quintus was
+a lad of promise, but he found a hogshead of rumbo which was thrown up
+from a wreck, and he died soon afterwards. Sextus might have done well,
+for he became clerk to Johnny Tranter the attorney; but he was of an
+enterprising turn, and he shifted the whole business, papers, cash, and
+all to the Lowlands, to the no small inconvenience of his employer, who
+hath never been able to lay hands either on one or the other from that
+day to this. Septimus died young. As to Octavius, Will Spotterbridge
+broke out early in him, and he was slain in a quarrel over some dice,
+which were said by his enemies to be so weighted that the six must ever
+come upwards. Let this moving recital be a warning to ye, if ye are
+fools enough to saddle yourselves with a wife, to see that she hath
+no vice in her, for a fair face is a sorry make-weight against a foul
+mind.'
+
+Reuben and I could not but laugh over this frank family confession,
+which our companion delivered without a sign of shame or embarrassment.
+'Ye have paid a heavy price for your father's want of discretion,' I
+remarked. 'But what in the name of fate is this upon our left?'
+
+'A gibbet, by the look of it,' said Saxon, peering across at the gaunt
+framework of wood, which rose up from a little knoll. 'Let us ride past
+it, for it is little out of our way. They are rare things in England,
+though by my faith there were more gallows than milestones when Turenne
+was in the Palatinate. What between the spies and traitors who were bred
+by the war, the rascally Schwartzritter and Lanzknechte, the Bohemian
+vagabonds, and an occasional countryman who was put out of the way lest
+he do something amiss, there was never such a brave time for the crows.'
+
+As we approached this lonely gibbet we saw that a dried-up wisp of a
+thing which could hardly be recognised as having once been a human being
+was dangling from the centre of it. This wretched relic of mortality
+was secured to the cross-bar by an iron chain, and flapped drearily
+backwards and forwards in the summer breeze. We had pulled up our
+horses, and were gazing in silence at this sign-post of death, when what
+had seemed to us to be a bundle of rags thrown down at the foot of the
+gallows began suddenly to move, and turned towards us the wizened face
+of an aged woman, so marked with evil passions and so malignant in its
+expression that it inspired us with even more horror than the unclean
+thing which dangled above her head.
+
+'Gott in Himmel!' cried Saxon, 'it is ever thus! A gibbet draws witches
+as a magnet draws needles. All the hexerei of the country side will sit
+round one, like cats round a milk-pail. Beware of her! she hath the evil
+eye!'
+
+'Poor soul! It is the evil stomach that she hath,' said Reuben, walking
+his horse up to her. 'Whoever saw such a bag of bones! I warrant that
+she is pining away for want of a crust of bread.'
+
+The creature whined, and thrust out two skinny claws to grab the piece
+of silver which our friend had thrown down to her. Her fierce dark
+eyes and beak-like nose, with the gaunt bones over which the yellow
+parchment-like skin was stretched tightly, gave her a fear-inspiring
+aspect, like some foul bird of prey, or one of those vampires of whom
+the story-tellers write.
+
+'What use is money in the wilderness?' I remarked; 'she cannot feed
+herself upon a silver piece.'
+
+She tied the coin hurriedly into the corner of her rags, as though she
+feared that I might try to wrest it from her. 'It will buy bread,' she
+croaked.
+
+'But who is there to sell it, good mistress?' I asked.
+
+'They sell it at Fovant, and they sell it at Hindon,' she answered. 'I
+bide here o' days, but I travel at night.'
+
+'I warrant she does, and on a broomstick,' quoth Saxon; 'but tell us,
+mother, who is it who hangs above your head?'
+
+'It is he who slew my youngest born,' cried the old woman, casting a
+malignant look at the mummy above her, and shaking a clenched hand at it
+which was hardly more fleshy than its own. 'It is he who slew my bonny
+boy. Out here upon the wide moor he met him, and he took his young life
+from him when no kind hand was near to stop the blow. On that ground
+there my lad's blood was shed, and from that watering hath grown this
+goodly gallows-tree with its fine ripe fruit upon it. And here, come
+rain, come shine, shall I, his mother, sit while two bones hang together
+of the man who slow my heart's darling.' She nestled down in her rags
+as she spoke, and leaning her chin upon her hands stared up with an
+intensity of hatred at the hideous remnant.
+
+'Come away, Reuben,' I cried, for the sight was enough to make one
+loathe one's kind. 'She is a ghoul, not a woman.'
+
+'Pah! it gives one a foul taste in the mouth,' quoth Saxon. 'Who is for
+a fresh gallop over the Downs? Away with care and carrion!
+
+          "Sir John got on his bonny brown steed,
+           To Monmouth for to ride--a.
+           A brave buff coat upon his back,
+           A broadsword by his side--a.
+           Ha, ha, young man, we rebels can
+           Pull down King James's pride--a!"
+
+Hark away, lads, with a loose rein and a bloody heel!'
+
+We spurred our steeds and galloped from the unholy spot as fast as our
+brave beasts could carry us. To all of us the air had a purer flavour
+and the heath a sweeter scent by contrast with the grim couple whom we
+had left behind us. What a sweet world would this be, my children, were
+it not for man and his cruel ways!
+
+When we at last pulled up we had set some three or four miles between
+the gibbet and ourselves. Right over against us, on the side of a gentle
+slope, stood a bright little village, with a red-roofed church rising up
+from amidst a clump of trees. To our eyes, after the dull sward of the
+plain, it was a glad sight to see the green spread of the branches and
+the pleasant gardens which girt the hamlet round. All morning we had
+seen no sight of a human being, save the old hag upon the moor and a few
+peat-cutters in the distance. Our belts, too, were beginning to be loose
+upon us, and the remembrance of our breakfast more faint.
+
+'This,' said I, 'must be the village of Mere, which we were to pass
+before coming to Bruton. We shall soon be over the Somersetshire
+border.'
+
+'I trust that we shall soon be over a dish of beefsteaks,' groaned
+Reuben. 'I am well-nigh famished. So fair a village must needs have a
+passable inn, though I have not seen one yet upon my travels which would
+compare with the old Wheatsheaf.'
+
+'Neither inn nor dinner for us just yet,' said Saxon. 'Look yonder to
+the north, and tell me what you see.'
+
+On the extreme horizon there was visible a long line of gleaming,
+glittering points, which shone and sparkled like a string of diamonds.
+These brilliant specks were all in rapid motion, and yet kept their
+positions to each other.
+
+'What is it, then?' we both cried.
+
+'Horse upon the march,' quoth Saxon. 'It may be our friends of
+Salisbury, who have made a long day's journey; or, as I am inclined
+to think, it may be some other body of the King's horse. They are far
+distant, and what we see is but the sun shining on their casques; yet
+they are bound for this very village, if I mistake not. It would be
+wisest to avoid entering it, lest the rustics set them upon our track.
+Let us skirt it and push on for Bruton, where we may spare time for bite
+and sup.'
+
+'Alas, alas! for our dinners!' cried Reuben ruefully. 'I have fallen
+away until my body rattles about, inside this shell of armour, like a
+pea in a pod. However, lads, it is all for the Protestant faith.'
+
+'One more good stretch to Bruton, and we may rest in peace,' said Saxon.
+'It is ill dining when a dragoon may be served up as a grace after meat.
+Our horses are still fresh, and we should be there in little over an
+hour.'
+
+We pushed on our way accordingly, passing at a safe distance from Mere,
+which is the village where the second Charles did conceal himself after
+the battle of Worcester. The road beyond was much crowded by peasants,
+who were making their way out of Somersetshire, and by farmers' waggons,
+which were taking loads of food to the West, ready to turn a few guineas
+either from the King's men or from the rebels. We questioned many as to
+the news from the war, but though we were now on the outskirts of the
+disturbed country, we could gain no clear account of how matters stood,
+save that all agreed that the rising was on the increase. The country
+through which we rode was a beautiful one, consisting of low swelling
+hills, well tilled and watered by numerous streamlets. Crossing over the
+river Brue by a good stone bridge, we at last reached the small country
+town for which we had been making, which lies embowered in the midst of
+a broad expanse of fertile meadows, orchards, and sheep-walks. From the
+rising ground by the town we looked back over the plain without seeing
+any traces of the troopers. We learned, too, from an old woman of the
+place, that though a troop of the Wiltshire Yeomanry had passed through
+the day before, there were no soldiers quartered at present in the
+neighbourhood. Thus assured we rode boldly into the town, and soon found
+our way to the principal inn. I have some dim remembrance of an
+ancient church upon an eminence, and of a quaint stone cross within the
+market-place, but assuredly, of all the recollections which I retain of
+Bruton there is none so pleasing as that of the buxom landlady's face,
+and of the steaming dishes which she lost no time in setting before us.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII. Of Sir Gervas Jerome, Knight Banneret of the County of
+Surrey
+
+The inn was very full of company, being occupied not only by many
+Government agents and couriers on their way to and from the seat of
+the rising, but also by all the local gossips, who gathered there to
+exchange news and consume Dame Hobson the landlady's home-brewed. In
+spite, however, of this stress of custom and the consequent uproar, the
+hostess conducted us into her own private room, where we could consume
+her excellent cheer in peace and quietness. This favour was due, I
+think, to a little sly manoeuvring and a few whispered words from Saxon,
+who amongst other accomplishments which he had picked up during his
+chequered career had a pleasing knack of establishing friendly relations
+with the fair sex, irrespective of age, size, or character. Gentle
+and simple, Church and Dissent, Whig and Tory, if they did but wear a
+petticoat our comrade never failed, in spite of his fifty years, to make
+his way into their good graces by the help of his voluble tongue mid
+assured manner.
+
+'We are your grateful servants, mistress,' said he, when the smoking
+joint and the batter pudding had been placed upon the table. 'We have
+robbed you of your room. Will you not honour us so far as to sit down
+with us and share our repast?'
+
+'Nay, kind sir,' said the portly dame, much flattered by the proposal;
+'it is not for me to sit with gentles like yourselves.'
+
+'Beauty has a claim which persons of quality, and above all cavalieros
+of the sword, are the first to acknowledge,' cried Saxon, with his
+little twinkling eyes fixed in admiration upon her buxom countenance.
+'Nay, by my troth, you shall not leave us. I shall lock the door first.
+If you will not eat, you shall at least drink a cup of Alicant with me.'
+
+'Nay, sir, it is too much honour,' cried Dame Hobson, with a simper. 'I
+shall go down into the cellars and bring a flask of the best.'
+
+'Nay, by my manhood, you shall not,' said Saxon, springing up from his
+seat. 'What are all these infernal lazy drawers here for if you are to
+descend to menial offices?' Handing the widow to a chair he clanked away
+into the tap-room, where we heard him swearing at the men-servants, and
+cursing them for a droning set of rascals who had taken advantage of
+the angelic goodness of their mistress and her incomparable sweetness of
+temper.
+
+'Here is the wine, fair mistress,' said he, returning presently with a
+bottle in either hand. 'Let me fill your glass. Ha! it flows clear and
+yellow like a prime vintage. These rogues can stir their limbs when they
+find that there is a man to command them.'
+
+'Would that there were ever such,' said the widow meaningly, with a
+languishing look at our companion. 'Here is to you, sir--and to ye, too,
+young sirs,' she added, sipping at her wine. 'May there be a speedy end
+to the insurrection, for I judge, from your gallant equipment, that ye
+be serving the King.'
+
+'His business takes us to the West,' said Reuben, 'and we have every
+reason to hope that there will be a speedy end to the insurrection.'
+
+'Aye, aye, though blood will be shed first,' she said, shaking her head.
+'They tell me that the rebels are as many as seven thousand, and that
+they swear to give an' take no quarter, the murderous villains! Alas!
+how any gentleman can fall to such bloody work when he might have a
+clean honourable occupation, such as innkeeping or the like, is more
+than my poor mind can understand. There is a sad difference betwixt the
+man who lieth on the cold ground, not knowing how long it may be before
+he is three feet deep in it, and he who passeth his nights upon a warm
+feather bed, with mayhap a cellar beneath it stocked with even such
+wines as we are now drinking.' She again looked hard at Saxon as she
+spoke, while Reuben and I nudged each other beneath the table.
+
+'This business hath doubtless increased your trade, fair mistress,'
+quoth Saxon.
+
+'Aye, and in the way that payeth best,' said she. 'The few kilderkins of
+beer which are drunk by the common folk make little difference one way
+or the other. But now, when we have lieutenants of counties, officers,
+mayors, and gentry spurring it for very life down the highways, I have
+sold more of my rare old wines in three days than ever I did before in
+a calendar month. It is not ale, or strong waters, I promise you, that
+those gentles drink, but Priniac, Languedoc, Tent, Muscadine, Chiante,
+and Tokay--never a flask under the half-guinea.'
+
+'So indeed!' quoth Saxon thoughtfully. 'A snug home and a steady
+income.'
+
+'Would that my poor Peter had lived to share it with me,' said Dame
+Hobson, laying down her glass, and rubbing her eyes with a corner of
+her kerchief. 'He was a good man, poor soul, though in very truth and
+between friends he did at last become as broad and as thick as one of
+his own puncheons. All well, the heart is the thing! Marry come up! if a
+woman were ever to wait until her own fancy came her way, there would be
+more maids than mothers in the land.'
+
+'Prythee, good dame, how runs your own fancy?' asked Reuben
+mischievously.
+
+'Not in the direction of fat, young man,' she answered smartly, with a
+merry glance at our plump companion.
+
+'She has hit you there, Reuben,' said I.
+
+'I would have no pert young springald,' she continued, 'but one who hath
+knowledge of the world, and ripe experience. Tall he should be, and of
+sinewy build, free of speech that he might lighten the weary hours, and
+help entertain the gentles when they crack a flagon of wine. Of business
+habits he must be, too, forsooth, for is there not a busy hostel and two
+hundred good pounds a year to pass through his fingers? If Jane Hobson
+is to be led to the altar again it must be by such a man as this.'
+
+Saxon had listened with much attention to the widow's words, and had
+just opened his mouth to make some reply to her when a clattering and
+bustle outside announced the arrival of some traveller. Our
+hostess drank off her wine and pricked up her ears, but when a loud
+authoritative voice was heard in the passage, demanding a private room
+and a draught of sack, her call to duty overcame her private concerns,
+and she bustled off with a few words of apology to take the measure of
+the new-comer.
+
+'Body o' me, lads!' quoth Decimus Saxon the moment that she disappeared,
+'ye can see how the land lies. I have half a mind to let Monmouth carve
+his own road, and to pitch my tent in this quiet English township.'
+
+'Your tent, indeed!' cried Reuben; 'it is a brave tent that is furnished
+with cellars of such wine as we are drinking. And as to the quiet, my
+illustrious, if you take up your residence here I'll warrant that the
+quiet soon comes to an end.'
+
+'You have seen the woman,' said Saxon, with his brow all in a wrinkle
+with thought. 'She hath much to commend her. A man must look to himself.
+Two hundred pounds a year are not to be picked off the roadside every
+June morning. It is not princely, but it is something for an old soldier
+of fortune who hath been in the wars for five-and-thirty years, and
+foresees the time when his limbs will grow stiff in his harness. What
+sayeth our learned Fleming--"an mulier--" but what in the name of the
+devil have we here?'
+
+Our companion's ejaculation was called forth by a noise as of a slight
+scuffle outside the door, with a smothered 'Oh, sir!' and 'What will the
+maids think?' The contest was terminated by the door being opened, and
+Dame Hobson re-entering the room with her face in a glow, and a slim
+young man dressed in the height of fashion at her heels.
+
+'I am sure, good gentlemen,' said she, 'that ye will not object to this
+young nobleman drinking his wine in the same room with ye, since all the
+others are filled with the townsfolk and commonalty.'
+
+'Faith! I must needs be mine own usher,' said the stranger, sticking his
+gold-laced cap under his left arm and laying his hand upon his heart,
+while he bowed until his forehead nearly struck the edge of the table.
+'Your very humble servant, gentlemen, Sir Gervas Jerome, knight banneret
+of his Majesty's county of Surrey, and at one time custos rotulorum of
+the district of Beacham Ford.'
+
+'Welcome, sir,' quoth Reuben, with a merry twinkle in his eye. 'You have
+before you Don Decimo Saxon of the Spanish nobility, together with Sir
+Micah Clarke and Sir Reuben Lockarby, both of his Majesty's county of
+Hampshire.'
+
+'Proud and glad to meet ye, gentlemen!' cried the newcomer, with a
+flourish. 'But what is this upon the table? Alicant? Fie, fie, it is a
+drink for boys. Let us have some good sack with plenty of body in it.
+Claret for youth, say I, sack for maturity, and strong waters in old
+age. Fly, my sweetest, move those dainty feet of thine, for egad! my
+throat is like leather. Od's 'oons, I drank deep last night, and yet
+it is clear that I could not have drunk enough, for I was as dry as a
+concordance when I awoke.'
+
+Saxon sat silently at the table, looking so viciously at the stranger
+out of his half-closed glittering eyes that I feared that we should
+have another such brawl as occurred at Salisbury, with perhaps a more
+unpleasant ending. Finally, however, his ill-humour at the gallant's
+free and easy attention to our hostess spent itself in a few muttered
+oaths, and he lit his long pipe, the never-failing remedy of a ruffled
+spirit. As to Reuben and myself, we watched our new companion half in
+wonder and half in amusement, for his appearance and manners were novel
+enough to raise the interest of inexperienced youngsters like ourselves.
+
+I have said that he was dressed in the height of fashion, and such
+indeed was the impression which a glance would give. His face was thin
+and aristocratic, with a well-marked nose, delicate features, and gay
+careless expression. Some little paleness of the cheeks and darkness
+under the eyes, the result of hard travel or dissipation, did but add a
+chastening grace to his appearance. His white periwig, velvet and silver
+riding coat, lavender vest and red satin knee-breeches were all of the
+best style and cut, but when looked at closely, each and all of these
+articles of attire bore evidence of having seen better days. Beside the
+dust and stains of travel, there was a shininess or a fading of colour
+here and there which scarce accorded with the costliness of their
+material or the bearing of their wearer. His long riding-boots had a
+gaping seam in the side of one of them, whilst his toe was pushing
+its way through the end of the other. For the rest, he wore a handsome
+silver-hilted rapier at his side, and had a frilled cambric shirt
+somewhat the worse for wear and open at the front, as was the mode with
+the gallants of those days. All the time he was speaking he mumbled a
+toothpick, which together with his constant habit of pronouncing his
+o's as a's made his conversation sound strange to our ears. (Note D
+Appendix) Whilst we were noting these peculiarities he was reclining
+upon Dame Hobson's best taffatta-covered settee, tranquilly combing his
+wig with a delicate ivory comb which he had taken from a small satin bag
+which hung upon the right of his sword-belt.
+
+'Lard preserve us from country inns!' he remarked. 'What with the boors
+that swarm in every chamber, and the want of mirrors, and jasmine water,
+and other necessaries, blister me if one has not to do one's toilet
+in the common room. 'Oons! I'd as soon travel in the land of the Great
+Mogul!'
+
+'When you shall come to be my age, young sir,' Saxon answered, 'you may
+know better than to decry a comfortable country hostel.'
+
+'Very like, sir, very like!' the gallant answered, with a careless
+laugh. 'For all that, being mine own age, I feel the wilds of Wiltshire
+and the inns of Bruton to be a sorry change after the Mall, and the fare
+of Pontack's or the Coca Tree. Ah, Lud! here comes the sack! Open it, my
+pretty Hebe, and send a drawer with fresh glasses, for these gentlemen
+must do me the honour of drinking with me. A pinch of snuff, sirs? Aye,
+ye may well look hard at the box. A pretty little thing, sirs, from a
+certain lady of title, who shall be nameless; though, if I were to say
+that her title begins with a D and her name with a C, a gentleman of the
+Court might hazard a guess.'
+
+Our hostess, having brought fresh glasses, withdrew, and Decimus
+Saxon soon found an opportunity for following her. Sir Gervas Jerome
+continued, however, to chatter freely to Reuben and myself over
+the wine, rattling along as gaily and airily as though we were old
+acquaintances.
+
+'Sink me, if I have not frighted your comrade away!' he remarked, 'Or is
+it possible that he hath gone on the slot of the plump widow? Methought
+he looked in no very good temper when I kissed her at the door. Yet it
+is a civility which I seldom refuse to anything which wears a cap. Your
+friend's appearance smacked more of Mars than of Venus, though, indeed,
+those who worship the god are wont to be on good terms with the goddess.
+A hardy old soldier, I should judge, from his feature and attire.'
+
+'One who hath seen much service abroad,' I answered.
+
+'Ha! ye are lucky to ride to the wars in the company of so accomplished
+a cavalier. For I presume that it is to the wars that ye are riding,
+since ye are all so armed and accoutred.'
+
+'We are indeed bound for the West,' I replied, with some reserve, for in
+Saxon's absence I did not care to be too loose-tongued.
+
+'And in what capacity?' he persisted. 'Will ye risk your crowns in
+defence of King James's one, or will ye strike in, hit or miss, with
+these rogues of Devon and Somerset? Stop my vital breath, if I would not
+as soon side with the clown as with the crown, with all due respect to
+your own principles!'
+
+'You are a daring man,' said I, 'if you air your opinions thus in every
+inn parlour. Dost not know that a word of what you have said, whispered
+to the nearest justice of the peace, might mean your liberty, if not
+your life?'
+
+'I don't care the rind of a rotten orange for life or liberty either,'
+cried our acquaintance, snapping his finger and thumb. 'Burn me if
+it wouldn't be a new sensation to bandy words with some heavy-chopped
+country justice, with the Popish plot still stuck in his gizzard, and
+be thereafter consigned to a dungeon, like the hero in John Dryden's
+latest. I have been round-housed many a time by the watch in the old
+Hawkubite days; but this would be a more dramatic matter, with high
+treason, block, and axe all looming in the background.'
+
+'And rack and pincers for a prologue,' said Reuben. 'This ambition is
+the strangest that I have ever heard tell of.'
+
+'Anything for a change,' cried Sir Gervas, filling up a bumper. 'Here's
+to the maid that's next our heart, and here's to the heart that loves
+the maids! War, wine, and women, 'twould be a dull world without them.
+But you have not answered my question.'
+
+'Why truly, sir,' said I, 'frank as you have been with us, I can scarce
+be equally so with you, without the permission of the gentleman who has
+just left the room. He is the leader of our party. Pleasant as our short
+intercourse has been, these are parlous times, and hasty confidences are
+apt to lead to repentance.'
+
+'A Daniel come to judgment!' cried our new acquaintance. 'What ancient,
+ancient words from so young a head! You are, I'll warrant, five years
+younger than a scatterbrain like myself, and yet you talk like the seven
+wise men of Greece. Wilt take me as a valet?'
+
+'A valet!' I exclaimed.
+
+'Aye, a valet, a man-servant. I have been waited upon so long that it is
+my turn to wait now, and I would not wish a more likely master. By the
+Lard! I must, in applying for a place, give an account of my character
+and a list of my accomplishments. So my rascals ever did with me, though
+in good truth I seldom listened to their recital. Honesty--there I
+score a trick. Sober--Ananias himself could scarce say that I am
+that. Trustworthy--indifferently so. Steady--hum! about as much so
+as Garraway's weathercock. Hang it, man, I am choke full of good
+resolutions, but a sparkling glass or a roguish eye will deflect me, as
+the mariners say of the compass. So much for my weaknesses. Now let me
+see what qualifications I can produce. A steady nerve, save only when I
+have my morning qualms, and a cheerful heart; I score two on that. I
+can dance saraband, minuet, or corranto; fence, ride, and sing French
+chansons. Good Lard! who ever heard a valet urge such accomplishments? I
+can play the best game of piquet in London. So said Sir George Etherege
+when I won a cool thousand off him at the Groom Parter. But that won't
+advance me much, either. What is there, then, to commend me? Why, marry,
+I can brew a bowl of punch, and I can broil a devilled fowl. It is not
+much, but I can do it well.'
+
+'Truly, good sir,' I said, with a smile, 'neither of these
+accomplishments is like to prove of much use to us on our present
+errand. You do, however, but jest, no doubt, when you talk of descending
+to such a position.'
+
+'Not a whit! not a whit!' he replied earnestly. '"To such base uses do
+we come," as Will Shakespeare has it. If you would be able to say that
+you have in your service Sir Gervas Jerome, knight banneret, and sole
+owner of Beacham Ford Park, with a rent-roll of four thousand good
+pounds a year, he is now up for sale, and will be knocked down to the
+bidder who pleases him best. Say but the word, and we'll have another
+flagon of sack to clinch the bargain.'
+
+'But,' said I, 'if you are indeed owner of this fair property, why
+should you descend to so menial an occupation?'
+
+'The Jews, the Jews, oh most astute and yet most slow-witted master! The
+ten tribes have been upon me, and I have been harried and wasted, bound,
+ravished, and despoiled. Never was Agag, king of Amalek, more completely
+in the hands of the chosen, and the sole difference is that they have
+hewed into pieces mine estate instead of myself.'
+
+'Have you lost all, then?' Reuben asked, open-eyed.
+
+'Why no--not all--by no means all!' he answered, with a merry laugh; 'I
+have a gold Jacobus and a guinea or two in my purse. 'Twill serve for
+a flask or so yet. There is my silver-hilted rapier, my rings, my gold
+snuff-box, and my watch by Tompion at the sign of the Three Crowns.
+It was never bought under a hundred, I'll warrant. Then there are such
+relics of grandeur as you see upon my person, though they begin to
+look as frail and worn as a waiting-woman's virtue. In this bag, too,
+I retain the means for preserving that niceness and elegance of person
+which made me, though I say it, as well groomed a man as ever set foot
+in St. James's Park. Here are French scissors, eyebrow brush, toothpick
+case, patch-box, powder-bag, comb, puff, and my pair of red-heeled
+shoes. What could a man wish for more? These, with a dry throat, a
+cheerful heart, and a ready hand, are my whole stock in trade.'
+
+Reuben and I could not forbear from laughing at the curious inventory of
+articles which Sir Gervas had saved from the wreck of his fortunes. He
+upon seeing our mirth was so tickled at his own misfortunes, that he
+laughed in a high treble key until the whole house resounded with his
+merriment. 'By the Mass,' he cried at last, 'I have never had so much
+honest amusement out of my prosperity as hath been caused in me by my
+downfall. Fill up your glasses!'
+
+'We have still some distance to travel this evening, and must not drink
+more,' I observed, for prudence told me that it was dangerous work for
+two sober country lads to keep pace with an experienced toper.
+
+'So!' said he in surprise. 'I should have thought that would be a
+"raison de plus," as the French say. But I wish your long-legged friend
+would come back, even if he were intent upon slitting my weazand for my
+attention to the widow. He is not a man to flinch from his liquor, I'll
+warrant. Curse this Wiltshire dust that clings to my periwig!'
+
+'Until my comrade returns, Sir Gervas,' said I, 'you might, since the
+subject does not appear to be a painful one to you, let us know how
+these evil times, which you bear with such philosophy, came upon you.'
+
+'The old story!' he answered, flicking away a few grains of snuff with
+his deeply-laced cambric handkerchief. 'The old, old story! My father, a
+good, easy country baronet, finding the family purse somewhat full, must
+needs carry me up to town to make a man of me. There as a young lad I
+was presented at Court, and being a slim active youngster with a pert
+tongue and assured manner, I caught the notice of the Queen, who made
+me one of her pages of honour. This post I held until I grew out of
+it, when I withdrew from town, but egad! I found I must get back to it
+again, for Beacham Ford Park was as dull as a monastery after the life
+which I had been living. In town I stayed then with such boon companions
+as Tommy Lawson, my Lord Halifax, Sir Jasper Lemarck, little Geordie
+Chichester, aye, and old Sidney Godolphin of the Treasury; for with all
+his staid ways and long-winded budgets he could drain a cup with the
+best of us, and was as keen on a main of cocks as on a committee of ways
+and means. Well, it was rare sport while it lasted, and sink me if
+I wouldn't do the same again if I had my time once more. It is like
+sliding down a greased plank though, for at first a man goes slow
+enough, and thinks he can pull himself up, but presently he goes faster
+and faster, until he comes with a crash on to the rocks of ruin at the
+bottom.'
+
+'And did you run through four thousand pounds a year?' I exclaimed.
+
+'Od's bodikins, man, you speak as if this paltry sum were all the
+wealth of the Indies. Why, from Ormonde or Buckingham, with their twenty
+thousand, down to ranting Dicky Talbot, there was not one of my set who
+could not have bought me out. Yet I must have my coach and four, my town
+house, my liveried servants, and my stable full of horses. To be in the
+mode I must have my poet, and throw him a handful of guineas for his
+dedication. Well, poor devil, he is one who will miss me. I warrant his
+heart was as heavy as his verses when he found me gone, though perchance
+he has turned a few guineas by this time by writing a satire upon me.
+It would have a ready sale among my friends. Gad's life! I wonder how
+my levees get on, and whom all my suitors have fastened on to now. There
+they were morning after morning, the French pimp, the English bully, the
+needy man o' letters, the neglected inventor--I never thought to have
+got rid of them, but indeed I have shaken them off very effectually now.
+When the honey-pot is broken it is farewell to the flies.'
+
+'And your noble friends?' I asked. 'Did none of them stand by you in
+your adversity?'
+
+'Well, well, I have nought to complain of!' exclaimed Sir Gervas. 'They
+were brave-hearted boys for the most part. I might have had their names
+on my bills as long as their fingers could hold a pen, but slit me if I
+like bleeding my own companions. They might have found a place for me,
+too, had I consented to play second-fiddle where I had been used to lead
+the band. I' faith, I care not what I turn my hand to amongst strangers,
+but I would fain leave my memory sweet in town.'
+
+'As to what you proposed, of serving us as a valet,' said I, 'it is not
+to be thought of. We are, in spite of my friend's waggishness, but two
+plain blunt countrymen, and have no more need of a valet than one of
+those poets which you have spoken of. On the other hand, if you should
+care to attach yourself to our party, we shall take you where you
+will see service which shall be more to your taste than the curling of
+periwigs or the brushing of eyebrows.'
+
+'Nay, nay, my friend. Speak not with unseemly levity of the mysteries
+of the toilet,' he cried. 'Ye would yourselves be none the worse for
+a touch of mine ivory comb, and a closer acquaintance with the famous
+skin-purifying wash of Murphy which I am myself in the habit of using.'
+
+'I am beholden to you, sir,' said Reuben, 'but the famous spring water
+wash by Providence is quite good enough for the purpose.'
+
+'And Dame Nature hath placed a wig of her own upon me,' I added, 'which
+I should be very loth to change.'
+
+'Goths! Perfect Goths!' cried the exquisite, throwing up his white
+hands. 'But here comes a heavy tread and the clink of armour in the
+passage. 'Tis our friend the knight of the wrathful countenance, if I
+mistake not.'
+
+It was indeed Saxon, who strode into the room to tell us that our horses
+were at the door, and that all was ready for our departure. Taking
+him aside I explained to him in a whisper what had passed between the
+stranger and ourselves, with the circumstances which had led me to
+suggest that he should join our party. The old soldier frowned at the
+news.
+
+'What have we to do with such a coxcomb?' he said. 'We have hard fare
+and harder blows before us. He is not fit for the work.'
+
+'You said yourself that Monmouth will be weak in horse,' I answered.
+'Here is a well-appointed cavalier, who is to all appearance a desperate
+man and ready for anything. Why should we not enrol him?'
+
+'I fear,' said Saxon, 'that his body may prove to be like the bran of
+a fine cushion, of value only for what it has around it. However, it is
+perhaps for the best. The handle to his name may make him welcome in the
+camp, for from what I hear there is some dissatisfaction at the way in
+which the gentry stand aloof from the enterprise.'
+
+'I had feared,' I remarked, still speaking in a whisper, 'that we were
+about to lose one of our party instead of gaining one in this Bruton
+inn.'
+
+'I have thought better of it,' he answered, with a smile. 'Nay, I'll
+tell you of it anon. Well, Sir Gervas Jerome,' he added aloud, turning
+to our new associate, 'I hear that you are coming with us. For a day you
+must be content to follow without question or remark. Is that agreed!'
+
+'With all my heart,' cried Sir Gervas.
+
+'Then here's a bumper to our better acquaintance,' cried Saxon, raising
+his glass.
+
+'I pledge ye all,' quoth the gallant. 'Here's to a fair fight, and may
+the best men win.'
+
+'Donnerblitz, man!' said Saxon. 'I believe there's mettle in you for all
+your gay plumes. I do conceive a liking for you. Give me your hand!'
+
+The soldier of fortune's great brown grip enclosed the delicate hand
+of our new friend in a pledge of comradeship. Then, having paid our
+reckoning and bade a cordial adieu to Dame Hobson, who glanced methought
+somewhat reproachfully or expectantly at Saxon, we sprang on our steeds
+and continued our journey amidst a crowd of staring villagers, who
+huzzaed lustily as we rode out from amongst them.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV. Of the Stiff-legged Parson and his Flock
+
+Our road lay through Castle Carey and Somerton, which are small towns
+lying in the midst of a most beautiful pastoral country, well wooded and
+watered by many streams. The valleys along the centre of which the road
+lies are rich and luxuriant, sheltered from the winds by long rolling
+hills, which are themselves highly cultivated. Here and there we passed
+the ivy-clad turret of an old castle or the peaked gables of a rambling
+country house, protruding from amongst the trees and marking the country
+seat of some family of repute. More than once, when these mansions were
+not far from the road, we were able to perceive the unrepaired dints and
+fractures on the walls received during the stormy period of the civil
+troubles. Fairfax it seems had been down that way, and had left abundant
+traces of his visit. I have no doubt that my father would have had much
+to say of these signs of Puritan wrath had he been riding at our side.
+
+The road was crowded with peasants who were travelling in two strong
+currents, the one setting from east to west, and the other from west to
+east. The latter consisted principally of aged people and of children,
+who were being sent out of harm's way to reside in the less disturbed
+counties until the troubles should be over. Many of these poor folk were
+pushing barrows in front of them, in which a few bedclothes and some
+cracked utensils represented the whole of their worldly goods. Others
+more prosperous had small carts, drawn by the wild shaggy colts which
+are bred on the Somerset moors. What with the spirit of the half-tamed
+beasts and the feebleness of the drivers, accidents were not uncommon,
+and we passed several unhappy groups who had been tumbled with their
+property into a ditch, or who were standing in anxious debate round a
+cracked shaft or a broken axle.
+
+The countrymen who were making for the West were upon the other hand
+men in the prime of life, with little or no baggage. Their brown faces,
+heavy boots, and smockfrocks proclaimed most of them to be mere hinds,
+though here and there we overtook men who, by their top-boots and
+corduroys, may have been small farmers or yeomen. These fellows walked
+in gangs, and were armed for the most part with stout oak cudgels,
+which were carried as an aid to their journey, but which in the hands of
+powerful men might become formidable weapons. From time to time one
+of these travellers would strike up a psalm tune, when all the others
+within earshot would join in, until the melody rippled away down the
+road. As we passed some scowled angrily at us, while others whispered
+together and shook their heads, in evident doubt as to our character and
+aims. Now and again among the people we marked the tall broad-brimmed
+hat and Geneva mantle which were the badges of the Puritan clergy.
+
+'We are in Monmouth's country at last,' said Saxon to me, for Reuben
+Lockarby and Sir Gervas Jerome had ridden on ahead. 'This is the raw
+material which we shall have to lick into soldiership.'
+
+'And no bad material either,' I replied, taking note of the sturdy
+figures and bold hearty faces of the men. 'Think ye that they are bound
+for Monmouth's camp, then?'
+
+'Aye, are they. See you yon long-limbed parson on the left--him with the
+pent-house hat. Markest thou not the stiffness wherewith he moves his
+left leg!'
+
+'Why, yes; he is travel-worn doubtless.'
+
+'Ho! ho!' laughed my companion. 'I have seen such a stiffness before
+now. The man hath a straight sword within he leg of his breeches. A
+regular Parliamentary tuck, I'll warrant. When he is on safe ground he
+will produce it, aye, and use it too, but until he is out of all danger
+of falling in with the King's horse he is shy of strapping it to his
+belt. He is one of the old breed by his cut, who:
+
+          "Call fire and sword and desolation,
+           A godly thorough reformation."
+
+Old Samuel hath them to a penstroke! There is another ahead of him
+there, with the head of a scythe inside his smock. Can you not see the
+outline? I warrant there is not one of the rascals but hath a pike-head
+or sickle-blade concealed somewhere about him. I begin to feel the
+breath of war once more, and to grow younger with it. Hark ye, lad! I am
+glad that I did not tarry at the inn.'
+
+'You seemed to be in two minds about it,' said I.
+
+'Aye, aye. She was a fine woman, and the quarters were comfortable. I do
+not gainsay it. But marriage, d'ye see, is a citadel that it is plaguy
+easy to find one's way into, but once in old Tilly himself could not
+bring one out again with credit, I have known such a device on the
+Danube, where at the first onfall the Mamelukes have abandoned the
+breach for the very purpose of ensnaring the Imperial troops in the
+narrow streets beyond, from which few ever returned. Old birds are not
+caught with such wiles. I did succeed in gaining the ear of one of the
+gossips, and asking him what he could tell me of the good dame and her
+inn. It seemeth that she is somewhat of a shrew upon occasion, and that
+her tongue had more to do with her husband's death than the dropsy which
+the leech put it down to. Again, a new inn hath been started in the
+village, which is well-managed, and is like to draw the custom from
+her. It is, too, as you have said, a dull sleepy spot. All these reasons
+weighed with me, and I decided that it would be best to raise my siege
+of the widow, and to retreat whilst I could yet do so with the credit
+and honours of war.'
+
+''Tis best so,' said I; 'you could not have settled down to a life of
+toping and ease. But our new comrade, what think you of him?'
+
+'Faith!' Saxon answered, 'we shall extend into a troop of horse if we
+add to our number every gallant who is in want of a job. As to this Sir
+Gervas, however, I think, as I said at the inn, that he hath more mettle
+in him than one would judge at first sight. These young sprigs of the
+gentry will always fight, but I doubt if he is hardened enough or
+hath constancy enough for such a campaign as this is like to be. His
+appearance, too, will be against him in the eyes of the saints; and
+though Monmouth is a man of easy virtue, the saints are like to have the
+chief voice in his councils. Now do but look at him as he reins up that
+showy grey stallion and gazes back at us. Mark his riding-hat tilted
+over his eye, his open bosom, his whip dangling from his button-hole,
+his hand on his hip, and as many oaths in his mouth as there are ribbons
+to his doublet. Above all, mark the air with which he looks down upon
+the peasants beside him. He will have to change his style if he is to
+fight by the side of the fanatics. But hark! I am much mistaken if they
+have not already got themselves into trouble.'
+
+Our friends had pulled up their horses to await our coming. They had
+scarce halted, however, before the stream of peasants who had been
+moving along abreast of them slackened their pace, and gathered round
+them with a deep ominous murmur and threatening gestures. Other
+rustics, seeing that there was something afoot, hurried up to help their
+companions. Saxon and I put spurs to our horses, and pushing through the
+throng, which was becoming every instant larger and more menacing, made
+our way to the aid of our friends, who were hemmed in on every side by
+the rabble. Reuben had laid his hand upon the hilt of his sword, while
+Sir Gervas was placidly chewing his toothpick and looking down at the
+angry mob with an air of amused contempt.
+
+'A flask or two of scent amongst them would not be amiss,' he remarked;
+'I would I had a casting bottle.'
+
+'Stand on your guard, but do not draw,' cried Saxon. 'What the henker
+hath come over the chaw-bacons? They mean mischief. How now, friends,
+why this uproar?'
+
+This question instead of allaying the tumult appeared to make it tenfold
+worse. All round us twenty deep were savage faces and angry eyes,
+with the glint here and there of a weapon half drawn from its place of
+concealment. The uproar, which had been a mere hoarse growl, began to
+take shape and form. 'Down with the Papists!' was the cry. 'Down with
+the Prelatists!' 'Smite the Erastian butchers!' 'Smite the Philistine
+horsemen!' 'Down with them!'
+
+A stone or two had already whistled past our ears, and we had been
+forced in self-defence to draw our swords, when the tall minister whom
+we had already observed shoved his way through the crowd, and by dint of
+his lofty stature and commanding voice prevailed upon them to be silent.
+
+'How say ye,' he asked, turning upon us, 'fight ye for Baal or for the
+Lord? He who is not with us is against us.'
+
+'Which is the side of Baal, most reverend sir, and which of the Lord?'
+asked Sir Gervas Jerome. 'Methinks if you were to speak plain English
+instead of Hebrew we might come to an understanding sooner.'
+
+'This is no time for light words,' the minister cried, with a flush of
+anger upon his face. 'If ye would keep your skins whole, tell me, are ye
+for the bloody usurper James Stuart, or are ye for his most Protestant
+Majesty King Monmouth?'
+
+'What! He hath come to the title already!' exclaimed Saxon. 'Know then
+that we are four unworthy vessels upon our way to offer our services to
+the Protestant cause.'
+
+'He lies, good Master Pettigrue, he lies most foully,' shouted a burly
+fellow from the edge of the crowd. 'Who ever saw a good Protestant in
+such a Punchinello dress as yonder? Is not Amalekite written upon his
+raiment? Is he not attired as becometh the bridegroom of the harlot of
+Rome? Why then should we not smite him?'
+
+'I thank you, my worthy friend,' said Sir Gervas, whose attire had moved
+this champion's wrath. 'If I were nearer I should give you some return
+for the notice which you have taken of me.'
+
+'What proof have we that ye are not in the pay of the usurper, and on
+your way to oppress the faithful?' asked the Puritan divine.
+
+'I tell you, man,' said Saxon impatiently, 'that we have travelled all
+the way from Hampshire to fight against James Stuart. We will ride with
+ye to Monmouth's camp, and what better proof could ye desire than that?'
+
+'It may be that ye do but seek an opportunity of escaping from our
+bondage,' the minister observed, after conferring with one or two of the
+leading peasants. 'It is our opinion, therefore, that before coming
+with us ye must deliver unto us your swords, pistols, and other carnal
+weapons.'
+
+'Nay, good sir, that cannot be,' our leader answered. 'A cavalier may
+not with honour surrender his blade or his liberty in the manner ye
+demand. Keep close to my bridle-arm, Clarke, and strike home at any
+rogue who lays hands on you.'
+
+A hum of anger rose from the crowd, and a score of sticks and
+scythe-blades were raised against us, when the minister again interposed
+and silenced his noisy following.
+
+'Did I hear aright?' he asked. 'Is your name Clarke?'
+
+'It is,' I answered.
+
+'Your Christian name?'
+
+'Micah.'
+
+'Living at?'
+
+'Havant.'
+
+The clergyman conferred for a few moments with a grizzly-bearded,
+harsh-faced man dressed in black buckram who stood at his elbow.
+
+'If you are really Micah Clarke of Havant,' quoth he, 'you will be able
+to tell us the name of an old soldier, skilled in the German wars, who
+was to have come with ye to the camp of the faithful.'
+
+'Why, this is he,' I answered; 'Decimus Saxon is his name.'
+
+'Aye, aye, Master Pettigrue,' cried the old man. 'The very name given by
+Dicky Rumbold. He said that either the old Roundhead Clarke or his son
+would go with him. But who are these?'
+
+'This is Master Reuben Lockarby, also of Havant, and Sir Gervas Jerome
+of Surrey,' I replied. 'They are both here as volunteers desiring to
+serve under the Duke of Monmouth.'
+
+'Right glad I am to see ye, then,' said the stalwart minister heartily.
+'Friends, I can answer for these gentlemen that they favour the honest
+folk and the old cause.'
+
+At these words the rage of the mob turned in an instant into the most
+extravagant adulation and delight. They crowded round us, patting our
+riding-boots, pulling at the skirts of our dress, pressing our hands and
+calling down blessings upon our heads, until their pastor succeeded
+at last in rescuing us from their attentions and in persuading them to
+resume their journey. We walked our horses in the midst of them whilst
+the clergyman strode along betwixt Saxon and myself. He was, as Reuben
+remarked, well fitted to be an intermediary between us, for he was
+taller though not so broad as I was, and broader though not so tall as
+the adventurer. His face was long, thin, and hollow-cheeked, with a pair
+of great thatched eyebrows and deep sunken melancholy eyes, which lit up
+upon occasion with a sudden quick flash of fiery enthusiasm.
+
+'Joshua Pettigrue is my name, gentlemen,' said he; 'I am an unworthy
+worker in the Lord's vineyard, testifying with voice and with arm to His
+holy covenant. These are my faithful flock, whom I am bringing westward
+that they may be ready for the reaping when it pleases the Almighty to
+gather them in.'
+
+'And why have you not brought them into some show of order or
+formation?' asked Saxon. 'They are straggling along the road like a line
+of geese upon a common when Michaelmas is nigh. Have you no fears? Is
+it not written that your calamity cometh suddenly--suddenly shall you be
+broken down without remedy?'
+
+'Aye, friend, but is it not also written, "Trust in the Lord with all
+thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding!" Mark ye, if I
+were to draw up my men in military fashion it would invite attention and
+attack from any of James Stuart's horse who may come our way. It is my
+desire to bring my flock to the camp and obtain pieces for them before
+exposing them to so unequal a contest.'
+
+'Truly, sir, it is a wise resolution,' said Saxon grimly, 'for if a
+troop of horse came down upon these good people the pastor would find
+himself without his flock.'
+
+'Nay, that could never be!' cried Master Pettigrue with fervour. 'Say
+rather that pastor, flock, and all would find their way along the thorny
+track of martyrdom to the new Jerusalem. Know, friend, that I have come
+from Monmouth in order to conduct these men to his standard. I received
+from him, or rather from Master Ferguson, instructions to be on the
+lookout for ye and for several others of the faithful we expect to join
+us from the East. By what route came ye?'
+
+'Over Salisbury Plain and so through Bruton.'
+
+'And saw ye or met ye any of our people upon the way?'
+
+'None,' Saxon answered. 'We left the Blue Guards at Salisbury, however,
+and we saw either them or some other horse regiment near this side of
+the Plain at the village of Mere.'
+
+'Ah, there is a gathering of the eagles,' cried Master Joshua Pettigrue,
+shaking his head. 'They are men of fine raiment, with war-horses and
+chariots and trappings, like the Assyrians of old, yet shall the angel
+of the Lord breathe upon them in the night. Yea, He shall cut them off
+utterly in His wrath, and they shall be destroyed.'
+
+'Amen! Amen!' cried as many of the peasants as were within earshot.
+
+'They have elevated their horn, Master Pettigrue,' said the
+grizzly-haired Puritan. 'They have set up their candlestick on high--the
+candlestick of a perverse ritual and of an idolatrous service. Shall it
+not be dashed down by the hands of the righteous?'
+
+'Lo, this same candle waxed big and burned sooty, even as an offence to
+the nostrils, in the days of our fathers,' cried a burly red-faced man,
+whose dress proclaimed him to be one of the yeoman class. 'So was it
+when Old Noll did get his snuffing shears to work upon it. It is a wick
+which can only be trimmed by the sword of the faithful.' A grim laugh
+from the whole party proclaimed their appreciation of the pious waggery
+of their companion.
+
+'Ah, Brother Sandcroft,' cried the pastor, 'there is much sweetness and
+manna hidden in thy conversation. But the way is long and dreary. Shall
+we not lighten it by a song of praise? Where is Brother Thistlethwaite,
+whose voice is as the cymbal, the tabor, and the dulcimer?'
+
+'Lo, most pious Master Pettigrue,' said Saxon, 'I have myself at times
+ventured to lift up my voice before the Lord.' Without any further
+apology he broke out in stentorian tones into the following hymn, the
+refrain of which was caught up by pastor and congregation.
+
+          The Lord He is a morion
+           That guards me from all wound;
+          The Lord He is a coat of mail
+           That circles me all round.
+          Who then fears to draw the sword,
+           And fight the battle of the Lord?
+
+          The Lord He is the buckler true
+           That swings on my left arm;
+          The Lord He is the plate of proof
+           That shieldeth me from harm.
+          Who then fears to draw the sword,
+           And fight the battle of the Lord?
+
+          Who then dreads the violent,
+           Or fears the man of pride?
+          Or shall I flee from two or three
+           If He be by my side?
+          Who then fears to draw the sword,
+           And fight the battle of the Lord!
+
+          My faith is like a citadel
+           Girt round with moat and wall,
+          No mine, or sap, or breach, or gap
+           Can ere prevail at all.
+          Who then fears to draw the sword,
+           And fight the battle of the Lord?
+
+Saxon ceased, but the Reverend Joshua Pettigrue waved his long arms and
+repeated the refrain, which was taken up again and again by the long
+column of marching peasants.
+
+'It is a godly hymn,' said our companion, who had, to my disgust and
+to the evident astonishment of Reuben and Sir Gervas, resumed the
+snuffling, whining voice which he had used in the presence of my father.
+'It hath availed much on the field of battle.'
+
+'Truly,' returned the clergyman, 'if your comrades are of as sweet
+a savour as yourself, ye will be worth a brigade of pikes to the
+faithful,' a sentiment which raised a murmur of assent from the Puritans
+around. 'Since, sir,' he continued, 'you have had much experience in the
+wiles of war, I shall be glad to hand over to you the command of this
+small body of the faithful, until such time as we reach the army.'
+
+'It is time, too, in good faith, that ye had a soldier at your head,'
+Decimus Saxon answered quietly. 'My eyes deceive me strangely if I
+do not see the gleam of sword and cuirass upon the brow of yonder
+declivity. Methinks our pious exercises have brought the enemy upon us.'
+
+
+
+Chapter XV. Of our Brush with the King's Dragoons
+
+Some little distance from us a branch road ran into that along which we
+and our motley assemblage of companions-in-arms were travelling. This
+road curved down the side of a well-wooded hill, and then over the level
+for a quarter of a mile or so before opening on the other. Just at the
+brow of the rising ground there stood a thick bristle of trees, amid the
+trunks of which there came and went a bright shimmer of sparkling steel,
+which proclaimed the presence of armed men. Farther back, where the road
+took a sudden turn and ran along the ridge of the hill, several horsemen
+could be plainly seen outlined against the evening sky. So peaceful,
+however, was the long sweep of countryside, mellowed by the golden light
+of the setting sun, with a score of village steeples and manor-houses
+peeping out from amongst the woods, that it was hard to think that the
+thundercloud of war was really lowering over that fair valley, and that
+at any instant the lightning might break from it.
+
+The country folk, however, appeared to have no difficulty at all in
+understanding the danger to which they were exposed. The fugitives from
+the West gave a yell of consternation, and ran wildly down the road or
+whipped up their beasts of burden in the endeavour to place as safe a
+distance as possible between themselves and the threatened attack. The
+chorus of shrill cries and shouts, with the cracking of whips, creaking
+of wheels, and the occasional crash when some cart load of goods came to
+grief, made up a most deafening uproar, above which our leader's voice
+resounded in sharp, eager exhortation and command. When, however, the
+loud brazen shriek from a bugle broke from the wood, and the head of
+a troop of horse began to descend the slope, the panic became greater
+still, and it was difficult for us to preserve any order at all amidst
+the wild rush of the terrified fugitives.
+
+'Stop that cart, Clarke,' cried Saxon vehemently, pointing with his
+sword to an old waggon, piled high with furniture and bedding, which was
+lumbering along drawn by two raw-boned colts. At the same moment I saw
+him drive his horse into the crowd and catch at the reins of another
+similar one.
+
+Giving Covenant's bridle a shake I was soon abreast of the cart which
+he had indicated, and managed to bring the furious young horses to a
+stand-still.
+
+'Bring it up!' cried our leader, working with the coolness which only a
+long apprenticeship to war can give. 'Now, friends, cut the traces!'
+A dozen knives were at work in a moment, and the kicking, struggling
+animals scampered off, leaving their burdens behind them. Saxon sprang
+off his horse and set the example in dragging the waggon across the
+roadway, while some of the peasants, under the direction of Reuben
+Lockarby and of Master Joshua Pettigrue, arranged a couple of other
+carts to block the way fifty yards further down. The latter precaution
+was to guard against the chance of the royal horse riding through
+the fields and attacking us from behind. So speedily was the scheme
+conceived and carried out, that within a very few minutes of the first
+alarm we found ourselves protected front and rear by a lofty barricade,
+while within this improvised fortress was a garrison of a hundred and
+fifty men.
+
+'What firearms have we amongst us?' asked Saxon hurriedly.
+
+'A dozen pistols at the most,' replied the elderly Puritan, who was
+addressed by his companions as Hope-above Williams. 'John Rodway,
+the coachman, hath his blunderbuss. There are also two godly men from
+Hungerford, who are keepers of game, and who have brought their pieces
+with them.'
+
+'They are here, sir,' cried another, pointing to two stout, bearded
+fellows, who were ramming charges into their long-barrelled muskets.
+'Their names are Wat and Nat Millman.'
+
+'Two who can hit their mark are worth a battalion who shoot wide,' our
+leader remarked, 'Get under the waggon, my friends, and rest your pieces
+upon the spokes. Never draw trigger until the sons of Belial are within
+three pikes' length of ye.'
+
+'My brother and I,' quoth one of them, 'can hit a running doe at two
+hundred paces. Our lives are in the hands of the Lord, but two, at
+least, of these hired butchers we shall send before us.'
+
+'As gladly as ever we slew stoat or wild-cat,' cried the other, slipping
+under the waggon. 'We are keeping the Lord's preserves now, brother Wat,
+and truly these are some of the vermin that infest them.'
+
+'Let all who have pistols line the waggon,' said Saxon, tying his mare
+to the hedge--an example which we all followed. 'Clarke, do you take
+charge upon the right with Sir Gervas, while Lockarby assists Master
+Pettigrue upon the left. Ye others shall stand behind with stones.
+Should they break through our barricades, slash at the horses with your
+scythes. Once down, the riders are no match for ye.'
+
+A low sullen murmur of determined resolution rose from the peasants,
+mingled with pious ejaculations and little scraps of hymn or of prayer.
+They had all produced from under their smocks rustic weapons of some
+sort. Ten or twelve had petronels, which, from their antique look and
+rusty condition, threatened to be more dangerous to their possessors
+than to the enemy. Others had sickles, scythe-blades, flails,
+half-pikes, or hammers, while the remainder carried long knives and
+oaken clubs. Simple as were these weapons, history has proved that in
+the hands of men who are deeply stirred by religious fanaticism they are
+by no means to be despised. One had but to look at the stern, set faces
+of our followers, and the gleam of exultation and expectancy which shone
+from their eyes, to see that they were not the men to quail, either from
+superior numbers or equipment.
+
+'By the Mass!' whispered Sir Gervas, 'it is magnificent! An hour of this
+is worth a year in the Mall. The old Puritan bull is fairly at bay. Let
+us see what sort of sport the bull-pups make in the baiting of him! I'll
+lay five pieces to four on the chaw-bacons!'
+
+'Nay, it's no matter for idle betting,' said I shortly, for his
+light-hearted chatter annoyed me at so solemn a moment.
+
+'Five to four on the soldiers, then!' he persisted. 'It is too good a
+match not to have a stake on it one way or the other.'
+
+'Our lives are the stake,' said I.
+
+'Faith, I had forgot it!' he replied, still mumbling his toothpick. '"To
+be or not to be?" as Will of Stratford says. Kynaston was great on the
+passage. But here is the bell that rings the curtain up.'
+
+Whilst we had been making our dispositions the troop of horse--for there
+appeared to be but one--had trotted down the cross-road, and had drawn
+up across the main highway. They numbered, as far as I could judge,
+about ninety troopers, and it was evident from their three-cornered
+hats, steel plates, red sleeves, and bandoliers, that they were dragoons
+of the regular army. The main body halted a quarter of a mile from us,
+while three officers rode to the front and held a short consultation,
+which ended in one of them setting spurs to his horse and cantering down
+in our direction. A bugler followed a few paces behind him, waving a
+white kerchief and blowing an occasional blast upon his trumpet.
+
+'Here comes an envoy,' cried Saxon, who was standing up in the waggon.
+'Now, my brethren, we have neither kettle-drum nor tinkling brass, but
+we have the instrument wherewith Providence hath endowed us. Let us show
+the redcoats that we know how to use it.
+
+          "Who then dreads the violent,
+           Or fears the man of pride?
+           Or shall I flee from two or three
+           If He be by my side?"'
+
+Seven score voices broke in, in a hoarse roar, upon the chorus--
+
+          'Who then fears to draw the sword,
+           And fight the battle of the Lord?'
+
+I could well believe at that moment that the Spartans had found the lame
+singer Tyrtaeus the most successful of their generals, for the sound of
+their own voices increased the confidence of the country folk, while the
+martial words of the old hymn roused the dogged spirit in their breasts.
+So high did their courage run that they broke off their song with a
+loud warlike shout, waving their weapons above their heads, and ready I
+verily believe to march out from their barricades and make straight for
+the horsemen. In the midst of this clamour and turmoil the young dragoon
+officer, a handsome, olive-faced lad, rode fearlessly up to the barrier,
+and pulling up his beautiful roan steed, held up his hand with an
+imperious gesture which demanded silence.
+
+'Who is the leader of this conventicle?' he asked.
+
+'Address your message to me, sir,' said our leader from the top of
+the waggon, 'but understand that your white flag will only protect you
+whilst you use such language as may come from one courteous adversary to
+another. Say your say or retire.'
+
+'Courtesy and honour,' said the officer, with a sneer, 'are not extended
+to rebels who are in arms against their lawful sovereign. If you are the
+leader of this rabble, I warn you if they are not dispersed within five
+minutes by this watch'--he pulled out an elegant gold time-piece--'we
+shall ride down upon them and cut them to pieces.'
+
+'The Lord can protect His own,' Saxon answered, amid a fierce hum of
+approval from the crowd. 'Is this all thy message?'
+
+'It is all, and you will find it enough, you Presbyterian traitor,'
+cried the dragoon cornet. 'Listen to me, misguided fools,' he continued,
+standing up upon his stirrups and speaking to the peasants at the
+other side of the waggon. 'What chance have ye with your whittles and
+cheese-scrapers? Ye may yet save your skins if ye will but deliver up
+your leaders, throw down what ye are pleased to call your arms, and
+trust to the King's mercy.'
+
+'This exceedeth the limitations of your privileges,' said Saxon, drawing
+a pistol from his belt and cocking it. 'If you say another word to
+seduce these people from their allegiance, I fire.'
+
+'Hope not to benefit Monmouth,' cried the young officer, disregarding
+the threat, and still addressing his words to the peasants. 'The whole
+royal army is drawing round him and--'
+
+'Have a care!' shouted our leader, in a deep harsh voice.
+
+'His head within a month shall roll upon the scaffold.'
+
+'But you shall never live to see it,' said Saxon, and stooping over
+he fired straight at the cornet's head. At the flash of the pistol the
+trumpeter wheeled round and galloped for his life, while the roan horse
+turned and followed with its master still seated firmly in the saddle.
+
+'Verily you have missed the Midianite!' cried Hope-above Williams.
+
+'He is dead,' said our leader, pouring a fresh charge into his pistol.
+'It is the law of war, Clarke,' he added, looking round at me. 'He hath
+chosen to break it, and must pay forfeit.'
+
+As he spoke I saw the young officer lean gradually over in his saddle,
+until, when about half-way back to his friends, he lost his balance and
+fell heavily in the roadway, turning over two or three times with
+the force of his fall, and lying at last still and motionless, a
+dust-coloured heap. A loud yell of rage broke from the troopers at
+the sight, which was answered by a shout of defiance from the Puritan
+peasantry.
+
+'Down on your faces!' cried Saxon; 'they are about to fire.'
+
+The crackle of musketry and a storm of bullets, pinging on the hard
+ground, or cutting twigs from the hedges on either side of us, lent
+emphasis to our leader's order. Many of the peasants crouched behind the
+feather beds and tables which had been pulled out of the cart. Some lay
+in the waggon itself, and some sheltered themselves behind or underneath
+it. Others again lined the ditches on either side or lay flat upon the
+roadway, while a few showed their belief in the workings of Providence
+by standing upright without flinching from the bullets. Amongst these
+latter were Saxon and Sir Gervas, the former to set an example to his
+raw troops, and the latter out of pure laziness and indifference.
+Reuben and I sat together in the ditch, and I can assure you, my dear
+grandchildren, that we felt very much inclined to bob our heads when we
+heard the bullets piping all around them. If any soldier ever told you
+that he did not the first time that he was under fire, then that soldier
+is not a man to trust. After sitting rigid and silent, however, as if
+we had both stiff necks, for a very few minutes, the feeling passed
+completely away, and from that day to this it has never returned to me.
+You see familiarity breeds contempt with bullets as with other things,
+and though it is no easy matter to come to like them, like the King of
+Sweden or my Lord Cutts, it is not so very hard to become indifferent to
+them.
+
+The cornet's death did not remain long unavenged. A little old man with
+a sickle, who had been standing near Sir Gervas, gave a sudden sharp
+cry, and springing up into the air with a loud 'Glory to God!' fell flat
+upon his face dead. A bullet had struck him just over the right eye.
+Almost at the same moment one of the peasants in the waggon was shot
+through the chest, and sat up coughing blood all over the wheel. I saw
+Master Joshua Pettigrue catch him in his long arms, and settle some
+bedding under his head, so that he lay breathing heavily and pattering
+forth prayers. The minister showed himself a man that day, for amid the
+fierce carbine fire he walked boldly up and down, with a drawn rapier in
+his left hand--for he was a left-handed man--and his Bible in the other.
+'This is what you are dying for, dear brothers,' he cried continually,
+holding the brown volume up in the air; 'are ye not ready to die for
+this?' And every time he asked the question a low eager murmur of assent
+rose from the ditches, the waggon, and the road.
+
+'They aim like yokels at a Wappenschaw,' said Saxon, seating himself
+on the side of the waggon. 'Like all young soldiers they fire too high.
+When I was an adjutant it was my custom to press down the barrels of the
+muskets until my eye told me that they were level. These rogues think
+that they have done their part if they do but let the gun off, though
+they are as like to hit the plovers above us as ourselves.'
+
+'Five of the faithful have fallen,' said Hope-above Williams. 'Shall we
+not sally forth and do battle with the children of Antichrist? Are we to
+lie here like so many popinjays at a fair for the troopers to practise
+upon?'
+
+'There is a stone barn over yonder on the hill-side,' I remarked. 'If
+we who have horses, and a few others, were to keep the dragoons in
+play, the people might be able to reach it, and so be sheltered from the
+fire.'
+
+'At least let my brother and me have a shot or two back at them,' cried
+one of the marksmen beside the wheel.
+
+To all our entreaties and suggestions, however, our leader only replied
+by a shake of the head, and continued to swing his long legs over the
+side of the waggon with his eyes fixed intently upon the horsemen, many
+of whom had dismounted and were leaning their carbines over the cruppers
+of their chargers.
+
+'This cannot go on, sir,' said the pastor, in a low earnest voice; 'two
+more men have just been hit.'
+
+'If fifty more men are hit we must wait until they charge,' Saxon
+answered. 'What would you do, man? If you leave this shelter you will
+be cut off and utterly destroyed. When you have seen as much of war as
+I have done, you will learn to put up quietly with what is not to be
+avoided. I remember on such another occasion when the rearguard or
+nachhut of the Imperial troops was followed by Croats, who were in
+the pay of the Grand Turk, I lost half my company before the mercenary
+renegades came to close fighting. Ha, my brave boys, they are mounting!
+We shall not have to wait long now.'
+
+The dragoons were indeed climbing into their saddles again, and forming
+across the road, with the evident intention of charging down upon us.
+At the same time about thirty men detached themselves from the main body
+and trotted away into the fields upon our right. Saxon growled a hearty
+oath under his breath as he observed them.
+
+'They have some knowledge of warfare after all,' said he. 'They mean to
+charge us flank and front. Master Joshua, see that your scythesmen
+line the quickset hedge upon the right. Stand well up, my brothers, and
+flinch not from the horses. You men with the sickles, lie in the ditch
+there, and cut at the legs of the brutes. A line of stone throwers
+behind that. A heavy stone is as sure as a bullet at close quarters. If
+ye would see your wives and children again, make that hedge good against
+the horsemen. Now for the front attack. Let the men who carry petronels
+come into the waggon. Two of yours, Clarke, and two of yours, Lockarby.
+I can spare one also. That makes five. Now here are ten others of a sort
+and three muskets. Twenty shots in all. Have you no pistols, Sir Gervas?
+
+'No, but I can get a pair,' said our companion, and springing upon his
+horse he forced his way through the ditch, past the barrier, and so down
+the road in the direction of the dragoons.
+
+The movement was so sudden and so unexpected that there was a dead
+silence for a few seconds, which was broken by a general howl of hatred
+and execration from the peasants. 'Shoot upon him! Shoot down the false
+Amalekite!' they shrieked. 'He hath gone to join his kind! He hath
+delivered us up into the hands of the enemy! Judas! Judas!' As to the
+horsemen, who were still forming up for a charge and waiting for the
+flanking party to get into position, they sat still and silent, not
+knowing what to make of the gaily-dressed cavalier who was speeding
+towards them.
+
+We were not left long in doubt, however. He had no sooner reached the
+spot where the cornet had fallen than he sprang from his horse and
+helped himself to the dead man's pistols, and to the belt which
+contained his powder and ball. Mounting at his leisure, amid a shower of
+bullets which puffed up the white dust all around him, he rode onwards
+towards the dragoons and discharged one of his pistols at them. Wheeling
+round he politely raised his cap, and galloped back to us, none the
+worse for his adventure, though a ball had grazed his horse's fetlock
+and another had left a hole in the skirt of his riding-coat. The
+peasants raised a shout of jubilation as he rode in, and from that day
+forward our friend was permitted to wear his gay trappings and to bear
+himself as he would, without being suspected of having mounted the
+livery of Satan or of being wanting in zeal for the cause of the saints.
+
+'They are coming,' cried Saxon. 'Let no man draw trigger until he sees
+me shoot. If any does, I shall send a bullet through him, though it was
+my last shot and the troopers were amongst us.'
+
+As our leader uttered this threat and looked grimly round upon us with
+an evident intention of executing it, a shrill blare of a bugle burst
+from the horsemen in front of us, and was answered by those upon our
+flank. At the signal both bodies set spurs to their horses and dashed
+down upon us at the top of their speed. Those in the field were delayed
+for a few moments, and thrown into some disorder, by finding that the
+ground immediately in front of them was soft and boggy, but having
+made their way through it they re-formed upon the other side and rode
+gallantly at the hedge. Our own opponents, having a clear course before
+them, never slackened for an instant, but came thundering down with a
+jingling of harness and a tempest of oaths upon our rude barricades.
+
+Ah, my children! when a man in his age tries to describe such things as
+these, and to make others see what he has seen, it is only then that he
+understands what a small stock of language a plain man keeps by him for
+his ordinary use in the world, and how unfit it is to meet any call
+upon it. For though at this very moment I can myself see that white
+Somersetshire road, with the wild whirling charge of the horsemen, the
+red angry faces of the men, and the gaping nostrils of the horses all
+wreathed and framed in clouds of dust, I cannot hope to make it clear
+to your young eyes, which never have looked, and, I trust, never shall
+look, upon such a scene. When, too, I think of the sound, a mere rattle
+and jingle at first, but growing in strength and volume with every step,
+until it came upon us with a thunderous rush and roar which gave the
+impression of irresistible power, I feel that that too is beyond the
+power of my feeble words to express. To inexperienced soldiers like
+ourselves it seemed impossible that our frail defence and our feeble
+weapons could check for an instant the impetus and weight of the
+dragoons. To right and left I saw white set faces, open-eyed and rigid,
+unflinching, with a stubbornness which rose less from hope than from
+despair. All round rose exclamations and prayers. 'Lord, save Thy
+people!' 'Mercy, Lord, mercy!' 'Be with us this day!' 'Receive our
+souls, O merciful Father!' Saxon lay across the waggon with his eyes
+glinting like diamonds and his petronel presented at the full length
+of his rigid arm. Following his example we all took aim as steadily as
+possible at the first rank of the enemy. Our only hope of safety lay
+in making that one discharge so deadly that our opponents should be too
+much shaken to continue their attack.
+
+Would the man never fire? They could not be more than ten paces from us.
+I could see the buckles of the men's plates and the powder charges in
+their bandoliers. One more stride yet, and at last our leader's pistol
+flashed and we poured in a close volley, supported by a shower of heavy
+stones from the sturdy peasants behind. I could hear them splintering
+against casque and cuirass like hail upon a casement. The cloud of smoke
+veiling for an instant the line of galloping steeds and gallant riders
+drifted slowly aside to show a very different scene. A dozen men and
+horses were rolling in one wild blood-spurting heap, the unwounded
+falling over those whom our balls and stones had brought down.
+Struggling, snorting chargers, iron-shod feet, staggering figures rising
+and falling, wild, hatless, bewildered men half stunned by a fall, and
+not knowing which way to turn--that was the foreground of the picture,
+while behind them the remainder of the troop were riding furiously back,
+wounded and hale, all driven by the one desire of getting to a place of
+safety where they might rally their shattered formation. A great shout
+of praise and thanksgiving rose from the delighted peasants, and
+surging over the barricade they struck down or secured the few uninjured
+troopers who had boon unable or unwilling to join their companions in
+their flight. The carbines, swords, and bandoliers were eagerly pounced
+upon by the victors, some of whom had served in the militia, and knew
+well how to handle the weapons which they had won.
+
+The victory, however, was by no means completed. The flanking squadron
+had ridden boldly at the hedge, and a dozen or more had forced their way
+through, in spite of the showers of stones and the desperate thrusts of
+the pikemen and scythemen. Once amongst the peasants, the long swords
+and the armour of the dragoons gave them a great advantage, and though
+the sickles brought several of the horses to the ground the soldiers
+continued to lay about them freely, and to beat back the fierce but
+ill-armed resistance of their opponents. A dragoon sergeant, a man of
+great resolution and of prodigious strength, appeared to be the leader
+of the party, and encouraged his followers both by word and example.
+A stab from a half-pike brought his horse to the ground, but he
+sprang from the saddle as it fell, and avenged its death by a sweeping
+back-handed cut from his broadsword. Waving his hat in his left hand he
+continued to rally his men, and to strike down every Puritan who came
+against him, until a blow from a hatchet brought him on his knees and
+a flail stroke broke his sword close by the hilt. At the fall of their
+leader his comrades turned and fled through the hedge, but the gallant
+fellow, wounded and bleeding, still showed fight, and would assuredly
+have been knocked upon the head for his pains had I not picked him up
+and thrown him into the waggon, where he had the good sense to lie quiet
+until the skirmish was at an end. Of the dozen who broke through, not
+more than four escaped, and several others lay dead or wounded upon the
+other side of the hedge, impaled by scythe-blades or knocked off
+their horses by stones. Altogether nine of the dragoons were slain
+and fourteen wounded, while we retained seven unscathed prisoners, ten
+horses fit for service, and a score or so of carbines, with good store
+of match, powder, and ball. The remainder of the troop fired a
+single, straggling, irregular volley, and then galloped away down the
+cross-road, disappearing amongst the trees from which they had emerged.
+
+All this, however, had not been accomplished without severe loss upon
+our side. Three men had been killed and six wounded, one of them
+very seriously, by the musketry fire. Five had been cut down when
+the flanking party broke their way in, and only one of these could be
+expected to recover. In addition to this, one man had lost his life
+through the bursting of an ancient petronel, and another had his arm
+broken by the kick of a horse. Our total losses, therefore, were eight
+killed and the same wounded, which could not but be regarded as a very
+moderate number when we consider the fierceness of the skirmish, and the
+superiority of our enemy both in discipline and in equipment.
+
+So elated were the peasants by their victory, that those who had secured
+horses were clamorous to be allowed to follow the dragoons, the more so
+as Sir Gervas Jerome and Reuben were both eager to lead them. Decimus
+Saxon refused, however, to listen to any such scheme, nor did he show
+more favour to the Reverend Joshua Pettigrue's proposal, that he should
+in his capacity as pastor mount immediately upon the waggon, and improve
+the occasion by a few words of healing and unction.
+
+'It is true, good Master Pettigrue, that we owe much praise and much
+outpouring, and much sweet and holy contending, for this blessing which
+hath come upon Israel,' said he, 'but the time hath not yet arrived.
+There is an hour for prayer and an hour for labour. Hark ye, friend'--to
+one of the prisoners--'to what regiment do you belong?'
+
+'It is not for me to reply to your questions,' the man answered sulkily.
+
+Nay, then, we'll try if a string round your scalp and a few twists of a
+drumstick will make you find your tongue,' said Saxon, pushing his face
+up to that of the prisoner, and staring into his eyes with so savage an
+expression that the man shrank away affrighted.
+
+'It is a troop of the second dragoon regiment,' he said.
+
+'Where is the regiment itself?'
+
+'We left it on the Ilchester and Langport road.'
+
+'You hear,' said our leader. 'We have not a moment to spare, or we may
+have the whole crew about our ears. Put our dead and wounded in the
+carts, and we can harness two of these chargers to them. We shall not be
+in safety until we are in Taunton town.'
+
+Even Master Joshua saw that the matter was too pressing to permit of
+any spiritual exercises. The wounded men were lifted into the waggon and
+laid upon the bedding, while our dead were placed in the cart which had
+defended our rear. The peasants who owned these, far from making any
+objection to this disposal of their property, assisted us in every way,
+tightening girths and buckling traces. Within an hour of the ending of
+the skirmish we found ourselves pursuing our way once more, and looking
+back through the twilight at the scattered black dots upon the white
+road, where the bodies of the dragoons marked the scene of our victory.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI. Of our Coming to Taunton
+
+The purple shadows of evening had fallen over the countryside, and the
+sun had sunk behind the distant Quantock and Brendon Hills, as our rude
+column of rustic infantry plodded through Curry Rivell, Wrantage, and
+Henlade. At every wayside cottage and red-tiled farmhouse the people
+swarmed out us we passed, with jugs full of milk or beer, shaking hands
+with our yokels, and pressing food and drink upon them. In the little
+villages old and young came buzzing to greet us, and cheered long and
+loud for King Monmouth and the Protestant cause. The stay-at-homes were
+mostly elderly folks and children, but here and there a young labourer,
+whom hesitation or duties had kept back, was so carried away by our
+martial appearance, and by the visible trophies of our victory, that he
+snatched up a weapon and joined our ranks.
+
+The skirmish had reduced our numbers, but it had done much to turn our
+rabble of peasants into a real military force. The leadership of Saxon,
+and his stern, short words of praise or of censure had done even more.
+The men kept some sort of formation, and stepped together briskly in a
+compact body. The old soldier and I rode at the head of the column, with
+Master Pettigrue still walking between us. Then came the cartful of
+our dead, whom we were carrying with us to insure their decent burial.
+Behind this walked two score of scythe and sickle men, with their rude
+weapons over their shoulders, preceding the waggon in which the wounded
+were carried. This was followed by the main body of the peasants,
+and the rear was brought up by ten or twelve men under the command of
+Lockarby and Sir Gervas, mounted upon captured chargers, and wearing the
+breastplates, swords, and carbines of the dragoons.
+
+I observed that Saxon rode with his chin upon his shoulder, casting
+continual uneasy glances behind him, and halting at every piece of
+rising ground to make sure that there were no pursuers at our heels. It
+was not until, after many weary miles of marching, the lights of Taunton
+could be seen twinkling far off in the valley beneath us that he at last
+heaved a deep sigh of relief, and expressed his belief that all danger
+was over.
+
+'I am not prone to be fearful upon small occasion,' he remarked, 'but
+hampered as we are with wounded men and prisoners, it might have puzzled
+Petrinus himself to know what we should have done had the cavalry
+overtaken us. I can now, Master Pettigrue, smoke my pipe in peace,
+without pricking up my ears at every chance rumble of a wheel or shout
+of a village roisterer.'
+
+'Even had they pursued us,' said the minister stoutly, 'as long as the
+hand of the Lord shall shield us, why should we fear them?'
+
+'Aye, aye!' Saxon answered impatiently, 'but the devil prevaileth at
+times. Were not the chosen people themselves overthrown and led into
+captivity? How say you, Clarke?'
+
+'One such skirmish is enough for a day,' I remarked. 'Faith! if instead
+of charging us they had continued that carbine fire, we must either have
+come forth or been shot where we lay.'
+
+'For that reason I forbade our friends with the muskets to answer it,'
+said Saxon. 'Our silence led them to think that we had but a pistol or
+two among us, and so brought them to charge us. Thus our volley became
+the more terrifying since it was unexpected. I'll wager there was not a
+man amongst them who did not feel that he had been led into a trap. Mark
+you how the rogues wheeled and fled with one accord, as though it had
+been part of their daily drill!'
+
+'The peasants stood to it like men,' I remarked.
+
+'There is nothing like a tincture of Calvinism for stiffening a line of
+battle,' said Saxon. 'Look at the Swede when he is at home. What more
+honest, simple-hearted fellow could you find, with no single soldierly
+virtue, save that he could put away more spruce beer than you would care
+to pay for. Yet if you do but cram him with a few strong, homely texts,
+place a pike in his hand, and give him a Gustavus to lead him, there is
+no infantry in the world that can stand against him. On the other hand,
+I have seen young Turks, untrained to arms, strike in on behalf of the
+Koran as lustily as these brave fellows behind us did for the Bible
+which Master Pettigrue held up in front of them.'
+
+'I trust, sir,' said the minister gravely, 'that you do not, by
+these remarks, intend to institute any comparison between our sacred
+scriptures and the writings of the impostor Mahomet, or to infer that
+there is any similarity between the devil-inspired fury of the infidel
+Saracens and the Christian fortitude of the struggling faithful!'
+
+'By no means,' Saxon answered, grinning at me over the minister's head.
+'I was but showing how closely the Evil One can imitate the workings of
+the Spirit.'
+
+'Too true, Master Saxon, too true!' the clergyman answered sadly. 'Amid
+the conflict and discord it is hard to pick out the true path. But
+I marvel much that amidst the snares and temptations that beset a
+soldier's life you have kept yourself unsullied, with your heart still
+set upon the true faith.'
+
+'It was through no strength of mine own,' said Saxon piously.
+
+'In very truth, such men as you are much needed in Monmouth's army,'
+Master Joshua exclaimed. 'They have there several, as I understand, from
+Holland, Brandenburg, and Scotland, who have been trained in arms, but
+who care so little for the cause which we uphold that they curse and
+swear in a manner that affrights the peasants, and threatens to call
+down a judgment upon the army. Others there are who cling close to the
+true faith, and have been born again among the righteous; but alas! they
+have had no experience of camps and fields. Our blessed Master can work
+by means of weak instruments, yet the fact remains that a man may be
+a chosen light in a pulpit, and yet be of little avail in an onslaught
+such as we have seen this day. I can myself arrange my discourse to the
+satisfaction of my flock, so that they grieve when the sand is run out;
+(Note E. Appendix) but I am aware that this power would stand me in
+little stead when it came to the raising of barricades and the use of
+carnal weapons. In this way it comes about, in the army of the faithful,
+that those who are fit to lead are hateful to the people, while those to
+whose words the people will hearken know little of war. Now we have this
+day seen that you are ready of head and of hand, of much experience of
+battle, and yet of demure and sober life, full of yearnings after the
+word, and strivings against Apollyon. I therefore repeat that you shall
+be as a very Joshua amongst them, or as a Samson, destined to tear
+down the twin pillars of Prelacy and Popery, so as to bury this corrupt
+government in its fall.'
+
+Decimus Saxon's only reply to this eulogy was one of those groans which
+were supposed, among the zealots, to be the symbol of intense inner
+conflict and emotion. So austere and holy was his expression, so solemn
+his demeanour, and so frequent the upturnings of his eyes, clasping
+of his hands, and other signs which marked the extreme sectary, that
+I could not but marvel at the depths and completeness of the hypocrisy
+which had cast so complete a cloak over his rapacious self. For very
+mischief's sake I could not refrain from reminding him that there was
+one at least who valued his professions at their real value.
+
+'Have you told the worthy minister,' said I, 'of your captivity amongst
+the Mussulmans, and of the noble way in which you did uphold the
+Christian faith at Stamboul?'
+
+'Nay,' cried our companion, 'I would fain hear the tale. I marvel much
+that one so faithful and unbending as thyself was ever let loose by the
+unclean and bloodthirsty followers of Mahomet.'
+
+'It does not become me to tell the tale,' Saxon answered with great
+presence of mind, casting at the same time a most venomous sidelong
+glance at me. 'It is for my comrades in misfortune and not for me to
+describe what I endured for the faith. I have little doubt, Master
+Pettigrue, that you would have done as much had you been there. The town
+of Taunton lies very quiet beneath us, and there are few lights for so
+early an hour, seeing that it has not yet gone ten. It is clear that
+Monmouth's forces have not reached it yet, else had there been some show
+of camp-fires in the valley; for though it is warm enough to lie out in
+the open, the men must have fires to cook their victual.'
