CHAPTER IX.
A STUBBORN DEFENSE.
A half-dozen or so of Sir Ralph Willoughby's troopers declared that nowtheir lord was dead they would fight no further, and straightway rodeoff through the village and across the ford. The rest, however, seeingthat a brave fight against odds was about to commence, declared theirwillingness to put themselves under Harry's orders. They were at oncedismounted and scattered along the line of defenses. After the Roundheadcannon had fired a few shots their cavalry charged, thinking to rideinto the village. But the moment Sir Ralph's troopers had re-entered itHarry had heaped up across the road a quantity of young trees and busheswhich he had cut in readiness. Not a shot was fired until the horsemenreached this obstacle, and then so heavy a fire was poured upon them, asthey dismounted and tried to pull it asunder, that, with a loss of manymen, they were forced to retreat.
The infantry now advanced, and a severe fight began. Harry's eighty men,sheltered behind their walls, inflicted heavy damage upon the enemy,who, however, pressed on stoutly, one column reaching the obstructionacross the road, and laboring to destroy it. All the horses, with theexception of twenty, had been sent across the ford, and when Harry sawthat in spite of the efforts of his men the enemy were destroying theabattis, he mounted twenty men upon these horses, placing Jacob attheir head. Then he drew off as many defenders from other points as hecould, and bade these charge their pistols and blunderbusses to themouth with balls. As the enemy effected a breach in the abattis andstreamed in, Jacob with his horse galloped down upon them at full speed.The reserve poured the fire of their heavily loaded pieces upon the massstill outside, and then aided Jacob's horse by falling suddenly on thosewithin. So great was the effect that the enemy were driven back, and thecolumn retired, the breach in the abattis being hastily filled up,before the cavalry, who were waiting the opportunity, could charge downupon it.
In the meantime, however, the enemy were forcing their way in at otherpoints, and Harry gave word for the outside line of houses to be fired.The thatched roofs speedily were in flames, and as the wind was blowingfrom the river dense clouds of smoke rolled down upon the assailants. Itwas now only the intervals between the houses which had to be defended,and for an hour the stubborn resistance continued, the Royalist troopsdefending each house with its inclosure to the last, and firing them asthey retreated, their own loss being trifling in comparison with thatwhich they inflicted upon their assailants.
At last the whole of the defenders were gathered in and round the mill.This was defended from attack by the mill stream, which separated itfrom the village, and which was crossed only by the road leading down tothe ford. The bridge was a wooden one, and this had been already partlysawn away. As soon as the last of the defenders crossed the remainder ofthe bridge was chopped down. Along the line of the stream Harry haderected a defense, breast high, of sacks of wheat from the mill. Theenemy, as they straggled out through the burning village, paused, onseeing the strong position which yet remained to be carried. The millstream was rapid and deep, and the approaches swept by the fire from themill. There was a pause, and then the cannon were brought up and fireopened upon the mill, the musketry keeping up an incessant rattle fromevery wall and clump of bushes.
The mill was built of wood, and the cannon shot went through and throughit. But Harry directed his men to place rows of sacks along each floorfacing the enemy, and lying down behind these to fire through holespierced in the planks. For half an hour the cannonade continued, andthen the enemy were seen advancing, carrying beams and the trunks ofsmall trees, to make a bridge across the stream. Had Harry's men beenarmed with muskets it would have been next to impossible for the enemyto succeed in doing this in the face of their fire. But the fire oftheir short weapons was wild and uncertain, except at short distances.Very many of the Roundheads fell, but others pressed forward bravely,and succeeded in throwing their beams across the stream. By this timeHarry had led out all his force from the mill, and a desperate fighttook place at the bridge. The enemy lined the opposite bank in suchforce that none of the defenders could show their heads above thebarricade of sacks, and Harry came to the conclusion that furtherresistance was vain. He ordered Jacob to take all the men with theexception of ten and to retire at once across the ford. He himself withthe remainder would defend the bridge till they were fairly across, andwould then rush over and join them as he might.
With a heavy heart Jacob was preparing to obey this order, when he hearda loud cheer, and saw Prince Rupert, heading a large body of horse, dashinto the river on the other side. The enemy saw him too. There was aninstant cessation of their fire, and before Prince Rupert had gainedthe bank the Roundheads were already in full retreat for Reading. Thebridge was hastily repaired, and the prince pursued for some distance,chasing their cavalry well-nigh into Reading. Their infantry, however,held together, and regained that town in safety.
