to look hisprisoners in the face.
No sooner, however, was he seen by his men than there was a loud buzz ofvoices, and he learned what a change had taken place between them, forinstead of being welcomed back with sidelong glances and a half meaninglook, the soldiers saluted him with a loud cheer, in which sentries andthe two outposts joined.
His action, then, was endorsed by his followers, who began laughing andtalking merrily among themselves, looking from time to time at theprisoners, among whom sat Scarlett, with his arms upon his knees and hisface lowered into his hands.
Fred's first inclination was to go straight to his captive, offer himhis hand, and beg his pardon for what he had done; but two strong powersheld him back--shame and dread. What would Scarlett say to him for thedegradation? and what would his men say? They would think him ten timesthe coward they thought him before.
It was impossible; so giving his orders stoutly and sharply, the horseswere bitted and the girths tightened. The prisoners were then helpedinto their saddles, and the ends of the ropes made fast after anexamination to see that the bonds were secure, and once more they soughtthe road, the advance guard well to the front, and the relativepositions of the early part of the march resumed.
There does not seem to be much in a few snips with a pair of bigscissors; but the young leader's use of those cutting implements hadcompletely changed the state of affairs in the little party. For whilethe guard were merry, and looked in the best of spirits, the commonprisoners seemed as if they felt most bitterly the insult offered totheir young captain, sitting heavily in their saddles, with their chinsdown upon their chests, and neither looking to right nor left, whileScarlett Markham gazed straight before him, his eyes flashing beneaththe steel headpiece he now wore. His face was very pale, and his wholeform was rigid as he sat there with his arms well secured to the crossstaff at his back, and his lips tightened and slightly drawn back fromhis teeth as he drew his breath with a low hissing sound.
A few hours before, although a prisoner, he had looked the dashing youngCavalier in his scarlet, feathers, and gold, and, in spite of hisuniform being stained and frayed with hard service, the lad's mien hadhidden all that, and he seemed one to look up to and respect.
Now all was changed: the gay hat and feathers had been replaced by thebattered steel morion; the long clustering effeminate curls were shornaway, and the poor fellow looked forlorn, degraded, and essentially anobject for pity; his uniform showed every stain, and the places wherethe gold lace was frayed--and all through the working of a pair ofshears among his locks. A short time before the smart young Cavalier,now only Fred Forrester's prisoner--nothing more.
As they rode onward the men commented upon the change aloud; but nothalf so intently as did Fred Forrester in silence.
The afternoon grew hotter; there was a glorious look of summereverywhere, for nature was in her brightest livery; but to the youngleader everything seemed shrouded in gloom, and twice over he foundhimself wishing that a party of the enemy would come upon them suddenlyand rescue those of whom he had charge.
As they rode on slowly with Fred in the rear, he noted that the two menwho formed the advance guard were not in their proper places; and,seeking relief from his torturing thoughts in striving to give thestrictest attention to his father's military lessons, he turned toSamson.
"Ride forward and tell those men to advance another hundred yards. Theyare far too near in case of surprise."
Samson spurred his horse, cantered forward, gave the order, and thenhalted as the advance guard trotted on for a hundred yards or so.
As the party came up, Samson exchanged looks with his brother, whoselips moved as if he were saying--
"Only just you wait, my fine fellow, and I'll serve you out for this."
But Samson laughed and rode to his old place in the rear beside hiscaptain.
As Samson went by Fred, the latter caught sight of something scarlet,and the colour suggesting his prisoner, he turned sharply upon hisfollower.
"What's that?" he said.
"Only the young captain's hat, sir."
Fred frowned as he saw that Samson had fastened the grey felt hat withits gay feathers to his saddle, and then glanced forward at Scarlett,whose cropped head was sheltered by the heavy, uneasy steel cap.
"Ride forward," he said, "and give the prisoner back his hat."
Samson stared, but of course obeyed. Untying the hat from his saddle,he rode forward to where Scarlett sat, gazing straight before him.
"Captain sent your hat, sir. Shall I put it on?"
There was no reply.
"Your hat, sir. Shall I put it on?"
Scarlett took not the slightest notice, and after a momentary hesitationSamson uttered a grunt, pressed his horse a little closer, took thesteel cap from the young prisoner's head, and placed the feathered feltthere instead.
Then, backing his horse, he allowed the party to pass on, while heresumed his place, hanging the steel headpiece to his saddle-bow by thestrap and chain.
"What's that? Look!" cried Fred, sharply.
He checked his horse as he spoke, and looked back, needing no answer,for there behind them in the dusty road, battered and disfigured, layScarlett's dashing head-gear; for so badly had it been replaced that, inhis suppressed rage, the prisoner had given his head an angry toss, thefelt hat had fallen, and it seemed as if, out of malice, every horse hadpassed over it, and trampled it down in the dust.
"Shall I pick it up, sir?" said Samson.
"No; let it be there," was the reply. "Take the prisoner the headpieceagain."
Samson muttered to himself as he unhooked the steel cap and rodeforward, while, in his resentment at having to go through the same dutytwice, he took pains to treat the helmet as if it were an extinguisher,literally putting Scarlett out, so far as seeing was concerned.