+
+'The army could scarce have come so far,' said the pastor. 'They have,
+I hear, been much delayed by the want of arms and by the need of
+discipline. Bethink ye, it was on the eleventh day of the month that
+Monmouth landed at Lyme, and it is now but the night of the fourteenth.
+There was much to be done in the time.'
+
+'Four whole days!' growled the old soldier. 'Yet I expected no better,
+seeing that they have, so far as I can hear, no tried soldiers amongst
+them. By my sword, Tilly or Wallenstein would not have taken four days
+to come from Lyme to Taunton, though all James Stuart's cavalry barred
+the way. Great enterprises are not pushed through in this halting
+fashion. The blow should be sharp and sudden. But tell me, worthy sir,
+all that you know about the matter, for we have heard little upon the
+road save rumour and surmise. Was there not some fashion of onfall at
+Bridport?'
+
+'There was indeed some shedding of blood at that place. The first two
+days were consumed, as I understand, in the enrolling of the faithful
+and the search for arms wherewith to equip them. You may well shake your
+head, for the hours were precious. At last five hundred men were broken
+into some sort of order, and marched along the coast under command of
+Lord Grey of Wark and Wade the lawyer. At Bridport they were opposed
+by the red Dorset militia and part of Portman's yellow coats. If all
+be true that is said, neither side had much to boast of. Grey and his
+cavalry never tightened bridle until they were back in Lyme once more,
+though it is said their flight had more to do with the hard mouths
+of their horses than with the soft hearts of the riders. Wade and his
+footmen did bravely, and had the best of it against the King's troops.
+There was much outcry against Grey in the camp, but Monmouth can
+scarce afford to be severe upon the only nobleman who hath joined his
+standard.'
+
+'Pshaw!' cried Saxon peevishly. 'There was no great stock of noblemen in
+Cromwell's army, I trow, and yet they held their own against the King,
+who had as many lords by him as there are haws in a thicket. If ye have
+the people on your side, why should ye crave for these bewigged fine
+gentlemen, whose white hands and delicate rapiers are of as much service
+as so many ladies' bodkins?'
+
+'Faith!' said I, 'if all the fops are as careless for their lives as our
+friend Sir Gervas, I could wish no better comrades in the field.'
+
+'In good sooth, yes!' cried Master Pettigrue heartily. 'What though he
+be clothed in a Joseph's coat of many colours, and hath strange turns
+of speech! No man could have fought more stoutly or shown a bolder front
+against the enemies of Israel. Surely the youth hath good in his heart,
+and will become a seat of grace and a vessel of the Spirit, though
+at present he be entangled in the net of worldly follies and carnal
+vanities.'
+
+'It is to be hoped so,' quoth Saxon devoutly. 'And what else can you
+tell us of the revolt, worthy sir?'
+
+'Very little, save that the peasants have flocked in in such numbers
+that many have had to be turned away for want of arms. Every tithing-man
+in Somersetshire is searching for axes and scythes. There is not
+a blacksmith but is at his forge from morn to night at work upon
+pike-heads. There are six thousand men of a sort in the camp, but
+not one in five carries a musket. They have advanced, I hear, upon
+Axminster, where they must meet the Duke of Albemarle, who hath set out
+from Exeter with four thousand of the train bands.'
+
+'Then we shall be too late, after all,' I exclaimed.
+
+'You will have enough of battles before Monmouth exchanges his
+riding-hat for a crown, and his laced roquelaure for the royal purple,'
+quoth Saxon. 'Should our worthy friend here be correctly informed and
+such an engagement take place, it will but be the prologue to the play.
+When Feversham and Churchill come up with the King's own troops, it is
+then that Monmouth takes the last spring, that lands him either on the
+throne or the scaffold.'
+
+Whilst this conversation had been proceeding we had been walking our
+horses down the winding track which leads along the eastern slope of
+Taunton Deane. For some time past we had been able to see in the valley
+beneath us the lights of Taunton town and the long silver strip of
+the river Tone. The moon was shining brightly in a cloudless heaven,
+throwing a still and peaceful radiance over the fairest and richest of
+English valleys. Lordly manorial houses, pinnacled towers, clusters of
+nestling thatch-roofed cottages, broad silent stretches of cornland,
+dark groves with the glint of lamp-lit windows shining from their
+recesses--it all lay around us like the shadowy, voiceless landscapes
+which stretch before us in our dreams. So calm and so beautiful was the
+scene that we reined up our horses at the bend of the pathway, the tired
+and footsore peasants came to a halt, while even the wounded raised
+themselves in the waggon in order to feast their eyes upon this land of
+promise. Suddenly, in the stillness, a strong fervent voice was heard
+calling upon the source of all life to guard and preserve that which
+He had created. It was Joshua Pettigrue, who had flung himself upon his
+knees, and who, while asking for future guidance, was returning thanks
+for the safe deliverance which his flock had experienced from the many
+perils which had beset them upon their journey. I would, my children,
+that I had one of those magic crystals of which we have read, that I
+might show you that scene. The dark figures of the horsemen, the grave,
+earnest bearing of the rustics as they knelt in prayer or leaned upon
+their rude weapons, the half-cowed, half-sneering expression of the
+captive dragoons, the line of white pain-drawn faces that peeped
+over the side of the waggon, and the chorus of groans, cries, and
+ejaculations which broke in upon the steady earnest voice of the pastor.
+Above us the brilliant heavens, beneath us the beautiful sloping valley,
+stretching away in the white moonlight as far as the eye could reach.
+Could I but paint such a scene with the brush of a Verrio or Laguerre, I
+should have no need to describe it in these halting and feeble words.
+
+Master Pettigrue had concluded his thanksgiving, and was in the act of
+rising to his feet, when the musical peal of a bell rose up from the
+sleeping town before us. For a minute or more it rose and fell in its
+sweet clear cadence. Then a second with a deeper, harsher note joined
+in, and then a third, until he air was filled with the merry jangling.
+At the same time a buzz of shouting or huzzaing could be heard, which
+increased and spread until it swelled into a mighty uproar. Lights
+flashed in the windows, drums beat, and the whole place was astir. These
+sudden signs of rejoicing coming at the heels of the minister's prayer
+were seized upon as a happy omen by the superstitious peasants, who set
+up a glad cry, and pushing onwards were soon within the outskirts of the
+town.
+
+The footpaths and causeway were black with throngs of the townsfolk,
+men, women, and children, many of whom were bearing torches and
+lanthorns, all flocking in the same direction. Following them we found
+ourselves in the market-place, where crowds of apprentice lads were
+piling up faggots for a bonfire, while others were broaching two or
+three great puncheons of ale. The cause of this sudden outbreak of
+rejoicing was, we learned, that news had just come in that Albemarle's
+Devonshire militia had partly deserted and partly been defeated at
+Axminster that very morning. On hearing of our own successful skirmish
+the joy of the people became more tumultuous than ever. They rushed in
+amongst us, pouring blessings on our heads, in their strange burring
+west-country speech, and embracing our horses as well as ourselves.
+Preparations were soon made for our weary companions. A long empty wool
+warehouse, thickly littered with straw, was put at their disposal, with
+a tub of ale and a plentiful supply of cold meats and wheaten bread.
+For our own part we made our way down East Street through the clamorous
+hand-shaking crowd to the White Hart Inn, where after a hasty meal we
+were right glad to seek our couches. Late into the night, however, our
+slumbers were disturbed by the rejoicings of the mob, who, having burned
+the effigies of Lord Sunderland and of Gregory Alford, Mayor of Lyme,
+continued to sing west-country songs and Puritan hymns into the small
+hours of the morning.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII. Of the Gathering in the Market-square
+
+The fair town in which we now found ourselves was, although Monmouth
+had not yet reached it, the real centre of the rebellion. It was a
+prosperous place, with a great woollen and kersey trade, which gave
+occupation to as many as seven thousand inhabitants. It stood high,
+therefore, amongst English boroughs, being inferior only to Bristol,
+Norwich, Bath, Exeter, York, Worcester, and Nottingham amongst the
+country towns. Taunton had long been famous not only for its own
+resources and for the spirit of its inhabitants, but also for the
+beautiful and highly cultivated country which spread around it, and gave
+rise to a gallant breed of yeomen. From time immemorial the town had
+been a rallying-point for the party of liberty, and for many years it
+had leaned to the side of Republicanism in politics and of Puritanism
+in religion. No place in the kingdom had fought more stoutly for
+the Parliament, and though it had been twice besieged by Goring, the
+burghers, headed by the brave Robert Blake, had fought so desperately,
+that the Royalists had been compelled each time to retire discomfited.
+On the second occasion the garrison had been reduced to dog's-flesh and
+horse-flesh, but no word of surrender had come either from them or
+their heroic commander, who was the same Blake under whom the old seaman
+Solomon Sprent had fought against the Dutch. After the Restoration the
+Privy Council had shown their recollection of the part played by the
+Somersetshire town, by issuing a special order that the battlements
+which fenced round the maiden stronghold should be destroyed. Thus,
+at the time of which I speak, nothing but a line of ruins and a few
+unsightly mounds represented the massive line of wall which had been
+so bravely defended by the last generation of townsmen. There were not
+wanting, however, many other relics of those stormy times. The houses on
+the outskirts were still scarred and splintered from the effects of
+the bombs and grenades of the Cavaliers. Indeed, the whole town bore a
+grimly martial appearance, as though she were a veteran among boroughs
+who had served in the past, and was not averse to seeing the flash of
+guns and hearing the screech of shot once more.
+
+Charles's Council might destroy the battlements which his soldiers had
+been unable to take, but no royal edict could do away with the resolute
+spirit and strong opinions of the burghers. Many of them, born and bred
+amidst the clash of civil strife, had been fired from their infancy by
+the tales of the old war, and by reminiscences of the great assault when
+Lunsford's babe-eaters were hurled down the main breach by the strong
+arms of their fathers. In this way there was bred in Taunton a fiercer
+and more soldierly spirit than is usual in an English country town, and
+this flame was fanned by the unwearied ministerings of a chosen band
+of Nonconformist clergymen, amongst whom Joseph Alleine was the most
+conspicuous. No better focus for a revolt could have been chosen, for
+no city valued so highly those liberties and that creed which was in
+jeopardy.
+
+A large body of the burghers had already set out to join the rebel army,
+but a good number had remained behind to guard the city, and these were
+reinforced by gangs of peasants, like the one to which we had attached
+ourselves, who had trooped in from the surrounding country, and now
+divided their time between listening to their favourite preachers and
+learning to step in line and to handle their weapons. In yard, street,
+and market-square there was marching and drilling, night, morning, and
+noon. As we rode out after breakfast the whole town was ringing with the
+shouting of orders and the clatter of arms. Our own friends of yesterday
+marched into the market-place at the moment we entered it, and no sooner
+did they catch sight of us than they plucked off their hats and cheered
+lustily, nor would they desist until we cantered over to them and took
+our places at their head.
+
+'They have vowed that none other should lead them,' said the minister,
+standing by Saxon's stirrup.
+
+'I could not wish to lead stouter fellows,' said he. 'Let them deploy
+into double line in front of the town-hall. So, so, smartly there, rear
+rank!' he shouted, facing his horse towards them. 'Now swing round into
+position. Keep your ground, left flank, and let the others pivot upon
+you. So--as hard and as straight as an Andrea Ferrara. I prythee,
+friend, do not carry your pike as though it were a hoe, though I trust
+you will do some weeding in the Lord's vineyard with it. And you, sir,
+your musquetoon should be sloped upon your shoulder, and not borne under
+your arm like a dandy's cane. Did ever an unhappy soldier find himself
+called upon to make order among so motley a crew! Even my good friend
+the Fleming cannot so avail here, nor does Petrinus, in his "De re
+militari," lay down any injunctions as to the method of drilling a man
+who is armed with a sickle or a scythe.'
+
+'Shoulder scythe, port scythe, present scythe--mow!' whispered Reuben to
+Sir Gervas, and the pair began to laugh, heedless of the angry frowns of
+Saxon.
+
+'Let us divide them,' he said, 'into three companies of eighty men. Or
+stay--how many musketeers have we in all? Five-and-fifty. Let them stand
+forward, and form the first line or company. Sir Gervas Jerome, you have
+officered the militia of your county, and have doubtless some knowledge
+of the manual exercise. If I am commandant of this force I hand over the
+captaincy of this company to you. It shall be the first line in battle,
+a position which I know you will not be averse to.'
+
+'Gad, they'll have to powder their heads,' said Sir Gervas, with
+decision.
+
+'You shall have the entire ordering of them,' Saxon answered. 'Let the
+first company take six paces to the front--so! Now let the pikemen stand
+out. Eighty-seven, a serviceable company! Lockarby, do you take these
+men in hand, and never forget that the German wars have proved that the
+best of horse has no more chance against steady pikemen than the waves
+against a crag. Take the captaincy of the second company, and ride at
+their head.'
+
+'Faith! If they don't fight better than their captain rides,' whispered
+Reuben, 'it will be an evil business. I trust they will be firmer in the
+field than I am in the saddle.'
+
+'The third company of scythesmen I commit to your charge, Captain Micah
+Clarke,' continued Saxon. 'Good Master Joshua Pettigrue will be our
+field-chaplain. Shall not his voice and his presence be to us as
+manna in the wilderness, and as springs of water in dry places? The
+under-officers I see that you have yourselves chosen, and your captains
+shall have power to add to the number from those who smite boldly and
+spare not. Now one thing I have to say to you, and I speak it that all
+may hear, and that none may hereafter complain that the rules he serves
+under were not made clear to him. For I tell you now that when the
+evening bugle calls, and the helm and pike are laid aside, I am as you
+and you as I, fellow-workers in the same field, and drinkers from the
+same wells of life. Lo, I will pray with you, or preach with you, or
+hearken with you, or expound to you, or do aught that may become a
+brother pilgrim upon the weary road. But hark you, friends! when we are
+in arms and the good work is to be done, on the march, in the field, or
+on parade, then let your bearing be strict, soldierly, and scrupulous,
+quick to hear and alert to obey, for I shall have no sluggards or
+laggards, and if there be any such my hand shall be heavy upon them,
+yea, even to the cutting of them off. I say there shall be no mercy for
+such,' here he paused and surveyed his force with a set face and his
+eyelids drawn low over his glinting, shifting eyes. 'If, then,' he
+continued, 'there is any man among you who fears to serve under a hard
+discipline, let him stand forth now, and let him betake him to some
+easier leader, for I say to you that whilst I command this corps,
+Saxon's regiment of Wiltshire foot shall be worthy to testify in this
+great and soul-raising cause.'
+
+The Colonel stopped and sat silent upon his mare. The long lines of
+rustic faces looked up, some stolidly, some admiringly, some with an
+expression of fear at his stern, gaunt face and baneful eyes. None
+moved, however, so he continued.
+
+'Worthy Master Timewell, the Mayor of this fair town of Taunton, who
+has been a tower of strength to the faithful during these long and
+spirit-trying times, is about to inspect us when the others shall have
+assembled. Captains, to your companies then! Close up there on the
+musqueteers, with three paces between each line. Scythesmen, take ground
+to your left. Let the under-officers stand on the flanks and rear. So!
+'tis smartly done for a first venture, though a good adjutant with a
+prugel after the Imperial fashion might find work to do.'
+
+Whilst we were thus rapidly and effectively organising ourselves into a
+regiment, other bodies of peasantry more or less disciplined had marched
+into the market-square, and had taken up their position there. Those
+on our right had come from Frome and Radstock, in the north of
+Somersetshire, and were a mere rabble armed with flails, hammers, and
+other such weapons, with no common sign of order or cohesion save the
+green boughs which waved in their hat-bands. The body upon our left, who
+bore a banner amongst them announcing that they were men of Dorset, were
+fewer in number but better equipped, having a front rank, like our own,
+entirely armed with muskets.
+
+The good townsmen of Taunton, with their wives and their daughters,
+had meanwhile been assembling on the balconies and at the windows which
+overlooked the square, whence they might have a view of the pageant. The
+grave, square-bearded, broadclothed burghers, and their portly dames in
+velvet and three-piled taffeta, looked down from every post of vantage,
+while here and there a pretty, timid face peeping out from a Puritan
+coif made good the old claim, that Taunton excelled in beautiful women
+as well as in gallant men. The side-walks were crowded with the commoner
+folk--old white-bearded wool-workers, stern-faced matrons, country
+lasses with their shawls over their heads, and swarms of children, who
+cried out with their treble voices for King Monmouth and the Protestant
+succession.
+
+'By my faith!' said Sir Gervas, reining back his steed until he was
+abreast of me, 'our square-toed friends need not be in such post-haste
+to get to heaven when they have so many angels among them on earth.
+Gad's wounds, are they not beautiful? Never a patch or a diamond amongst
+them, and yet what would not our faded belles of the Mall or the Piazza
+give for their innocence and freshness?'
+
+'Nay, for Heaven's sake do not smile and bow at them,' said I. 'These
+courtesies may pass in London, but they may be misunderstood among
+simple Somerset maidens and their hot-headed, hard-handed kinsfolk.'
+
+I had hardly spoken before the folding-doors of the town-hall were
+thrown open, and a procession of the city fathers emerged into the
+market-place. Two trumpeters in parti-coloured jerkins preceded them,
+who blew a flourish upon their instruments as they advanced. Behind came
+the aldermen and councilmen, grave and reverend elders, clad in their
+sweeping gowns of black silk, trimmed and tippeted with costly furs.
+In rear of these walked a pursy little red-faced man, the town clerk,
+bearing a staff of office in his hand, while the line of dignitaries
+was closed by the tall and stately figure of Stephen Timewell, Mayor of
+Taunton.
+
+There was much in this magistrate's appearance to attract attention, for
+all the characteristics of the Puritan party to which he belonged were
+embodied and exaggerated in his person. Of great height he was and very
+thin, with a long-drawn, heavy eyelidded expression, which spoke of
+fasts and vigils. The bent shoulders and the head sunk upon the breast
+proclaimed the advances of age, but his bright steel-grey eyes and the
+animation of his eager face showed how the enthusiasm of religion
+could rise superior to bodily weakness. A peaked, straggling grey beard
+descended half-way to his waist, and his long snow-white hairs fluttered
+out from under a velvet skull-cap. The latter was drawn tightly down
+upon his head, so as to make his ears protrude in an unnatural manner
+on either side, a custom which had earned for his party the title of
+'prickeared,' so often applied to them by their opponents. His attire
+was of studious plainness and sombre in colour, consisting of his black
+mantle, dark velvet breeches, and silk hosen, with velvet bows upon his
+shoes instead of the silver buckles then in vogue. A broad chain of gold
+around his neck formed the badge of his office. In front of him strutted
+the fat red-vested town clerk, one hand upon his hip, the other extended
+and bearing his wand of office, looking pompously to right and left,
+and occasionally bowing as though the plaudits were entirely on his own
+behalf. This little man had tied a huge broadsword to his girdle, which
+clanked along the cobble stones when he walked and occasionally inserted
+itself between his legs, when he would gravely cock his foot over it
+again and walk on without any abatement of his dignity. At last, finding
+these interruptions become rather too frequent, he depressed the hilt of
+his great sword in order to elevate the point, and so strutted onwards
+like a bantam cock with a tingle straight feather in its tail.
+
+Having passed round the front and rear of the various bodies, and
+inspected them with a minuteness and attention which showed that his
+years had not dulled his soldier's faculties, the Mayor faced round with
+the evident intention of addressing us. His clerk instantly darted in
+front of him, and waving his arms began to shout 'Silence, good people!
+Silence for his most worshipful the Mayor of Taunton! Silence for
+the worthy Master Stephen Timewell!' until in the midst of his
+gesticulations and cries he got entangled once more with his overgrown
+weapon, and went sprawling on his hands and knees in the kennel.
+
+'Silence yourself, Master Tetheridge,' said the chief magistrate
+severely. 'If your sword and your tongue were both clipped, it would be
+as well for yourself and us. Shall I not speak a few words in season
+to these good people but you must interrupt with your discordant
+bellowings?'
+
+The busybody gathered himself together and slunk behind the group of
+councilmen, while the Mayor slowly ascended the steps of the market
+cross. From this position he addressed us, speaking in a high piping
+voice which gathered strength as he proceeded, until it was audible at
+the remotest corners of the square.
+
+'Friends in the faith,' he said, 'I thank the Lord that I have been
+spared in my old age to look down upon this goodly assembly. For we of
+Taunton have ever kept the flame of the Covenant burning amongst us,
+obscured it may be at times by time-servers and Laodiceans, but none the
+less burning in the hearts of our people. All round us, however,
+there was a worse than Egyptian darkness, where Popery and Prelacy,
+Arminianism, Erastianism, and Simony might rage and riot unchecked and
+unconfined. But what do I see now? Do I see the faithful cowering
+in their hiding-places and straining their ears for the sound of the
+horsehoof's of their oppressors? Do I see a time-serving generation,
+with lies on their lips and truth buried in their hearts? No! I see
+before me godly men, not from this fair city only, but from the broad
+country round, and from Dorset, and from Wiltshire, and some even as I
+hear from Hampshire, all ready and eager to do mighty work in the cause
+of the Lord. And when I see these faithful men, and when I think that
+every broad piece in the strong boxes of my townsmen is ready to support
+them, and when I know that the persecuted remnant throughout the country
+is wrestling hard in prayer for us, then a voice speaks within me and
+tells me that we shall tear down the idols of Dagon, and build up in
+this England of ours such a temple of the true faith that not Popery,
+nor Prelacy, nor idolatry, nor any other device of the Evil One shall
+ever prevail against it.'
+
+A deep irrepressible hum of approval burst from the close ranks of
+the insurgent infantry, with a clang of arms as musquetoon or pike was
+grounded upon the stone pavement.
+
+Saxon half-turned his fierce face, raising an impatient hand, and the
+hoarse murmur died away among our men, though our less-disciplined
+companions to right and left continued to wave their green boughs and to
+clatter their arms. The Taunton men opposite stood grim and silent, but
+their set faces and bent brows showed that their townsman's oratory had
+stirred the deep fanatic spirit which distinguished them.
+
+'In my hands,' continued the Mayor, drawing a roll of paper from his
+bosom, 'is the proclamation which our royal leader hath sent in advance
+of him. In his great goodness and self-abnegation he had, in his early
+declaration given forth at Lyme, declared that he should leave the
+choice of a monarch to the Commons of England, but having found that
+his enemies did most scandalously and basely make use of this his
+self-denial, and did assert that he had so little confidence in his own
+cause that he dared not take publicly the title which is due to him, he
+hath determined that this should have an end. Know, therefore, that it
+is hereby proclaimed that James, Duke of Monmouth, is now and henceforth
+rightful King of England; that James Stuart, the Papist and fratricide,
+is a wicked usurper, upon whose head, dead or alive, a price of five
+thousand guineas is affixed; and that the assembly now sitting at
+Westminster, and calling itself the Commons of England, is an illegal
+assembly, and its acts are null and void in the sight of the law. God
+bless King Monmouth and the Protestant religion!'
+
+The trumpeters struck up a flourish and the people huzzaed, but the
+Mayor raised his thin white hands as a signal for silence. 'A messenger
+hath reached me this morning from the King,' he continued. 'He sends a
+greeting to all his faithful Protestant subjects, and having halted at
+Axminster to rest after his victory, he will advance presently and be
+with ye in two days at the latest.
+
+'Ye will grieve to hear that good Alderman Rider was struck down in the
+thick of the fray. He hath died like a man and a Christian, leaving all
+his worldly goods, together with his cloth-works and household property,
+to the carrying on of the war. Of the other slain there are not more
+than ten of Taunton birth. Two gallant young brothers have been cut off,
+Oliver and Ephraim Hollis, whose poor mother--'
+
+'Grieve not for me, good Master Timewell,' cried a female voice from the
+crowd. 'I have three others as stout, who shall all be offered in the
+same quarrel.'
+
+'You are a worthy woman, Mistress Hollis,' the Mayor answered, 'and your
+children shall not be lost to you. The next name upon my list is Jesse
+Trefail, then come Joseph Millar, and Aminadab Holt--'
+
+An elderly musqueteer in the first line of the Taunton foot pulled his
+hat down over his brows and cried out in a loud steady voice, 'The Lord
+hath given and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the
+Lord.'
+
+'It is your only son, Master Holt,' said the Mayor, 'but the Lord also
+sacrificed His only Son that you and I might drink the waters of eternal
+life. The others are Path of Light Regan, James Fletcher, Salvation
+Smith, and Robert Johnstone.'
+
+The old Puritan gravely rolled up his papers, and having stood for a
+few moments with his hands folded across his breast in silent prayer, he
+descended from the market cross, and moved off, followed by the aldermen
+and councilmen. The crowd began likewise to disperse in sedate and sober
+fashion, with grave earnest faces and downcast eyes. A large number of
+the countryfolk, however, more curious or less devout than the citizens,
+gathered round our regiment to see the men who had beaten off the
+dragoons.
+
+'See the mon wi' a face like a gerfalcon,' cried one, pointing to Saxon;
+''tis he that slew the Philistine officer yestreen, an' brought the
+faithful off victorious.'
+
+'Mark ye yon other one,' cried an old dame, 'him wi' the white face an'
+the clothes like a prince. He's one o' the Quality, what's come a' the
+way froe Lunnon to testify to the Protestant creed. He's a main pious
+gentleman, he is, an' if he had bided in the wicked city they'd ha' had
+his head off, like they did the good Lord Roossell, or put him in chains
+wi' the worthy Maister Baxter.'
+
+'Marry come up, gossip,' cried a third. 'The girt mun on the grey horse
+is the soldier for me. He has the smooth cheeks o' a wench, an' limbs
+like Goliath o' Gath. I'll war'nt he could pick up my old gaffer Jones
+an' awa' wi' him at his saddle-bow, as easy as Towser does a rotten! But
+here's good Maister Tetheridge, the clerk, and on great business too,
+for he's a mun that spares ne time ne trooble in the great cause.'
+
+'Room, good people, room! 'cried the little clerk, bustling up with an
+air of authority. 'Hinder not the high officials of the Corporation in
+the discharge of their functions. Neither should ye hamper the flanks
+of fighting men, seeing that you thereby prevent that deploying and
+extending of the line which is now advocated by many high commanders.
+I prythee, who commands this cohort, or legion rather, seeing that you
+have auxiliary horse attached to it?'
+
+''Tis a regiment, sirrah,' said Saxon sternly. 'Colonel Saxon's regiment
+of Wiltshire foot, which I have the honour to command.'
+
+'I beg your Colonelship's pardon, 'cried the clerk nervously, edging
+away from the swarthy-faced soldier. 'I have heard speak of your
+Colonelship, and of your doings in the German wars. I have myself
+trailed a pike in my youth and have broken a head or two, aye, and a
+heart or two also, when I wore buff and bandolier.'
+
+'Discharge your message,' said our Colonel shortly.
+
+''Tis from his most worshipful the Mayor, and is addressed to yourself
+and to your captains, who are doubtless these tall cavaliers whom I see
+on either side of me. Pretty fellows, by my faith! but you and I know
+well, Colonel, that a little trick of fence will set the smallest of us
+on a level with the brawniest. Now I warrant that you and I, being
+old soldiers, could, back to back, make it good against these three
+gallants.'
+
+'Speak, fellow,' snarled Saxon, and reaching out a long sinewy arm he
+seized the loquacious clerk by the lappet of his gown, and shook him
+until his long sword clattered again.
+
+'How, Colonel, how?' cried Master Tetheridge, while his vest seemed to
+acquire a deeper tint from the sudden pallor of his face. 'Would you
+lay an angry hand upon the Mayor's representative? I wear a bilbo by my
+side, as you can see. I am also somewhat quick and choleric, and warn
+you therefore not to do aught which I might perchance construe into a
+personal slight. As to my message, it was that his most worshipful
+the Mayor did desire to have word with you and your captains in the
+town-hall.'
+
+'We shall be there anon,' said Saxon, and turning to the regiment he set
+himself to explain some of the simpler movements and exercises, teaching
+his officers as well as his men, for though Sir Gervas knew something of
+the manual, Lockarby and I brought little but our good-will to the task.
+When the order to dismiss was at last given, our companies marched back
+to their barracks in the wool warehouse, while we handed over our horses
+to the grooms from the White Hart, and set off to pay our respects to
+the Mayor.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII. Of Master Stephen Timewell, Mayor of Taunton
+
+Within the town-hall all was bustle and turmoil. At one side behind a
+low table covered with green baize sat two scriveners with great rolls
+of paper in front of them. A long line of citizens passed slowly before
+them, each in turn putting down a roll or bag of coins which was duly
+noted by the receivers. A square iron-bound chest stood by their side,
+into which the money was thrown, and we noted as we passed that it was
+half full of gold pieces. We could not but mark that many of the givers
+were men whose threadbare doublets and pinched faces showed that the
+wealth which they were dashing down so readily must have been hoarded up
+for such a purpose, at the cost of scanty fare and hard living. Most of
+them accompanied their gift by a few words of prayer, or by some pithy
+text anent the treasure which rusteth not, or the lending to the Lord.
+The town clerk stood by the table giving forth the vouchers for each
+sum, and the constant clack of his tongue filled the hall, as he read
+aloud the names and amounts, with his own remarks between.
+
+'Abraham Willis,' he shouted as we entered; 'put him down twenty-six
+pounds and ten shillings. You shall receive ten per centum upon this
+earth, Master Willis, and I warrant that it shall not be forgotten
+hereafter. John Standish, two pounds. William Simons, two guineas.
+Stand-fast Healing, forty-five pounds. That is a rare blow which you
+have struck into the ribs of Prelacy, good Master Healing. Solomon
+Warren, five guineas. James White, five shillings--the widow's mite,
+James! Thomas Bakewell, ten pounds. Nay, Master Bakewell, surely out of
+three farms on the banks of Tone, and grazing land in the fattest part
+of Athelney, you can spare more than this for the good cause. We shall
+doubtless see you again. Alderman Smithson, ninety pounds. Aha! There is
+a slap for the scarlet woman! A few more such and her throne shall be a
+ducking-stool. We shall break her down, worthy Master Smithson, even as
+Jehu, the son of Nimshi, broke down the house of Baal.' So he babbled on
+with praise, precept, and rebuke, though the grave and solemn burghers
+took little notice of his empty clamour.
+
+At the other side of the hall were several long wooden drinking-troughs,
+which were used for the storing of pikes and scythes. Special messengers
+and tithing-men had been sent out to scour the country for arms, who,
+as they returned, placed their prizes here under the care of the
+armourer-general. Besides the common weapons of the peasants there was a
+puncheon half full of pistols and petronels, together with a good number
+of muskets, screw-guns, snaphances, birding-pieces, and carbines, with
+a dozen bell-mouthed brass blunderbusses, and a few old-fashioned
+wall-pieces, such as sakers and culverins taken from the manor-houses of
+the county. From the walls and the lumber-rooms of these old dwellings
+many other arms had been brought to light which were doubtless esteemed
+as things of price by our forefathers, but which would seem strange to
+your eyes in these days, when a musket may be fired once in every two
+minutes, and will carry a ball to a distance of four hundred paces.
+There were halberds, battle-axes, morning stars, brown bills, maces, and
+ancient coats of chain mail, which might even now save a man from sword
+stroke or pike thrust.
+
+In the midst of the coming and the going stood Master Timewell, the
+Mayor, ordering all things like a skilful and provident commander. I
+could understand the trust and love which his townsmen had for him, as
+I watched him labouring with all the wisdom of an old man and the
+blithesomeness of a young one. He was hard at work as we approached in
+trying the lock of a falconet; but perceiving us, he came forward and
+saluted us with much kindliness.
+
+'I have heard much of ye,' said he; 'how ye caused the faithful to
+gather to a head, and so beat off the horsemen of the usurper. It will
+not be the last time, I trust, that ye shall see their backs. I hear,
+Colonel Saxon, that ye have seen much service abroad.'
+
+'I have been the humble tool of Providence in much good work,'
+said Saxon, with a bow. 'I have fought with the Swedes against the
+Brandenburgers, and again with the Brandenburgers against the Swedes, my
+time and conditions with the latter having been duly carried out. I
+have afterwards in the Bavarian service fought against Swedes and
+Brandenburgers combined, besides having undergone the great wars on the
+Danube against the Turk, and two campaigns with the Messieurs in the
+Palatinate, which latter might be better termed holiday-making than
+fighting.'
+
+'A soldierly record in very truth,' cried the Mayor, stroking his white
+beard. 'I hear that you are also powerfully borne onwards in prayer and
+song. You are, I perceive, one of the old breed of '44, Colonel--the men
+who were in the saddle all day, and on their knees half the night. When
+shall we see the like of them again? A few such broken wrecks as I are
+left, with the fire of our youth all burned out and nought left but the
+ashes of lethargy and lukewarmness.'
+
+'Nay, nay,' said Saxon, 'your position and present business will scarce
+jump with the modesty of your words. But here are young men who will
+find the fire if their elders bring the brains. This is Captain Micah
+Clarke, and Captain Lockarby, and Captain the Honourable Sir Gervas
+Jerome, who have all come far to draw their swords for the downtrodden
+faith.'
+
+'Taunton welcomes ye, young sirs,' said the Mayor, looking a
+trifle askance, as I thought, at the baronet, who had drawn out his
+pocket-mirror, and was engaged in the brushing of his eyebrows. 'I trust
+that during your stay in this town ye will all four take up your abode
+with me. 'Tis a homely roof and simple fare, but a soldier's wants are
+few. And now, Colonel, I would fain have your advice as to these three
+drakes, whether if rehooped they may be deemed fit for service; and also
+as to these demi-cannons, which were used in the old Parliamentary days,
+and may yet have a word to say in the people's cause.'
+
+The old soldier and the Puritan instantly plunged into a deep
+and learned disquisition upon the merits of wall-pieces, drakes,
+demi-culverins, sakers, minions, mortar-pieces, falcons, and
+pattereroes, concerning all which pieces of ordnance Saxon had strong
+opinions to offer, fortified by many personal hazards and experiences.
+He then dwelt upon the merits of fire-arrows and fire-pikes in the
+attack or defence of places of strength, and had finally begun to
+descant upon sconces, 'directis lateribus,' and upon works, semilunar,
+rectilineal, horizontal, or orbicular, with so many references to his
+Imperial Majesty's lines at Gran, that it seemed that his discourse
+would never find an end. We slipped away at last, leaving him still
+discussing the effects produced by the Austrian grenadoes upon a
+Bavarian brigade of pikes at the battle of Ober-Graustock.
+
+'Curse me if I like accepting this old fellow's offer,' said Sir Gervas,
+in an undertone. 'I have heard of these Puritan households. Much grace
+to little sack, and texts flying about as hard and as jagged as flint
+stones. To bed at sundown, and a sermon ready if ye do but look kindly
+at the waiting-wench or hum the refrain of a ditty.'
+
+'His home may be larger, but it could scarce be stricter than that of my
+own father,' I remarked.
+
+'I'll warrant that,' cried Reuben. 'When we have been a morris-dancing,
+or having a Saturday night game of "kiss-in-the-ring," or
+"parson-has-lost-his-coat," I have seen Ironside Joe stride past us, and
+cast a glance at us which hath frozen the smile upon our lips. I warrant
+that he would have aided Colonel Pride to shoot the bears and hack down
+the maypoles.'
+
+''Twere fratricide for such a man to shoot a bear,' quoth Sir Gervas,
+'with all respect, friend Clarke, for your honoured progenitor.'
+
+'No more than for you to shoot at a popinjay,' I answered, laughing;
+'but as to the Mayor's offer, we can but go to meat with him now, and
+should it prove irksome it will be easy for you to plead some excuse,
+and so get honourably quit of it. But bear in mind, Sir Gervas, that
+such households are in very truth different to any with which you are
+acquainted, so curb your tongue or offence may come of it. Should I cry
+"hem!" or cough, it will be a sign to you that you had best beware.'
+
+'Agreed, young Solomon!' cried he. 'It is, indeed, well to have a pilot
+like yourself who knows these godly waters. For my own part, I should
+never know how near I was to the shoals. But our friends have finished
+the battle of Ober what's its name, and are coming towards us. I trust,
+worthy Mr. Mayor, that your difficulties have been resolved?'
+
+'They are, sir,' replied the Puritan. 'I have been much edified by your
+Colonel's discourse, and I have little doubt that by serving under him
+ye will profit much by his ripe experience.'
+
+'Very like, sir, very like,' said Sir Gervas carelessly.
+
+'But it is nigh one o'clock,' the Mayor continued, 'our frail flesh
+cries aloud for meat and drink. I beg that ye will do me the favour to
+accompany me to my humble dwelling, where we shall find the household
+board already dressed.'
+
+With these words he led the way out of the hall and paced slowly down
+Fore Street, the people falling back to right and to left as he passed,
+and raising their caps to do him reverence. Here and there, as he
+pointed out to us, arrangements had been made for barring the road with
+strong chains to prevent any sudden rush of cavalry. In places, too, at
+the corner of a house, a hole had been knocked in the masonry through
+which peeped the dark muzzle of a carronade or wall-piece. These
+precautions were the more necessary as several bodies of the Royal
+Horse, besides the one which we had repulsed, were known to be within
+the Deane, and the town, deprived of its ramparts, was open to an
+incursion from any daring commander.
+
+The chief magistrate's house was a squat square-faced stone building
+within a court which opened on to East Street. The peaked oak door,
+spangled with broad iron nails, had a gloomy and surly aspect, but
+the hall within was lightful and airy, with a bright polished cedar
+planking, and high panelling of some dark-grained wood which gave forth
+a pleasant smell as of violets. A broad night of steps rose up from the
+farther end of the hall, down which as we entered a young sweet-faced
+maid came tripping, with an old dame behind her, who bore in her hands a
+pile of fresh napery. At the sight of us the elder one retreated up the
+stairs again, whilst the younger came flying down three steps at a
+time, threw her arms round the old Mayor's neck, and kissed him fondly,
+looking hard into his face the while, as a mother gazes into that of a
+child with whom she fears that aught may have gone amiss.
+
+'Weary again, daddy, weary again,' she said, shaking her head anxiously,
+with a small white hand upon each of his shoulders. 'Indeed, and indeed,
+thy spirit is greater than thy strength.'
+
+'Nay, nay, lass,' said he, passing his hand fondly over her rich brown
+hair. The workman must toil until the hour of rest is rung. This,
+gentlemen, is my granddaughter Ruth, the sole relic of my family and the
+light of mine old age. The whole grove hath been cut down, and only the
+oldest oak and the youngest sapling left. These cavaliers, little one,
+have come from afar to serve the cause, and they have done us the honour
+to accept of our poor hospitality.'
+
+'Ye are come in good time, gentlemen,' she answered, looking us straight
+in the eyes with a kindly smile as a sister might greet her brothers.
+'The household is gathered round the table and the meal is ready.'
+
+'But not more ready than we,' cried the stout old burgher. 'Do thou
+conduct our guests to their places, whilst I seek my room and doff these
+robes of office, with my chain and tippet, ere I break my fast.'
+
+Following our fair guide we passed into a very large and lofty room, the
+walls of which were wainscoted with carved oak, and hung at either end
+with tapestry. The floor was tesselated after the French fashion, and
+plentifully strewn with skins and rugs. At one end of the apartment
+stood a great white marble fireplace, like a small room in itself,
+fitted up, as was the ancient custom, with an iron stand in the centre,
+and with broad stone benches in the recess on either side. Lines of
+hooks above the chimneypiece had been used, as I surmise, to support
+arms, for the wealthy merchants of England were wont to keep enough in
+their houses to at least equip their apprentices and craftsmen. They
+had now, however, been removed, nor was there any token of the troublous
+times save a single heap of pikes and halberds piled together in a
+corner.
+
+Down the centre of this room there ran a long and massive table, which
+was surrounded by thirty or forty people, the greater part of whom were
+men. They were on their feet as we entered, and a grave-faced man at the
+farther end was drawling forth an interminable grace, which began as a
+thanksgiving for food, but wandered away into questions of Church and
+State, and finally ended in a supplication for Israel now in arms to do
+battle for the Lord. While this was proceeding we stood in a group
+by the door with our caps doffed, and spent our time in observing the
+company more closely than we could have done with courtesy had their
+eyes not been cast down and their thoughts elsewhere.
+
+They were of all ages, from greybeards down to lads scarce out of their
+teens, all with the same solemn and austere expression of countenance,
+and clad in the same homely and sombre garb. Save their wide white
+collars and cuffs, not a string of any colour lessened the sad severity
+of their attire. Their black coats and doublets were cut straight and
+close, and their cordovan leather shoes, which in the days of our youth
+were usually the seat of some little ornament, were uniformly square
+toed and tied with sad-coloured ribbon. Most of them wore plain
+sword-belts of untanned hide, but the weapons themselves, with their
+broad felt hats and black cloaks, were laid under the benches or placed
+upon the settles which lined the walls. They stood with their hands
+clasped and their heads bent, listening to the untimely address, and
+occasionally by some groan or exclamation testifying that the preacher's
+words had moved them.
+
+The overgrown grace came at last to an end, when the company sat
+silently down, and proceeded without pause or ceremony to attack the
+great joints which smoked before them. Our young hostess led us to the
+end of the table, where a high carded chair with a black cushion upon it
+marked the position of the master of the house. Mistress Timewell seated
+herself upon the right of the Mayor's place, with Sir Gervas beside her,
+while the post of honour upon the left was assigned to Saxon. On my left
+sat Lockarby, whose eyes I observed had been fixed in undisguised and
+all-absorbing admiration upon the Puritan maiden from the first moment
+that he had seen her. The table was of no great breadth, so that we
+could talk across in spite of the clatter of plates and dishes, the
+bustle of servants, and the deep murmur of voices.
+
+'This is my father's household,' said our hostess, addressing herself to
+Saxon. 'There is not one of them who is not in his employ. He hath many
+apprentices in the wool trade. We sit down forty to meat every day in
+the year.'
+
+'And to right good fare, too,' quoth Saxon, glancing down the table.
+'Salmon, ribs of beef, loin of mutton, veal, pasties--what could man
+wish for more? Plenty of good home-brewed, too, to wash it down. If
+worthy Master Timewell can arrange that the army be victualled after the
+same fashion, I for one shell be beholden to him. A cup of dirty water
+and a charred morsel cooked on a ramrod over the camp fire are like to
+take the place of these toothsome dainties.'
+
+'Is it not best to have faith?' said the Puritan maiden. 'Shall not the
+Almighty feed His soldiers even as Elisha was fed in the wilderness and
+Hagar in the desert?'
+
+'Aye,' exclaimed a lanky-haired, swarthy young man who sat upon the
+right of Sir Gervas, 'he will provide for us, even as the stream of
+water gushed forth out of dry places, even as the quails and the manna
+lay thick upon barren soil.'
+
+'So I trust, young sir,' quoth Saxon, 'but we must none the less arrange
+a victual-train, with a staff of wains, duly numbered, and an intendant
+over each, after the German fashion. Such things should not be left to
+chance.'
+
+Pretty Mistress Timewell glanced up with a half startled look at this
+remark, as though shocked at the want of faith implied in it. Her
+thoughts might have taken the form of words had not her father entered
+the room at the moment, the whole company rising and bowing to him as he
+advanced to his seat.
+
+'Be seated, friends,' said he, with a wave of his hand; 'we are a homely
+folk, Colonel Saxon, and the old-time virtue of respect for our elders
+has not entirely forsaken us. I trust, Ruth,' he continued, 'that thou
+hast seen to the wants of our guests.'
+
+We all protested that we had never received such attention and
+hospitality.
+
+''Tis well, 'tis well,' said the good wool-worker. 'But your plates are
+clear and your glasses empty. William, look to it! A good workman
+is ever a good trencherman. If a 'prentice of mine cannot clean his
+platter, I know that I shall get little from him with carder and teazel.
+Thew and sinew need building up. A slice from that round of beef,
+William! Touching that same battle of Ober-Graustock, Colonel, what part
+was played in the fray by that regiment of Pandour horse, in which, as I
+understand, thou didst hold a commission?'
+
+This was a question on which, as may be imagined, Saxon had much to say,
+and the pair were soon involved in a heated discussion, in which the
+experiences of Roundway Down and Marston Moor were balanced against the
+results of a score of unpronounceable fights in the Styrian Alps and
+along the Danube. Stephen Timewell in his lusty youth had led first
+a troop and then a regiment through the wars of the Parliament, from
+Chalgrove Field to the final battle at Worcester, so that his warlike
+passages, though less varied and extensive than those of our companion,
+were enough to enable him to form and hold strong opinions. These were
+in the main the same as those of the soldier of fortune, but when their
+ideas differed upon any point, there arose forthwith such a cross-fire
+of military jargon, such speech of estacados and palisados, such
+comparisons of light horse and heavy, of pikemen and musqueteers,
+of Lanzknechte, Leaguers, and on-falls, that the unused ear became
+bewildered with the babble. At last, on some question of fortification,
+the Mayor drew his outworks with the spoons and knives, on which Saxon
+opened his parallels with lines of bread, and pushing them rapidly
+up with traverses and covered ways, he established himself upon the
+re-entering angle of the Mayor's redoubt. This opened up a fresh
+question as to counter-mines, with the result that the dispute raged
+with renewed vigour.
+
+Whilst this friendly strife was proceeding between the elders, Sir
+Gervas Jerome and Mistress Ruth had fallen into conversation at the
+other side of the table. I have seldom seen, my dear children, so
+beautiful a face as that of this Puritan damsel; and it was beautiful
+with that sort of modest and maidenly comeliness where the features
+derive their sweetness from the sweet soul which shines through them.
+The perfectly-moulded body appeared to be but the outer expression of
+the perfect spirit within. Her dark-brown hair swept back from a broad
+and white forehead, which surmounted a pair of well-marked eyebrows and
+large blue thoughtful eyes. The whole cast of her features was gentle
+and dove-like, yet there was a firmness in the mouth and delicate
+prominence of the chin which might indicate that in times of trouble and
+danger the little maid would prove to be no unworthy descendant of the
+Roundhead soldier and Puritan magistrate. I doubt not that where more
+loud-tongued and assertive dames might be cowed, the Mayor's soft-voiced
+daughter would begin to cast off her gentler disposition, and to show
+the stronger nature which underlay it. It amused me much to listen to
+the efforts which Sir Gervas made to converse with her, for the damsel
+and he lived so entirely in two different worlds, that it took all his
+gallantry and ready wit to keep on ground which would be intelligible to
+her.
+
+'No doubt you spend much of your time in reading, Mistress Ruth,' he
+remarked. 'It puzzles me to think what else you can do so far from
+town?'
+
+'Town!' said she in surprise. 'What is Taunton but a town?'
+
+'Heaven forbid that I should deny it,' replied Sir Gervas, 'more
+especially in the presence of so many worthy burghers, who have the name
+of being somewhat jealous of the honour of their native city. Yet the
+fact remains, fair mistress, that the town of London so far transcends
+all other towns that it is called, even as I called it just now, _the_
+town.'
+
+'Is it so very large, then?' she cried, with pretty wonder. 'But new
+louses are building in Taunton, outside the old walls, and beyond
+Shuttern, and some even at the other side of the river. Perhaps in time
+it may be as large.'
+
+'If all the folks in Taunton were to be added to London,' said Sir
+Gervas, 'no one there would observe that there had been any increase.'
+
+'Nay, there you are laughing at me. That is against all reason,' cried
+the country maiden.
+
+'Your grandfather will bear out my words,' said Sir Gervas. 'But to
+return to your reading, I'll warrant that there is not a page of
+Scudery and her "Grand Cyrus" which you have not read. You are familiar,
+doubtless, with every sentiment in Cowley, or Waller, or Dryden?'
+
+'Who are these?' she asked. 'At what church do they preach?'
+
+'Faith!' cried the baronet, with a laugh, 'honest John preaches at the
+church of Will Unwin, commonly known as Will's, where many a time it
+is two in the morning before he comes to the end of his sermon. But why
+this question? Do you think that no one may put pen to paper unless they
+have also a right to wear a gown and climb up to a pulpit? I had thought
+that all of your sex had read Dryden. Pray, what are your own favourite
+books?'
+
+'There is Alleine's "Alarm to the Unconverted,"' said she. 'It is a
+stirring work, and one which hath wrought much good. Hast thou not found
+it to fructify within thee?'
+
+'I have not read the book you name,' Sir Gervas confessed.
+
+'Not read it?' she cried, with raised eyebrows. 'Truly I had thought
+that every one had read the "Alarm." What dost thou think, then, of
+"Faithful Contendings"?'
+
+'I have not read it.'
+
+'Or of Baxter's Sermons?' she asked.
+
+'I have not read them.'
+
+'Of Bull's "Spirit Cordial," then?'
+
+'I have not read it.'
+
+Mistress Ruth Timewell stared at him in undisguised wonder. 'You may
+think me ill-bred to say it, sir,' she remarked, 'but I cannot but
+marvel where you have been, or what you have done all your life. Why,
+the very children in the street have read these books.'
+
+'In truth, such works come little in our way in London,' Sir Gervas
+answered. 'A play of George Etherege's, or a jingle of Sir John
+Suckling's is lighter, though mayhap less wholesome food for the mind.
+A man in London may keep pace with the world of letters without
+much reading, for what with the gossip of the coffee-houses and the
+news-letters that fall in his way, and the babble of poets or wits
+at the assemblies, with mayhap an evening or two in the week at the
+playhouse, with Vanbrugh or Farquhar, one can never part company for
+long with the muses. Then, after the play, if a man is in no humour for
+a turn of luck at the green table at the Groom Porter's, he may stroll
+down to the Coca Tree if he be a Tory, or to St. James's if he be a
+Whig, and it is ten to one if the talk turn not upon the turning of
+alcaics, or the contest between blank verse or rhyme. Then one may,
+after an arriere supper, drop into Will's or Slaughter's and find Old
+John, with Tickell and Congreve and the rest of them, hard at work
+on the dramatic unities, or poetical justice, or some such matter. I
+confess that my own tastes lay little in that line, for about that hour
+I was likely to be worse employed with wine-flask, dice-box, or--'
+
+'Hem! hem!' cried I warningly, for several of the Puritans were
+listening with faces which expressed anything but approval.
+
+'What you say of London is of much interest to me,' said the Puritan
+maiden, 'though these names and places have little meaning to my
+ignorant ears. You did speak, however, of the playhouse. Surely no
+worthy man goes near those sinks of iniquity, the baited traps of the
+Evil One? Has not the good and sanctified Master Bull declared from
+the pulpit that they are the gathering-place of the froward, the chosen
+haunts of the perverse Assyrians, as dangerous to the soul as any
+of those Papal steeple-houses wherein the creature is sacrilegiously
+confounded with the Creator?'
+
+'Well and truly spoken, Mistress Timewell,' cried the lean young
+Puritan upon the right, who had been an attentive listener to the whole
+conversation. 'There is more evil in such houses than even in the cities
+of the plain. I doubt not that the wrath of the Lord will descend
+upon them, and destroy them, and wreck them utterly, together with the
+dissolute men and abandoned women who frequent them.'
+
+'Your strong opinions, friend,' said Sir Gervas quietly, 'are borne out
+doubtless by your full knowledge of the subject. How often, prythee,
+have you been in these playhouses which you are so ready to decry?'
+
+'I thank the Lord that I have never been so far tempted from the
+straight path as to set foot within one,' the Puritan answered, 'nor
+have I ever been in that great sewer which is called London. I trust,
+however, that I with others of the faithful may find our way thither
+with our tucks at our sides ere this business is finished, when we shall
+not be content, I'll warrant, with shutting these homes of vice, as
+Cromwell did, but we shall not leave one stone upon another, and shall
+sow the spot with salt, that it may be a hissing and a byword amongst
+the people.'
+
+'You are right, John Derrick,' said the Mayor, who had overheard the
+latter part of his remarks. 'Yet methinks that a lower tone and a more
+backward manner would become you better when you are speaking with your
+master's guests. Touching these same playhouses, Colonel, when we have
+carried the upper hand this time, we shall not allow the old tares to
+check the new wheat. We know what fruit these places have borne in the
+days of Charles, the Gwynnes, the Palmers, and the whole base crew of
+foul lecherous parasites. Have you ever been in London, Captain Clarke?'
+
+'Nay, sir; I am country born and bred.'
+
+'The better man you,' said our host. 'I have been there twice. The first
+time was in the days of the Rump, when Lambert brought in his division
+to overawe the Commons. I was then quartered at the sign of the Four
+Crosses in Southwark, then kept by a worthy man, one John Dolman, with
+whom I had much edifying speech concerning predestination. All was
+quiet and sober then, I promise you, and you might have walked from
+Westminster to the Tower in the dead of the night without hearing aught
+save the murmur of prayer and the chanting of hymns. Not a ruffler or
+a wench was in the streets after dark, nor any one save staid citizens
+upon their business, or the halberdiers of the watch. The second visit
+which I made was over this business of the levelling of the ramparts,
+when I and neighbour Foster, the glover, were sent at the head of a
+deputation from this town to the Privy Council of Charles. Who could
+have credited that a few years would have made such a change? Every evil
+thing that had been stamped underground had spawned and festered until
+its vermin brood flooded the streets, and the godly wore themselves
+driven to shun the light of day. Apollyon had indeed triumphed for a
+while. A quiet man could not walk the highways without being elbowed
+into the kennel by swaggering swashbucklers, or accosted by painted
+hussies. Padders and michers, laced cloaks, jingling spurs, slashed
+boots, tall plumes, bullies and pimps, oaths and blasphemies--I promise
+you hell was waxing fat. Even in the solitude of one's coach one was not
+free from the robber.'
+
+'How that, sir?' asked Reuben.
+
+'Why marry, in this wise. As I was the sufferer I have the best right
+to tell the tale. Ye must know that after our reception--which was
+cold enough, for we were about as welcome to the Privy Council as the
+hearth-tax man is to the village housewife--we were asked, more as
+I guess from derision than from courtesy, to the evening levee at
+Buckingham Palace. We would both fain have been excused from going but
+we feared that our refusal might give undue offence, and so hinder the
+success of our mission. My homespun garments ware somewhat rough for
+such an occasion, yet I determined to appear in them, with the addition
+of a new black baize waistcoat faced with silk, and a good periwig, for
+which I gave three pounds ten shillings in the Haymarket.'
+
+The young Puritan opposite turned up his eyes and murmured something
+about 'sacrificing to Dagon,' which fortunately for him was inaudible to
+the high-spirited old man.
+
+'It was but a worldly vanity,' quoth the Mayor; 'for, with all
+deference, Sir Gervas Jerome, a man's own hair arranged with some taste,
+and with perhaps a sprinkling of powder, is to my mind the fittest
+ornament to his head. It is the contents and not the case which
+availeth. Having donned this frippery, good Master Foster and I hired
+a calash and drove to the Palace. We were deep in grave and, I trust,
+profitable converse speeding through the endless streets, when of a
+sudden I felt a sharp tug at my head, and my hat fluttered down on to my
+knees. I raised my hands, and lo! they came upon my bare pate. The wig
+had vanished. We were rolling down Fleet Street at the moment, and there
+was no one in the calash save neighbour Foster, who sat as astounded as
+I. We looked high and low, on the seats and beneath them, but not a sign
+of the periwig was there. It was gone utterly and without a trace.'
+
+'Whither then?' we asked with one voice.
+
+'That was the question which we set ourselves to solve. For a moment I
+do assure ye that we bethought us that it might be a judgment upon us
+for our attention to such carnal follies. Then it crossed my mind
+that it might be the doing of some malicious sprite, as the Drummer of
+Tedworth, or those who occasioned the disturbances no very long time
+since at the old Gast House at Little Burton here in Somersetshire.
+(Note F. Appendix.) With this thought we hallooed to the coachman, and
+told him what had occurred to us. The fellow came down from his
+perch, and having heard our story, he burst straightway into much foul
+language, and walking round to the back of his calash, showed us that
+a slit had been made in the leather wherewith it was fashioned. Through
+this the thief had thrust his hand and had drawn my wig through the
+hole, resting the while on the crossbar of the coach. It was no uncommon
+thing, he said, and the wig-snatchers were a numerous body who waited
+beside the peruke-maker's shops, and when they saw a customer come forth
+with a purchase which was worth their pains they would follow him, and,
+should he chance to drive, deprive him of it in this fashion. Be that as
+it may, I never saw my wig again, and had to purchase another before I
+could venture into the royal presence.'
+
+'A strange adventure truly,' exclaimed Saxon. 'How fared it with you for
+the remainder of the evening?'
+
+'But scurvily, for Charles's face, which was black enough at all
+times, was blackest of all to us; nor was his brother the Papist more
+complaisant. They had but brought us there that they might dazzle us
+with their glitter and gee-gaws, in order that we might bear a fine
+report of them back to the West with us. There were supple-backed
+courtiers, and strutting nobles, and hussies with their shoulders bare,
+who should for all their high birth have been sent to Bridewell as
+readily as any poor girl who ever walked at the cart's tail. Then there
+were the gentlemen of the chamber, with cinnamon and plum-coloured
+coats, and a brave show of gold lace and silk and ostrich feather.
+Neighbour Foster and I felt as two crows might do who have wandered
+among the peacocks. Yet we bare in mind in whose image we were
+fashioned, and we carried ourselves, I trust, as independent English
+burghers. His Grace of Buckingham had his flout at us, and Rochester
+sneered, and the women simpered; but we stood four square, my friend
+and I, discussing, as I well remember, the most precious doctrines of
+election and reprobation, without giving much heed either to those who
+mocked us, or to the gamesters upon our left, or to the dancers upon
+our right. So we stood throughout the evening, until, finding that they
+could get little sport from us, my Lord Clarendon, the Chancellor, gave
+us the word to retire, which we did at our leisure after saluting the
+King and the company.'
+
+'Nay, that I should never have done!' cried the young Puritan, who had
+listened intently to his elder's narrative. 'Would it not have been
+more fitting to have raised up your hands and called down vengeance upon
+them, as the holy man of old did upon the wicked cities?'
+
+'More fitting, quotha!' said the Mayor impatiently. 'It is most fitting
+that youth should be silent until his opinion is asked on such matters.
+God's wrath comes with leaden feet, but it strikes with iron hands. In
+His own good time He has judged when the cup of these men's iniquities
+is overflowing. It is not for us to instruct Him. Curses have, as the
+wise man said, a habit of coming home to roost. Bear that in mind,
+Master John Derrick, and be not too liberal with them.'
+
+The young apprentice, for such he was, bowed his head sullenly to the
+rebuke, whilst the Mayor, after a short pause, resumed his story.
+
+'Being a fine night,' said he, 'we chose to walk back to our lodgings;
+but never shall I forget the wicked scenes wherewith we were encountered
+on the way. Good Master Bunyan, of Elstow, might have added some
+pages to his account of Vanity Fair had he been with us. The women,
+be-patched, be-ruddled, and brazen; the men swaggering, roistering,
+cursing--the brawling, the drabbing, and the drunkenness! It was a fit
+kingdom to be ruled over by such a court. At last we had made our way to
+more quiet streets, and were hoping that our adventures were at an end,
+when of a sudden there came a rush of half-drunken cavaliers from a side
+street, who set upon the passers-by with their swords, as though we had
+fallen into an ambuscade of savages in some Paynim country. They were,
+as I surmise, of the same breed as those of whom the excellent John
+Milton wrote: "The sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine." Alas!
+my memory is not what it was, for at one time I could say by rote whole
+books of that noble and godly poem.'
+
+'And, pray, how fared ye with these rufflers, sir?' I asked.
+
+'They beset us, and some few other honest citizens who were wending
+their ways homewards, and waving their naked swords they called upon us
+to lay down our arms and pay homage. "To whom?" I asked. They pointed
+to one of their number who was more gaudily dressed and somewhat
+drunker than the rest. "This is our most sovereign liege," they cried.
+"Sovereign over whom?" I asked. "Over the Tityre Tus," they answered.
+"Oh, most barbarous and cuckoldy citizen, do you not recognise that you
+have fallen into the hands of that most noble order?" "This is not your
+real monarch," said I, "for he is down beneath us chained in the pit,
+where some day he will gather his dutiful subjects around him." "Lo, he
+hath spoken treason!" they cried, on which, without much more ado, they
+set upon us with sword and dagger. Neighbour Foster and I placed our
+backs against a wall, and with our cloaks round our left arms we made
+play with our tucks, and managed to put in one or two of the old Wigan
+Lane raspers. In particular, friend Foster pinked the King in such wise
+that his Majesty ran howling down the street like a gored bull-pup. We
+were beset by numbers, however, and might have ended our mission then
+and there had not the watch appeared upon the scene, struck up our
+weapons with their halberds, and so arrested the whole party. Whilst the
+fray lasted the burghers from the adjoining houses were pouring water
+upon us, as though we were cats on the tiles, which, though it did
+not cool our ardour in the fight, left us in a scurvy and unsavoury
+condition. In this guise we were dragged to the round-house, where we
+spent the night amidst bullies, thieves, and orange wenches, to whom I
+am proud to say that both neighbour Foster and myself spoke some words
+of joy and comfort. In the morning we were released, and forthwith shook
+the dust of London from our feet; nor do I ever wish to return thither,
+unless it be at the head of our Somersetshire regiments, to see King
+Monmouth don the crown which he had wrested in fair fight from the
+Popish perverter.'
+
+As Master Stephen Timewell ended his tale a general shuffling and rising
+announced the conclusion of the meal. The company filed slowly out in
+order of seniority, all wearing the same gloomy and earnest expression,
+with grave gait and downcast eyes. These Puritan ways were, it is true,
+familiar to me from childhood, yet I had never before seen a large
+household conforming to them, or marked their effect upon so many young
+men.
+
+'You shall bide behind for a while,' said the Mayor, as we were about
+to follow the others. 'William, do you bring a flask of the old green
+sealed sack. These creature comforts I do not produce before my lads,
+for beef and honest malt is the fittest food for such. On occasion,
+however, I am of Paul's opinion, that a flagon of wine among friends is
+no bad thing for mind or for body. You can away now, sweetheart, if you
+have aught to engage you.'
+
+'Do you go out again?' asked Mistress Ruth.
+
+'Presently, to the town-hall. The survey of arms is not yet complete.'
+
+'I shall have your robes ready, and also the rooms of our guests,' she
+answered, and so, with a bright smile to us, tripped away upon her duty.
+
+'I would that I could order our town as that maiden orders this house,'
+said the Mayor. 'There is not a want that is not supplied before it is
+felt. She reads my thoughts and acts upon them ere my lips have time to
+form them. If I have still strength to spend in the public service, it
+is because my private life is full of restful peace. Do not fear the
+sack, sirs. It cometh from Brooke and Hellier's of Abchurch Lane, and
+may be relied upon.'
+
+'Which showeth that one good thing cometh out of London,' remarked Sir
+Gervas.
+
+'Aye, truly,' said the old man, smiling. 'But what think ye of my young
+men, sir? They must needs be of a very different class to any with
+whom you are acquainted, if, as I understand, you have frequented court
+circles.'
+
+'Why, marry, they are good enough young men, no doubt,' Sir Gervas
+answered lightly. 'Methinks, however, that there is a want of sap about
+them. It is not blood, but sour buttermilk that flows in their veins.'
+
+'Nay, nay,' the Mayor responded warmly. 'There you do them an injustice.
+Their passions and feelings are under control, as the skilful rider
+keeps his horse in hand; but they are as surely there as is the speed
+and endurance of the animal. Did you observe the godly youth who sat
+upon your right, whom I had occasion to reprove more than once for
+over-zeal? He is a fit example of how a man may take the upper hand of
+his feelings, and keep them in control.'
+
+'And how has he done so?' I asked.
+
+'Why, between friends,' quoth the Mayor, 'it was but last Lady-day that
+he asked the hand of my granddaughter Ruth in marriage. His time is
+nearly served, and his father, Sam Derrick, is an honourable craftsman,
+so that the match would have been no unfitting one. The maiden turned
+against him, however--young girls will have their fancies--and the
+matter came to an end. Yet here he dwells under the same roof-tree, at
+her elbow from morn to night, with never a sign of that passion which
+can scarce have died out so soon. Twice my wool warehouse hath been
+nigh burned to the ground since then, and twice he hath headed those who
+fought the flames. There are not many whose suit hath been rejected who
+would bear themselves in so resigned and patient a fashion.'
+
+'I am prepared to find that your judgment is the correct one,' said Sir
+Gervas Jerome. 'I have learned to distrust too hasty dislikes, and bear
+in mind that couplet of John Dryden--
+
+          "Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow.
+           He who would search for pearls must dive below."'
+
+'Or worthy Dr. Samuel Butler,' said Saxon, 'who, in his immortal poem of
+"Hudibras," says--
+
+          "The fool can only see the skin:
+           The wise man tries to peep within."'
+
+'I wonder, Colonel Saxon,' said our host severely, 'that you should
+speak favourably of that licentious poem, which is composed, as I have
+heard, for the sole purpose of casting ridicule upon the godly. I should
+as soon have expected to hear you praise the wicked and foolish work of
+Hobbes, with his mischievous thesis, "A Deo rex, a rege lex."'
+
+'It is true that I contemn and despise the use which Butler hath made of
+his satire,' said Saxon adroitly; 'yet I may admire the satire itself,
+just as one may admire a damascened blade without approving of the
+quarrel in which it is drawn.'
+
+'These distinctions are, I fear, too subtle for my old brain,' said the
+stout old Puritan. 'This England of ours is divided into two camps, that
+of God and that of Antichrist. He who is not with us is against us, nor
+shall any who serve under the devil's banner have anything from me save
+my scorn and the sharp edge of my sword.'
+
+'Well, well,' said Saxon, filling up his glass, 'I am no Laodicean or
+time-server. The cause shall not find me wanting with tongue or with
+sword.'
+
+'Of that I am well convinced, my worthy friend,' the Mayor answered,
+'and if I have spoken over sharply you will hold me excused. But I
+regret to have evil tidings to announce to you. I have not told the
+commonalty lest it cast them down, but I know that adversity will be
+but the whetstone to give your ardour a finer edge. Argyle's rising has
+failed, and he and his companions are prisoners in the hands of the man
+who never knew what pity was.'
+
+We all started in our chairs at this, and looked at one another aghast,
+save only Sir Gervas Jerome, whose natural serenity was, I am well
+convinced, proof against any disturbance. For you may remember, my
+children, that I stated when I first took it in hand to narrate to you
+these passages of my life, that the hopes of Monmouth's party rested
+very much upon the raid which Argyle and the Scottish exiles had
+made upon Ayrshire, where it was hoped that they would create such a
+disturbance as would divert a good share of King James's forces, and so
+make our march to London less difficult. This was the more confidently
+expected since Argyle's own estates lay upon that side of Scotland,
+where he could raise five thousand swordsmen among his own clansmen.
+The western counties abounded, too, in fierce zealots who were ready to
+assert the cause of the Covenant, and who had proved themselves in many
+a skirmish to be valiant warriors. With the help of the Highlanders and
+of the Covenanters it seemed certain that Argyle would be able to hold
+his own, the more so since he took with him to Scotland the English
+Puritan Rumbold, and many others skilled in warfare. This sudden news
+of his total defeat and downfall was therefore a heavy blow, since it
+turned the whole forces of the Government upon ourselves.
+
+'Have you the news from a trusty source?' asked Decimus Saxon, after a
+long silence.
+
+'It is beyond all doubt or question,' Master Stephen Timewell answered.
+'Yet I can well understand your surprise, for the Duke had trusty
+councillors with him. There was Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth--'
+
+'All talk and no fight,' said Saxon.
+
+'And Richard Rumbold.'
+
+'All fight and no talk,' quoth our companion. 'He should, methinks, have
+rendered a better account of himself.'
+
+'Then there was Major Elphinstone.'
+
+'A bragging fool!' cried Saxon.'
+
+'And Sir John Cochrane.'
+
+'A captious, long-tongued, short-witted sluggard,' said the soldier of
+fortune. 'The expedition was doomed from the first with such men at
+its head. Yet I had thought that could they have done nought else, they
+might at least have flung themselves into the mountain country, where
+these bare-legged caterans could have held their own amid their native
+clouds and mists. All taken, you say! It is a lesson and a warning
+to us. I tell you that unless Monmouth infuses more energy into his
+councils, and thrusts straight for the heart instead of fencing and
+foining at the extremities, we shall find ourselves as Argyle and
+Rumbold. What mean these two days wasted at Axminster at a time when
+every hour is of import? Is he, every time that he brushes a party
+of militia aside, to stop forty-eight hours and chant "Te Deums" when
+Churchill and Feversham are, as I know, pushing for the West with every
+available man, and the Dutch grenadiers are swarming over like rats into
+a granary?'
+
+'You are very right, Colonel Saxon,' the Mayor answered. 'And I trust
+that when the King comes here we may stir him up to more prompt action.
+He has much need of more soldierly advisers, for since Fletcher hath
+gone there is hardly a man about him who hath been trained to arms.'
+
+'Well,' said Saxon moodily, 'now that Argyle hath gone under we are face
+to face with James, with nothing but our own good swords to trust to.'
+
+'To them and to the justice of our cause. How like ye the news, young
+sirs? Has the wine lost its smack on account of it? Are ye disposed to
+flinch from the standard of the Lord?'
+
+'For my own part I shall see the matter through,' said I.
+
+'And I shall bide where Micah Clarke bides,' quoth Reuben Lockarby.
+
+'And to me,' said Sir Gervas, 'it is a matter of indifference, so long
+as I am in good company and there is something stirring.'
+
+'In that case,' said the Mayor, 'we had best each turn to his own work,
+and have all ready for the King's arrival. Until then I trust that ye
+will honour my humble roof.'
+
+'I fear that I cannot accept your kindness,' Saxon answered. 'When I am
+in harness I come and go early and late. I shall therefore take up my
+quarters in the inn, which is not very well furnished with victual,
+and yet can supply me with the simple fare, which with a black Jack of
+October and a pipe of Trinidado is all I require.'
+
+As Saxon was firm in this resolution the Mayor forbore to press it upon
+him, but my two friends gladly joined with me in accepting the worthy
+wool-worker's offer, and took up our quarters for the time under his
+hospitable roof.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX. Of a Brawl in the Night
+
+Decimus Saxon refused to avail himself of Master Timewell's house and
+table for the reason, as I afterwards learned, that, the Mayor being a
+firm Presbyterian, he thought it might stand him in ill stead with the
+Independents and other zealots were he to allow too great an intimacy
+to spring up between them. Indeed, my dears, from this time onward this
+cunning man framed his whole life and actions in such a way as to make
+friends of the sectaries, and to cause them to look upon him as their
+leader. For he had a firm belief that in all such outbreaks as that in
+which we were engaged, the most extreme party is sure in the end to gain
+the upper hand. 'Fanatics,' he said to me one day, 'mean fervour, and
+fervour means hard work, and hard work means power.' That was the centre
+point of all his plotting and scheming.
+
+And first of all he set himself to show how excellent a soldier he was,
+and he spared neither time nor work to make this apparent. From morn
+till midday, and from afternoon till night, we drilled and drilled until
+in very truth the shouting of the orders and the clatter of the arms
+became wearisome to our ears. The good burghers may well have
+thought that Colonel Saxon's Wiltshire foot were as much part of the
+market-place as the town cross or the parish stocks. There was much to
+be done in very little time, so much that many would have thought it
+hopeless to attempt it. Not only was there the general muster of the
+regiment, but we had each to practise our own companies in their several
+drills, and to learn as best we could the names and the wants of the
+men. Yet our work was made easier to us by the assurance that it was not
+thrown away, for at every gathering our bumpkins stood more erect,
+and handled their weapons more deftly. From cock-crow to sun-down the
+streets resounded with 'Poise your muskets! Order your muskets! Rest
+your muskets! Handle your primers!' and all the other orders of the old
+manual exercise.
+
+As we became more soldierly we increased in numbers, for our smart
+appearance drew the pick of the new-comers into our ranks. My own
+company swelled until it had to be divided, and others enlarged in
+proportion. The baronet's musqueteers mustered a full hundred, skilled
+for the most part in the use of the gun. Altogether we sprang from
+three hundred to four hundred and fifty, and our drill improved until we
+received praise from all sides on the state of our men.
+
+Late in the evening I was riding slowly back to the house of Master
+Timewell when Reuben clattered after me, and besought me to turn back
+with him to see a noteworthy sight. Though feeling little in the mood
+for such things, I turned Covenant and rode with him down the length of
+High Street, and into the suburb which is known as Shuttern, where my
+companion pulled up at a bare barn-like building, and bade me look in
+through the window.
+
+The interior, which consisted of a single great hall, the empty
+warehouse in which wool had used to be stored, was all alight with lamps
+and candles. A great throng of men, whom I recognised as belonging to
+my own company, or that of my companion, lay about on either side, some
+smoking, some praying, and some burnishing their arms. Down the middle a
+line of benches had been drawn up, on which there were seated astraddle
+the whole hundred of the baronet's musqueteers, each engaged in plaiting
+into a queue the hair of the man who sat in front of him. A boy walked
+up and down with a pot of grease, by the aid of which with some whipcord
+the work was going forward merrily. Sir Gervas himself with a great
+flour dredger sat perched upon a bale of wool at the head of the line,
+and as quickly as any queue was finished he examined it through his
+quizzing glass, and if it found favour in his eyes, daintily powdered it
+from his dredger, with as much care and reverence as though it were some
+service of the Church. No cook seasoning a dish could have added
+his spices with more nicety of judgment than our friend displayed in
+whitening the pates of his company. Glancing up from his labours he saw
+our two smiling faces looking in at him through the window, but his work
+was too engrossing to allow him to leave it, and we rode off at last
+without having speech with him.
+
+By this time the town was very quiet and still, for the folk in those
+parts were early bed-goers, save when some special occasion kept them
+afoot. We rode slowly together through the silent streets, our horses'
+hoofs ringing out sharp against the cobble stones, talking about such
+light matters as engage the mind of youth. The moon was shining very
+brightly above us, silvering the broad streets, and casting a fretwork
+of shadows from the peaks and pinnacles of the churches. At Master
+Timewell's courtyard I sprang from my saddle, but Reuben, attracted by
+the peace and beauty of the scene, rode onwards with the intention of
+going as far as the town gate.
+
+I was still at work upon my girth buckles, undoing my harness, when of
+a sudden there came from the street a shouting and a rushing, with the
+clinking of blades, and my comrade's voice calling upon me for help.
+Drawing my sword I ran out. Some little way down there was a clear
+space, white with the moonshine, in the centre of which I caught a
+glimpse of the sturdy figure of my friend springing about with an
+activity for which I had never given him credit, and exchanging sword
+thrusts with three or four men who were pressing him closely. On the
+ground there lay a dark figure, and behind the struggling group Reuben's
+mare reared and plunged in sympathy with her master's peril. As I rushed
+down, shouting and waving my sword, the assailants took flight down
+a side street, save one, a tall sinewy swordsman, who rushed in upon
+Reuben, stabbing furiously at him, and cursing him the while for a
+spoil-sport. To my horror I saw, as I ran, the fellow's blade slip
+inside my friend's guard, who threw up his arms and fell prostrate,
+while the other with a final thrust dashed off down one of the narrow
+winding lanes which lead from East Street to the banks of the Tone.
+
+'For Heaven's sake where are you hurt?' I cried, throwing myself upon my
+knees beside his prostrate body. 'Where is your injury, Reuben?'
+
+'In the wind, mostly,' quoth he, blowing like a smithy bellows;
+'likewise on the back of my pate. Give me your hand, I pray.'
+
+'And are you indeed scathless?' I cried, with a great lightening of
+the heart as I helped him to his feet. 'I thought that the villain had
+stabbed you.'
+
+'As well stab a Warsash crab with a bodkin,' said he. 'Thanks to good
+Sir Jacob Clancing, once of Snellaby Hall and now of Salisbury Plain,
+their rapiers did no more than scratch my plate of proof. But how is it
+with the maid?'
+
+'The maid?' said I.
+
+'Aye, it was to save her that I drew. She was beset by these night
+walkers. See, she rises! They threw her down when I set upon them.'
+
+'How is it with you, Mistress?' I asked; for the prostrate figure
+had arisen and taken the form of a woman, young and graceful to all
+appearance, with her face muffled in a mantle. 'I trust that you have
+met with no hurt.'
+
+'None, sir,' she answered, in a low, sweet voice, 'but that I have
+escaped is due to the ready valour of your friend, and the guiding
+wisdom of Him who confutes the plots of the wicked. Doubtless a true man
+would have rendered this help to any damsel in distress, and yet it may
+add to your satisfaction to know that she whom you have served is no
+stranger to you.' With these words she dropped her mantle and turned her
+face towards us in the moonlight.
+
+'Good lack! it is Mistress Timewell!' I cried, in amazement.
+
+'Let us homewards,' she said, in firm, quick tones. 'The neighbours are
+alarmed, and there will be a rabble collected anon. Let us escape from
+the babblement.'
+
+Windows had indeed begun to clatter up in every direction, and loud
+voices to demand what was amiss. Far away down the street we could
+see the glint of lanthorns swinging to and fro as the watch hurried
+thitherwards. We slipped along in the shadow, however, and found
+ourselves safe within the Mayor's courtyard without let or hindrance.
+
+'I trust, sir, that you have really met with no hurt,' said the maiden
+to my companion.
+
+Reuben had said not a word since she had uncovered her face, and bore
+the face of a man who finds himself in some pleasant dream and is vexed
+only by the fear lest he wake up from it. 'Nay, I am not hurt,' he
+answered, 'but I would that you could tell us who these roving blades
+may be, and where they may be found.'
+
+'Nay, nay,' said she, with uplifted finger, 'you shall not follow the
+matter further. As to the men, I cannot say with certainty who they
+may have been. I had gone forth to visit Dame Clatworthy, who hath the
+tertian ague, and they did beset me on my return. Perchance they are
+some who are not of my grandfather's way of thinking in affairs of
+State, and who struck at him through me. But ye have both been so kind
+that ye will not refuse me one other favour which I shall ask ye?'
+
+We protested that we could not, with our hands upon our sword-hilts.
+
+'Nay, keep them for the Lord's quarrel,' said she, smiling at the
+action. 'All that I ask is that ye will say nothing if this matter to my
+grandsire. He is choleric, and a little matter doth set him in a flame,
+so old as he is. I would not have his mind turned from the public needs
+to a private trifle of this sort. Have I your promises?'
+
+'Mine,' said I, bowing.
+
+'And mine,' said Lockarby.
+
+'Thanks, good friends. Alack! I have dropped my gauntlet in the street.
+But it is of no import. I thank God that no harm has come to any one. My
+thanks once more, and may pleasant dreams await ye.' She sprang up the
+steps and was gone in an instant.
+
+Reuben and I unharnessed our horses and saw them cared for in silence.
+We then entered the house and ascended to our chambers, still without a
+word. Outside his room door my friend paused.
+
+'I have heard that long man's voice before, Micah,' said he.
+
+'And so have I,' I answered. 'The old man must beware of his 'prentices.
+I have half a mind to go back for the little maiden's gauntlet.'
+
+A merry twinkle shot through the cloud which hid gathered on Reuben's
+brow. He opened his left hand and showed me the doe-skin glove crumpled
+up in his palm.
+
+'I would not barter it for all the gold in her grandsire's coffers,'
+said he, with a sudden outflame, and then half-laughing, half-blushing
+at his own heat, he whisked in and left me to my thoughts.
+
+And so I learned for the first time, my dears, that my good comrade had
+been struck by the little god's arrows. When a man's years number one
+score, love springs up in him, as the gourd grew in the Scriptures, in a
+single night. I have told my story ill if I have not made you understand
+that my friend was a frank, warm-hearted lad of impulse, whose reason
+seldom stood sentry over his inclinations. Such a man can no more draw
+away from a winning maid than the needle can shun the magnet. He loves
+as the mavis sings or the kitten plays. Now, a slow-witted, heavy fellow
+like myself, in whose veins the blood has always flowed somewhat coolly
+and temperately, may go into love as a horse goes into a shelving
+stream, step by step, but a man like Reuben is kicking his heels upon
+the bank one moment, and is over ears in the deepest pool the nest.