Upon his return Prince Rupert expressed his warm admiration at theprolonged and gallant defense which Harry had made, and said that theoldest soldier in the army could not have done better. At Harry'srequest he promised the villagers that the next day money should be sentout from the king's treasury to make good the losses which they hadsustained. Then he left a strong body of horse to hold the village, anddirected Harry to ride with him with his troop to Oxford.
"I have a mission for you, Master Furness," he said, as they rode along."I have already told his majesty how coolly and courageously youconducted yourself in that sore strait in which we were placed together.The king has need of a messenger to Scotland. The mission is a difficultone, and full of danger. It demands coolness and judgment as well ascourage. I have told his majesty that, in spite of your youth, youpossess these qualities, but the king was inclined to doubt whether youwere old enough to be intrusted with such a commission. After to-day'sdoings he need have no further hesitation. I spoke to your father butyesterday, and he has given consent that you shall go, the more readily,methinks, because the good Cavalier thinks that the morals and ways ofmany of our young officers to be in no wise edifying for you, and Icannot but say that he is right. What sayest thou?"
Harry expressed his willingness to undertake any mission with which hemight be charged. He thought it probable that no great movements wouldbe undertaken in the south for some time, and with a lad's natural loveof adventure, was pleased at the thought of change and variety.
The Scots were at this time arranging for a close alliance with theParliament, which had sent emissaries to Edinburgh to negotiate a SolemnLeague and Covenant. Sir Henry Vane, who was an Independent, had beenforced to accede to the demand of the Scotch Parliament, that thePresbyterian religious system of Scotland should be adopted as that ofEngland, and after much chaffering for terms on both sides, the documentwas signed, and was to bind those who subscribed it to endeavor, withoutrespect of persons, to extirpate popery and prelacy.
On the 25th of September, nearly a week after the battle of Newbury, allthe members of Parliament still remaining in London assembled in St.Margaret's Church, and signed the Solemn League and Covenant; but evenat this moment of enthusiasm the parties were not true to each other.The Scotch expected that Presbyterianism would be introduced intoEngland, and that Episcopacy would be entirely abolished. The Englishmembers, however, signed the declaration with the full intent ofpreserving their own religion, that of a form of Episcopacy, alteredmuch indeed from that of the Church of England, but still differingwidely from the Scotch system.
The king had many adherents in Scotland, chief of whom was the Earl ofMontrose, a most gallant and loyal nobleman.
Upon the day after the fight in the village the king, on Prince Rupert'srecommendation, appointed Harry Furness to bear dispatches to the earl,and as he was going north, Prince Rupert placed Lady Sidmouth and herdaughter under his charge to convey to the army of the Earl ofNewcastle, under whom her husband was at this time engaged.
Upon asking what force he should take with him the prince said that hehad better proceed with his own troop
, as an escort to the ladies, asfar as the camp of Newcastle, filling up the places of those who hadfallen in the skirmishes and fight of Newbury with other men, so as topreserve his full tale of fifty troopers. When he had fulfilled thefirst part of his mission he was to place his troop at the earl'sservice until his return, and to proceed in such manner and disguise asmight seem best to him.
Harry started for the north in high spirits, feeling very proud of thecharge confided to him. Lady Sidmouth and her daughter were placed in alight litter between two horses. Harry took his place beside it. Halfthe troop, under the command of the lieutenant, rode in front; the otherhalf followed. So they started for the north. It was a long journey, asthey were forced to avoid many towns occupied by Roundheads. Upon thefourth day of their journey they suddenly heard the explosion ofpistols, and the shouts of men in conflict. Harry ordered his lieutenantto ride forward with half the troop to some rising ground just in front,and there they saw a combat going on between a party of Cavaliers and aforce of Roundheads, much superior to them in numbers. Harry joined thelieutenant, and sending back a man with orders to the remaining half ofthe troop to form a guard round the litter, he headed the advance party,and the twenty-five men rode headlong down into the scene of conflict.It was a sharp fight for a few minutes, and then the accession ofstrength which the Cavaliers had gained gave them the superiority, andthe Roundheads fell back, but in good order.
