CHAPTER III
TELLS HOW I FOUND DIANA AND SOONER THAN I DESERVED
It was growing dark when I reached a part of the road that I seemed torecognise; therefore I checked my steed to look about me.
Surely it was here or hereabouts that, upon a never-to-be-forgottenday, I had acted the craven and, fleeing in panic, yet (heaven bepraised!) had rushed back to be beaten into unconsciousness by Diana'sbrutal assailant. Surely it was beneath yonder tree that I had wakedto find my head pillowed in her lap, her cool hand upon my brow, herlovely face stooped above me full of tender solicitude.
Remembering which, I was seized of a sudden passionate longing for thetouch of her hand, to behold again this face radiant with love.
'My poor heart is breaking I think--so I have fled away to hide--'
As I sat my horse, seeing in fancy the blotted lines of this, herletter, to my yearning was added the triumphant assurance that inspite of everything she loved me still; but this thought in turn was'whelmed in despair because of the well-nigh hopelessness of mysearch.
And in this moment my wandering gaze lighted upon the shadowy outlineof a gate that opened in the hedge upon my right hand, upon a rollingmeadow with a gloom of shadowy trees beyond.
Next moment I was afoot, leading my horse, for surely this was thatgate through which she had led me, swooning with my hurts, across thismeadow, amid trees and underbrush, to that ruined and desolate barnwhich, she had once told me, had ever been her haven of refuge.
After some little delay, I contrived to open this gate and, leading myhorse, began to cross the meadow, glancing this way and that, oftenpausing unsure, fearful that my memory was at fault. In this hesitantmanner I proceeded until I was dimly aware that the ground sloped downbefore me into a place of shadows thick with dense-growing trees andbushes.
All at once I halted, a prey to many swift emotions, but chief ofthese joy and a thrilling, hopeful expectancy, for amid the deep gloombefore me I espied a faint beam of light, and I was praying withinmyself as, my gaze upon this blessed light, I descended into thedeeper shadows. Of necessity I went very slowly and cautiously until,the trees thinning out somewhat, enabled me to make out a blacklooming shape that gradually resolved itself into a barn; and it wasfrom the small opening or window beneath the gable that the beam oflight shone forth.
A solitary place and dismal, far removed from the world, a verysinister place, such indeed as might well be the haunt of grislyspectres; yet, with my gaze upturned to that beckoning light, I wouldnot have changed it, just then, for the most gorgeous palace in allthe world. Suddenly I halted again, my breath in check, to stare atthis dreadful place with eyes of horror, as from its impenetrablegloom came sounds that brought out the sweat upon my temples and setmy hand quivering upon the bridle,--a succession of hollow knocks andrappings whose dull reverberations seemed to fill the night.
For a long moment I stood thus, grasping my horse's bridle, shiveringfrom head to foot, and staring at the black and ominous shape beforeme in wide-eyed terror; then I heard that which brought me tomyself--nay, transformed me into a cool, dispassionate, relentlesscreature, reckless of all harms and dangers, intent only upon the onedesperate purpose.
Leading my horse in among the trees, I tethered him securely and beganto approach the barn very cautiously and with every nerve and sinewstrung to instant action, my heavy riding-whip grasped in ready hand.
The knocking had ceased and, creeping nearer, I found the doors openand, from the pitchy gloom of the interior, heard a hoarse gaspingthat spoke of vicious effort.
"Be damned t' ye, Dick!" panted a hoarse voice. "'Eave,man--'eave--her's a-laying across the trap--push, damn ye--"
"Aye, Tom--but her's got a knife!" panted a second voice. "Don't 'eforget 'er's got a knife!"
"An' what--good'll her knife be--once we get--our 'ands on 'er--'eave,I tell ye--both together--now!"
"Bide a bit, Tom--let's 'ave a light--"
"Light be damned--'eave, man!"
Fumbling my way to the wall, I began to creep towards the creakingladder where these panting, wrestling, evil things strove sodesperately. Once or twice came a swift beam of light, vivid in thepervading blackness, as the trap door was forced up an inch or so;brief, sudden gleams, that showed me the forms of two men crouchedupon the ladder, their shoulders bowed in passionate effort; and Iwaited until, loud-panting with their desperate exertions, they beganto force up the trap again.
"Now, Dick--now!" gasped a voice; and then as they strove again, Ileapt and smote with all my strength. A squeal of pain and terror, thesudden slam of the trap closing out all light, the impact of a heavybody upon the rotting hay that littered the floor, and a feeble,whining voice.
"Tom--O Tom--there's summat in 'ere wi' us--hurted bad I be--there'ssummat in 'ere as 'ave cut my 'ead open, Tom. O Tom, come down an''elp a pal--"
"What are ye yelpin' over now--and be cursed!" panted the man Tom fromthe ladder. "Th' gal's got money, I tell ye, an' 'er's a 'andsome titinto the bargain, so it's up wi' this 'ere trap--"
"O Tom, summat 'it me--come on down! There's summat or some one 'erewi' us--come down an' see--"
"'Ow can us see wi'out a light?"
"Well, I got my tinder box."
I heard the man Tom stumble down the ladder, heard the sound of flintand steel, saw their two evil heads outlined against the glow of thetinder as they blew and, leaping upon them, I smote with my heavyriding-whip again and yet again.
And now in the black horror of this ruined barn was pandemonium, awild uproar of shouts and cries, the sound of vicious blows, the shockof groaning bodies.
If they were two, they fought a mad creature who, careless of defence,unconscious of his own hurts, sought only to maim and rend; whetherreeling in desperate grapple or rolling half-smothered beneath myassailants, I fought as a wild beast might, utterly regardless ofmyself, with fingers that wrenched and tore, fists that smoteuntiring, feet that kicked and trampled, head that drove and butted--Iwas indeed a living weapon, as senseless to pain and asmerciless--intent only on destruction.
All suddenly was silence, a blessed quiet, save for the hoarse pant ofmy own breathing. Stumbling to the doorway, I leaned there, vaguelyglad the horrid business was over, since I found myself faint andsick. Afar off I heard lugubrious voices that called one to another, asnapping of twigs growing ever fainter, and a rustle of leaves thatmarked their flight.
Down my cheeks and into my eyes a sticky moisture was trickling that Iknew was blood, but the sweet night air revived me greatly so that, mystrength returning, I presently--stumbled back into the blackness ofthe barn, found my way to the ladder and leaned there a while. Andafter some time, I lifted heavy head and spoke:
"Diana--are you there--my Diana?"
Silence, and a sudden, sickening dread, a growing fear, insomuch thatI made shift to climb the ladder and, lifting heavy hand, rapped uponthe trap door:
"Diana--O Diana--are you there?"
An inarticulate cry, and next moment the trap door was lifted,revealing a square of vivid light, and in this radiant glory--Diana'sface.
"Diana," said I, wiping the blood from my eyes the better to beholdher loveliness, "Diana--when will you--marry me?"
"O Peregrine--oh, my beloved!"
And down to me she reached her strong and gentle arms to draw me upfrom the darkness into the glory of her presence.