+
+Heaven only knows what match it was that had set the tow alight. I can
+but say that from that day on my comrade was sad and cloudy one hour,
+gay and blithesome the next. His even flow of good spirits had deserted
+him, and he became as dismal as a moulting chicken, which has ever
+seemed to me to be one of the strangest outcomes of what poets have
+called the joyous state of love. But, indeed, pain and pleasure are so
+very nearly akin in this world, that it is as if they were tethered
+in neighbouring stalls, and a kick would at any time bring down the
+partition. Here is a man who is as full of sighs as a grenade is of
+powder, his face is sad, his brow is downcast, his wits are wandering;
+yet if you remark to him that it is an ill thing that he should be
+in this state, he will answer you, as like as not, that he would not
+exchange it for all the powers and principalities. Tears to him are
+golden, and laughter is but base coin. Well, my dears, it is useless
+for me to expound to you that which I cannot myself understand. If, as I
+have heard, it is impossible to get the thumb-marks of any two men to
+be alike, how can we expect their inmost thoughts and feelings to tally?
+Yet this I can say with all truth, that when I asked your grandmother's
+hand I did not demean myself as if I were chief mourner at a funeral.
+She will bear me out that I walked up to her with a smile upon my face,
+though mayhap there was a little flutter at my heart, and I took her
+hand and I said--but, lack-a-day, whither have I wandered? What has all
+this to do with Taunton town and the rising of 1685?
+
+On the night of Wednesday, June 17, we learned that the King, as
+Monmouth was called throughout the West, was lying less than ten miles
+off with his forces, and that he would make his entry into the loyal
+town of Taunton the next morning. Every effort was made, as ye may well
+guess, to give him a welcome which should be worthy of the most Whiggish
+and Protestant town in England. An arch of evergreens had already
+been built up at the western gate, bearing the motto, 'Welcome to King
+Monmouth!' and another spanned the entrance to the market-place from the
+upper window of the White Hart Inn, with 'Hail to the Protestant Chief!'
+in great scarlet letters. A third, if I remember right, bridged the
+entrance to the Castle yard, but the motto on it has escaped me. The
+cloth and wool industry is, as I have told you, the staple trade of
+the town, and the merchants had no mercy on their wares, but used them
+freely to beautify the streets. Rich tapestries, glossy velvets, and
+costly brocades fluttered from the windows or lined the balconies. East
+Street, High Street, and Fore Street were draped from garret to basement
+with rare and beautiful fabrics, while gay flags hung from the roofs
+on either side, or fluttered in long festoons from house to house.
+The royal banner of England floated from the lofty tower of St. Mary
+Magdalene, while the blue ensign of Monmouth waved from the sister
+turret of St. James. Late into the night there was planing and
+hammering, working and devising, until when the sun rose upon Thursday,
+June 18, it shone on as brave a show of bunting and evergreen as ever
+graced a town. Taunton had changed as by magic from a city into a flower
+garden.
+
+Master Stephen Timewell had busied himself in these preparations, but he
+had borne in mind at the same time that the most welcome sight which
+he could present to Monmouth's eyes was the large body of armed men who
+were prepared to follow his fortunes. There were sixteen hundred in the
+town, two hundred of which were horse, mostly well armed and equipped.
+These were disposed in such a way that the King should pass them in his
+progress. The townsmen lined the market-place three deep from the
+Castle gate to the entrance to the High Street; from thence to Shuttern,
+Dorsetshire, and Frome peasants were drawn up on either side of the
+street; while our own regiment was stationed at the western gate. With
+arms well burnished, serried ranks, and fresh sprigs of green in every
+bonnet, no leader could desire a better addition to his army. When
+all were in their places, and the burghers and their wives had arrayed
+themselves in their holiday gear, with gladsome faces and baskets of
+new-cut flowers, all was ready for the royal visitor's reception.
+
+'My orders are,' said Saxon, riding up to us as we sat our horses reside
+our companions, 'that I and my captains should fall in with the King's
+escort as he passes, and so accompany him to the market-place. Your men
+shall present arms, and shall then stand their ground until we return.'
+
+We all three drew our swords and saluted.
+
+'If ye will come with me, gentlemen, and take position to the right of
+the gate here,' said he, 'I may be able to tell ye something of these
+folk as they pass. Thirty years of war in many climes should give me the
+master craftsman's right to expound to his apprentices.'
+
+We all very gladly followed his advice, and passed out through the gate,
+which was now nothing more than a broad gap amongst the mounds which
+marked the lines of the old walls. 'There is no sign of them yet,' I
+remarked, as we pulled up upon a convenient hillock. 'I suppose that
+they must come by this road which winds through the valley before us.'
+
+'There are two sorts of bad general,' quoth Saxon, 'the man who is too
+fast and the man who is too slow. His Majesty's advisers will never be
+accused of the former failing, whatever other mistakes they may fall
+into. There was old Marshal Grunberg, with whom I did twenty-six months'
+soldiering in Bohemia. He would fly through the country pell-mell,
+horse, foot, and artillery, as if the devil were at his heels. He might
+make fifty blunders, but the enemy had never time to take advantage. I
+call to mind a raid which we made into Silesia, when, after two days or
+so of mountain roads, his Oberhauptmann of the staff told him that it
+was impossible for the artillery to keep up. "Lass es hinter!" says he.
+So the guns were left, and by the evening of the next day the foot were
+dead-beat. "They cannot walk another mile!" says the Oberhauptmann.
+"Lassen Sie hinter!" says he. So on we went with the horse--I was in his
+Pandour regiment, worse luck! But after a skirmish or two, what with the
+roads and what with the enemy, our horses were foundered and useless.
+"The horses are used up!" says the Oberhauptmann. "Lassen Sie hinter!"
+he cries; and I warrant that he would have pushed on to Prague with his
+staff, had they allowed him. "General Hinterlassen" we called him after
+that.'
+
+'A dashing commander, too,' cried Sir Gervas. 'I would fain have served
+under him.'
+
+'Aye, and he had a way of knocking his recruits into shape which would
+scarce be relished by our good friends here in the west country,' said
+Saxon. 'I remember that after the leaguer of Salzburg, when we had taken
+the castle or fortalice of that name, we were joined by some thousand
+untrained foot, which had been raised in Dalmatia in the Emperor's
+employ. As they approached our lines with waving of hands and blowing of
+bugles, old Marshal Hinterlassen discharged a volley of all the cannon
+upon the walls at them, killing three score and striking great panic
+into the others. "The rogues must get used to standing fire sooner
+or later," said he, "so they may as well commence their education at
+once."'
+
+'He was a rough schoolmaster,' I remarked. 'He might have left that part
+of the drill to the enemy.'
+
+'Yet his soldiers loved him,' said Saxon. 'He was not a man, when a city
+had been forced, to inquire into every squawk of a woman, or give ear to
+every burgess who chanced to find his strong-box a trifle the lighter.
+But as to the slow commanders, I have known none to equal Brigadier
+Baumgarten, also of the Imperial service. He would break up his
+winter-quarters and sit down before some place of strength, where he
+would raise a sconce here, and sink a sap there, until his soldiers were
+sick of the very sight of the place. So he would play with it, as a cat
+with a mouse, until at last it was about to open its gates, when,
+as like as not, he would raise the leaguer and march back into his
+winter-quarters. I served two campaigns under him without honour, sack,
+plunder, or emolument, save a beggarly stipend of three gulden a day,
+paid in clipped money, six months in arrear. But mark ye the folk upon
+yonder tower! They are waving their kerchiefs as though something were
+visible to them.'
+
+'I can see nothing,' I answered, shading my eyes and gazing down the
+tree-sprinkled valley which rose slowly in green uplands to the grassy
+Blackdown hills.
+
+'Those on the housetops are waving and pointing,' said Reuben. 'Methinks
+I can myself see the flash of steel among yonder woods.'
+
+'There it is,' cried Saxon, extending his gauntleted hand, 'on the
+western bank of the Tone, hard by the wooden bridge. Follow my finger,
+Clarke, and see if you cannot distinguish it.'
+
+'Yes, truly,' I exclaimed, 'I see a bright shimmer coming and going. And
+there to the left, where the road curves over the hill, mark you that
+dense mass of men! Ha! the head of the column begins to emerge from the
+trees.'
+
+There was not a cloud in the sky, but the great heat had caused a haze
+to overlie the valley, gathering thickly along the winding course of
+the river, and hanging in little sprays and feathers over the woodlands
+which clothe its banks. Through this filmy vapour there broke from time
+to time fierce sparkles of brilliant light as the sun's rays fell upon
+breastplate or headpiece. Now and again the gentle summer breeze
+wafted up sudden pulses of martial music to our ears, with the blare of
+trumpets and the long deep snarl of the drums. As we gazed, the van of
+the army began to roll out from the cover of the trees and to darken the
+white dusty roads. The long line slowly extended itself, writhing out of
+the forest land like a dark snake with sparkling scales, until the whole
+rebel army--horse, foot, and ordnance--were visible beneath us. The
+gleam of the weapons, the waving of numerous banners, the plumes of the
+leaders, and the deep columns of marching men, made up a picture which
+stirred the very hearts of the citizens, who, from the housetops and
+from the ruinous summit of the dismantled walls, were enabled to gaze
+down upon the champions of their faith. If the mere sight of a passing
+regiment will cause a thrill in your bosoms, you can fancy how it is
+when the soldiers upon whom you look are in actual arms for your own
+dearest and most cherished interests, and have just come out victorious
+from a bloody struggle. If every other man's hand was against us, these
+at least were on our side, and our hearts went out to them as to friends
+and brothers. Of all the ties that unite men in this world, that of a
+common danger is the strongest.
+
+It all appeared to be most warlike and most imposing to my inexperienced
+eyes, and I thought as I looked at the long array that our cause was as
+good as won. To my surprise, however, Saxon pished and pshawed under his
+breath, until at last, unable to contain his impatience, he broke out in
+hot discontent.
+
+'Do but look at that vanguard as they breast the slope,' he cried.
+'Where is the advance party, or Vorreiter, as the Germans call them?
+Where, too, is the space which should be left between the fore-guard and
+the main battle? By the sword of Scanderbeg, they remind me more of a
+drove of pilgrims, as I have seen them approaching the shrine of St.
+Sebaldus of Nurnberg with their banners and streamers. There in
+the centre, amid that cavalcade of cavaliers, rides our new monarch
+doubtless. Pity he hath not a man by him who can put this swarm of
+peasants into something like campaign order. Now do but look at those
+four pieces of ordnance trailing along like lame sheep behind the flock.
+Caracco, I would that I were a young King's officer with a troop of
+light horse on the ridge yonder! My faith, how I should sweep down yon
+cross road like a kestrel on a brood of young plover! Then heh for cut
+and thrust, down with the skulking cannoniers, a carbine fire to cover
+us, round with the horses, and away go the rebel guns in a cloud of
+dust! How's that, Sir Gervas?'
+
+'Good sport, Colonel,' said the baronet, with a touch of colour in his
+white cheeks. 'I warrant that you did keep your Pandours on the trot.'
+
+'Aye, the rogues had to work or hang--one or t'other. But methinks our
+friends here are scarce as numerous as reported. I reckon them to be a
+thousand horse, and mayhap five thousand two hundred foot. I have been
+thought a good tally-man on such occasions. With fifteen hundred in the
+town that would bring us to close on eight thousand men, which is no
+great force to invade a kingdom and dispute a crown.'
+
+'If the West can give eight thousand, how many can all the counties of
+England afford?' I asked. 'Is not that the fairer way to look at it?'
+
+'Monmouth's popularity lies mostly in the West,' Saxon answered. 'It
+was the memory of that which prompted him to raise his standard in these
+counties.'
+
+'His standards, rather,' quoth Reuben. 'Why, it looks as though they had
+hung their linen up to dry all down the line.'
+
+'True! They have more ensigns than ever I saw with so small a force,'
+Saxon answered, rising in his stirrups. 'One or two are blue, and the
+rest, as far as I can see for the sun shining upon them, are white, with
+some motto or device.'
+
+Whilst we had been conversing, the body of horse which formed the
+vanguard of the Protestant army had approached within a quarter of a
+mile or less of the town, when a loud, clear bugle-call brought them to
+a halt. In each successive regiment or squadron the signal was repeated,
+so that the sound passed swiftly down the long array until it died away
+in the distance. As the coil of men formed up upon the white road, with
+just a tremulous shifting motion along the curved and undulating line,
+its likeness to a giant serpent occurred again to my mind.
+
+'I could fancy it a great boa,' I remarked, 'which was drawing its coils
+round the town.'
+
+'A rattlesnake, rather,' said Reuben, pointing to the guns in the rear.
+'It keeps all its noise in its tail.'
+
+'Here comes its head, if I mistake not,' quoth Saxon. 'It were best
+perhaps that we stand at the side of the gate.'
+
+As he spoke a group of gaily dressed cavaliers broke away from the main
+body and rode straight for the town. Their leader was a tall, slim,
+elegant young man, who sat his horse with the grace of a skilled rider,
+and who was remarkable amongst those around him for the gallantry of his
+bearing and the richness of his trappings. As he galloped towards the
+gate a roar of welcome burst from the assembled multitude, which was
+taken up and prolonged by the crowds behind, who, though unable to see
+what was going forward, gathered from the shouting that the King was
+approaching.
+
+
+
+Chapter XX. Of the Muster of the Men of the West
+
+Monmouth was at that time in his thirty-sixth year, and was remarkable
+for those superficial graces which please the multitude and fit a man to
+lead in a popular cause. He was young, well-spoken, witty, and skilled
+in all martial and manly exercises. On his progress in the West he had
+not thought it beneath him to kiss the village maidens, to offer prizes
+at the rural sports, and to run races in his boots against the fleetest
+of the barefooted countrymen. (Note G., Appendix) His nature was vain
+and prodigal, but he excelled in that showy magnificence and careless
+generosity which wins the hearts of the people. Both on the Continent
+and at Bothwell Bridge, in Scotland, he had led armies with success, and
+his kindness and mercy to the Covenanters after his victory had caused
+him to be as much esteemed amongst the Whigs as Dalzell and Claverhouse
+were hated. As he reined up his beautiful black horse at the gate of the
+city, and raised his plumed montero cap to the shouting crowd, the grace
+and dignity of his bearing were such as might befit the knight-errant
+in a Romance who is fighting at long odds for a crown which a tyrant has
+filched from him.
+
+He was reckoned well-favoured, but I cannot say that I found him so. His
+face was, I thought, too long and white for comeliness, yet his features
+were high and noble, with well-marked nose and clear, searching eyes. In
+his mouth might perchance be noticed some trace of that weakness which
+marred his character, though the expression was sweet and amiable. He
+wore a dark purple roquelaure riding-jacket, faced and lapelled with
+gold lace, through the open front of which shone a silver breastplate.
+A velvet suit of a lighter shade than the jacket, a pair of high yellow
+Cordovan boots, with a gold-hilted rapier on one side, and a poniard
+of Parma on the other, each hung from the morocco-leather sword-belt,
+completed his attire. A broad collar of Mechlin lace flowed over his
+shoulders, while wristbands of the same costly material dangled from his
+sleeves. Again and again he raised his cap and bent to the saddle-bow in
+response to the storm of cheering. 'A Monmouth! A Monmouth!' cried
+the people; 'Hail to the Protestant chief!' 'Long live the noble King
+Monmouth!' while from every window, and roof, and balcony fluttering
+kerchief or waving hat brightened the joyous scene. The rebel van caught
+fire at the sight and raised a great deep-chested shout, which was taken
+up again and again by the rest of the army, until the whole countryside
+was sonorous.
+
+In the meanwhile the city elders, headed by our friend the Mayor,
+advanced from the gate in all the dignity of silk and fur to pay homage
+to the King. Sinking upon one knee by Monmouth's stirrup, he kissed the
+hand which was graciously extended to him.
+
+'Nay, good Master Mayor,' said the King, in a clear, strong voice, 'it
+is for my enemies to sink before me, and not for my friends. Prythee,
+what is this scroll which you do unroll?'
+
+'It is an address of welcome and of allegiance, your Majesty, from your
+loyal town of Taunton.'
+
+'I need no such address,' said King Monmouth, looking round. 'It is
+written all around me in fairer characters than ever found themselves
+upon parchment. My good friends have made me feel that I was welcome
+without the aid of clerk or scrivener. Your name, good Master Mayor, is
+Stephen Timewell, as I understand?'
+
+'The same, your Majesty.'
+
+'Too curt a name for so trusty a man,' said the King, drawing his sword
+and touching him upon the shoulder with it. 'I shall make it longer by
+three letters. Rise up, Sir Stephen, and may I find that there are many
+other knights in my dominions as loyal and as stout.'
+
+Amidst the huzzahs which broke out afresh at this honour done to the
+town, the Mayor withdrew with the councilmen to the left side of the
+gate, whilst Monmouth with his staff gathered upon the right. At a
+signal a trumpeter blew a fanfare, the drums struck up a point of war,
+and the insurgent army, with serried ranks and waving banners, resumed
+its advance upon the town. As it approached, Saxon pointed out to us the
+various leaders and men of note who surrounded the King, giving us their
+names and some few words as to their characters.
+
+'That is Lord Grey of Wark,' said he; 'the little middle-aged lean man
+at the King's bridle arm. He hath been in the Tower once for treason.
+'Twas he who fled with the Lady Henrietta Berkeley, his wife's sister. A
+fine leader truly for a godly cause! The man upon his left, with the
+red swollen face and the white feather in his cap, is Colonel Holmes.
+I trust that he will never show the white feather save on his head. The
+other upon the high chestnut horse is a lawyer, though, by my soul, he
+is a better man at ordering a battalion than at drawing a bill of costs.
+He is the republican Wade who led the foot at the skirmish at Bridport,
+and brought them off with safety. The tall heavy-faced soldier in the
+steel bonnet is Anthony Buyse, the Brandenburger, a soldado of fortune,
+and a man of high heart, as are most of his countrymen. I have fought
+both with him and against him ere now.'
+
+'Mark ye the long thin man behind him?' cried Reuben. 'He hath drawn his
+sword, and waves it over his head. 'Tis a strange time and place for the
+broadsword exercise. He is surely mad.'
+
+'Perhaps you are not far amiss,' said Saxon. 'Yet, by my hilt, were it
+not for that man there would be no Protestant army advancing upon us
+down yonder road. 'Tis he who by dangling the crown before Monmouth's
+eyes beguiled him away from his snug retreat in Brabant. There is not
+one of these men whom he hath not tempted into this affair by some bait
+or other. With Grey it was a dukedom, with Wade the woolsack, with Buyse
+the plunder of Cheapside. Every one hath his own motive, but the clues
+to them all are in the hands of yonder crazy fanatic, who makes the
+puppets dance as he will. He hath plotted more, lied more, and suffered
+less than any Whig in the party.'
+
+'It must be that Dr. Robert Ferguson of whom I have heard my father
+speak,' said I.
+
+'You are right. 'Tis he. I have but seen him once in Amsterdam, and yet
+I know him by his shock wig and crooked shoulders. It is whispered
+that of late his overweening conceit hath unseated his reason. See, the
+German places his hand upon his shoulder and persuades him to sheathe
+his weapon. King Monmouth glances round too, and smiles as though he
+were the Court buffoon with a Geneva cloak instead of the motley. But
+the van is upon us. To your companies, and mind that ye raise your
+swords to the salute while the colours of each troop go by.'
+
+Whilst our companion had been talking, the whole Protestant army had
+been streaming towards the town, and the head of the fore-guard was
+abreast with the gateway. Four troops of horse led the way, badly
+equipped and mounted, with ropes instead of bridles, and in some cases
+squares of sacking in place of saddles. The men were armed for the most
+part with sword and pistol, while a few had the buff-coats, plates, and
+headpieces taken at Axminster, still stained sometimes with the blood of
+the last wearer. In the midst of them rode a banner-bearer, who carried
+a great square ensign hung upon a pole, which was supported upon a
+socket let into the side of the girth. Upon it was printed in golden
+letters the legend, 'Pro libertate et religione nostra.' These
+horse-soldiers were made up of yeomen's and farmers' sons, unused to
+discipline, and having a high regard for themselves as volunteers, which
+caused them to cavil and argue over every order. For this cause, though
+not wanting in natural courage, they did little service during the war,
+and were a hindrance rather than a help to the army.
+
+Behind the horse came the foot, walking six abreast, divided into
+companies of varying size, each company bearing a banner which gave the
+name of the town or village from which it had been raised. This manner
+of arranging the troops had been chosen because it had been found to be
+impossible to separate men who were akin and neighbours to each other.
+They would fight, they said, side by side, or they would not fight at
+all. For my own part, I think that it is no bad plan, for when it comes
+to push of pike, a man stands all the faster when he knows that he
+hath old and tried friends on either side of him. Many of these country
+places I came to know afterwards from the talk of the men, and many
+others I have travelled through, so that the names upon the banners have
+come to have a real meaning with me. Homer hath, I remember, a chapter
+or book wherein he records the names of all the Grecian chiefs and
+whence they came, and how many men they brought to the common muster. It
+is pity that there is not some Western Homer who could record the names
+of these brave peasants and artisans, and recount what each did or
+suffered in upholding a noble though disastrous cause. Their places of
+birth at least shall not be lost as far as mine own feeble memory can
+carry me.
+
+The first foot regiment, if so rudely formed a band could be so called,
+consisted of men of the sea, fishers and coastmen, clad in the
+heavy blue jerkins and rude garb of their class. They were bronzed,
+weather-beaten tarpaulins, with hard mahogany faces, variously armed
+with birding pieces, cutlasses, or pistols. I have a notion that it
+was not the first time that those weapons had been turned against
+King James's servants, for the Somerset and Devon coasts were famous
+breeding-places for smugglers, and many a saucy lugger was doubtless
+lying up in creek or in bay whilst her crew had gone a-soldiering to
+Taunton. As to discipline, they had no notion of it, but rolled along in
+true blue-water style, with many a shout and halloo to each other or to
+the crowd. From Star Point to Portland Roads there would be few nets
+for many weeks to come, and fish would swim the narrow seas which should
+have been heaped on Lyme Cobb or exposed for sale in Plymouth market.
+Each group, or band, of these men of the sea bore with it its own
+banner, that of Lyme in the front, followed by Topsham, Colyford,
+Bridport, Sidmouth, Otterton, Abbotsbury, and Charmouth, all southern
+towns, which are on or near the coast. So they trooped past us, rough
+and careless, with caps cocked, and the reek of their tobacco rising
+up from them like the steam from a tired horse. In number they may have
+been four hundred or thereabouts.
+
+The peasants of Rockbere, with flail and scythe, led the next column,
+followed by the banner of Honiton, which was supported by two hundred
+stout lacemakers from the banks of the Otter. These men showed by the
+colour of their faces that their work kept them within four walls, yet
+they excelled their peasant companions in their alert and soldierly
+bearing. Indeed, with all the troops, we observed that, though the
+countrymen were the stouter and heartier, the craftsmen were the most
+ready to catch the air and spirit of the camp. Behind the men of Honiton
+came the Puritan clothworkers of Wellington, with their mayor upon
+a white horse beside their standard-bearer, and a band of twenty
+instruments before him. Grim-visaged, thoughtful, sober men, they were
+for the most part clad in grey suits and wearing broad-brimmed hats.
+'For God and faith' was the motto of a streamer which floated from
+amongst them. The clothworkers formed three strong companies, and the
+whole regiment may have numbered close on six hundred men.
+
+The third regiment was headed by five hundred foot from Taunton, men
+of peaceful and industrious life, but deeply imbued with those great
+principles of civil and religious liberty which were three years later
+to carry all before them in England. As they passed the gates they were
+greeted by a thunderous welcome from their townsmen upon the walls and
+at the windows. Their steady, solid ranks, and broad, honest burgher
+faces, seemed to me to smack of discipline and of work well done. Behind
+them came the musters of Winterbourne, Ilminster, Chard, Yeovil, and
+Collumpton, a hundred or more pikesmen to each, bringing the tally of
+the regiment to a thousand men.
+
+A squadron of horse trotted by, closely followed by the fourth regiment,
+bearing in its van the standards of Beaminster, Crewkerne, Langport,
+and Chidiock, all quiet Somersetshire villages, which had sent out their
+manhood to strike a blow for the old cause. Puritan ministers, with
+their steeple hats and Geneva gowns, once black, but now white with
+dust, marched sturdily along beside their flocks. Then came a strong
+company of wild half-armed shepherds from the great plains which extend
+from the Blackdowns on the south to the Mendips on the north--very
+different fellows, I promise you, from the Corydons and Strephons of
+Master Waller or Master Dryden, who have depicted the shepherd as ever
+shedding tears of love, and tootling upon a plaintive pipe. I fear that
+Chloe or Phyllis would have met with rough wooing at the hands of these
+Western savages. Behind them were musqueteers from Dorchester, pikemen
+from Newton Poppleford, and a body of stout infantry from among the
+serge workers of Ottery St. Mary. This fourth regiment numbered rather
+better than eight hundred, but was inferior in arms and in discipline to
+that which preceded it.
+
+The fifth regiment was headed by a column of fen men from the dreary
+marches which stretch round Athelney. These men, in their sad and sordid
+dwellings, had retained the same free and bold spirit which had made
+them in past days the last resource of the good King Alfred and the
+protectors of the Western shires from the inroads of the Danes, who
+were never able to force their way into their watery strongholds. Two
+companies of them, towsy-headed and bare-legged, but loud in hymn and
+prayer, had come out from their fastnesses to help the Protestant cause.
+At their heels came the woodmen and lumberers of Bishop's Lidiard, big,
+sturdy men in green jerkins, and the white-smocked villagers of Huish
+Champflower. The rear of the regiment was formed by four hundred men in
+scarlet coats, with white cross-belts and well-burnished muskets.
+These were deserters from the Devonshire Militia, who had marched with
+Albemarle from Exeter, and who had come over to Monmouth on the field
+at Axminster. These kept together in a body, but there were many other
+militiamen, both in red and in yellow coats, amongst the various bodies
+which I have set forth. This regiment may have numbered seven hundred
+men.
+
+The sixth and last column of foot was headed by a body of peasants
+bearing 'Minehead' upon their banner, and the ensign of the three
+wool-bales and the sailing ship, which is the sign of that ancient
+borough. They had come for the most part from the wild country which
+lies to the north of Dunster Castle and skirts the shores of the Bristol
+Channel. Behind them were the poachers and huntsmen of Porlock Quay, who
+had left the red deer of Exmoor to graze in peace whilst they followed
+a nobler quarry. They were followed by men from Dulverton, men from
+Milverton, men from Wiveliscombe and the sunny slopes of the Quantocks,
+swart, fierce men from the bleak moors of Dunkerry Beacon, and tall,
+stalwart pony rearers and graziers from Bampton. The banners of
+Bridgewater, of Shepton Mallet, and of Nether Stowey swept past us, with
+that of the fishers of Clovelly and the quarrymen of the Blackdowns. In
+the rear were three companies of strange men, giants in stature, though
+somewhat bowed with labour, with long tangled beards, and unkempt hair
+hanging over their eyes. These were the miners from the Mendip hills and
+from the Oare and Bagworthy valleys, rough, half-savage men, whose eyes
+rolled up at the velvets and brocades of the shouting citizens, or fixed
+themselves upon their smiling dames with a fierce intensity which scared
+the peaceful burghers. So the long line rolled in until three squadrons
+of horse and four small cannon, with the blue-coated Dutch cannoniers as
+stiff as their own ramrods, brought up the rear. A long train of carts
+and of waggons which had followed the army were led into the fields
+outside the walls and there quartered.
+
+When the last soldier had passed through the Shuttern Gate, Monmouth and
+his leaders rode slowly in, the Mayor walking by the King's charger.
+As we saluted they all faced round to us, and I saw a quick flush of
+surprise and pleasure come over Monmouth's pale face as he noted our
+close lines and soldierly bearing.
+
+'By my faith, gentlemen,' he said, glancing round at his staff, 'our
+worthy friend the Mayor must have inherited Cadmus's dragon teeth. Where
+raised ye this pretty crop, Sir Stephen? How came ye to bring them
+to such perfection too, even, I declare, to the hair powder of the
+grenadiers?'
+
+'I have fifteen hundred in the town,' the old wool-worker answered
+proudly; 'though some are scarce as disciplined.
+
+These men come from Wiltshire, and the officers from Hampshire. As to
+their order, the credit is due not to me, but to the old soldier Colonel
+Decimus Saxon, whom they have chosen as their commander, as well as to
+the captains who serve under him.'
+
+'My thanks are due to you, Colonel,' said the King, turning to Saxon,
+who bowed and sank the point of his sword to the earth, 'and to you
+also, gentlemen. I shall not forget the warm loyalty which brought you
+from Hampshire in so short a time. Would that I could find the same
+virtue in higher places! But, Colonel Saxon, you have, I gather, seen
+much service abroad. What think you of the army which hath just passed
+before you?'
+
+'If it please your Majesty,' Saxon answered, 'it is like so much
+uncarded wool, which is rough enough in itself, and yet may in time come
+to be woven into a noble garment.'
+
+'Hem! There is not much leisure for the weaving,' said Monmouth. 'But
+they fight well. You should have seen them fall on at Axminster! We hope
+to see you and to hear your views at the council table. But how is this?
+Have I not seen this gentleman's face before?'
+
+'It is the Honourable Sir Gervas Jerome of the county of Surrey,' quoth
+Saxon.
+
+'Your Majesty may have seen me at St. James's,' said the baronet,
+raising his hat, 'or in the balcony at Whitehall. I was much at Court
+during the latter years of the late king.'
+
+'Yes, yes. I remember the name as well as the face,' cried Monmouth.
+'You see, gentlemen,' he continued, turning to his staff, 'the courtiers
+begin to come in at last. Were you not the man who did fight Sir Thomas
+Killigrew behind Dunkirk House? I thought as much. Will you not attach
+yourself to my personal attendants?'
+
+'If it please your Majesty,' Sir Gervas answered, 'I am of opinion
+that I could do your royal cause better service at the head of my
+musqueteers.'
+
+'So be it! So be it!' said King Monmouth. Setting spurs to his horse, he
+raised his hat in response to the cheers of the troops and cantered down
+the High Street under a rain of flowers, which showered from roof and
+window upon him, his staff, and his escort. We had joined in his train,
+as commanded, so that we came in for our share of this merry crossfire.
+One rose as it fluttered down was caught by Reuben, who, I observed,
+pressed it to his lips, and then pushed it inside his breastplate.
+Glancing up, I caught sight, of the smiling face of our host's daughter
+peeping down at us from a casement.
+
+'Well caught, Reuben!' I whispered. 'At trick-track or trap and ball you
+were ever our best player.'
+
+'Ah, Micah,' said he, 'I bless the day that ever I followed you to the
+wars. I would not change places with Monmouth this day.'
+
+'Has it gone so far then!' I exclaimed. 'Why, lad, I thought that you
+were but opening your trenches, and you speak as though you had carried
+the city.'
+
+'Perhaps I am over-hopeful,' he cried, turning from hot to cold, as a
+man doth when he is in love, or hath the tertian ague, or other bodily
+trouble. 'God knows that I am little worthy of her, and yet--'
+
+'Set not your heart too firmly upon that which may prove to be beyond
+your reach,' said I. 'The old man is rich, and will look higher.'
+
+'I would he were poor!' sighed Reuben, with all the selfishness of a
+lover. 'If this war last I may win myself some honour or title. Who
+knows? Others have done it, and why not I!'
+
+'Of our three from Havant,' I remarked, 'one is spurred onwards by
+ambition, and one by love. Now, what am I to do who care neither for
+high office nor for the face of a maid? What is to carry me into the
+fight?'
+
+'Our motives come and go, but yours is ever with you,' said Reuben.
+'Honour and duty are the two stars, Micah, by which you have ever
+steered your course.'
+
+'Faith, Mistress Ruth has taught you to make pretty speeches,' said I,
+'but methinks she ought to be here amid the beauty of Taunton.'
+
+As I spoke we were riding into the market-place, which was now crowded
+with our troops. Round the cross were grouped a score of maidens clad in
+white muslin dresses with blue scarfs around their waists. As the King
+approached, these little maids, with much pretty nervousness, advanced
+to meet him, and handed him a banner which they had worked for him, and
+also a dainty gold-clasped Bible. Monmouth handed the flag to one of his
+captains, but he raised the book above his head, exclaiming that he
+had come there to defend the truths contained within it, at which the
+cheerings and acclamations broke forth with redoubled vigour. It had
+been expected that he might address the people from the cross, but he
+contented himself with waiting while the heralds proclaimed his titles
+to the Crown, when he gave the word to disperse, and the troops marched
+off to the different centres where food had been provided for them. The
+King and his chief officers took up their quarters in the Castle, while
+the Mayor and richer burgesses found bed and board for the rest. As to
+the common soldiers, many were billeted among the townsfolk, many others
+encamped in the streets and Castle grounds, while the remainder took up
+their dwelling among the waggons in the fields outside the city, where
+they lit up great fires, and had sheep roasting and beer flowing as
+merrily as though a march on London were but a holiday outing.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI. Of my Hand-grips with the Brandenburger
+
+King Monmouth had called a council meeting for the evening, and summoned
+Colonel Decimus Saxon to attend it, with whom I went, bearing with me
+the small package which Sir Jacob Clancing had given over to my keeping.
+On arriving at the Castle we found that the King had not yet come out
+from his chamber, but we were shown into the great hall to await him, a
+fine room with lofty windows and a noble ceiling of carved woodwork. At
+the further end the royal arms had been erected without the bar sinister
+which Monmouth had formerly worn. Here were assembled the principal
+chiefs of the army, with many of the inferior commanders, town officers,
+and others who had petitions to offer. Lord Grey of Wark stood silently
+by the window, looking out over the countryside with a gloomy face. Wade
+and Holmes shook their heads and whispered in a corner. Ferguson strode
+about with his wig awry, shouting out exhortations and prayers in a
+broad Scottish accent. A few of the more gaily dressed gathered round
+the empty fireplace, and listened to a tale from one of their number
+which appeared to be shrouded in many oaths, and which was greeted with
+shouts of laughter. In another corner a numerous group of zealots, clad
+in black or russet gowns, with broad white bands and hanging mantles,
+stood round some favourite preacher, and discussed in an undertone
+Calvinistic philosophy and its relation to statecraft. A few plain
+homely soldiers, who were neither sectaries nor courtiers, wandered up
+and down, or stared out through the windows at the busy encampment upon
+the Castle Green. To one of these, remarkable for his great size and
+breadth of shoulder, Saxon led me, and touching him on the sleeve, he
+held out his hand as to an old friend. 'Mein Gott!' cried the German
+soldier of fortune, for it was the same man whom my companion had
+pointed out in the morning, 'I thought it was you, Saxon, when I saw you
+by the gate, though you are even thinner than of old. How a man could
+suck up so much good Bavarian beer as you have done, and yet make so
+little flesh upon it, is more than I can verstehen. How have all things
+gone with you?'
+
+'As of old,' said Saxon. 'More blows than thalers, and greater need of
+a surgeon than of a strong-box. When did I see you last, friend? Was
+it not at the onfall at Nurnberg, when I led the right and you the left
+wing of the heavy horse?'
+
+'Nay,' said Buyse. 'I have met you in the way of business since then.
+Have you forgot the skirmish on the Rhine bank, when you did flash your
+snapphahn at me? Sapperment! Had some rascally schelm not stabbed my
+horse I should have swept your head off as a boy cuts thistles mit a
+stick.'
+
+'Aye, aye,' Saxon answered composedly, 'I had forgot it. You were taken,
+if I remember aright, but did afterwards brain the sentry with your
+fetters, and swam the Rhine under the fire of a regiment. Yet, I think
+that we did offer you the same terms that you were having with the
+others.'
+
+'Some such base offer was indeed made me,' said the German sternly. 'To
+which I answered that, though I sold my sword, I did not sell my honour.
+It is well that cavaliers of fortune should show that an engagement is
+with them--how do ye say it?--unbreakable until the war is over. Then by
+all means let him change his paymaster. Warum nicht?'
+
+'True, friend, true!' replied Saxon. 'These beggarly Italians and Swiss
+have made such a trade of the matter, and sold themselves so freely,
+body and soul, to the longest purse, that it is well that we should be
+nice upon points of honour. But you remember the old hand-grip which no
+man in the Palatinate could exchange with you? Here is my captain, Micah
+Clarke. Let him see how warm a North German welcome may be.'
+
+The Brandenburger showed his white teeth in a grin as he held out his
+broad brown hand to me. The instant that mine was enclosed in it he
+suddenly bent his whole strength upon it, and squeezed my fingers
+together until the blood tingled in the nails, and the whole hand was
+limp and powerless.
+
+'Donnerwetter!' he cried, laughing heartily at my start of pain and
+surprise. 'It is a rough Prussian game, and the English lads have not
+much stomach for it.'
+
+'Truly, sir,' said I, 'it is the first time that I have seen the
+pastime, and I would fain practise it under so able a master.'
+
+'What, another!' he cried. 'Why, you must be still pringling from the
+first. Nay, if you will I shall not refuse you, though I fear it may
+weaken your hold upon your sword-hilt.'
+
+He held out his hand as he spoke, and I grasped it firmly, thumb to
+thumb, keeping my elbow high so as to bear all my force upon it. His own
+trick was, as I observed, to gain command of the other hand by a great
+output of strength at the onset. This I prevented by myself putting out
+all my power. For a minute or more we stood motionless, gazing into each
+other's faces. Then I saw a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead, and
+I knew that he was beaten. Slowly his grip relaxed, and his hand grew
+limp and slack while my own tightened ever upon it, until he was forced
+in a surly, muttering voice to request that I should unhand him.
+
+'Teufel und hexerei!' he cried, wiping away the blood which oozed from
+under his nails, 'I might as well put my fingers in a rat-trap. You
+are the first man that ever yet exchanged fair hand-grips with Anthony
+Buyse.'
+
+'We breed brawn in England as well as in Brandenburg,' said Saxon, who
+was shaking with laughter over the German soldier's discomfiture. 'Why,
+I have seen that lad pick up a full-size sergeant of dragoons and throw
+him into a cart as though he had been a clod of earth.'
+
+'Strong he is,' grumbled Buyse, still wringing his injured hand, 'strong
+as old Gotz mit de iron grip. But what good is strength alone in the
+handling of a weapon? It is not the force of a blow, but the way in
+which it is geschlagen, that makes the effect. Your sword now is heavier
+than mine, by the look of it, and yet my blade would bite deeper. Eh? Is
+not that a more soldierly sport than kinderspiel such as hand-grasping
+and the like?'
+
+'He is a modest youth,' said Saxon. 'Yet I would match his stroke
+against yours.'
+
+'For what?' snarled the German.
+
+'For as much wine as we can take at a sitting.
+
+'No small amount, either,' said Buyse; 'a brace of gallons at the least.
+Well, be it so. Do you accept the contest?'
+
+'I shall do what I may,' I answered, 'though I can scarce hope to strike
+as heavy a blow as so old and tried a soldier.'
+
+'Henker take your compliments,' he cried gruffly. 'It was with sweet
+words that you did coax my fingers into that fool-catcher of yours. Now,
+here is my old headpiece of Spanish steel. It has, as you can see, one
+or two dints of blows, and a fresh one will not hurt it. I place it here
+upon this oaken stool high enough to be within fair sword-sweep. Have at
+it, Junker, and let us see if you can leave your mark upon it!'
+
+'Do you strike first, sir,' said I, 'since the challenge is yours.'
+
+'I must bruise my own headpiece to regain my soldierly credit,' he
+grumbled. 'Well, well, it has stood a cut or two in its day.' Drawing
+his broadsword, he waved back the crowd who had gathered around us,
+while he swung the great weapon with tremendous force round his head,
+and brought it down with a full, clean sweep on to the smooth cap of
+steel. The headpiece sprang high into the air and then clattered down
+upon the oaken floor with a long, deep line bitten into the solid metal.
+
+'Well struck!' 'A brave stroke!' cried the spectators. 'It is proof
+steel thrice welded, and warranted to turn a sword-blade,' one remarked,
+raising up the helmet to examine it, and then replacing it upon the
+stool.
+
+'I have seen my father cut through proof steel with this very sword,'
+said I, drawing the fifty-year-old weapon. 'He put rather more of his
+weight into it than you have done. I have heard him say that a good
+stroke should come from the back and loins rather than from the mere
+muscles of the arm.'
+
+'It is not a lecture we want, but a beispiel or example,' sneered the
+German. 'It is with your stroke that we have to do, and not with the
+teaching of your father.'
+
+'My stroke,' said I, 'is in accordance with his teaching;' and,
+whistling round the sword, I brought it down with all my might and
+strength upon the German's helmet. The good old Commonwealth blade shore
+through the plate of steel, cut the stool asunder, and buried its point
+two inches deep in the oaken floor. 'It is but a trick,' I explained. 'I
+have practised it in the winter evenings at home.'
+
+'It is not a trick that I should care to have played upon me,' said Lord
+Grey, amid a general murmur of applause and surprise. 'Od's bud, man,
+you have lived two centuries too late. What would not your thews have
+been worth before gunpowder put all men upon a level!'
+
+'Wunderbar!' growled Buyse, 'wunderbar! I am past my prime, young sir,
+and may well resign the palm of strength to you. It was a right noble
+stroke. It hath cost me a runlet or two of canary, and a good old
+helmet; but I grudge it not, for it was fairly done. I am thankful
+that my head was not darin. Saxon, here, used to show us some brave
+schwertspielerei, but he hath not the weight for such smashing blows as
+this.'
+
+'My eye is still true and my hand firm, though both are perhaps a trifle
+the worse for want of use,' said Saxon, only too glad at the chance
+of drawing the eyes of the chiefs upon him. 'At backsword, sword and
+dagger, sword and buckler, single falchion and case of falchions, mine
+old challenge still holds good against any comer, save only my brother
+Quartus, who plays as well as I do, but hath an extra half-inch in reach
+which gives him the vantage.'
+
+'I studied sword-play under Signor Contarini of Paris,' said Lord Grey.
+'Who was your master?'
+
+'I have studied, my lord, under Signer Stern Necessity of Europe,' quoth
+Saxon. 'For five-and-thirty years my life has depended from day to day
+upon being able to cover myself with this slip of steel. Here is a
+small trick which showeth some nicety of eye: to throw this ring to the
+ceiling and catch it upon a rapier point. It seems simple, perchance,
+and yet is only to be attained by some practice.'
+
+'Simple!' cried Wade the lawyer, a square-faced, bold-eyed man. 'Why,
+the ring is but the girth of your little finger. A man might do it once
+by good luck, but none could ensure it.'
+
+'I will lay a guinea a thrust on it,' said Saxon; and tossing the little
+gold circlet up into the air, he flashed out his rapier and made a pass
+at it. The ring rasped down the steel blade and tinkled against the
+hilt, fairly impaled. By a sharp motion of the wrist he shot it up
+to the ceiling again, where it struck a carved rafter and altered its
+course; but again, with a quick step forward, he got beneath it and
+received it on his sword-point. 'Surely there is some cavalier present
+who is as apt at the trick as I am,' he said, replacing the ring upon
+his finger.
+
+'I think, Colonel, that I could venture upon it,' said a voice; and
+looking round, we found that Monmouth had entered the room and was
+standing quietly on the outskirts of the throng, unperceived in
+the general interest which our contention had excited. 'Nay, nay,
+gentlemen,' he continued pleasantly, as we uncovered and bowed with
+some little embarrassment; 'how could my faithful followers be better
+employed than by breathing themselves in a little sword-play? I prythee
+lend me your rapier, Colonel.' He drew a diamond ring from his finger,
+and spinning it up into the air, he transfixed it as deftly as Saxon
+had done. 'I practised the trick at The Hague, where, by my faith, I had
+only too many hours to devote to such trifles. But how come these steel
+links and splinters of wood to be littered over the floor?'
+
+'A son of Anak hath appaired amang us,' said Ferguson, turning his
+face, all scarred and reddened with the king's evil, in my direction. 'A
+Goliath o' Gath, wha hath a stroke like untae a weaver's beam. Hath he
+no the smooth face o' a bairn and the thews' o' Behemoth?'
+
+'A shrewd blow indeed,' King Monmouth remarked, picking up half the
+stool. 'How is our champion named?'
+
+'He is my captain, your Majesty,' Saxon answered, resheathing the sword
+which the King had handed to him; 'Micah Clarke, a man of Hampshire
+birth.'
+
+'They breed a good old English stock in those parts,' said Monmouth;
+'but how comes it that you are here, sir? I summoned this meeting for my
+own immediate household, and for the colonels of the regiments. If every
+captain is to be admitted into our councils, we must hold our meetings
+on the Castle Green, for no apartment could contain us.'
+
+'I ventured to come here, your Majesty,' I replied, 'because on my way
+hither I received a commission, which was that I should deliver this
+small but weighty package into your hands. I therefore thought it my
+duty to lose no time in fulfilling my errand.'
+
+'What is in it?' he asked.
+
+'I know not,' I answered.
+
+Doctor Ferguson whispered a few words into the King's ear, who laughed
+and held out his hand for the packet.
+
+'Tut! tut!' said he. 'The days of the Borgias and the Medicis are over,
+Doctor. Besides, the lad is no Italian conspirator, but hath honest blue
+eyes and flaxen hair as Nature's certificate to his character. This
+is passing heavy--an ingot of lead, by the feel. Lend me your dagger,
+Colonel Holmes. It is stitched round with packthread. Ha! it is a bar
+of gold--solid virgin gold by all that is wonderful. Take charge of it,
+Wade, and see that it is added to the common fund. This little piece
+of metal may furnish ten pikemen. What have we here? A letter and an
+enclosure. "To James, Duke of Monmouth"--hum! It was written before we
+assumed our royal state. "Sir Jacob Glancing, late of Snellaby Hall,
+sends greeting and a pledge of affection. Carry out the good work.
+A hundred more such ingots await you when you have crossed Salisbury
+Plain." Bravely promised, Sir Jacob! I would that you had sent them.
+Well, gentlemen, ye see how support and tokens of goodwill come pouring
+in upon us. Is not the tide upon the turn? Can the usurper hope to hold
+his own? Will his men stand by him? Within a month or less I shall see
+ye all gathered round me at Westminster, and no duty will then be
+so pleasing to me as to see that ye are all, from the highest to the
+lowest, rewarded for your loyalty to your monarch in this the hour of
+his darkness and his danger.'
+
+A murmur of thanks rose up from the courtiers at this gracious speech,
+but the German plucked at Saxon's sleeve and whispered, 'He hath his
+warm fit upon him. You shall see him cold anon.'
+
+'Fifteen hundred men have joined me here where I did but expect a
+thousand at the most,' the King continued. 'If we had high hopes when
+we landed at Lyme Cobb with eighty at our back, what should we think now
+when we find ourselves in the chief city of Somerset with eight thousand
+brave men around us? 'Tis but one other affair like that at Axminster,
+and my uncle's power will go down like a house of cards. But gather
+round the table, gentlemen, and we shall discuss matters in due form.'
+
+'There is yet a scrap of paper which you have not read, sire,' said
+Wade, picking up a little slip which had been enclosed in the note.
+
+'It is a rhyming catch or the posy of a ring,' said Monmouth, glancing
+at it. 'What are we to make of this?
+
+          "When thy star is in trine,
+           Between darkness and shine,
+           Duke Monmouth, Duke Monmouth,
+           Beware of the Rhine!"
+
+Thy star in trine! What tomfoolery is this?'
+
+'If it please your Majesty,' said I, 'I have reason to believe that the
+man who sent you this message is one of those who are deeply skilled
+in the arts of divination, and who pretend from the motions of the
+celestial bodies to foretell the fates of men.'
+
+'This gentleman is right, sir,' remarked Lord Grey. '"Thy star in trine"
+is an astrological term, which signifieth when your natal planet shall
+be in a certain quarter of the heavens. The verse is of the nature of a
+prophecy. The Chaldeans and Egyptians of old are said to have attained
+much skill in the art, but I confess that I have no great opinion of
+those latter-day prophets who busy themselves in answering the foolish
+questions of every housewife.'
+
+          'And tell by Venus and the moon,
+           Who stole a thimble or a spoon.'
+muttered Saxon, quoting from his favourite poem.
+
+'Why, here are our Colonels catching the rhyming complaint,' said the
+King, laughing. 'We shall be dropping the sword and taking to the harp
+anon, as Alfred did in these very parts. Or I shall become a king of
+bards and trouveurs, like good King Rene of Provence. But, gentlemen,
+if this be indeed a prophecy, it should, methinks, bode well for our
+enterprise. It is true that I am warned against the Rhine, but there is
+little prospect of our fighting this quarrel upon its banks.'
+
+'Worse luck!' murmured the German, under his breath.
+
+'We may, therefore, thank this Sir Jacob and his giant messenger for
+his forecast as well as for his gold. But here comes the worthy Mayor of
+Taunton, the oldest of our councillors and the youngest of our knights.
+Captain Clarke, I desire you to stand at the inside of the door and to
+prevent intrusion. What passes amongst us will, I am well convinced, be
+safe in your keeping.'
+
+I bowed and took up my post as ordered, while the council-men and
+commanders gathered round the great oaken table which ran down the
+centre of the hall. The mellow evening light was streaming through the
+three western windows, while the distant babble of the soldiers upon the
+Castle Green sounded like the sleepy drone of insects. Monmouth paced
+with quick uneasy steps up and down the further end of the room until
+all were seated, when he turned towards them and addressed them.
+
+'You will have surmised, gentlemen,' he said, 'that I have called you
+together to-day that I might have the benefit of your collective wisdom
+in determining what our next steps should be. We have now marched some
+forty miles into our kingdom, and we have met wherever we have gone with
+the warm welcome which we expected. Close upon eight thousand men follow
+our standards, and as many more have been turned away for want of
+arms. We have twice met the enemy, with the effect that we have armed
+ourselves with their muskets and field-pieces. From first to last there
+hath been nothing which has not prospered with us. We must look to it
+that the future be as successful as the past. To insure this I have
+called ye together, and I now ask ye to give me your opinions of our
+situation, leaving me after I have listened to your views to form our
+plan of action. There are statesmen among ye, and there are soldiers
+among ye, and there are godly men among ye who may chance to get a flash
+of light when statesman and soldier are in the dark. Speak fearlessly,
+then, and let me know what is in your minds.'
+
+From my central post by the door I could see the lines of faces on
+either side of the board, the solemn close-shaven Puritans, sunburned
+soldiers, and white-wigged moustachioed courtiers. My eyes rested
+particularly upon Ferguson's scorbutic features, Saxon's hard aquiline
+profile, the German's burly face, and the peaky thoughtful countenance
+of the Lord of Wark.
+
+'If naebody else will gie an opeenion,' cried the fanatical Doctor,
+'I'll een speak mysel' as led by the inward voice. For have I no worked
+in the cause and slaved in it, much enduring and suffering mony things
+at the honds o' the froward, whereby my ain speerit hath plentifully
+fructified? Have I no been bruised as in a wine-press, and cast oot wi'
+hissing and scorning into waste places?'
+
+'We know your merits and your sufferings, Doctor,' said the King. 'The
+question before us is as to our course of action.'
+
+'Was there no a voice heard in the East?' cried the old Whig. 'Was there
+no a soond as o' a great crying, the crying for a broken covenant and a
+sinful generation? Whence came the cry? Wha's was the voice? Was it no
+that o' the man Robert Ferguson, wha raised himsel' up against the great
+ones in the land, and wouldna be appeased?'
+
+'Aye, aye, Doctor,' said Monmouth impatiently. 'Speak to the point, or
+give place to another.'
+
+'I shall mak' mysel' clear, your Majesty. Have we no heard that Argyle
+is cutten off? And why was he cutten off? Because he hadna due faith
+in the workings o' the Almighty, and must needs reject the help o' the
+children o' light in favour o' the bare-legged spawn o' Prelacy, wha are
+half Pagan, half Popish. Had he walked in the path o' the Lord he wudna
+be lying in the Tolbooth o' Edinburgh wi' the tow or the axe before
+him. Why did he no gird up his loins and march straight onwards wi'
+the banner o' light, instead o' dallying here and biding there like a
+half-hairted Didymus? And the same or waur will fa' upon us if we dinna
+march on intae the land and plant our ensigns afore the wicked toun o'
+London--the toun where the Lord's wark is tae be done, and the tares tae
+be separated frae the wheat, and piled up for the burning.'
+
+'Your advice, in short, is that we march on!' said Monmouth.
+
+'That we march on, your Majesty, and that we prepare oorselves tae be
+the vessels o' grace, and forbear frae polluting the cause o' the Gospel
+by wearing the livery o' the devil'--here he glared at a gaily attired
+cavalier at the other side of the table--'or by the playing o' cairds,
+the singing o' profane songs and the swearing o' oaths, all which are
+nichtly done by members o' this army, wi' the effect o' giving much
+scandal tae God's ain folk.'
+
+A hum of assent and approval rose up from the more Puritan members of
+the council at this expression of opinion, while the courtiers glanced
+at each other and curled their lips in derision. Monmouth took two or
+three turns and then called for another opinion.
+
+'You, Lord Grey,' he said, 'are a soldier and a man of experience. What
+is your advice? Should we halt here or push forward towards London?'
+
+'To advance to the East would, in my humble judgment, be fatal to us,'
+Grey answered, speaking slowly, with the manner of a man who has thought
+long and deeply before delivering an opinion. 'James Stuart is strong
+in horse, and we have none. We can hold our own amongst hedgerows or in
+broken country, but what chance could we have in the middle of Salisbury
+Plain? With the dragoons round us we should be like a flock of sheep
+amid a pack of wolves. Again, every step which we take towards London
+removes us from our natural vantage ground, and from the fertile country
+which supplies our necessities, while it strengthens our enemy by
+shortening the distance he has to convey his troops and his victuals.
+Unless, therefore, we hear of some great outbreak elsewhere, or of some
+general movement in London in our favour, we would do best to hold our
+ground and wait an attack.'
+
+'You argue shrewdly and well, my Lord Grey,' said the King. 'But how
+long are we to wait for this outbreak which never comes, and for this
+support which is ever promised and never provided? We have now been
+seven long days in England, and during that time of all the House of
+Commons no single man hath come over to us, and of the lords none gave
+my Lord Grey, who was himself an exile. Not a baron or an earl, and only
+one baronet, hath taken up arms for me. Where are the men whom Danvers
+and Wildman promised me from London? Where are the brisk boys of the
+City who were said to be longing for me? Where are the breakings out
+from Berwick to Portland which they foretold? Not a man hath moved
+save only these good peasants. I have been deluded, ensnared,
+trapped--trapped by vile agents who have led me into the shambles.' He
+paced up and down, wringing his hands and biting his lips, with despair
+stamped upon his face. I observed that Buyse smiled and whispered
+something to Saxon--a hint, I suppose, that this was the cold fit of
+which he spoke.
+
+'Tell me, Colonel Buyse,' said the King, mastering his emotion by a
+strong effort. 'Do you, as a soldier, agree with my Lord Grey?'
+
+'Ask Saxon, your Majesty,' the German answered. 'My opinion in a
+Raths-Versammlung is, I have observed, ever the same as his.'
+
+'Then we turn to you, Colonel Saxon,' said Monmouth. 'We have in this
+council a party who are in favour of an advance and a party who wish
+to stand their ground. Their weight and numbers are, methinks, nearly
+equal. If you had the casting vote how would you decide?' All eyes were
+bent upon our leader, for his martial bearing, and the respect shown to
+him by the veteran Buyse, made it likely that his opinion might really
+turn the scale. He sat for a few moments in silence with his hands
+before his face.
+
+'I will give my opinion, your Majesty,' he said at last. 'Feversham and
+Churchill are making for Salisbury with three thousand foot, and they
+have pushed on eight hundred of the Blue Guards, and two or three
+dragoon regiments. We should, therefore, as Lord Grey says, have to
+fight on Salisbury Plain, and our foot armed with a medley of weapons
+could scarce make head against their horse. All is possible to the Lord,
+as Dr. Ferguson wisely says. We are as grains of dust in the hollow of
+His hand. Yet He hath given us brains wherewith to choose the better
+course, and if we neglect it we must suffer the consequence of our
+folly.'
+
+Ferguson laughed contemptuously, and breathed out a prayer, but many of
+the other Puritans nodded their heads to acknowledge that this was not
+an unreasonable view to take of it.
+
+'On the other hand, sire,' Saxon continued, 'it appears to me that to
+remain here is equally impossible. Your Majesty's friends throughout
+England would lose all heart if the army lay motionless and struck no
+blow. The rustics would flock off to their wives and homes. Such an
+example is catching. I have seen a great army thaw away like an icicle
+in the sunshine. Once gone, it is no easy matter to collect them again.
+To keep them we must employ them. Never let them have an idle minute.
+Drill them. March them. Exercise them. Work them. Preach to them. Make
+them obey God and their Colonel. This cannot be done in snug quarters.
+They must travel. We cannot hope to end this business until we get
+to London. London, then, must be our goal. But there are many ways of
+reaching it. You have, sire, as I have heard, many friends at Bristol
+and in the Midlands. If I might advise, I should say let us march round
+in that direction. Every day that passes will serve to swell your forces
+and improve your troops, while all will feel something is astirring.
+Should we take Bristol--and I hear that the works are not very
+strong--it would give us a very good command of shipping, and a rare
+centre from which to act. If all goes well with us, we could make
+our way to London through Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. In the
+meantime I might suggest that a day of fast and humiliation be called to
+bring down a blessing on the cause.'
+
+This address, skilfully compounded of worldly wisdom and of spiritual
+zeal, won the applause of the whole council, and especially that of King
+Monmouth, whose melancholy vanished as if by magic.
+
+'By my faith, Colonel,' said he, 'you make it all as clear as day.
+Of course, if we make ourselves strong in the West, and my uncle is
+threatened with disaffection elsewhere, he will have no chance to hold
+out against us. Should he wish to fight us upon our own ground, he must
+needs drain his troops from north, south, and east, which is not to be
+thought of. We may very well march to London by way of Bristol.'
+
+'I think that the advice is good,' Lord Grey observed; 'but I should
+like to ask Colonel Saxon what warrant he hath for saying that Churchill
+and Feversham are on their way, with three thousand regular foot and
+several regiments of horse?'
+
+'The word of an officer of the Blues with whom I conversed at
+Salisbury,' Saxon answered. 'He confided in me, believing me to be one
+of the Duke of Beaufort's household. As to the horse, one party pursued
+us on Salisbury Plain with bloodhounds, and another attacked us not
+twenty miles from here and lost a score of troopers and a cornet.'
+
+'We heard something of the brush,' said the King. 'It was bravely done.
+But if these men are so close we have no great time for preparation.'
+
+'Their foot cannot be here before a week,' said the Mayor. 'By that time
+we might be behind the walls of Bristol.'
+
+'There is one point which might be urged,' observed Wade the lawyer. 'We
+have, as your Majesty most truly says, met with heavy discouragement in
+the fact that no noblemen and few commoners of repute have declared for
+us. The reason is, I opine, that each doth wait for his neighbour to
+make a move. Should one or two come over the others would soon follow.
+How, then, are we to bring a duke or two to our standards?'
+
+'There's the question, Master Wade,' said Monmouth, shaking his head
+despondently.
+
+'I think that it might be done,' continued the Whig lawyer. 'Mere
+proclamations addressed to the commonalty will not catch these gold
+fish. They are not to be angled for with a naked hook. I should
+recommend that some form of summons or writ be served upon each of them,
+calling upon them to appear in our camp within a certain date under pain
+of high treason.'
+
+'There spake the legal mind,' quoth King Monmouth, with a laugh. 'But
+you have omitted to tell us how the said writ or summons is to be
+conveyed to these same delinquents.'
+
+'There is the Duke of Beaufort,' continued Wade, disregarding the King's
+objection. 'He is President of Wales, and he is, as your Majesty knows,
+lieutenant of four English counties. His influence overshadows the whole
+West. He hath two hundred horses in his stables at Badminton, and a
+thousand men, as I have heard, sit down at his tables every day. Why
+should not a special effort be made to gain over such a one, the more so
+as we intend to march in his direction?'
+
+'Henry, Duke of Beaufort, is unfortunately already in arms against his
+sovereign,' said Monmouth gloomily.
+
+'He is, sire, but he may be induced to turn in your favour the weapon
+which he hath raised against you. He is a Protestant. He is said to be a
+Whig. Why should we not send a message to him? Flatter his pride. Appeal
+to his religion. Coax and threaten him. Who knows? He may have private
+grievances of which we know nothing, and may be ripe for such a move.'
+
+'Your counsel is good, Wade,' said Lord Grey, 'but methinks his Majesty
+hath asked a pertinent question. Your messenger would, I fear, find
+himself swinging upon one of the Badminton oaks if the Duke desired to
+show his loyalty to James Stuart. Where are we to find a man who is wary
+enough and bold enough for such a mission, without risking one of our
+leaders, who could be ill-spared at such a time?'
+
+'It is true,' said the King. 'It were better not to venture it at all
+than to do it in a clumsy and halting fashion. Beaufort would think that
+it was a plot not to gain him over, but to throw discredit upon him. But
+what means our giant at the door by signing to us?'
+
+'If it please your Majesty,' I asked, 'have I permission to speak?'
+
+'We would fain hear you, Captain,' he answered graciously. 'If your
+understanding is in any degree correspondent to your strength, your
+opinion should be of weight.'
+
+'Then, your Majesty,' said I, 'I would offer myself as a fitting
+messenger in this matter. My father bid me spare neither life nor limb
+in this quarrel, and if this honourable council thinks that the Duke
+may be gained over, I am ready to guarantee that the message shall be
+conveyed to him if man and horse can do it.'
+
+'I'll warrant that no better herald could be found,' cried Saxon. 'The
+lad hath a cool head and a staunch heart.'
+
+'Then, young sir, we shall accept your loyal and gallant offer,' said
+Monmouth. 'Are ye all agreed, gentlemen, upon the point?' A murmur of
+assent rose from the company.
+
+'You shall draw up the paper, Wade. Offer him money, a seniority amongst
+the dukes, the perpetual Presidentship of Wales--what you will, if you
+can but shake him. If not, sequestration, exile, and everlasting infamy.
+And, hark ye! you can enclose a copy of the papers drawn up by Van
+Brunow, which prove the marriage of my mother, together with the
+attestations of the witnesses. Have them ready by to-morrow at daybreak,
+when the messenger may start.' (Note H, Appendix.)
+
+'They shall be ready, your Majesty,' said Wade.
+
+'In that case, gentlemen,' continued King Monmouth, 'I may now dismiss
+ye to your posts. Should anything fresh arise I shall summon ye again,
+that I may profit by your wisdom. Here we shall stay, if Sir Stephen
+Timewell will have us, until the men are refreshed and the recruits
+enrolled. We shall then make our way Bristolwards, and see what luck
+awaits us in the North. If Beaufort comes over all will be well.
+Farewell, my kind friends! I need not tell ye to be diligent and
+faithful.'
+
+The council rose at the King's salutation, and bowing to him they began
+to file out of the Castle hall. Several of the members clustered round
+me with hints for my journey or suggestions as to my conduct.
+
+'He is a proud, froward man,' said one. 'Speak humbly to him or he will
+never hearken to your message, but will order you to be scourged out of
+his presence.'
+
+'Nay, nay!' cried another. 'He is hot, but he loves a man that is a
+man. Speak boldly and honestly to him, and he is more like to listen to
+reason.'
+
+'Speak as the Lord shall direct you,' said a Puritan. 'It is His message
+which you bear as well as the King's.'
+
+'Entice him out alone upon some excuse,' said Buyse, 'then up and away
+mit him upon your crupper. Hagelsturm! that would be a proper game.'
+
+'Leave him alone,' cried Saxon. 'The lad hath as much sense as any of
+ye. He will see which way the cat jumps. Come, friend, let us make our
+way back to our men.'
+
+'I am sorry, indeed, to lose you,' he said, as we threaded our way
+through the throng of peasants and soldiers upon the Castle Green. 'Your
+company will miss you sorely. Lockarby must see to the two. If all goes
+well you should be back in three or four days. I need not tell you that
+there is a real danger. If the Duke wishes to prove to James that
+he would not allow himself to be tampered with, he can only do it by
+punishing the messenger, which as lieutenant of a county he hath power
+to do in times of civil commotion. He is a hard man if all reports be
+true. On the other hand, if you should chance to succeed it may lay the
+foundations of your fortunes and be the means of saving Monmouth. He
+needs help, by the Lord Harry! Never have I seen such a rabble as this
+army of his. Buyse says that they fought lustily at this ruffle at
+Axminster, but he is of one mind with me, that a few whiffs of shot and
+cavalry charges would scatter them over the countryside. Have you any
+message to leave?'
+
+'None, save my love to my mother,' said I.
+
+'It is well. Should you fall in any unfair way, I shall not forget his
+Grace of Beaufort, and the next of his gentlemen who comes in my way
+shall hang as high as Haman. And now you had best make for your chamber,
+and have as good a slumber as you may, since to-morrow at cock-crow
+begins your new mission.'
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII. Of the News from Havant
+
+Having given my orders that Covenant should be saddled and bridled by
+daybreak, I had gone to my room and was preparing for a long night's
+rest, when Sir Gervas, who slept in the same apartment, came dancing in
+with a bundle of papers waving over his head.
+
+'Three guesses, Clarke!' he cried. 'What would you most desire?'
+
+'Letters from Havant,' said I eagerly.
+
+'Right,' he answered, throwing them into my lap. 'Three of them, and not
+a woman's hand among them. Sink me, if I can understand what you have
+been doing all your life.
+
+          "How can youthful heart resign
+           Lovely woman, sparkling wine?"
+
+But you are so lost in your news that you have not observed my
+transformation.'
+
+'Why, wherever did you get these?' I asked in astonishment, for he
+was attired in a delicate plum-coloured suit with gold buttons and
+trimmings, set off by silken hosen and Spanish leather shoes with roses
+on the instep.
+
+'It smacks more of the court than of the camp,' quoth Sir Gervas,
+rubbing his hands and glancing down at himself with some satisfaction.
+'I am also revictualled in the matter of ratafia and orange-flower
+water, together with two new wigs, a bob and a court, a pound of the
+Imperial snuff from the sign of the Black Man, a box of De Crepigny's
+hair powder, my foxskin muff, and several other necessaries. But I
+hinder you in your reading.'
+
+'I have seen enough to tell me that all is well at home,' I answered,
+glancing over my father's letter. 'But how came these things?'
+
+'Some horsemen have come in from Petersfield, bearing them with them. As
+to my little box, which a fair friend of mine in town packed for me,
+it was to be forwarded to Bristol, where I am now supposed to be, and
+should be were it not for my good fortune in meeting your party. It
+chanced to find its way, however, to the Bruton inn, and the good woman
+there, whom I had conciliated, found means to send it after me. It is a
+good rule to go upon, Clarke, in this earthly pilgrimage, always to
+kiss the landlady. It may seem a small thing, and yet life is made up
+of small things. I have few fixed principles, I fear, but two there are
+which I can say from my heart that I never transgress. I always carry a
+corkscrew, and I never forget to kiss the landlady.'
+
+'From what I have seen of you,' said I, laughing, 'I could be warranty
+that those two duties are ever fulfilled.'
+
+'I have letters, too,' said he, sitting on the side of the bed and
+turning over a sheaf of papers. '"Your broken-hearted Araminta." Hum!
+The wench cannot know that I am ruined or her heart would speedily be
+restored. What's this? A challenge to match my bird Julius against my
+Lord Dorchester's cockerel for a hundred guineas. Faith! I am too busy
+backing the Monmouth rooster for the champion stakes. Another asking me
+to chase the stag at Epping. Zounds! had I not cleared off I should
+have been run down myself, with a pack of bandog bailiffs at my heels.
+A dunning letter from my clothier. He can afford to lose this bill.
+He hath had many a long one out of me. An offer of three thousand from
+little Dicky Chichester. No, no, Dicky, it won't do. A gentleman can't
+live upon his friends. None the less grateful. How now? From Mrs.
+Butterworth! No money for three weeks! Bailiffs in the house! Now, curse
+me, if this is not too bad!'
+
+'What is the matter?' I asked, glancing up from my own letters. The
+baronet's pale face had taken a tinge of red, and he was striding
+furiously up and down the bedroom with a letter crumpled up in his hand.
+
+'It is a burning shame, Clarke,' he cried. 'Hang it, she shall have my
+watch. It is by Tompion, of the sign of the Three Crowns in Paul's
+Yard, and cost a hundred when new. It should keep her for a few months.
+Mortimer shall measure swords with me for this. I shall write villain
+upon him with my rapier's point.'
+
+'I have never seen you ruffled before,' said I.
+
+'No,' he answered, laughing. 'Many have lived with me for years and
+would give me a certificate for temper. But this is too much. Sir Edward
+Mortimer is my mother's younger brother, Clarke, but he is not many
+years older than myself. A proper, strait-laced, soft-voiced lad he has
+ever been, and, as a consequence, he throve in the world, and joined
+land to land after the scriptural fashion. I had befriended him from my
+purse in the old days, but he soon came to be a richer man than I, for
+all that he gained he kept, whereas all I got--well, it went off like
+the smoke of the pipe which you are lighting. When I found that all was
+up with me I received from Mortimer an advance, which was sufficient to
+take me according to my wish over to Virginia, together with a horse and
+a personal outfit. There was some chance, Clarke, of the Jerome acres
+going to him should aught befall me, so that he was not averse to
+helping me off to a land of fevers and scalping knives. Nay, never shake
+your head, my dear country lad, you little know the wiles of the world.'
+
+'Give him credit for the best until the worst is proved,' said I,
+sitting up in bed smoking, with my letters littered about in front of
+me.
+
+'The worst _is_ proved,' said Sir Gervas, with a darkening face. 'I
+have, as I said, done Mortimer some turns which he might remember,
+though it did not become me to remind him of them. This Mistress
+Butterworth is mine old wet-nurse, and it hath been the custom of the
+family to provide for her. I could not bear the thought that in the ruin
+of my fortune she should lose the paltry guinea or so a week which stood
+between her and hunger. My only request to Mortimer, therefore, made on
+the score of old friendship, was that he should continue this pittance,
+I promising that should I prosper I would return whatever he should
+disburse. The mean-hearted villain wrung my hand and swore that it
+should be so. How vile a thing is human nature, Clarke! For the sake of
+this paltry sum he, a rich man, hath broken his pledge, and left this
+poor woman to starve. But he shall answer to me for it. He thinks that
+I am on the Atlantic. If I march back to London with these brave boys
+I shall disturb the tenor of his sainted existence. Meanwhile I shall
+trust to sun-dials, and off goes my watch to Mother Butterworth. Bless
+her ample bosoms! I have tried many liquors, but I dare bet that the
+first was the most healthy. But how of your own letters? You have been
+frowning and smiling like an April day.'
+
+'There is one from my father, with a few words attached from my mother,'
+said I. 'The second is from an old friend of mine, Zachariah Palmer, the
+village carpenter. The third is from Solomon Sprent, a retired seaman,
+for whom I have an affection and respect.'
+
+'You have a rare trio of newsmen. I would I knew your father, Clarke, he
+must, from what you say, be a stout bit of British oak. I spoke even now
+of your knowing little of the world, but indeed it may be that in your
+village you can see mankind without the varnish, and so come to learn
+more of the good of human nature. Varnish or none, the bad will ever
+peep through. Now this carpenter and seaman show themselves no doubt for
+what they are. A man might know my friends of the court for a lifetime,
+and never come upon their real selves, nor would it perhaps repay the
+search when you had come across it. Sink me, but I wax philosophical,
+which is the old refuge of the ruined man. Give me a tub, and I shall
+set up in the Piazza of Covent Garden, and be the Diogenes of London. I
+would not be wealthy again, Micah! How goes the old lilt?--
+
+          "Our money shall never indite us
+           Or drag us to Goldsmith Hall,
+           No pirates or wrecks can affright us.
+           We that have no estates
+           Fear no plunder or rates,
+           Nor care to lock gates.
+           He that lies on the ground cannot fall!"
+
+That last would make a good motto for an almshouse.'
+
+'You will have Sir Stephen up,' said I warningly, for he was carolling
+away at the pitch of his lungs.
+
+'Never fear! He and his 'prentices were all at the broad-sword exercise
+in the hall as I came by. It is worth something to see the old fellow
+stamp, and swing his sword, and cry, "Ha!" on the down-cut. Mistress
+Ruth and friend Lockarby are in the tapestried room, she spinning and he
+reading aloud one of those entertaining volumes which she would have me
+read. Methinks she hath taken his conversion in hand, which may end in
+his converting her from a maid into a wife. And so you go to the Duke of
+Beaufort! Well, I would that I could travel with you, but Saxon will not
+hear of it, and my musqueteers must be my first care. God send you safe
+back! Where is my jasmine powder and the patch-box? Read me your letters
+if there be aught in them of interest. I have been splitting a flask
+with our gallant Colonel at his inn, and he hath told me enough of your
+home at Havant to make me wish to know more.'
+
+'This one is somewhat grave,' said I.
+
+'Nay, I am in the humour for grave things. Have at it, if it contain the
+whole Platonic philosophy.'
+
+''Tis from the venerable carpenter who hath for many years been my
+adviser and friend. He is one who is religious without being sectarian,
+philosophic without being a partisan, and loving without being weak.'
+
+'A paragon, truly!' exclaimed Sir Gervas, who was busy with his eyebrow
+brush.
+
+'This is what he saith,' I continued, and proceeded to read the very
+letter which I now read to you.
+
+'"Having heard from your father, my dear lad, that there was some chance
+of being able to send a letter to you, I have written this, and am
+now sending it under the charge of the worthy John Packingham, of
+Chichester, who is bound for the West. I trust that you are now safe
+with Monmouth's army, and that you have received honourable appointment
+therein. I doubt not that you will find among your comrades some who
+are extreme sectaries, and others who are scoffers and disbelievers.
+Be advised by me, friend, and avoid both the one and the other. For the
+zealot is a man who not only defends his own right of worship, wherein
+he hath justice, but wishes to impose upon the consciences of others,
+by which he falls into the very error against which he fights. The mere
+brainless scoffer is, on the other hand, lower than the beast of
+the field, since he lacks the animal's self-respect and humble
+resignation."'
+
+'My faith!' cried the Baronet, 'the old gentleman hath a rough side to
+his tongue.'
+
+'"Let us take religion upon its broadest base, for the truth must be
+broader than aught which we can conceive. The presence of a table doth
+prove the existence of a carpenter, and so the presence of a universe
+proves the existence of a universe Maker, call Him by what name
+you will. So far the ground is very firm beneath us, without either
+inspiration, teaching, or any aid whatever. Since, then, there _must_ be
+a world Maker, let us judge of His nature by His work. We cannot observe
+the glories of the firmament, its infinite extent, its beauty, and the
+Divine skill wherewith every plant and animal hath its wants cared for,
+without seeing that He is full of wisdom, intelligence, and power. We
+are still, you will perceive, upon solid ground, without having to call
+to our aid aught save pure reason."'
+
+'"Having got so far, let us inquire to what end the universe was made,
+and we put upon it. The teaching of all nature shows that it must be to
+the end of improvement and upward growth, the increase in real virtue,
+in knowledge, and in wisdom. Nature is a silent preacher which holds
+forth upon week-days as on Sabbaths. We see the acorn grow into the oak,
+the egg into the bird, the maggot into the butterfly. Shall we doubt,
+then, that the human soul, the most precious of all things, is also
+upon the upward path? And how can the soul progress save through the
+cultivation of virtue and self-mastery? What other way is there? There
+is none. We may say with confidence, then, that we are placed here to
+increase in knowledge and in virtue."'
+
+'"This is the core of all religion, and this much needs no faith in
+the acceptance. It is as true and as capable of proof as one of those
+exercises of Euclid which we have gone over together. On this common
+ground men have raised many different buildings. Christianity, the creed
+of Mahomet, the creed of the Easterns, have all the same essence. The
+difference lies in the forms and the details. Let us hold to our own
+Christian creed, the beautiful, often-professed, and seldom-practised
+doctrine of love, but let us not despise our fellow-men, for we are all
+branches from the common root of truth."'
+
+'"Man comes out of darkness into light. He tarries awhile and then
+passes into darkness again. Micah, lad, the days are passing, mine as
+well as thine. Let them not be wasted. They are few in number. What says
+Petrarch?' To him that enters, life seems infinite; to him that
+departs, nothing.' Let every day, every hour, be spent in furthering the
+Creator's end--in getting out whatever power for good there is in you.
+What is pain, or work, or trouble? The cloud that passes over the sun.
+But the result of work well done is everything. It is eternal. It lives
+and waxes stronger through the centuries. Pause not for rest. The rest
+will come when the hour of work is past."'
+
+'"May God protect and guard you! There is no great news. The Portsmouth
+garrison hath marched to the West. Sir John Lawson, the magistrate, hath
+been down here threatening your father and others, but he can do little
+for want of proofs. Church and Dissent are at each other's throats as
+ever. Truly the stern law of Moses is more enduring than the sweet words
+of Christ. Adieu, my dear lad! All good wishes from your grey-headed
+friend, ZACHARIAH PALMER."'
+
+'Od's fish!' cried Sir Gervas, as I folded up the letter, 'I have heard
+Stillingfleet and Tenison, but I never listened to a better sermon. This
+is a bishop disguised as a carpenter. The crozier would suit his hand
+better than the plane. But how of our seaman friend? Is he a tarpaulin
+theologian--a divine among the tarry-breeks?'
+
+'Solomon Sprent is a very different man, though good enough in his way,'
+said I. 'But you shall judge him from his letter.'
+
+'"Master Clarke. Sir,--When last we was in company I had run in under
+the batteries on cutting-out service, while you did stand on and off in
+the channel and wait signals. Having stopped to refit and to overhaul my
+prize, which proved to be in proper trim alow and aloft--"'
+
+'What the devil doth he mean?' asked Sir Gervas.
+
+'It is a maid of whom he talks--Phoebe Dawson, the sister of the
+blacksmith. He hath scarce put foot on land for nigh forty years, and
+can as a consequence only speak in this sea jargon, though he fancies
+that he uses as pure King's English as any man in Hampshire.'
+
+'Proceed, then,' quoth the Baronet.
+
+'"Having also read her the articles of war, I explained to her the
+conditions under which we were to sail in company on life's voyage,
+namely:"'
+
+'"First. She to obey signals without question as soon as received."'
+
+'"Second. She to steer by my reckoning."'
+
+'"Third. She to stand by me as true consort in foul weather, battle, or
+shipwreck."'
+
+'"Fourth. She to run under my guns if assailed by picaroons,
+privateeros, or garda-costas."'
+
+'"Fifth. Me to keep her in due repair, dry-dock her at intervals,
+and see that she hath her allowance of coats of paint, streamers, and
+bunting, as befits a saucy pleasure boat."'
+
+'"Sixth. Me to take no other craft in tow, and if any be now attached,
+to cut their hawsers."'
+
+'"Seventh. Me to revictual her day by day."'
+
+'"Eighth. Should she chance to spring a leak, or be blown on her beam
+ends by the winds of misfortune, to stand by her and see her pumped out
+or righted."'
+
+'"Ninth. To fly the Protestant ensign at the peak during life's voyage,
+and to lay our course for the great harbour, in the hope that moorings
+and ground to swing may be found for two British-built crafts when laid
+up for eternity."'
+
+'"'Twas close on eight-bells before these articles were signed and
+sealed. When I headed after you I could not so much as catch a glimpse
+of your topsail. Soon after I heard as you had gone a-soldiering,
+together with that lean, rakish, long-sparred, picaroon-like craft which
+I have seen of late in the village. I take it unkind of you that you
+have not so much as dipped ensign to me on leaving. But perchance
+the tide was favourable, and you could not tarry. Had I not been
+jury-rigged, with one of my spars shot away, I should have dearly loved
+to have strapped on my hanger and come with you to smell gunpowder once
+more. I would do it now, timber-toe and all, were it not for my consort,
+who might claim it as a breach of the articles, and so sheer off. I must
+follow the light on her poop until we are fairly joined."'
+
+'"Farewell, mate! In action, take an old sailor's advice. Keep the
+weather-gauge and board! Tell that to your admiral on the day of battle.
+Whisper it in his ear. Say to him, 'Keep the weather-gauge and board!'
+Tell him also to strike quick, strike hard, and keep on striking. That's
+the word of Christopher Mings, and a better man has not been launched,
+though he did climb in through the hawse-pipe.--Yours to command,
+SOLOMON SPRENT."'
+
+Sir Gervas had been chuckling to himself during the reading of this
+epistle, but at the last part we both broke out a-laughing.
+
+'Land or sea, he will have it that battles are fought in ships,'
+said the Baronet. 'You should have had that sage piece of advice for
+Monmouth's council to-day. Should he ever ask your opinion it must be,
+"Keep the weather-gauge and board!"'