"You arrived just in time, sir," the leader of the party engaged said."I am Master John Chillingworth, and am marching to Hardley House, whichthe Puritans are about to besiege. There is no time to delay, for seeyou not on yonder hill the gleam of pikes? That is the enemy's footmen.It is only an advanced party of their horse with which we have had thisaffair. You cannot go forward in this direction. There is a strong bodyof Roundheads lying a few miles to the north."
Harry rode back to Lady Sidmouth, and after a consultation with her andwith Master Chillingworth, they decided to throw themselves into HardleyHouse, where the addition of strength which they brought might enablethem to beat off the Roundheads, and then to proceed on their way. Theylearned indeed from a peasant that several bodies of Roundheads wereadvancing from various directions, and that Hardley House was strong andwell defended. Of the choice of evils, therefore, they thought this tobe the lightest, and, after an hour's hard riding, they arrived beforeits walls. It was an old castellated building, with bastions and wallscapable of standing a siege. The party were gladly received by themaster, Sir Francis Burdett, who had placed his castle in a posture ofdefense, but was short of men. Upon the news of the approach of theenemy he had hastily driven a number of cattle into the yard, and hadstores of provisions sufficient to stand a siege for some time.
In a short time the Parliament force, consisting of five hundred footmenand two hundred horse, appeared before the castle, and summoned it tosurrender. Sir Francis refused to do so, and fired a gun in token ofdefiance. Soon a train was seen approaching in the distance, and fourguns were dragged by the enemy to a point of high ground near thecastle. Here the Roundheads began to throw up a battery, but weremightily inconvenienced while doing so by the guns of the castle, whichshot briskly against them. Working at night, however, in two days theycompleted the battery, which, on the third morning, opened fire upon thecastle. The guns were much heavier than those upon the walls, and theshot, directed at a curtain between two towers, battered the stonesorely. The Parliament footmen were drawn back a space from the walls soas to avoid the fire of muskets from the defenders. There were in all inthe castle about two hundred men, one hundred having been collectedbefore the arrival of the troops of horse. These determined upon makinga desperate resistance when the wall should give way, which would, theydoubted not, be upon the following day. Everything that could be donewas tried to hinder the destruction made by the enemy's shot. Numbers ofsacks were filled with earth, and lowered from the walls above so as tohang in regular order before it, and so break the force of the shot.This had some effect, but gradually the wall crumbled beneath the blowsof the missiles from the Roundhead guns.
"We are useless here, save as footmen," Harry said that night to hishost. "There is a postern gate, is there not, behind the castle?Methinks that if we could get out in the dark unobserved, and form closeto the walls, so that their pickets lying around might not suspect us ofpurposing to issue forth, we might, when daylight dawned, make an attackupon their guns, and if we could spike these the assault would probablycease."
The attempt was determined upon. The Roundhead infantry were disposedbehind as well as in front of the castle, so as to prevent the escape ofthe besieged; but the camp was at a distance of some four hundred yards.The chains of the drawbridge across the moat were oiled, as were thebolts of the doors, and at three in the morning the gate was opened, andthe drawbridge lowered across the moat. A thick layer of sacks was thenplaced upon the drawbridge. The horses' hoofs were also muffled withsacking, and then, one by one, the horses were led out, the drawbridgewas drawn up again, and all was quiet. No sound or motion in the Puritancamp betrayed that their exit was observed, and they could hear thechallenges of the circuit of sentries passed from man to man.
When the first streak of dawn was seen in the east the troop mountedtheir horses, and remained quiet until the light should be sufficient toenable them to see the nature of the ground over which they would haveto pass. This they would be able to do before they themselves wereobserved, standing as they were close under the shadow of the walls ofthe castle. As soon as it was sufficiently light the trumpets sounded,and with a burst they dashed across the country. Heeding not the buglecalls in the camp of the Puritan infantry, they rode straight at theguns. These were six hundred yards distant, and before the artillerymencould awake to their danger, the Royalists were upon them. Those thatstood were cut down, and in a minute the guns were spiked. Then thecavalry swept round, and as the Puritan horse hastily formed up, theycharged them. Although but half their numbers, they had the superiorityin the surprise at which they took their foes, and in the fact of thelatter being but half armed, not having had time to put on theirbreastplates. The combat was a short one, and in a few minutes thePuritans were flying in all directions. The pikemen were now approachingon either side in compact bodies, and against these Harry knew that hishorsemen could do nothing. He therefore drew them off from the castle,and during the day circled round and round the place, seizing severalcarts of provisions destined for the wants of the infantry, and holdingthem in a sort of leaguer.