And all the while, with his arms bound behind him, Scarlett Markham rodeon with his head erect.
"Another insult," he said to himself. "The miserable coward! I couldkill him as I would a wasp!"
The afternoon glided slowly by, and the detachment kept to a walk, forthe heat was great, there was no special haste needed, and Fred wantedto spare his horses as much as possible. But after a short halt forrefreshment at a roadside inn, where the landlord dispensed cider andbread-and-cheese liberally to either side, so long as he was well paid,but all the same with a strong leaning toward the Royalists, the littleparty rode on at a trot, very much to the disgust of the landlord, whostood watching them from his door.
"Poor lad!" he said. "Must be Sir Godfrey Markham's son from overyonder toward the sea. How glad he seemed of that draught of milk thelass gave him! Seems hard to be a prisoner, and to his oldschoolfellow, for that's young Forrester, sure enough. I've a good mindto. No; it's interfering, and I might be found out, and have to hang onone of my own apple-trees as a traitor. But I've a good mind to. Yes,I will. Dick!"
"Yes, master," came from the stable, and a stout boy with some oat chaffin his rough hair made his appearance.
"How long would it take you to get to Brownsand?"
"On the pony?"
"Of course."
"Four hours by road. Two hours across the moor."
"Take the pony, then, and go across the moor. There's a regiment ofhorse there."
"Them as went by day afore yesterday?"
"Yes. Ride straight there and tell the officer. No, I can't do it."
"Oh, do, father, please--please!"
"You here, Polly?"
"Yes, father," said his rosy-cheeked daughter, who had fetched the mugof milk from the dairy. "You were going to send and ask them to savethe prisoners."
"Was I, mistress? And pray how do you know?"
"I guessed it, father. That poor boy!"
"Perhaps I was," grumbled the landlord; "but I'm not going to do sonow."
"Oh, don't say that, father!"
"But I have said it; and now, both of you go about your work."
"Oh, fath
er, pray, pray send!"
"Do you want to see me hung, madam?"
"No, no, father; but nobody will know."
"I know--you know--he knows; and there's an end of it. Be off!"
The girl and boy both went out, and directly after the former made asign which the latter interpreted to mean "Come round to the kitchen."
As soon as the landlord was left alone he drew himself a mug of cider,lit his pipe, and chuckled.
"Wonder how my apples are getting on?" he said. "I must have a goodcider year this time; ought to be, anyhow." Then aloud at the door,"Keep an eye to the door, Polly," he cried. "I'm going down theorchard."
"Yes, father; I'll mind."
"That'll do it," said the landlord, laughing till his face grew as redas his own apples. "Nobody can't come and accuse me of sending the boy,and they'll never suspect her."
He walked right down the orchard, and then crept quickly to the hedge,stooped down, went nearer to the house, and then watched and listened.
"Ha! ha! ha!" he laughed softly. "I knew she would. Good-hearted girl!There he goes."
The landlord rubbed his hands as, turning to a hole in the hedge, he sawhis boy Dick go off at a canter, lying flat down on the back of a littleExmoor pony, his arms on each side of the pony's neck, till he was overthe nearest hill and descending into the valley, when he sat up andurged the pony on at as fast a gallop as the little beast could go.
"Nice promise of apples," said the landlord, contentedly smiling up atthe green clusters. "Now, if I could have my wish, I should like asplendid crop of fox-whelps and gennet-moyles. Then I should likepeace. Lastly, I should like to see all the gentry who are fighting andcutting one another's throats shake hands outside my door, and have amug of my best cider. And all these wishes I wish I may get. There,now I'll go in."
He went slowly back to the house, puffing away at his pipe, and directlyafter encountered his red-faced daughter, who looked ruddier than everas the old man looked at her searchingly, chuckling to himself thewhile. "I'll give her such a scare," he said.
"Want me, father?"
"Want you? Of course I do. Go and call Dick."
"Dick, father?" she faltered.
"Yes; didn't I speak plainly! Call Dick."
"He's--he's out."
"Who sent him out?"
"I--I did, father."
"Oh, you did, did you--without my leave?"
"Oh, father--father," cried the girl, sobbing, "don't--don't be angrywith me!"
"Not I, Polly," he cried, bending down and kissing her. "Only I don'tknow anything, and I don't want to know anything, mind."
"And you're not cross about it?"
"I'm not cross about anything; but I shall be if I don't have a mug ofcider, for I've been thinking, and thinking's thirsty work."
"Then you had been thinking that--"
"Never you mind what I had been thinking, my lass. My thoughts aremine, and your thoughts are yours, so keep 'em to yourself. When I'vehad my drop o' cider, I think I shall go out for a ride."
"Oh father!" cried the girl.
The old man chuckled.
"Don't you tell me that the pony has gone out, too," he said. "There,it's all right, Polly, only I don't know anything, and I won't be told."
CHAPTER TWENTY.
A SUDDEN REVERSE.