+
+'I must to sleep,' said I, laying aside my pipe. 'I should be on the
+road by daybreak.'
+
+'Nay, I prythee, complete your kindness by letting me have a glimpse of
+your respected parent, the Roundhead.'
+
+''Tis but a few lines,' I answered. 'He was ever short of speech. But
+if they interest you, you shall hear them. "I am sending this by a godly
+man, my dear son, to say that I trust that you are bearing yourself as
+becomes you. In all danger and difficulty trust not to yourself, but
+ask help from on high. If you are in authority, teach your men to sing
+psalms when they fall on, as is the good old custom. In action give
+point rather than edge. A thrust must beat a cut. Your mother and the
+others send their affection to you. Sir John Lawson hath been down
+here like a ravening wolf, but could find no proof against me. John
+Marchbank, of Bedhampton, is cast into prison. Truly Antichrist reigns
+in the land, but the kingdom of light is at hand. Strike lustily for
+truth and conscience.--Your loving father, JOSEPH CLARKE."'
+
+'"Postscriptum (from my mother).--I trust that you will remember what I
+have said concerning your hosen and also the broad linen collars, which
+you will find in the bag. It is little over a week since you left, yet
+it seems a year. When cold or wet, take ten drops of Daffy's elixir in a
+small glass of strong waters. Should your feet chafe, rub tallow on the
+inside of your boots. Commend me to Master Saxon and to Master Lockarby,
+if he be with you. His father was mad at his going, for he hath a great
+brewing going forward, and none to mind the mash-tub. Ruth hath baked a
+cake, but the oven hath played her false, and it is lumpy in the inside.
+A thousand kisses, dear heart, from your loving mother, M. C."'
+
+'A right sensible couple,' quoth Sir Gervas, who, having completed his
+toilet, had betaken him to his couch. 'I now begin to understand your
+manufacture, Clarke. I see the threads that are used in the weaving of
+you. Your father looks to your spiritual wants. Your mother concerns
+herself with the material. Yet the old carpenter's preaching is,
+methinks, more to your taste. You are a rank latitudinarian, man. Sir
+Stephen would cry fie upon you, and Joshua Pettigrue abjure you! Well,
+out with the light, for we should both be stirring at cock-crow. That is
+our religion at present.'
+
+'Early Christians,' I suggested, and we both laughed as we settled down
+to sleep.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII. Of the Snare on the Weston Road
+
+Just after sunrise I was awoke by one of the Mayor's servants, who
+brought word that the Honourable Master Wade was awaiting me downstairs.
+Having dressed and descended, I found him seated by the table in the
+sitting-room with papers and wafer-box, sealing up the missive which I
+was to carry. He was a small, worn, grey-faced man, very erect in his
+bearing and sudden in his speech, with more of the soldier than of the
+lawyer in his appearance.
+
+'So,' said he, pressing his seal above the fastening of the string, 'I
+see that your horse is ready for you outside. You had best make your way
+round by Nether Stowey and the Bristol Channel, for we have heard that
+the enemy's horse guard the roads on the far side of Wells. Here is your
+packet.'
+
+I bowed and placed it in the inside of my tunic.
+
+'It is a written order as suggested in the council. The Duke's reply may
+be written, or it may be by word of mouth. In either case guard it well.
+This packet contains also a copy of the depositions of the clergyman at
+The Hague, and of the other witnesses who saw Charles of England marry
+Lucy Walters, the mother of his Majesty. Your mission is one of such
+importance that the whole success of our enterprise may turn upon it.
+See that you serve the paper upon Beaufort in person, and not through
+any intermediary, or it might not stand in a court of law.'
+
+I promised to do so if possible.
+
+'I should advise you also,' he continued, 'to carry sword and pistol as
+a protection against the chance dangers of the road, but to discard your
+head-piece and steel-front as giving you too warlike an aspect for a
+peaceful messenger.'
+
+'I had already come to that resolve,' said I.
+
+'There is nothing more to be said, Captain,' said the lawyer, giving me
+his hand. 'May all good fortune go with you. Keep a still tongue and a
+quick ear. Watch keenly how all things go. Mark whose face is gloomy and
+whose content. The Duke may be at Bristol, but you had best make for his
+seat at Badminton. Our sign of the day is Tewkesbury.'
+
+Thanking my instructor for his advice I went out and mounted Covenant,
+who pawed and champed at his bit in his delight at getting started
+once more. Few of the townsmen were stirring, though here and there
+a night-bonneted head stared out at me through a casement. I took the
+precaution of walking the horse very quietly until we were some distance
+from the house, for I had told Reuben nothing of my intended journey,
+and I was convinced that if he knew of it neither discipline, nor even
+his new ties of love, would prevent him from coming with me. Covenant's
+iron-shod feet rang sharply, in spite of my care, upon the cobblestones,
+but looking back I saw that the blinds of my faithful friend's room
+were undrawn, and that all seemed quiet in the house. I shook my bridle,
+therefore, and rode at a brisk trot through the silent streets, which
+were still strewn with faded flowers and gay with streamers. At the
+north gate a guard of half a company was stationed, who let me pass upon
+hearing the word. Once beyond the old walls I found myself out on the
+country side, with my face to the north and a clear road in front of me.
+
+It was a blithesome morning. The sun was rising over the distant hills,
+and heaven and earth were ruddy and golden. The trees in the wayside
+orchards were full of swarms of birds, who chattered and sang until the
+air was full of their piping. There was lightsomeness and gladness in
+every breath. The wistful-eyed red Somerset kine stood along by the
+hedgerows, casting great shadows down the fields and gazing at me as
+I passed. Farm horses leaned over wooden gates, and snorted a word of
+greeting to their glossy-coated brother. A great herd of snowy-fleeced
+sheep streamed towards us over the hillside and frisked and gambolled in
+the sunshine. All was innocent life, from the lark which sang on high
+to the little shrew-mouse which ran amongst the ripening corn, or the
+martin which dashed away at the sound of my approach. All alive and all
+innocent. What are we to think, my dear children, when we see the beasts
+of the field full of kindness and virtue and gratitude? Where is this
+superiority of which we talk?
+
+From the high ground to the north I looked back upon the sleeping town,
+with the broad edging of tents and waggons, which showed how suddenly
+its population had outgrown it. The Royal Standard still fluttered
+from the tower of St. Mary Magdalene, while close by its beautiful
+brother-turret of St. James bore aloft the blue flag of Monmouth. As
+I gazed the quick petulant roll of a drum rose up on the still morning
+air, with the clear ringing call of the bugles summoning the troops from
+their slumbers. Beyond the town, and on either side of it, stretched a
+glorious view of the Somersetshire downs, rolling away to the distant
+sea, with town and hamlet, castle turret and church tower, wooded coombe
+and stretch of grain-land--as fair a scene as the eye could wish to rest
+upon. As I wheeled my horse and sped upon my way I felt, my dears, that
+this was a land worth fighting for, and that a man's life was a small
+thing if he could but aid, in however trifling a degree, in working out
+its freedom and its happiness. At a little village over the hill I fell
+in with an outpost of horse, the commander of which rode some distance
+with me, and set me on my road to Nether Stowey. It seemed strange to
+my Hampshire eyes to note that the earth is all red in these parts--very
+different to the chalk and gravel of Havant. The cows, too, are mostly
+red. The cottages are built neither of brick nor of wood, but of some
+form of plaster, which they call cob, which is strong and smooth so
+long as no water comes near it. They shelter the walls from the rain,
+therefore, by great overhanging thatches. There is scarcely a steeple in
+the whole country-side, which also seems strange to a man from any other
+part of England. Every church hath a square tower, with pinnacles upon
+the top, and they are mostly very large, with fine peals of bells.
+
+My course ran along by the foot of the beautiful Quantock Hills, where
+heavy-wooded coombes are scattered over the broad heathery downs, deep
+with bracken and whortle-bushes. On either side of the track steep
+winding glens sloped downwards, lined with yellow gorse, which blazed
+out from the deep-red soil like a flame from embers. Peat-coloured
+streams splashed down these valleys and over the road, through which
+Covenant ploughed fetlock deep, and shied to see the broad-backed trout
+darting from between his fore feet.
+
+All day I rode through this beautiful country, meeting few folk, for
+I kept away from the main roads. A few shepherds and farmers, a
+long-legged clergyman, a packman with his mule, and a horseman with a
+great bag, whom I took to be a buyer of hair, are all that I can recall.
+A black jack of ale and the heel of a loaf at a wayside inn were all my
+refreshments. Near Combwich, Covenant cast a shoe, and two hours were
+wasted before I found a smithy in the town and had the matter set right.
+It was not until evening that I at last came out upon the banks of the
+Bristol Channel, at a place called Shurton Bars, where the muddy Parret
+makes its way into the sea. At this point the channel is so broad that
+the Welsh mountains can scarcely be distinguished. The shore is flat
+and black and oozy, flecked over with white patches of sea-birds, but
+further to the east there rises a line of hills, very wild and rugged,
+rising in places into steep precipices. These cliffs run out into the
+sea, and numerous little harbours and bays are formed in their broken
+surface, which are dry half the day, but can float a good-sized boat at
+half-tide. The road wound over these bleak and rocky hills, which are
+sparsely inhabited by a wild race of fishermen, or shepherds, who came
+to their cabin doors on hearing the clatter of my horse's hoofs, and
+shot some rough West-country jest at me as I passed. As the night drew
+in the country became bleaker and more deserted. An occasional light
+twinkling in the distance from some lonely hillside cottage was the only
+sign of the presence of man. The rough track still skirted the sea, and
+high as it was, the spray from the breakers drifted across it. The salt
+prinkled on my lips, and the air was filled with the hoarse roar of the
+surge and the thin piping of curlews, who flitted past in the darkness
+like white, shadowy, sad-voiced creatures from some other world. The
+wind blew in short, quick, angry puffs from the westward, and far out on
+the black waters a single glimmer of light rising and falling, tossing
+up, and then sinking out of sight, showed how fierce a sea had risen in
+the channel.
+
+Riding through the gloaming in this strange wild scenery my mind
+naturally turned towards the past. I thought of my father and my mother,
+of the old carpenter and of Solomon Sprent. Then I pondered over Decimus
+Saxon, his many-faced character having in it so much to be admired and
+so much to be abhorred. Did I like him or no? It was more than I could
+say. From him I wandered off to my faithful Reuben, and to his love
+passage with the pretty Puritan, which in turn brought me to Sir Gervas
+and the wreck of his fortunes. My mind then wandered to the state of the
+army and the prospects of the rising, which led me to my present mission
+with its perils and its difficulties. Having turned over all these
+things in my mind I began to doze upon my horse's back, overcome by the
+fatigue of the journey and the drowsy lullaby of the waves. I had just
+fallen into a dream in which I saw Reuben Lockarby crowned King of
+England by Mistress Ruth Timewell, while Decimus Saxon endeavoured to
+shoot him with a bottle of Daffy's elixir, when in an instant,
+without warning, I was dashed violently from my horse, and left lying
+half-conscious on the stony track.
+
+So stunned and shaken was I by the sudden fall, that though I had a dim
+knowledge of shadowy figures bending over me, and of hoarse laughter
+sounding in my ears, I could not tell for a few minutes where I was nor
+what had befallen me. When at last I did make an attempt to recover my
+feet I found that a loop of rope had been slipped round my arms and my
+legs so as to secure them. With a hard struggle I got one hand free, and
+dashed it in the face of one of the men who were holding me down; but
+the whole gang of a dozen or more set upon me at once, and while some
+thumped and kicked at me, others tied a fresh cord round my elbows, and
+deftly fastened it in such a way as to pinion me completely. Finding
+that in my weak and dazed state all efforts were of no avail, I lay
+sullen and watchful, taking no heed of the random blows which were still
+showered upon me. So dark was it that I could neither see the faces of
+my attackers, nor form any guess as to who they might be, or how they
+had hurled me from my saddle. The champing and stamping of a horse hard
+by showed me that Covenant was a prisoner as well as his master.
+
+'Dutch Pete's got as much as he can carry,' said a rough, harsh voice.
+'He lies on the track as limp as a conger.'
+
+'Ah, poor Pete!' muttered another. 'He'll never deal a card or drain a
+glass of the right Cognac again.'
+
+'There you lie, mine goot vriend,' said the injured man, in weak,
+quavering tones. 'And I will prove that you lie if you have a flaschen
+in your pocket.'
+
+'If Pete were dead and buried,' the first speaker said, 'a word about
+strong waters would bring him to. Give him a sup from your bottle,
+Dicon.'
+
+There was a great gurgling and sucking in the darkness, followed by a
+gasp from the drinker. 'Gott sei gelobt,' he exclaimed in a stronger
+voice, 'I have seen more stars than ever were made. Had my kopf not
+been well hooped he would have knocked it in like an ill-staved cask. He
+shlags like the kick of a horse.'
+
+As he spoke the edge of the moon peeped over a cliff and threw a flood
+of cold clear light upon the scene. Looking up I saw that a strong rope
+had been tied across the road from one tree trunk to another about eight
+feet above the ground. This could not be seen by me, even had I been
+fully awake, in the dusk; but catching me across the breast as Covenant
+trotted under it, it had swept me off and dashed me with great force to
+the ground. Either the fall or the blows which I had received had cut me
+badly, for I could feel the blood trickling in a warm stream past my
+ear and down my neck. I made no attempt to move, however, but waited in
+silence to find out who these men were into whose hands I had fallen.
+My one fear was lest my letters should be taken away from me, and my
+mission rendered of no avail. That in this, my first trust, I should be
+disarmed without a blow and lose the papers which had been confided to
+me, was a chance which made me flush and tingle with shame at the very
+thought.
+
+The gang who had seized me were rough-bearded fellows in fur caps and
+fustian jackets, with buff belts round their waists, from which hung
+short straight whinyards. Their dark sun-dried faces and their great
+boots marked them as fishermen or seamen, as might be guessed from their
+rude sailor speech. A pair knelt on either side with their hands upon
+my arms, a third stood behind with a cocked pistol pointed at my head,
+while the others, seven or eight in number, were helping to his feet the
+man whom I had struck, who was bleeding freely from a cut over the eye.
+
+'Take the horse up to Daddy Mycroft's,' said a stout, black-bearded man,
+who seemed to be their leader. 'It is no mere dragooner hack,(Note
+I. Appendix) but a comely, full-blooded brute, which will fetch sixty
+pieces at the least. Your share of that, Peter, will buy salve and
+plaster for your cut.'
+
+'Ha, houndsfoot!' cried the Dutchman, shaking his fist at me. 'You
+would strike Peter, would you? You would draw Peter's blood, would you?
+Tausend Teufel, man! if you and I were together upon the hillside we
+should see vich vas the petter man.'
+
+'Slack your jaw tackle, Pete,' growled one of his comrades. 'This fellow
+is a limb of Satan for sure, and doth follow a calling that none but a
+mean, snivelling, baseborn son of a gun would take to. Yet I warrant,
+from the look of him, that he could truss you like a woodcock if he had
+his great hands upon you. And you would howl for help as you did last
+Martinmas, when you did mistake Cooper Dick's wife for a gauger.'
+
+'Truss me, would he? Todt und Holle!' cried the other, whom the blow
+and the brandy had driven to madness. 'We shall see. Take that, thou
+deyvil's spawn, take that!' He ran at me, and kicked me as hard as he
+could with his heavy sea-boots.
+
+Some of the gang laughed, but the man who had spoken before gave
+the Dutchman a shove that sent him whirling. 'None of that,' he said
+sternly. 'We'll have British fair-play on British soil, and none of your
+cursed longshore tricks. I won't stand by and see an Englishman
+kicked, d'ye see, by a tub-bellied, round-starned, schnapps-swilling,
+chicken-hearted son of an Amsterdam lust-vrouw. Hang him, if the skipper
+likes. That's all above board, but by thunder, if it's a fight that you
+will have, touch that man again.'
+
+'All right, Dicon,' said their leader soothingly. 'We all know that
+Pete's not a fighting man, but he's the best cooper on the coast, eh,
+Pete? There is not his equal at staving, hooping, and bumping. He'll
+take a plank of wood and turn it into a keg while another man would be
+thinking of it.'
+
+'Oh, you remember that, Captain Murgatroyd,' said the Dutchman sulkily.
+'But you see me knocked about and shlagged, and bullied, and called
+names, and what help have I? So help me, when the _Maria_ is in the
+Texel next, I'll take to my old trade, I will, and never set foot on her
+again.'
+
+'No fear,' the Captain answered, laughing. 'While the _Maria_ brings in
+five thousand good pieces a year, and can show her heels to any cutter
+on the coast, there is no fear of greedy Pete losing his share of her.
+Why, man, at this rate you may have a lust-haus of your own in a year or
+two, with a trimmed lawn, and the trees all clipped like peacocks, and
+the flowers in pattern, and a canal by the door, and a great bouncing
+house-wife just like any Burgomeister. There's many such a fortune been
+made out of Mechlin and Cognac.'
+
+'Aye, and there's many a broken kopf got over Mechlin and Cognac,'
+grumbled my enemy. 'Donner! There are other things beside lust-houses
+and flower-beds. There are lee-shores and nor'-westers, beaks and
+preventives.'
+
+'And there's where the smart seaman has the pull over the herring buss,
+or the skulking coaster that works from Christmas to Christmas with all
+the danger and none of the little pickings. But enough said! Up with the
+prisoner, and let us get him safely into the bilboes.'
+
+I was raised to my feet and half carried, half dragged along in the
+midst of the gang. My horse had already been led away in the opposite
+direction. Our course lay off the road, down a very rocky and rugged
+ravine which sloped away towards the sea. There seemed to be no trace of
+a path, and I could only stumble along over rocks and bushes as best I
+might in my fettered and crippled state. The blood, however, had
+dried over my wounds, and the cool sea breeze playing upon my forehead
+refreshed me, and helped me to take a clearer view of my position.
+
+It was plain from their talk that these men were smugglers. As such,
+they were not likely to have any great love for the Government, or
+desire to uphold King James in any way. On the contrary, their goodwill
+would probably be with Monmouth, for had I not seen the day before a
+whole regiment of foot in his army, raised from among the coaster folk?
+On the other hand, their greed might be stronger than their loyalty, and
+might lead them to hand me over to justice in the hope of reward. On the
+whole it would be best, I thought, to say nothing of my mission, and to
+keep my papers secret as long as possible.
+
+But I could not but wonder, as I was dragged along, what had led these
+men to lie in wait for me as they had done. The road along which I had
+travelled was a lonely one, and yet a fair number of travellers bound
+from the West through Weston to Bristol must use it. The gang could
+not lie in perpetual guard over it. Why had they set a trap on this
+particular night, then? The smugglers were a lawless and desperate body,
+but they did not, as a rule, descend to foot-paddery or robbery. As long
+as no one interfered with them they were seldom the first to break the
+peace. Then, why had they lain in wait for me, who had never injured
+them? Could it possibly be that I had been betrayed? I was still turning
+over these questions in my mind when we all came to a halt, and the
+Captain blew a shrill note on a whistle which hung round his neck.
+
+The place where we found ourselves was the darkest and most rugged spot
+in the whole wild gorge. On either side great cliffs shot up, which
+arched over our heads, with a fringe of ferns and bracken on either lip,
+so that the dark sky and the few twinkling stars were well-nigh hid.
+Great black rocks loomed vaguely out in the shadowy light, while in
+front a high tangle of what seemed to be brushwood barred our road. At a
+second whistle, however, a glint of light was seen through the branches,
+and the whole mass was swung to one side as though it moved upon a
+hinge. Beyond it a dark winding passage opened into the side of the
+hill, down which we went with our backs bowed, for the rock ceiling was
+of no great height. On every side of us sounded the throbbing of the
+sea.
+
+Passing through the entrance, which must have been dug with great labour
+through the solid rock, we came out into a lofty and roomy cave, lit
+up by a fire at one end, and by several torches. By their smoky yellow
+glare I could see that the roof was, at least, fifty feet above us, and
+was hung by long lime-crystals, which sparkled and gleamed with great
+brightness. The floor of the cave was formed of fine sand, as soft and
+velvety as a Wilton carpet, sloping down in a way which showed that the
+cave must at its mouth open upon the sea, which was confirmed by the
+booming and splashing of the waves, and by the fresh salt air which
+filled the whole cavern. No water could be seen, however, as a sharp
+turn cut off our view of the outlet.
+
+In this rock-girt space, which may have been sixty paces long and
+thirty across, there were gathered great piles of casks, kegs and cases;
+muskets, cutlasses, staves, cudgels, and straw were littered about upon
+the floor. At one end a high wood fire blazed merrily, casting strange
+shadows along the walls, and sparkling like a thousand diamonds among
+the crystals on the roof. The smoke was carried away through a great
+cleft in the rocks. Seated on boxes, or stretched on the sand round the
+fire, there were seven or eight more of the band, who sprang to their
+feet and ran eagerly towards us as we entered.
+
+Have ye got him?' they cried. 'Did he indeed come? Had he attendants?'
+
+'He is here, and he is alone,' the Captain answered. 'Our hawser fetched
+him off his horse as neatly as ever a gull was netted by a cragsman.
+What have ye done in our absence, Silas!'
+
+'We have the packs ready for carriage,' said the man addressed, a
+sturdy, weather-beaten seaman of middle age. 'The silk and lace are done
+in these squares covered over with sacking. The one I have marked "yarn"
+and the other "jute"--a thousand of Mechlin to a hundred of the shiny.
+They will sling over a mule's back. Brandy, schnapps, Schiedam, and
+Hamburg Goldwasser are all set out in due order. The 'baccy is in the
+flat cases over by the Black Drop there. A plaguey job we had carrying
+it all out, but here it is ship-shape at last, and the lugger floats
+like a skimming dish, with scarce ballast enough to stand up to a
+five-knot breeze.'
+
+'Any signs of the _Fairy Queen_?' asked the smuggler.
+
+'None. Long John is down at the water's edge looking out for her
+flash-light. This wind should bring her up if she has rounded
+Combe-Martin Point. There was a sail about ten miles to the
+east-nor'-east at sundown. She might have been a Bristol schooner, or
+she might have been a King's fly-boat.'
+
+'A King's crawl-boat,' said Captain Murgatroyd, with a sneer. 'We cannot
+hang the gauger until Venables brings up the _Fairy Queen_, for after
+all it was one of his hands that was snackled. Let him do his own dirty
+work.'
+
+'Tausend Blitzen!' cried the ruffian Dutchman, 'would it not be a kindly
+grass to Captain Venables to chuck the gauger down the Black Drop ere he
+come? He may have such another job to do for us some day.'
+
+'Zounds, man, are you in command or am I?' said the leader angrily.
+'Bring the prisoner forward to the fire! Now, hark ye, dog of a
+land-shark; you are as surely a dead man as though you were laid out
+with the tapers burning. See here'--he lifted a torch, and showed by
+its red light a great crack in the floor across the far end of the
+cave--'you can judge of the Black Drop's depth!' he said, raising an
+empty keg and tossing it over into the yawning gulf. For ten seconds
+we stood silent before a dull distant clatter told that it had at last
+reached the bottom.
+
+'It will carry him half-way to hell before the breath leaves him,' said
+one.
+
+'It's an easier death than the Devizes gallows!' cried a second.
+
+'Nay, he shall have the gallows first!' a third shouted. 'It is but his
+burial that we are arranging.'
+
+'He hath not opened his mouth since we took him,' said the man who was
+called Dicon. 'Is he a mute, then? Find your tongue, my fine fellow, and
+let us hear what your name is. It would have been well for you if you
+had been born dumb, so that you could not have sworn our comrade's life
+away.'
+
+'I have been waiting for a civil question after all this brawling and
+brabbling,' said I. 'My name is Micah Clarke. Now, pray inform me who ye
+may be, and by what warrant ye stop peaceful travellers upon the public
+highway?'
+
+'This is our warrant,' Murgatroyd answered, touching the hilt of his
+cutlass. 'As to who we are, ye know that well enough. Your name is
+not Clarke, but Westhouse, or Waterhouse, and you are the same cursed
+exciseman who snackled our poor comrade, Cooper Dick, and swore away his
+life at Ilchester.'
+
+'I swear that you are mistaken,' I replied. 'I have never in my life
+been in these parts before.'
+
+'Fine words! Fine words!' cried another smuggler. 'Gauger or no, you
+must jump for it, since you know the secret of our cave.'
+
+'Your secret is safe with me,' I answered. 'But if ye wish to murder me,
+I shall meet my fate as a soldier should. I should have chosen to die on
+the field of battle, rather than to lie at the mercy of such a pack of
+water-rats in their burrow.'
+
+'My faith!' said Murgatroyd. 'This is too tall talk for a gauger. He
+bears himself like a soldier, too. It is possible that in snaring the
+owl we have caught the falcon. Yet we had certain token that he would
+come this way, and on such another horse.'
+
+'Call up Long John,' suggested the Dutchman. 'I vould not give a plug of
+Trinidado for the Schelm's word. Long John was with Cooper Dick when he
+was taken.'
+
+'Aye,' growled the mate Silas. 'He got a wipe over the arm from the
+gauger's whinyard. He'll know his face, if any will.'
+
+'Call him, then,' said Murgatroyd, and presently a long, loose-limbed
+seaman came up from the mouth of the cave, where he had been on watch.
+He wore a red kerchief round his forehead, and a blue jerkin, the sleeve
+of which he slowly rolled up as he came nigh.
+
+'Where is Gauger Westhouse?' he cried; 'he has left his mark on my arm.
+Rat me, if the scar is healed yet. The sun is on our side of the wall
+now, gauger. But hullo, mates! Who be this that ye have clapped into
+irons? This is not our man!'
+
+'Not our man!' they cried, with a volley of curses.
+
+'Why, this fellow would make two of the gauger, and leave enough over
+to fashion a magistrate's clerk. Ye may hang him to make sure, but still
+he's not the man.'
+
+'Yes, hang him!' said Dutch Pete. 'Sapperment! is our cave to be the
+talk of all the country? Vere is the pretty _Maria_ to go then, vid her
+silks and her satins, her kegs and her cases'? Are we to risk our
+cave for the sake of this fellow? Besides, has he not schlagged my
+kopf--schlagged your cooper's kopf--as if he had hit me mit mine own
+mallet? Is that not vorth a hemp cravat?'
+
+'Worth a jorum of rumbo,' cried Dicon. 'By your leave, Captain, I would
+say that we are not a gang of padders and michers, but a crew of honest
+seamen, who harm none but those who harm us. Exciseman Westhouse hath
+slain Cooper Dick, and it is just that he should die for it; but as to
+taking this young soldier's life, I'd as soon think of scuttling the
+saucy _Maria_, or of mounting the Jolly Roger at her peak.'
+
+What answer would have been given to this speech I cannot tell, for
+at that moment a shrill whistle resounded outside the cave, and two
+smugglers appeared bearing between them the body of a man. It hung so
+limp that I thought at first that he might be dead, but when they threw
+him on the sand he moved, and at last sat up like one who is but half
+awoken from a swoon. He was a square dogged-faced fellow, with a long
+white scar down his cheek, and a close-fitting blue coat with brass
+buttons.
+
+'It's Gauger Westhouse!' cried a chorus of voices. 'Yes, it is Gauger
+Westhouse,' said the man calmly, giving his neck a wriggle as though he
+were in pain. 'I represent the King's law, and in its name I arrest ye
+all, and declare all the contraband goods which I see around me to be
+confiscate and forfeited, according to the second section of the first
+clause of the statute upon illegal dealing. If there are any honest men
+in this company, they will assist me in the execution of my duty.' He
+staggered to his feet as he spoke, but his spirit was greater than his
+strength, and he sank back upon the sand amid a roar of laughter from
+the rough seamen.
+
+'We found him lying on the road when we came from Daddy Mycroft's,' said
+one of the new-comers, who were the same men who had led away my horse.
+'He must have passed just after you left, and the rope caught him under
+the chin and threw him a dozen paces. We saw the revenue button on his
+coat, so we brought him down. Body o' me, but he kicked and plunged for
+all that he was three-quarters stunned.'
+
+'Have ye slacked the hawser?' the Captain asked.
+
+'We cast one end loose and let it hang.'
+
+''Tis well. We must keep him for Captain Venables. But now, as to our
+other prisoner: we must overhaul him and examine his papers, for so many
+craft are sailing under false colours that we must needs be careful.
+Hark ye, Mister Soldier! What brings you to these parts, and what king
+do you serve? for I hear there's a mutiny broke out, and two skippers
+claim equal rating in the old British ship.'
+
+'I am serving under King Monmouth,' I answered, seeing that the proposed
+search must end in the finding of my papers.
+
+'Under King Monmouth!' cried the smuggler. 'Nay, friend, that rings
+somewhat false. The good King hath, I hear, too much need of his friends
+in the south to let an able soldier go wandering along the sea coast
+like a Cornish wrecker in a sou'-wester.'
+
+'I bear despatches,' said I, 'from the King's own hand to Henry Duke
+of Beaufort, at his castle at Badminton. Ye can find them in my inner
+pocket, but I pray ye not to break the seal, lest it bring discredit
+upon my mission.'
+
+'Sir,' cried the gauger, raising himself upon his elbow, 'I do hereby
+arrest you on the charge of being a traitor, a promoter of treason, a
+vagrant, and a masterless man within the meaning of the fourth statute
+of the Act. As an officer of the law I call upon you to submit to my
+warrant.'
+
+'Brace up his jaw with your scarf, Jim,' said Murgatroyd. 'When Venables
+comes he will soon find a way to check his gab. Yes,' he continued,
+looking at the back of my papers, 'it is marked, as you say, "From James
+the Second of England, known lately as the Duke of Monmouth, to Henry
+Duke of Beaufort, President of Wales, by the hand of Captain Micah
+Clarke, of Saxon's regiment of Wiltshire foot." Cast off the lashings,
+Dicon. So, Captain, you are a free man once more, and I grieve that we
+should have unwittingly harmed you. We are good Lutherans to a man, and
+would rather speed you than hinder you on this mission.'
+
+'Could we not indeed help him on his way!' said the mate Silas. 'For
+myself, I don't fear a wet jacket or a tarry hand for the cause, and
+I doubt not ye are all of my way of thinking. Now with this breeze we
+could run up to Bristol and drop the Captain by morning, which would
+save him from being snapped up by any land-sharks on the road.'
+
+'Aye, aye,' cried Long John. 'The King's horse are out beyond Weston,
+but he could give them the slip if he had the _Maria_ under him.'
+
+'Well,' said Murgatroyd, 'we could get back by three long tacks.
+Venables will need a day or so to get his goods ashore. If we are to
+sail back in company we shall have time on our hands. How would the plan
+suit you, Captain?'
+
+'My horse!' I objected.
+
+'It need not stop us. I can rig up a handy horse-stall with my spare
+spars and the grating. The wind has died down. The lugger could be
+brought to Dead Man's Edge, and the horse led down to it. Run up to
+Daddy's, Jim; and you, Silas, see to the boat. Here is some cold junk
+and biscuit--seaman's fare, Captain--and a glass o' the real Jamaica to
+wash it down an' thy stomach be not too dainty for rough living.'
+
+I seated myself on a barrel by the fire, and stretched my limbs, which
+were cramped and stiffened by their confinement, while one of the seamen
+bathed the cut on my head with a wet kerchief, and another laid out some
+food on a case in front of me. The rest of the gang had trooped away to
+the mouth of the cave to prepare the lugger, save only two or three who
+stood on guard round the ill-fated gauger. He lay with his back resting
+against the wall of the cave, and his arms crossed over his breast,
+glancing round from time to time at the smugglers with menacing eyes, as
+a staunch old hound might gaze at a pack of wolves who had overmatched
+him. I was turning it over in my own mind whether aught could be done to
+help him, when Murgatroyd came over, and dipping a tin pannikin into the
+open rum tub, drained it to the success of my mission.
+
+'I shall send Silas Bolitho with you,' said he, 'while I bide here to
+meet Venables, who commands my consort. If there is aught that I can do
+to repay you for your ill usage--'
+
+'There is but one thing, Captain,' I broke in eagerly. 'It is as much,
+or more, for your own sake than mine that I ask it. Do not allow this
+unhappy man to be murdered.'
+
+Murgatroyd's face flushed with anger. 'You are a plain speaker, Captain
+Clarke,' said he. 'This is no murder. It is justice. What harm do we
+here? There is not an old housewife over the whole countryside who does
+not bless us. Where is she to buy her souchong, or her strong waters,
+except from us! We charge little, and force our goods on no one. We are
+peaceful traders. Yet this man and his fellows are ever yelping at our
+heels, like so many dogfish on a cod bank. We have been harried, and
+chivied, and shot at until we are driven into such dens as this. A month
+ago, four of our men were bearing a keg up the hillside to Farmer Black,
+who hath dealt with us these five years back. Of a sudden, down came
+half a score of horse, led by this gauger, hacked and slashed with their
+broad-swords, cut Long John's arm open, and took Cooper Dick prisoner.
+Dick was haled to Ilchester Gaol, and hung up after the assizes like
+a stoat on a gamekeeper's door. This night we had news that this very
+gauger was coming this way, little knowing that we should be on the
+look-out for him. Is it a wonder that we should lay a trap for him, and
+that, having caught him, we should give him the same justice as he gave
+our comrades?'
+
+'He is but a servant, I argued. 'He hath not made the law. It is his
+duty to enforce it. It is with the law itself that your quarrel is.'
+
+'You are right,' said the smuggler gloomily. 'It is with Judge Moorcroft
+that we have our chief account to square. He may pass this road upon his
+circuit. Heaven send he does! But we shall hang the gauger too. He knows
+our cave now, and it would be madness to let him go.'
+
+I saw that it was useless to argue longer, so I contented myself with
+dropping my pocket-knife on the sand within reach of the prisoner, in
+the hope that it might prove to be of some service to him. His guards
+were laughing and joking together, and giving little heed to their
+charge, but the gauger was keen enough, for I saw his hand close over
+it.
+
+I had walked and smoked for an hour or more, when Silas the mate
+appeared, and said that the lugger was ready and the horse aboard.
+Bidding Murgatroyd farewell, I ventured a few more words in favour of
+the gauger, which were received with a frown and an angry shake of the
+head. A boat was drawn up on the sand, inside the cave, at the water's
+edge. Into this I stepped, as directed, with my sword and pistols, which
+had been given back to me, while the crew pushed her off and sprang in
+as she glided into deep water.
+
+I could see by the dim light of the single torch which Murgatroyd held
+upon the margin, that the roof of the cave sloped sheer down upon us as
+we sculled slowly out towards the entrance. So low did it come at last
+that there was only a space of a few feet between it and the water, and
+we had to bend our heads to avoid the rocks above us. The boatmen gave
+two strong strokes, and we shot out from under the overhanging ledge,
+and found ourselves in the open with the stars shining murkily above
+us, and the moon showing herself dimly and cloudily through a gathering
+haze. Right in front of us was a dark blur, which, as we pulled towards
+it, took the outline of a large lugger rising and falling with the pulse
+of the sea. Her tall thin spars and delicate network of cordage towered
+above us as we glided under the counter, while the creaking of blocks
+and rattle of ropes showed that she was all ready to glide off upon her
+journey. Lightly and daintily she rode upon the waters, like some giant
+seafowl, spreading one white pinion after another in preparation for
+her flight. The boatmen ran us alongside and steadied the dinghy while I
+climbed over the bulwarks on to the deck.
+
+She was a roomy vessel, very broad in the beam, with a graceful curve in
+her bows, and masts which were taller than any that I had seen on such
+a boat on the Solent. She was decked over in front, but very deep in the
+after part, with ropes fixed all round the sides to secure kegs when the
+hold should be full. In the midst of this after-deck the mariners had
+built a strong stall, in which my good steed was standing, with a bucket
+full of oats in front of him. My old friend shoved his nose against my
+face as I came aboard, and neighed his pleasure at finding his master
+once more. We were still exchanging caresses when the grizzled head of
+Silas Bolitho the mate popped out of the cabin hatchway.
+
+'We are fairly on our way now, Captain Clarke,' said he. 'The breeze
+has fallen away to nothing, as you can see, and we may be some time in
+running down to our port. Are you not aweary?'
+
+'I am a little tired,' I confessed. 'My head is throbbing from the crack
+I got when that hawser of yours dashed me from my saddle.'
+
+'An hour or two of sleep will make you as fresh as a Mother Carey's
+chicken,' said the smuggler. 'Your horse is well cared for, and you can
+leave him without fear. I will set a man to tend him, though, truth to
+say, the rogues know more about studding-sails and halliards than they
+do of steeds and their requirements. Yet no harm can come to him, so you
+had best come down and turn in.'
+
+I descended the steep stairs which led down into the low-roofed cabin of
+the lugger. On either side a recess in the wall had been fitted up as a
+couch.
+
+'This is your bed,' said he, pointing to one of them. 'We shall call
+you if there be aught to report.' I needed no second invitation, but
+flinging myself down without undressing, I sank in a few minutes into
+a dreamless sleep, which neither the gentle motion of the boat nor the
+clank of feet above my head could break off.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV. Of the Welcome that met me at Badminton
+
+When I opened my eyes I had some ado to recall where I was, but on
+sitting up it was brought home to me by my head striking the low ceiling
+with a sharp rap. On the other side of the cabin Silas Bolitho was
+stretched at full length with a red woollen nightcap upon his head, fast
+asleep and snoring. In the centre of the cabin hung a swing-table,
+much worn, and stained all over with the marks of countless glasses
+and pannikins. A wooden bench, screwed to the floor, completed the
+furniture, with the exception of a stand of muskets along one side.
+Above and below the berths in which we lay were rows of lockers, in
+which, doubtless, some of the more choice laces and silks were stowed.
+The vessel was rising and falling with a gentle motion, but from the
+flapping of canvas I judged that there was little wind. Slipping quietly
+from my couch, so as not to wake the mate, I stole upon deck.
+
+We were, I found, not only becalmed, but hemmed in by a dense fog-bank
+which rolled in thick, choking wreaths all round us, and hid the very
+water beneath us. We might have been a ship of the air riding upon
+a white cloud-bank. Now and anon a little puff of breeze caught the
+foresail and bellied it out for a moment, only to let it flap back
+against the mast, limp and slack, once more. A sunbeam would at times
+break through the dense cloud, and would spangle the dead grey wall with
+a streak of rainbow colour, but the haze would gather in again and shut
+off the bright invader. Covenant was staring right and left with great
+questioning eyes. The crew were gathered along the bulwarks and smoking
+their pipes while they peered out into the dense fog.
+
+'God den, Captain,' said Dicon, touching his fur cap. 'We have had a
+rare run while the breeze lasted, and the mate reckoned before he turned
+in that we were not many miles from Bristol town.'
+
+'In that case, my good fellow,' I answered, 'ye can set me ashore, for I
+have not far to go.'
+
+'We must e'en wait till the fog lifts,' said Long John. 'There's only
+one place along here, d'ye see, where we can land cargoes unquestioned.
+When it clears we shall turn her head for it, but until we can take our
+bearings it is anxious work wi' the sands under our lee.'
+
+'Keep a look-out there, Tom Baldock!' cried Dicon to a man in the bows.
+'We are in the track of every Bristol ship, and though there's so little
+wind, a high-sparred craft might catch a breeze which we miss.'
+
+'Sh!' said Long John suddenly, holding up his hand in warning. 'Sh!'
+
+We listened with all our ears, but there was no sound, save the gentle
+wash of the unseen waves against our sides.
+
+'Call the mate!' whispered the seaman. 'There's a craft close by us. I
+heard the rattle of a rope upon her deck.'
+
+Silas Bolitho was up in an instant, and we all stood straining our ears,
+and peering through the dense fog-bank. We had well-nigh made up our
+minds that it was a false alarm, and the mate was turning back in no
+very good humour, when a clear loud bell sounded seven times quite
+close to us, followed by a shrill whistle and a confused shouting and
+stamping.
+
+'It's a King's ship,' growled the mate. 'That's seven bells, and the
+bo'sun is turning out the watch below.'
+
+'It was on our quarter,' whispered one.
+
+'Nay, I think it was on our larboard bow,' said another.
+
+The mate held up his hand, and we all listened for some fresh sign
+of the whereabouts of our scurvy neighbour. The wind had freshened a
+little, and we were slipping through the water at four or five knots
+an hour. Of a sudden a hoarse voice was heard roaring at our very side.
+''Bout ship!' it shouted. 'Bear a hand on the lee-braces, there! Stand
+by the halliards! Bear a hand, ye lazy rogues, or I'll be among ye with
+my cane, with a wannion to ye!'
+
+'It is a King's ship, sure enough, and she lies just there,' said Long
+John, pointing out over the quarter. 'Merchant adventurers have
+civil tongues. It's your blue-coated, gold-braided, swivel-eyed,
+quarter-deckers that talk of canes. Ha! did I not tell ye!'
+
+As he spoke, the white screen of vapour rolled up like the curtain in
+a playhouse, and uncovered a stately war-ship, lying so close that we
+could have thrown a biscuit aboard. Her long, lean, black hull rose
+and fell with a slow, graceful rhythm, while her beautiful spars and
+snow-white sails shot aloft until they were lost in the wreaths of fog
+which still hung around her. Nine bright brass cannons peeped out at us
+from her portholes. Above the line of hammocks, which hung like carded
+wool along her bulwarks, we could see the heads of the seamen staring
+down at us, and pointing us out to each other. On the high poop stood an
+elderly officer with cocked hat and trim white wig, who at once whipped
+up his glass and gazed at us through it.
+
+'Ahoy, there!' he shouted, leaning over the taffrail. 'What lugger is
+that?'
+
+'The _Lucy_,' answered the mate, 'bound from Porlock Quay to Bristol
+with hides and tallow. Stand ready to tack!' he added in a lower voice,
+'the fog is coming down again.'
+
+'Ye have one of the hides with the horse still in it,' cried the
+officer. 'Run down under our counter. We must have a closer look at ye.'
+
+'Aye, aye, sir!' said the mate, and putting his helm hard down the boom
+swung across, and the _Maria_ darted off like a scared seabird into the
+fog. Looking back there was nothing but a dim loom to show where we had
+left the great vessel. We could hear, however, the hoarse shouting of
+orders and the bustle of men.
+
+'Look out for squalls, lads!' cried the mate. 'He'll let us have it
+now.'
+
+He had scarcely spoken before there were half-a-dozen throbs of flame in
+the mist behind, and as many balls sung among our rigging. One cut away
+the end of the yard, and left it dangling; another grazed the bowsprit,
+and sent a puff of white splinters into the air.
+
+'Warm work, Captain, eh?' said old Silas, rubbing his hands. 'Zounds,
+they shoot better in the dark than ever they did in the light. There
+have been more shots fired at this lugger than she could carry wore she
+loaded with them. And yet they never so much as knocked the paint off
+her before. There they go again!'
+
+A fresh discharge burst from the man-of-war, but this time they had lost
+all trace of us, and were firing by guess.
+
+'That is their last bark, sir,' said Dicon.
+
+'No fear. They'll blaze away for the rest of the day,' growled another
+of the smugglers. 'Why, Lor' bless ye, it's good exercise for the crew,
+and the 'munition is the King's, so it don't cost nobody a groat.'
+
+'It's well the breeze freshened,' said Long John. 'I heard the creak o'
+davits just after the first discharge. She was lowering her boats, or
+I'm a Dutchman.'
+
+'The petter for you if you vas, you seven-foot stock-fish,' cried my
+enemy the cooper, whose aspect was not improved by a great strip of
+plaster over his eye. 'You might have learned something petter than to
+pull on a rope, or to swab decks like a vrouw all your life.'
+
+'I'll set you adrift in one of your own barrels, you skin of lard,' said
+the seaman. 'How often are we to trounce you before we knock the sauce
+out of you?'
+
+'The fog lifts a little towards the land,' Silas remarked. 'Methinks I
+see the loom of St. Austin's Point. It rises there upon the starboard
+bow.'
+
+'There it is, sure enough, sir!' cried one of the seamen, pointing to a
+dark cape which cut into the mist.
+
+'Steer for the three-fathom creek then,' said the mate. 'When we are on
+the other side of the point, Captain Clarke, we shall be able to land
+your horse and yourself. You will then be within a few hours' ride of
+your destination.'
+
+I led the old seaman aside, and having thanked him for the kindness
+which he had shown me, I spoke to him of the gauger, and implored him to
+use his influence to save the man.
+
+'It rests with Captain Venables,' said he gloomily. 'If we let him go
+what becomes of our cave?'
+
+'Is there no way of insuring his silence?' I asked. 'Well, we might ship
+him to the Plantations,' said the mate. 'We could take him to the Texel
+with us, and get Captain Donders or some other to give him a lift across
+the western ocean.'
+
+'Do so,' said I, 'and I shall take care that King Monmouth shall hear of
+the help which ye have given his messenger.'
+
+'Well, we shall be there in a brace of shakes,' he remarked. 'Let us go
+below and load your ground tier, for there is nothing like starting well
+trimmed with plenty of ballast in the hold.'
+
+Following the sailor's advice I went down with him and enjoyed a rude
+but plentiful meal. By the time that we had finished, the lugger had
+been run into a narrow creek, with shelving sandy banks on either side.
+The district was wild and marshy, with few signs of any inhabitants.
+With much coaxing and pushing Covenant was induced to take to the water,
+and swam easily ashore, while I followed in the smuggler's dinghy. A
+few words of rough, kindly leave-taking were shouted after me; I saw the
+dinghy return, and the beautiful craft glided out to sea and faded away
+once more into the mists which still hung over the face of the waters.
+
+Truly Providence works in strange ways, my children, and until a
+man comes to the autumn of his days he can scarce say what hath been
+ill-luck and what hath been good. For of all the seeming misfortunes
+which have befallen me during my wandering life, there is not one which
+I have not come to look upon as a blessing. And if you once take this
+into your hearts, it is a mighty help in enabling you to meet all
+troubles with a stiff lip; for why should a man grieve when he hath not
+yet determined whether what hath chanced may not prove to be a cause of
+rejoicing. Now here ye will perceive that I began by being dashed upon
+a stony road, beaten, kicked, and finally well-nigh put to death in
+mistake for another. Yet it ended in my being safely carried to my
+journey's end, whereas, had I gone by land, it is more than likely that
+I should have been cut off at Weston; for, as I heard afterwards, a
+troop of horse were making themselves very active in those parts by
+blocking the roads and seizing all who came that way.
+
+Being now alone, my first care was to bathe my face and hands in a
+stream which ran down to the sea, and to wipe away any trace of my
+adventures of the night before. My cut was but a small one, and was
+concealed by my hair. Having reduced myself to some sort of order I next
+rubbed down my horse as best I could, and rearranged his girth and his
+saddle. I then led him by the bridle to the top of a sandhill hard by,
+whence I might gain some idea as to my position.
+
+The fog lay thick upon the Channel, but all inland was very clear and
+bright. Along the coast the country was dreary and marshy, but at the
+other side a goodly extent of fertile plain lay before me, well tilled
+and cared for. A range of lofty hills, which I guessed to be the
+Mendips, bordered the whole skyline, and further north there lay a
+second chain in the blue distance. The glittering Avon wound its way
+over the country-side like a silver snake in a flower-bed. Close to its
+mouth, and not more than two leagues from where I stood, rose the spires
+and towers of stately Bristol, the Queen of the West, which was and
+still may be the second city in the kingdom. The forests of masts which
+shot up like a pinegrove above the roofs of the houses bore witness to
+the great trade both with Ireland and with the Plantations which had
+built up so flourishing a city.
+
+As I knew that the Duke's seat was miles on the Gloucestershire side of
+the city, and as I feared lest I might be arrested and examined should I
+attempt to pass the gates, I struck inland with intent to ride round the
+walls and so avoid the peril. The path which I followed led me into a
+country lane, which in turn opened into a broad highway crowded with
+travellers, both on horseback and on foot. As the troublous times
+required that a man should journey with his arms, there was naught in
+my outfit to excite remark, and I was able to jog on among the other
+horsemen without question or suspicion. From their appearance they were,
+I judged, country farmers or squires for the most part, who were riding
+into Bristol to hear the news, and to store away their things of price
+in a place of safety.
+
+'By your leave, zur!' said a burly, heavy-faced man in a velveteen
+jacket, riding up upon my bridle-arm. 'Can you tell me whether his Grace
+of Beaufort is in Bristol or at his house o' Badminton?'
+
+I answered that I could not tell, but that I was myself bound for his
+presence.
+
+'He was in Bristol yestreen a-drilling o' the train-bands,' said the
+stranger; 'but, indeed, his Grace be that loyal, and works that hard for
+his Majesty's cause, that he's a' ower the county, and it is but chance
+work for to try and to catch him. But if you are about to zeek him,
+whither shall you go?'
+
+'I will to Badminton,' I answered, 'and await him there. Can you tell me
+the way?'
+
+'What! Not know the way to Badminton!' he cried, with a blank stare of
+wonder. 'Whoy, I thought all the warld knew that. You're not fra Wales
+or the border counties, zur, that be very clear.'
+
+'I am a Hampshire man,' said I. 'I have come some distance to see the
+Duke.'
+
+'Aye, so I should think!' he cried, laughing loudly. 'If you doan't know
+the way to Badminton you doan't know much! But I'll go with you, danged
+if I doan't, and I'll show you your road, and run my chance o' finding
+the Duke there. What be your name?'
+
+'Micah Clarke is my name.'
+
+'And Vairmer Brown is mine--John Brown by the register, but better
+knowed as the Vairmer. Tak' this turn to the right off the high-road.
+Now we can trot our beasts and not be smothered in other folk's dust.
+And what be you going to Beaufort for?'
+
+'On private matters which will not brook discussion,' I answered.
+
+'Lor', now! Affairs o' State belike,' said he, with a whistle. 'Well, a
+still tongue saves many a neck. I'm a cautious man myself, and these be
+times when I wouldna whisper some o' my thoughts--no, not into the ears
+o' my old brown mare here--for fear I'd see her some day standing over
+against me in the witness-box.'
+
+'They seem very busy over there,' I remarked, for we were now in full
+sight of the walls of Bristol, where gangs of men were working hard with
+pick and shovel improving the defences.
+
+'Aye, they be busy sure enough, makin' ready in case the rebels come
+this road. Cromwell and his tawnies found it a rasper in my vather's
+time, and Monmouth is like to do the same.'
+
+'It hath a strong garrison, too,' said I, bethinking me of Saxon's
+advice at Salisbury. 'I see two or three regiments out yonder on the
+bare open space.'
+
+'They have four thousand foot and a thousand horse,' the farmer
+answered. 'But the foot are only train-bands, and there's no trusting
+them after Axminster. They say up here that the rebels run to nigh
+twenty thousand, and that they give no quarter. Well, if we must have
+civil war, I hope it may be hot and sudden, not spun out for a dozen
+years like the last one. If our throats are to be cut, let it be with a
+shairp knife, and not with a blunt hedge shears.'
+
+'What say you to a stoup of cider?' I asked, for we were passing an
+ivy-clad inn, with 'The Beaufort Arms' printed upon the sign.
+
+'With all my heart, lad,' my companion answered. 'Ho, there! two pints
+of the old hard-brewed! That will serve to wash the dust down. The real
+Beaufort Arms is up yonder at Badminton, for at the buttery hatch one
+may call for what one will in reason and never put hand to pocket.'
+
+'You speak of the house as though you knew it well,' said I.
+
+'And who should know it better?' asked the sturdy farmer, wiping his
+lips, as we resumed our journey. 'Why, it seems but yesterday that I
+played hide-and-seek wi' my brothers in the old Boteler Castle, that
+stood where the new house o' Badminton, or Acton Turville, as some calls
+it, now stands. The Duke hath built it but a few years, and, indeed, his
+Dukedom itself is scarce older. There are some who think that he would
+have done better to stick by the old name that his forebears bore.'
+
+'What manner of man is the Duke?' I asked.
+
+'Hot and hasty, like all of his blood. Yet when he hath time to think,
+and hath cooled down, he is just in the main. Your horse hath been in
+the water this morning, vriend.'
+
+'Yes,' said I shortly, 'he hath had a bath.'
+
+'I am going to his Grace on the business of a horse,' quoth my
+companion. 'His officers have pressed my piebald four-year-old, and
+taken it without a "With your leave," or "By your leave," for the use of
+the King. I would have them know that there is something higher than
+the Duke, or even than the King. There is the English law, which will
+preserve a man's goods and his chattels. I would do aught in reason for
+King James's service, but my piebald four-year-old is too much.'
+
+'I fear that the needs of the public service will override your
+objection,' said I.
+
+'Why it is enough to make a man a Whig,' he cried. 'Even the Roundheads
+always paid their vair penny for every pennyworth they had, though they
+wanted a vair pennyworth for each penny. I have heard my father say that
+trade was never so brisk as in 'forty-six, when they were down this way.
+Old Noll had a noose of hemp ready for horse-stealers, were they for
+King or for Parliament. But here comes his Grace's carriage, if I
+mistake not.'
+
+As he spoke a great heavy yellow coach, drawn by six cream-coloured
+Flemish mares, dashed down the road, and came swiftly towards us. Two
+mounted lackeys galloped in front, and two others all in light blue and
+silver liveries rode on either side.
+
+'His Grace is not within, else there had been an escort behind,' said
+the farmer, as we reined our horses aside to let the carriage pass. As
+they swept by he shouted out a question as to whether the Duke was at
+Badminton, and received a nod from the stately bewigged coachman in
+reply.
+
+'We are in luck to catch him,' said Farmer Brown. 'He's as hard to find
+these days as a crake in a wheatfield. We should be there in an hour
+or less. I must thank you that I did not take a fruitless journey into
+Bristol. What did you say your errand was?'
+
+I was again compelled to assure him that the matter was not one of which
+I could speak with a stranger, on which he appeared to be huffed, and
+rode for some miles without opening his mouth. Groves of trees lined the
+road on either side, and the sweet smell of pines was in our nostrils.
+Far away the musical pealing of a bell rose and fell on the hot, close
+summer air. The shelter of the branches was pleasant, for the sun was
+very strong, blazing down out of a cloudless heaven, and raising a haze
+from the fields and valleys.
+
+''Tis the bell from Chipping Sodbury,' said my companion at last, wiping
+his ruddy face. 'That's Sodbury Church yonder over the brow of the hill,
+and here on the right is the entrance of Badminton Park.'
+
+High iron gates, with the leopard and griffin, which are the supporters
+of the Beaufort arms, fixed on the pillars which flanked them, opened
+into a beautiful domain of lawn and grass land with clumps of trees
+scattered over it, and broad sheets of water, thick with wild fowl. At
+every turn as we rode up the winding avenue some new beauty caught our
+eyes, all of which were pointed out and expounded by Farmer Brown, who
+seemed to take as much pride in the place as though it belonged to him.
+Here it was a rockery where a thousand bright-coloured stones shone out
+through the ferns and creepers which had been trained over them. There
+it was a pretty prattling brook, the channel of which had been turned so
+as to make it come foaming down over a steep ledge of rocks. Or perhaps
+it was some statue of nymph or sylvan god, or some artfully built
+arbour overgrown with roses or honeysuckle. I have never seen grounds
+so tastefully laid out, and it was done, as all good work in art must
+be done, by following Nature so closely that it only differed from her
+handiwork in its profusion in so narrow a compass. A few years later our
+healthy English taste was spoiled by the pedant gardening of the Dutch
+with their straight flat ponds, and their trees all clipped and in a
+line like vegetable grenadiers. In truth, I think that the Prince of
+Orange and Sir William Temple had much to answer for in working this
+change, but things have now come round again, I understand, and we have
+ceased to be wiser than Nature in our pleasure-grounds.
+
+As we drew near the house we came on a large extent of level sward on
+which a troop of horse were exercising, who were raised, as my companion
+informed me, entirely from the Duke's own personal attendants. Passing
+them we rode through a grove of rare trees and came out on a broad space
+of gravel which lay in front of the house. The building itself was of
+great extent, built after the new Italian fashion, rather for comfort
+than for defence; but on one wing there remained, as my companion
+pointed out, a portion of the old keep and battlements of the feudal
+castle of the Botelers, looking as out of place as a farthingale of
+Queen Elizabeth joined to a court dress fresh from Paris. The main
+doorway was led up to by lines of columns and a broad flight of marble
+steps, on which stood a group of footmen and grooms, who took our horses
+when we dismounted. A grey-haired steward or major-domo inquired our
+business, and on learning that we wished to see the Duke in person, he
+told us that his Grace would give audience to strangers in the afternoon
+at half after three by the clock. In the meantime he said that the
+guests' dinner had just been laid in the hall, and it was his master's
+wish that none who came to Badminton should depart hungry. My companion
+and I were but too glad to accept the steward's invitation, so having
+visited the bath-room and attended to the needs of the toilet, we
+followed a footman, who ushered us into a great room where the company
+had already assembled.
+
+The guests may have numbered fifty or sixty, old and young, gentle and
+simple, of the most varied types and appearance. I observed that many
+of them cast haughty and inquiring glances round them, in the pauses
+between the dishes, as though each marvelled how he came to be a member
+of so motley a crew. Their only common feature appeared to be the
+devotion which they showed to the platter and the wine flagon. There was
+little talking, for there were few who knew their neighbours. Some were
+soldiers who had come to offer their swords and their services to
+the King's lieutenant; others were merchants from Bristol, with some
+proposal or suggestion anent the safety of their property. There
+were two or three officials of the city, who had come out to receive
+instructions as to its defence, while here and there I marked the child
+of Israel, who had found his way there in the hope that in times of
+trouble he might find high interest and noble borrowers. Horse-dealers,
+saddlers, armourers, surgeons, and clergymen completed the company,
+who were waited upon by a staff of powdered and liveried servants, who
+brought and removed the dishes with the silence and deftness of long
+training.
+
+The room was a contrast to the bare plainness of Sir Stephen Timewell's
+dining-hall at Taunton, for it was richly panelled and highly decorated
+all round. The floor was formed of black and white marble, set in
+squares, and the walls were of polished oak, and bore a long line of
+paintings of the Somerset family, from John of Gaunt downwards. The
+ceiling, too, was tastefully painted with flowers and nymphs, so that a
+man's neck was stiff ere he had done admiring it. At the further end of
+the hall yawned a great fireplace of white marble, with the lions and
+lilies of the Somerset arms carved in oak above it, and a long gilt
+scroll bearing the family motto, "Mutare vel timere sperno." The massive
+tables at which we sat were loaded with silver chargers and candelabra,
+and bright with the rich plate for which Badminton was famous. I could
+not but think that, if Saxon could clap eyes upon it, he would not be
+long in urging that the war be carried on in this direction.
+
+After dinner we were all shown into a small ante-chamber, set round with
+velvet settees, where we were to wait till the Duke was ready to see us.
+In the centre of this room there stood several cases, glass-topped and
+lined with silk, wherein were little steel and iron rods, with brass
+tubes and divers other things, very bright and ingenious, though I
+could not devise for what end they had been put together. A
+gentleman-in-waiting came round with paper and ink-horn, making notes
+of our names and of our business. Him I asked whether it might not be
+possible for me to have an entirely private audience.
+
+'His Grace never sees in private,' he replied. 'He has ever his chosen
+councillors and officers in attendance.'
+
+'But the business is one which is only fit for his own ear,' I urged.
+
+'His Grace holds that there is no business fit only for his own ear,'
+said the gentleman. 'You must arrange matters as best you can when
+you are shown in to him. I will promise, however, that your request be
+carried to him, though I warn you that it cannot be granted.'
+
+I thanked him for his good offices, and turned away with the farmer to
+look at the strange little engines within the cases.
+
+'What is it?' I asked. 'I have never seen aught that was like it.'
+
+'It is the work of the mad Marquis of Worcester,' quoth he. 'He was the
+Duke's grandfather. He was ever making and devising such toys, but they
+were never of any service to himself or to others. Now, look ye here!
+This wi' the wheels were called the water-engine, and it was his crazy
+thought that, by heating the water in that ere kettle, ye might make the
+wheels go round, and thereby travel along iron bars quicker nor a
+horse could run. 'Oons! I'd match my old brown mare against all such
+contrivances to the end o' time. But to our places, for the Duke is
+coming.'
+
+We had scarce taken our seats with the other suitors, when the
+folding-doors were flung open, and a stout, thick, short man of fifty,
+or thereabouts, came bustling into the room, and strode down it between
+two lines of bowing clients. He had large projecting blue eyes, with
+great pouches of skin beneath them, and a yellow, sallow visage. At his
+heels walked a dozen officers and men of rank, with flowing wigs and
+clanking swords. They had hardly passed through the opposite door into
+the Duke's own room, when the gentleman with the list called out a name,
+and the guests began one after the other to file into the great man's
+presence.
+
+'Methinks his Grace is in no very gentle temper,' quoth Farmer Brown.
+'Did you not mark how he gnawed his nether lip as he passed?'
+
+'He seemed a quiet gentleman enough,' I answered. 'It would try Job
+himself to see all these folk of an afternoon.'
+
+'Hark at that!' he whispered, raising his finger. As he spoke the
+sound of the Duke's voice in a storm of wrath was heard from the inner
+chamber, and a little sharp-faced man came out and flew through the
+ante-chamber as though fright had turned his head.
+
+'He is an armourer of Bristol,' whispered one of my neighbours. 'It is
+likely that the Duke cannot come to terms with him over a contract.'
+
+'Nay,' said another. 'He supplied Sir Marmaduke Hyson's troop with
+sabres, and it is said that the blades will bend as though they were
+lead. Once used they can never be fitted back into the scabbard again.'
+
+'The tall man who goes in now is an inventor,' quoth the first. 'He hath
+the secret of some very grievous fire, such as hath been used by the
+Greeks against the Turks in the Levant, which he desires to sell for the
+better fortifying of Bristol.'
+
+The Greek fire seemed to be in no great request with the Duke, for the
+inventor came out presently with his face as red as though it had been
+touched by his own compound. The next upon the list was my honest friend
+the farmer. The angry tones which greeted him promised badly for the
+fate of the four-year-old, but a lull ensued, and the farmer came out
+and resumed his seat, rubbing his great red hands with satisfaction.
+
+'Ecod!' he whispered. 'He was plaguy hot at first, but he soon came
+round, and he hath promised that if I pay for the hire of a dragooner as
+long as the war shall last I shall have back the piebald.'
+
+I had been sitting all this time wondering how in the world I was
+to conduct my business amid the swarm of suppliants and the crowd of
+officers who were attending the Duke. Had there been any likelihood
+of my gaining audience with him in any other way I should gladly have
+adopted it, but all my endeavours to that end had been useless. Unless I
+took this occasion I might never come face to face with him at all.
+But how could he give due thought or discussion to such a matter
+before others? What chance was there of his weighing it as it should be
+weighed? Even if his feelings inclined him that way, he dared not show
+any sign of wavering when so many eyes were upon him. I was tempted to
+feign some other reason for my coming, and trust to fortune to give me
+some more favourable chance for handing him my papers. But then that
+chance might never arrive, and time was pressing. It was said that he
+would return to Bristol next morning. On the whole, it seemed best that
+I should make the fittest use I could of my present position in the hope
+that the Duke's own discretion and self-command might, when he saw the
+address upon my despatches, lead to a more private interview.
+
+I had just come to this resolution when my name was read out, on which I
+rose and advanced into the inner chamber. It was a small but lofty room,
+hung in blue silk with a broad gold cornice. In the centre was a square
+table littered over with piles of papers, and behind this sat his Grace
+with full-bottomed wig rolling down to his shoulders, very stately and
+imposing. He had the same subtle air of the court which I had observed
+both in Monmouth and in Sir Gervas, which, with his high bold features
+and large piercing eyes, marked him as a leader of men. His private
+scrivener sat beside him, taking notes of his directions, while the
+others stood behind in a half circle, or took snuff together in the deep
+recess of the window.
+
+'Make a note of Smithson's order,' he said, as I entered. 'A hundred
+pots and as many fronts and backs to be ready by Tuesday; also six score
+snaphances for the musqueteers, and two hundred extra spades for the
+workers. Mark that the order be declared null and void unless fulfilled
+within the time appointed.'
+
+'It is so marked, your Grace.'
+
+'Captain Micah Clarke,' said the Duke, reading from the list in front of
+him. 'What is your wish, Captain?'
+
+'One which it would be better if I could deliver privately to your
+Grace,' I answered.
+
+'Ah, you are he who desired private audience? Well, Captain, these are
+my council and they are as myself. So we may look upon ourselves as
+alone. What I may hear they may hear. Zounds, man, never stammer and
+boggle, but out with it!'
+
+My request had roused the interest of the company, and those who were in
+the window came over to the table. Nothing could have been worse for the
+success of my mission, and yet there was no help for it but to deliver
+my despatches. I can say with a clear conscience, without any vainglory,
+that I had no fears for myself. The doing of my duty was the one thought
+in my mind. And here I may say once for all, my dear children, that I am
+speaking of myself all through this statement with the same freedom
+as though it were another man. In very truth the strong active lad of
+one-and-twenty _was_ another man from the grey-headed old fellow who
+sits in the chimney corner and can do naught better than tell old tales
+to the youngsters. Shallow water gives a great splash, and so a braggart
+has ever been contemptible in my eyes. I trust, therefore, that ye will
+never think that your grandad is singing his own praises, or setting
+himself up as better than his neighbours. I do but lay the facts, as far
+as I can recall them, before ye with all freedom and with all truth.
+
+My short delay and hesitation had sent a hot flush of anger into the
+Duke's face, so I drew the packet of papers from my inner pocket and
+handed them to him with a respectful bow. As his eyes fell upon the
+superscription, he gave a sudden start of surprise and agitation, making
+a motion as though to hide them in his bosom. If this were his impulse
+he overcame it, and sat lost in thought for a minute or more with the
+papers in his hand. Then with a quick toss of the head, like a man who
+hath formed his resolution, he broke the seals and cast his eyes over
+the contents, which he then threw down upon the table with a bitter
+laugh.
+
+'What think ye, gentlemen!' he cried, looking round with scornful eyes;
+'what think ye this private message hath proved to be? It is a letter
+from the traitor Monmouth, calling upon me to resign the allegiance of
+my natural sovereign and to draw my sword in his behalf! If I do this
+I am to have his gracious favour and protection. If not, I incur
+sequestration, banishment, and ruin. He thinks Beaufort's loyalty is
+to be bought like a packman's ware, or bullied out of him by ruffling
+words. The descendant of John of Gaunt is to render fealty to the brat
+of a wandering playwoman!'
+
+Several of the company sprang to their feet, and a general buzz of
+surprise and anger greeted the Duke's words. He sat with bent brows,
+beating his foot against the ground, and turning over the papers upon
+the table.
+
+'What hath raised his hopes to such mad heights?' he cried. 'How doth
+he presume to send such a missive to one of my quality? Is it because he
+hath seen the backs of a parcel of rascally militiamen, and because
+he hath drawn a few hundred chawbacons from the plough's tail to his
+standard, that he ventures to hold such language to the President of
+Wales? But ye will be my witnesses as to the spirit in which I received
+it?'
+
+'We can preserve your Grace from all danger of slander on that point,'
+said an elderly officer, while a murmur of assent from the others
+greeted the remark.
+
+'And you!' cried Beaufort, raising his voice and turning his flashing
+eyes upon me; 'who are you that dare to bring such a message to
+Badminton? You had surely taken leave of your senses ere you did set out
+upon such an errand!'
+
+'I am in the hands of God here as elsewhere,' I answered, with some
+flash of my father's fatalism. 'I have done what I promised to do, and
+the rest is no concern of mine.'
+
+'You shall find it a very close concern of thine,' he shouted, springing
+from his chair and pacing up and down the room; 'so close as to put an
+end to all thy other concerns in this life. Call in the halberdiers from
+the outer hall! Now, fellow, what have you to say for yourself?'
+
+'There is naught to be said,' I answered.
+
+'But something to be done,' he retorted in a fury. 'Seize this man and
+secure his hands!'
+
+Four halberdiers who had answered the summons closed in upon me and laid
+hands on me. Resistance would have been folly, for I had no wish to harm
+the men in the doing of their duty. I had come to take my chance, and
+if that chance should prove to be death, as seemed likely enough at
+present, it must be met as a thing foreseen. I thought of those old-time
+lines which Master Chillingfoot, of Petersfield, had ever held up to our
+admiration--
+
+          Non civium ardor prava jubentium
+          Non vultus instantis tyranni
+          Mente quatit solida.
+
+Here was the 'vultus instantis tyranni,' in this stout, be-wigged,
+lace-covered, yellow-faced man in front of me. I had obeyed the poet in
+so far that my courage had not been shaken. I confess that this spinning
+dust-heap of a world has never had such attractions for me that it would
+be a pang to leave it. Never, at least, until my marriage--and that, you
+will find, alters your thoughts about the value of your life, and many
+other of your thoughts as well. This being so, I stood erect, with my
+eyes fixed upon the angry nobleman, while his soldiers were putting the
+gyves about my wrists.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV. Of Strange Doings in the Boteler Dungeon
+
+'Take down this fellow's statement,' said the Duke to his scrivener.
+'Now, sirrah, it may not be known to you that his gracious Majesty the
+King hath conferred plenary powers upon me during these troubled times,
+and that I have his warrant to deal with all traitors without either
+jury or judge. You do bear a commission, I understand, in the rebellious
+body which is here described as Saxon's regiment of Wiltshire Foot?
+Speak the truth for your neck's sake.'
+
+'I will speak the truth for the sake of something higher than that, your
+Grace,' I answered. 'I command a company in that regiment.'
+
+'And who is this Saxon?'
+
+'I will answer all that I may concerning myself,' said I, 'but not a
+word which may reflect upon others.'
+
+'Ha!' he roared, hot with anger. 'Our pretty gentleman must needs stand
+upon the niceties of honour after taking up arms against his King. I
+tell you, sir, that your honour is in such a parlous state already that
+you may well throw it over and look to your safety. The sun is sinking
+in the west. Ere it set your life, too, may have set for ever.'
+
+'I am the keeper of my own honour, your Grace,' I answered. 'As to my
+life, I should not be standing here this moment if I had any great dread
+of losing it. It is right that I should tell you that my Colonel hath
+sworn to exact a return for any evil that may befall me, on you or any
+of your household who may come into his power. This I say, not as a
+threat, but as a warning, for I know him to be a man who is like to be
+as good as his word.'
+
+'Your Colonel, as you call him, may find it hard enough to save himself
+soon,' the Duke answered with a sneer. 'How many men hath Monmouth with
+him?'
+
+I smiled and shook my head.
+
+'How shall we make this traitor find his tongue?' he asked furiously,
+turning to his council.
+
+'I should clap on the thumbikins,' said one fierce-faced old soldier.
+
+'I have known a lighted match between the fingers work wonders,' another
+suggested. 'Sir Thomas Dalzell hath in the Scottish war been able to
+win over several of that most stubborn and hardened race, the Western
+Covenanters, by such persuasion.'
+
+'Sir Thomas Dalzell,' said a grey-haired gentleman, clad in black
+velvet, 'hath studied the art of war among the Muscovites, in their
+barbarous and bloody encounters with the Turks. God forbid that we
+Christians of England should seek our examples among the skin-clad
+idolaters of a savage country.'
+
+'Sir William would like to see war carried out on truly courteous
+principles,' said the first speaker. 'A battle should be like a stately
+minuet, with no loss of dignity or of etiquette.'
+
+'Sir,' the other answered hotly, 'I have been in battles when you were
+in your baby-linen, and I handled a battoon when you could scarce shake
+a rattle. In leaguer or onfall a soldier's work is sharp and stern, but
+I say that the use of torture, which the law of England hath abolished,
+should also be laid aside by the law of nations.'
+
+'Enough, gentlemen, enough!' cried the Duke, seeing that the dispute was
+like to wax warm. 'Your opinion, Sir William, hath much weight with us,
+and yours also, Colonel Hearn. We shall discuss this at greater length
+in privacy. Halberdiers, remove the prisoner, and let a clergyman be
+sent to look to his spiritual needs!'
+
+'Shall we take him to the strong room, your Grace?' asked the Captain of
+the guard.
+
+'No, to the old Boteler dungeon,' he replied; and I heard the next name
+upon the list called out, while I was led through a side door with a
+guard in front and behind me. We passed through endless passages and
+corridors, with heavy stop and clank of arms, until we reached the
+ancient wing. Here, in the corner turret, was a small, bare room, mouldy
+and damp, with a high, arched roof, and a single long slit in the outer
+wall to admit light. A small wooden couch and a rude chair formed
+the whole of the furniture. Into this I was shown by the Captain, who
+stationed a guard at the door, and then came in after me and loosened
+my wrists. He was a sad-faced man, with solemn sunken eyes and a
+dreary expression, which matched ill with his bright trappings and gay
+sword-knot.
+
+'Keep your heart up, friend,' said he, in a hollow voice. 'It is but a
+choke and a struggle. A day or two since we had the same job to do, and
+the man scarcely groaned. Old Spender, the Duke's marshal, hath as sure
+a trick of tying and as good judgment in arranging a drop as hath Dun
+of Tyburn. Be of good heart, therefore, for you shall not fall into the
+hands of a bungler.'
+
+'I would that I could let Monmouth know that his letters were
+delivered,' I exclaimed, seating myself on the side of the bed.
+
+'I' faith, they were delivered. Had you been the penny postman of Mr.
+Robert Murray, of whom we heard so much in London last spring, you could
+not have handed it in more directly. Why did you not talk the Duke fair?
+He is a gracious nobleman, and kind of heart, save when he is thwarted
+or angered. Some little talk as to the rebels' numbers and dispositions
+might have saved you.'
+
+'I wonder that you, as a soldier, should speak or think of such a
+thing,' said I coldly.
+
+'Well, well! Your neck is your own. If it please you to take a leap into
+nothing it were pity to thwart you. But his Grace commanded that you
+should have the chaplain. I must away to him.'
+
+'I prythee do not bring him,' said I. 'I am one of a dissenting stock,
+and I see that there is a Bible in yonder recess. No man can aid me in
+making my peace with God.'
+
+'It is well,' he answered, 'for Dean Hewby hath come over from
+Chippenham, and he is discoursing with our good chaplain on the need of
+self-denial, moistening his throat the while with a flask of the prime
+Tokay. At dinner I heard him put up thanks for what he was to receive,
+and in the same breath ask the butler how he dared to serve a deacon
+of the Church with a pullet without truffle dressing. But, perhaps, you
+would desire Dean Hewby's spiritual help? No? Well, what I can do for
+you in reason shall be done, since you will not be long upon our hands.
+Above all, keep a cheery heart.'
+
+He left the cell, but presently unlocked the door and pushed his dismal
+face round the corner. 'I am Captain Sinclair, of the Duke's household,'
+he said, 'should you have occasion to ask for me. You had best have
+spiritual help, for I do assure you that there hath been something worse
+than either warder or prisoner in this cell.'
+
+'What then?' I asked.
+
+'Why, marry, nothing less than the Devil,' he answered, coming in and
+closing the door. 'It was in this way,' he went on, sinking his voice:
+'Two years agone Hector Marot, the highwayman, was shut up in this very
+Boteler dungeon. I was myself on guard in the corridor that night, and
+saw the prisoner at ten o'clock sitting on that bed even as you are now.
+At twelve I had occasion to look in, as my custom is, with the hope
+of cheering his lonely hours, when lo, he was gone! Yes, you may well
+stare. Mine eyes had never been off the door, and you can judge what
+chance there was of his getting through the windows. Walls and floor are
+both solid stone, which might be solid rock for the thickness. When
+I entered there was a plaguy smell of brimstone, and the flame of my
+lanthorn burned blue. Nay, it is no smiling matter. If the Devil did not
+run away with Hector Marot, pray who did? for sure I am that no angel of
+grace could come to him as to Peter of old. Perchance the Evil One may
+desire a second bird out of the same cage, and so I tell you this that
+you may be on your guard against his assaults.'
+
+'Nay, I fear him not,' I answered.
+
+'It is well,' croaked the Captain. 'Be not cast down!' His head
+vanished, and the key turned in the creaking lock. So thick were the
+walls that I could hear no sound after the door was closed. Save for
+the sighing of the wind in the branches of the trees outside the narrow
+window, all was as silent as the grave within the dungeon.
+
+Thus left to myself I tried to follow Captain Sinclair's advice as to
+the keeping up of my heart, though his talk was far from being of a
+cheering nature. In my young days, more particularly among the sectaries
+with whom I had been brought most in contact, a belief in the occasional
+appearance of the Prince of Darkness, and his interference in bodily
+form with the affairs of men, was widespread and unquestioning.
+Philosophers in their own quiet chambers may argue learnedly on the
+absurdity of such things, but in a dim-lit dungeon, cut off from the
+world, with the grey gloaming creeping down, and one's own fate hanging
+in the balance, it becomes a very different matter. The escape, if the
+Captain's story were true, appeared to border upon the miraculous. I
+examined the walls of the cell very carefully. They were formed of great
+square stones cunningly fitted together. The thin slit or window was
+cut through the centre of a single large block. All over, as high as
+the hand could reach, the face of the walls was covered with letters and
+legends cut by many generations of captives. The floor was composed of
+old foot-worn slabs, firmly cemented together. The closest search failed
+to show any hole or cranny where a rat could have escaped, far less a
+man.
+
+It is a very strange thing, my dears, to sit down in cold blood, and
+think that the chances are that within a few hours your pulses will
+have given their last throb, and your soul have sped away upon its final
+errand. Strange and very awesome! The man who rideth down into the
+press of the battle with his jaw set and his grip tight upon reign and
+sword-hilt cannot feel this, for the human mind is such that one emotion
+will ever push out another. Neither can the man who draws slow and
+catching breaths upon the bed of deadly sickness be said to have
+experience of it, for the mind weakened with disease can but submit
+without examining too closely that which it submits to. When, however,
+a young and hale man sits alone in quiet, and sees present death hanging
+over him, he hath such food for thought that, should he survive and live
+to be grey-headed, his whole life will be marked and altered by those
+solemn hours, as a stream is changed in its course by some rough bank
+against which it hath struck. Every little fault and blemish stands
+out clear in the presence of death, as the dust specks appear when the
+sunbeam shines into the darkened room. I noted them then, and I have, I
+trust, noted them ever since.
+
+I was seated with my head bowed upon my breast, deeply buried in this
+solemn train of thoughts, when I was startled by hearing a sharp click,
+such as a man might give who wished to attract attention. I sprang to my
+feet and gazed round in the gathering gloom without being able to tell
+whence it came. I had well-nigh persuaded myself that my senses had
+deceived me, when the sound was repeated louder than before, and casting
+my eyes upwards I saw a face peering in at me through the slit, or part
+of a face rather, for I could but see the eye and corner of the cheek.
+Standing on my chair I made out that it was none other than the farmer
+who had been my companion upon the road.
+
+'Hush, lad!' he whispered, with a warning forefinger pushed through the
+narrow crack. 'Speak low, or the guard may chance to hear. What can I do
+for you?'
+
+'How did you come to know where I was?' I asked in astonishment.
+
+'Whoy, mun,' he answered, 'I know as much of this 'ere house as Beaufort
+does himsel'. Afore Badminton was built, me and my brothers has spent
+many a day in climbing over the old Boteler tower. It's not the first
+time that I have spoke through this window. But, quick; what can I do
+for you?'
+
+'I am much beholden to you, sir,' I answered, 'but I fear that there is
+no help which you can give me, unless, indeed, you could convey news to
+my friends in the army of what hath befallen me.'
+
+'I might do that,' whispered Farmer Brown. 'Hark ye in your ear, lad,
+what I never breathed to man yet. Mine own conscience pricks me at times
+over this bolstering up of a Papist to rule over a Protestant nation.
+Let like rule like, say I. At the 'lections I rode to Sudbury, and I
+put in my vote for Maister Evans, of Turnford, who was in favour o' the
+Exclusionists. Sure enough, if that same Bill had been carried, the Duke
+would be sitting on his father's throne. The law would have said yes.
+Now, it says nay. A wonderful thing is the law with its yea, yea, and
+nay, nay, like Barclay, the Quaker man, that came down here in a leather
+suit, and ca'd the parson a steepleman. There's the law. It's no use
+shootin' at it, or passin' pikes through it, no, nor chargin' at it wi'
+a troop of horse. If it begins by saying "nay" it will say "nay" to the
+end of the chapter. Ye might as well fight wi' the book o' Genesis. Let
+Monmouth get the law changed, and it will do more for him than all the
+dukes in England. For all that he's a Protestant, and I would do what I
+might to serve him.'
+
+'There is a Captain Lockarby, who is serving in Colonel Saxon's
+regiment, in Monmouth's army,' said I. 'Should things go wrong with me,
+I would take it as a great kindness if you would bear him my love, and
+ask him to break it gently, by word or by letter, to those at Havant.