That night, finding that their guns were disabled, their horse defeated,and themselves cut off, the rebel infantry drew off, and gave up thesiege of the place. The next morning the cavalry re-entered the castlein triumph, and having received the hearty thanks of Sir FrancisBurdett, and leaving with him the troop of Master Chillingworth, whointended to remain there, Harry proceeded on his way north, and reachedYork without further adventure.
During the ten days that they had journeyed together Lady Sidmouth hadbeen greatly pleased with the attention and character of Harry Furness.He was always cheerful and courteous, without any of that light tone offlippancy which distinguished the young Cavaliers of the period, and herlittle daughter was charmed with her companion. Harry received thehearty thanks of Sir Henry Sidmouth for the care with which he hadconducted his wife through the dangers of the journey, and then, havingso far discharged his duty, he left his troop at York, and started forScotland.
On the way he had discussed with Jacob the measures which he intended totake for his journey north. Jacob had begged earnestly to accompany him,and as Harry deemed that his shrewdness might be of great use, hedetermined to take him with him, as well as another of his troop. Thelatter was a merry fellow, named William Long. He was of grave and soberdemeanor, and never smiled, even while causing his hearers to beconvulsed with laughter. He had a keen sense of humor, was aready-witted and courageous fellow, and had frequently distinguishedhimself in the various skirmishes. He was the son of a small tenant ofSir Henry Fur
ness.
His farm was near the hall, and, although three or four years olderthan Harry, he had as a boy frequently accompanied him when out hawking,and in other amusements. Harry felt that, with two attached and faithfulcomrades like these, he should he able to make his way through manydangers. At York he had procured for himself and his followers suits ofclothes of a grave and sober cut, such as would be worn by yeomen; andhere they laid aside their Cavalier garments, and proceeded northward.They traveled quietly forward as far as Durham, and then went west, asBerwick was held for the Parliament. They carried weapons, for at thattime none traveled unarmed, and the country through which they had topass was greatly disturbed, the moss troopers having taken advantage ofthe disorders of the times to renew the habits of their forefathers, andto make raids upon their southern neighbors, and carry off cattle andhorses. They carried with them but little money, a small quantity intheir valises, and a few gold pieces concealed about their persons, eachchoosing a different receptacle, so that in case of pillage some atleast might retain sufficient to carry them on their way. Avoiding thelarge towns, where alone they would be likely to be questioned, theycrossed the border, and rode into Scotland.
Upon the day after their crossing the frontier they saw a body ofhorsemen approaching them. These drew up when they reached them, Harryhaving previously warned his comrades to offer no resistance, as theparty were too strong for them, and his mission was too important toallow the king's cause to be hazarded by any foolish acts of pugnacity.
"Are you for the king or the kirk?" the leader asked.
"Neither for one nor the other," Harry said. "We are peaceable yeomentraveling north to buy cattle, and we meddle not in the disputes of thetime."
"Have you any news from the south?"
"Nothing," Harry replied. "We come from Durham, and since the news ofthe battle of Newbury, no tidings have come of importance."
The man looked inquisitively at the horses and valises; but Harry hadchosen three stout ponies sufficiently good to carry them, but offeringno temptations to pillagers, and the size of the valises promised butlittle from their contents.
"Since you are riding north to buy cattle," the leader said, "you musthave money with you, and money is short with us in these bad times."
"We have not," Harry said; "judging it possible that we might meet withgentlemen who felt the pressure of the times, we have provided ourselveswith sufficient only to take us up to Kelso, where dwells ourcorrespondent, who will, we trust, have purchased and collectedsufficient cattle for us to take south when we shall learn that a convoyof troops is traveling in this direction, for we would not placetemptation in the way of those whom we might meet."
"You are a fellow of some humor," the leader said grimly. "But it isevil jesting on this side of the border."
"I jest not," Harry said. "There is a proverb in Latin, with whichdoubtless your worship is acquainted, to the effect that an emptytraveler may sing before robbers, and, although far from including youand your worshipful following in that category, yet we may be pardonedfor feeling somewhat light-hearted, because we are not overburdened withmoney."
The leader looked savagely at the young man; but seeing that hisdemeanor and that of his followers was resolute, that they carriedpistols at their holsters and heavy swords, and deeming that nothing buthard knocks would come of an attack upon them, he surlily bade hiscompany follow him, and rode on his way again.