And all this time Fred Forrester rode on at the rear of his littledetachment, longing to get to Newton Abbot and be rid of his painfulcharge. The evening grew more pleasant and cool, the moths came out,and with them the bats, to dart and flit, and capture the myriad gnatswhich danced here and there beneath the trees. Then, as they passedbeneath some umbrageous oak, which stretched its ponderous and gnarledarms across the road, a night-hawk swooped from where it had beenresting upon its parrot toes, its beak toward the bole of the tree, andskimmed round and round for a time to capture a great moth or two in itswidespread, bristly-edged gape, before swiftly darting back to itsperch, where it commenced its loud, continuous purring noise, which diedsoftly away as the party rode on.
Sweet moist scents rose from the dewy ground, and as they neared amarshy pool, a low, musical whining and croaking told that the frogswhich made the stagnant place their home had a full belief that beforelong it would rain.
Tired though the party were, it was pleasant travelling now, and as somehorse, feeling freshened by the cool moist air, snorted and tossed itshead, there followed a loud tinkling of accoutrements and anuncalled-for increase of pace.
As they rode on deep down in a hollow between mighty hedges, a loud hailseemed to come from the road on the hillside, "Hoi, hoi!" which wasfollowed by another on the opposite slope, but no one stirred. The callof the hoot-owl was too familiar to the Coombeland men to deceive.
It was so dark at times down there amid the trees that the horses' headswere hardly visible, and when fire was struck by an impatient hoof froma loose stone, the flash given forth seemed by comparison to lighten upthe lane.
Half an hour's increasing darkness was followed by a glow in the east,and then, slowly rolling up, came the moon, to silver the patches offirs, to lighten the pensile birches, and make the glossy-leaved beechesglisten as if wet with rain or frosted with silver. The little riverwhich ran at the bottom of the valley, meandering on its way, shone outwith flashes of light, as the moon rose higher; and once, in the midstof Fred's gloomiest thoughts, came, like a gleam of the moon on thewater to lighten all around, the feeling that the world was, after all,a very beautiful place, and that it was man himself who made itmiserable.
"I mean boy," said Fred, in his musings. "No, I do not; I mean man, forhe is to blame for all this terrible war in which we are going againstthe king. But my father says it is just, so I have no right to thinkdifferently."
"How far are we from Newton, Samson?" he asked his follower.
"'Bout four miles now, sir. We've got to turn out of the main westroad, and go through the wood next. Soon be there now."
The turning was reached at the end of another half mile, and the advanceguard soon after came to the edge of the wood, through which a good roadhad been cut, the only drawback being that the overhanging trees made itdark.
Upon this occasion, though, the moon was rising higher and higher,pouring down a flood of silver light, which lit up the denser part withits soft diaphanous rays.
The solemn beauty of the scene, with its velvety shadows and silverylight, impressed every member of the party, so that they rode on insilence, the horses' hoofs sounding loudly, and the night being so stillthat the patter of the advance guard and of those in the rear wasplainly audible.
"How much more is there of this woodland, Samson?" asked Fred, after atime.
"Not much more, sir, though I can't be sure--it's so many years since Irode through it with your father--when I was quite a boy."
"What's that?"
"Nothing, sir. Fox, perhaps, or a deer. Everything sounds so plainlyon a night like this. Hear the advance?"
"Yes. Keep close, my lads," cried Fred. "No straggling in thedarkness."
The men closed up, and they were going steadily on, congratulatingthemselves on the fact that they would soon be out in the open. A keeneye was kept upon the prisoners, though there was very little chance fortheir escape. The bonds were secure, and their horses' bridles out oftheir reach, while, had there been a disposition to urge a horse awayfrom the rest, and make a dash for it in the darkness, the chances werethat the poor beast would have declined to stir from his companions.The horse is by nature an animal which, for mutual protection, goes witha drove of his fellows; and, allowing for the formality of cavalrymovements, there is something in the formation of troops and squadronsso similar to the natural habits of the horse, that they keep together,to such an extent that in warfare the "trooper" that has lost his riderregains the regiment and keeps in his place.
They were so near the edge of the wood now that the advance guard hadpassed through into the clear moonlight, and were going calmly
on infull security, as they believed, when all at once a clear sharp orderrang out on the night air; there was a quick trampling of horses, andthe road in front was occupied by a strong body of men, whose positionwas between Fred's little detachment and their advance guard.
To have gone on burdened with their prisoners would have meant failure,to have plunged to right or left into the dense black wood no betterthan madness. There was only one course open--retreat; and in theemergency, young as he was in military evolutions, Fred proved himselfworthy of his charge.
Setting spurs to his horse, he dashed to the front, giving his orderspromptly. The men faced round ready for action, and, in defiance of theloudly shouted commands to surrender, the prisoners' bridles were seizedand a rapid retreat commenced; but only for the little party to realisethat they were in a trap, for in the darkness ahead they heard freshshouts to surrender, from a second body of horsemen, who had been hiddenin the wood till they had passed, and now occupied the road--how strongit was impossible to tell.
However, here lay their route now. If he had known that he had an enemyin his rear, Fred would have made a dash forward to try and reach hisadvance guard. Under the circumstances, it would have been fresh wasteof time to turn, so again rushing to the front, he cheered on his men,and, sword in hand, charged, hoping by a bold manoeuvre to