+If I were sure that this would be done, it would be a great ease to my
+mind.'
+
+'It shall be done, lad,' said the good farmer. 'I shall send my best man
+and fleetest horse this very night, that they may know the straits in
+which you are. I have a file here if it would help you.'
+
+'Nay,' I answered, 'human aid can do little to help me here.'
+
+'There used to be a hole in the roof. Look up and see if you can see
+aught of it.'
+
+'It arches high above my head,' I answered, looking upwards; 'but there
+is no sign of any opening.'
+
+'There was one,' he repeated. 'My brother Roger hath swung himself down
+wi' a rope. In the old time the prisoners were put in so, like Joseph
+into the pit. The door is but a new thing.'
+
+'Hole or no hole, it cannot help me,' I answered. 'I have no means
+of climbing to it. Do not wait longer, kind friend, or you may find
+yourself in trouble.'
+
+'Good-bye then, my brave heart,' he whispered, and the honest grey eye
+and corner of ruddy cheek disappeared from the casement. Many a time
+during the course of the long evening I glanced up with some wild hope
+that he might return, and every creak of the branches outside brought me
+on to the chair, but it was the last that I saw of Farmer Brown.
+
+This kindly visit, short as it was, relieved my mind greatly, for I had
+a trusty man's word that, come what might, my friends should, at least,
+have some news of my fate. It was now quite dark, and I was pacing up
+and down the little chamber, when the key turned in the door, and the
+Captain entered with a rushlight and a great bowl of bread and milk.
+
+'Here is your supper, friend,' said he. 'Take it down, appetite or no,
+for it will give you strength to play the man at the time ye wot of.
+They say it was beautiful to see my Lord Russell die upon Tower Hill. Be
+of good cheer! Folk may say as much of you. His Grace is in a terrible
+way. He walketh up and down, and biteth his lip, and clencheth his hands
+like one who can scarce contain his wrath. It may not be against you,
+but I know not what else can have angered him.'
+
+I made no answer to this Job's comforter, so he presently left me,
+placing the bowl upon the chair, with the rushlight beside it. I
+finished the food, and feeling the better for it, stretched myself upon
+the couch, and fell into a heavy and dreamless sleep. This may have
+lasted three or four hours, when I was suddenly awoken by a sound like
+the creaking of hinges. Sitting up on the pallet I gazed around me. The
+rushlight had burned out and the cell was impenetrably dark. A greyish
+glimmer at one end showed dimly the position of the aperture, but all
+else was thick and black. I strained my ears, but no further sound fell
+upon them. Yet I was certain that I had not been deceived, and that the
+noise which had aroused me was within my very chamber. I rose and felt
+my way slowly round the room, passing my hand over the walls and door.
+Then I paced backwards and forwards to test the flooring. Neither around
+me nor beneath me was there any change. Whence did the sound come from,
+then? I sat down upon the side of the bed and waited patiently in the
+hope of hearing it once again.
+
+Presently it was repeated, a low groaning and creaking as though a door
+or shutter long disused was being slowly and stealthily opened. At the
+same time a dull yellow light streamed down from above, issuing from a
+thin slit in the centre of the arched roof above me. Slowly as I watched
+it this slit widened and extended as if a sliding panel were being
+pulled out, until a good-sized hole was left, through which I saw a
+head, looking down at me, outlined against the misty light behind it.
+The knotted end of a rope was passed through this aperture, and came
+dangling down to the dungeon floor. It was a good stout piece of hemp,
+strong enough to bear the weight of a heavy man, and I found, upon
+pulling at it, that it was firmly secured above. Clearly it was the
+desire of my unknown benefactor that I should ascend by it, so I went
+up hand over hand, and after some difficulty in squeezing my shoulders
+through the hole I succeeded in reaching the room above. While I was
+still rubbing my eyes after the sudden change from darkness into light,
+the rope was swiftly whisked up and the sliding shutter closed once
+more. To those who were not in the secret there was nothing to throw
+light upon my disappearance.
+
+I found myself in the presence of a stout short man clad in a rude
+jerkin and leather breeches, which gave him somewhat the appearance of a
+groom. He wore a broad felt hat drawn down very low over his eyes, while
+the lower part of his face was swathed round with a broad cravat. In his
+hand he bore a horn lanthorn, by the light of which I saw that the
+room in which we were was of the same size as the dungeon beneath, and
+differed from it only in having a broad casement which looked out upon
+the park. There was no furniture in the chamber, but a great beam ran
+across it, to which the rope had been fastened by which I ascended.
+
+'Speak low, friend,' said the stranger. 'The walls are thick and the
+doors are close, yet I would not have your guardians know by what means
+you have been spirited away.'
+
+'Truly, sir,' I answered, 'I can scarce credit that it is other than a
+dream. It is wondrous that my dungeon should be so easily broken into,
+and more wondrous still that I should find a friend who would be willing
+to risk so much for my sake.'
+
+'Look there!' quoth he, holding down his lanthorn so as to cast its
+light on the part of the floor where the panel was fitted. Can you not
+see how old and crumbled is the stone-work which surrounds it? This
+opening in the roof is as old as the dungeon itself, and older far
+than the door by which you were led into it. For this was one of those
+bottle-shaped cells or oubliettes which hard men of old devised for the
+safe keeping of their captives. Once lowered through this hole into the
+stone-girt pit a man might eat his heart out, for his fate was sealed.
+Yet you see that the very device which once hindered escape has now
+brought freedom within your reach.'
+
+'Thanks to your clemency, your Grace,' I answered, looking keenly at my
+companion.
+
+'Now out on these disguises!' he cried, peevishly pushing back the
+broad-edged hat and disclosing, as I expected, the features of the Duke.
+'Even a blunt soldier lad can see through my attempts at concealment.
+I fear, Captain, that I should make a bad plotter, for my nature is as
+open--well, as thine is. I cannot better the simile.'
+
+'Your Grace's voice once heard is not easily forgot,' said I.
+
+'Especially when it talks of hemp and dungeons,' he answered, with a
+smile. 'But if I clapped you into prison, you must confess that I have
+made you amends by pulling you out again at the end of my line, like a
+minnow out of a bottle. But how came you to deliver such papers in the
+presence of my council?'
+
+'I did what I could to deliver them in private,' said I. 'I sent you a
+message to that effect.'
+
+'It is true,' he answered; 'but such messages come in to me from every
+soldier who wishes to sell his sword, and every inventor who hath a long
+tongue and a short purse. How could I tell that the matter was of real
+import?'
+
+'I feared to let the chance slip lest it might never return,' said I. 'I
+hear that your Grace hath little leisure during these times.'
+
+'I cannot blame you,' he answered, pacing up and down the room. 'But it
+was untoward. I might have hid the despatches, yet it would have roused
+suspicions. Your errand would have leaked out. There are many who envy
+my lofty fortunes, and who would seize upon a chance of injuring me with
+King James. Sunderland or Somers would either of them blow the least
+rumour into a flame which might prove unquenchable. There was naught for
+it, therefore, but to show the papers and to turn a harsh face on the
+messenger. The most venomous tongue could not find fault in my conduct.
+What course would you have advised under such circumstances?' 'The most
+direct,' I answered. 'Aye, aye, Sir. Honesty. Public men have, however,
+to pick their steps as best they may, for the straight path would lead
+too often to the cliff-edge. The Tower would be too scanty for its
+guests were we all to wear our hearts upon our sleeves. But to you in
+this privacy I can tell my real thoughts without fear of betrayal or
+misconstruction. On paper I will not write one word. Your memory must
+be the sheet which bears my answer to Monmouth. And first of all, erase
+from it all that you have heard me say in the council-room. Let it be as
+though it never were spoken. Is that done?'
+
+'I understand that it did not really represent your Grace's thoughts.'
+
+'Very far from it, Captain. But prythee tell me what expectation of
+success is there among the rebels themselves? You must have heard your
+Colonel and others discuss the question, or noted by their bearing which
+way their thoughts lay. Have they good hopes of holding out against the
+King's troops?'
+
+'They have met with naught but success hitherto,' I answered.
+
+'Against the militia. But they will find it another thing when they have
+trained troops to deal with. And yet--and yet!--One thing I know, that
+any defeat of Feversham's army would cause a general rising throughout
+the country. On the other hand, the King's party are active. Every
+post brings news of some fresh levy. Albemarle still holds the militia
+together in the west. The Earl of Pembroke is in arms in Wiltshire.
+Lord Lumley is moving from the east with the Sussex forces. The Earl of
+Abingdon is up in Oxfordshire. At the university the caps and gowns are
+all turning into head-pieces and steel fronts. James's Dutch regiments
+have sailed from Amsterdam. Yet Monmouth hath gained two fights, and why
+not a third? They are troubled waters--troubled waters!' The Duke paced
+backwards and forwards with brows drawn down, muttering all this to
+himself rather than to me, and shaking his head like one in the sorest
+perplexity.
+
+'I would have you tell Monmouth,' he said at last, 'that I thank him for
+the papers which he hath sent me, and that I will duly read and weigh
+them. Tell him also that I wish him well in his enterprise, and would
+help him were it not that I am hemmed in by those who watch me closely,
+and who would denounce me were I to show my true thoughts. Tell him
+that, should he move his army into these parts, I may then openly
+declare myself; but to do so now would be to ruin the fortunes of my
+house, without in any way helping him. Can you bear him that message?'
+
+'I shall do so, your Grace.
+
+'Tell me,' he asked, 'how doth Monmouth bear himself in this
+enterprise?'
+
+'Like a wise and gallant leader,' I answered.
+
+'Strange,' he murmured; 'it was ever the jest at court that he had
+scarce energy or constancy enough to finish a game at ball, but would
+ever throw his racquet down ere the winning point was scored. His plans
+were like a weather-vane, altered by every breeze. He was constant
+only in his inconstancy. It is true that he led the King's troops in
+Scotland, but all men knew that Claverhouse and Dalzell were the real
+conquerors at Bothwell Bridge. Methinks he resembles that Brutus in
+Roman history who feigned weakness of mind as a cover to his ambitions.'
+
+The Duke was once again conversing with himself rather than with me, so
+that I made no remark, save to observe that Monmouth had won the hearts
+of the lower people.
+
+'There lies his strength,' said Beaufort. 'The blood of his mother runs
+in his veins. He doth not think it beneath him to shake the dirty paw
+of Jerry the tinker, or to run a race against a bumpkin on the village
+green. Well, events have shown that he hath been right. These same
+bumpkins have stood by him when nobler friends have held aloof. I would
+I could see into the future. But you have my message, Captain, and
+I trust that, if you change it in the delivery, it will be in the
+direction of greater warmth and kindliness. It is time now that you
+depart, for within three hours the guard is changed, and your escape
+will be discovered.'
+
+'But how depart?' I asked.
+
+'Through here,' he answered, pushing open the casement, and sliding the
+rope along the beam in that direction. 'The rope may be a foot or two
+short, but you have extra inches to make matters even. When you have
+reached the ground, take the gravel path which turns to the right, and
+follow it until it leads you to the high trees which skirt the park. The
+seventh of these hath a bough which shoots over the boundary wall. Climb
+along the bough, drop over upon the other side, and you will find my
+own valet waiting with your horse. Up with you, and ride, haste, haste,
+post-haste, for the south. By morn you should be well out of danger's
+way.'
+
+'My sword?' I asked.
+
+'All your property is there. Tell Monmouth what I have said, and let him
+know that I have used you as kindly as was possible.'
+
+'But what will your Grace's council say when they find that I am gone?'
+I asked.
+
+'Pshaw, man! Never fret about that! I will off to Bristol at daybreak,
+and give my council enough to think of without their having time to
+devote to your fate. The soldiers will but have another instance of
+the working of the Father of Evil, who hath long been thought to have a
+weakness for that cell beneath us. Faith, if all we hear be true, there
+have been horrors enough acted there to call up every devil out of the
+pit. But time presses. Gently through the casement! So! Remember the
+message.'
+
+'Adieu, your Grace!' I answered, and seizing the rope slipped rapidly
+and noiselessly to the ground, upon which he drew it up and closed the
+casement. As I looked round, my eye fell upon the dark narrow slit which
+opened into my cell, and through which honest Farmer Brown had held
+converse with me. Half-an-hour ago I had been stretched upon the prison
+pallet without a hope or a thought of escape. Now I was out in the open
+with no hand to stay me, breathing the air of freedom with the prison
+and the gallows cast off from me, as the waking man casts off his evil
+dreams. Such changes shake a man's soul, my children. The heart that can
+steel itself against death is softened by the assurance of safety. So
+I have known a worthy trader bear up manfully when convinced that his
+fortunes had been engulfed in the ocean, but lose all philosophy on
+finding that the alarm was false, and that they had come safely through
+the danger. For my own part, believing as I do that there is nothing of
+chance in the affairs of this world, I felt that I had been exposed to
+this trial in order to dispose me to serious thought, and that I had
+been saved that I might put those thoughts into effect. As an earnest of
+my endeavour to do so I knelt down on the green sward, in the shadow of
+the Boteler turret, and I prayed that I might come to be of use on
+the earth, and that I might be helped to rise above my own wants and
+interests, to aid forward whatever of good or noble might be stirring in
+my days. It is well-nigh fifty years, my dears, since I bowed my spirit
+before the Great Unknown in the moon-tinted park of Badminton, but I
+can truly say that from that day to this the aims which I laid down
+for myself have served me as a compass over the dark waters of life--a
+compass which I may perchance not always follow--for flesh is weak and
+frail, but which hath, at least, been ever present, that I might turn to
+it in seasons of doubt and of danger.
+
+The path to the right led through groves and past carp ponds for a mile
+or more, until I reached the line of trees which skirted the boundary
+wall. Not a living thing did I see upon my way, save a herd of
+fallow-deer, which scudded away like swift shadows through the
+shimmering moonshine. Looking back, the high turrets and gables of the
+Boteler wing stood out dark and threatening against the starlit sky.
+Having reached the seventh tree, I clambered along the projecting bough
+which shot over the park wall, and dropped down upon the other side,
+where I found my good old dapple-grey awaiting me in the charge of a
+groom. Springing to my saddle, I strapped my sword once more to my side,
+and galloped off as fast as the four willing feet could carry me on my
+return journey.
+
+All that night I rode hard without drawing bridle, through sleeping
+hamlets, by moon-bathed farmhouses, past shining stealthy rivers, and
+over birch-clad hills. When the eastern sky deepened from pink into
+scarlet, and the great sun pushed his rim over the blue north Somerset
+hills, I was already far upon my journey. It was a Sabbath morning, and
+from every village rose the sweet tinkling and calling of the bells.
+I bore no dangerous papers with me now, and might therefore be more
+careless as to my route. At one point I was questioned by a keen-eyed
+toll-keeper as to whence I came, but my reply that I was riding direct
+from his Grace of Beaufort put an end to his suspicions. Further down,
+near Axbridge, I overtook a grazier who was jogging into Wells upon his
+sleek cob. With him I rode for some time, and learned that the whole
+of North Somerset, as well as south, was now in open revolt, and that
+Wells, Shepton Mallet, and Glastonbury were held by armed volunteers
+for King Monmouth. The royal forces had all retired west, or east, until
+help should come. As I rode through the villages I marked the blue flag
+upon the church towers, and the rustics drilling upon the green, without
+any sign of trooper or dragoon to uphold the authority of the Stuarts.
+
+My road lay through Shepton Mallet, Piper's Inn, Bridgewater, and North
+Petherton, until in the cool of the evening I pulled up my weary horse
+at the Cross Hands, and saw the towers of Taunton in the valley beneath
+me. A flagon of beer for the rider, and a sieveful of oats for the
+steed, put fresh mettle into both of us, and we were jogging on our way
+once more, when there came galloping down the side of the hill about
+forty cavaliers, as hard as their horses could carry them. So wild was
+their riding that I pulled up, uncertain whether they were friend or
+foe, until, as they came whirling towards me, I recognised that the two
+officers who rode in front of them were none other than Reuben Lockarby
+and Sir Gervas Jerome. At the sight of me they flung up their hands, and
+Reuben shot on to his horse's neck, where he sat for a moment astride of
+the mane, until the brute tossed him back into the saddle.
+
+'It's Micah! It's Micah!' he gasped, with his mouth open, and the tears
+hopping down his honest face.
+
+'Od's pitlikins, man, how did you come here?' asked Sir Gervas, poking
+me with his forefinger as though to see if I were really of flesh and
+blood. 'We were leading a forlorn of horse into Beaufort's country to
+beat him up, and to burn his fine house about his ears if you had come
+to harm. There has just come a groom from some farmer in those parts who
+hath brought us news that you were under sentence of death, on which I
+came away with my wig half frizzled, and found that friend Lockarby had
+leave from Lord Grey to go north with these troopers. But how have you
+fared?'
+
+'Well and ill,' I answered, wringing their kindly hands. 'I had not
+thought last night to see another sun rise, and yet ye see that I am
+here, sound in life and limb. But all these things will take some time
+in the telling.'
+
+'Aye, and King Monmouth will be on thorns to see you. Right about, my
+lads, and back for the camp. Never was errand so rapidly and happily
+finished as this of ours. It would have fared ill with Badminton had you
+been hurt.'
+
+The troopers turned their horses and trotted slowly back to Taunton,
+while I rode behind them between my two faithful friends, hearing from
+them all that had occurred in my absence, and telling my own adventures
+in return. The night had fallen ere we rode through the gates, where I
+handed Covenant over to the Mayor's groom, and went direct to the castle
+to deliver an account of my mission.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI. Of the Strife in the Council
+
+King Monmouth's council was assembled at the time of my coming, and my
+entrance caused the utmost surprise and joy, as they had just heard news
+of my sore danger. Even the royal presence could not prevent several
+members, among whom were the old Mayor and the two soldiers of fortune,
+from springing to their feet and shaking me warmly by the hand. Monmouth
+himself said a few gracious words, and requested that I should be seated
+at the board with the others.
+
+'You have earned the right to be of our council,' said he; 'and lest
+there should be a jealousy amongst other captains that you should come
+among us, I do hereby confer upon you the special title of Scout-master,
+which, though it entail few if any duties in the present state of our
+force, will yet give you precedence over your fellows. We had heard that
+your greeting from Beaufort was of the roughest, and that you were in
+sore straits in his dungeons. But you have happily come yourself on the
+very heels of him who bore the tidings. Tell us then from the beginning
+how things have fared with you.'
+
+I should have wished to have limited my story to Beaufort and his
+message, but as the council seemed to be intent upon hearing a full
+account of my journey, I told in as short and simple speech as I
+could the various passages which had befallen me--the ambuscado of
+the smugglers, the cave, the capture of the gauger, the journey in the
+lugger, the acquaintance with Farmer Brown, my being cast into prison,
+with the manner of my release and the message wherewith I had been
+commissioned. To all of this the council hearkened with the uttermost
+attention, while a muttered oath ever and anon from a courtier or a
+groan and prayer from a Puritan showed how keenly they followed the
+various phases of my fortunes. Above all, they gave the greatest heed
+to Beaufort's words, and stopped me more than once when I appeared to be
+passing over any saying or event before they had due time to weigh
+it. When I at last finished they all sat speechless, looking into each
+other's faces and waiting for an expression of opinion.
+
+'On my word,' said Monmouth at last, 'this is a young Ulysses, though
+his Odyssey doth but take three days in the acting. Scudery might not be
+so dull were she to take a hint from these smugglers' caves and sliding
+panels. How say you, Grey?'
+
+'He hath indeed had his share of adventure,' the nobleman answered, 'and
+hath also performed his mission like a fearless and zealous messenger.
+You say that Beaufort gave you nought in writing?'
+
+'Not a word, my lord,' I replied.
+
+'And his private message was that he wished us well, and would join us
+if we were in his country?'
+
+'That was the effect, my lord.'
+
+'Yet in his council, as I understand, he did utter bitter things against
+us, putting affronts upon the King, and making light of his just claims
+upon the fealty of his nobility?'
+
+'He did,' I answered.
+
+'He would fain stand upon both sides of the hedge at once,' said King
+Monmouth. 'Such a man is very like to find himself on neither side, but
+in the very heart of the briars. It may be as well, however, that we
+should move his way, so as to give him the chance of declaring himself.'
+
+'In any case, as your Majesty remembers,' said Saxon, 'we had determined
+to march Bristolwards and attempt the town.'
+
+'The works are being strengthened,' said I, 'and there are five thousand
+of the Gloucestershire train-bands assembled within. I saw the labourers
+at work upon the ramparts as I passed.'
+
+'If we gain Beaufort we shall gain the town,' quoth Sir Stephen
+Timewell. 'There are already a strong body of godly and honest folk
+therein, who would rejoice to see a Protestant army within their gates.
+Should we have to beleaguer it we may count upon some help from within.'
+
+'Hegel und blitzen!' exclaimed the German soldier, with an impatience
+which even the presence of the King could not keep in bounds; 'how can
+we talk of sieges and leaguers when we have not a breaching-piece in the
+army?'
+
+'The Lard will find us the breaching-pieces,' cried Ferguson, in his
+strange, nasal voice. 'Did the Lard no breach the too'ers o' Jericho
+withoot the aid o' gunpooder? Did the Lard no raise up the man Robert
+Ferguson and presairve him through five-and-thairty indictments and
+twa-and-twenty proclamations o' the godless? What is there He canna do?
+Hosannah! Hosannah!'
+
+'The Doctor is right,' said a square-faced, leather-skinned English
+Independent. 'We talk too much o' carnal means and worldly chances,
+without leaning upon that heavenly goodwill which should be to us as a
+staff on stony and broken paths. Yes, gentlemen,' he continued, raising
+his voice and glancing across the table at some of the courtiers, 'ye
+may sneer at words of piety, but I say that it is you and those like you
+who will bring down God's anger upon this army.'
+
+'And I say so too,' cried another sectary fiercely.
+
+'And I,' 'And I,' shouted several, with Saxon, I think, among them.
+
+'Is it your wish, your Majesty, that we should be insulted at your very
+council board?' cried one of the courtiers, springing to his feet with
+a flushed face. 'How long are we to be subject to this insolence because
+we have the religion of a gentleman, and prefer to practise it in the
+privacy of our hearts rather than at the street corners with these
+pharisees?'
+
+'Speak not against God's saints,' cried a Puritan, in a loud stern
+voice. 'There is a voice within me which tells me that it were better to
+strike thee dead--yea, even in the presence of the King--than to allow
+thee to revile those who have been born again.'
+
+Several had sprung to their feet on either side. Hands were laid upon
+sword-hilts, and glances as stern and as deadly as rapier thrusts were
+flashing backwards and forwards; but the more neutral and reasonable
+members of the council succeeded in restoring peace, and in persuading
+the angry disputants to resume their seats.
+
+'How now, gentlemen?' cried the King, his face dark with anger, when
+silence was at last restored. 'Is this the extent of my authority that
+ye should babble and brawl as though my council-chamber were a Fleet
+Street pot-house? Is this your respect for my person? I tell ye that I
+would forfeit my just claims for ever, and return to Holland, or devote
+my sword to the cause of Christianity against the Turk, rather than
+submit to such indignity. If any man he proved to have stirred up strife
+amongst the soldiers or commonalty on the score of religion I shall
+know how to deal with him. Let each preach to his own, but let him not
+interfere with the flock of his neighbour. As to you, Mr. Bramwell,
+and you, Mr. Joyce, and you also, Sir Henry Nuttall, we shall hold ye
+excused from attending these meetings until ye have further notice from
+us. Ye may now separate, each to your quarters, and to-morrow morning
+we shall, with the blessing of God, start for the north to see what luck
+may await our enterprise in those parts.'
+
+The King bowed as a sign that the formal meeting was over, and taking
+Lord Grey aside, he conversed with him anxiously in a recess. The
+courtiers, who numbered in their party several English and foreign
+gentlemen, who had come over together with some Devonshire and Somerset
+country squires, swaggered out of the room in a body, with much clinking
+of spurs and clanking of swords. The Puritans drew gravely together and
+followed after them, walking not with demure and downcast looks, as was
+their common use, but with grim faces and knitted brows, as the Jews of
+old may have appeared when, 'To your tents, O Israel!' was still ringing
+in their ears.
+
+Indeed, religious dissension and sectarian heat were in the very air.
+Outside, on the Castle Green, the voices of preachers rose up like the
+drone of insects. Every waggon or barrel or chance provision case had
+been converted into a pulpit, each with its own orator and little knot
+of eager hearkeners. Here was a russet-coated Taunton volunteer in
+jackboots and bandolier, holding forth on the justification by works.
+Further on a grenadier of the militia, with blazing red coat and white
+cross-belt, was deep in the mystery of the Trinity. In one or two
+places, where the rude pulpits were too near to each other, the sermons
+had changed into a hot discussion between the two preachers, in which
+the audience took part by hums or groans, each applauding the champion
+whose creed was most in accordance with his own. Through this wild
+scene, made more striking by the ruddy flickering glare of the
+camp-fires, I picked my way with a weight at my heart, for I felt how
+vain it must be to hope for success where such division reigned, Saxon
+looked on, however, with glistening eyes, and rubbed his hands with
+satisfaction.
+
+'The leaven is working,' quoth he. 'Something will come of all this
+ferment.'
+
+'I see not what can come of it save disorder and weakness,' I answered.
+
+'Good soldiers will come of it, lad,' said he. 'They are all sharpening
+themselves, each after his own fashion, on the whetstone of religion.
+This arguing breedeth fanatics, and fanatics are the stuff out of which
+conquerors are fashioned. Have you not heard how Old Noll's army divided
+into Presbyterians, Independents, Ranters, Anabaptists, Fifth Monarchy
+men, Brownists, and a score of other sects, out of whose strife rose the
+finest regiments that ever formed line upon a field of battle?
+
+          "Such as do build their faith upon
+           The holy text of sword and gun."
+
+You know old Samuel's couplet. I tell you, I would rather see them thus
+employed than at their drill, for all their wrangling and jangling.'
+
+'But how of this split in the council?' I asked.
+
+'Ah, that is indeed a graver matter. All creeds may be welded together,
+but the Puritan and the scoffer are like oil and water. Yet the Puritan
+is the oil, for he will be ever atop. These courtiers do but stand for
+themselves, while the others are backed up by the pith and marrow of the
+army. It is well that we are afoot to-morrow. The King's troops are, I
+hear, pouring across Salisbury Plain, but their ordnance and stores are
+delaying them, for they know well that they must bring all they need,
+since they can expect little from the goodwill of the country folk. Ah,
+friend Buyse, wie geht es?'
+
+'Ganz gut,' said the big German, looming up before us through the
+darkness. 'But, sapperment, what a cawing and croaking, like a rookery
+at sunset! You English are a strange people--yes, donnerwetter, a very
+strange people! There are no two of you who think alike upon any subject
+under Himmel! The Cavalier will have his gay coat and his loose word.
+The Puritan will cut your throat rather than give up his sad-coloured
+dress and his Bible. "King James!" cry some, "King Monmouth!" say the
+peasants. "King Jesus!" says the Fifth Monarchy man. "No King at all!"
+cry Master Wade and a few others who are for a Commonwealth. Since I
+set foot on the Helderenbergh at Amsterdam, my head hath been in a whirl
+with trying to understand what it is that ye desire, for before I have
+got to the end of one man's tale, and begin to see a little through the
+finsterniss, another will come with another story, and I am in as evil a
+case as ever. But, my young Hercules, I am right glad to see you back
+in safety. I am half in fear to give you my hand now, after your recent
+treatment of it. I trust that you are none the worse for the danger that
+you have gone through.'
+
+'Mine eyelids are in truth a little heavy,' I answered. 'Save for an
+hour or two aboard the lugger, and about as long on a prison couch, I
+have not closed eye since I left the camp.'
+
+'We shall fall in at the second bugle call, about eight of the clock,'
+said Saxon. 'We shall leave you, therefore, that you may restore
+yourself after your fatigues. 'With a parting nod the two old soldiers
+strode off together down the crowded Fore Street, while I made the best
+of my way back to the Mayor's hospitable dwelling, where I had to repeat
+my story all over again to the assembled household before I was at last
+suffered to seek my room.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVII. Of the Affair near Keynsham Bridge
+
+Monday, June 21, 1685, broke very dark and windy, with dull clouds
+moving heavily across the sky and a constant sputter of rain. Yet a
+little after daybreak Monmouth's bugles were blowing in every quarter
+of the town, from Tone Bridge to Shuttern, and by the hour appointed the
+regiments had mustered, the roll had been called, and the vanguard was
+marching briskly out through the eastern gate. It went forth in the same
+order as it entered, our own regiment and the Taunton burghers bringing
+up the rear. Mayor Timewell and Saxon had the ordering of this part of
+the army between them, and being men who had seen much service, they
+drew the ordnance into a less hazardous position, and placed a strong
+guard of horse, a cannon's shot in the rear, to meet any attempt of the
+Royal dragoons.
+
+It was remarked on all sides that the army had improved in order and
+discipline during the three days' halt, owing perchance to the example
+of our own unceasing drill and soldierly bearing. In numbers it had
+increased to nigh eight thousand, and the men were well fed and light
+of heart. With sturdy close-locked ranks they splashed their way through
+mud and puddle, with many a rough country joke and many a lusty stave
+from song or hymn. Sir Gervas rode at the head of his musqueteers, whose
+befloured tails hung limp and lank with the water dripping from
+them. Lockarby's pikemen and my own company of scythesmen were mostly
+labourers from the country, who were hardened against all weathers, and
+plodded patiently along with the rain-drops glistening upon their ruddy
+faces. In front were the Taunton foot; behind, the lumbering train of
+baggage waggons, with the horse in the rear of them. So the long line
+wound its way over the hills.
+
+At the summit, where the road begins to dip down upon the other side, a
+halt was called to enable the regiments to close up, and we looked back
+at the fair town which many of us were never to see again. From the dark
+walls and house roofs we could still mark the flapping and flutter of
+white kerchiefs from those whom we left behind. Reuben sat his horse
+beside me, with his spare shirt streaming in the wind and his great
+pikemen all agrin behind him, though his thoughts and his eyes were
+too far away to note them. As we gazed, a long thin quiver of sunshine
+slipped out between two cloud banks and gilded the summit of the
+Magdalene tower, with the Royal standard which still waved from it. The
+incident was hailed as a happy augury, and a great shout spread from
+rank to rank at the sight of it, with a waving of hats and a clattering
+of weapons. Then the bugles blew a fanfare, the drums struck up a point
+of war, Reuben thrust his shirt into his haversack, and on we marched
+through mud and slush, with the dreary clouds bending low over us, and
+buttressed by the no less dreary hills on either side. A seeker for
+omens might have said that the heavens were weeping over our ill-fated
+venture.
+
+All day we trudged along roads which were quagmires, over our ankles
+in mud, until in the evening we made our way to Bridgewater, where we
+gained some recruits, and also some hundred pounds for our military
+chest, for it was a well-to-do place, with a thriving coast trade
+carried on down the River Parret. After a night in snug quarters we set
+off again in even worse weather than before. The country in these parts
+is a quagmire in the driest season, but the heavy rains had caused the
+fens to overflow, and turned them into broad lakes on either side of the
+road. This may have been to some degree in our favour, as shielding us
+from the raids of the King's cavalry, but it made our march very
+slow. All day it was splashing and swashing through mud and mire, the
+rain-drops shining on the gun-barrels and dripping from the heavy-footed
+horses. Past the swollen Parret, through Eastover, by the peaceful
+village of Bawdrip, and over Polden Hill we made our way, until the
+bugles sounded a halt under the groves of Ashcot, and a rude meal was
+served out to the men. Then on again, through the pitiless rain, past
+the wooded park of Piper's Inn, through Walton, where the floods were
+threatening the cottages, past the orchards of Street, and so in the
+dusk of the evening into the grey old town of Glastonbury, where the
+good folk did their best by the warmth of their welcome to atone for the
+bitterness of the weather.
+
+The next morning was wet still and inclement, so the army made a short
+march to Wells, which is a good-sized town, well laid out, with a fine
+cathedral, which hath a great number of figures carved in stone and
+placed in niches on the outer side, like that which we saw at Salisbury.
+The townsfolk were strong for the Protestant cause, and the army was so
+well received that their victual cost little from the military chest. On
+this march we first began to come into touch with the Royal horse. More
+than once when the rain mist cleared we saw the gleam of arms upon the
+low hills which overlook the road, and our scouts came in with reports
+of strong bodies of dragoons on either flank. At one time they massed
+heavily upon our rear, as though planning a descent upon the baggage.
+Saxon, however, planted a regiment of pikes on either side, so that they
+broke up again and glinted off over the hills.
+
+From Wells we marched upon the twenty-fourth to Shepton Mallet, with the
+ominous sabres and helmets still twinkling behind and on either side of
+us.
+
+That evening we were at Keynsham Bridge, less than two leagues from
+Bristol as the crow flies, and some of our horse forded the river and
+pushed on almost to the walls.
+
+By morning the rain clouds had at last cleared, so Reuben and I rode
+slowly up one of the sloping green hills which rose behind the camp, in
+the hope of gaining some sight of the enemy. Our men we left littered
+about upon the grass, trying to light fires with the damp sticks, or
+laying out their clothes to dry in the sunshine. A strange-looking band
+they were, coated and splashed with mud from head to heel, their hats
+all limp and draggled, their arms rusted, and their boots so worn that
+many walked barefoot, and others had swathed their kerchiefs round
+their feet. Yet their short spell of soldiering had changed them
+from honest-faced yokels into fierce-eyed, half-shaven, gaunt-cheeked
+fellows, who could carry arms or port pikes as though they had done
+nought else since childhood.
+
+The plight of the officers was no better than that of the men, nor
+should an officer, my dears, when he is upon service, ever demean
+himself by partaking of any comfort which all cannot share with him. Let
+him lie by a soldier's fire and eat a soldier's fare, or let him hence,
+for he is a hindrance and a stumbling-block. Our clothes were pulp, our
+steel fronts red with rust, and our chargers as stained and splashed as
+though they had rolled in the mire. Our very swords and pistols were in
+such a plight that we could scarce draw the one or snap the other. Sir
+Gervas alone succeeded in keeping his attire and his person as neat and
+as dainty as ever. What he did in the watches of the night, and how he
+gained his sleep, hath ever been a mystery to me, for day after day
+he turned out at the bugle call, washed, scented, brushed, with wig
+in order, and clothes from which every speck of mud had been carefully
+removed. At his saddle-bow he bore with him the great flour dredger
+which we saw him use at Taunton, and his honest musqueteers had their
+heads duly dusted every morning, though in an hour their tails would
+be as brown as nature made them, while the flour would be trickling in
+little milky streams down their broad backs, or forming in cakes upon
+the skirts of their coats. It was a long contest between the weather and
+the Baronet, but our comrade proved the victor.
+
+'There was a time when I was called plump Reuben,' quoth my friend, as
+we rode together up the winding track. 'What with too little that is
+solid and too much that is liquid I am like to be skeleton Reuben ere I
+see Havant again. I am as full of rain-water as my father's casks are of
+October. I would, Micah, that you would wring me out and hang me to dry
+upon one of these bushes.'
+
+'If we are wet, King James's men must be wetter,' said I, 'for at least
+we have had such shelter as there was.'
+
+'It is poor comfort when you are starved to know that another is in
+the same plight. I give you my word, Micah, I took in one hole of my
+sword-belt on Monday, two on Tuesday, one yesterday, and one to-day. I
+tell you, I am thawing like an icicle in the sun.'
+
+'If you should chance to dwindle to nought,' said I, laughing, 'what
+account are we to give of you in Taunton? Since you have donned armour
+and taken to winning the hearts of fair maidens, you have outstripped us
+all in importance, and become a man of weight and substance.'
+
+'I had more substance and weight ere I began trailing over the
+countryside like a Hambledon packman,' quoth he. 'But in very truth and
+with all gravity, Micah, it is a strange thing to feel that the whole
+world for you, your hopes, your ambitions, your all, are gathered into
+so small a compass that a hood might cover it, and two little pattens
+support it. I feel as if she were my own higher self, my loftier
+part, and that I, should I be torn from her, would remain for ever an
+incomplete and half-formed being. With her, I ask nothing else. Without
+her, all else is nothing.'
+
+'But have you spoken to the old man?' I asked. 'Are you indeed
+betrothed?'
+
+'I have spoken to him,' my friend answered, 'but he was so busy in
+filling ammunition cases that I could not gain his attention. When I
+tried once more he was counting the spare pikes in the Castle armoury
+with a tally and an ink-horn. I told him that I had come to crave his
+granddaughter's hand, on which he turned to me and asked, "which hand?"
+with so blank a stare that it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. On
+the third trial, though, the day that you did come back from Badminton,
+I did at last prefer my request, but he flashed out at me that this was
+no time for such fooleries, and he bade me wait until King Monmouth was
+on the throne, when I might ask him again. I warrant that he did not
+call such things fooleries fifty years ago, when he went a-courting
+himself.'
+
+'At least he did not refuse you,' said I. 'It is as good as a promise
+that; should the cause be successful, you shall be so too.'
+
+'By my faith,' cried Reuben, 'if a man could by his own single blade
+bring that about, there is none who hath so strong an interest in it as
+I. No, not Monmouth himself! The apprentice Derrick hath for a long time
+raised his eyes to his master's daughter, and the old man was ready to
+have him as a son, so much was he taken by his godliness and zeal. Yet I
+have learned from a side-wind that he is but a debauched and low-living
+man, though he covers his pleasures with a mask of piety. I thought as
+you did think that he was at the head of the roisterers who tried to
+bear Mistress Ruth away, though, i' faith, I can scarce think harshly
+of them, since they did me the greatest service that ever men did yet.
+Meanwhile I have taken occasion, ere we left Wells two nights ago, to
+speak to Master Derrick on the matter, and to warn him as he loved his
+life to plan no treachery against her.
+
+'And how took he this mild intimation?' I asked.
+
+'As a rat takes a rat trap. Snarled out some few words of godly hatred,
+and so slunk away.'
+
+'On my life, lad,' said I, 'you have been having as many adventures in
+your own way as I in mine. But here we are upon the hill-top, with as
+fair an outlook as man could wish to have.'
+
+Just beneath us ran the Avon, curving in long bends through the
+woodlands, with the gleam of the sun striking back from it here and
+there, as though a row of baby suns had been set upon a silver string.
+On the further side the peaceful, many-hued country, rising and falling
+in a swell of cornfields and orchards, swept away to break in a fringe
+of forest upon the distant Malverns. On our right were the green hills
+near Bath and on our left the rugged Mendips, with queenly Bristol
+crouching behind her forts, and the grey channel behind flecked with
+snow-white sails. At our very feet lay Keynsham Bridge, and our army
+spotted in dark patches over the green fields, the smoke of their fires
+and the babble of their voices floating up in the still summer air.
+
+A road ran along the Somersetshire bank of the Avon, and down this two
+troops of our horse were advancing, with intent to establish outposts
+upon our eastern flank. As they jangled past in somewhat loose order,
+their course lay through a pine-wood, into which the road takes a sharp
+bend. We were gazing down at the scene when, like lightning from a
+cloud, a troop of the Horse Guards wheeled out into the open, and
+breaking from trot to canter, and from canter to gallop, dashed down in
+a whirlwind of blue and steel upon our unprepared squadrons. A crackle
+of hastily unslung carbines broke from the leading ranks, but in an
+instant the Guards burst through them and plunged on into the second
+troop. For a space the gallant rustics held their own, and the dense
+mass of men and horses swayed backwards and forwards, with the swirling
+sword-blades playing above them in flashes of angry light. Then blue
+coats began to break from among the russet, the fight rolled wildly back
+for a hundred paces, the dense throng was split asunder, and the Royal
+Guards came pouring through the rent, and swerved off to right and left
+through hedges and over ditches, stabbing and hacking at the fleeing
+horsemen. The whole scene, with the stamping horses, tossing manes,
+shouts of triumph or despair, gasping of hard-drawn breath and musical
+clink and clatter of steel, was to us upon the hill like some wild
+vision, so swiftly did it come and so swiftly go. A sharp, stern
+bugle-call summoned the Blues back into the road, where they formed up
+and trotted slowly away before fresh squadrons could come up from the
+camp. The sun gleamed and the river rippled as ever, and there was
+nothing save the long litter of men and horses to mark the course of the
+hell blast which had broken so suddenly upon us.
+
+As the Blues retired we observed that a single officer brought up the
+rear, riding very slowly, as though it went much against his mood to
+turn his back even to an army. The space betwixt the troop and him was
+steadily growing greater, yet he made no effort to quicken his pace,
+but jogged quietly on, looking back from time to time to see if he were
+followed. The same thought sprang into my comrade's mind and my own at
+the same instant, and we read it in each other's faces.
+
+'This path,' cried he eagerly. 'It brings us out beyond the grove, and
+is in the hollow all the way.'
+
+'Lead the horses until we get on better ground,' I answered. 'We may
+just cut him off if we are lucky.'
+
+There was no time for another word, for we hurried off down the uneven
+track, sliding and slipping on the rain-soaked turf. Springing into our
+saddles we dashed down the gorge, through the grove, and so out on to
+the road in time to see the troop disappear in the distance, and to meet
+the solitary officer face to face.
+
+He was a sun-burned, high-featured man, with black mustachios, mounted
+on a great raw-boned chestnut charger. As we broke out on to the road he
+pulled up to have a good look at us. Then, having fully made up his mind
+as to our hostile intent, he drew his sword, plucked a pistol out of his
+holster with his left hand, and gripping the bridle between his teeth,
+dug his spurs into his horse's flanks and charged down upon us at the
+top of his speed. As we dashed at him, Reuben on his bridle arm and I
+on the other, he cut fiercely at me, and at the same moment fired at my
+companion. The ball grazed Reuben's cheek, leaving a red weal behind it
+like a lash from a whip, and blackening his face with the powder. His
+cut, however, fell short, and throwing my arm round his waist as the two
+horses dashed past each other, I plucked him from the saddle and drew
+him face upwards across my saddlebow. Brave Covenant lumbered on with
+his double burden, and before the Guards had learned that they had lost
+their officer, we had brought him safe, in spite of his struggles and
+writhings, to within sight of Monmouth's camp.
+
+'A narrow shave, friend,' quoth Reuben, with his hand to his cheek. 'He
+hath tattooed my face with powder until I shall be taken for Solomon
+Sprent's younger brother.'
+
+'Thank God that you are unhurt,' said I. 'See, our horse are advancing
+along the upper road. Lord Grey himself rides at their head. We had best
+take our prisoner into camp, since we can do nought here.'
+
+'For Christ's sake, either slay me or set me down!' he cried. 'I cannot
+bear to be carried in this plight, like a half-weaned infant, through
+your campful of grinning yokels.'
+
+'I would not make sport of a brave man,' I answered. 'If you will give
+your word to stay with us, you shall walk between us.'
+
+'Willingly,' said he, scrambling down and arranging his ruffled attire.
+'By my faith, sirs, ye have taught me a lesson not to think too meanly
+of mine enemies. I should have ridden with my troop had I thought that
+there was a chance of falling in with outposts or videttes.'
+
+'We were upon the hill before we cut you off,' quoth Reuben. 'Had that
+pistol ball been a thought straighter, it is I that should have been
+truly the cut-off one. Zounds, Micah! I was grumbling even now that I
+had fallen away, but had my cheek been as round as of old the slug had
+been through it.'
+
+'Where have I seen you before?' asked our captive, bending his dark
+eyes upon me. 'Aye, I have it! It was in the inn at Salisbury, where
+my light-headed comrade Horsford did draw upon an old soldier who was
+riding with you. Mine own name is Ogilvy--Major Ogilvy of the Horse
+Guards Blue. I was right glad that ye did come off safely from the
+hounds. Some word had come of your errand after your departure, so this
+same Horsford with the Mayor and one or two other Tantivies, whose zeal
+methinks outran their humanity, slipped the dogs upon your trail.'
+
+'I remember you well,' I answered. 'You will find Colonel Decimus Saxon,
+my former companion, in the camp. No doubt you will be shortly exchanged
+for some prisoner of ours.'
+
+'Much more likely to have my throat cut,' said he, with a smile. 'I
+fear that Feversham in his present temper will scarce pause to make
+prisoners, and Monmouth may be tempted to pay him back in his own
+coin. Yet it is the fortune of war, and I should pay for my want of all
+soldierly caution. Truth to tell, my mind was far from battles and ruses
+at the moment, for it had wandered away to aqua-regia and its action
+upon the metals, until your appearance brought me back to soldiership.'
+
+'The horse are out of sight,' said Reuben, looking backwards, 'ours as
+well as theirs. Yet I see a clump of men over yonder at the other side
+of the Avon, and there on the hillside can you not see the gleam of
+steel?'
+
+'There are foot there,' I answered, puckering my eyes. 'It seems to me
+that I can discern four or five regiments and as many colours of horse.
+King Monmouth should know of this with all speed.'
+
+'He does know of it,' said Reuben. 'Yonder he stands under the trees
+with his council about him. See, one of them rides this way!'
+
+A trooper had indeed detached himself from the group and galloped
+towards us. 'If you are Captain Clarke, sir,' he said, with a salute,
+'the King orders you to join his council.'
+
+'Then I leave the Major in your keeping, Reuben,' I cried. 'See that
+he hath what our means allow.' So saying I spurred my horse, and soon
+joined the group who were gathered round the King. There were Grey,
+Wade, Buyse, Ferguson, Saxon, Hollis, and a score more, all looking very
+grave, and peering down the valley with their glasses. Monmouth himself
+had dismounted, and was leaning against the trunk of a tree, with his
+arms folded upon his breast, and a look of white despair upon his face.
+Behind the tree a lackey paced up and down leading his glossy black
+charger, who pranced and tossed his lordly mane, a very king among
+horses.
+
+'You see, friends,' said Monmouth, turning lack-lustre eyes from one
+leader to another, 'Providence would seem to be against us. Some new
+mishap is ever at our heels.'
+
+'Not Providence, your Majesty, but our own negligence,' cried Saxon
+boldly. 'Had we advanced on Bristol last night, we might have been on
+the right side of the ramparts by now.'
+
+'But we had no thought that the enemy's foot was so near!' exclaimed
+Wade.
+
+'I told ye what would come of it, and so did Oberst Buyse and the worthy
+Mayor of Taunton,' Saxon answered. 'However, there is nought to be
+gained by mourning over a broken pipkin. We must e'en piece it together
+as best we may.'
+
+'Let us advance on Bristol, and put oor trust in the Highest,' quoth
+Ferguson. 'If it be His mighty will that we should tak' it, then
+shall we enter into it, yea, though drakes and sakers lay as thick as
+cobblestanes in the streets.'
+
+'Aye! aye! On to Bristol! God with us!' cried several of the Puritans
+excitedly.
+
+'But it is madness--dummheit--utter foolishness,' Buyse broke in hotly.
+'You have the chance and you will not take it. Now the chance is gone
+and you are all eager to go. Here is an army of, as near as I can judge,
+five thousand men on the right side of the river. We are on the wrong
+side, and yet you talk of crossing and making a beleaguering of Bristol
+without breaching-pieces or spades, and with this force in our rear.
+Will the town make terms when they can see from their ramparts the van
+of the army which comes to help them? Or does it assist us in fighting
+the army to have a strong town beside us, from which horse and foot can
+make an outfall upon our flank? I say again that it is madness.'
+
+What the German soldier said was so clearly the truth that even the
+fanatics were silenced. Away in the east the long shimmering lines
+of steel, and the patches of scarlet upon the green hillside, were
+arguments which the most thoughtless could not overlook.
+
+'What would you advise, then?' asked Monmouth moodily, tapping his
+jewelled riding-whip against his high boots.
+
+'To cross the river and come to hand-grips with them ere they can
+get help from the town,' the burly German answered bluntly. 'I cannot
+understand what we are here for if it be not to fight. If we win, the
+town must fall. If we lose, We have had a bold stroke for it, and can do
+no more.'
+
+'Is that your opinion, too, Colonel Saxon?' the King asked.
+
+'Assuredly, your Majesty, if we can fight to advantage. We can scarce
+do that, however, by crossing the river on a single narrow bridge in
+the face of such a force. I should advise that we destroy this Keynsham
+Bridge, and march down this southern bank in the hope of forcing a fight
+in a position which we may choose.'
+
+'We have not yet summoned Bath,' said Wade. 'Let us do as Colonel Saxon
+proposes, and let us in the meantime march in that direction and send a
+trumpet to the governor.'
+
+'There is yet another plan,' quoth Sir Stephen Timewell, 'which is to
+hasten to Gloucester, to cross the Severn there, and so march through
+Worcestershire into Shropshire and Cheshire. Your Majesty has many
+friends in those parts.'
+
+Monmouth paced up and down with his hand to his forehead like one
+distrait. 'What am I to do,' he cried at last, 'in the midst of all this
+conflicting advice, when I know that not only my own success, but the
+lives of these poor faithful peasants and craftsmen depend upon my
+resolution?'
+
+'With all humbleness, your Majesty,' said Lord Grey, who had just
+returned with the horse, 'I should suggest, since there are only a few
+troops of their cavalry on this side of the Avon, that we blow up the
+bridge and move onwards to Bath, whence we can pass into Wiltshire,
+which we know to be friendly.'
+
+'So be it!' cried the King, with the reckless air of one who accepts
+a plan, not because it is the best, but because he feels that all are
+equally hopeless. 'What think you, gentlemen?' he added, with a bitter
+smile. 'I have heard news from London this morning, that my uncle has
+clapped two hundred merchants and others who are suspected of being true
+to their creed into the Tower and the Fleet. He will have one half of
+the nation mounting guard over the other half ere long.'
+
+'Or the whole, your Majesty, mounting guard over him,' suggested Wade.
+'He may himself see the Traitor's Gate some of these mornings.'
+
+'Ha, ha! Think ye so? think ye so!' cried Monmouth, rubbing his hands
+and brightening into a smile. 'Well, mayhap you have nicked the truth.
+Who knows? Henry's cause seemed a losing one until Bosworth Field
+settled the contention. To your charges, gentlemen. We shall march in
+half-an-hour. Colonel Saxon and you, Sir Stephen, shall cover the rear
+and guard the baggage--a service of honour with this fringe of horse
+upon our skirts.'
+
+The council broke up forthwith, every man riding off to his own
+regiment. The whole camp was in a stir, bugles blowing and drums
+rattling, until in a very short time the army was drawn up in order, and
+the forlorn of cavalry had already started along the road which leads to
+Bath. Five hundred horse with the Devonshire militiamen were in the van.
+After them in order came the sailor regiment, the North Somerset men,
+the first Taunton regiment of burghers, the Mendip and Bagworthy miners,
+the lace and wool-workers of Honiton, Wellington, and Ottery St. Mary;
+the woodmen, the graziers, the marsh-men, and the men from the Quantock
+district. Behind were the guns and the baggage, with our own brigade and
+four colours of horse as a rearguard. On our march we could see the red
+coats of Feversham keeping pace with us upon the other side of the Avon.
+A large body of his horse and dragoons had forded the stream and hovered
+upon our skirts, but Saxon and Sir Stephen covered the baggage so
+skilfully, and faced round so fiercely with such a snarl of musketry
+whenever they came too nigh, that they never ventured to charge home.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVIII. Of the Fight in Wells Cathedral
+
+I am fairly tied to the chariot-wheels of history now, my dear children,
+and must follow on with name and place and date, whether my tale suffer
+by it or no. With such a drama as this afoot it were impertinent to
+speak of myself, save in so far as I saw or heard what may make these
+old scenes more vivid to you. It is no pleasant matter for me to dwell
+upon, yet, convinced as I am that there is no such thing as chance
+either in the great or the little things of this world, I am very sure
+that the sacrifices of these brave men were not thrown away, and that
+their strivings were not as profitless as might at first sight appear.
+If the perfidious race of Stuart is not now seated upon the throne, and
+if religion in England is still a thing of free growth, we may, to my
+thinking, thank these Somerset yokels for it, who first showed how small
+a thing would shake the throne of an unpopular monarch. Monmouth's
+army was but the vanguard of that which marched throe years later into
+London, when James and his cruel ministers were flying as outcasts over
+the face of the earth.
+
+On the night of June 27, or rather early in the morning of June 28, we
+reached the town of Frome, very wet and miserable, for the rain had come
+on again, and all the roads were quagmires. From this next day we pushed
+on once more to Wells, where we spent the night and the whole of the
+next day, to give the men time to get their clothes dry, and to recover
+themselves after their privations.
+
+In the forenoon a parade of our Wiltshire regiment was held in the
+Cathedral Close, when Monmouth praised it, as it well deserved, for the
+soldierly progress made in so short a time.
+
+As we returned to our quarters after dismissing our men we came upon a
+great throng of the rough Bagworthy and Oare miners, who were assembled
+in the open space in front of the Cathedral, listening to one of their
+own number, who was addressing them from a cart. The wild and frenzied
+gestures of the man showed us that he was one of those extreme sectaries
+whose religion runs perilously near to madness. The hums and groans
+which rose from the crowd proved, however, that his fiery words were
+well suited to his hearers, so we halted on the verge of the multitude
+and hearkened to his address. A red-bearded, fierce-faced man he was,
+with tangled shaggy hair tumbling over his gleaming eyes, and a hoarse
+voice which resounded over the whole square.
+
+'What shall we not do for the Lord?' he cried; 'what shall we not do for
+the Holy of Holies? Why is it that His hand is heavy upon us? Why is it
+that we have not freed this land, even as Judith freed Bethulia? Behold,
+we have looked for peace but no good came, and for a time of health, and
+behold trouble! Why is this, I say? Truly, brothers, it is because we
+have slighted the Lord, because we have not been wholehearted towards
+Him. Lo! we have praised Him with our breath, but in our deeds we have
+been cold towards Him. Ye know well that Prelacy is an accursed thing--a
+hissing and an abomination in the eyes of the Almighty! Yet what have
+we, His servants, wrought for Him in this matter? Have we not seen
+Prelatist churches, churches of form and of show, where the creature is
+confounded with the Creator--have we not seen them, I say, and have we
+not forborne to sweep them away, and so lent our sanction to them? There
+is the sin of a lukewarm and back-sliding generation! There is the cause
+why the Lord should look coldly upon His people! Lo! at Shepton and at
+Frome we have left such churches behind us. At Glastonbury, too, we have
+spared those wicked walls which were reared by idolatrous hands of old.
+Woe unto ye, if, after having put your hands to God's plough, ye turn
+back from the work! See there!' he howled, facing round to the beautiful
+Cathedral, 'what means this great heap of stones? Is it not an altar of
+Baal? Is it not built for man-worship rather than God-worship? Is it not
+there that the man Ken, tricked out in his foolish rochet and baubles,
+may preach his soulless and lying doctrines, which are but the old dish
+of Popery served up under a new cover? And shall we suffer this thing?
+Shall we, the chosen children of the Great One, allow this plague-spot
+to remain? Can we expect the Almighty to help us when we will not
+stretch out a hand to help Him? We have left the other temples of
+Prelacy behind us. Shall we leave this one, too, my brothers?'
+
+'No, no!' yelled the crowd, tossing and swaying.
+
+'Shall we pluck it down, then, until no one stone is left upon another?'
+
+'Yes, yes!' they shouted.
+
+'Now, at once?'
+
+'Yes, yes!'
+
+'Then to work!' he cried, and springing from the cart he rushed towards
+the Cathedral, with the whole mob of wild fanatics at his heels. Some
+crowded in, shouting and yelling, through the open doors, while others
+swarmed up the pillars and pedestals of the front, hacking at the
+sculptured ornaments, and tugging at the grey old images which filled
+every niche.
+
+'This must be stopped,' said Saxon curtly. 'We cannot afford to insult
+and estray the whole Church of England to please a few hot-headed
+ranters. The pillage of this Cathedral would do our cause more harm than
+a pitched battle lost. Do you bring up your company, Sir Gervas, and we
+shall do what we can to hold them in check until they come.'
+
+'Hi, Masterton!' cried the Baronet, spying one of his under-officers
+among the crowd who were looking on, neither assisting nor opposing the
+rioters. 'Do you hasten to the quarters, and tell Barker to bring up the
+company with their matches burning. I may be of use here.'
+
+'Ha, here is Buyse!' cried Saxon joyously, as the huge German ploughed
+his way through the crowd. 'And Lord Grey, too! We must save the
+Cathedral, my lord! They would sack and burn it.'
+
+'This way, gentlemen,' cried an old grey-haired man, running out towards
+us with hands outspread, and a bunch of keys clanking at his girdle. 'Oh
+hasten, gentlemen, if ye can indeed prevail over these lawless men! They
+have pulled down Saint Peter, and they will have Paul down too unless
+help comes. There will not be an apostle left. The east window is
+broken. They have brought a hogshead of beer, and are broaching it
+upon the high altar. Oh, alas, alas! That such things should be in a
+Christian land!' He sobbed aloud and stamped about in a very frenzy of
+grief.
+
+'It is the verger, sirs,' said one of the townsfolk. 'He hath grown grey
+in the Cathedral.'
+
+'This way to the vestry door, my lords and gentlemen,' cried the old
+man, pushing a way strenuously through the crowd. 'Now, lack-a-day, the
+sainted Paul hath gone too!'
+
+As he spoke a splintering crash from inside the Cathedral announced some
+fresh outrage on the part of the zealots. Our guide hastened on with
+renewed speed, until he came to a low oaken door heavily arched, which
+he unlocked with much rasping of wards and creaking of hinges. Through
+this we sidled as best we might, and hurried after the old man down a
+stone-flagged corridor, which led through a wicket into the Cathedral
+close by the high altar.
+
+The great building was full of the rioters, who were rushing hither and
+thither, destroying and breaking everything which they could lay their
+hands on. A good number of these were genuine zealots, the followers of
+the preacher whom we had listened to outside. Others, however, were on
+the face of them mere rogues and thieves, such as gather round every
+army upon the march. While the former were tearing down images from the
+walls, or hurling the books of common prayer through the stained-glass
+windows, the others were rooting up the massive brass candlesticks,
+and carrying away everything which promised to be of value. One ragged
+fellow was in the pulpit, tearing off the crimson velvet and hurling it
+down among the crowd. Another had upset the reading-desk, and was busily
+engaged in wrenching off the brazen fastenings. In the centre of
+the side aisle a small group had a rope round the neck of Mark the
+Evangelist, and were dragging lustily upon it, until, even as we
+entered, the statue, after tottering for a few moments, came crashing
+down upon the marble floor. The shouts which greeted every fresh
+outrage, with the splintering of woodwork, the smashing of windows, and
+the clatter of falling masonry, made up a most deafening uproar, which
+was increased by the droning of the organ, until some of the rioters
+silenced it by slitting up the bellows.
+
+What more immediately concerned ourselves was the scene which was being
+enacted just in front of us at the high altar. A barrel of beer had been
+placed upon it, and a dozen ruffians gathered round it, one of whom with
+many ribald jests had climbed up, and was engaged in knocking in the
+top of the cask with a hatchet. As we entered he had just succeeded in
+broaching it, and the brown mead was foaming over, while the mob with
+roars of laughter were passing up their dippers and pannikins. The
+German soldier rapped out a rough jagged oath at this spectacle, and
+shouldering his way through the roisterers he sprang upon the altar.
+The ringleader was bending over his cask, black-jack in hand, when the
+soldier's iron grip fell upon his collar, and in a moment his heels were
+flapping in the air, and his head three feet deep in the cask, while the
+beer splashed and foamed in every direction. With a mighty heave Buyse
+picked up the barrel with the half-drowned miner inside, and hurled it
+clattering down the broad marble steps which led from the body of the
+church. At the same time, with the aid of a dozen of our men who had
+followed us into the Cathedral, we drove back the fellow's comrades, and
+thrust them out beyond the rails which divided the choir from the nave.
+
+Our inroad had the effect of checking the riot, but it simply did so by
+turning the fury of the zealots from the walls and windows to ourselves.
+Images, stone-work, and wood-carvings were all abandoned, and the whole
+swarm came rushing up with a hoarse buzz of rage, all discipline and
+order completely lost in their religious frenzy. 'Smite the Prelatists!'
+they howled. 'Down with the friends of Antichrist! Cut them off even at
+the horns of the altar! Down with them!' On either side they massed, a
+wild, half-demented crowd, some with arms and some without, but filled
+to a man with the very spirit of murder.
+
+'This is a civil war within a civil war,' said Lord Grey, with a quiet
+smile. 'We had best draw, gentlemen, and defend the gap in the rails, if
+we may hold it good until help arrives.' He flashed out his rapier as
+he spoke, and took his stand on the top of the steps, with Saxon and Sir
+Gervas upon one side of him, Buyse, Reuben, and myself upon the other.
+There was only room for six to wield their weapons with effect, so our
+scanty band of followers scattered themselves along the line of the
+rails, which were luckily so high and strong as to make an escalado
+difficult in the face of any opposition.
+
+The riot had now changed into open mutiny among these marshmen and
+miners. Pikes, scythes, and knives glimmered through the dim light,
+while their wild cries re-echoed from the high arched roof like the
+howling of a pack of wolves. 'Go forward, my brothers,' cried the
+fanatic preacher, who had been the cause of the outbreak--'go forward
+against them! What though they be in high places! There is One who
+is higher than they. Shall we shrink from His work because of a naked
+sword? Shall we suffer the Prelatist altar to be preserved by these sons
+of Amalek? On, on! In the name of the Lord!'
+
+'In the name of the Lord!' cried the crowd, with a sort of hissing gasp,
+like one who is about to plunge into an icy bath. 'In the name of the
+Lord!' From either side they came on, gathering speed and volume, until
+at last with a wild cry they surged right down upon our sword-points.
+
+I can say nothing of what took place to right or left of me during the
+ruffle, for indeed there were so many pressing upon us, and the fight
+was so hot, that it was all that each of us could do to hold our own.
+The very number of our assailants was in our favour, by hampering their
+sword-arms. One burly miner cut fiercely at me with his scythe, but
+missing me he swung half round with the force of the blow, and I passed
+my sword through his body before he could recover himself. It was the
+first time that I had ever slain a man in anger, my dear children, and
+I shall never forget his white startled face as he looked over his
+shoulder at me ere he fell. Another closed in with me before I could get
+my weapon disengaged, but I struck him out with my left hand, and then
+brought the flat of my sword upon his head, laying him senseless
+upon the pavement. God knows, I did not wish to take the lives of the
+misguided and ignorant zealots, but our own were at stake. A marshman,
+looking more like a shaggy wild beast than a human being, darted under
+my weapon and caught me round the knees, while another brought a flail
+down upon my head-piece, from which it glanced on to my shoulder. A
+third thrust at me with a pike, and pricked me on the thigh, but I shore
+his weapon in two with one blow, and split his head with the next. The
+man with the flail gave back at sight of this, and a kick freed me from
+the unarmed ape-like creature at my feet, so that I found myself clear
+of my assailants, and none the worse for my encounter, save for a touch
+on the leg and some stiffness of the neck and shoulder.
+
+Looking round I found that my comrades had also beaten off those who
+were opposed to them. Saxon was holding his bloody rapier in his left
+hand, while the blood was trickling from a slight wound upon his right.
+Two miners lay across each other in front of him, but at the feet of
+Sir Gervas Jerome no fewer than four bodies were piled together. He had
+plucked out his snuff-box as I glanced at him, and was offering it with
+a bow and a flourish to Lord Grey, as unconcernedly as though he were
+back once more in his London coffee-house. Buyse leaned upon his long
+broadsword, and looked gloomily at a headless trunk in front of him,
+which I recognised from the dress as being that of the preacher. As to
+Reuben, he was unhurt himself, but in sore distress over my own trifling
+scar, though I assured the faithful lad that it was a less thing than
+many a tear from branch or thorn which we had had when blackberrying
+together.
+
+The fanatics, though driven back, were not men to be content with a
+single repulse. They had lost ten of their number, including their
+leader, without being able to break our line, but the failure only
+served to increase their fury. For a minute or so they gathered panting
+in the aisle. Then with a mad yell they dashed in once more, and made a
+desperate effort to cut a way through to the altar. It was a fiercer and
+more prolonged struggle than before. One of our followers was stabbed to
+the heart over the rails, and fell without a groan. Another was stunned
+by a mass of masonry hurled at him by a giant cragsman. Reuben was
+felled by a club, and would have been dragged out and hacked to pieces
+had I not stood over him and beaten off his assailants. Sir Gervas was
+borne off his legs by the rush, but lay like a wounded wildcat, striking
+out furiously at everything which came within his reach. Buyse and
+Saxon, back to back, stood firm amidst the seething, rushing crowd,
+cutting down every man within sweep of their swords. Yet in such a
+struggle numbers must in the end prevail, and I confess that I for one
+had begun to have fears for the upshot of our contest, when the heavy
+tramp of disciplined feet rang through the Cathedral, and the Baronet's
+musqueteers came at a quick run up the central aisle. The fanatics did
+not await their charge, but darted off over benches and pews, followed
+by our allies, who were furious on seeing their beloved Captain upon the
+ground. There was a wild minute or two, with confused shuffling of feet,
+stabs, groans, and the clatter of musket butts on the marble floor. Of
+the rioters some were slain, but the greater part threw down their arms
+and were arrested at the command of Lord Grey, while a strong guard was
+placed at the gates to prevent any fresh outburst of sectarian fury.
+
+When at last the Cathedral was cleared and order restored, we had time
+to look around us and to reckon our own injuries. In all my wanderings,
+and the many wars in which I afterwards fought--wars compared to which
+this affair of Monmouth's was but the merest skirmish--I have never seen
+a stranger or more impressive scene. In the dim, solemn light the pile
+of bodies in front of the rails, with their twisted limbs and white-set
+faces, had a most sad and ghost-like aspect. The evening light, shining
+through one of the few unbroken stained-glass windows, cast great
+splotches of vivid crimson and of sickly green upon the heap of
+motionless figures. A few wounded men sat about in the front pews or lay
+upon the steps moaning for water. Of our own small company not one had
+escaped unscathed. Three of our followers had been slain outright, while
+a fourth was lying stunned from a blow. Buyse and Sir Gervas were much
+bruised. Saxon was cut on the right arm. Reuben had been felled by a
+bludgeon stroke, and would certainly have been slain but for the fine
+temper of Sir Jacob Clancing's breastplate, which had turned a fierce
+pike-thrust. As to myself it is scarce worth the mention, but my head
+sang for some hours like a good wife's kettle, and my boot was full of
+blood, which may have been a blessing in disguise, for Sneckson, our
+Havant barber, was ever dinning into my ears how much the better I
+should be for a phlebotomy.
+
+In the meantime all the troops had assembled and the mutiny been swiftly
+stamped out. There were doubtless many among the Puritans who had no
+love for the Prelatists, but none save the most crack-brained fanatics
+could fail to see that the sacking of the Cathedral would set the
+whole Church of England in arms, and ruin the cause for which they were
+fighting. As it was, much damage had been done; for whilst the gang
+within had been smashing all which they could lay their hands upon,
+others outside had chipped off cornices and gargoyles, and had even
+dragged the lead covering from the roof and hurled it down in great
+sheets to their companions beneath. This last led to some profit, for
+the army had no great store of ammunition, so the lead was gathered up
+by Monmouth's orders and recast into bullets. The prisoners were held
+in custody for a time, but it was deemed unwise to punish them, so that
+they were finally pardoned and dismissed from the army.
+
+A parade of our whole force was held in the fields outside the town upon
+the second day of our stay at Wells, the weather having at last become
+warm and sunny. The foot was then found to muster six regiments of nine
+hundred men, or five thousand four hundred in all. Of these fifteen
+hundred were musqueteers, two thousand were pikemen, and the rest were
+scythesmen or peasants with flails and hammers. A few bodies, such as
+our own or those from Taunton, might fairly lay claim to be soldiers,
+but the most of them were still labourers and craftsmen with weapons
+in their hands. Yet, ill-armed and ill-drilled as they were, they were
+still strong robust Englishmen, full of native courage and of religious
+zeal. The light and fickle Monmouth began to take heart once more at the
+sight of their sturdy bearing, and at the sound of their hearty cheers.
+I heard him as I sat my horse beside his staff speak exultantly to those
+around him, and ask whether these fine fellows could possibly be beaten
+by mercenary half-hearted hirelings.
+
+'What say you, Wade!' he cried. 'Are we never to see a smile on that sad
+face of yours? Do you not see a woolsack in store for you as you look
+upon these brave fellows?'
+
+'God forbid that I should say a word to damp your Majesty's ardour,' the
+lawyer answered; 'yet I cannot but remember that there was a time when
+your Majesty, at the head of these same hirelings, did drive men as
+brave as these in headlong rout from Bothwell Bridge.'
+
+'True, true!' said the King, passing his hand over his forehead--a
+favourite motion when he was worried and annoyed. 'They were bold men,
+the western Covenanters, yet they could not stand against the rush of
+our battalions. But they had had no training, whereas these can fight in
+line and fire a platoon as well as one would wish to see.'
+
+'If we hadna a gun nor a patronal among us,' said Ferguson, 'if we hadna
+sae muckle as a sword, but just oor ain honds, yet would the Lard gie us
+the victory, if it seemed good in His a' seeing een.'
+
+'All battles are but chance work, your Majesty,' remarked Saxon, whose
+sword-arm was bound round with his kerchief. 'Some lucky turn, some slip
+or chance which none can foresee, is ever likely to turn the scale. I
+have lost when I have looked to win, and I have won when I have looked
+to lose. It is an uncertain game, and one never knows the finish till
+the last card is played.'
+
+'Not till the stakes are drawn,' said Buyse, in his deep guttural voice.
+'There is many a leader that wins what you call the trick, and yet loses
+the game.'
+
+'The trick being the battle and the game the campaign,' quoth the King,
+with a smile. 'Our German friend is a master of camp-fire metaphors. But
+methinks our poor horses are in a sorry state. What would cousin William
+over at The Hague, with his spruce guards, think of such a show as
+this?'
+
+During this talk the long column of foot had tramped past, still bearing
+the banners which they had brought with them to the wars, though much
+the worse for wind and weather. Monmouth's remarks had been drawn forth
+by the aspect of the ten troops of horse which followed. The chargers
+had been sadly worn by the continued work and constant rain, while the
+riders, having allowed their caps and fronts to get coated with rust,
+appeared to be in as bad a plight as their steeds. It was clear to the
+least experienced of us that if we were to hold our own it was upon
+our foot that we must rely. On the tops of the low hills all round the
+frequent shimmer of arms, glancing here and there when the sun's rays
+struck upon them, showed how strong our enemies were in the very point
+in which we were so weak. Yet in the main this Wells review was cheering
+to us, as showing that the men kept in good heart, and that there was no
+ill-feeling at the rough handling of the zealots upon the day before.
+
+The enemy's horse hovered about us during these days, but the foot had
+been delayed through the heavy weather and the swollen streams. On the
+last day of June we marched out of Wells, and made our way across flat
+sedgy plains and over the low Polden Hills to Bridgewater, where we
+found some few recruits awaiting us. Here Monmouth had some thoughts
+of making a stand, and even set to work raising earthworks, but it was
+pointed out to him that, even could he hold the town, there was not more
+than a few days' provisions within it, while the country round had been
+already swept so bare that little more could be expected from it. The
+works were therefore abandoned, and, fairly driven to bay, without a
+loophole of escape left, we awaited the approach of the enemy.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIX. Of the Great Cry from the Lonely House
+
+And so our weary marching and counter-marching came at last to an end,
+and we found ourselves with our backs fairly against the wall, and the
+whole strength of the Government turned against us. Not a word came
+to us of a rising or movement in our favour in any part of England.
+Everywhere the Dissenters were cast into prison and the Church dominant.
+From north and east and west the militia of the counties was on its
+march against us. In London six regiments of Dutch troops had arrived as
+a loan from the Prince of Orange. Others were said to be on their way.
+The City had enrolled ten thousand men. Everywhere there was mustering
+and marching to succour the flower of the English army, which was
+already in Somersetshire. And all for the purpose of crushing some five
+or six thousand clodhoppers and fishermen, half-armed and penniless, who
+were ready to throw their lives away for a man and for an idea.
+
+But this idea, my dear children, was a noble one, and one which a man
+might very well sacrifice all for, and yet feel that all was well spent.
+For though these poor peasants, in their dumb, blundering fashion, would
+have found it hard to give all their reasons in words, yet in the inmost
+heart of them they knew and felt that it was England's cause which they
+were fighting for, and that they were upholding their country's true
+self against those who would alter the old systems under which she had
+led the nations. Three more years made all this very plain, and showed
+that our simple unlettered followers had seen and judged the signs of
+the times more correctly than those who called themselves their betters.
+There are, to my thinking, stages of human progress for which the Church
+of Rome is admirably suited. Where the mind of a nation is young, it may
+be best that it should not concern itself with spiritual affairs, but
+should lean upon the old staff of custom and authority. But England had
+cast off her swaddling-clothes, and was a nursery of strong, thinking
+men, who would bow to no authority save that which their reason and
+conscience approved. It was hopeless, useless, foolish, to try to drive
+such men back into a creed which they had outgrown. Such an attempt was,
+however, being made, backed by all the weight of a bigoted king with a
+powerful and wealthy Church as his ally. In three years the nation would
+understand it, and the King would be flying from his angry people; but
+at present, sunk in a torpor after the long civil wars and the corrupt
+reign of Charles, they failed to see what was at stake, and turned
+against those who would warn them, as a hasty man turns on the messenger
+who is the bearer of evil tidings. Is it not strange, my dears, how
+quickly a mere shadowy thought comes to take living form, and grow into
+a very tragic reality? At one end of the chain is a king brooding over a
+point of doctrine; at the other are six thousand desperate men, chivied
+and chased from shire to shire, standing to bay at last amid the bleak
+Bridgewater marshes, with their hearts as bitter and as hopeless as
+those of hunted beasts of prey. A king's theology is a dangerous thing
+for his subjects.
+
+But if the idea for which these poor men fought was a worthy one, what
+shall we say of the man who had been chosen as the champion of their
+cause? Alas, that such men should have had such a leader! Swinging from
+the heights of confidence to the depths of despair, choosing his future
+council of state one day and proposing to fly from the army on the
+next, he appeared from the start to be possessed by the very spirit
+of fickleness. Yet he had borne a fair name before this enterprise. In
+Scotland he had won golden opinions, not only for his success, but for
+the moderation and mercy with which he treated the vanquished. On the
+Continent he had commanded an English brigade in a way that earned
+praise from old soldiers of Louis and the Empire. Yet now, when his own
+head and his own fortunes were at stake, he was feeble, irresolute, and
+cowardly. In my father's phrase, 'all the virtue had gone out of him.'
+I declare when I have seen him riding among his troops, with his head
+bowed upon his breast and a face like a mute at a burying, casting an
+air of gloom and of despair all round him, I have felt that, even in
+case of success, such a man could never wear the crown of the Tudors and
+the Plantagenets, but that some stronger hand, were it that of one of
+his own generals, would wrest it from him.
+
+I will do Monmouth the justice to say that from the time when it was at
+last decided to fight--for the very good reason that no other course was
+open--he showed up in a more soldierly and manlier spirit. For the first
+few days in July no means were neglected to hearten our troops and to
+nerve them for the coming battle. From morning to night we were at work,
+teaching our foot how to form up in dense groups to meet the charge of
+horse, and how to depend upon each other, and look to their officers for
+orders. At night the streets of the little town from the Castle Field
+to the Parret Bridge resounded with the praying and the preaching. There
+was no need for the officers to quell irregularities, for the troops
+punished them amongst themselves. One man who came out on the streets
+hot with wine was well-nigh hanged by his companions, who finally cast
+him out of the town as being unworthy to fight in what they looked
+upon as a sacred quarrel. As to their courage, there was no occasion to
+quicken that, for they were as fearless as lions, and the only danger
+was lest their fiery daring should lead them into foolhardiness. Their
+desire was to hurl themselves upon the enemy like a horde of Moslem
+fanatics, and it was no easy matter to drill such hot-headed fellows
+into the steadiness and caution which war demands.
+
+Provisions ran low upon the third day of our stay in Bridgewater, which
+was due to our having exhausted that part of the country before, and
+also to the vigilance of the Royal Horse, who scoured the district round
+and cut off our supplies. Lord Grey determined, therefore, to send
+out two troops of horse under cover of night, to do what they could to
+refill the larder. The command of the small expedition was given over
+to Major Martin Hooker, an old Lifeguardsman of rough speech and curt
+manners, who had done good service in drilling the headstrong farmers
+and yeomen into some sort of order. Sir Gervas Jerome and I asked leave
+from Lord Grey to join the foray--a favour which was readily granted,
+since there was little stirring in the town.
+
+It was about eleven o'clock on a moonless night that we sallied out
+of Bridgewater, intending to explore the country in the direction of
+Boroughbridge and Athelney. We had word that there was no large body
+of the enemy in that quarter, and it was a fertile district where
+good store of supplies might be hoped for. We took with us four empty
+waggons, to carry whatever we might have the luck to find. Our commander
+arranged that one troop should ride before these and one behind, while a
+small advance party, under the charge of Sir Gervas, kept some hundreds
+of paces in front. In this order we clattered out of the town just as
+the late bugles were blowing, and swept away down the quiet shadowy
+roads, bringing anxious peering faces to the casements of the wayside
+cottages as we whirled past in the darkness.
+
+That ride comes very clearly before me as I think of it. The dark loom
+of the club-headed willows flitting by us, the moaning of the breeze
+among the withies, the vague, blurred figures of the troopers, the dull
+thud of the hoofs, and the jingling of scabbard against stirrup--eye and
+ear can both conjure up those old-time memories. The Baronet and I rode
+in front, knee against knee, and his light-hearted chatter of life in
+town, with his little snatches of verse or song from Cowley or Waller,
+were a very balm of Gilead to my sombre and somewhat heavy spirit.
+
+'Life is indeed life on such a night as this,' quoth he, as we breathed
+in the fresh country air with the reeks of crops and of kine. 'Rabbit
+me! but you are to be envied, Clarke, for having been born and bred in
+the country! What pleasures has the town to offer compared to the free
+gifts of nature, provided always that there be a perruquier's and
+a snuff merchant's, and a scent vendor's, and one or two tolerable
+outfitters within reach? With these and a good coffee-house and a
+playhouse, I think I could make shift to lead a simple pastoral life for
+some months.'
+
+'In the country,' said I, laughing, 'we have ever the feeling that the
+true life of mankind, with the growth of knowledge and wisdom, are being
+wrought out in the towns.'
+
+'Ventre Saint-Gris! It was little knowledge or wisdom that I acquired
+there,' he answered. 'Truth to tell, I have lived more and learned more
+during these few weeks that we have been sliding about in the rain with
+our ragged lads, than ever I did when I was page of the court, with the
+ball of fortune at my feet. It is a sorry thing for a man's mind to have
+nothing higher to dwell upon than the turning of a compliment or the
+dancing of a corranto. Zounds, lad! I have your friend the carpenter to
+thank for much. As he says in his letter, unless a man can get the good
+that is in him out, he is of loss value in the world than one of those
+fowls that we hear cackling, for they at least fulfill their mission, if
+it be only to lay eggs. Ged, it is a new creed for me to be preaching!'
+
+'But,' said I, 'when you were a wealthy man you must have been of
+service to some one, for how could one spend so much money and yet none
+be the better?'
+
+'You dear bucolic Micah!' he cried, with a gay laugh. 'You will ever
+speak of my poor fortune with bated breath and in an awestruck voice, as
+though it were the wealth of the Indies. You cannot think, lad, how easy
+it is for a money-bag to take unto itself wings and fly. It is true that
+the man who spends it doth not consume the money, but passes it on to
+some one who profits thereby. Yet the fault lies in the fact that it was
+to the wrong folk that we passed our money, thereby breeding a useless
+and debauched class at the expense of honest callings. Od's fish, lad!
+when I think of the swarms of needy beggars, the lecherous pimps, the
+nose-slitting bullies, the toadies and the flatterers who were reared by
+us, I feel that in hatching such a poisonous brood our money hath done
+what no money can undo. Have I not seen them thirty deep of a morning
+when I have held my levee, cringing up to my bedside--'
+
+'Your bedside!' I exclaimed.
+
+'Aye! it was the mode to receive in bed, attired in laced cambric
+shirt and periwig, though afterwards it was permitted to sit up in your
+chamber, but dressed _a la negligence_, in gown and slippers. The mode
+is a terrible tyrant, Clarke, though its arm may not extend as far as
+Havant. The idle man of the town must have some rule of life, so he
+becomes a slave to the law of the fashions. No man in London was more
+subject to it than myself. I was regular in my irregularities, and
+orderly in my disorders. At eleven o'clock to the stroke, up came my
+valet with the morning cup of hippocras, an excellent thing for the
+qualms, and some slight refection, as the breast of an ortolan or wing
+of a widgeon. Then came the levee, twenty, thirty, or forty of the class
+I have spoken of, though now and then perhaps there might be some honest
+case of want among them, some needy man-of-letters in quest of a guinea,
+or pupil-less pedant with much ancient learning in his head and very
+little modern coinage in his pocket. It was not only that I had some
+power of mine own, but I was known to have the ear of my Lord Halifax,
+Sidney Godolphin, Lawrence Hyde, and others whose will might make or mar
+a man. Mark you those lights upon the left! Would it not be well to see
+if there is not something to be had there?'
+
+'Hooker hath orders to proceed to a certain farm,' I answered. 'This we
+could take upon our return should we still have space. We shall be back
+here before morning.'
+
+'We must get supplies, if I have to ride back to Surrey for them,' said
+he. 'Rat me, if I dare look my musqueteers in the face again unless I
+bring them something to toast upon the end of their ramrods! They had
+little more savoury than their own bullets to put in their mouths when
+I left them. But I was speaking of old days in London. Our time was
+well filled. Should a man of quality incline to sport there was ever
+something to attract him. He might see sword-playing at Hockley, or
+cocking at Shoe Lane, or baiting at Southwark, or shooting at Tothill
+Fields. Again, he might walk in the physic gardens of St. James's, or go
+down the river with the ebb tide to the cherry orchards at Rotherhithe,
+or drive to Islington to drink the cream, or, above all, walk in the
+Park, which is most modish for a gentleman who dresses in the fashion.
+You see, Clarke, that we were active in our idleness, and that there was
+no lack of employment. Then as evening came on there were the playhouses
+to draw us, Dorset Gardens, Lincoln's Inn, Drury Lane, and the
+Queen's--among the four there was ever some amusement to be found.'
+
+'There, at least, your time was well employed,' said I; 'you could
+not hearken to the grand thoughts or lofty words of Shakespeare or of
+Massinger without feeling some image of them in your own soul.'
+
+Sir Gervas chuckled quietly. 'You are as fresh to me, Micah, as this
+sweet country air,' said he. 'Know, thou dear babe, that it was not to
+see the play that we frequented the playhouse.'
+
+'Then why, in Heaven's name?' I asked.
+
+'To see each other,' he answered. 'It was the mode, I assure you, for a
+man of fashion to stand with his back turned to the stage from the
+rise of the curtain to the fall of it. There were the orange wenches to
+quiz--plaguey sharp of tongue the hussies are, too--and there were the
+vizards of the pit, whose little black masks did invite inquiry, and
+there were the beauties of the town and the toasts of the Court,
+all fair mark for our quizzing-glasses. Play, indeed! S'bud, we had
+something better to do than to listen to alexandrines or weigh the
+merits of hexameters! 'Tis true that if La Jeune were dancing, or if
+Mrs. Bracegirdle or Mrs. Oldfield came upon the boards, we would hum
+and clap, but it was the fine woman that we applauded rather than the
+actress.'
+
+'And when the play was over you went doubtless to supper and so to bed?'
+
+'To supper, certainly. Sometimes to the Rhenish House, sometimes to
+Pontack's in Abchurch Lane. Every one had his own taste in that matter.
+Then there were dice and cards at the Groom Porter's or under the arches
+at Covent Garden, piquet, passage, hazard, primero--what you choose.
+After that you could find all the world at the coffee-houses, where an
+arriere supper was often served with devilled bones and prunes, to drive
+the fumes of wine from the head. Zounds, Micah! If the Jews should relax
+their pressure, or if this war brings us any luck, you shall come to
+town with me and shall see all these things for yourself.'
+
+'Truth to tell, it doth not tempt me much,' I answered. 'Slow and solemn
+I am by nature, and in such scenes as you have described I should feel a
+very death's head at a banquet.'
+
+Sir Gervas was about to reply, when of a sudden out of the silence
+of the night there rose a long-drawn piercing scream, which thrilled
+through every nerve of our bodies. I have never heard such a wail of
+despair. We pulled up our horses, as did the troopers behind us, and
+strained our ears for some sign as to whence the sound proceeded, for
+some were of opinion that it came from our right and some from our left.
+The main body with the waggons had come up, and we all listened intently
+for any return of the terrible cry. Presently it broke upon us again,
+wild, shrill, and agonised: the scream of a woman in mortal distress.
+
+'Tis over there, Major Hooker,' cried Sir Gervas, standing up in his
+stirrups and peering through the darkness. 'There is a house about two
+fields off. I can see some glimmer, as from a window with the blind
+drawn.'
+
+'Shall we not make for it at once?' I asked impatiently, for our
+commander sat stolidly upon his horse as though by no means sure what
+course he should pursue.
+
+'I am here, Captain Clarke,' said he, 'to convey supplies to the army,
+and I am by no means justified in turning from my course to pursue other
+adventures.'
+
+'Death, man! there is a woman in distress,' cried Sir Gervas. 'Why,
+Major, you would not ride past and let her call in vain for help? Hark,
+there she is again!' As he spoke the wild scream rang out once more from
+the lonely house.
+
+'Nay, I can abide this no longer,' I cried, my blood boiling in my
+veins; 'do you go on your errand, Major Hooker, and my friend and I
+shall leave you here. We shall know how to justify our action to the
+King. Come, Sir Gervas!'
+
+'Mark ye, this is flat mutiny, Captain Clarke,' said Hooker; 'you are
+under my orders, and should you desert me you do so at your peril.'
+
+'In such a case I care not a groat for thy orders,' I answered hotly.
+Turning Covenant I spurred down a narrow, deeply-rutted lane which
+led towards the house, followed by Sir Gervas and two or three of the
+troopers. At the same moment I heard a sharp word of command from Hooker
+and the creaking of wheels, showing that he had indeed abandoned us and
+proceeded on his mission.
+
+'He is right,' quoth the Baronet, as we rode down the lane; 'Saxon or
+any other old soldier would commend his discipline.'
+
+'There are things which are higher than discipline,' I muttered.
+'I could not pass on and leave this poor soul in her distress. But
+see--what have we here?'
+
+A dark mass loomed in front of us, which proved as we approached to be
+four horses fastened by their bridles to the hedge.
+
+'Cavalry horses, Captain Clarke!' cried one of the troopers who had
+sprung down to examine them. 'They have the Government saddle and
+holsters. Here is a wooden gate which opens on a pathway leading to the
+house.'
+
+'We had best dismount, then,' said Sir Gervas, jumping down and tying
+his horse beside the others. 'Do you, lads, stay by the horses, and if
+we call for ye come to our aid. Sergeant Holloway, you can come with us.
+Bring your pistols with you!'
+
+
+
+Chapter XXX. Of the Swordsman with the Brown Jacket
+
+The sergeant, who was a great raw-boned west-countryman, pushed the gate
+open, and we were advancing up the winding pathway, when a stream of
+yellow light flooded out from a suddenly opened door, and we saw a dark
+squat figure dart through it into the inside of the house. At the same
+moment there rose up a babel of sounds, followed by two pistol shots,
+and a roaring, gasping hubbub, with clash of swords and storm of oaths.
+At this sudden uproar we all three ran at our topmost speed up the
+pathway and peered in through the open door, where we saw a scene such
+as I shall never forget while this old memory of mine can conjure up any
+picture of the past.
+
+The room was large and lofty, with long rows of hams and salted meats
+dangling from the smoke-browned rafters, as is usual in Somersetshire
+farmhouses. A high black clock ticked in a corner, and a rude table,
+with plates and dishes laid out as for a meal, stood in the centre.
+Right in front of the door a great fire of wood faggots was blazing, and
+before this, to our unutterable horror, there hung a man head downwards,
+suspended by a rope which was knotted round his ankles, and which,
+passing over a hook in a beam, had been made fast to a ring in the
+floor. The struggles of this unhappy man had caused the rope to whirl
+round, so that he was spinning in front of the blaze like a joint
+of meat. Across the threshold lay a woman, the one whose cries had
+attracted us, but her rigid face and twisted body showed that our
+aid had come too late to save her from the fate which she had seen
+impending. Close by her two swarthy dragoons in the glaring red coats of
+the Royal army lay stretched across each other upon the floor, dark and
+scowling even in death. In the centre of the room two other dragoons
+were cutting and stabbing with their broad-swords at a thick, short,
+heavy-shouldered man, clad in coarse brown kersey stuff, who sprang
+about among the chairs and round the table with a long basket-hilted
+rapier in his hand, parrying or dodging their blows with wonderful
+adroitness, and every now and then putting in a thrust in return.
+Hard pressed as he was, his set resolute face, firm mouth, and bright
+well-opened eyes spoke of a bold spirit within, while the blood which
+dripped from the sleeve of one of his opponents proved that the contest
+was not so unequal as it might appear. Even as we gazed he sprang back
+to avoid a fierce rush of the furious soldiers, and by a quick sharp
+side stroke he severed the rope by which the victim was hung. The body
+fell with a heavy thud upon the brick floor, while the little swordsman
+danced off in a moment into another quarter of the room, still stopping
+or avoiding with the utmost ease and skill the shower of blows which
+rained upon him.
+
+This strange scene held us spell-bound for a few seconds, but there was
+no time for delay, for a slip or trip would prove fatal to the gallant
+stranger. Rushing into the chamber, sword in hand, we fell upon the
+dragoons, who, outnumbered as they were, backed into a corner and struck
+out fiercely, knowing that they need expect no mercy after the devil's
+work in which they had been engaged. Holloway, our sergeant of horse,
+springing furiously in, laid himself open to a thrust which stretched
+him dead upon the ground. Before the dragoon could disengage his weapon,
+Sir Gervas cut him down, while at the same moment the stranger got past
+the guard of his antagonist, and wounded him mortally in the throat.
+Of the four red-coats not one escaped alive, while the bodies of our
+sergeant and of the old couple who had been the first victims increased
+the horror of the scene.
+
+'Poor Holloway is gone,' said I, placing my hand over his heart. 'Who
+ever saw such a shambles? I feel sick and ill.'
+
+'Here is eau-de-vie, if I mistake not,' cried the stranger, clambering
+up on a chair and reaching a bottle from the shelf. 'Good, too, by the
+smell. Take a sup, for you are as white as a new-bleached sheet.'
+
+'Honest warfare I can abide, but scenes like this make my blood run
+cold,' I answered, taking a gulp from the flask. I was a very young
+soldier then, my dears, but I confess that to the end of my campaigns
+any form of cruelty had the same effect upon me. I give you my word that
+when I went to London last fall the sight of an overworked, raw-backed
+cart-horse straining with its load, and flogged for not doing that which
+it could not do, gave me greater qualms than did the field of Sedgemoor,
+or that greater day when ten thousand of the flower of France lay
+stretched before the earthworks of Landen.
+
+'The woman is dead,' said Sir Gervas, 'and the man is also, I fear, past
+recovery. He is not burned, but suffers, I should judge, poor devil!
+from the rush of blood to the head.'
+
+'If that be all it may well be cured, 'remarked the stranger; and taking
+a small knife from his pocket, he rolled up the old man's sleeve and
+opened one of his veins. At first only a few sluggish black drops oozed
+from the wound, but presently the blood began to flow more freely, and
+the injured man showed signs of returning sense.
+
+'He will live,' said the little swordsman, putting his lancet back in
+his pocket. 'And now, who may you be to whom I owe this interference
+which shortened the affair, though mayhap the result would have been the
+same had you left us to settle it amongst ourselves?'
+
+'We are from Monmouth's army,' I answered. 'He lies at Bridgewater, and
+we are scouting and seeking supplies.'
+
+'And who are you?' asked Sir Gervas. 'And how came you into this
+ruffle? S'bud, you are a game little rooster to fight four such great
+cockerels!'
+
+'My name is Hector Marot,' the man answered, cleaning out his empty
+pistols and very carefully reloading them. 'As to who I am, it is a
+matter of small moment. Suffice it that I have helped to lessen Kirk's
+horse by four of his rogues. Mark their faces, so dusky and sun-dried
+even in death. These men have learned warfare fighting against the
+heathen in Africa, and now they practise on poor harmless English folk
+the devil's tricks which they have picked up amongst the savages. The
+Lord help Monmouth's men should they be beaten! These vermin are more to
+be feared than hangman's cord or headsman's axe.'
+
+'But how did you chance upon the spot at the very nick of time?' I
+asked.
+
+'Why, marry, I was jogging down the road on my mare when I heard the
+clatter of hoofs behind me, and concealing myself in a field, as a
+prudent man would while the country is in its present state, I saw these
+four rogues gallop past. They made their way up to the farmhouse
+here, and presently from cries and other tokens I knew what manner of
+hell-fire business they had on hand. On that I left my mare in the field
+and ran up, when I saw them through the casement, tricing the good man
+up in front of his fire to make him confess where his wealth lay hidden,
+though indeed it is my own belief that neither he nor any other farmer
+in these parts hath any wealth left to hide, after two armies have been
+quartered in turn upon them. Finding that his mouth remained closed,
+they ran him up, as you saw, and would assuredly have toasted him like a
+snipe, had I not stepped in and winged two of them with my barkers. The
+others set upon me, but I pinked one through the forearm, and should
+doubtless have given a good account of both of them but for your
+incoming.'
+
+'Right gallantly done!' I exclaimed. 'But where have I heard your name
+before, Mr. Hector Marot?'
+
+'Nay,' he answered, with a sharp, sidelong look, 'I cannot tell that.'
+
+'It is familiar to mine ear,' said I.
+
+He shrugged his broad shoulders, and continued to look to the priming
+of his pistols, with a half-defiant and half-uneasy expression. He was
+a very sturdy, deep-chested man, with a stern, square-jawed face, and a
+white seam across his bronzed forehead as from a slash with a knife. He
+wore a gold-edged riding-cap, a jacket of brown sad-coloured stuff much
+stained by the weather, a pair of high rusty jack-boots, and a small
+bob-wig.
+
+Sir Gervas, who had been staring very hard at the man, suddenly gave a
+start, and slapped his hand against his leg.
+
+'Of course!' he cried. 'Sink me, if I could remember where I had seen
+your face, but now it comes back to me very clearly.'
+
+The man glanced doggedly from under his bent brows at each of us
+in turn. 'It seems that I have fallen among acquaintances,' he said
+gruffly; 'yet I have no memory of ye. Methinks, young sirs, that your
+fancy doth play ye false.'
+
+'Not a whit,' the Baronet answered quietly, and, bending forward, he
+whispered a few words into the man's ear, which caused him to spring
+from his seat and take a couple of quick strides forward, as though to
+escape from the house.
+
+'Nay, nay!' cried Sir Gervas, springing between him and the door, 'you
+shall not run away from us. Pshaw, man! never lay your hand upon your
+sword. We have had bloody work enough for one night. Besides, we would
+not harm you.'
+
+'What mean ye, then? What would ye have?' he asked, glancing about like
+some fierce wild beast in a trap.
+
+'I have a most kindly feeling to you, man, after this night's work,'
+cried Sir Gervas. 'What is it to me how ye pick up a living, as long as
+you are a true man at heart? Let me perish if I ever forget a face which
+I have once seen, and your bonne mine, with the trade-mark upon your
+forehead, is especially hard to overlook.'
+
+'Suppose I be the same? What then?' the man asked sullenly.
+
+'There is no suppose in the matter. I could swear to you. But I would
+not, lad--not if I caught you red-handed. You must know, Clarke, since
+there is none to overhear us, that in the old days I was a Justice of
+the Peace in Surrey, and that our friend here was brought up before me
+on a charge of riding somewhat late o' night, and of being plaguey short
+with travellers. You will understand me. He was referred to assizes, but
+got away in the meanwhile, and so saved his neck. Right glad I am of
+it, for you will agree with me that he is too proper a man to give a
+tight-rope dance at Tyburn.'
+
+'And I remember well now where I have heard your name,' said I. 'Were
+you not a captive in the Duke of Beaufort's prison at Badminton, and did
+you not succeed in escaping from the old Boteler dungeon?'
+
+'Nay, gentlemen,' he replied, seating himself on the edge of the table,
+and carelessly swinging his legs, 'since ye know so much it would be
+folly for me to attempt to deceive ye. I am indeed the same Hector Marot
+who hath made his name a terror on the great Western road, and who hath
+seen the inside of more prisons than any man in the south. With truth,
+however, I can say that though I have been ten years upon the roads, I
+have never yet taken a groat from the poor, or injured any man who did
+not wish to injure me. On the contrary, I have often risked life and
+limb to save those who were in trouble.'
+
+'We can bear you out in that,' I answered, 'for if these four red-coat
+devils have paid the price of their crimes, it is your doing rather than
+ours.'
+
+'Nay, I can take little credit for that,' our new acquaintance answered.
+'Indeed, I had other scores to settle with Colonel Kirke's horse, and
+was but too glad to have this breather with them.'
+
+Whilst we were talking the men whom we had left with the horses had come
+up, together with some of the neighbouring farmers and cottagers, who
+were aghast at the scene of slaughter, and much troubled in their minds
+over the vengeance which might be exacted by the Royal troops next day.
+
+'For Christ's zake, zur,' cried one of them, an old ruddy-faced
+countryman, 'move the bodies o' these soldier rogues into the road, and
+let it zeem as how they have perished in a chance fight wi' your own
+troopers loike. Should it be known as they have met their end within
+a varmhouse, there will not be a thatch left unlighted over t' whole
+country side; as it is, us can scarce keep these murthering Tangiers
+devils from oor throats.'
+
+'His request is in reason,' said the highwayman bluntly. 'We have no
+right to have our fun, and then go our way leaving others to pay the
+score.'
+
+'Well, hark ye,' said Sir Gervas, turning to the group of frightened
+rustics. 'I'll strike a bargain with ye over the matter. We have come
+out for supplies, and can scarce go back empty-handed. If ye will among
+ye provide us with a cart, filling it with such breadstuffs and greens
+as ye may, with a dozen bullocks as well, we shall not only screen ye in
+this matter, but I shall promise payment at fair market rates if ye will
+come to the Protestant camp for the money.'
+
+'I'll spare the bullocks,' quoth the old man whom we had rescued, who
+was now sufficiently recovered to sit up. 'Zince my poor dame is foully
+murthered it matters little to me what becomes o' the stock. I shall
+zee her laid in Durston graveyard, and shall then vollow you to t' camp,
+where I shall die happy if I can but rid the earth o' one more o' these
+incarnate devils.'
+
+'You say well, gaffer!' cried Hector Marot; 'you show the true spirit.
+Methinks I see an old birding-piece on yonder hooks, which, with a brace
+of slugs in it and a bold man behind it, might bring down one of these
+fine birds for all their gay feathers.'
+
+'Her's been a true mate to me for more'n thirty year,' said the old man,
+the tears coursing down his wrinkled cheeks. 'Thirty zeed-toimes and
+thirty harvests we've worked together. But this is a zeed-toime which
+shall have a harvest o' blood if my right hand can compass it.'
+
+'If you go to t' wars, Gaffer Swain, we'll look to your homestead,'
+said the farmer who had spoken before. 'As to t' greenstuffs as this
+gentleman asks for he shall have not one wainload but three, if he will
+but gi' us half-an-hour to fill them up. If he does not tak them t'
+others will, so we had raither that they go to the good cause. Here,
+Miles, do you wak the labourers, and zee that they throw the potato
+store wi' the spinach and the dried meats into the waggons wi' all
+speed.'
+
+'Then we had best set about our part of the contract,' said Hector
+Marot. With the aid of our troopers he carried out the four dragoons and
+our dead sergeant, and laid them on the ground some way down the lane,
+leading the horses all round and between their bodies, so as to trample
+the earth, and bear out the idea of a cavalry skirmish. While this was
+doing, some of the labourers had washed down the brick floor of the
+kitchen and removed all traces of the tragedy. The murdered woman had
+been carried up to her own chamber, so that nothing was left to recall
+what had occurred, save the unhappy farmer, who sat moodily in the same
+place, with his chin resting upon his stringy work-worn hands, staring
+out in front of him with a stony, empty gaze, unconscious apparently of
+all that was going on around him.
+
+The loading of the waggons had been quickly accomplished, and the little
+drove of oxen gathered from a neighbouring field. We were just starting
+upon our return journey when a young countryman rode up, with the news
+that a troop of the Royal Horse were between the camp and ourselves.
+This was grave tidings, for we were but seven all told, and our pace was
+necessarily slow whilst we were hampered with the supplies.
+
+'How about Hooker?' I suggested. 'Should we not send after him and give
+him warning?'
+
+'I'll goo at once,' said the countryman. 'I'm bound to zee him if he be
+on the Athelney road.' So saying he set spurs to his horse and galloped
+off through the darkness.
+
+'While we have such volunteer scouts as this,' I remarked, 'it is easy
+to see which side the country folk have in their hearts. Hooker hath
+still the better part of two troops with him, so surely he can hold his
+own. But how are we to make our way back?'
+
+'Zounds, Clarke! let us extemporise a fortress,' suggested Sir Gervas.
+'We could hold this farmhouse against all comers until Hooker returns,
+and then join our forces to his. Now would our redoubtable Colonel be in
+his glory, to have a chance of devising cross-fires, and flanking-fires,
+with all the other refinements of a well-conducted leaguer.'
+
+'Nay,' I answered, 'after leaving Major Hooker in a somewhat cavalier
+fashion, it would be a bitter thing to have to ask his help now that
+there is danger.'
+
+'Ho, ho!' cried the Baronet. 'It does not take a very deep lead-line
+to come to the bottom of your stoical philosophy, friend Micah. For all
+your cold-blooded stolidity you are keen enough where pride or honour is
+concerned. Shall we then ride onwards, and chance it? I'll lay an even
+crown that we never as much as see a red coat.'
+
+'If you will take my advice, gentlemen,' said the highwayman, trotting
+up upon a beautiful bay mare, 'I should say that your best course is to
+allow me to act as guide to you as far as the camp. It will be strange
+if I cannot find roads which shall baffle these blundering soldiers.'
+
+'A very wise and seasonable proposition,' cried Sir Gervas. 'Master
+Marot, a pinch from my snuff-box, which is ever a covenant of friendship
+with its owner. Adslidikins, man! though our acquaintance at present
+is limited to my having nearly hanged you on one occasion, yet I have
+a kindly feeling towards you, though I wish you had some more savoury
+trade.'
+
+'So do many who ride o' night,' Marot answered, with a chuckle. 'But we
+had best start, for the east is whitening, and it will be daylight ere
+we come to Bridgewater.'
+
+Leaving the ill-omened farmhouse behind us we set off with all military
+precautions, Marot riding with me some distance in front, while two of
+the troopers covered the rear. It was still very dark, though a thin
+grey line on the horizon showed that the dawn was not far off. In spite
+of the gloom, however, our new acquaintance guided us without a moment's
+halt or hesitation through a network of lanes and bypaths, across fields
+and over bogs, where the waggons were sometimes up to their axles in
+bog, and sometimes were groaning and straining over rocks and stones. So
+frequent were our turnings, and so often did we change the direction of
+our advance, that I feared more than once that our guide was at fault;
+yet, when at last the first rays of the sun brightened the landscape we
+saw the steeple of Bridgewater parish church shooting up right in front
+of us.
+
+'Zounds, man! you must have something of the cat in you to pick your way
+so in the dark,' cried Sir Gervas, riding up to us. 'I am right glad to
+see the town, for my poor waggons have been creaking and straining until
+my ears are weary with listening for the snap of the axle-bar. Master
+Marot, we owe you something for this.'
+
+'Is this your own particular district?' I asked, 'or have you a like
+knowledge of every part of the south?'
+
+'My range,' said he, lighting his short, black pipe, 'is from Kent to
+Cornwall, though never north of the Thames or Bristol Channel. Through
+that district there is no road which is not familiar to me, nor as much
+as a break in the hedge which I could not find in blackest midnight. It
+is my calling. But the trade is not what it was. If I had a son I should
+not bring him up to it. It hath been spoiled by the armed guards to
+the mail-coaches, and by the accursed goldsmiths, who have opened their
+banks and so taken the hard money into their strong boxes, giving out
+instead slips of paper, which are as useless to us as an old newsletter.
+I give ye my word that only a week gone last Friday I stopped a grazier
+coming from Blandford fair, and I took seven hundred guineas off him in
+these paper cheques, as they call them--enough, had it been in gold, to
+have lasted me for a three month rouse. Truly the country is coming to a
+pretty pass when such trash as that is allowed to take the place of the
+King's coinage.'
+
+'Why should you persevere in such a trade?' said I. 'Your own knowledge
+must tell you that it can only lead to ruin and the gallows. Have you
+ever known one who has thriven at it?'
+
+'That have I,' he answered readily. 'There was Kingston Jones, who
+worked Hounslow for many a year. He took ten thousand yellow boys on
+one job, and, like a wise man, he vowed never to risk his neck again.
+He went into Cheshire, with some tale of having newly arrived from the
+Indies, bought an estate, and is now a flourishing country gentleman of
+good repute, and a Justice of the Peace into the bargain. Zounds, man!
+to see him on the bench, condemning some poor devil for stealing a dozen
+eggs, is as good as a comedy in the playhouse.'
+
+'Nay! but,' I persisted, 'you are a man, judging from what we have seen
+of your courage and skill in the use of your weapons, who would gain
+speedy preferment in any army. Surely it were better to use your gifts
+to the gaining of honour and credit, than to make them a stepping-stone
+to disgrace and the gallows?'
+
+'For the gallows I care not a clipped shilling,' the highwayman
+answered, sending up thick blue curls of smoke into the morning air. 'We
+have all to pay nature's debt, and whether I do it in my boots or on a
+feather bed, in one year or in ten, matters as little to me as to any
+soldier among you. As to disgrace, it is a matter of opinion. I see
+no shame myself in taking a toll upon the wealth of the rich, since I
+freely expose my own skin in the doing of it.'
+
+'There is a right and there is a wrong,' I answered, 'which no words
+can do away with, and it is a dangerous and unprofitable trick to juggle
+with them.'
+
+'Besides, even if what you have said were true as to property,' Sir
+Gervas remarked, 'it would not hold you excused for that recklessness of
+human life which your trade begets.'
+
+'Nay! it is but hunting, save that your quarry may at any time turn
+round upon you, and become in turn the hunter. It is, as you say, a
+dangerous game, but two can play at it, and each has an equal chance.
+There is no loading of the dice, or throwing of fulhams. Now it was but
+a few days back that, riding down the high-road, I perceived three jolly
+farmers at full gallop across the fields with a leash of dogs yelping in
+front of them, and all in pursuit of one little harmless bunny. It was
+a bare and unpeopled countryside on the border of Exmoor, so I bethought
+me that I could not employ my leisure better than by chasing the
+chasers. Odd's wouns! it was a proper hunt. Away went my gentlemen,
+whooping like madmen, with their coat skirts flapping in the breeze,
+chivying on the dogs, and having a rare morning's sport. They never
+marked the quiet horseman who rode behind them, and who without a
+"yoick!" or "hark-a-way!" was relishing his chase with the loudest of
+them. It needed but a posse of peace officers at my heels to make up a
+brave string of us, catch-who-catch-can, like the game the lads play on
+the village green.'
+
+'And what came of it?' I asked, for our new acquaintance was laughing
+silently to himself.
+
+'Well, my three friends ran down their hare, and pulled out their
+flasks, as men who had done a good stroke of work. They were still
+hobnobbing and laughing over the slaughtered bunny, and one had
+dismounted to cut off its ears as the prize of their chase, when I came
+up at a hand-gallop. "Good-morrow, gentlemen," said I, "we have had rare
+sport." They looked at me blankly enough, I promise you, and one of
+them asked me what the devil I did there, and how I dared to join in a
+private sport. "Nay, I was not chasing your hare, gentlemen," said I.
+"What then, fellow?" asked one of them. "Why, marry, I was chasing you,"
+I answered, "and a better run I have not had for years." With that I
+lugged out my persuaders, and made the thing clear in a few words, and
+I'll warrant you would have laughed could you have seen their faces as
+they slowly dragged the fat leather purses from their fobs. Seventy-one
+pounds was my prize that morning, which was better worth riding for than
+a hare's ears.'
+
+'Did they not raise the country on your track?' I asked.
+
+'Nay! When Brown Alice is given her head she flies faster than the news.
+Rumour spreads quick, but the good mare's stride is quicker still.'
+
+'And here we are within our own outposts,' quoth Sir Gervas. 'Now, mine
+honest friend--for honest you have been to us, whatever others may
+say of you--will you not come with us, and strike in for a good cause?
+Zounds, man! you have many an ill deed to atone for, I'll warrant.
+Why not add one good one to your account, by risking your life for the
+reformed faith?'
+
+'Not I,' the highwayman answered, reining up his horse. 'My own skin is
+nothing, but why should I risk my mare in such a fool's quarrel? Should
+she come to harm in the ruffle, where could I get such another? Besides,
+it matters nothing to her whether Papist or Protestant sits on the
+throne of England--does it, my beauty?'
+
+'But you might chance to gain preferment,' I said. 'Our Colonel, Decimus
+Saxon, is one who loves a good swordsman, and his word hath power with
+King Monmouth and the council.'
+
+'Nay, nay!' cried Hector Marot gruffly. 'Let every man stick to his own
+trade. Kirke's Horse I am ever ready to have a brush with, for a party
+of them hung old blind Jim Houston of Milverton, who was a friend of
+mine. I have sent seven of the red-handed rogues to their last account
+for it, and might work through the whole regiment had I time. But I will
+not fight against King James, nor will I risk the mare, so let me hear
+no more of it. And now I must leave ye, for I have much to do. Farewell
+to you!'
+
+'Farewell, farewell!' we cried, pressing his brown horny hands; 'our
+thanks to you for your guidance.' Raising his hat, he shook his bridle
+and galloped off down the road in a rolling cloud of dust.
+
+'Rat me, if I ever say a word against the thieves again!' said Sir
+Gervas. 'I never saw a man wield sword more deftly in my life, and he
+must be a rare hand with a pistol to bring those two tall fellows down
+with two shots. But look over there, Clarke! Can you not see bodies of
+red-coats?'
+
+'Surely I can,' I answered, gazing out over the broad, reedy,
+dead-coloured plain, which extended from the other side of the winding
+Parret to the distant Polden Hills. 'I can see them over yonder in the
+direction of Westonzoyland, as bright as the poppies among corn.'
+
+'There are more upon the left, near Chedzoy,' quoth Sir Gervas. 'One,
+two, three, and one yonder, and two others behind--six regiments of foot
+in all. Methinks I see the breastplates of horse over there, and some
+sign of ordnance too. Faith! Monmouth must fight now, if he ever hopes
+to feel the gold rim upon his temples. The whole of King James's army
+hath closed upon him.'
+
+'We must get back to our command, then,' I answered. 'If I mistake not,
+I see the flutter of our standards in the market-place.' We spurred our
+weary steeds forward, and made our way with our little party and the
+supplies which we had collected, until we found ourselves back in
+our quarters, where we were hailed by the lusty cheers of our hungry
+comrades. Before noon the drove of bullocks had been changed into joints
+and steaks, while our green stuff and other victuals had helped to
+furnish the last dinner which many of our men were ever destined to eat.
+Major Hooker came in shortly after with a good store of provisions, but
+in no very good case, for he had had a skirmish with the dragoons, and
+had lost eight or ten of his men. He bore a complaint straightway to the
+council concerning the manner in which we had deserted him; but great
+events were coming fast upon us now, and there was small time to inquire
+into petty matters of discipline. For myself, I freely confess, looking
+back on it, that as a soldier he was entirely in the right, and that
+from a strict military point of view our conduct was not to be excused.
+Yet I trust, my dears, even now, when years have weighed me down, that
+the scream of a woman in distress would be a signal which would draw me
+to her aid while these old limbs could bear me. For the duty which
+we owe to the weak overrides all other duties and is superior to all
+circumstances, and I for one cannot see why the coat of the soldier
+should harden the heart of the man.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXI. Of the Maid of the Marsh and the Bubble which rose from
+the Bog
+
+All Bridgewater was in a ferment as we rode in, for King James's forces
+were within four miles, on the Sedgemoor Plain, and it was likely that
+they would push on at once and storm the town. Some rude works had been
+thrown up on the Eastover side, behind which two brigades were drawn
+up in arms, while the rest of the army was held in reserve in the
+market-place and Castle Field. Towards afternoon, however, parties of
+our horse and peasants from the fen country came in with the news that
+there was no fear of an assault being attempted. The Royal troops had
+quartered themselves snugly in the little villages of the neighbourhood,
+and having levied contributions of cider and of beer from the farmers,
+they showed no sign of any wish to advance.
+
+The town was full of women, the wives, mothers, and sisters of our
+peasants, who had come in from far and near to see their loved ones once
+more. Fleet Street or Cheapside upon a busy day are not more crowded
+than were the narrow streets and lanes of the Somersetshire town.
+Jack-booted, buff-coated troopers; scarlet militiamen; brown,
+stern-faced Tauntonians; serge-clad pikemen; wild, ragged miners;
+smockfrocked yokels; reckless, weather-tanned seamen; gaunt cragsmen
+from the northern coast--all pushed and jostled each other in a thick,
+many-coloured crowd. Everywhere among them were the country women,
+straw-bonneted and loud-tongued, weeping, embracing, and exhorting.
+Here and there amid the motley dresses and gleam of arms moved the dark,
+sombre figure of a Puritan minister, with sweeping sad-coloured mantle
+and penthouse hat, scattering abroad short fiery ejaculations and stern
+pithy texts of the old fighting order, which warmed the men's blood like
+liquor. Ever and anon a sharp, fierce shout would rise from the people,
+like the yelp of a high-spirited hound which is straining at its leash
+and hot to be at the throat of its enemy.
+
+Our regiment had been taken off duty whenever it was clear that
+Feversham did not mean to advance, and they were now busy upon the
+victuals which our night-foray had furnished. It was a Sunday, fresh and
+warm, with a clear, unclouded sky, and a gentle breeze, sweet with the
+smack of the country. All day the bells of the neighbouring villages
+rang out their alarm, pealing their music over the sunlit countryside.
+The upper windows and red-tiled roofs of the houses were crowded with
+pale-faced women and children, who peered out to eastward, where the
+splotches of crimson upon the dun-coloured moor marked the position of
+our enemies.
+
+At four o'clock Monmouth held a last council of war upon the square
+tower out of which springs the steeple of Bridgewater parish church,
+whence a good view can be obtained of all the country round. Since my
+ride to Beaufort I had always been honoured with a summons to attend, in
+spite of my humble rank in the army. There were some thirty councillors
+in all, as many as the space would hold, soldiers and courtiers,
+Cavaliers and Puritans, all drawn together now by the bond of a common
+danger. Indeed, the near approach of a crisis in their fortunes had
+broken down much of the distinction of manner which had served to
+separate them. The sectary had lost something of his austerity and
+become flushed and eager at the prospect of battle, while the giddy man
+of fashion was hushed into unwonted gravity as he considered the danger
+of his position. Their old feuds were forgotten as they gathered on the
+parapet and gazed with set faces at the thick columns of smoke which
+rose along the sky-line.
+
+King Monmouth stood among his chiefs, pale and haggard, with the
+dishevelled, unkempt look of a man whose distress of mind has made him
+forgetful of the care of his person. He held a pair of ivory glasses,
+and as he raised them to his eyes his thin white hands shook and
+twitched until it was grievous to watch him. Lord Grey handed his own
+glasses to Saxon, who leaned his elbows upon the rough stone breastwork
+and stared long and earnestly at the enemy.
+
+'They are the very men I have myself led,' said Monmouth at last, in a
+low voice, as though uttering his thoughts aloud. 'Over yonder at the
+right I see Dumbarton's foot. I know these men well. They will fight.
+Had we them with us all would be well.'
+
+'Nay, your Majesty,' Lord Grey answered with spirit, 'you do your brave
+followers an injustice. They, too, will fight to the last drop of their
+blood in your quarrel.'
+
+'Look down at them!' said Monmouth sadly, pointing at the swarming
+streets beneath us. 'Braver hearts never beat in English breasts, yet do
+but mark how they brabble and clamour like clowns on a Saturday night.
+Compare them with the stern, orderly array of the trained battalions.
+Alas! that I should have dragged these honest souls from their little
+homes to fight so hopeless a battle!'
+
+'Hark at that!' cried Wade. 'They do not think it hopeless, nor do we.'
+As he spoke a wild shout rose from the dense crowd beneath, who were
+listening to a preacher who was holding forth from a window.
+
+'It is worthy Doctor Ferguson,' said Sir Stephen Timewell, who had
+just come up. 'He is as one inspired, powerfully borne onwards in his
+discourse. Verily he is even as one of the prophets of old. He has
+chosen for his text, "The Lord God of gods he knoweth and Israel he
+shall know. If it be in rebellion or if in transgression against the
+Lord, save us not this day."'
+
+'Amen, amen!' cried several of the Puritan soldiers devoutly, while
+another hoarse burst of shouting from below, with the clashing of
+scythe-blades and the clatter of arms, showed how deeply the people were
+moved by the burning words of the fanatic.
+
+'They do indeed seem to be hot for battle,' said Monmouth, with a more
+sprightly look. 'It may be that one who has commanded regular troops, as
+I have done, is prone to lay too much weight upon the difference which
+discipline and training make. These brave lads seem high of heart. What
+think you of the enemy's dispositions, Colonel Saxon?'
+
+'By my faith, I think very little of them, your Majesty,' Saxon answered
+bluntly. 'I have seen armies drawn up in array in many different parts
+of the world and under many commanders. I have likewise read the section
+which treats of the matter in the "De re militari" of Petrinus Bellus,
+and in the works of a Fleming of repute, yet I have neither seen nor
+heard anything which can commend the arrangements which we see before
+us.'
+
+'How call you the hamlet on the left--that with the square ivy-clad
+church tower?' asked Monmouth, turning to the Mayor of Bridgewater,
+a small, anxious-faced man, who was evidently far from easy at the
+prominence which his office had brought upon him.
+
+'Westonzoyland, your Honour--that is, your Grace--I mean, your Majesty,'
+he stammered. 'The other, two miles farther off, is Middlezoy, and away
+to the left, just on the far side of the rhine, is Chedzoy.'
+
+'The rhine, sir! What do you mean?' asked the King, starting violently,
+and turning so fiercely upon the timid burgher, that he lost the little
+balance of wits which was left to him.
+
+'Why, the rhine, your Grace, your Majesty,' he quavered. 'The rhine,
+which, as your Majesty's Grace cannot but perceive, is what the country
+folk call the rhine.'
+
+'It is a name, your Majesty, for the deep and broad ditches which drain
+off the water from the great morass of Sedgemoor,' said Sir Stephen
+Timewell.
+
+Monmouth turned white to his very lips, and several of the council
+exchanged significant glances, recalling the strange prophetic jingle
+which I had been the means of bringing to the camp. The silence was
+broken, however, by an old Cromwellian Major named Hollis, who had been
+drawing upon paper the position of the villages in which the enemy was
+quartered.
+
+'If it please your Majesty, there is something in their order which
+recalls to my mind that of the army of the Scots upon the occasion
+of the battle of Dunbar. Cromwell lay in Dunbar even as we lie in
+Bridgewater. The ground around, which was boggy and treacherous, was
+held by the enemy. There was not a man in the army who would not own
+that, had old Leslie held his position, we should, as far as human
+wisdom could see, have had to betake us to our ships, leave our stores
+and ordnance, and so make the best of our way to Newcastle. He moved,
+however, through the blessing of Providence, in such a manner that a
+quagmire intervened between his right wing and the rest of his army, on
+which Cromwell fell upon that wing in the early dawn, and dashed it
+to pieces, with such effect that the whole army fled, and we had the
+execution of them to the very gates of Leith. Seven thousand Scots lost
+their lives, but not more than a hundred or so of the honest folk.
+Now, your Majesty will see through your glass that a mile of bogland
+intervenes between these villages, and that the nearest one, Chedzoy, as
+I think they call it, might be approached without ourselves entering the
+morass. Very sure I am that were the Lord-General with us now he would
+counsel us to venture some such attack.'
+
+'It is a bold thing with raw peasants to attack old soldiers,' quoth Sir
+Stephen Timewell. 'Yet if it is to be done, I know well that there is
+not a man born within sound of the bells of St. Mary Magdalene who will
+flinch from it.'
+
+'You say well, Sir Stephen,' said Monmouth. 'At Dunbar Cromwell had
+veterans at his back, and was opposed to troops who had small experience
+of war.'
+
+'Yet there is much good sense in what Major Hollis has said,' remarked
+Lord Grey. 'We must either fall on, or be gradually girt round and
+starved out. That being so, why not take advantage at once of the chance
+which Feversham's ignorance or carelessness hath given us? To-morrow, if
+Churchill can prevail over his chief, I have little doubt that we
+shall find their camp rearranged, and so have cause to regret our lost
+opportunity.'
+
+'Their horse lie at Westonzoyland,' said Wade. 'The sun is so fierce now
+that we can scarce see for its glare and the haze which rises up from
+the marshes. Yet a little while ago I could make out through my glasses
+the long lines of horses picketed on the moor beyond the village.
+Behind, in Middlezoy, are two thousand militia, while in Chedzoy, where
+our attack would fall, there are five regiments of regular foot.'
+
+'If we could break those all would be well,' cried Monmouth. 'What is
+your advice, Colonel Buyse?'
+
+'My advice is ever the same,' the German answered. 'We are here to
+fight, and the sooner we get to work at it the better.'
+
+'And yours, Colonel Saxon? Do you agree with the opinion of your
+friend?'
+
+'I think with Major Hollis, your Majesty, that Feversham by his
+dispositions hath laid himself open to attack, and that we should take
+advantage of it forthwith. Yet, considering that trained men and a
+numerous horse have great advantage by daylight, I should be in favour
+of a camisado or night onfall.'
+
+'The same thought was in my mind,' said Grey. 'Our friends here know
+every inch of the ground, and could guide us to Chedzoy as surely in the
+darkness as in the day.'
+
+'I have heard,' said Saxon, 'that much beer and cider, with wine and
+strong waters, have found their way into their camp. If this be so
+we may give them a rouse while their heads are still buzzing with the
+liquor, when they shall scarce know whether it is ourselves or the blue
+devils which have come upon them.'
+
+A general chorus of approval from the whole council showed that the
+prospect of at last coming to an engagement was welcome, after the weary
+marchings and delays of the last few weeks.
+
+'Has any cavalier anything to say against this plan?' asked the King.
+
+We all looked from one to the other, but though many faces were doubtful
+or desponding, none had a word to say against the night attack, for it
+was clear that our action in any case must be hazardous, and this had at
+least the merit of promising a better chance of success than any other.
+Yet, my dears, I dare say the boldest of us felt a sinking at the heart
+as we looked at our downcast, sad-faced leader, and asked ourselves
+whether this was a likely man to bring so desperate an enterprise to a
+success.
+
+'If all are agreed,' said he, 'let our word be "Soho," and let us come
+upon them as soon after midnight as may be. What remains to be settled
+as to the order of battle may be left for the meantime. You will now,
+gentlemen, return to your regiments, and you will remember that be the
+upshot of this what it may, whether Monmouth be the crowned King of
+England or a hunted fugitive, his heart, while it can still beat, will
+ever bear in memory the brave friends who stood at his side in the hour
+of his trouble.'
+
+At this simple and kindly speech a flush of devotion, mingled in my
+own case at least with a heart-whole pity for the poor, weak gentleman,
+swept over us. We pressed round him with our hands upon the hilts of our
+swords, swearing that we would stand by him, though all the world stood
+between him and his rights. Even the rigid and impassive Puritans were
+moved to a show of loyalty; while the courtiers, carried away by zeal,
+drew their rapiers and shouted until the crowd beneath caught the
+enthusiasm, and the air was full of the cheering. The light returned
+to Monmouth's eye and the colour to his cheek as he listened to the
+clamour. For a moment at least he looked like the King which he aspired
+to be.
+
+'My thanks to ye, dear friends and subjects,' he cried. 'The issue rests
+with the Almighty, but what men can do will, I know well, be done by you
+this night. If Monmouth cannot have all England, six feet of her shall
+at least be his. Meanwhile, to your regiments, and may God defend the
+right!'
+
+'May God defend the right! cried the council solemnly, and separated,
+leaving the King with Grey to make the final dispositions for the
+attack.
+
+'These popinjays of the Court are ready enough to wave their rapiers
+and shout when there are four good miles between them and the foe,'
+said Saxon, as we made our way through the crowd. 'I fear that they will
+scarce be as forward when there is a line of musqueteers to be faced,
+and a brigade of horse perhaps charging down upon their flank. But here
+comes friend Lockarby, with news written upon his face.'
+
+'I have a report to make, Colonel,' said Reuben, hurrying breathlessly
+up to us. 'You may remember that I and my company were placed on guard
+this day at the eastern gates?'
+
+Saxon nodded.
+
+'Being desirous of seeing all that I could of the enemy, I clambered up
+a lofty tree which stands just without the town. From this post, by the
+aid of a glass, I was able to make out their lines and camp. Whilst I
+was gazing I chanced to observe a man slinking along under cover of the
+birch-trees half-way between their lines and the town. Watching him, I
+found that he was indeed moving in our direction. Presently he came so
+near that I was able to distinguish who it was--for it was one whom I
+know--but instead of entering the town by my gate he walked round under
+cover of the peat cuttings, and so made his way doubtless to some other
+entrance. He is a man, however, who I have reason to believe has no true
+love for the cause, and it is my belief that he hath been to the
+Royal camp with news of our doings, and hath now come back for further
+information.'
+
+'Aye!' said Saxon, raising his eyebrows. 'And what is the man's name?'
+
+'His name is Derrick, one time chief apprentice to Master Timewell at
+Taunton, and now an officer in the Taunton foot.'
+
+'What, the young springald who had his eye upon pretty Mistress Ruth!
+Now, out on love, if it is to turn a true man into a traitor! But
+methought he was one of the elect? I have heard him hold forth to the
+pikemen. How comes it that one of his kidney should lend help to the
+Prelatist cause?'
+
+'Love again,' quoth I. 'This same love is a pretty flower when it grows
+unchecked, but a sorry weed if thwarted.'
+
+'He hath an ill-feeling towards many in the camp,' said Reuben, 'and he
+would ruin the army to avenge himself on them, as a rogue might sink
+a ship in the hope of drowning one enemy. Sir Stephen himself hath
+incurred his hatred for refusing to force his daughter into accepting
+his suit. He has now returned into the camp, and I have reported the
+matter to you, that you may judge whether it would not be well to send
+a file of pikemen and lay him by the heels lest he play the spy once
+more.'
+
+'Perhaps it would be best so,' Saxon answered, full of thought, 'and yet
+no doubt the fellow would have some tale prepared which would outweigh
+our mere suspicions. Could we not take him in the very act?'
+
+A thought slipped into my head. I had observed from the tower that there
+was a single lonely cottage about a third of the way to the enemy's
+camp, standing by the road at a place where there were marshes on either
+side. Any one journeying that way must pass it. If Derrick tried to
+carry our plans to Feversham he might be cut off at this point by a
+party placed to lie in wait for him.
+
+'Most excellent!' Saxon exclaimed, when I had explained the project. 'My
+learned Fleming himself could not have devised a better rusus belli. Do
+ye convey as many files as ye may think fit to this point, and I shall
+see that Master Derrick is primed up with some fresh news for my Lord
+Feversham.'
+
+'Nay, a body of troops marching out would set tongues wagging,' said
+Reuben. 'Why should not Micah and I go ourselves?'
+
+'That would indeed be better.' Saxon answered. 'But ye must pledge your
+words, come what may, to be back at sundown, for your companies must
+stand to arms an hour before the advance.'
+
+We both gladly gave the desired promise; and having learned for certain
+that Derrick had indeed returned to the camp, Saxon undertook to let
+drop in his presence some words as to the plans for the night, while we
+set off at once for our post. Our horses we left behind, and slipping
+out through the eastern gate we made our way over bog and moor,
+concealing ourselves as best we could, until we came out upon the lonely
+roadway, and found ourselves in front of the house.
+
+It was a plain, whitewashed, thatch-roofed cottage, with a small board
+above the door, whereon was written a notice that the occupier sold milk
+and butter. No smoke reeked up from the chimney, and the shutters of the
+window were closed, from which we gathered that the folk who owned it
+had fled away from their perilous position. On either side the marsh
+extended, reedy and shallow at the edge, but deeper at a distance, with
+a bright green scum which covered its treacherous surface. We knocked
+at the weather-blotched door, but receiving, as we expected, no reply,
+I presently put my shoulder against it and forced the staple from its
+fastenings.
+
+There was but a single chamber within, with a straight ladder in the
+corner, leading through a square hole in the ceiling to the sleeping
+chamber under the roof. Three or four chairs and stools were scattered
+over the earthen floor, and at the side a deal table with the broad
+brown milk basins upon it. Green blotches upon the wall and a sinking
+in of one side of the cottage showed the effect of its damp, marsh-girt
+position.
+
+To our surprise it had still one inmate within its walls. In the centre
+of the room, facing the door as we entered, stood a little bright,
+golden-haired maid, five or six years of age. She was clad in a clean
+white smock, with trim leather belt and shining buckle about her waist.
+Two plump little legs with socks and leathern boots peeped out from
+under the dress, stoutly planted with right foot in advance as one who
+was bent upon holding her ground. Her tiny head was thrown back, and her
+large blue eyes were full of mingled wonder and defiance. As we entered
+the little witch flapped her kerchief at us, and shooed as though we
+were two of the intrusive fowl whom she was wont to chevy out of the
+house. Reuben and I stood on the threshold, uncertain, and awkward, like
+a pair of overgrown school lads, looking down at this fairy queen whose
+realms we had invaded, in two minds whether to beat a retreat or to
+appease her wrath by soft and coaxing words.
+
+'Go 'way!' she cried, still waving her hands and shaking her kerchief.
+'Go 'way! Granny told me to tell any one that came to go 'way!'
+
+'But if they would not go away, little mistress,' asked Reuben, 'what
+were you to do then?'
+
+'I was to drive them 'way,' she answered, advancing boldly against us
+with many flaps. 'You bad man!' she continued, flashing out at me, 'you
+have broken granny's bolt.'
+
+'Nay, I'll mend it again,' I answered penitently, and catching up
+a stone I soon fastened the injured staple. 'There, mistress, your
+granddam will never tell the difference.'
+
+'Ye must go 'way all the same,' she persisted; 'this is granny's house,
+not yours.'
+
+What were we to do with this resolute little dame of the marshes? That
+we should stay in the house was a crying need, for there was no other
+cover or shelter among the dreary bogs where we could hide ourselves.
+Yet she was bent upon driving us out with a decision and fearlessness
+which might have put Monmouth to shame.
+
+'You sell milk,' said Reuben. 'We are tired and thirsty, so we have come
+to have a horn of it.'
+
+'Nay,' she cried, breaking into smiles, 'will ye pay me just as the folk
+pay granny? Oh, heart alive! but that will be fine!' She skipped up
+on to a stool and filled a pair of deep mugs from the basins upon the
+table. 'A penny, please!' said she.
+
+It was strange to see the little wife hide the coin away in her smock,
+with pride and joy in her innocent face at this rare stroke of business
+which she had done for her absent granny. We bore our milk away to the
+window, and having loosed the shutters we seated ourselves so as to have
+an outlook down the road.
+
+'For the Lord's sake, drink slow!' whispered Reuben, under his breath.
+'We must keep on swilling milk or she will want to turn us out.'
+
+'We have paid toll now,' I answered; 'surely she will let us bide.'
+
+'If you have done you must go 'way,' she said firmly.
+
+'Were ever two men-at-arms so tyrannised over by a little dolly such as
+this!' said I, laughing. 'Nay, little one, we shall compound with you by
+paying you this shilling, which will buy all your milk. We can stay here
+and drink it at our ease.'
+
+'Jinny, the cow, is just across the marsh,' quoth she. 'It is nigh
+milking time, and I shall fetch her round if ye wish more.'
+
+'Now, God forbid!' cried Reuben. 'It will end in our having to buy the
+cow. Where is your granny, little maid?'
+
+'She hath gone into the town,' the child answered. 'There are bad men
+with red coats and guns coming to steal and to fight, but granny will
+soon make them go 'way. Granny has gone to set it all right.'
+
+'We are fighting against the men with the red coats, my chuck,' said
+I; 'we shall take care of your house with you, and let no one steal
+anything.'
+
+'Nay, then ye may stay,' quoth she, climbing up upon my knee as grave as
+a sparrow upon a bough. 'What a great boy you are!'
+
+'And why not a man?' I asked.
+
+'Because you have no beard upon your face. Why, granny hath more hair
+upon her chin than you. Besides, only boys drink milk. Men drink cider.'
+
+'Then if I am a boy I shall be your sweetheart,' said I.
+
+'Nay, indeed!' she cried, with a toss of her golden locks. 'I have no
+mind to wed for a while, but Giles Martin of Gommatch is my sweetheart.
+What a pretty shining tin smock you have, and what a great sword! Why
+should people have these things to harm each other with when they are in
+truth all brothers?'
+
+'Why are they all brothers, little mistress?' asked Reuben.
+
+'Because granny says that they are all the children of the great
+Father,' she answered. 'If they have all one father they must be
+brothers, mustn't they?'
+
+'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Micah,' quoth Reuben, staring
+out of the window.
+
+'You are a rare little marsh flower,' I said, as she clambered up to
+grasp at my steel cap. 'Is it not strange to think, Reuben, that there
+should be thousands of Christian men upon either side of us, athirst
+for each other's lives, and here between them is a blue-eyed cherub who
+lisps out the blessed philosophy which would send us all to our homes
+with softened hearts and hale bodies?'
+
+'A day of this child would sicken me for over of soldiering,' Reuben
+answered. 'The cavalier and the butcher become too near of kin, as I
+listen to her.'
+
+'Perhaps both are equally needful,' said I, shrugging my shoulders. 'We
+have put our hands to the plough. But methinks I see the man for whom we
+wait coming down under the shadow of yonder line of pollard willows.'
+
+'It is he, sure enough,' cried Reuben, peeping through the diamond-paned
+window.
+
+'Then, little one, you must sit here,' said I, raising her up from my
+knee and placing her on a chair in a corner. 'You must be a brave lass
+and sit still, whatever may chance. Will you do so?'
+
+She pursed up her rosy lips and nodded her head.
+
+'He comes on apace, Micah,' quoth my comrade, who was still standing
+by the casement. 'Is he not like some treacherous fox or other beast of
+prey?'
+
+There was indeed something in his lean, black-clothed figure and swift
+furtive movements which was like some cruel and cunning animal. He stole
+along under shadow of the stunted trees and withies, with bent body and
+gliding gait, so that from Bridgewater it would be no easy matter for
+the most keen-sighted to see him. Indeed, he was so far from the town
+that he might safely have come out from his concealment and struck
+across the moor, but the deep morass on either side prevented him from
+leaving the road until he had passed the cottage.
+
+As he came abreast of our ambush we both sprang out from the open door
+and barred his way. I have heard the Independent minister at Emsworth
+give an account of Satan's appearance, but if the worthy man had been
+with us that day, he need not have drawn upon his fancy. The man's dark
+face whitened into a sickly and mottled pallor, while he drew back with
+a long sharp intaking of the breath and a venomous flash from his black
+eyes, glancing swiftly from right to left for some means of escape. For
+an instant his hand shot towards his sword-hilt, but his reason told him
+that he could scarce expect to fight his way past us. Then he glanced
+round, but any retreat would lead him back to the men whom he had
+betrayed. So he stood sullen and stolid, with heavy, downcast face and
+shifting, restless eye, the very type and symbol of treachery.
+
+'We have waited some time for you, Master John Derrick,' said I. 'You
+must now return with us to the town.'
+
+'On what grounds do you arrest me?' he asked, in hoarse, broken tones.
+'Where is your warranty? Who hath given you a commission to molest
+travellers upon the King's highway?'
+
+'I have my Colonel's commission,' I answered shortly. 'You have been
+once already to Feversham's camp this morning.'
+
+'It is a lie,' he snarled fiercely. 'I do but take a stroll to enjoy the
+air.'
+
+'It is the truth,' said Reuben. 'I saw you myself on your return. Let us
+see that paper which peeps from your doublet.'
+
+'We all know why you should set this trap for me,' Derrick cried
+bitterly. 'You have set evil reports afloat against me, lest I stand in
+your light with the Mayor's daughter. What are you that you should dare
+to raise your eyes to her! A mere vagrant and masterless man, coming
+none know whence. Why should you aspire to pluck the flower which has
+grown up amongst us? What had you to do with her or with us? Answer me!'
+
+'It is not a matter which I shall discuss, save at a more fitting time
+and place,' Reuben answered quietly. 'Do you give over your sword and
+come back with us. For my part, I promise to do what I can to save your
+life. Should we win this night, your poor efforts can do little to harm
+us. Should we lose, there may be few of us left to harm.'
+
+'I thank you for your kindly protection,' he replied, in the same white,
+cold, bitter manner, unbuckling his sword as he spoke, and walking
+slowly up to my companion. 'You can take this as a gift to Mistress
+Ruth,' he said, presenting the weapon in his left hand, 'and this!' he
+added, plucking a knife from his belt and burying it in my poor friend's
+side.
+
+It was done in an instant--so suddenly that I had neither time to spring
+between, nor to grasp his intention before the wounded man sank gasping
+on the ground, and the knife tinkled upon the pathway at my feet. The
+villain set up a shrill cry of triumph, and bounding back in time to
+avoid the savage sword thrust which I made at him, he turned and fled
+down the road at the top of his speed. He was a far lighter man than I,
+and more scantily clad, yet I had, from my long wind and length of limb,
+been the best runner of my district, and he soon learned by the sound of
+my feet that he had no chance of shaking me off. Twice he doubled as a
+hare does when the hound is upon him, and twice my sword passed within a
+foot of him, for in very truth I had no more thought of mercy than if
+he had been a poisonous snake who had fastened his fangs into my friend
+before my eyes. I never dreamed of giving nor did he of claiming it.
+At last, hearing my steps close upon him and my breathing at his
+very shoulder, he sprang wildly through the reeds and dashed into the
+treacherous morass. Ankle-deep, knee-deep, thigh-deep, waist-deep, we
+struggled and staggered, I still gaining upon him, until I was within
+arm's-reach of him, and had whirled up my sword to strike. It had been
+ordained, however, my dear children, that he should die not the death of
+a man, but that of the reptile which he was, for even as I closed upon
+him he sank of a sudden with a gurgling sound, and the green marsh scum
+met above his head. No ripple was there and no splash to mark the spot.
+It was sudden and silent, as though some strange monster of the marshes
+had seized him and dragged him down into the depths. As I stood with
+upraised sword still gazing upon the spot, one single great bubble rose
+and burst upon the surface, and then all was still once more, and the
+dreary fens lay stretched before me, the very home of death and of
+desolation. I know not whether he had indeed come upon some sudden pit
+which had engulfed him, or whether in his despair he had cast himself
+down of set purpose. I do but know that there in the great Sedgemoor
+morass are buried the bones of the traitor and the spy.
+
+I made my way as best I could through the oozy clinging mud to the
+margin, and hastened back to where Reuben was lying. Bending over him
+I found that the knife had pierced through the side leather which
+connected his back and front plates, and that the blood was not only
+pouring out of the wound, but was trickling from the corner of his
+mouth. With trembling fingers I undid the straps and buckles, loosened
+the armour, and pressed my kerchief to his side to staunch the flow.
+
+'I trust that you have not slain him, Micah,' he said of a sudden,
+opening his eyes.
+
+'A higher power than ours has judged him, Reuben,' I answered.
+
+'Poor devil! He has had much to embitter him,' he murmured, and
+straightway fainted again. As I knelt over him, marking the lad's white
+face and laboured breathing, and bethought me of his simple, kindly
+nature and of the affection which I had done so little to deserve, I am
+not ashamed to say, my dears, albeit I am a man somewhat backward in my
+emotions, that my tears were mingled with his blood.
+
+As it chanced, Decimus Saxon had found time to ascend the church tower
+for the purpose of watching us through his glass and seeing how we
+fared. Noting that there was something amiss, he had hurried down for
+a skilled chirurgeon, whom he brought out to us under an escort of
+scythesmen. I was still kneeling by my senseless friend, doing what an
+ignorant man might to assist him, when the party arrived and helped me
+to bear him into the cottage, out of the glare of the sun. The minutes
+were as hours while the man of physic with a grave face examined and
+probed the wound.
+
+'It will scarce prove fatal,' he said at last, and I could have embraced
+him for the words. 'The blade has glanced on a rib, though the lung is
+slightly torn. We shall hear him back with us to the town.'
+
+'You hear what he says,' said Saxon kindly. 'He is a man whose opinion
+is of weight--
+
+          "A skilful leach is better far,
+           Than half a hundred men of war."
+
+Cheer up, man! You are as white as though it were your blood and not his
+which was drained away. Where is Derrick?'
+
+'Drowned in the marshes,' I answered.
+
+''Tis well! It will save us six feet of good hemp. But our position here
+is somewhat exposed, since the Royal Horse might make a dash at us. Who
+is this little maid who sits so white and still in the corner.'
+
+''Tis the guardian of the house. Her granny has left her here.'
+
+'You had better come with us. There may be rough work here ere all is
+over.'
+
+'Nay, I must wait for granny,' she answered, with the tears running down
+her cheeks.
+
+'But how if I take you to granny, little one,' said I. 'We cannot
+leave you here. 'I held out my arms, and the child sprang into them and
+nestled up against my bosom, sobbing as though her heart would break.
+'Take me away,' she cried; 'I'se frightened.'
+
+I soothed the little trembling thing as best I might, and bore her off
+with me upon my shoulder. The scythesmen had passed the handles of their
+long weapons through the sleeves of their jerkins in such a way as to
+form a couch or litter, upon which poor Reuben was laid. A slight dash
+of colour had come back to his cheeks in answer to some cordial given
+him by the chirurgeon, and he nodded and smiled at Saxon. Thus, pacing
+slowly, we returned to Bridgewater, where Reuben was carried to our
+quarters, and I bore the little maid of the marshes to kind townsfolk,
+who promised to restore her to her home when the troubles were over.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXII. Of the Onfall at Sedgemoor
+
+However pressing our own private griefs and needs, we had little time
+now to dwell upon them, for the moment was at hand which was to decide
+for the time not only our own fates, but that of the Protestant cause
+in England. None of us made light of the danger. Nothing less than a
+miracle could preserve us from defeat, and most of us were of opinion
+that the days of the miracles were past. Others, however, thought
+otherwise. I believe that many of our Puritans, had they seen the
+heavens open that night, and the armies of the Seraphim and the Cherubim
+descending to our aid, would have looked upon it as by no means a
+wonderful or unexpected occurrence.
+
+The whole town was loud with the preaching. Every troop or company had
+its own chosen orator, and sometimes more than one, who held forth
+and expounded. From barrels, from waggons, from windows, and even from
+housetops, they addressed the crowds beneath; nor was their eloquence
+in vain. Hoarse, fierce shouts rose up from the streets, with broken
+prayers and ejaculations. Men were drunk with religion as with wine.
+Their faces were flushed, their speech thick, their gestures wild. Sir
+Stephen and Saxon smiled at each other as they watched them, for they
+knew, as old soldiers, that of all causes which make a man valiant in
+deed and careless of life, this religious fit is the strongest and the
+most enduring.
+
+In the evening I found time to look in upon my wounded friend, and found
+him propped up with cushions upon his couch, breathing with some pain,
+but as bright and merry as ever. Our prisoner, Major Ogilvy, who had
+conceived a warm affection for us, sat by his side and read aloud to him
+out of an old book of plays.
+
+'This wound hath come at an evil moment,' said Reuben impatiently.
+'Is it not too much that a little prick like this should send my men
+captainless into battle, after all our marching and drilling? I have
+been present at the grace, and am cut off from the dinner.'
+
+'Your company hath been joined to mine,' I answered, 'though, indeed,
+the honest fellows are cast down at not having their own captain. Has
+the physician been to see you?'
+
+'He has left even now,' said Major Ogilvy. 'He pronounces our friend to
+be doing right well, but hath warned me against allowing him to talk.'
+
+'Hark to that, lad!' said I, shaking my finger at him. 'If I hear a word
+from you I go. You will escape a rough waking this night, Major. What
+think you of our chance?'
+
+'I have thought little of your chance from the first,' he replied
+frankly. 'Monmouth is like a ruined gamester, who is now putting his
+last piece upon the board. He cannot win much, and he may lose all.'
+
+'Nay, that is a hard saying,' said I. 'A success might set the whole of
+the Midlands in arms.'
+
+'England is not ripe for it,' the Major answered, with a shake of his
+head. 'It is true that it has no fancy either for Papistry or for a
+Papist King, but we know that it is but a passing evil, since the next
+in succession, the Prince of Orange, is a Protestant. Why, then, should
+we risk so many evils to bring that about which time and patience must,
+perforce, accomplish between them? Besides, the man whom ye support has
+shown that he is unworthy of confidence. Did he not in his declaration
+promise to leave the choice of a monarch to the Commons? And yet, in
+less than a week, he proclaimed himself at Taunton Market Cross! Who
+could believe one who has so little regard for truth?'
+
+'Treason, Major, rank treason,' I answered, laughing. 'Yet if we could
+order a leader as one does a coat we might, perchance, have chosen
+one of a stronger texture. We are in arms not for him, but for the old
+liberties and rights of Englishmen. Have you seen Sir Gervas?'
+
+Major Ogilvy, and even Reuben, burst out laughing. 'You will find him
+in the room above,' said our prisoner. 'Never did a famous toast prepare
+herself for a court ball as he is preparing for his battle. If the
+King's troops take him they will assuredly think that they have the
+Duke. He hath been in here to consult us as to his patches, hosen, and I
+know not what beside. You had best go up to him.'
+
+'Adieu, then, Reuben!' I said, grasping his hand in mine.
+
+'Adieu, Micah! God shield you from harm,' said he.
+
+'Can I speak to you aside, Major?' I whispered. 'I think,' I went on,
+as he followed me into the passage, 'that you will not say that your
+captivity hath been made very harsh for you. May I ask, therefore, that
+you will keep an eye upon my friend should we be indeed defeated this
+night? No doubt if Feversham gains the upper hand there will be bloody
+work. The hale can look after themselves, but he is helpless, and will
+need a friend.'
+
+The Major pressed my hand. 'I swear to God,' he said, 'that no harm
+shall befall him.'
+
+'You have taken a load from my heart,' I answered; 'I know that I leave
+him in safety. 'I can now ride to battle with an easy mind.' With a
+friendly smile the soldier returned to the sick-room, whilst I ascended
+the stair and entered the quarters of Sir Gervas Jerome.
+
+He was standing before a table which was littered all over with pots,
+brushes, boxes, and a score of the like trifles, which he had either
+bought or borrowed for the occasion. A large hand-mirror was balanced
+against the wall, with rush-lights on either side of it. In front of
+this, with a most solemn and serious expression upon his pale, handsome
+face, the Baronet was arranging and re-arranging a white berdash cravat.
+His riding-boots were brightly polished, and the broken seam repaired.
+His sword-sheath, breastplate, and trappings were clear and bright.
+He wore his gayest and newest suit, and above all he had donned a most
+noble and impressive full-bottomed periwig, which drooped down to his
+shoulders, as white as powder could make it. From his dainty riding-hat
+to his shining spur there was no speck or stain upon him--a sad set-off
+to my own state, plastered as I was with a thick crust of the Sedgemoor
+mud, and disordered from having ridden and worked for two days without
+rest or repose.
+
+'Split me, but you have come in good time!' he exclaimed, as I entered.
+'I have even now sent down for a flask of canary. Ah, and here it
+comes!' as a maid from the inn tripped upstairs with the bottle and
+glasses. 'Here is a gold piece, my pretty dear, the very last that I
+have in the whole world. It is the only survivor of a goodly family. Pay
+mine host for the wine, little one, and keep the change for thyself, to
+buy ribbons for the next holiday. Now, curse me if I can get this cravat
+to fit unwrinkled!'
+
+'There is nought amiss with it,' I answered. 'How can such trifles
+occupy you at such a time?'
+
+'Trifles!' he cried angrily. 'Trifles! Well, there, it boots not to
+argue with you. Your bucolic mind would never rise to the subtle import
+which may lie in such matters--the rest of mind which it is to have
+them right, and the plaguey uneasiness when aught is wrong. It comes,
+doubtless, from training, and it may be that I have it more than others
+of my class. I feel as a cat who would lick all day to take the least
+speck from her fur. Is not the patch over the eyebrow happily chosen?
+Nay, you cannot even offer an opinion; I would as soon ask friend Marot,
+the knight of the pistol. Fill up your glass!'
+
+'Your company awaits you by the church,' I remarked; 'I saw them as I
+passed.'
+
+'How looked they?' he asked. 'Were they powdered and clean?'
+
+'Nay, I had little leisure to observe. I saw that they were cutting
+their matches and arranging their priming.'
+
+'I would that they had all snaphances,' he answered, sprinkling himself
+with scented water; 'the matchlocks are slow and cumbersome. Have you
+had wine enough?'
+
+'I will take no more,' I answered.
+
+'Then mayhap the Major may care to finish it. It is not often I ask help
+with a bottle, but I would keep my head cool this night. Let us go down
+and see to our men.'
+
+It was ten o'clock when we descended into the street. The hubbub of
+the preachers and the shouting of the people had died away, for the
+regiments had fallen into their places, and stood silent and stern,
+with the faint light from the lamps and windows playing over their dark
+serried ranks. A cool, clear moon shone down upon us from amidst fleecy
+clouds, which drifted ever and anon across her face. Away in the north
+tremulous rays of light flickered up into the heavens, coming and going
+like long, quivering fingers. They were the northern lights, a sight
+rarely seen in the southland counties. It is little wonder that, coming
+at such a time, the fanatics should have pointed to them as signals
+from another world, and should have compared them to that pillar of fire
+which guided Israel through the dangers of the desert. The footpaths and
+the windows were crowded with women and children, who broke into shrill
+cries of fear or of wonder as the strange light waxed and waned.
+
+'It is half after ten by St. Mary's clock,' said Saxon, as we rode up to
+the regiment. 'Have we nothing to give the men?'
+
+'There is a hogshead of Zoyland cider in the yard of yonder inn,' said
+Sir Gervas. 'Here, Dawson, do you take those gold sleeve links and give
+them to mine host in exchange. Broach the barrel, and let each man have
+his horn full. Sink me, if they shall fight with nought but cold water
+in them.'
+
+'They will feel the need of it ere morning,' said Saxon, as a score
+of pikemen hastened off to the inn. 'The marsh air is chilling to the
+blood.'
+
+'I feel cold already, and Covenant is stamping with it,' said I. 'Might
+we not, if we have time upon our hands, canter our horses down the
+line?'
+
+'Of a surety,' Saxon answered gladly, 'we could not do better;' so
+shaking our bridles we rode off, our horses' hoofs striking fire from
+the flint-paved streets as we passed.
+
+Behind the horse, in a long line which stretched from the Eastover gate,
+across the bridge, along the High Street, up the Cornhill, and so past
+the church to the Pig Cross, stood our foot, silent and grim, save when
+some woman's voice from the windows called forth a deep, short answer
+from the ranks. The fitful light gleamed on scythes-blade or gun-barrel,
+and showed up the lines of rugged, hard set faces, some of mere children
+with never a hair upon their cheeks, others of old men whose grey beards
+swept down to their cross-belts, but all bearing the same stamp of a
+dogged courage and a fierce self-contained resolution. Here were still
+the fisher folk of the south. Here, too, were the fierce men from the
+Mendips, the wild hunters from Porlock Quay and Minehead, the poachers
+of Exmoor, the shaggy marshmen of Axbridge, the mountain men from the
+Quantocks, the serge and wool-workers of Devonshire, the graziers of
+Bampton, the red-coats from the Militia, the stout burghers of Taunton,
+and then, as the very bone and sinew of all, the brave smockfrocked
+peasants of the plains, who had turned up their jackets to the elbow,
+and exposed their brown and corded arms, as was their wont when good
+work had to be done. As I speak to you, dear children, fifty years
+rolls by like a mist in the morning, and I am riding once more down
+the winding street, and see again the serried ranks of my gallant
+companions. Brave hearts! They showed to all time how little training it
+takes to turn an Englishman into a soldier, and what manner of men are
+bred in those quiet, peaceful hamlets which dot the sunny slopes of the
+Somerset and Devon downs. If ever it should be that England should
+be struck upon her knees, if those who fight her battles should have
+deserted her, and she should find herself unarmed in the presence of her
+enemy, let her take heart and remember that every village in the realm
+is a barrack, and that her real standing army is the hardy courage and
+simple virtue which stand ever in the breast of the humblest of her
+peasants.
+
+As we rode down the long line a buzz of greeting and welcome rose now
+and again from the ranks as they recognised through the gloom Saxon's
+tall, gaunt figure. The clock was on the stroke of eleven as we returned
+to our own men, and at that very moment King Monmouth rode out from the
+inn where he was quartered, and trotted with his staff down the High
+Street. All cheering had been forbidden, but waving caps and brandished
+arms spoke the ardour of his devoted followers. No bugle was to sound
+the march, but as each received the word the one in its rear followed
+its movements. The clatter and shuffle of hundreds of moving feet came
+nearer and nearer, until the Frome men in front of us began to march,
+and we found ourselves fairly started upon the last journey which many
+of us were ever to take in this world.
+
+Our road lay across the Parret, through Eastover, and so along the
+winding track past the spot where Derrick met his fate, and the lonely
+cottage of the little maid. At the other side of this the road becomes
+a mere pathway over the plain. A dense haze lay over the moor, gathering
+thickly in the hollows, and veiling both the town which we had left and
+the villages which we were approaching. Now and again it would lift
+for a few moments, and then I could see in the moonlight the long black
+writhing line of the army, with the shimmer of steel playing over it,
+and the rude white standards flapping in the night breeze. Far on the
+right a great fire was blazing--some farmhouse, doubtless, which the
+Tangiers devils had made spoil of. Very slow our march was, and very
+careful, for the plain was, as Sir Stephen Timewell had told us, cut
+across by great ditches or rhines, which could not be passed save at
+some few places. These ditches were cut for the purpose of draining the
+marshes, and were many feet deep of water and of mud, so that even
+the horse could not cross them. The bridges were narrow, and some time
+passed before the army could get over. At last, however, the two main
+ones, the Black Ditch and the Langmoor Rhine, were safely traversed and
+a halt was called while the foot was formed in line, for we had reason
+to believe that no other force lay between the Royal camp and ourselves.
+So far our enterprise had succeeded admirably. We were within half a
+mile of the camp without mistake or accident, and none of the enemy's
+scouts had shown sign of their presence. Clearly they held us in such
+contempt that it had never occurred to them that we might open the
+attack. If ever a general deserved a beating it was Feversham that
+night. As he drew up upon the moor the clock of Chedzoy struck one.
+
+'Is it not glorious?' whispered Sir Gervas, as we reined up upon the
+further side of the Langmoor Rhine. 'What is there on earth to compare
+with the excitement of this?'
+
+'You speak as though it wore a cocking-match or a bull-baiting, 'I
+answered, with some little coldness. 'It is a solemn and a sad occasion.
+Win who will, English blood must soak the soil of England this night.'
+
+'The more room for those who are left,' said he lightly. 'Mark over
+yonder the glow of their camp-fires amidst the fog. What was it that
+your seaman friend did recommend? Get the weather-gauge of them and
+board--eh? Have you told that to the Colonel?'
+
+'Nay, this is no time for quips and cranks,' I answered gravely; 'the
+chances are that few of us will ever see to-morrow's sun rise.'
+
+'I have no great curiosity to see it,' he remarked, with a laugh. 'It
+will be much as yesterday's. Zounds! though I have never risen to see
+one in my life, I have looked on many a hundred ere I went to bed.'
+
+'I have told friend Reuben such few things as I should desire to be done
+in case I should fall,' said I. 'It has eased my mind much to know that
+I leave behind some word of farewell, and little remembrance to all whom
+I have known. Is there no service of the sort which I can do for you?'
+
+'Hum!' said he, musing. 'If I go under, you can tell Araminta--nay, let
+the poor wench alone! Why should I send her messages which may plague
+her! Should you be in town, little Tommy Chichester would be glad to
+hear of the fun which we have had in Somerset. You will find him at the
+Coca Tree every day of the week between two and four of the clock. There
+is Mother Butterworth, too, whom I might commend to your notice. She
+was the queen of wet-nurses, but alas! cruel time hath dried up her
+business, and she hath need of some little nursing herself.'
+
+'If I live and you should fall, I shall do what may be done for her,'
+said I. 'Have you aught else to say?'
+
+'Only that Hacker of Paul's Yard is the best for vests,' he answered.
+'It is a small piece of knowledge, yet like most other knowledge it hath
+been bought and paid for. One other thing! I have a trinket or two left
+which might serve as a gift for the pretty Puritan maid, should our
+friend lead her to the altar. Od's my life, but she will make him read
+some queer books! How now, Colonel, why are we stuck out on the moor
+like a row of herons among the sedges?'
+
+'They are ordering the line for the attack,' said Saxon, who had ridden
+up during our conversation. 'Donnerblitz! Who ever saw a camp so
+exposed to an onfall? Oh for twelve hundred good horse--for an hour of
+Wessenburg's Pandours! Would I not trample them down until their camp
+was like a field of young corn after a hail-storm!'
+
+'May not our horse advance?' I asked.
+
+The old soldier gave a deep snort of disdain. 'If this fight is to be
+won it must be by our foot,' said he; 'what can we hope for from such
+cavalry? Keep your men well in hand, for we may have to bear the brunt
+of the King's dragoons. A flank attack would fall upon us, for we are in
+the post of honour.'
+
+'There are troops to the right of us,' I answered, peering through the
+darkness.
+
+'Aye! the Taunton burghers and the Frome peasants. Our brigade covers
+the right flank. Next us are the Mendip miners, nor could I wish for
+better comrades, if their zeal do not outrun their discretion. They are
+on their knees in the mud at this moment.'
+
+'They will fight none the worse for that,' I remarked; 'but surely the
+troops are advancing!'
+
+'Aye, aye!' cried Saxon joyously, plucking out his sword, and tying
+his handkerchief round the handle to strengthen his grip. 'The hour has
+come! Forwards!'
+
+Very slowly and silently we crept on through the dense fog, our feet
+splashing and slipping in the sodden soil. With all the care which
+we could take, the advance of so great a number of men could not be
+conducted without a deep sonorous sound from the thousands of marching
+feet. Ahead of us were splotches of ruddy light twinkling through the
+fog which marked the Royal watch-fires. Immediately in front in a dense
+column our own horse moved forwards. Of a sudden out of the darkness
+there came a sharp challenge and a shout, with the discharge of a
+carbine and the sound of galloping hoofs. Away down the line we heard
+a ripple of shots. The first line of outposts had been reached. At the
+alarm our horse charged forward with a huzza, and we followed them as
+fast as our men could run. We had crossed two or three hundred yards of
+moor, and could hear the blowing of the Royal bugles quite close to us,
+when our horse came to a sudden halt, and our whole advance was at a
+standstill.
+
+'Sancta Maria!' cried Saxon, dashing forward with the rest of us to find
+out the cause of the delay. 'We must on at any cost! A halt now will
+ruin our camisado.'
+
+'Forwards, forwards!' cried Sir Gervas and I, waving our swords.
+
+'It is no use, gentlemen,' cried a cornet of horse, wringing his hands;
+'we are undone and betrayed. There is a broad ditch without a ford in
+front of us, full twenty feet across!'
+
+'Give me room for my horse, and I shall show ye the way across!' cried
+the Baronet, backing his steed. 'Now, lads, who's for a jump?'
+
+'Nay, sir, for God's sake!' said a trooper, laying his hand upon his
+bridle. 'Sergeant Sexton hath sprung in even now, and horse and man have
+gone to the bottom!'
+
+'Let us see it, then!' cried Saxon, pushing his way through the crowd
+of horsemen. We followed close at his heels, until we found ourselves on
+the borders of the vast trench which impeded our advance.
+
+To this day I have never been able to make up my mind whether it was
+by chance or by treachery on the part of our guides that this fosse was
+overlooked until we stumbled upon it in the dark. There are some who say
+that the Bussex Rhine, as it is called, is not either deep or broad,
+and was, therefore, unmentioned by the moorsmen, but that the recent
+constant rains had swollen it to an extent never before known. Others
+say that the guides had been deceived by the fog, and taken a wrong
+course, whereas, had we followed another track, we might have been able
+to come upon the camp without crossing the ditch. However that may be,
+it is certain that we found it stretching in front of us, broad, black,
+and forbidding, full twenty feet from bank to bank, with the cap of the
+ill-fated sergeant just visible in the centre as a mute warning to all
+who might attempt to ford it.
+
+'There must be a passage somewhere,' cried Saxon furiously. 'Every
+moment is worth a troop of horse to them. Where is my Lord Grey? Hath
+the guide met with his deserts?'
+
+'Major Hollis hath hurled the guide into the ditch,' the young cornet
+answered. 'My Lord Grey hath ridden along the bank seeking for a ford.'
+
+I caught a pike out of a footman's hand, and probed into the black
+oozy mud, standing myself up to the waist in it, and holding Covenant's
+bridle in my left hand. Nowhere could I touch bottom or find any hope of
+solid foothold.
+
+'Here, fellow!' cried Saxon, seizing a trooper by the arm. 'Make for
+the rear! Gallop as though the devil were behind you! Bring up a pair
+of ammunition waggons, and we shall see whether we cannot bridge this
+infernal puddle.'
+
+'If a few of us could make a lodgment upon the other side we might make
+it good until help came,' said Sir Gervas, as the horseman galloped off
+upon his mission.
+
+All down the rebel line a fierce low roar of disappointment and rage
+showed that the whole army had met the same obstacle which hindered
+our attack. On the other side of the ditch the drums beat, the bugles
+screamed, and the shouts and oaths of the officers could be heard as
+they marshalled their men. Glancing lights in Chedzoy, Westonzoyland,
+and the other hamlets to left and right, showed how fast the alarm
+was extending. Decimus Saxon rode up and down the edge of the fosse,
+pattering forth foreign oaths, grinding his teeth in his fury, and
+rising now and again in his stirrups to shake his gauntleted hands at
+the enemy.
+
+'For whom are ye?' shouted a hoarse voice out of the haze.
+
+'For the King!' roared the peasants in answer.
+
+'For which King?' cried the voice.
+
+'For King Monmouth!'
+
+'Let them have it, lads!' and instantly a storm of musket bullets
+whistled and sung about our ears. As the sheet of flame sprang out of
+the darkness the maddened, half-broken horses dashed wildly away across
+the plain, resisting the efforts of the riders to pull them up. There
+are some, indeed, who say that those efforts were not very strong, and
+that our troopers, disheartened at the check at the ditch, were not
+sorry to show their heels to the enemy. As to my Lord Grey, I can say
+truly that I saw him in the dim light among the flying squadrons, doing
+all that a brave cavalier could do to bring them to a stand. Away they
+went, however, thundering through the ranks of the foot and out over the
+moor, leaving their companions to bear the whole brunt of the battle.
+
+'On to your faces, men!' shouted Saxon, in a voice which rose high above
+the crash of the musketry and the cries of the wounded. The pikemen and
+scythesmen threw themselves down at his command, while the musqueteers
+knelt in front of them, loading and firing, with nothing to aim at save
+the burning matches of the enemy's pieces, which could be seen twinkling
+through the darkness. All along, both to the right and the left, a
+rolling fire had broken out, coming in short, quick volleys from the
+soldiers, and in a continuous confused rattle from the peasants. On the
+further wing our four guns had been brought into play, and we could hear
+their dull growling in the distance.
+
+'Sing, brothers, sing!' cried our stout-hearted chaplain, Master Joshua
+Pettigrue, bustling backwards and forwards among the prostrate ranks.
+'Let us call upon the Lord in our day of trial!' The men raised a loud
+hymn of praise, which swelled into a great chorus as it was taken up by
+the Taunton burghers upon our right and the miners upon our left. At
+the sound the soldiers on the other side raised a fierce huzza, and the
+whole air was full of clamour.
+
+Our musqueteers had been brought to the very edge of the Bussex Rhine,
+and the Royal troops had also advanced as far as they were able, so that
+there were not five pikes'-lengths between the lines. Yet that short
+distance was so impassable that, save for the more deadly fire, a
+quarter of a mile might have divided us. So near were we that the
+burning wads from the enemy's muskets flew in flakes of fire over
+our heads, and we felt upon our faces the hot, quick flush of their
+discharges. Yet though the air was alive with bullets, the aim of the
+soldiers was too high for our kneeling ranks, and very few of the men
+were struck. For our part, we did what we could to keep the barrels of
+our muskets from inclining upwards. Saxon, Sir Gervas, and I walked
+our horses up and down without ceasing, pushing them level with our
+sword-blades, and calling on the men to aim steadily and slowly. The
+groans and cries from the other side of the ditch showed that some, at
+least, of our bullets had not been fired in vain.
+
+'We hold our own in this quarter,' said I to Saxon. 'It seems to me that
+their fire slackens.'
+
+'It is their horse that I fear,' he answered. 'They can avoid the ditch,
+since they come from the hamlets on the flank. They may be upon us at
+any time.'
+
+'Hullo, sir!' shouted Sir Gervas, reining up his steed upon the very
+brink of the ditch, and raising his cap in salute to a mounted officer
+upon the other side. 'Can you tell me if we have the honour to be
+opposed to the foot guards?'
+
+'We are Dumbarton's regiment, sir,' cried the other. 'We shall give ye
+good cause to remember having met us.'
+
+'We shall be across presently to make your further acquaintance,' Sir
+Gervas answered, and at the same moment rolled, horse and all, into the
+ditch, amid a roar of exultation from the soldiers. Half-a-dozen of his
+musqueteers sprang instantly, waist deep, into the mud, and dragged our
+friend out of danger, but the charger, which had been shot through the
+heart, sank without a struggle.
+
+'There is no harm!' cried the Baronet, springing to his feet, 'I would
+rather fight on foot like my brave musqueteers.' The men broke out
+a-cheering at his words, and the fire on both sides became hotter
+than ever. It was a marvel to me, and to many more, to see these brave
+peasants with their mouths full of bullets, loading, priming, and firing
+as steadily as though they had been at it all their lives, and holding
+their own against a veteran regiment which has proved itself in other
+fields to be second to none in the army of England.
+
+The grey light of morning was stealing over the moor, and still the
+fight was undecided. The fog hung about us in feathery streaks, and
+the smoke from our guns drifted across in a dun-coloured cloud, through
+which the long lines of red coats upon the other side of the rhine
+loomed up like a battalion of giants. My eyes ached and my lips prinkled
+with the smack of the powder. On every side of me men were falling fast,
+for the increased light had improved the aim of the soldiers. Our good
+chaplain, in the very midst of a psalm, had uttered a great shout
+of praise and thanksgiving, and so passed on to join those of his
+parishioners who were scattered round him upon the moor. Hope-above
+Williams and Keeper Milson, under-officers, and among the stoutest
+men in the company, were both down, the one dead and the other sorely
+wounded, but still ramming down charges, and spitting bullets into his
+gun-barrel. The two Stukeleys of Somerton, twins, and lads of great
+promise, lay silently with grey faces turned to the grey sky, united in
+death as they had been in birth. Everywhere the dead lay thick amid the
+living. Yet no man flinched from his place, and Saxon still walked
+his horse among them with words of hope and praise, while his stern,
+deep-lined face and tall sinewy figure were a very beacon of hope to
+the simple rustics. Such of my scythesmen as could handle a musket were
+thrown forward into the fighting line, and furnished with the arms and
+pouches of those who had fallen.
+
+Ever and anon as the light waxed I could note through the rifts in the
+smoke and the fog how the fight was progressing in other parts of the
+field. On the right the heath was brown with the Taunton and Frome
+men, who, like ourselves, were lying down to avoid the fire. Along the
+borders of the Bussex Rhine a deep fringe of their musqueteers were
+exchanging murderous volleys, almost muzzle to muzzle, with the
+left wing of the same regiment with which we were engaged, which was
+supported by a second regiment in broad white facings, which I believe
+to have belonged to the Wiltshire Militia. On either bank of the black
+trench a thick line of dead, brown on the one side, and scarlet on the
+other, served as a screen to their companions, who sheltered themselves
+behind them and rested their musket-barrels upon their prostrate bodies.
+To the left amongst the withies lay five hundred Mendip and Bagworthy
+miners, singing lustily, but so ill-armed that they had scarce one gun
+among ten wherewith to reply to the fire which was poured into them.
+They could not advance, and they would not retreat, so they sheltered
+themselves as best they might, and waited patiently until their leaders
+might decide what was to be done. Further down for half a mile or more
+the long rolling cloud of smoke, with petulant flashes of flame spurting
+out through it, showed that every one of our raw regiments was bearing
+its part manfully. The cannon on the left had ceased firing. The Dutch
+gunners had left the Islanders to settle their own quarrels, and were
+scampering back to Bridgewater, leaving their silent pieces to the Royal
+Horse.
+
+The battle was in this state when there rose a cry of 'The King, the
+King!' and Monmouth rode through our ranks, bare-headed and wild-eyed,
+with Buyse, Wade, and a dozen more beside him. They pulled up within a
+spear's-length of me, and Saxon, spurring forward to meet them, raised
+his sword to the salute. I could not but mark the contrast between
+the calm, grave face of the veteran, composed yet alert, and the half
+frantic bearing of the man whom we were compelled to look upon as our
+leader.
+
+'How think ye, Colonel Saxon?' he cried wildly. 'How goes the fight? Is
+all well with ye? What an error, alas! what an error! Shall we draw off,
+eh? How say you?'
+
+'We hold our own here, your Majesty,' Saxon answered. 'Methinks had we
+something after the nature of palisados or stockados, after the Swedish
+fashion, we might even make it good against the horse.'
+
+'Ah, the horse!' cried the unhappy Monmouth. 'If we get over this, my
+Lord Grey shall answer for it. They ran like a flock of sheep. What
+leader could do anything with such troops? Oh, lack-a-day, lack-a-day!
+Shall we not advance?'
+
+'There is no reason to advance, your Majesty, now that the surprise has
+failed,' said Saxon. 'I had sent for carts to bridge over the trench,
+according to the plan which is commended in the treatise, "De vallis et
+fossis," but they are useless now. We can but fight it out as we are.'
+
+'To throw troops across would be to sacrifice them,' said Wade. 'We have
+lost heavily, Colonel Saxon, but I think from the look of yonder bank
+that ye have given a good account of the red-coats.'
+
+'Stand firm! For God's sake, stand firm!' cried Monmouth distractedly.
+'The horse have fled, and the cannoniers also. Oh! what can I do with
+such men? What shall I do? Alas, alas!' He set spurs to his horse and
+galloped off down the line, still ringing his hands and uttering his
+dismal wailings. Oh, my children, how small, how very small a thing is
+death when weighed in the balance with dishonour! Had this man but borne
+his fate silently, as did the meanest footman who followed his banners,
+how proud and glad would we have been to have discoursed of him, our
+princely leader. But let him rest. The fears and agitations and petty
+fond emotions, which showed upon him as the breeze shows upon the water,
+are all stilled now for many a long year. Let us think of the kind heart
+and forget the feeble spirit.
+
+As his escort trooped after him, the great German man-at-arms separated
+from them and turned back to us. 'I am weary of trotting up and down
+like a lust-ritter at a fair,' said he. 'If I bide with ye I am like to
+have my share of any fighting which is going. So, steady, mein Liebchen.
+That ball grazed her tail, but she is too old a soldier to wince at
+trifles. Hullo, friend, where is your horse?'
+
+'At the bottom of the ditch,' said Sir Gervas, scraping the mud off his
+dress with his sword-blade. ''Tis now half-past two,' he continued,
+'and we have been at this child's-play for an hour and more. With a line
+regiment, too! It is not what I had looked forward to!'
+
+'You shall have something to console you anon,' cried the German, with
+his eyes shining. 'Mein Gott! Is it not splendid? Look to it, friend
+Saxon, look to it!'
+
+It was no light matter which had so roused the soldier's admiration. Out
+of the haze which still lay thick upon our right there twinkled here and
+there a bright gleam of silvery light, while a dull, thundering noise
+broke upon our ears like that of the surf upon a rocky shore. More and
+more frequent came the fitful flashes of steel, louder and yet louder
+grew the hoarse gathering tumult, until of a sudden the fog was rent,
+and the long lines of the Royal cavalry broke out from it, wave after
+wave, rich in scarlet and blue and gold, as grand a sight as ever the
+eye rested upon. There was something in the smooth, steady sweep of so
+great a body of horsemen which gave the feeling of irresistible power.
+Rank after rank, and line after line, with waving standards, tossing
+manes, and gleaming steel, they poured onwards, an army in themselves,
+with either flank still shrouded in the mist. As they thundered along,
+knee to knee and bridle to bridle, there came from them such a gust of
+deep-chested oaths with the jangle of harness, the clash of steel, and
+the measured beat of multitudinous hoofs, that no man who hath not stood
+up against such a whirlwind, with nothing but a seven-foot pike in his
+hand, can know how hard it is to face it with a steady lip and a firm
+grip.
+
+But wonderful as was the sight, there was, as ye may guess, my
+dears, little time for us to gaze upon it. Saxon and the German flung
+themselves among the pikemen and did all that men could do to thicken
+their array. Sir Gervas and I did the same with the scythesmen, who had
+been trained to form a triple front after the German fashion, one rank
+kneeling, one stooping, and one standing erect, with weapons advanced.
+Close to us the Taunton men had hardened into a dark sullen ring,
+bristling with steel, in the centre of which might be seen and heard
+their venerable Mayor, his long beard fluttering in the breeze, and his
+strident voice clanging over the field. Louder and louder grew the roar
+of the horse. 'Steady, my brave lads,' cried Saxon, in trumpet tones.
+'Dig the pike-butt into the earth! Best it on the right foot! Give not
+an inch! Steady!' A great shout went up from either side, and then the
+living wave broke over us.
+
+What hope is there to describe such a scene as that--the crashing of
+wood, the sharp gasping cries, the snorting of horses, the jar when the
+push of pike met with the sweep of sword! Who can hope to make
+another see that of which he himself carries away so vague and dim an
+impression? One who has acted in such a scene gathers no general sense
+of the whole combat, such as might be gained by a mere onlooker, but
+he has stamped for ever upon his mind just the few incidents which may
+chance to occur before his own eyes. Thus my memories are confined to a
+swirl of smoke with steel caps and fierce, eager faces breaking through
+it, with the red gaping nostrils of horses and their pawing fore-feet
+as they recoiled from the hedge of steel. I see, too, a young beardless
+lad, an officer of dragoons, crawling on hands and knees under the
+scythes, and I hear his groan as one of the peasants pinned him to the
+ground. I see a bearded, broad-faced trooper riding a grey horse just
+outside the fringe of the scythes, seeking for some entrance, and
+screaming the while with rage. Small things imprint themselves upon a
+man's notice at such a time. I even marked the man's strong white teeth
+and pink gums. At the same time I see a white-faced, thin-lipped man
+leaning far forward over his horse's neck and driving at me with his
+sword point, cursing the while as only a dragoon can curse. All these
+images start up as I think of that fierce rally, during which I hacked
+and cut and thrust at man and horse without a thought of parry or
+of guard. All round rose a fierce babel of shouts and cries, godly
+ejaculations from the peasants and oaths from the horsemen, with Saxon's
+voice above all imploring his pikemen to stand firm. Then the cloud
+of horse-men recoiled, circling off over the plain, and the shout of
+triumph from my comrades, and an open snuff-box thrust out in front of
+me, proclaimed that we had seen the back of as stout a squadron as ever
+followed a kettledrum.
+
+But if we could claim it as a victory, the army in general could scarce
+say as much. None but the very pick of the troops could stand against
+the flood of heavy horses and steel-clad men. The Frome peasants were
+gone, swept utterly from the field. Many had been driven by pure weight
+and pressure into the fatal mud which had checked our advance. Many
+others, sorely cut and slashed, lay in ghastly heaps all over the ground
+which they had held. A few by joining our ranks had saved themselves
+from the fate of their companions. Further off the men of Taunton still
+stood fast, though in sadly diminished numbers. A long ridge of horses
+and cavaliers in front of them showed how stern had been the attack and
+how fierce the resistance. On our left the wild miners had been broken
+at the first rush, but had fought so savagely, throwing themselves upon
+the ground and stabbing upwards at the stomachs of the horses, that they
+had at last beaten off the dragoons. The Devonshire militiamen, however,
+had been scattered, and shared the fate of the men of Frome. During the
+whole of the struggle the foot upon the further bank of the Bussex Rhine
+were pouring in a hail of bullets, which our musqueteers, having to
+defend themselves against the horse, were unable to reply to.
+
+It needed no great amount of soldierly experience to see that the battle
+was lost, and that Monmouth's cause was doomed. It was broad daylight
+now, though the sun had not yet risen. Our cavalry was gone, our
+ordnance was silent, our line was pierced in many places, and more than
+one of our regiments had been destroyed. On the right flank the Horse
+Guards Blue, the Tangiers Horse, and two dragoon regiments were forming
+up for a fresh attack. On the left the foot-guards had bridged the ditch
+and were fighting hand to hand with the men from North Somerset. In
+front a steady fire was being poured into us, to which our reply was
+feeble and uncertain, for the powder carts had gone astray in the dark,
+and many were calling hoarsely for ammunition, while others were loading
+with pebbles instead of ball. Add to this that the regiments which still
+held their ground had all been badly shaken by the charge, and had lost
+a third of their number. Yet the brave clowns sent up cheer after cheer,
+and shouted words of encouragement and homely jests to each other,
+as though a battle were but some rough game which must as a matter of
+course be played out while there was a player left to join in it.
+
+'Is Captain Clarke there?' cried Decimus Saxon, riding up with his
+sword-arm flecked with blood. 'Ride over to Sir Stephen Timewell and
+tell him to join his men to ours. Apart we shall be broken--together we
+may stand another charge.'
+
+Setting spurs to Covenant I rode over to our companions and delivered
+the message. Sir Stephen, who had been struck by a petronel bullet,
+and wore a crimsoned kerchief bound round his snow-white head, saw
+the wisdom of the advice, and moved his townsmen as directed. His
+musqueteers being better provided with powder than ours did good service
+by keeping down for a time the deadly fire from across the fosse.
+
+'Who would have thought it of him?' cried Sir Stephen, with flashing
+eyes, as Buyse and Saxon rode out to meet him. 'What think ye now of our
+noble monarch, our champion of the Protestant cause?'
+
+'He is no very great Krieger,' said Buyse. 'Yet perhaps it may be from
+want of habit as much as from want of courage.'
+
+'Courage!' cried the old Mayor, in a voice of scorn. 'Look over yonder
+and behold your King.' He pointed out over the moor with a finger
+which shook as much from anger as from age. There, far away, showing
+up against the dark peat-coloured soil, rode a gaily-dressed cavalier,
+followed by a knot of attendants, galloping as fast as his horse would
+carry him from the field of battle. There was no mistaking the fugitive.
+It was the recreant Monmouth.
+
+'Hush!' cried Saxon, as we all gave a cry of horror and execration;
+'do not dishearten our brave lads! Cowardice is catching and will run
+through an army like the putrid fever.'
+
+'Der Feigherzige!' cried Buyse, grinding his teeth. 'And the brave
+country folk! It is too much.'
+
+'Stand to your pikes, men!' roared Saxon, in a voice of thunder, and
+we had scarce time to form our square and throw ourselves inside of it,
+before the whirlwind of horse was upon us once more. When the Taunton
+men had joined us a weak spot had been left in our ranks, and through
+this in an instant the Blue Guards smashed their way, pouring through
+the opening, and cutting fiercely to right and left. The burghers on the
+one side and our own men on the other replied by savage stabs from their
+pikes and scythes, which emptied many a saddle, but while the struggle
+was at its hottest the King's cannon opened for the first time with a
+deafening roar upon the other side of the rhine, and a storm of balls
+ploughed their way through our dense ranks, leaving furrows of dead
+and wounded behind them. At the same moment a great cry of 'Powder! For
+Christ's sake, powder!' arose from the musqueteers whose last charge had
+been fired. Again the cannon roared, and again our men were mowed down
+as though Death himself with his scythe were amongst us. At last our
+ranks were breaking. In the very centre of the pikemen steel caps were
+gleaming, and broadswords rising and falling. The whole body was swept
+back two hundred paces or more, struggling furiously the while, and
+was there mixed with other like bodies which had been dashed out of all
+semblance of military order, and yet refused to fly. Men of Devon, of
+Dorset, of Wiltshire, and of Somerset, trodden down by horse, slashed by
+dragoons, dropping by scores under the rain of bullets, still fought on
+with a dogged, desperate courage for a ruined cause and a man who
+had deserted them. Everywhere as I glanced around me were set faces,
+clenched teeth, yells of rage and defiance, but never a sound of fear
+or of submission. Some clambered up upon the cruppers of the riders and
+dragged them backwards from their saddles. Others lay upon their faces
+and hamstrung the chargers with their scythe-blades, stabbing the
+horsemen before they could disengage themselves. Again and again the
+guards crashed through them from side to side, and yet the shattered
+ranks closed up behind them and continued the long-drawn struggle. So
+hopeless was it and so pitiable that I could have found it in my heart
+to wish that they would break and fly, were it not that on the broad
+moor there was no refuge which they could make for. And all this time,
+while they struggled and fought, blackened with powder and parched with
+thirst, spilling their blood as though it were water, the man who called
+himself their King was spurring over the countryside with a loose rein
+and a quaking heart, his thoughts centred upon saving his own neck, come
+what might to his gallant followers.
+
+Large numbers of the foot fought to the death, neither giving nor
+receiving quarter; but at last, scattered, broken, and without
+ammunition, the main body of the peasants dispersed and fled across the
+moor, closely followed by the horse. Saxon, Buyse, and I had done all
+that we could to rally them once more, and had cut down some of the
+foremost of the pursuers, when my eye fell suddenly upon Sir Gervas,
+standing hatless with a few of his musqueteers in the midst of a swarm
+of dragoons. Spurring our horses we cut a way to his rescue, and laid
+our swords about us until we had cleared off his assailants for the
+moment.
+
+'Jump up behind me!' I cried. 'We can make good our escape.'
+
+He looked up smiling and shook his head. 'I stay with my company,' said
+he.
+
+'Your company!' Saxon cried. 'Why, man, you are mad! Your company is cut
+off to the last man.'
+
+'That's what I mean,' he answered, flicking some dirt from his cravat.
+'Don't ye mind! Look out for yourselves. Goodbye, Clarke! Present my
+compliments to--' The dragoons charged down upon us again. We were all
+borne backwards, fighting desperately, and when we could look round the
+Baronet was gone for ever. We heard afterwards that the King's troops
+found upon the field a body which they mistook for that of Monmouth, on
+account of the effeminate grace of the features and the richness of the
+attire. No doubt it was that of our undaunted friend, Sir Gervas Jerome,
+a name which shall ever be dear to my heart. When, ten years afterwards,
+we heard much of the gallantry of the young courtiers of the household
+of the French King, and of the sprightly courage with which they fought
+against us in the Lowlands at Steinkirk and elsewhere, I have always
+thought, from my recollection of Sir Gervas, that I knew what manner of
+men they were.
+
+And now it was every man for himself. In no part of the field did
+the insurgents continue to resist. The first rays of the sun shining
+slantwise across the great dreary plain lit up the long line of the
+scarlet battalions, and glittered upon the cruel swords which rose and
+fell among the struggling drove of resistless fugitives. The German had
+become separated from us in the tumult, and we knew not whether he lived
+or was slain, though long afterwards we learned that he made good his
+escape, only to be captured with the ill-fated Duke of Monmouth. Grey,
+Wade, Ferguson, and others had contrived also to save themselves, while
+Stephen Timewell lay in the midst of a stern ring of his hard-faced
+burghers, dying as he had lived, a gallant Puritan Englishman. All this
+we learned afterwards. At present we rode for our lives across the moor,
+followed by a few scattered bodies of horse, who soon abandoned their
+pursuit in order to fasten upon some more easy prey.
+
+We were passing a small clump of alder bushes when a loud manly voice
+raised in prayer attracted our attention. Pushing aside the branches, we
+came upon a man, seated with his back up against a great stone, cutting
+at his own arm with a broad-bladed knife, and giving forth the Lord's
+prayer the while, without a pause or a quiver in his tone. As he glanced
+up from his terrible task we both recognised him as one Hollis, whom I
+have mentioned as having been with Cromwell at Dunbar. His arm had
+been half severed by a cannon-ball, and he was quietly completing the
+separation in order to free himself from the dangling and useless limb.
+Even Saxon, used as he was to all the forms and incidents of war, stared
+open-eyed and aghast at this strange surgery; but the man, with a short
+nod of recognition, went grimly forward with his task, until, even as
+we gazed, he separated the last shred which held it, and lay over with
+blanched lips which still murmured the prayer. (1) We could do little
+to help him, and, indeed, might by our halt attract his pursuers to his
+hiding-place; so, throwing him down my flask half filled with water, we
+hastened on upon our way. Oh, war, my children, what a terrible thing it
+is! How are men cozened and cheated by the rare trappings and prancing
+steeds, by the empty terms of honour and of glory, until they forget
+in the outward tinsel and show the real ghastly horror of the accursed
+thing! Think not of the dazzling squadrons, nor of the spirit-stirring
+blare of the trumpets, but think of that lonely man under the shadow of
+the alders, and of what he was doing in a Christian age and a Christian
+land. Surely I, who have grown grey in harness, and who have seen as
+many fields as I have years of my life, should be the last to preach
+upon this subject, and yet I can clearly see that, in honesty, men must
+either give up war, or else they must confess that the words of the
+Redeemer are too lofty for them, and that there is no longer any use in
+pretending that His teaching can be reduced to practice. I have seen a
+Christian minister blessing a cannon which had just been founded, and
+another blessing a war-ship as it glided from the slips. They,
+the so-called representatives of Christ, blessed these engines of
+destruction which cruel man has devised to destroy and tear his
+fellow-worms. What would we say if we read in Holy Writ of our Lord
+having blessed the battering-rams and the catapults of the legions?
+Would we think that it was in agreement with His teaching? But there!
+As long as the heads of the Church wander away so far from the spirit of
+its teaching as to live in palaces and drive in carriages, what wonder
+if, with such examples before them, the lower clergy overstep at times
+the lines laid down by their great Master?
+
+Looking back from the summit of the low hills which lie to the westward
+of the moor, we could see the cloud of horse-men streaming over the
+bridge of the Parret and into the town of Bridgewater, with the helpless
+drove of fugitives still flying in front of them. We had pulled up our
+horses, and were looking sadly and silently back at the fatal plain,
+when the thud of hoofs fell upon our ears, and, turning round, we found
+two horsemen in the dress of the guards riding towards us. They had made
+a circuit to cut us off, for they were riding straight for us with drawn
+swords and eager gestures.
+
+'More slaughter,' I said wearily. 'Why will they force us to it?'
+
+Saxon glanced keenly from beneath his drooping lids at the approaching
+horsemen, and a grim smile wreathed his face in a thousand lines and
+wrinkles.
+
+'It is our friend who set the hounds upon our track at Salisbury,' he
+said. 'This is a happy meeting. I have a score to settle with him.'
+
+It was, indeed, the hot-headed young comet whom we had met at the outset
+of our adventures. Some evil chance had led him to recognise the tall
+figure of my companion as we rode from the field, and to follow him, in
+the hope of obtaining revenge for the humiliation which he had met with
+at his hands. The other was a lance-corporal, a man of square soldierly
+build, riding a heavy black horse with a white blaze upon its forehead.
+
+Saxon rode slowly towards the officer, while the trooper and I fixed our
+eyes upon each other.
+
+'Well, boy,' I heard my companion say, 'I trust that you have learned to
+fence since we met last.'
+
+The young guardsman gave a snarl of rage at the taunt, and an instant
+afterwards the clink of their sword-blades showed that they had met.
+For my own part I dared not spare a glance upon them, for my opponent
+attacked me with such fury that it was all that I could do to keep him
+off. No pistol was drawn upon either side. It was an honest contest of
+steel against steel. So constant were the corporal's thrusts, now at my
+face, now at my body, that I had never an opening for one of the heavy
+cuts which might have ended the matter. Our horses spun round each
+other, biting and pawing, while we thrust and parried, until at last,
+coming together knee to knee, we found ourselves within sword-point, and
+grasped each other by the throat. He plucked a dagger from his belt and
+struck it into my left arm, but I dealt him a blow with my gauntleted
+hand, which smote him off his horse and stretched him speechless upon
+the plain. Almost at the same moment the cornet dropped from his horse,
+wounded in several places. Saxon sprang from his saddle, and picking the
+soldier's dagger from the ground, would have finished them both had I
+not jumped down also and restrained him. He flashed round upon me with
+so savage a face that I could see that the wild-beast nature within him
+was fairly roused.
+
+'What hast thou to do?' he snarled. 'Let go!'
+
+'Nay, nay! Blood enough hath been shed,' said I. 'Let them lie.'
+
+'What mercy would they have had upon us?' he cried passionately,
+struggling to get his wrist free. 'They have lost, and must pay
+forfeit.'
+
+'Not in cold blood,' I said firmly. 'I shall not abide it.'
+
+'Indeed, your lordship,' he sneered, with the devil peeping out through
+his eyes. With a violent wrench he freed himself from my grasp, and
+springing back, picked up the sword which he had dropped.
+
+'What then?' I asked, standing on my guard astride of the wounded man.
+
+He stood for a minute or more looking at me from under his heavy-hung
+brows, with his whole face writhing with passion. Every instant I
+expected that he would fly at me, but at last, with a gulp in his
+throat, he sheathed his rapier with a sharp clang, and sprang back into
+the saddle.
+
+'We part here,' he said coldly. 'I have twice been on the verge of
+slaying you, and the third time might be too much for my patience. You
+are no fit companion for a cavalier of fortune. Join the clergy, lad; it
+is your vocation.'
+
+'Is this Decimus Saxon who speaks, or is it Will Spotterbridge?' I
+asked, remembering his jest concerning his ancestry, but no answering
+smile came upon his rugged face. Gathering up his bridle in his left
+hand, he shot one last malignant glance at the bleeding officer, and
+galloped off along one of the tracks which lead to the southward. I
+stood gazing after him, but he never sent so much as a hand-wave back,
+riding on with a rigid neck until he vanished in a dip in the moor.
+
+'There goes one friend,' thought I sadly, 'and all forsooth because I
+will not stand by and see a helpless man's throat cut. Another friend is
+dead on the field. A third, the oldest and dearest of all, lies wounded
+at Bridgewater, at the mercy of a brutal soldiery. If I return to my
+home I do but bring trouble and danger to those whom I love. Whither
+shall I turn?' For some minutes I stood irresolute beside the prostrate
+guardsmen, while Covenant strolled slowly along cropping the scanty
+herbage, and turning his dark full eyes towards me from time to time, as
+though to assure me that one friend at least was steadfast. Northward I
+looked at the Polden Hills, southwards, at the Blackdowns, westward
+at the long blue range of the Quantocks, and eastward at the broad fen
+country; but nowhere could I see any hope of safety. Truth to say, I
+felt sick at heart and cared little for the time whether I escaped or
+no.
+
+A muttered oath followed by a groan roused me from my meditations.
+The corporal was sitting up rubbing his head with a look of stupid
+astonishment upon his face, as though he were not very sure either of
+where he was or how he came there. The officer, too, had opened his
+eyes and shown other signs of returning consciousness. His wounds were
+clearly of no very serious nature. There was no danger of their pursuing
+me even should they wish to do so, for their horses had trotted off to
+join the numerous other riderless steeds who were wandering all over the
+moorlands. I mounted, therefore, and rode slowly away, saving my good
+charger as much as possible, for the morning's work had already told
+somewhat heavily upon him.
+
+There were many scattered bodies of horse riding hither and thither over
+the marshes, but I was able to avoid them, and trotted onwards, keeping
+to the waste country until I found myself eight or ten miles from the
+battlefield. The few cottages and houses which I passed wore deserted,
+and many of them bore signs of having been plundered. Not a peasant was
+to be seen. The evil fame of Kirke's lambs had chased away all those who
+had not actually taken arms. At last, after riding for three hours, I
+bethought me that I was far enough from the main line of pursuit to
+be free from danger, so I chose out a sheltered spot where a clump of
+bushes overhung a little brook. There, seated upon a bank of velvet
+moss, I rested my weary limbs, and tried to wash the stains of battle
+from my person.
+
+It was only now when I could look quietly at my own attire that it was
+brought home to me how terrible the encounter must have been in which
+I had been engaged, and how wonderful it was that I had come off so
+scatheless. Of the blows which I had struck in the fight I had faint
+remembrance, yet they must have been many and terrible, for my sword
+edge was as jagged and turned as though I had hacked for an hour at an
+iron bar. From head to foot I was splashed and crimsoned with blood,
+partly my own, but mostly that of others. My headpiece was dinted with
+blows. A petronel bullet had glanced off my front plate, striking it
+at an angle, and had left a broad groove across it. Two or three other
+cracks and stars showed where the good sheet of proof steel had saved
+me. My left arm was stiff and well-nigh powerless from the corporal's
+stab, but on stripping off my doublet and examining the place, I found
+that though there had been much bleeding the wound was on the outer side
+of the bone, and was therefore of no great import. A kerchief dipped in
+water and bound tightly round it eased the smart and stanched the blood.
+Beyond this scratch I had no injuries, though from my own efforts I felt
+as stiff and sore all over as though I had been well cudgelled, and the
+slight wound got in Wells Cathedral had reopened and was bleeding. With
+a little patience and cold water, however, I was able to dress it and to
+tie myself up as well as any chirurgeon in the kingdom.
+
+Having seen to my injuries I had now to attend to my appearance, for
+in truth I might have stood for one of those gory giants with whom the
+worthy Don Bellianis of Greece and other stout champions were wont to
+contend. No woman or child but would have fled at the sight of me, for
+I was as red as the parish butcher when Martinmas is nigh. A good wash,
+however, in the brook soon removed those traces of war, and I was
+able to get the marks off my breastplate and boots. In the case of my
+clothes, however, it was so hopeless to clean them that I gave it up in
+despair. My good old horse had been never so much as grazed by steel or
+bullet, so that with a little watering and tending he was soon as fresh
+as ever, and we turned our backs on the streamlet a better-favoured pair
+than we had approached it.
+
+It was now going on to mid-day, and I began to feel very hungry, for I
+had tasted nothing since the evening before. Two or three houses stood
+in a cluster upon the moor, but the blackened walls and scorched thatch
+showed that it was hopeless to expect anything from them. Once or twice
+I spied folk in the fields or on the roadway; but at sight of an armed
+horseman they ran for their lives, diving into the brushwood like wild
+animals. At one place, where a high oak tree marked the meeting of three
+roads, two bodies dangling from one of the branches showed that the
+fears of the villagers were based upon experience. These poor men had in
+all likelihood been hanged because the amount of their little hoardings
+had not come up to the expectations of their plunderers; or because,
+having given all to one band of robbers, they had nothing with which
+to appease the next. At last, when I was fairly weary of my fruitless
+search for food, I espied a windmill standing upon a green hill at
+the other side of some fields. Judging from its appearance that it had
+escaped the general pillage, I took the pathway which branched away to
+it from the high-road. (Note J, Appendix)
+
+1. The incident is historically true, and may serve to show what sort of
+men they were who had learned their soldiering under Cromwell.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIII. Of my Perilous Adventure at the Mill
+
+At the base of the mill there stood a shed which was evidently used to
+stall the horses which brought the farmers' grain. Some grass was heaped
+up inside it, so I loosened Covenant's girths and left him to have a
+hearty meal. The mill itself appeared to be silent and empty. I climbed
+the steep wood ladder, and pushing the door open, walked into a round
+stone-flagged room, from which a second ladder led to the loft above. On
+one side of this chamber was a long wooden box, and all round the walls
+were ranged rows of sacks full of flour. In the fireplace stood a pile
+of faggots ready for lighting, so with the aid of my tinder-box I soon
+had a cheerful blaze. Taking a large handful of flour from the nearest
+bag I moistened it with water from a pitcher, and having rolled it out
+into a flat cake, proceeded to bake it, smiling the while to think of
+what my mother would say to such rough cookery. Very sure I am that
+Patrick Lamb himself, whose book, the 'Complete Court Cook,' was ever in
+the dear soul's left hand while she stirred and basted with her right,
+could not have turned out a dish which was more to my taste at the
+moment, for I had not even patience to wait for the browning of it, but
+snapped it up and devoured it half hot. I then rolled a second one, and
+having placed it before the fire, and drawn my pipe from my pocket,
+I set myself to smoke, waiting with all the philosophy which I could
+muster until it should be ready.
+
+I was lost in thought, brooding sadly over the blow which the news would
+be to my father, when I was startled by a loud sneeze, which sounded as
+though it were delivered in my very ear. I started to my feet and gazed
+all round me, but there was nothing save the solid wall behind and the
+empty chamber before. I had almost come to persuade myself that I had
+been the creature of some delusion, when again a crashing sneeze, louder
+and more prolonged than the last, broke upon the silence. Could some one
+be hid in one of the bags? Drawing my sword I walked round pricking the
+great flour sacks, but without being able to find cause for the sound. I
+was still marvelling over the matter when a most extraordinary chorus of
+gasps, snorts, and whistles broke out, with cries of 'Oh, holy mother!'
+'Blessed Redeemer!' and other such exclamations. This time there could
+be no doubt as to whence the uproar came. Rushing up to the great chest
+upon which I had been seated, I threw back the heavy lid and gazed in.
+
+It was more than half full of flour, in the midst of which was
+floundering some creature, which was so coated and caked with the white
+powder, that it would have been hard to say that it was human were
+it not for the pitiable cries which it was uttering. Stooping down I
+dragged the man from his hiding-place, when he dropped upon his knees
+upon the floor and yelled for mercy, raising such a cloud of dust from
+every wriggle of his body that I began to cough and to sneeze. As the
+skin of powder began to scale off from him, I saw to my surprise that he
+was no miller or peasant, but was a man-at-arms, with a huge sword girt
+to his side, looking at present not unlike a frosted icicle, and a
+great steel-faced breastplate. His steel cap had remained behind in the
+flour-bin, and his bright red hair, the only touch of colour about him,
+stood straight up in the air with terror, as he implored me to spare his
+life. Thinking that there was something familiar about his voice, I drew
+my hand across his face, which set him yelling as though I had slain
+him. There was no mistaking the heavy cheeks and the little greedy
+eyes. It was none other than Master Tetheridge, the noisy town-clerk of
+Taunton.
+
+But how much changed from the town-clerk whom we had seen strutting, in
+all the pomp and bravery of his office, before the good Mayor on the day
+of our coming to Somersetshire! Where now was the ruddy colour like a
+pippin in September? Where was the assured manner and the manly port? As
+he knelt his great jack-boots clicked together with apprehension, and he
+poured forth in a piping voice, like that of a Lincoln's Inn mumper, a
+string of pleadings, excuses, and entreaties, as though I were Feversham
+in person, and was about to order him to instant execution.
+
+'I am but a poor scrivener man, your serene Highness,' he bawled.
+'Indeed, I am a most unhappy clerk, your Honour, who has been driven
+into these courses by the tyranny of those above him. A more loyal man,
+your Grace, never wore neat's leather, but when the mayor says "Yes,"
+can the clerk say "No"? Spare me, your lordship; spare a most penitent
+wretch, whose only prayer is that he may be allowed to serve King James
+to the last drop of his blood!'
+
+'Do you renounce the Duke of Monmouth?' I asked, in a stern voice.
+
+'I do--from my heart!' said he fervently.
+
+'Then prepare to die!' I roared, whipping out my sword, 'for I am one of
+his officers.'
+
+At the sight of the steel the wretched clerk gave a perfect bellow of
+terror, and falling upon his face he wriggled and twisted, until looking
+up he perceived that I was laughing. On that he crawled up on to his
+knees once more, and from that to his feet, glancing at me askance, as
+though by no means assured of my intentions.
+
+'You must remember me, Master Tetheridge,' I said. 'I am Captain Clarke,
+of Saxon's regiment of Wiltshire foot. I am surprised, indeed, that you
+should have fallen away from that allegiance to which you did not only
+swear yourself, but did administer the oath to so many others.'
+
+'Not a whit, Captain, not a whit!' he answered, resuming his old
+bantam-cock manner as soon as he saw that there was no danger. 'I am
+upon oath as true and as leal a man as ever I was.'
+
+'That I can fully believe,' I answered.
+
+'I did but dissimulate,' he continued, brushing the flour from his
+person. 'I did but practise that cunning of the serpent which should
+in every warrior accompany the courage of the lion. You have read your
+Homer, doubtless. Eh? I too have had a touch of the humanities. I am no
+mere rough soldier, however stoutly I can hold mine own at sword-play.
+Master Ulysses is my type, even as thine, I take it, is Master Ajax.'
+
+'Methinks that Master Jack-in-the-box would fit you better,' said I.
+'Wilt have a half of this cake? How came you in the flour-bin?'
+
+'Why, marry, in this wise,' he answered, with his mouth full of dough.
+'It was a wile or ruse, after the fashion of the greatest commanders,
+who have always been famous for concealing their movements, and lurking
+where they were least expected. For when the fight was lost, and I had
+cut and hacked until my arm was weary and my edge blunted, I found that
+I was left alone alive of all the Taunton men. Were we on the field you
+could see where I had stood by the ring of slain which would be found
+within the sweep of my sword-arm. Finding that all was lost and that our
+rogues were fled, I mounted our worthy Mayor's charger, seeing that the
+gallant gentleman had no further need for it, and rode slowly from the
+field. I promise you that there was that in my eye and bearing which
+prevented their horse from making too close a pursuit of me. One trooper
+did indeed throw himself across my path, but mine old back-handed cut
+was too much for him. Alas, I have much upon my conscience? I have made
+both widows and orphans. Why will they brave me when--God of mercy, what
+is that?'
+
+''Tis but my horse in the stall below,' I answered.
+
+'I thought it was the dragoons,' quoth the clerk, wiping away the drops
+which had started out upon his brow. 'You and I would have gone forth
+and smitten them.'
+
+'Or climbed into the flour-bin,' said I.
+
+'I have not yet made clear to you how I came there,' he continued.
+'Having ridden, then, some leagues from the field, and noting this
+windmill, it did occur to me that a stout man might single-handed make
+it good against a troop of horse. We have no great love of flight, we
+Tetheridges. It may be mere empty pride, and yet the feeling runs strong
+in the family. We have a fighting strain in us ever since my kinsman
+followed Ireton's army as a sutler. I pulled up, therefore, and had
+dismounted to take my observations, when my brute of a charger gave
+the bridle a twitch, jerked itself free, and was off in an instant over
+hedges and ditches. I had, therefore, only my good sword left to trust
+to. I climbed up the ladder, and was engaged in planning how the defence
+could best be conducted, when I heard the clank of hoofs, and on the
+top of it you did ascend from below. I retired at once into ambush, from
+which I should assuredly have made a sudden outfall or sally, had the
+flour not so choked my breathing that I felt as though I had a two-pound
+loaf stuck in my gizzard. For myself, I am glad that it has so come
+about, for in my blind wrath I might unwittingly have done you an
+injury. Hearing the clank of your sword as you did come up the ladder,
+I did opine that you were one of King James's minions, the captain,
+perchance, of some troop in the fields below.'
+
+'All very clear and explicit, Master Tetheridge,' said I, re-lighting
+my pipe. 'No doubt your demeanour when I did draw you from your
+hiding-place was also a mere cloak for your valour. But enough of that.
+It is to the future that we have to look. What are your intentions?'
+
+'To remain with you, Captain,' said he.
+
+'Nay, that you shall not,' I answered; 'I have no great fancy for your
+companionship. Your overflowing valour may bring me into ruffles which I
+had otherwise avoided.'
+
+'Nay, nay! I shall moderate my spirit,' he cried. 'In such troublous
+times you will find yourself none the worse for the company of a tried
+fighting man.'
+
+'Tried and found wanting,' said I, weary of the man's braggart talk. 'I
+tell you I will go alone.'
+
+'Nay, you need not be so hot about it,' he exclaimed, shrinking away
+from me. 'In any case, we had best stay here until nightfall, when we
+may make our way to the coast.'
+
+'That is the first mark of sense that you have shown,' said I. 'The
+King's horse will find enough to do with the Zoyland cider and the
+Bridgewater ale. If we can pass through, I have friends on the north
+coast who would give us a lift in their lugger as far as Holland.
+This help I will not refuse to give you, since you are my fellow in
+misfortune. I would that Saxon had stayed with me! I fear he will be
+taken!'
+
+'If you mean Colonel Saxon,' said the clerk, 'I think that he also is
+one who hath much guile as well as valour. A stern, fierce soldier
+he was, as I know well, having fought back to back with him for forty
+minutes by the clock, against a troop of Sarsfield's horse. Plain of
+speech he was, and perhaps a trifle inconsiderate of the honour of a
+cavalier, but in the field it would have been well for the army had they
+had more such commanders.'
+
+'You say truly,' I answered; 'but now that we have refreshed ourselves
+it is time that we bethought us of taking some rest, since we may have
+far to travel this night. I would that I could lay my hand upon a flagon
+of ale.'
+
+'I would gladly drink to our further acquaintanceship in the same,'
+said my companion, 'but as to the matter of slumber that may be readily
+arranged. If you ascend that ladder you will find in the loft a litter
+of empty sacks, upon which you can repose. For myself, I will stay down
+here for a while and cook myself another cake.'
+
+'Do you remain on watch for two hours and then arouse me,' I replied.
+'I shall then keep guard whilst you sleep.' He touched the hilt of his
+sword as a sign that he would be true to his post, so not without some
+misgivings I climbed up into the loft, and throwing myself upon the
+rude couch was soon in a deep and dreamless slumber, lulled by the low,
+mournful groaning and creaking of the sails.
+
+I was awoken by steps beside me, and found that the little clerk had
+come up the ladder and was bending over me. I asked him if the time had
+come for me to rouse, on which he answered in a strange quavering voice
+that I had yet an hour, and that he had come up to see if there was any
+service which he could render me. I was too weary to take much note
+of his slinking manner and pallid cheeks, so thanking him for his
+attention, I turned over and was soon asleep once more.
+
+My next waking was a rougher and a sterner one. There came a sudden
+rush of heavy feet up the ladder, and a dozen red-coats swarmed into the
+room. Springing on to my feet I put out my hand for the sword which I
+had laid all ready by my side, but the trusty weapon had gone. It had
+been stolen whilst I slumbered. Unarmed and taken at a vantage, I was
+struck down and pinioned in a moment. One held a pistol to my head, and
+swore that he would blow my brains out if I stirred, while the others
+wound a coil of rope round my body and arms, until Samson himself could
+scarce have got free. Feeling that my struggles were of no possible
+avail, I lay silent and waited for whatever was to come. Neither now nor
+at any time, dear children, have I laid great store upon my life, but
+far less then than now, for each of you are tiny tendrils which bind me
+to this world. Yet, when I think of the other dear ones who are waiting
+for me on the further shore, I do not think that even now death would
+seem an evil thing in my eyes. What a hopeless and empty thing would
+life be without it!
+
+Having lashed my arms, the soldiers dragged me down the ladder, as
+though I had been a truss of hay, into the room beneath, which was
+also crowded with troopers. In one corner was the wretched scrivener,
+a picture of abject terror, with chattering teeth and trembling knees,
+only prevented from falling upon the floor by the grasp of a stalwart
+corporal. In front of him stood two officers, one a little hard brown
+man with dark twinkling eyes and an alert manner, the other tall and
+slender, with a long golden moustache, which drooped down half-way to
+his shoulders. The former had my sword in his hand, and they were both
+examining the blade curiously.
+
+'It is a good bit of steel, Dick,' said one, putting the point against
+the stone floor, and pressing down until he touched it with the handle.
+'See, with what a snap it rebounds! No maker's name, but the date 1638
+is stamped upon the pommel. Where did you get it, fellow?' he asked,
+fixing his keen gaze upon my face.
+
+'It was my father's before me,' I answered.
+
+'Then I trust that he drew it in a better quarrel than his son hath
+done,' said the taller officer, with a sneer.
+
+'In as good, though not in a better,' I returned. 'That sword hath
+always been drawn for the rights and liberties of Englishmen, and
+against the tyranny of kings and the bigotry of priests.'
+
+'What a tag for a playhouse, Dick,' cried the officer. 'How doth it
+run? "The bigotry of kings and the tyranny of priests." Why, if well
+delivered by Betterton close up to the footlights, with one hand upon
+his heart and the other pointing to the sky, I warrant the pit would
+rise at it.'
+
+'Very like,' said the other, twirling his moustache. 'But we have no
+time for fine speeches now. What are we to do with the little one?'
+
+'Hang him,' the other answered carelessly.
+
+'No, no, your most gracious honours,' howled Master Tetheridge, suddenly
+writhing out of the corporal's grip and flinging himself upon the
+floor at their feet. 'Did I not tell ye where ye could find one of the
+stoutest soldiers of the rebel army? Did not I guide ye to him? Did not
+I even creep up and remove his sword lest any of the King's subjects
+be slain in the taking of him? Surely, surely, ye would not use me so
+scurvily when I have done ye these services? Have I not made good my
+words? Is he not as I described him, a giant in stature and of wondrous
+strength? The whole army will bear me out in it, that he was worth any
+two in single fight. I have given him over to ye. Surely ye will let me
+go!'
+
+'Very well delivered--plaguily so!' quoth the little officer, clapping
+the palm of one hand softly against the back of the other. 'The emphasis
+was just, and the enunciation clear. A little further back towards the
+wings, corporal, if you please. Thank you! Now, Dick, it is your cue.'
+
+'Nay, John, you are too absurd!' cried the other impatiently. 'The mask
+and the buskins are well enough in their place, but you look upon the
+play as a reality and upon the reality as but a play. What this reptile
+hath said is true. We must keep faith with him if we wish that others of
+the country folk should give up the fugitives. There is no help for it!'
+
+'For myself I believe in Jeddart law,' his companion answered. 'I
+would hang the man first and then discuss the question of our promise.
+However, pink me if I will obtrude my opinion on any man!'
+
+'Nay, it cannot be,' the taller said. 'Corporal, do you take him down.
+Henderson will go with you. Take from him that plate and sword, which
+his mother would wear with as good a grace. And hark ye, corporal, a few
+touches of thy stirrup leathers across his fat shoulders might not be
+amiss, as helping him to remember the King's dragoons.'
+
+My treacherous companion was dragged off, struggling and yelping, and
+presently a series of piercing howls, growing fainter and fainter as he
+fled before his tormentors, announced that the hint had been taken. The
+two officers rushed to the little window of the mill and roared with
+laughter, while the troopers, peeping furtively over their shoulders,
+could not restrain themselves from joining in their mirth, from which I
+gathered that Master Tetheridge, as, spurred on by fear, he hurled his
+fat body through hedges and into ditches, was a somewhat comical sight.
+
+'And now for the other,' said the little officer, turning away from the
+window and wiping the tears of laughter from his face. 'That beam over
+yonder would serve our purpose. Where is Hangman Broderick, the Jack
+Ketch of the Royals?'
+
+'Here I am, sir,' responded a sullen, heavy-faced trooper, shuffling
+forward; 'I have a rope here with a noose.'
+
+'Throw it over the beam, then. What is amiss with your hand, you clumsy
+rogue, that you should wear linen round it?'
+
+'May it please you, sir,' the man answered, 'it was all through an
+ungrateful, prick-eared Presbyterian knave whom I hung at Gommatch. I
+had done all that could be done for him. Had he been at Tyburn he could
+scarce have met with more attention. Yet when I did put my hand to his
+neck to see that all was as it should be, he did fix me with his teeth,
+and hath gnawed a great piece from my thumb.'
+
+'I am sorry for you,' said the officer. 'You know, no doubt, that the
+human bite under such circumstances is as deadly as that of the mad dog,
+so that you may find yourself snapping and barking one of these fine
+mornings. Nay, turn not pale! I have heard you preach patience and
+courage to your victims. You are not afraid of death?'
+
+'Not of any Christian death, your Honour. Yet, ten shillings a week is
+scarce enough to pay a man for an end like that!'
+
+'Nay, it is all a lottery,' remarked the Captain cheerily. 'I have heard
+that in these cases a man is so drawn up that his heels do beat a tattoo
+against the back of his head. But, mayhap, it is not as painful as it
+would appear. Meanwhile, do you proceed to do your office.'
+
+Three or four troopers caught me by the arms, but I shook them off as
+best I might, and walked with, as I trust, a steady step and a cheerful
+face under the beam, which was a great smoke-blackened rafter passing
+from one side of the chamber to the other. The rope was thrown over
+this, and the noose placed round my neck with trembling fingers by the
+hangman, who took particular care to keep beyond the range of my teeth.
+Half-a-dozen dragoons seized the further end of the coil, and stood
+ready to swing me into eternity. Through all my adventurous life I have
+never been so close upon the threshold of death as at that moment, and
+yet I declare to you that, terrible as my position was, I could think
+of nothing but the tattoo marks upon old Solomon Sprent's arm, and the
+cunning fashion in which he had interwoven the red and the blue. Yet I
+was keenly alive to all that was going on around me. The scene of the
+bleak stone-floored room, the single narrow window, the two lounging
+elegant officers, the pile of arms in the corner, and even the texture
+of the coarse red serge and the patterns of the great brass buttons upon
+the sleeve of the man who held me, are all stamped clearly upon my mind.
+
+'We must do our work with order,' remarked the taller Captain, taking a
+note-book from his pocket. 'Colonel Sarsfield may desire some details.
+Let me see! This is the seventeenth, is it not?'
+
+'Four at the farm and five at the cross-roads,' the other answered,
+counting upon his fingers. 'Then there was the one whom we shot in the
+hedge, and the wounded one who nearly saved himself by dying, and the
+two in the grove under the hill. I can remember no more, save those who
+were strung up in 'Bridgewater immediately after the action.'
+
+'It is well to do it in an orderly fashion,' quoth the other, scribbling
+in his book. 'It is very well for Kirke and his men, who are half Moors
+themselves, to hang and to slaughter without discrimination or ceremony,
+but we should set them a better example. What is your name, sirrah?'
+
+'My name is Captain Micah Clarke,' I answered.
+
+The two officers looked at each other, and the smaller one gave a long
+whistle. 'It is the very man!' said he. 'This comes of asking questions!
+Rat me, if I had not misgivings that it might prove to be so. They said
+that he was large of limb.'
+
+'Tell me, sirrah, have you ever known one Major Ogilvy of the Horse
+Guards Blue?' asked the Captain.
+
+'Seeing that I had the honour of taking him prisoner,' I replied, 'and
+seeing also that he hath shared soldier's fare and quarters with me ever
+since, I think I may fairly say that I do know him.'
+
+'Cast loose the cord!' said the officer, and the hangman reluctantly
+slipped the cord over my head once more. 'Young man, you are surely
+reserved for something great, for you will never be nearer your grave
+until you do actually step into it. This Major Ogilvy hath made great
+interest both for you and for a wounded comrade of yours who lies at
+Bridgewater. Your name hath been given to the commanders of horse, with
+orders to bring you in unscathed should you be taken. Yet it is but fair
+to tell you that though the Major's good word may save you from martial
+law, it will stand you in small stead before a civil judge, before whom
+ye must in the end take your trial.'
+
+'I desire to share the same lot and fortune as has befallen my
+companions-in-arms,' I answered.
+
+'Nay, that is but a sullen way to take your deliverance,' cried the
+smaller officer. 'The situation is as flat as sutler's beer. Otway would
+have made a bettor thing of it. Can you not rise to the occasion? Where
+is she?'
+
+'She! Who?' I asked.
+
+'She. The she. The woman. Your wife, sweetheart, betrothed, what you
+will.'
+
+'There is none such,' I answered.
+
+'There now! What can be done in a case like that?' cried he
+despairingly. 'She should have rushed in from the wings and thrown
+herself upon your bosom. I have seen such a situation earn three rounds
+from the pit. There is good material spoiling here for want of some one
+to work it up.'
+
+'We have something else to work up, Jack,' exclaimed his companion
+impatiently. 'Sergeant Gredder, do you with two troopers conduct the
+prisoner to Gommatch Church. It is time that we were once more upon our
+way, for in a few hours the darkness will hinder the pursuit.'
+
+At the word of command the troopers descended into the field where their
+horses were picketed, and were speedily on the march once more, the tall
+Captain leading them, and the stage-struck cornet bringing up the
+rear. The sergeant to whose care I had been committed--a great
+square-shouldered, dark-browed man--ordered my own horse to be brought
+out, and helped me to mount it. He removed the pistols from the
+holsters, however, and hung them with my sword at his own saddle-bow.
+
+'Shall I tie his feet under the horse's belly?' asked one of the
+dragoons.
+
+'Nay, the lad hath an honest face,' the sergeant answered. 'If he
+promises to be quiet we shall cast free his arms.'
+
+'I have no desire to escape,' said I.
+
+'Then untie the rope. A brave man in misfortune hath ever my goodwill,
+strike me dumb else! Sergeant Gredder is my name, formerly of Mackay's
+and now of the Royals--as hard-worked and badly-paid a man as any in
+his Majesty's service. Right wheel, and down the pathway! Do ye ride
+on either side, and I behind! Our carbines are primed, friend, so stand
+true to your promise!'
+
+'Nay, you can rely upon it,' I answered.
+
+'Your little comrade did play you a scurvy trick,' said the sergeant,
+'for seeing us ride down the road he did make across to us, and
+bargained with the Captain that his life should be spared, on condition
+that he should deliver into our hands what he described as one of the
+stoutest soldiers in the rebel army. Truly you have thews and sinews
+enough, though you are surely too young to have seen much service.'
+
+'This hath been my first campaign,' I answered.
+
+'And is like to be your last,' he remarked, with soldierly frankness. 'I
+hear that the Privy Council intend to make such an example as will take
+the heart out of the Whigs for twenty years to come. They have a lawyer
+coming from London whose wig is more to be feared than our helmets. He
+will slay more men in a day than a troop of horse in a ten-mile chase.
+Faith! I would sooner they took this butcher-work into their own hands.
+See those bodies on yonder tree. It is an evil season when such acorns
+grow upon English oaks.'
+
+'It is an evil season,' said I, 'when men who call themselves Christians
+inflict such vengeance upon poor simple peasants, who have done no more
+than their conscience urged them. That the leaders and officers should
+suffer is but fair. They stood to win in case of success, and should pay
+forfeit now that they have lost. But it goes to my heart to see those
+poor godly country folk so treated.'
+
+'Aye, there is truth in that,' said the sergeant. 'Now if it were some
+of these snuffle-nosed preachers, the old lank-haired bell-wethers who
+have led their flocks to the devil, it would be another thing. Why
+can they not conform to the Church, and be plagued to them? It is good
+enough for the King, so surely it is good enough for them; or are their
+souls so delicate that they cannot satisfy themselves with that on which
+every honest Englishman thrives? The main road to Heaven is too common
+for them. They must needs have each a by-path of their own, and cry out
+against all who will not follow it.'
+
+'Why,' said I, 'there are pious men of all creeds. If a man lead a life
+of virtue, what matter what he believes?
+
+'Let a man keep his virtue in his heart,' quoth Sergeant Gredder. 'Let
+him pack it deep in the knapsack of his soul. I suspect godliness
+which shows upon the surface, the snuffling talk, the rolling eyes, the
+groaning and the hawking. It is like the forged money, which can be told
+by its being more bright and more showy than the real.'
+
+'An apt comparison!' said I. 'But how comes it, sergeant, that you have
+given attention to these matters? Unless they are much belied, the Royal
+Dragoons find other things to think of.'
+
+'I was one of Mackay's foot,' he answered shortly. 'I have heard of
+him,' said I. 'A man, I believe, both of parts and of piety.'
+
+'That, indeed, he is,' cried Sergeant Gredder warmly. 'He is a man stern
+and soldierly to the outer eye, but with the heart of a saint within
+him. I promise you there was little need of the strapado in his
+regiment, for there was not a man who did not fear the look of sorrow in
+his Colonel's eyes far more than he did the provost-marshal.'
+
+During the whole of our long ride I found the worthy sergeant a true
+follower of the excellent Colonel Mackay, for he proved to be a man of
+more than ordinary intelligence, and of serious and thoughtful habit.
+As to the two troopers, they rode on either side of me as silent as
+statues; for the common dragoons of those days could but talk of wine
+and women, and were helpless and speechless when aught else was to the
+fore. When we at last rode into the little village of Gommatch, which
+overlooks the plain of Sedgemoor, it was with regret on each side that I
+bade my guardian adieu. As a parting favour I begged him to take charge
+of Covenant for me, promising to pay a certain sum by the month for his
+keep, and commissioning him to retain the horse for his own use should I
+fail to claim him within the year. It was a load off my mind when I saw
+my trusty companion led away, staring back at me with questioning eyes,
+as though unable to understand the separation. Come what might, I knew
+now that, he was in the keeping of a good man who would see that no harm
+befell him.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIV. Of the Coming of Solomon Sprent
+
+The church of Gommatch was a small ivy-clad building with a square
+Norman tower, standing in the centre of the hamlet of that name. Its
+great oaken doors, studded with iron, and high narrow windows, fitted
+it well for the use to which it was now turned. Two companies of
+Dumbarton's Foot had been quartered in the village, with a portly Major
+at their head, to whom I was handed over by Sergeant Gredder, with some
+account of my capture, and of the reasons which had prevented my summary
+execution.
+
+Night was now drawing in, but a few dim lamps, hung here and there upon
+the walls, cast an uncertain, flickering light over the scene. A hundred
+or more prisoners were scattered about upon the stone floor, many of
+them wounded, and some evidently dying. The hale had gathered in silent,
+subdued groups round their stricken friends, and were doing what they
+could to lessen their sufferings. Some had even removed the greater part
+of their clothing in order to furnish head-rests and pallets for the
+wounded. Here and there in the shadows dark kneeling figures might be
+seen, and the measured sound of their prayers rang through the aisles,
+with a groan now and again, or a choking gasp as some poor sufferer
+battled for breath. The dim, yellow light streaming over the earnest
+pain-drawn faces, and the tattered mud-coloured figures, would have made
+it a fitting study for any of those Low Country painters whose pictures
+I saw long afterwards at The Hague.
+
+On Thursday morning, the third day after the battle, we were all
+conveyed into Bridgewater, where we were confined for the remainder
+of the week in St. Mary's Church, the very one from the tower of which
+Monmouth and his commanders had inspected Feversham's position. The more
+we heard of the fight from the soldiers and others, the more clear it
+became that, but for the most unfortunate accidents, there was every
+chance that our night attack might have succeeded. There was scarcely a
+fault which a General could commit which Feversham had not been guilty
+of. He had thought too lightly of his enemy, and left his camp entirely
+open to a surprise. When the firing broke out he sprang from his couch,
+but failing to find his wig, he had groped about his tent while the
+battle was being decided, and only came out when it was well-nigh over.
+All were agreed that had it not been for the chance of the Bussex Rhine
+having been overlooked by our guides and scouts, we should have been
+among the tents before the men could have been called to arms. Only
+this and the fiery energy of John Churchill, the second in command,
+afterwards better known under a higher name, both to French and to
+English history, prevented the Royal army from meeting with a reverse
+which might have altered the result of the campaign.(Note K, Appendix.)
+Should ye hear or read, then, my dear children, that Monmouth's rising
+was easily put down, or that it was hopeless from the first, remember
+that I, who was concerned in it, say confidently that it really trembled
+in the balance, and that this handful of resolute peasants with their
+pikes and their scythes were within an ace of altering the whole
+course of English history. The ferocity of the Privy Council, after the
+rebellion was quelled, arose from their knowledge of how very close it
+had been to success.
+
+I do not wish to say too much of the cruelty and barbarity of the
+victors, for it is not good for your childish ears to hear of such
+doings. The sluggard Feversham and the brutal Kirke have earned
+themselves a name in the West, which is second only to that of the arch
+villain who came after them. As for their victims, when they had hanged
+and quartered and done their wicked worst upon them, at least they left
+their names in their own little villages, to be treasured up and handed
+from generation to generation, as brave men and true who had died for a
+noble cause. Go now to Milverton, or to Wiveliscombe, or to Minehead, or
+to Colyford, or to any village through the whole breadth and length of
+Somersetshire, and you will find that they have not forgotten what
+they proudly call their martyrs. But where now is Kirke and where is
+Feversham? Their names are preserved, it is true, but preserved in a
+county's hatred. Who can fail to see now that these men in punishing
+others brought a far heavier punishment upon themselves? Their sin hath
+indeed found them out.
+
+They did all that wicked and callous-hearted men could do, knowing well
+that such deeds were acceptable to the cold-blooded, bigoted hypocrite
+who sat upon the throne. They worked to win his favour, and they won it.
+Men were hanged and cut down and hanged again. Every cross-road in the
+country was ghastly with gibbets. There was not an insult or a contumely
+which might make the pangs of death more unendurable, which was not
+heaped upon these long-suffering men; yet it is proudly recounted in
+their native shire that of all the host of victims there was not one who
+did not meet his end with a firm lip, protesting that if the thing were
+to do again he was ready to do it.
+
+At the end of a week or two news came of the fugitives. Monmouth, it
+seems, had been captured by Portman's yellow coats when trying to make
+his way to the New Forest, whence he hoped to escape to the Continent.
+He was dragged, gaunt, unshaven, and trembling, out of a bean-field in
+which he had taken refuge, and was carried to Ringwood, in Hampshire.
+Strange rumours reached us concerning his behaviour--rumours which came
+to our ears through the coarse jests of our guards. Some said that he
+had gone on his knees to the yokels who had seized him. Others that he
+had written to the King offering to do anything, even to throw over the
+Protestant cause, to save his head from the scaffold.(Note L, Appendix.)
+We laughed at these stories at the time, and set them down as inventions
+of our enemies. It seemed too impossible that at a time when his
+supporters were so sternly and so loyally standing true to him, he,
+their leader, with the eyes of all men upon him, should be showing less
+courage than every little drummer-boy displays, who trips along at the
+head of his regiment upon the field of battle. Alas! time showed that
+the stories were indeed true, and that there was no depth of infamy to
+which this unhappy man would not descend, in the hope of prolonging
+for a few years that existence which had proved a curse to so many who
+trusted him.
+
+Of Saxon no news had come, good or bad, which encouraged me to hope that
+he had found a hiding-place for himself. Reuben was still confined to
+his couch by his wound, and was under the care and protection of
+Major Ogilvy. The good gentleman came to see me more than once, and
+endeavoured to add to my comfort, until I made him understand that it
+pained me to find myself upon a different footing to the brave fellows
+with whom I had shared the perils of the campaign. One great favour he
+did me in writing to my father, and informing him that I was well and
+in no pressing danger. In reply to this letter I had a stout Christian
+answer from the old man, bidding me to be of good courage, and quoting
+largely from a sermon on patience by the Reverend Josiah Seaton of
+Petersfield. My mother, he said, was in deep distress at my position,
+but was held up by her confidence in the decrees of Providence. He
+enclosed a draft for Major Ogilvy, commissioning him to use it in
+whatever way I should suggest. This money, together with the small hoard
+which my mother had sewed into my collar, proved to be invaluable, for
+when the gaol fever broke out amongst us I was able to get fitting food
+for the sick, and also to pay for the services of physicians, so that
+the disease was stamped out ere it had time to spread.
+
+Early in August we were brought from Bridgewater to Taunton, where we
+were thrown with hundreds of others into the same wool storehouse where
+our regiment had been quartered in the early days of the campaign. We
+gained little by the change, save that we found that our new guards
+were somewhat more satiated with cruelty than our old ones, and were
+therefore less exacting upon their prisoners. Not only were friends
+allowed in occasionally to see us, but books and papers could be
+obtained by the aid of a small present to the sergeant on duty. We were
+able, therefore, to spend our time with some degree of comfort during
+the month or more which passed before our trial.
+
+One evening I was standing listlessly with my back against the wall,
+looking up at a thin slit of blue sky which showed itself through the
+narrow window, and fancying myself back in the meadows of Havant once
+more, when a voice fell upon my ear which did, indeed, recall me to my
+Hampshire home. Those deep, husky tones, rising at times into an angry
+roar, could belong to none other than my old friend the seaman. I
+approached the door from which the uproar came, and all doubt vanished
+as I listened to the conversation.
+
+'Won't let me pass, won't ye?' he was shouting. 'Let me tell you
+I've held on my course when better men than you have asked me to veil
+topsails. I tell you I have the admiral's permit, and I won't clew up
+for a bit of a red-painted cock-boat; so move from athwart my hawse, or
+I may chance to run you down.'
+
+'We don't know nothing about admirals here,' said the sergeant of the
+guard. 'The time for seeing prisoners is over for the day, and if you do
+not take your ill-favoured body out of this I may try the weight o' my
+halberd on your back.'
+
+'I have taken blows and given them ere you were ever thought of, you
+land-swab,' roared old Solomon. 'I was yardarm and yardarm with De
+Ruyter when you were learning to suck milk; but, old as I am, I would
+have you know that I am not condemned yet, and that I am fit to exchange
+broadsides with any lobster-tailed piccaroon that ever was triced up to
+a triangle and had the King's diamonds cut in his back. If I tack back
+to Major Ogilvy and signal him the way that I have been welcomed, he'll
+make your hide redder than ever your coat was.'
+
+'Major Ogilvy!' exclaimed the sergeant, in a more respectful voice. 'If
+you had said that your permit was from Major Ogilvy it would have been
+another thing, but you did rave of admirals and commodores, and God
+knows what other outlandish talk!'
+
+'Shame on your parents that they should have reared you with so slight
+a knowledge o' the King's English!' grumbled Solomon. 'In truth, friend,
+it is a marvel to me why sailor men should be able to show a lead to
+those on shore in the matter of lingo. For out of seven hundred men in
+the ship _Worcester_--the same that sank in the Bay of Funchal--there
+was not so much as a powder-boy but could understand every word that I
+said, whereas on shore there is many a great jolterhead, like thyself,
+who might be a Portugee for all the English that he knows, and who
+stares at me like a pig in a hurricane if I do lint ask him what he
+makes the reckoning, or how many bells have gone.'
+
+'Whom is it that you would see?' asked the sergeant gruffly. 'You have a
+most infernally long tongue.'
+
+'Aye, and a rough one, too, when I have fools to deal with,' returned
+the seaman. 'If I had you in my watch, lad, for a three years' cruise, I
+would make a man of you yet.'
+
+'Pass the old man through!' cried the sergeant furiously, and the sailor
+came stumping in, with his bronzed face all screwed up and twisted,
+partly with amusement at his victory over the sergeant, and partly from
+a great chunk of tobacco which he was wont to stow within his cheek.
+Having glanced round without perceiving me, he put his hands to his
+mouth and bellowed out my name, with a string of 'Ahoys!' which rang
+through the building.
+
+'Here I am, Solomon,' said I, touching him on the shoulder.
+
+'God bless you, lad! God bless you!' he cried, wringing my hand. 'I
+could not see you, for my port eye is as foggy as the Newfoundland
+banks, and has been ever since Long Sue Williams of the Point hove a
+quart pot at it in the Tiger inn nigh thirty year agone. How are you?
+All sound, alow and aloft?'
+
+'As well as might be,' I answered. 'I have little to complain of.'
+
+'None of your standing rigging shot away!' said he. 'No spars crippled?
+No shots between wind and water, eh? You have not been hulled, nor
+raked, nor laid aboard of?'
+
+'None of these things,' said I, laughing.
+
+'Faith! you are leaner than of old, and have aged ten years in two
+months. You did go forth as smart and trim a fighting ship as over
+answered helm, and now you are like the same ship when the battle and
+the storm have taken the gloss from her sides and torn the love-pennants
+from her peak. Yet am I right glad to see you sound in wind and limb.'
+
+'I have looked upon sights,' said I, 'which might well add ten years to
+a man's age.'
+
+'Aye, aye!' he answered, with a hollow groan, shaking his head from side
+to side. 'It is a most accursed affair. Yet, bad as the tempest is, the
+calm will ever come afterwards if you will but ride it out with your
+anchor placed deep in Providence. Ah, lad, that is good holding ground!
+But if I know you aright, your grief is more for these poor wretches
+around you than for yourself.'
+
+'It is, indeed, a sore sight to see them suffer so patiently and
+uncomplainingly,' I answered, 'and for such a man, too!'
+
+'Aye, the chicken-livered swab!' growled the seaman, grinding his teeth.
+
+'How are my mother and my father,' I asked, 'and how came you so far
+from home?'
+
+'Nay, I should have grounded on my beef bones had I waited longer at my
+moorings. I cut my cable, therefore, and, making a northerly tack as far
+as Salisbury, I run down with a fair wind. Thy father hath set his face
+hard, and goes about his work as usual, though much troubled by the
+Justices, who have twice had him up to Winchester for examination, but
+have found his papers all right and no charge to be brought against him.
+Your mother, poor soul, hath little time to mope or to pipe her eye, for
+she hath such a sense of duty that, were the ship to founder under her,
+it is a plate galleon to a china orange that she would stand fast in the
+caboose curing marigolds or rolling pastry. They have taken to prayer
+as some would to rum, and warm their hearts with it when the wind of
+misfortune blows chill. They were right glad that I should come down to
+you, and I gave them the word of a sailor that I would get you out of
+the bilboes if it might anyhow be done.'
+
+'Get me out, Solomon!' said I; 'nay, that may be put outside the
+question. How could you get me out?'
+
+'There are many ways,' he answered, sinking his voice to a whisper, and
+nodding his grizzled head as one who talks upon what has cost him much
+time and thought. 'There is scuttling.'
+
+'Scuttling?'
+
+'Aye, lad! When I was quartermaster of the galley _Providence_ in the
+second Dutch war, we were caught betwixt a lee shore and Van Tromp's
+squadron, so that after fighting until our sticks were shot away and our
+scuppers were arun with blood, we were carried by boarding and sent as
+prisoners to the Texel. We were stowed away in irons in the afterhold,
+amongst the bilge water and the rats, with hatches battened down and
+guards atop, but even then they could not keep us, for the irons got
+adrift, and Will Adams, the carpenter's mate, picked a hole in the seams
+so that the vessel nearly foundered, and in the confusion we fell upon
+the prize crew, and, using our fetters as cudgels, regained possession
+of the vessel. But you smile, as though there were little hopes from any
+such plan!'
+
+'If this wool-house were the galley _Providence_ and Taunton Deane were
+the Bay of Biscay, it might be attempted,' I said.
+
+'I have indeed got out o' the channel,' he answered, with a wrinkled
+brow. 'There is, however, another most excellent plan which I have
+conceived, which is to blow up the building.'
+
+'To blow it up!' I cried.
+
+'Aye! A brace of kegs and a slow match would do it any dark night. Then
+where would be these walls which now shut ye in?'
+
+'Where would be the folk that are now inside them!' I asked. 'Would you
+not blow them up as well?'
+
+'Plague take it, I had forgot that,' cried Solomon. 'Nay, then, I leave
+it with you. What have you to propose? Do but give your sailing orders,
+and, with or without a consort, you will find that I will steer by them
+as long as this old hulk can answer to her helm.'
+
+'Then my advice is, my dear old friend,' said I, 'that you leave matters
+to take their course, and hie back to Havant with a message from me to
+those who know me, telling them to be of good cheer, and to hope for the
+best. Neither you nor any other man can help me now, for I have thrown
+in my lot with these poor folk, and I would not leave them if I could.
+Do what you can to cheer my mother's heart, and commend me to Zachary
+Palmer. Your visit hath been a joy to me, and your return will be the
+same to them. You can serve me better so than by biding here.'
+
+'Sink me if I like going back without a blow struck,' he growled. 'Yet
+if it is your will there is an end of the matter. Tell me, lad. Has
+that lank-sparred, slab-sided, herring-gutted friend of yours played
+you false? for if he has, by the eternal, old as I am, my hanger shall
+scrape acquaintance with the longshore tuck which hangs at his girdle. I
+know where he hath laid himself up, moored stem and stern, all snug and
+shipshape, waiting for the turn of the tide.'
+
+'What, Saxon!' I cried. 'Do you indeed know where he is? For God's sake
+speak low, for it would mean a commission and five hundred good pounds
+to any one of these soldiers could he lay hands upon him.'
+
+'They are scarce like to do that,' said Solomon. 'On my journey hither I
+chanced to put into port at a place called Bruton, where there is an
+inn that will compare with most, and the skipper is a wench with a glib
+tongue and a merry eye. I was drinking a glass of spiced ale, as is my
+custom about six bells of the middle watch, when I chanced to notice a
+great lanky carter, who was loading up a waggon in the yard with a cargo
+o' beer casks. Looking closer it seemed to me that the man's nose,
+like the beak of a goshawk, and his glinting eyes with the lids only
+half-reefed, were known to me, but when I overheard him swearing to
+himself in good High Dutch, then his figurehead came back to me in
+a moment. I put out into the yard, and touched him on the shoulder.
+Zounds, lad! you should have seen him spring back and spit at me like
+a wildcat with every hair of his head in a bristle. He whipped a knife
+from under his smock, for he thought, doubtless, that I was about to
+earn the reward by handing him over to the red-coats. I told him that
+his secret was safe with me, and I asked him if he had heard that you
+were laid by the heels. He answered that he knew it, and that he would
+be answerable that no harm befell you, though in truth it seemed to me
+that he had his hands full in trimming his own sails, without acting as
+pilot to another. However, there I left him, and there I shall find him
+again if so be as he has done you an injury.'
+
+'Nay,' I answered, 'I am right glad that he has found this refuge.
+We did separate upon a difference of opinion, but I have no cause
+to complain of him. In many ways he hath shown me both kindness and
+goodwill.'
+
+'He is as crafty as a purser's clerk,' quoth Solomon. 'I have seen
+Reuben Lockarby, who sends his love to you. He is still kept in his bunk
+from his wound, but he meets with good treatment. Major Ogilvy tells me
+that he has made such interest for him that there is every chance that
+he will gain his discharge, the more particularly since he was not
+present at the battle. Your own chance of pardon would, he thinks, be
+greater if you had fought less stoutly, but you have marked yourself
+as a dangerous man, more especially as you have the love of many of the
+common folk among the rebels.'
+
+The good old seaman stayed with me until late in the night, listening to
+my adventures, and narrating in return the simple gossip of the village,
+which is of more interest to the absent wanderer than the rise and fall
+of empires. Before he left he drew a great handful of silver pieces
+from his pouch, and went round amongst the prisoners, listening to their
+wants, and doing what he could with rough sailor talk and dropping coins
+to lighten their troubles. There is a language in the kindly eye and
+the honest brow which all men may understand; and though the seaman's
+speeches might have been in Greek, for all that they conveyed to the
+Somersetshire peasants, yet they crowded round him as he departed and
+called blessings upon his head. I felt as though he had brought a whiff
+of his own pure ocean breezes into our close and noisome prison, and
+left us the sweeter and the healthier.
+
+Late in August the judges started from London upon that wicked journey
+which blighted the lives and the homes of so many, and hath left a
+memory in the counties through which they passed which shall never fade
+while a father can speak to a son. We heard reports of them from day to
+day, for the guards took pleasure in detailing them with many coarse and
+foul jests, that we might know what was in store for us, and lose none
+of what they called the pleasures of anticipation. At Winchester the
+sainted and honoured Lady Alice Lisle was sentenced by Chief Justice
+Jeffreys to be burned alive, and the exertions and prayers of her
+friends could scarce prevail upon him to allow her the small boon of
+the axe instead of the faggot. Her graceful head was hewn from her
+body amidst the groans and the cries of a weeping multitude in the
+market-place of the town. At Dorchester the slaughter was wholesale.
+Three hundred were condemned to death, and seventy-four were actually
+executed, until the most loyal and Tory of the country squires had to
+complain of the universal presence of the dangling bodies. Thence the
+judges proceeded to Exeter and thence to Taunton, which they reached in
+the first week of September, more like furious and ravenous beasts which
+have tasted blood and cannot quench their cravings for slaughter, than
+just-minded men, trained to distinguish the various degrees of guilt, or
+to pick out the innocent and screen him from injustice. A rare field
+was open for their cruelty, for in Taunton alone there lay a thousand
+hapless prisoners, many of whom were so little trained to express their
+thoughts, and so hampered by the strange dialect in which they spoke,
+that they might have been born dumb for all the chance they had of
+making either judge or counsel understand the pleadings which they
+wished to lay before them.
+
+It was on a Monday evening that the Lord Chief Justice made his entry.
+From one of the windows of the room in which we were confined I saw him
+pass. First rode the dragoons with their standards and kettledrums, then
+the javelin-men with their halberds, and behind them the line of coaches
+full of the high dignitaries of the law. Last of all, drawn by six
+long-tailed Flemish mares, came a great open coach, thickly crusted
+with gold, in which, reclining amidst velvet cushions, sat the infamous
+Judge, wrapped in a cloak of crimson plush with a heavy white periwig
+upon his head, which was so long that it dropped down over his
+shoulders. They say that he wore scarlet in order to strike terror into
+the hearts of the people, and that his courts were for the same reason
+draped in the colour of blood. As for himself, it hath ever been the
+custom, since his wickedness hath come to be known to all men, to
+picture him as a man whose expression and features were as monstrous and
+as hideous as was the mind behind them. This is by no means the case.
+On the contrary, he was a man who, in his younger days, must have been
+remarkable for his extreme beauty.(1) He was not, it is true, very old,
+as years go, when I saw him, but debauchery and low living had left
+their traces upon his countenance, without, however entirely destroying
+the regularity and the beauty of his features. He was dark, more like a
+Spaniard than an Englishman, with black eyes and olive complexion. His
+expression was lofty and noble, but his temper was so easily aflame that
+the slightest cross or annoyance would set him raving like a madman,
+with blazing eyes and foaming mouth. I have seen him myself with the
+froth upon his lips and his whole face twitching with passion, like
+one who hath the falling sickness. Yet his other emotions were under as
+little control, for I have heard say that a very little would cause him
+to sob and to weep, more especially when he had himself been slighted by
+those who were above him. He was, I believe, a man who had great powers
+either for good or for evil, but by pandering to the darker side of
+his nature and neglecting the other, he brought himself to be as near
+a fiend as it is possible for a man to be. It must indeed have been an
+evil government where so vile and foul-mouthed a wretch was chosen out
+to hold the scales of justice. As he drove past, a Tory gentleman
+riding by the side of his coach drew his attention to the faces of
+the prisoners looking out at him. He glanced up at them with a quick,
+malicious gleam of his white teeth, then settled down again amongst the
+cushions. I observed that as he passed not a hat was raised among the
+crowd, and that even the rude soldiers appeared to look upon him half
+in terror, half in disgust, as a lion might look upon some foul,
+blood-sucking bat which battened upon the prey which he had himself
+struck down.
+
+(1) The painting of Jeffreys in the National Portrait Gallery more
+than bears out Micah Clarke's remarks. He is the handsomest man in the
+collection.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXV. Of the Devil in Wig and Gown
+
+There was no delay in the work of slaughter. That very night the great
+gallows was erected outside the White Hart inn. Hour after hour we could
+hear the blows of mallets and the sawing of beams, mingled with the
+shoutings and the ribald choruses of the Chief Justice's suite, who were
+carousing with the officers of the Tangiers regiment in the front room,
+which overlooked the gibbet. Amongst the prisoners the night was passed
+in prayer and meditation, the stout-hearted holding forth to their
+weaker brethren, and exhorting them to play the man, and to go to
+their death in a fashion which should be an example to true Protestants
+throughout the world. The Puritan divines had been mostly strung up
+off-hand immediately after the battle, but a few were left to sustain
+the courage of their flocks, and to show them the way upon the scaffold.
+Never have I seen anything so admirable as the cool and cheerful bravery
+wherewith these poor clowns faced their fate. Their courage on the
+battlefield paled before that which they showed in the shambles of the
+law. So amid the low murmur of prayer and appeals for mercy to God from
+tongues which never yet asked mercy from man, the morning broke, the
+last morning which many of us were to spend upon earth.
+
+The court should have opened at nine, but my Lord Chief Justice was
+indisposed, having sat up somewhat late with Colonel Kirke. It was
+nearly eleven before the trumpeters and criers announced that he had
+taken his seat. One by one my fellow-prisoners were called out by name,
+the more prominent being chosen first. They went out from amongst us
+amid hand-shakings and blessings, but we saw and heard no more of them,
+save that a sudden fierce rattle of kettledrums would rise up now and
+again, which was, as our guards told us, to drown any dying words which
+might fall from the sufferers and bear fruit in the breasts of those who
+heard them. With firm steps and smiling faces the roll of martyrs went
+forth to their fate during the whole of that long autumn day, until the
+rough soldiers of the guard stood silent and awed in the presence of
+a courage which they could not but recognise as higher and nobler than
+their own. Folk may call it a trial that they received, and a trial it
+really was, but not in the sense that we Englishmen use it. It was but
+being haled before a Judge, and insulted before being dragged to the
+gibbet. The court-house was the thorny path which led to the scaffold.
+What use to put a witness up, when he was shouted down, cursed at,
+and threatened by the Chief Justice, who bellowed and swore until the
+frightened burghers in Fore Street could hear him? I have heard from
+those who were there that day that he raved like a demoniac, and that
+his black eyes shone with a vivid vindictive brightness which was scarce
+human. The jury shrank from him as from a venomous thing when he
+turned his baleful glance upon them. At times, as I have been told, his
+sternness gave place to a still more terrible merriment, and he would
+lean back in his seat of justice and laugh until the tears hopped down
+upon his ermine. Nearly a hundred were either executed or condemned to
+death upon that opening day.
+
+I had expected to be amongst the first of those called, and no doubt I
+should have been so but for the exertions of Major Ogilvy. As it was,
+the second day passed, but I still found myself overlooked. On the
+third and fourth days the slaughter was slackened, not on account of
+any awakening grace on the part of the Judge, but because the great Tory
+landowners, and the chief supporters of the Government, had still some
+bowels of compassion, which revolted at this butchery of defenceless
+men. Had it not been for the influence which these gentlemen brought
+to bear upon the Judge, I have no doubt at all that Jeffreys would have
+hung the whole eleven hundred prisoners then confined in Taunton. As
+it was, two hundred and fifty fell victims to this accursed monster's
+thirst for human blood.
+
+On the eighth day of the assizes there were but fifty of us left in
+the wool warehouse. For the last few days prisoners had been tried
+in batches of ten and twenty, but now the whole of us were taken in
+a drove, under escort, to the court-house, where as many as could be
+squeezed in were ranged in the dock, while the rest were penned, like
+calves in the market, in the body of the hall. The Judge reclined in a
+high chair, with a scarlet dais above him, while two other Judges, in
+less elevated seats, were stationed on either side of him. On the right
+hand was the jury-box, containing twelve carefully picked men--Tories
+of the old school--firm upholders of the doctrines of non-resistance and
+the divine right of kings. Much care had been taken by the Crown in
+the choice of these men, and there was not one of them but would have
+sentenced his own father had there been so much as a suspicion that he
+leaned to Presbyterianism or to Whiggery. Just under the Judge was a
+broad table, covered with green cloth and strewn with papers. On
+the right hand of this were a long array of Crown lawyers, grim,
+ferret-faced men, each with a sheaf of papers in his hands, which they
+sniffed through again and again, as though they were so many bloodhounds
+picking up the trail along which they were to hunt us down. On the other
+side of the table sat a single fresh-faced young man, in silk gown and
+wig, with a nervous, shuffling manner. This was the barrister, Master
+Helstrop, whom the Crown in its clemency had allowed us for our defence,
+lest any should be bold enough to say that we had not had every fairness
+in our trial. The remainder of the court was filled with the servants
+of the Justices' retinue and the soldiers of the garrison, who used the
+place as their common lounge, looking on the whole thing as a mighty
+cheap form of sport, and roaring with laughter at the rude banter and
+coarse pleasantries of his Lordship.
+
+The clerk having gabbled through the usual form that we, the prisoners
+at the bar, having shaken off the fear of God, had unlawfully and
+traitorously assembled, and so onwards, the Lord Justice proceeded to
+take matters into his own hands, as was his wont.
+
+'I trust that we shall come well out of this!' he broke out. 'I
+trust that no judgment will fall upon this building! Was ever so much
+wickedness fitted into one court-house before? Who ever saw such an
+array of villainous faces? Ah, rogues, I see a rope ready for every
+one of ye! Art not afraid of judgment? Art not afraid of hell-fire? You
+grey-bearded rascal in the corner, how comes it that you have not had
+more of the grace of God in you than to take up arms against your most
+gracious and loving sovereign?'
+
+'I have followed the guidance of my conscience, my Lord,' said the
+venerable cloth-worker of Wellington, to whom he spoke.
+
+'Ha, your conscience!' howled Jeffreys. 'A ranter with a conscience!
+Where has your conscience been these two months back, you villain and
+rogue? Your conscience will stand you in little stead, sirrah, when
+you are dancing on nothing with a rope round your neck. Was ever such
+wickedness? Who ever heard such effrontery? And you, you great hulking
+rebel, have you not grace enough to cast your eyes down, but must needs
+look justice in the face as though you were an honest man? Are you not
+afeared, sirrah? Do you not see death close upon you?'
+
+'I have seen that before now, my Lord, and I was not afeared,' I
+answered.
+
+'Generation of vipers!' he cried, throwing up his hands. 'The best of
+fathers! The kindest of kings! See that my words are placed upon the
+record, clerk! The most indulgent of parents! But wayward children
+must, with all kindness, be flogged into obedience. Here he broke into
+a savage grin. 'The King will save your own natural parents all further
+care on your account. If they had wished to keep ye, they should have
+brought ye up in better principles. Rogues, we shall be merciful to
+ye--oh, merciful, merciful! How many are here, recorder?'
+
+'Fifty and one, my Lord.'
+
+'Oh, sink of villainy! Fifty and one as arrant knaves as ever lay on
+a hurdle! Oh, what a mass of corruption have we here! Who defends the
+villains?'
+
+'I defend the prisoners, your Lordship,' replied the young lawyer.
+
+'Master Helstrop, Master Helstrop!' cried Jeffreys, shaking his great
+wig until the powder flew out of it; 'you are in all these dirty cases,
+Master Helstrop. You might find yourself in a parlous condition, Master
+Helstrop. I think sometimes that I see you yourself in the dock, Master
+Helstrop. You may yourself soon need the help of a gentleman of the long
+robe, Master Helstrop. Oh, have a care! Have a care!'
+
+'The brief is from the Crown, your Lordship,' the lawyer answered, in a
+quavering voice.
+
+'Must I be answered back, then!' roared Jeffreys, his black eyes blazing
+with the rage of a demon. 'Am I to be insulted in my own court? Is every
+five-groat piece of a pleader, because he chance to have a wig and a
+gown, to browbeat the Lord Justice, and to fly in the face of the ruling
+of the Court? Oh, Master Helstrop, I fear that I shall live to see some
+evil come upon you!'
+
+'I crave your Lordship's pardon!' cried the faint-hearted barrister,
+with his face the colour of his brief.
+
+'Keep a guard upon your words and upon your actions?' Jeffreys answered,
+in a menacing voice. 'See that you are not too zealous in the cause
+of the scum of the earth. How now, then? What do these one and fifty
+villains desire to say for themselves? What is their lie? Gentlemen of
+the jury, I beg that ye will take particular notice of the cut-throat
+faces of these men. 'Tis well that Colonel Kirke hath afforded the Court
+a sufficient guard, for neither justice nor the Church is safe at their
+hands.'
+
+'Forty of them desire to plead guilty to the charge of taking up arms
+against the King,' replied our barrister.
+
+'Ah!' roared the Judge. 'Was ever such unparalleled impudence? Was there
+ever such brazen effrontery? Guilty, quotha! Have they expressed their
+repentance for this sin against a most kind and long-suffering monarch!
+Put down those words on the record, clerk!'
+
+'They have refused to express repentance, your Lordship!' replied the
+counsel for the defence.
+
+'Oh, the parricides! Oh, the shameless rogues!' cried the Judge. 'Put
+the forty together on this side of the enclosure. Oh, gentlemen, have ye
+ever seen such a concentration of vice? See how baseness and wickedness
+can stand with head erect! Oh, hardened monsters! But the other eleven.
+How can they expect us to believe this transparent falsehood--this
+palpable device? How can they foist it upon the Court?'
+
+'My Lord, their defence hath not yet been advanced!' stammered Master
+Helstrop.
+
+'I can sniff a lie before it is uttered,' roared the Judge, by no means
+abashed. 'I can read it as quick as ye can think it. Come, come, the
+Court's time is precious. Put forward a defence, or seat yourself, and
+let judgment be passed.'
+
+'These men, my Lord,' said the counsel, who was trembling until the
+parchment rattled in his hand. 'These eleven men, my Lord--'
+
+'Eleven devils, my Lord,' interrupted Jeffreys.
+
+'They are innocent peasants, my Lord, who love God and the King, and
+have in no wise mingled themselves in this recent business. They have
+been dragged from their homes, my Lord, not because there was suspicion
+against them, but because they could not satisfy the greed of certain
+common soldiers who were balked of plunder in--'
+
+'Oh, shame, shame!' cried Jeffreys, in a voice of thunder. 'Oh,
+threefold shame, Master Helstrop! Are you not content with bolstering
+up rebels, but you must go out of your way to slander the King's troops?
+What is this world coming to? What, in a word, is the defence of these
+rogues?'
+
+'An alibi, your Lordship.'
+
+'Ha! The common plea of every scoundrel. Have they witnesses?'
+
+'We have here a list of forty witnesses, your Lordship. They are waiting
+below, many of them having come great distances, and with much toil and
+trouble.'
+
+'Who are they? What are they?' cried Jeffreys.
+
+'They are country folk, your Lordship. Cottagers and farmers, the
+neighbours of these poor men, who knew them well, and can speak as to
+their doings.'
+
+'Cottagers and farmers!' the Judge shouted. 'Why, then, they are drawn
+from the very class from which these men come. Would you have us believe
+the oath of those who are themselves Whigs, Presbyterians, Somersetshire
+ranters, the pothouse companions of the men whom we are trying? I
+warrant they have arranged it all snugly over their beer--snugly,
+snugly, the rogues!'
+
+'Will you not hear the witnesses, your Lordship?' cried our counsel,
+shamed into some little sense of manhood by this outrage.
+
+'Not a word from them, sirrah,' said Jeffreys. 'It is a question whether
+my duty towards my kind master the King--write down "kind master,"
+clerk--doth not warrant me in placing all your witnesses in the dock as
+the aiders and abettors of treason.'
+
+'If it please your Lordship,' cried one of the prisoners, 'I have for
+witnesses Mr. Johnson, of Nether Stowey, who is a good Tory, and also
+Mr. Shepperton, the clergyman.'
+
+'The more shame to them to appear in such a cause,' replied Jeffreys.
+'What are we to say, gentlemen of the jury, when we see county gentry
+and the clergy of the Established Church supporting treason and
+rebellion in this fashion? Surely the last days are at hand! You are a
+most malignant and dangerous Whig to have so far drawn them from their
+duty.'
+
+'But hear me, my Lord!' cried one of the prisoners.
+
+'Hear you, you bellowing calf!' shouted the Judge. 'We can hear naught
+else. Do you think that you are back in your conventicle, that you
+should dare to raise your voice in such a fashion? Hear you, quotha! We
+shall hear you at the end of a rope, ere many days.'
+
+'We scarce think, your Lordship,' said one of the Crown lawyers,
+springing to his feet amid a great rustling of papers, 'we scarce think
+that it is necessary for the Crown to state any case. We have already
+heard the whole tale of this most damnable and execrable attempt many
+times over. The men in the dock before your Lordship have for the most
+part confessed to their guilt, and of those who hold out there is not
+one who has given us any reason to believe that he is innocent of
+the foul crime laid to his charge. The gentlemen of the long robe are
+therefore unanimously of opinion that the jury may at once be required
+to pronounce a single verdict upon the whole of the prisoners.'
+
+'Which is--?' asked Jeffreys, glancing round at the foreman--
+
+'Guilty, your Lordship,' said he, with a grin, while his brother jurymen
+nodded their heads and laughed to one another.
+
+'Of course, of course! guilty as Judas Iscariot!' cried the Judge,
+looking down with exultant eyes at the throng of peasants and burghers
+before him. 'Move them a little forwards, ushers, that I may see them
+to more advantage. Oh, ye cunning ones! Are ye not taken? Are ye not
+compassed around? Where now can ye fly? Do ye not see hell opening
+at your feet? Eh? Are ye not afraid? Oh, short, short shall be your
+shrift!' The very devil seemed to be in the man, for as he spoke he
+writhed with unholy laughter, and drummed his hand upon the red cushion
+in front of him. I glanced round at my companions, but their faces were
+all as though they had been chiselled out of marble. If he had hoped to
+see a moist eye or a quivering lip, the satisfaction was denied him.
+
+'Had I my way,' said he, 'there is not one of ye but should swing for
+it. Aye, and if I had my way, some of those whose stomachs are too nice
+for this work, and who profess to serve the King with their lips while
+they intercede for his worst enemies, should themselves have cause to
+remember Taunton assizes. Oh, most ungrateful rebels! Have ye not
+heard how your most soft-hearted and compassionate monarch, the best of
+men--put it down in the record, clerk--on the intercession of that great
+and charitable statesman, Lord Sunderland--mark it down, clerk--hath
+had pity on ye? Hath it not melted ye? Hath it not made ye loathe
+yourselves? I declare, when I think of it'--here, with a sudden catching
+of the breath, he burst out a-sobbing, the tears running down his
+cheeks--'when I think of it, the Christian forbearance, the ineffable
+mercy, it doth bring forcibly to my mind that great Judge before whom
+all of us--even I--shall one day have to render an account. Shall I
+repeat it, clerk, or have you it down?'
+
+'I have it down, your Lordship.'
+
+'Then write "sobs" in the margin. 'Tis well that the King should
+know our opinion on such matters. Know, then, you most traitorous and
+unnatural rebels, that this good father whom ye have spurned has stepped
+in between yourselves and the laws which ye have offended. At his
+command we withhold from ye the chastisement which ye have merited.
+If ye can indeed pray, and if your soul-cursing conventicles have not
+driven all grace out of ye, drop on your knees and offer up thanks when
+I tell ye that he hath ordained that ye shall all have a free pardon.'
+Here the Judge rose from his seat as though about to descend from the
+tribunal, and we gazed upon each other in the utmost astonishment at
+this most unlooked-for end to the trial. The soldiers and lawyers were
+equally amazed, while a hum of joy and applause rose up from the few
+country folk who had dared to venture within the accursed precincts.
+
+'This pardon, however,' continued Jeffreys, turning round with a
+malicious smile upon his face, 'is coupled with certain conditions and
+limitations. Ye shall all be removed from here to Poole, in chains,
+where ye shall find a vessel awaiting ye. With others ye shall be stowed
+away in the hold of the said vessel, and conveyed at the King's expense
+to the Plantations, there to be sold as slaves. God send ye masters who
+will know by the free use of wood and leather to soften your stubborn
+thoughts and incline your mind to better things.' He was again about to
+withdraw, when one of the Crown lawyers whispered something across to
+him.
+
+'Well thought of, coz,' cried the Judge. 'I had forgot. Bring back the
+prisoners, ushers! Perhaps ye think that by the Plantations I mean his
+Majesty's American dominions. Unhappily, there are too many of your
+breed in that part already. Ye would fall among friends who might
+strengthen ye in your evil courses, and so risk your salvation. To send
+ye there would be to add one brand to another and yet hope to put
+out the fire. By the Plantations, therefore, I mean Barbadoes and the
+Indies, where ye shall live with the other slaves, whose skins may be
+blacker than yours, but I dare warrant that their souls are more white.'
+With this concluding speech the trial ended, and we were led back
+through the crowded streets to the prison from which we had been
+brought. On either side of the street, as we passed, we could see
+the limbs of former companions dangling in the wind, and their heads
+grinning at us from the tops of poles and pikes. No savage country in
+the heart of heathen Africa could have presented a more dreadful sight
+than did the old English town of Taunton when Jeffreys and Kirke had
+the ordering of it. There was death in the air, and the townsfolk crept
+silently about, scarcely daring to wear black for those whom they had
+loved and lost, lest it should be twisted into an act of treason.
+
+We were scarce back in the wool-house once more when a file of
+guards with a sergeant entered, escorting a long, pale-faced man with
+protruding teeth, whose bright blue coat and white silk breeches,
+gold-headed sword, and glancing shoe-buckles, proclaimed him to be one
+of those London exquisites whom interest or curiosity had brought down
+to the scene of the rebellion. He tripped along upon his tiptoes like a
+French dancing-master, waving his scented kerchief in front of his
+thin high nose, and inhaling aromatic salts from a blue phial which he
+carried in his left hand.
+
+'By the Lard!' he cried, 'but the stench of these filthy wretches is
+enough to stap one's breath. It is, by the Lard! Smite my vitals if
+I would venture among them if I were not a very rake hell. Is there a
+danger of prison fever, sergeant? Heh?'
+
+'They are all sound as roaches, your honour,' said the under-officer,
+touching his cap.
+
+'Heh, heh!' cried the exquisite, with a shrill treble laugh. 'It is
+not often ye have a visit from a person of quality, I'll warrant. It
+is business, sergeant, business! "Auri sacra fames"--you remember what
+Virgilius Maro says, sergeant?'
+
+'Never heard the gentleman speak, sir--at least not to my knowledge,
+sir,' said the sergeant.
+
+'Heh, heh! Never heard him speak, heh? That will do for Slaughter's,
+sergeant. That will set them all in a titter at Slaughter's. Pink my
+soul! but when I venture on a story the folk complain that they can't
+get served, for the drawers laugh until there is no work to be got out
+of them. Oh, lay me bleeding, but these are a filthy and most ungodly
+crew! Let the musqueteers stand close, sergeant, lest they fly at me.'
+
+'We shall see to that, your honour.'
+
+'I have a grant of a dozen of them, and Captain Pogram hath offered me
+twelve pounds a head. But they must be brawny rogues--strong and brawny,
+for the voyage kills many, sergeant, and the climate doth also tell upon
+them. Now here is one whom I must have. Yes, in very truth he is a
+young man, and hath much life in him and much strength. Tick him off,
+sergeant, tick him off!'
+
+'His name is Clarke,' said the soldier. 'I have marked him down.'
+
+'If this is the clerk I would I had a parson to match him,' cried the
+fop, sniffing at his bottle. 'Do you see the pleasantry, sergeant. Heh,
+heh! Does your sluggish mind rise to the occasion? Strike me purple, but
+I am in excellent fettle! There is yonder man with the brown face, you
+can mark him down. And the young man beside him, also. Tick him off. Ha,
+he waves his hand towards me! Stand firm, sergeant! Where are my salts?
+What is it, man, what is it?'
+
+'If it plaize your han'r,' said the young peasant, 'if so be as you
+have chose me to be of a pairty, I trust that you will allow my vaither
+yander to go with us also.'
+
+'Pshaw, pshaw!' cried the fop, 'you are beyond reason, you are indeed!
+Who ever heard of such a thing? Honour forbids it! How could I foist
+an old man upon mine honest friend, Captain Pogram. Fie, fie! Split
+me asunder if he would not say that I had choused him! There is yonder
+lusty fellow with the red head, sergeant! The blacks will think he is
+a-fire. Those, and these six stout yokels, will make up my dozen.'
+
+'You have indeed the pick of them,' said the sergeant.
+
+'Aye, sink me, but I have a quick eye for horse, man, or woman! I'll
+pick the best of a batch with most. Twelve twelves, close on a hundred
+and fifty pieces, sergeant, and all for a few words, my friend, all for
+a few words. I did but send my wife, a demmed handsome woman, mark you,
+and dresses in the mode, to my good friend the secretary to ask for some
+rebels. "How many?" says he. "A dozen will do," says she. It was all
+done in a penstroke. What a cursed fool she was not to have asked for a
+hundred! But what is this, sergeant, what is this?'
+
+A small, brisk, pippin-faced fellow in a riding-coat and high boots had
+come clanking into the wool-house with much assurance and authority,
+with a great old-fashioned sword trailing behind him, and a riding-whip
+switching in his hand.
+
+'Morning, sergeant!' said he, in a loud, overbearing voice. 'You may
+have heard my name? I am Master John Wooton, of Langmere House, near
+Dulverton, who bestirred himself so for the King, and hath been termed
+by Mr. Godolphin, in the House of Commons, one of the local pillars of
+the State. Those were his words. Fine, were they not? Pillars, mark ye,
+the conceit being that the State was, as it were, a palace or a temple,
+and the loyal men so many pillars, amongst whom I also was one. I am a
+local pillar. I have received a Royal permit, sergeant, to choose from
+amongst your prisoners ten sturdy rogues whom I may sell as a reward
+to me for my exertions. Draw them up, therefore, that I may make my
+choice!'
+
+'Then, sir, we are upon the same errand,' quoth the Londoner, bowing
+with his hand over his heart, until his sword seemed to point straight
+up to the ceiling. 'The Honourable George Dawnish, at your service! Your
+very humble and devoted servant, sir! Yours to command in any or
+all ways. It is a real joy and privilege to me, sir, to make your
+distinguished acquaintance. Hem!'
+
+The country squire appeared to be somewhat taken aback at this shower
+of London compliments. 'Ahem, sir! Yes, sir!' said he, bobbing his head.
+'Glad to see you, sir! Most damnably so! But these men, sergeant? Time
+presses, for to-morrow is Shepton market, and I would fain see my old
+twenty-score boar once more before he is sold. There is a beefy one.
+I'll have him.'
+
+'Ged, I've forestalled you,' cried the courtier. 'Sink me, but it gives
+me real pain. He is mine.'
+
+'Then this,' said the other, pointing with his whip.
+
+'He is mine, too. Heh, heh, heh! Strike me stiff, but this is too
+funny!'
+
+'Od's wounds! How many are yours!' cried the Dulverton squire.
+
+'A dozen. Heh, heh! A round dozen. All those who stand upon this side.
+Pink me, but I have got the best of you there! The early bird--you know
+the old saw!'
+
+'It is a disgrace,' the squire cried hotly. 'A shame and a disgrace. We
+must needs fight for the King and risk our skins, and then when all is
+done, down come a drove of lacqueys in waiting, and snap up the pickings
+before their betters are served.'
+
+'Lacqueys in waiting, sir!' shrieked the exquisite. 'S'death, sir! This
+toucheth mine honour very nearly! I have seen blood flow, yes, sir, and
+wounds gape on less provocation. Retract, sir, retract!'
+
+'Away, you clothes-pole!' cried the other contemptuously. 'You are come
+like the other birds of carrion when the fight is o'er. Have you been
+named in full Parliament? Are you a local pillar? Away, away, you
+tailor's dummy!'
+
+'You insolent clodhopper!' cried the fop. 'You most foul-mouthed
+bumpkin! The only local pillar that you have ever deserved to make
+acquaintance with is the whipping-post. Ha, sergeant, he lays his
+hand upon his sword! Stop him, sergeant, stop him, or I may do him an
+injury.'
+
+'Nay, gentlemen,' cried the under officer. 'This quarrel must not
+continue here. We must have no brawling within the prison. Yet there is
+a level turf without, and as fine elbow-room as a gentleman could wish
+for a breather.'
+
+This proposal did not appear to commend itself to either of the angry
+gentlemen, who proceeded to exchange the length of their swords, and to
+promise that each should hear from the other before sunset. Our owner,
+as I may call him, the fop, took his departure at last, and the country
+squire having chosen the next ton swaggered off, cursing the courtiers,
+the Londoners, the sergeant, the prisoners, and above all, the
+ingratitude of the Government which had made him so small a return
+for his exertions. This was but the first of many such scenes, for the
+Government, in endeavouring to satisfy the claims of its supporters, had
+promised many more than there were prisoners. I am grieved to say that
+I have seen not only men, but even my own countrywomen, and ladies of
+title to boot, wringing their hands and bewailing themselves because
+they were unable to get any of the poor Somersetshire folk to sell as
+slaves. Indeed, it was only with difficulty that they could be made
+to see that their claim upon Government did not give them the right of
+seizing any burgher or peasant who might come in their way, and shipping
+him right off for the Plantations.
+
+Well, my dear grandchildren, from night to night through this long and
+weary winter I have taken you back with me into the past, and made you
+see scenes the players in which are all beneath the turf, save
+that perhaps here and there some greybeard like myself may have a
+recollection of them. I understand that you, Joseph, have every morning
+set down upon paper that which I have narrated the night before. It is
+as well that you should do so, for your own children and your children's
+children may find it of interest, and even perhaps take a pride in
+hearing that their ancestors played a part in such scenes. But now
+the spring is coming, and the green is bare of snow, so that there are
+better things for you to do than to sit listening to the stories of
+a garrulous old man. Nay, nay, you shake your heads, but indeed those
+young limbs want exercising and strengthening and knitting together,
+which can never come from sitting toasting round the blaze. Besides, my
+story draws quickly to an end now, for I had never intended to tell you
+more than the events connected with the Western rising. If the closing
+part hath been of the dreariest, and if all doth not wind up with
+the ringing of bells and the joining of hands, like the tales in the
+chap-books, you must blame history and not me. For Truth is a stern
+mistress, and when one hath once started off with her one must follow
+on after the jade, though she lead in flat defiance of all the rules and
+conditions which would fain turn that tangled wilderness the world into
+the trim Dutch garden of the story-tellers.
+
+Three days after our trial we were drawn up in North Street in front
+of the Castle with others from the other prisons who were to share our
+fate. We were placed four abreast, with a rope connecting each rank,
+and of these ranks I counted fifty, which would bring our total to two
+hundred. On each side of us rode dragoons, and in front and behind were
+companies of musqueteers to prevent any attempt at rescue or escape.
+In this order we set off upon the tenth day of September, amidst the
+weeping and wailing of the townsfolk, many of whom saw their sons or
+brothers marching off into exile without their being able to exchange a
+last word or embrace with them. Some of these poor folk, doddering old
+men and wrinkled, decrepit women, toiled for miles after us down the
+high-road, until the rearguard of foot faced round upon them, and drove
+them away with curses and blows from their ramrods.
+
+That day we made our way through Yeovil and Sherborne, and on the morrow
+proceeded over the North Downs as far as Blandford, where we were penned
+together like cattle and left for the night. On the third day we
+resumed our march through Wimbourne and a line of pretty Dorsetshire
+villages--the last English villages which most of us were destined to
+see for many a long year to come. Late in the afternoon the spars and
+rigging of the shipping in Poole Harbour rose up before us, and in
+another hour we had descended the steep and craggy path which leads to
+the town. Here we were drawn up upon the quay opposite the broad-decked,
+heavy-sparred brig which was destined to carry us into slavery. Through
+all this march we met with the greatest kindness from the common people,
+who flocked out from their cottages with fruit and with milk, which
+they divided amongst us. At other places, at, the risk of their lives,
+Dissenting ministers came forth and stood by the wayside, blessing us as
+we passed, in spite of the rough jeers and oaths of the soldiers.
+
+We were marched aboard and led below by the mate of the vessel, a tall
+red-faced seaman with ear-rings in his ears, while the captain stood on
+the poop with his legs apart and a pipe in his mouth, checking us off
+one by one by means of a list which he held in his hand. As he looked
+at the sturdy build and rustic health of the peasants, which even their
+long confinement had been unable to break down, his eyes glistened, and
+he rubbed his big red hands together with delight.
+
+'Show them down, Jem!' he kept shouting to the mate. 'Stow them safe,
+Jem! There's lodgings for a duchess down there, s'help me, there's
+lodgings for a duchess! Pack 'em away!'
+
+One by one we passed before the delighted captain, and down the steep
+ladder which led into the hold. Here we were led along a narrow passage,
+on either side of which opened the stalls which were prepared for us. As
+each man came opposite to the one set aside for him he was thrown into
+it by the brawny mate, and fastened down with anklets of iron by the
+seaman armourer in attendance. It was dark before we were all secured,
+but the captain came round with a lanthorn to satisfy himself that all
+his property was really safe. I could hear the mate and him reckoning
+the value of each prisoner, and counting what he would fetch in the
+Barbadoes market.
+
+'Have you served out their fodder, Jem?' he asked, flashing his light
+into each stall in turn. 'Have you seen that they had their rations?'
+
+'A rye bread loaf and a pint o' water,' answered the mate.
+
+'Fit for a duchess, s'help me!' cried the captain. 'Look to this one,
+Jem. He is a lusty rogue. Look to his great hands. He might work for
+years in the rice-swamps ere the land crabs have the picking of him.'
+
+'Aye, we'll have smart bidding amid the settlers for this lot. 'Cod,
+captain, but you have made a bargain of it! Od's bud! you have done
+these London fools to some purpose.'
+
+'What is this?' roared the captain. 'Here is one who hath not touched
+his allowance. How now, sirrah, art too dainty in the stomach to eat
+what your betters have eaten before you?'
+
+'I have no hairt for food, zur,' the prisoner answered.
+
+'What, you must have your whims and fancies! You must pick and you must
+choose! I tell you, sirrah, that you are mine, body and soul! Twelve
+good pieces I paid for you, and now, forsooth, I am to be told that you
+will not eat! Turn to it at this instant, you saucy rogue, or I shall
+have you triced to the triangles!'
+
+'Here is another,' said the mate, 'who sits ever with his head sunk upon
+his breast without spirit or life.'
+
+'Mutinous, obstinate dog!' cried the captain. 'What ails you then? Why
+have you a face like an underwriter in a tempest?'
+
+'If it plaize you, zur,' the prisoner answered, 'Oi do but think o' m'
+ould mother at Wellington, and woonder who will kape her now that Oi'm
+gone!'
+
+'And what is that to me?' shouted the brutal seaman. 'How can you arrive
+at your journey's end sound and hearty if you sit like a sick fowl upon
+a perch? Laugh, man, and be merry, or I will give you something to weep
+for. Out on you, you chicken-hearted swab, to sulk and fret like a babe
+new weaned! Have you not all that heart could desire? Give him a touch
+with the rope's-end, Jem, if ever you do observe him fretting. It is but
+to spite us that he doth it.'
+
+'If it please your honour,' said a seaman, coming hurriedly down from
+the deck, 'there is a stranger upon the poop who will have speech with
+your honour.'
+
+'What manner of man, sirrah?'
+
+'Surely he is a person of quality, your honour. He is as free wi' his
+words as though he were the captain o' the ship. The boatswain did but
+jog against him, and he swore so woundily at him and stared at him so,
+wi' een like a tiger-cat, that Job Harrison says we have shipped the
+devil himsel.' The men don't like the look of him, your honour!'
+
+'Who the plague can this spark be?' said the skipper. 'Go on deck, Jem,
+and tell him that I am counting my live stock, and that I shall be with
+him anon.'
+
+'Nay, your honour! There will trouble come of it unless you come up. He
+swears that he will not bear to be put off, and that he must see you on
+the instant.'
+
+'Curse his blood, whoever he be!' growled the seaman. 'Every cock on
+his own dunghill. What doth the rogue mean? Were he the Lord High Privy
+Seal, I would have him to know that I am lord of my own quarter-deck!'
+So saying, with many snorts of indignation, the mate and the captain
+withdrew together up the ladder, banging the heavy hatchways down as
+they passed through.
+
+A single oil-lamp swinging from a beam in the centre of the gangway
+which led between the rows of cells was the only light which was
+vouchsafed us. By its yellow, murky glimmer we could dimly see the great
+wooden ribs of the vessel, arching up on either side of us, and crossed
+by the huge beams which held the deck. A grievous stench from foul bilge
+water poisoned the close, heavy air. Every now and then, with a squeak
+and a clutter, a rat would dart across the little zone of light and
+vanish in the gloom upon the further side. Heavy breathing all round
+me showed that my companions, wearied out by their journey and their
+sufferings, had dropped into a slumber. From time to time one could hear
+the dismal clank of fetters, and the start and incatching of the breath,
+as some poor peasant, fresh from dreams of his humble homestead amid the
+groves of the Mendips, awoke of a sudden to see the great wooden coffin
+around him, and to breathe the venomous air of the prison ship.
+
+I lay long awake full of thought both for myself and for the poor souls
+around me. At last, however, the measured swash of the water against
+the side of the vessel and the slight rise and fall had lulled me into
+a sleep, from which I was suddenly aroused by the flashing of a light
+in my eyes. Sitting up, I found several sailors gathered about me, and
+a tall man with a black cloak swathed round him swinging a lanthorn over
+me.
+
+'That is the man,' he said.
+
+'Come, mate, you are to come on deck!' said the seaman armourer. With a
+few blows from his hammer he knocked the irons from my feet.
+
+'Follow me!' said the tall stranger, and led the way up the hatchway
+ladder. It was heavenly to come out into the pure air once more. The
+stars were shining brightly overhead. A fresh breeze blew from the
+shore, and hummed a pleasant tune among the cordage. Close beside us
+the lights of the town gleamed yellow and cheery. Beyond, the moon was
+peeping over the Bournemouth hills.
+
+'This way, sir,' said the sailor, 'right aft into the cabin, sir.'
+
+Still following my guide, I found myself in the low cabin of the brig.
+A square shining table stood in the centre, with a bright swinging
+lamp above it. At the further end in the glare of the light sat the
+captain--his face shining with greed and expectation. On the table stood
+a small pile of gold pieces, a rum-flask, glasses, a tobacco-box, and
+two long pipes.
+
+'My compliments to you, Captain Clarke,' said the skipper, bobbing his
+round bristling head. 'An honest seaman's compliments to you. It seems
+that we are not to be shipmates this voyage, after all.'
+
+'Captain Micah Clarke must do a voyage of his own,' said the stranger.
+
+At the sound of his voice I sprang round in amazement. 'Good Heavens!' I
+cried, 'Saxon!'
+
+'You have nicked it,' said he, throwing down his mantle and showing the
+well-known face and figure of the soldier of fortune. 'Zounds, man! if
+you can pick me out of the Solent, I suppose that I may pick you out of
+this accursed rat-trap in which I find you. Tie and tie, as we say at
+the green table. In truth, I was huffed with you when last we parted,
+but I have had you in my mind for all that.'
+
+'A seat and a glass, Captain Clarke,' cried the skipper. 'Od's bud! I
+should think that you would be glad to raise your little finger and wet
+your whistle after what you have gone through.'
+
+I seated myself by the table with my brain in a whirl. 'This is more
+than I can fathom,' said I. 'What is the meaning of it, and how comes it
+about?'
+
+'For my own part, the meaning is as clear as the glass of my binnacle,'
+quoth the seaman. 'Your good friend Colonel Saxon, as I understand his
+name to be, has offered me as much as I could hope to gain by selling
+you in the Indies. Sink it, I may be rough and ready, but my heart is in
+the right place! Aye, aye! I would not maroon a man if I could set him
+free. But we have all to look for ourselves, and trade is dull.'
+
+'Then I am free!' said I.
+
+'You are free,' he answered. 'There is your purchase-money upon the
+table. You can go where you will, save only upon the land of England,
+where you are still an outlaw under sentence.'
+
+'How have you done this, Saxon?' I asked. 'Are you not afraid for
+yourself?'
+
+'Ho, ho!' laughed the old soldier. 'I am a free man, my lad! I hold my
+pardon, and care not a maravedi for spy or informer. Who should I meet
+but Colonel Kirke a day or so back. Yes, lad! I met him in the street,
+and I cocked my hat in his face. The villain laid his hand upon his
+hilt, and I should have out bilbo and sent his soul to hell had they not
+come between us. I care not the ashes of this pipe for Jeffreys or any
+other of them. I can snap this finger and thumb at them, so! They would
+rather see Decimus Saxon's back than his face, I promise ye!'
+
+'But how comes this about?' I asked.
+
+'Why, marry, it is no mystery. Cunning old birds are not to be caught
+with chaff. When I left you I made for a certain inn where I could count
+upon finding a friend. There I lay by for a while, en cachette, as the
+Messieurs call it, while I could work out the plan that was in my head.
+Donner wetter! but I got a fright from that old seaman friend of yours,
+who should be sold as a picture, for he is of little use as a man. Well,
+I bethought me early in the affair of your visit to Badminton, and of
+the Duke of B. We shall mention no names, but you can follow my meaning.
+To him I sent a messenger, to the effect that I purposed to purchase my
+own pardon by letting out all that I knew concerning his double dealing
+with the rebels. The message was carried to him secretly, and his
+answer was that I should meet him at a certain spot by night. I sent my
+messenger instead of myself, and he was found in the morning stiff and
+stark, with more holes in his doublet than ever the tailor made. On
+this I sent again, raising my demands, and insisting upon a speedy
+settlement. He asked my conditions. I replied, a free pardon and a
+command for myself. For you, money enough to land you safely in some
+foreign country where you can pursue the noble profession of arms. I got
+them both, though it was like drawing teeth from his head. His name hath
+much power at Court just now, and the King can refuse him nothing. I
+have my pardon and a command of troops in New England. For you I have
+two hundred pieces, of which thirty have been paid in ransom to the
+captain, while twenty are due to me for my disbursements over the
+matter. In this bag you will find the odd hundred and fifty, of which
+you will pay fifteen to the fishermen who have promised to see you safe
+to Flushing.'
+
+I was, as you may readily believe, my dear children, bewildered by this
+sudden and most unlooked-for turn which events had taken. When Saxon had
+ceased to speak I sat as one stunned, trying to realise what he had said
+to me. There came a thought into my head, however, which chilled the
+glow of hope and of happiness which had sprung up in me at the thought
+of recovering my freedom. My presence had been a support and a comfort
+to my unhappy companions. Would it not be a cruel thing to leave them in
+their distress? There was not one of them who did not look to me in his
+trouble, and to the best of my poor power I had befriended and consoled
+them. How could I desert them now?
+
+'I am much beholden to you, Saxon,' I said at last, speaking slowly and
+with some difficulty, for the words were hard to utter. 'But I fear that
+your pains have been thrown away. These poor country folk have none to
+look after or assist them. They are as simple as babes, and as little
+fitted to be landed in a strange country. I cannot find it in my heart
+to leave them!'
+
+Saxon burst out laughing, and leaned back in his seat with his long legs
+stretched straight out and his hands in his breeches pockets.
+
+'This is too much!' he said at last. 'I saw many difficulties in my way,
+yet I did not foresee this one. You are in very truth the most contrary
+man that ever stood in neat's leather. You have ever some outlandish
+reason for jibbing and shying like a hot-blooded, half-broken colt. Yet
+I think that I can overcome these strange scruples of yours by a little
+persuasion.'
+
+'As to the prisoners, Captain Clarke,' said the seaman, 'I'll be as good
+as a father to them. S'help me, I will, on the word of an honest sailor!
+If you should choose to lay out a trifle of twenty pieces upon their
+comfort, I shall see that their food is such as mayhap many of them
+never got at their own tables. They shall come on deck, too, in watches,
+and have an hour or two o' fresh air in the day. I can't say fairer!'
+
+'A word or two with you on deck!' said Saxon. He walked out of the cabin
+and I followed him to the far end of the poop, where we stood leaning
+against the bulwarks. One by one the lights had gone out in the town,
+until the black ocean beat against a blacker shore.
+
+'You need not have any fear of the future of the prisoners,' he said,
+in a low whisper. 'They are not bound for the Barbadoes, nor will this
+skinflint of a captain have the selling of them, for all that he is so
+cocksure. If he can bring his own skin out of the business, it will be
+more than I expect. He hath a man aboard his ship who would think no
+more of giving him a tilt over the side than I should.'
+
+'What mean you, Saxon?' I cried.
+
+'Hast ever heard of a man named Marot?'
+
+'Hector Marot! Yes, surely I knew him well. A highwayman he was, but a
+mighty stout man with a kind heart beneath a thief's jacket.'
+
+'The same. He is as you say a stout man and a resolute swordsman, though
+from what I have seen of his play he is weak in stoccado, and perhaps
+somewhat too much attached to the edge, and doth not give prominence
+enough to the point, in which respect he neglects the advice and
+teaching of the most noteworthy fencers in Europe. Well, well, folk
+differ on this as on every other subject! Yet it seems to me that I
+would sooner be carried off the field after using my weapon secundum
+artem, than walk off unscathed after breaking the laws d'escrime.
+Quarte, tierce, and saccoon, say I, and the devil take your estramacons
+and passados!'
+
+'But what of Marot?' I asked impatiently.
+
+'He is aboard,' said Saxon. 'It appears that he was much disturbed in
+his mind over the cruelties which were inflicted on the country folk
+after the battle at Bridgewater. Being a man of a somewhat stern and
+fierce turn of mind, his disapproval did vent itself in actions rather
+than words. Soldiers were found here and there over the countryside
+pistolled or stabbed, and no trace left of their assailant. A dozen or
+more were cut off in this way, and soon it came to be whispered about
+that Marot the highwayman was the man that did it, and the chase became
+hot at his heels.'
+
+'Well, and what then?' I asked, for Saxon had stopped to light his pipe
+at the same old metal tinder-box which he had used when first I met
+him. When I picture Saxon to myself it is usually of that moment that I
+think, when the red glow beat upon his hard, eager, hawk-like face, and
+showed up the thousand little seams and wrinkles which time and care had
+imprinted upon his brown, weather-beaten skin. Sometimes in my dreams
+that face in the darkness comes back to me, and his half-closed eyelids
+and shifting, blinky eyes are turned towards me in his sidelong fashion,
+until I find myself sitting up and holding out my hand into empty space,
+half expecting to feel another thin sinewy hand close round it. A bad
+man he was in many ways, my dears, cunning and wily, with little scruple
+or conscience; and yet so strange a thing is human nature, and so
+difficult is it for us to control our feelings, that my heart warms when
+I think of him, and that fifty years have increased rather than weakened
+the kindliness which I hear to him.
+
+'I had heard,' quoth he, puffing slowly at his pipe, 'that Marot was a
+man of this kidney, and also that he was so compassed round that he was
+in peril of capture. I sought him out, therefore, and held council with
+him. His mare, it seems, had been slain by some chance shot, and as he
+was much attached to the brute, the accident made him more savage and
+more dangerous than ever. He had no heart, he said, to continue in his
+old trade. Indeed, he was ripe for anything--the very stuff out of which
+useful tools are made. I found that in his youth he had had a training
+for the sea. When I heard that, I saw my way in the snap of a petronel.'
+
+'What then?' I asked. 'I am still in the dark.'
+
+'Nay, it is surely plain enough to you now. Marot's end was to baffle
+his pursuers and to benefit the exiles. How could he do this better than
+by engaging as a seaman aboard this brig, the _Dorothy Fox_, and sailing
+away from England in her? There are but thirty of a crew. Below hatches
+are close on two hundred men, who, simple as they may be, are, as you
+and I know, second to none in the cut-and-thrust work, without order or
+discipline, which will be needed in such an affair. Marot has but to go
+down amongst them some dark night, knock off their anklets, and fit them
+up with a few stanchions or cudgels. Ho, ho, Micah! what think you? The
+planters may dig their plantations themselves for all the help they are
+like to get from West countrymen this bout.'
+
+'It is, indeed, a well-conceived plan,' said I. 'It is a pity, Saxon,
+that your ready wit and quick invention hath not had a fair field. You
+are, us I know well, as fit to command armies and to order campaigns as
+any man that ever bore a truncheon.'
+
+'Mark ye there!' whispered Saxon, grasping me by the arm. 'See where
+the moonlight falls beside the hatchway! Do you not see that short squat
+seaman who stands alone, lost in thought, with his head sunk upon his
+breast? It is Marot! I tell you that if I were Captain Pogram I would
+rather have the devil himself, horns, hoofs, and tail, for my first
+mate and bunk companion, than have that man aboard my ship. You need not
+concern yourself about the prisoners, Micah. Their future is decided.'
+
+'Then, Saxon,' I answered, 'it only remains for me to thank you, and to
+accept the means of safety which you have placed within my reach.'
+
+'Spoken like a man,' said he; 'is there aught which I may do for thee in
+England? though, by the Mass, I may not be here very long myself, for,
+as I understand, I am to be entrusted with the command of an expedition
+that is fitting out against the Indians, who have ravaged the
+plantations of our settlers. It will be good to get to some profitable
+employment, for such a war, without either fighting or plunder, I have
+never seen. I give you my word that I have scarce fingered silver since
+the beginning of it. I would not for the sacking of London go through
+with it again.'
+
+'There is a friend whom Sir Gervas Jerome did commend to my care,' I
+remarked; 'I have, however, already taken measures to have his wishes
+carried out. There is naught else save to assure all in Havant that a
+King who hath battened upon his subjects, as this one of ours hath done,
+is not one who is like to keep his seat very long upon the throne of
+England. When he falls I shall return, and perhaps it may be sooner than
+folk think.'
+
+'These doings in the West have indeed stirred up much ill-feeling all
+over the country,' said my companion. 'On all hands I hear that there is
+more hatred of the King and of his ministers than before the outbreak.
+What ho, Captain Pogram, this way! We have settled the matter, and my
+friend is willing to go.'
+
+'I thought he would tack round,' the captain said, staggering towards us
+with a gait which showed that he had made the rum bottle his companion
+since we had left him. 'S'help me, I was sure of it! Though, by the
+Mass, I don't wonder that he thought twice before leaving the _Dorothy
+Fox_, for she is fitted up fit for a duchess, s'help me! Where is your
+boat?'
+
+'Alongside,' replied Saxon; 'my friend joins with me in hoping that you,
+Captain Pogram, will have a pleasant and profitable voyage.'
+
+'I am cursedly beholden to him,' said the captain, with a flourish of
+his three-cornered hat.
+
+'Also that you will reach Barbadoes in safety.'
+
+'Little doubt of that!' quoth the captain.
+
+'And that you will dispose of your wares in a manner which will repay
+you for your charity and humanity.'
+
+'Nay, these are handsome words,' cried the captain. 'Sir, I am your
+debtor.'
+
+A fishing-boat was lying alongside the brig. By the murky light of the
+poop lanterns I could see the figures upon her deck, and the great brown
+sail all ready for hoisting. I climbed the bulwark and set my foot upon
+the rope-ladder which led down to her.
+
+'Good-bye, Decimus!' said I.
+
+'Good-bye, my lad! You have your pieces all safe?'
+
+'I have them.'
+
+'Then I have one other present to make you. It was brought to me by a
+sergeant of the Royal Horse. It is that, Micah, on which you must now
+depend for food, lodging, raiment, and all which you would have. It
+is that to which a brave man can always look for his living. It is the
+knife wherewith you can open the world's oyster. See, lad, it is your
+sword!'
+
+'The old sword! My father's sword!' I cried in delight, as Saxon drew
+from under his mantle and handed to me the discoloured, old-fashioned
+leathern sheath with the heavy brass hilt which I knew so well.
+
+'You are now,' said he, 'one of the old and honourable guild of soldiers
+of fortune. While the Turk is still snarling at the gates of Vienna
+there will ever be work for strong arms and brave hearts. You will find
+that among these wandering, fighting men, drawn from all climes and
+nations, the name of Englishman stands high. Well I know that it will
+stand none the lower for your having joined the brotherhood. I would
+that I could come with you, but I am promised pay and position which it
+would be ill to set aside. Farewell, lad, and may fortune go with you!'
+
+I pressed the rough soldier's horny hand, and descended into the
+fishing-boat. The rope that held us was cast off, the sail mounted up,
+and the boat shot out across the bay. Onward she went and on, through
+the gathering gloom--a gloom as dark and impenetrable as the future
+towards which my life's bark was driving. Soon the long rise and fall
+told us that we were over the harbour bar and out in the open channel.
+On the land, scattered twinkling lights at long stretches marked the
+line of the coast. As I gazed backwards a cloud trailed off from the
+moon, and I saw the hard lines of the brig's rigging stand out against
+the white cold disk. By the shrouds stood the veteran, holding to a
+rope with one hand, and waving the other in farewell and encouragement.
+Another groat cloud blurred out the light, and that lean sinewy figure
+with its long extended arm was the last which I saw for a weary time of
+the dear country where I was born and bred.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVI. Of the End of it All
+
+And so, my dear children, I come to the end of the history of a
+failure--a brave failure and a noble one, but a failure none the less.
+In three more years England was to come to herself, to tear the fetters
+from her free limbs, and to send James and his poisonous brood flying
+from her shores even as I was flying then. We had made the error of
+being before our time. Yet there came days when folk thought kindly of
+the lads who had fought so stoutly in the West, and when their limbs,
+gathered from many a hangman's pit and waste place, were borne amid the
+silent sorrow of a nation to the pretty country burial-grounds where
+they would have chosen to lie. There, within the sound of the bell which
+from infancy had called them to prayer, beneath the turf over which they
+had wandered, under the shadow of those Mendip and Quantock Hills which
+they loved so well, these brave hearts lie still and peaceful, like
+tired children in the bosom of their mother. Requiescant-requiescant in
+pace!
+
+Not another word about myself, dear children. This narrative doth
+already bristle with I's, as though it were an Argus which is a flash
+of wit, though I doubt if ye will understand it. I set myself to tell ye
+the tale of the war in the West, and that tale ye have heard, nor will
+I be coaxed or cajoled into one word further. Ah! ye know well how
+garrulous the old man is, and that if you could but get to Flushing with
+him he would take ye to the wars of the Empire, to William's Court, and
+to the second invasion of the West, which had a better outcome than the
+first. But not an inch further will I budge. On to the green, ye young
+rogues! Have ye not other limbs to exercise besides your ears, that ye
+should be so fond of squatting round grandad's chair? If I am spared to
+next winter, and if the rheumatiz keeps away, it is like that I may take
+up once more the broken thread of my story.
+
+Of the others I can only tell ye what I know. Some slipped out of my
+ken entirely. Of others I have heard vague and incomplete accounts.
+The leaders of the insurrection got off much more lightly than their
+followers, for they found that the passion of greed was even stronger
+than the passion of cruelty. Grey, Buyse, Wade, and others bought
+themselves free at the price of all their possessions. Ferguson escaped.
+Monmouth was executed on Tower Hill, and showed in his last moments
+some faint traces of that spirit which spurted up now and again from his
+feeble nature, like the momentary flash of an expiring fire.
+
+My father and my mother lived to see the Protestant religion regain its
+place once more, and to see England become the champion of the reformed
+faith upon the Continent. Three years later I found them in Havant much
+as I had left them, save that there were more silver hairs amongst the
+brown braided tresses of my mother, and that my father's great shoulders
+were a trifle bowed and his brow furrowed with the lines of care. Hand
+in hand they passed onwards down life's journey, the Puritan and the
+Church woman, and I have never despaired of the healing of religious
+feud in England since I have seen how easy it is for two folks to retain
+the strongest belief in their own creeds, and yet to bear the heartiest
+love and respect for the professor of another. The days may come when
+the Church and the Chapel may be as a younger and an elder brother,
+each working to one end, and each joying in the other's success. Let
+the contest between them be not with pike and pistol, not with court and
+prison; but let the strife be which shall lead the higher life, which
+shall take the broader view, which shall boast the happiest and best
+cared-for poor. Then their rivalry shall be not a curse, but a blessing
+to this land of England.
+
+Reuben Lockarby was ill for many months, but when he at last recovered
+he found a pardon awaiting him through the interest of Major Ogilvy.
+After a time, when the troubles were all blown over, he married the
+daughter of Mayor Timewell, and he still lives in Taunton, a well-to-do
+and prosperous citizen. Thirty years ago there was a little Micah
+Lockarby, and now I am told that there is another, the son of the first,
+who promises to be as arrant a little Roundhead as ever marched to the
+tuck of drum.
+
+Of Saxon I have heard more than once. So skilfully did he use his hold
+over the Duke of Beaufort, that he was appointed through his interest to
+the command of an expedition which had been sent to chastise the savages
+of Virginia, who had wrought great cruelties upon the settlers. There
+he did so out-ambush their ambushes, and out-trick their most cunning
+warriors, that he hath left a great name among them, and is still
+remembered there by an Indian word which signifieth 'The long-legged
+wily one with the eye of a rat.' Having at last driven the tribes far
+into the wilderness he was presented with a tract of country for his
+services, where he settled down. There he married, and spent the rest of
+his days in rearing tobacco and in teaching the principles of war to a
+long line of gaunt and slab-sided children. They tell me that a great
+nation of exceeding strength and of wondrous size promises some day to
+rise up on the other side of the water. If this should indeed come to
+pass, it may perhaps happen that these young Saxons or their children
+may have a hand in the building of it. God grant that they may never
+let their hearts harden to the little isle of the sea, which is and must
+ever be the cradle of their race.
+
+Solomon Sprent married and lived for many years as happily as his
+friends could wish. I had a letter from him when I was abroad, in which
+he said that though his consort and he had started alone on the voyage
+of wedlock, they were now accompanied by a jolly-boat and a gig. One
+winter's night when the snow was on the ground he sent down for my
+father, who hurried up to his house. He found the old man sitting up in
+bed, with his flask of rumbo within reach, his tobacco-box beside him,
+and a great brown Bible balanced against his updrawn knees. He was
+breathing heavily, and was in sore distress.
+
+'I've strained a plank, and have nine feet in the well,' said he. 'It
+comes in quicker than I can put it out. In truth, friend, I have not
+been seaworthy this many a day, and it is time that I was condemned and
+broken up.'
+
+My father shook his head sadly as he marked his dusky face and laboured
+breathing. 'How of your soul?' he asked.
+
+'Aye!' said Solomon, 'that's a cargo that we carry under our hatches,
+though we can't see it, and had no hand in the stowing of it. I've been
+overhauling the sailing orders here, and the ten articles of war, but I
+can't find that I've gone so far out of my course that I may not hope to
+come into the channel again.'
+
+'Trust not in yourself, but in Christ,' said my father.
+
+'He is the pilot, in course,' replied the old seaman. 'When I had a
+pilot aboard o' my ship, however, it was my way always to keep my own
+weather eye open, d'ye see, and so I'll do now. The pilot don't think
+none the worse of ye for it. So I'll throw my own lead line, though I
+hear as how there are no soundings in the ocean of God's mercy. Say,
+friend, d'ye think this very body, this same hull o' mine, will rise
+again?'
+
+'So we are taught,' my father answered.
+
+'I'd know it anywhere from the tattoo marks,' said Solomon. 'They was
+done when I was with Sir Christopher in the West Indies, and I'd be
+sorry to part with them. For myself, d'ye see, I've never borne ill-will
+to any one, not even to the Dutch lubbers, though I fought three wars
+wi' them, and they carried off one of my spars, and be hanged to them!
+If I've let daylight into a few of them, d'ye see, it's all in good
+part and by way of duty. I've drunk my share--enough to sweeten my
+bilge-water--but there are few that have seen me cranky in the
+upper rigging or refusing to answer to my helm. I never drew pay or
+prize-money that my mate in distress was not welcome to the half of it.
+As to the Polls, the less said the better. I've been a true consort
+to my Phoebe since she agreed to look to me for signals. Those are my
+papers, all clear and aboveboard. If I'm summoned aft this very night by
+the great Lord High Admiral of all, I ain't afeared that He'll clap me
+into the bilboes, for though I'm only a poor sailor man, I've got His
+promise in this here book, and I'm not afraid of His going back from
+it.'
+
+My father sat with the old man for some hours and did all that he could
+to comfort and assist him, for it was clear that he was sinking rapidly.
+When he at last left him, with his faithful wife beside him, he grasped
+the brown but wasted hand which lay above the clothes.
+
+'I'll see you again soon,' he said.
+
+'Yes. In the latitude of heaven,' replied the dying seaman. His
+foreboding was right, for in the early hours of the morning his wife,
+bending over him, saw a bright smile upon his tanned, weather-beaten
+face. Raising himself upon his pillow he touched his forelock, as is
+the habit of sailor-men, and so sank slowly and peacefully back into the
+long sleep which wakes when the night has ceased to be.
+
+You will ask me doubtless what became of Hector Marot and of the strange
+shipload which had set sail from Poole Harbour. There was never a word
+heard of them again, unless indeed a story which was spread some months
+afterwards by Captain Elias Hopkins, of the Bristol ship _Caroline_, may
+be taken as bearing upon their fate. For Captain Hopkins relates that,
+being on his homeward voyage from our settlements, he chanced to meet
+with thick fogs and a head wind in the neighbourhood of the great cod
+banks. One night as he was beating about, with the weather so thick that
+he could scarce see the truck of his own mast, a most strange passage
+befell him. For as he and others stood upon the deck, they heard to
+their astonishment the sound of many voices joined in a great chorus,
+which was at first faint and distant, but which presently waxed and
+increased until it appeared to pass within a stone-throw of his vessel,
+when it slowly died away once more and was lost in the distance. There
+were some among the crew who set the matter down as the doing of the
+evil one, but, as Captain Elias Hopkins was wont to remark, it was a
+strange thing that the foul fiend should choose West-country hymns for
+his nightly exercise, and stranger still that the dwellers in the pit
+should sing with a strong Somersetshire burr. For myself, I have little
+doubt that it was indeed the _Dorothy Fox_ which had swept past in the
+fog, and that the prisoners, having won their freedom, were celebrating
+their delivery in true Puritan style. Whether they were driven on to the
+rocky coast of Labrador, or whether they found a home in some desolate
+land whence no kingly cruelty could harry them, is what must remain for
+ever unknown.
+
+Zachariah Palmer lived for many years, a venerable and honoured old man,
+before he, too, was called to his fathers. A sweet and simple village
+philosopher he was, with a child's heart in his aged breast. The very
+thought of him is to me as the smell of violets; for if in my views of
+life and in my hopes of the future I differ somewhat from the hard and
+gloomy teaching of my father, I know that I owe it to the wise words
+and kindly training of the carpenter. If, as he was himself wont to
+say, deeds are everything in this world and dogma is nothing, then his
+sinless, blameless life might be a pattern to you and to all. May the
+dust lie light upon him!
+
+One word of another friend--the last mentioned, but not the least
+valued. When Dutch William had been ten years upon the English throne
+there was still to be seen in the field by my father's house a tall,
+strong-boned horse, whose grey skin was flecked with dashes of white.
+And it was ever observed that, should the soldiers be passing from
+Portsmouth, or should the clank of trumpet or the rattle of drum break
+upon his ear, he would arch his old neck, throw out his grey-streaked
+tail, and raise his stiff knees in a pompous and pedantic canter. The
+country folk would stop to watch these antics of the old horse, and then
+the chances are that one of them would tell the rest how that charger
+had borne one of their own village lads to the wars, and how, when the
+rider had to fly the country, a kindly sergeant in the King's troops
+had brought the steed as a remembrance of him to his father at home. So
+Covenant passed the last years of his life, a veteran among steeds, well
+fed and cared for, and much given, mayhap, to telling in equine language
+to all the poor, silly country steeds the wonderful passages which had
+befallen him in the West.
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+Note A.--Hatred of Learning among the Puritans.
+
+In spite of the presence in their ranks of such ripe scholars as John
+Milton, Colonel Hutchinson, and others, there was among the Independents
+and Anabaptists a profound distrust of learning, which is commented upon
+by writers of all shades of politics. Dr. South in his sermons remarks
+that 'All learning was cried down, so that with them the best preachers
+were such as could not read, and the best divines such as could not
+write. In all their preachments they so highly pretended to the Spirit,
+that some of them could hardly spell a letter. To be blind with them was
+a proper qualification of a spiritual guide, and to be book-learned, as
+they called it, and to be irreligious, were almost convertible terms.
+None save tradesmen and mechanics were allowed to have the Spirit, and
+those only were accounted like St. Paul who could work with their hands,
+and were able to make a pulpit before preaching in it.'
+
+In the collection of loyal ballads reprinted in 1731, the Royalist bard
+harps upon the same characteristic:
+
+          'We'll down with universities
+            Where learning is professed,
+           Because they practise and maintain
+            The language of the beast.
+           We'll drive the doctors out of doors,
+            And parts, whate'er they be,
+           We'll cry all parts and learning down,
+            And heigh, then up go we!'
+
+
+Note B.--On the Speed of Couriers.
+
+It is difficult for us in these days of steam and electricity to realise
+how long it took to despatch a message in the seventeenth century, even
+when the occasion was most pressing. Thus, Monmouth landed at Lyme on
+the morning of Thursday, the 11th of June. Gregory Alford, the Tory
+mayor of Lyme, instantly fled to Honiton, whence he despatched a
+messenger to the Privy Council. Yet it was five o'clock in the morning
+of Saturday, the 13th, before the news reached London, though the
+distance is but 156 miles.
+
+
+Note C.--On the Claims of the Lender of a Horse.
+
+The difficulty touched upon by Decimus Saxon, as to the claim of the
+lender of a horse upon the booty gained by the rider, is one frequently
+discussed by writers of that date upon the usages of war. One
+distinguished authority says: Praefectus turmae equitum Hispanorum, cum
+proelio tuba caneret, unum ex equitibus suae turmae obvium habuit; qui
+questus est quod paucis ante diebus equum suum in certamine amiserat,
+propter quod non poterat imminenti proelio interesse; unde jussit
+Praefectus ut unum ex suis equis conscenderet et ipsum comitaretur.
+Miles, equo conscenso, inter fugandum hostes, incidit in ipsum ducem
+hostilis exercitus, quem cepit et consignavit Duci exercitus Hispani,
+qui a captivo vicena aureorum millia est consequutus. Dicebat Praefectus
+partem pretii hujus redemptionis sibi debere, quod miles equo suo
+dimicaverat, qui alias proelio interesse non potuit. Petrinus Bellus
+affirmat se, cum esset Bruxellis in curia Hispaniarum Regis de hac
+quaestione consultum, et censuisse, pro Praefecto facere aequitatem quae
+praecipue respicitur inter milites, quorum controversiae ex aequo et
+bono dirimendae sunt; unde ultra conventa quis obligatur ad id quod
+alterum alteri prasstare oportet.' The case, it appears, ultimately went
+against the horse-lending praefect.
+
+
+Note D.--On the Pronunciation of Exquisites.
+
+The substitution of the a for the o was a common affectation in
+the speech of the fops of the period, as may be found in Vanbrugh's
+_Relapse_. The notorious Titus Oates, in his efforts to be in the mode,
+pushed this trick to excess, and his cries of 'Oh Lard! Oh Lard!' were
+familiar sounds in Westminster Hall at the time when the Salamanca
+doctor was at the flood of his fortune.
+
+
+Note E.--Hour-glasses in Pulpits.
+
+In those days it was customary to have an hour-glass stationed in
+a frame of iron at the side of the pulpit, and visible to the whole
+congregation. It was turned up as soon as the text was announced, and a
+minister earned a name as a lazy preacher if he did not hold out until
+the sand had ceased to run. If, on the other hand, he exceeded that
+limit, his audience would signify by gapes and yawns that they had
+had as much spiritual food as they could digest. Sir Roger L'Estrange
+(_Fables_, Part II. Fab. 262) tells of a notorious spin-text who, having
+exhausted his glass and being half-way through a second one, was at
+last arrested in his career by a valiant sexton, who rose and departed,
+remarking as he did so, 'Pray, sir, be pleased when you have done to
+leave the key under the door.'
+
+
+Note F.--Disturbances at the old Gast House of Little Burton.
+
+The circumstances referred to by the Mayor of Taunton in his allusion
+to the Drummer of Tedsworth are probably too well known to require
+elucidation. The haunting of the old Gast House at Burton would,
+however, be fresh at that time in the minds of Somersetshire folk,
+occurring as it did in 1677. Some short account from documents of that
+date may be of interest.
+
+'The first night that I was there, with Hugh Mellmore and Edward Smith,
+they heard as it were the washing of water over their heads. Then,
+taking the candle and going up the stairs, there was a wet cloth thrown
+at them, but it fell on the stairs. They, going up further, there was
+another thrown as before. And when they were come up into the chamber
+there stood a bowl of water, looking white, as though soap had been used
+in it. The bowl just before was in the kitchen, and could not be carried
+up but through the room where they were. The next thing was a terrible
+noise, like a clap of thunder, and shortly afterwards they heard a great
+scratching about the bedstead, and after that great knocking with a
+hammer against the bed's-head, so that the two maids that were in bed
+cried out for help. Then they ran up the stairs, and there lay the
+hammer on the bed, and on the bed's-head there were near a thousand
+prints of the hammer. The maids said that they were scratched and
+pinched with a hand which had exceeding long nails.
+
+'The second night that James Sherring and Thomas Hillary were there,
+James Sherring sat down in the chimney to fill a pipe of tobacco. He
+used the tongs to lift a coal to light his pipe, and by-and-by the tongs
+were drawn up the stairs and were cast upon the bed. The same night one
+of the maids left her shoes by the fire, and they were carried up into
+the chamber, and the old man's brought down and set in their places.
+As they were going upstairs there were many things thrown at them which
+were just before in the low room, and when they went down the stairs the
+old man's breeches were thrown down after them.
+
+'On another night a saddle did come into the house from a pin in the
+entry, and did hop about the place from table to table. It was very
+troublesome to them, until they broke it into small pieces and threw
+it out into the roadway. So for some weeks the haunting continued,
+with rappings, scratching, movements of heavy articles, and many other
+strange things, as are attested by all who were in the village, until at
+last they ceased as suddenly as they had begun.'
+
+
+Note G.--Monmouth's Progress in the West.
+
+During his triumphal progress through the western shires, some years
+before the rebellion, Monmouth first ventured to exhibit upon his
+escutcheon the lions of England and the lilies of France, without the
+baton sinister. A still more ominous sign was that he ventured to touch
+for the king's evil. The appended letter, extracted from the collection
+of tracts in the British Museum, may be of interest as first-hand
+evidence of the occasional efficacy of that curious ceremony.
+
+'His Grace the Duke of Monmouth honoured in his progress in the West of
+England, in an account of an extraordinary cure of the king's evil.
+
+'Given in a letter from Crewkhorn, in Somerset, from the minister of the
+parish and many others.
+
+'We, whose names are underwritten, do certify the miraculous cure of
+a girl of this town, about twenty, by name Elizabeth Parcet, a poor
+widow's daughter, who hath languished under sad affliction from that
+distemper of the king's evil termed the joint evil, being said to be
+the worst evil. For about ten or twelve years' time she had in her right
+hand four running wounds, one on the inside, three on the back of her
+hand, as well as two more in the same arm, one above her hand-wrist,
+the other above the bending of her arm. She had betwixt her arm-pits a
+swollen bunch, which the doctors said fed those six running wounds. She
+had the same distemper also on her left eye, so she was almost blind.
+Her mother, despairing of preserving her sight, and being not of ability
+to send her to London to be touched by the king, being miserably poor,
+having many poor children, and this girl not being able to work, her
+mother, desirous to have her daughter cured, sent to the chirurgeons for
+help, who tampered with it for some time, but could do no good. She
+went likewise ten or eleven miles to a seventh son, but all in vain. No
+visible hopes remained, and she expected nothing but the grave.
+
+'But now, in this the girl's great extremity, God, the great physician,
+dictates to her, then languishing in her miserable, hopeless condition,
+what course to take and what to do for a cure, which was to go and touch
+the Duke of Monmouth. The girl told her mother that, if she could
+but touch the Duke she would be well. The mother reproved her for her
+foolish conceit, but the girl did often persuade her mother to go to
+Lackington to the Duke, who then lay with Mr. Speaks. "Certainly," said
+she, "I should be well if I could touch him." The mother slighted these
+pressing requests, but the more she slighted and reproved, the more
+earnest the girl was for it. A few days after, the girl having noticed
+that Sir John Sydenham intended to treat the Duke at White Lodge in
+Henton Park, this girl with many of her neighbours went to the said
+park. She being there timely waited the Duke's coming. When first she
+observed the Duke she pressed in among a crowd of people and caught
+him by the hand, his glove being on, and she likewise having a glove to
+cover her wounds. She not being herewith satisfied at the first attempt
+of touching his glove only, but her mind was she must touch some part
+of his bare skin, she, weighing his coming forth, intended a second
+attempt. The poor girl, thus between hope and fear, waited his motion.
+On a sudden there was news of the Duke's coming on, which she to be
+prepared rent off her glove, that was clung to the sores, in such haste
+that she broke her glove, and brought away not only the sores but the
+skin. The Duke's glove, as Providence would have it, the upper part hung
+down, so that his hand-wrist was bare. She pressed on, and caught him
+by the bare hand-wrist with her running hand, crying, "God bless your
+highness!" and the Duke said "God bless you!" The girl, not a little
+transported at her good success, came and assured her friends that she
+would now be well. She came home to her mother in great joy, and told
+her that she had touched the Duke's hand. The mother, hearing what she
+had done, reproved her sharply for her boldness, asked how she durst
+do such a thing, and threatened to beat her for it. She cried out, "Oh,
+mother, I shall be well again, and healed of my wounds!" And as God
+Almighty would have it, to the wonder and admiration of all, the six
+wounds were speedily dried up, the eye became perfectly well, and the
+girl was in good health. All which has been discovered to us by the
+mother and daughter, and by neighbours that know her.
+
+'Henry Clark, minister; Captain James Bale, &c &c. Whoever doubts the
+truth of this relation may see the original under the hands of the
+persons mentioned at the Amsterdam Coffee House, Bartholomew Lane, Royal
+Exchange.'
+
+In spite of the uncouth verbiage of the old narrative, there is a touch
+of human pathos about it which makes it worthy of reproduction.
+
+
+Note H.--Monmouth's Contention of Legitimacy.
+
+Sir Patrick Hume, relating a talk with Monmouth before his expedition,
+says: 'I urged if he considered himself as lawful son of King Charles,
+late deceased. He said he did. I asked him if he were able to make out
+and prove the marriage of his mother to King Charles, and whether he
+intended to lay claim to the crown. He answered that he had been able
+lately to prove the marriage, and if some persons are not lately dead,
+of which he would inform himself, he would yet be able to prove it.
+As for his claiming the crown, he intended not to do it unless it were
+advised to be done by those who should concern themselves and join for
+the delivery of the nations.'
+
+It may be remarked that in Monmouth's commission to be general, dated
+April 1668, he is styled 'our most entirely beloved and natural son.'
+Again, in a commission for the government of Hull, April 1673, he is
+'our well-beloved natural son.'
+
+
+Note I.--Dragooners and Chargers.
+
+The dragoons, being really mounted infantry, were provided with very
+inferior animals to the real cavalry. From a letter of Cromwell's
+('Squire Correspondence,' April 3, 1643), it will be seen that a
+dragooner was worth twenty pieces, while a charger could not be obtained
+under sixty.
+
+Note J.--Battle of Sedgemoor.
+
+A curious little sidelight upon the battle is afforded by the two
+following letters exhibited to the Royal Archaeological Institute by the
+Rev. C. W. Bingham.
+
+'To Mrs. Chaffin at Chettle House.'
+
+'Monday, about ye forenoon, July 6, 1685.'
+
+'My dearest creature,--This morning about one o'clock the rebbells fell
+upon us whilest we were in our tents in King's Sedgemoor, with their
+whole army.... We have killed and taken at least 1000 of them. They are
+fled into Bridgewater. It is said that we have taken all their cannon,
+but sure it is that most are, if all be not. A coat with stars on 't is
+taken. ''Tis run through the back. By some 'tis thought that the Duke
+rebbell had it on and is killed, but most doe think that a servant wore
+it. I wish he were called, that the wars may be ended. It's thought
+he'll never be able to make his men fight again. I thank God I am very
+well without the least hurt, soe are our Dorsetshire friends. Prythee
+let Biddy know this by the first opportunity. I am thyne onely deare,
+TOSSEY.'
+
+BRIDGEWATER: July 7, 1685.
+
+'We have totally routed the enemies of God and the King, and can't hear
+of fifty men together of the whole rebel army. We pick them up every
+houre in cornfields and ditches. Williams, the late Duke's valet de
+chambre, is taken, who gives a very ingenious account of the whole
+affair, which is too long to write. The last word that he said to him
+was at the time when his army fled, that he was undone and must shift
+for himself. We think to march with the General this day to Wells, on
+his way homeward. At present he is 3 miles off at the camp, soe I can't
+certainly tell whether he intends for Wells. I shall be home certainly
+on Saturday at farthest. I believe my deare Nan would for 500 pounds
+that her Tossey had served the King to the end of the war.
+
+I am thyne, my deare childe, for ever.'
+
+
+Note K.--Lord Grey and the Horse at Sedgemoor.
+
+It is only fair to state that Ferguson is held by many to have been
+as doughty a soldier as he was zealous in religion. His own account of
+Sedgemoor is interesting, as showing what was thought by those who were
+actually engaged on the causes of their failure.
+
+'Now besides these two troops, whose officers though they had no great
+skill yet had courage enough to have done something honourably, had they
+not for want of a guide met with the aforesaid obstruction, there was
+no one of all the rest of our troops that ever advanced to charge or
+approached as near to the enemy as to give or receive a wound. Mr.
+Hacker, one of our captains, came no sooner within view of their camp
+than he villainously fired a pistol to give them notice of our approach,
+and then forsook his charge and rode oft with all the speed he could, to
+take the benefit of a proclamation emitted by the King, offering pardon
+to all such as should return home within such a time. And this he
+pleaded at his tryal, but was answered by Jeffreys "that he above all
+other men deserved to be hanged, and that for his treachery to Monmouth
+as well as his treason to the King." And though no other of our officers
+acted so villainously, yet they were useless and unserviceable, as never
+once attempting to charge, nor so much as keeping their men in a body.
+And I dare affirm that if our horse had never fired a pistol, but only
+stood in a posture to have given jealousy and apprehension to the enemy,
+our foot alone would have carried the day and been triumphant. But our
+horse standing scattered and disunited, and flying upon every approach
+of a squadron of theirs, commanded by Oglethorpe, gave that body of
+their cavalry an advantage, after they had hovered up and down in the
+field without thinking it necessary to attack those whom their own fears
+had dispersed, to fall in at last in the rear of our battalions, and to
+wrest that victory out of their hands which they were grasping at, and
+stood almost possessed of. Nor was that party of their horse above
+three hundred at most, whereas we had more than enough had they had any
+courage, and been commanded by a gallant man, to have attacked them
+with ease both in front and flank. These things I can declare with
+more certainty, because I was a doleful spectator of them; for having
+contrary to my custom left attending upon the Duke, who advanced with
+the foot, I betook myself to the horse, because the first of that
+morning's action was expected from them, which was to break in and
+disorder the enemy's camp. Against the time that our battalions should
+come up, I endeavoured whatsoever I was capable of performing, for I
+not only struck at several troopers who had forsaken their station, but
+upbraided divers of the captains for being wanting in their duty. But I
+spoke with great warmth to my Lord Grey, and conjured him to charge, and
+not suffer the victory, which our foot had in a manner taken hold of,
+to be ravished from us. But instead of hearkening, he not only as an
+unworthy man and cowardly poltroon deserted that part of the field and
+forsook his command, but rode with the utmost speed to the Duke, telling
+him that all was lost and it was more than time to shift for himself.
+Wherebye, as an addition to all the mischief he had been the occasion
+of before, he drew the easy and unfortunate gentleman to leave the
+battalions while they were courageously disputing on which side the
+victory should fall. And this fell most unhappily out, while a certain
+person was endeavouring to find out the Duke to have begged of him to
+come and charge at the head of his own troops. However, this I dare
+affirm, that if the Duke had been but master of two hundred horse,
+well mounted, completely armed, personally valiant, and commanded
+by experienced officers, they would have been victorious. This is
+acknowledged by our enemies, who have often confessed they were ready
+to fly through the impressions made upon them by our foot, and must have
+been beaten had our horse done their part, and not tamely looked on
+till their cavalry retrieved the day by falling into the rear of our
+battalions. Nor was the fault in the private men, who had courage
+to have followed their leaders, but it was in those who led them,
+particularly my Lord Grey, in whom, if cowardice may be called
+treachery, we may safely charge him with betraying our cause.'
+
+Extract from MS. of Dr. Ferguson, quoted in 'Ferguson the Plotter,' an
+interesting work by his immediate descendant, an advocate of Edinburgh.
+
+
+Note L.--Monmouth's Attitude after Capture.
+
+The following letter, written by Monmouth to the Queen from the Tower,
+is indicative of his abject state of mind.
+
+'Madam,--I would not take the boldness of writing to your Majesty till
+I had shown the King how I do abhor the thing that I have done, and how
+much I desire to live to serve him. I hope, madam, by what I have said
+to the King to-day will satisfy how sincere I am, and how much I detest
+all those people who have brought me to this. Having done this, madam,
+I thought I was in a fitt condition to beg your intercession, which I am
+sure you never refuse to the distressed, and I am sure, madam, that I
+am an object of your pity, having been cousened and cheated into this
+horrid business. Did I wish, madam, to live for living sake I would
+never give you this trouble, but it is to have life to serve the
+King, which I am able to doe, and will doe beyond what I can express.
+Therefore, madam, upon such an account as I may take the boldness to
+press you and beg of you to intersaid for me, for I am sure, madam, the
+King will hearken to you. Your prairs can never be refused, especially
+when it is begging for a life only to serve the King. I hope, madam, by
+the King's generosity and goodness, and your intercession, I may hope
+for my life which if I have shall be ever employed in showing to your
+Majesty all the sense immaginable of gratitude, and in serving of the
+King like a true subject. And ever be your Majesty's most dutiful and
+obedient servant, MONMOUTH.'
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Micah Clarke, by Arthur Conan Doyle
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