CHAPTER XV
Lord Dunseveric and Maurice breakfasted together at eight o'clock on themorning of Neal's escape. They sat in the room where Lord O'Neill lay,and had a table spread for them beside the window. It was impossibleto eat a meal in any comfort elsewhere in the inn. Indeed, but forthe special exertions of the master and his maid it would have beendifficult to get food at all. Maurice was triumphant and excited. SinceNeal had not been brought back it was reasonable to suppose that he hadmade good his escape out of the town, and there was every hope that hewould get safe to the coast. Once there he had friends enough to feedhim, and hiding-places known to few, and almost inaccessible to soldiersor yeomen.
Lord Dunseveric asked no questions about Maurice's doings in the night.He felt perfectly confident that Neal had got off somehow. The detailsof the business he would hear later on. For the present he preferred toknow nothing about them.
An officer entered the room and handed a letter to Lord Dunseveric.It was a request, in civil language enough, that he would meet GeneralClavering in the public room of the inn at nine o'clock, and thatMaurice would accompany his father.
General Clavering sat at the head of the table when Lord Dunseveric andMaurice entered. Three or four of the senior officers of the regulartroops sat with him. Captain Twinely, in a suit of clothes he hadborrowed from the master of the inn, and one of his men, stood near thefireplace. The room had been cleared of the drunken sleepers, but a gooddeal of the _debris_ of their revel--empty bottles, broken glasses, andlittle pools of spilt wine--were still visible on the floor.
"I have to announce to you, Lord Dunseveric," said the general, "thatthe prisoner who was confined in the inn cellar last night, Neal Ward,has escaped."
Lord Dunseveric bowed, and smiled slightly. His eye lighted on CaptainTwinely, and his smile broadened. The landlord's suit fitted the captainextremely ill.
"Indeed," he said, "Captain Twinely seems to be unfortunate with regardto this particular prisoner. This is, let me see, the third time thatNeal Ward has--ah!--evaded his vigilance."
"The sentry who guarded the door of the cellar," said GeneralClavering, "was attacked, overpowered, bound, and gagged."
"By the prisoner?"
"No, my lord, by some one who assisted the prisoner to escape, who,after dealing with the sentry as I have described, unlocked the door ofthe cellar with a key, the duplicate of that which Captain Twinely hadin his pocket. This man and the prisoner subsequently stripped CaptainTwinely of his uniform, and, as I learn from my sentries, Neal Wardpassed through our lines in the disguise of a captain of yeomanry."
"You surprise me," said Lord Dunseveric, "a daring stratagem; alaughable scheme, too. I trust you took no cold, Captain. I confess thatI should have liked to have seen you in your shirt tails this morning.You were, I presume," he stirred a little heap of broken glass with hisfoot as he spoke, "_vino gravatus_ when they relieved you of your tunic.But what has all this to do with me?"
"Merely this," said General Clavering, "that your son is accused ofhaving effected the prisoner's escape."
Lord Dunseveric looked at Maurice, looked him quietly up and down, as ifhe saw him then for the first time.
"I can believe," he said, "that my son might overpower the sentry. Heis, as you see, a young man of considerable personal strength, butI should be surprised to learn that he dressed the prisoner in thecaptain's uniform. I may be misjudging my son, but I have hithertoregarded him as somewhat deficient in humour. You must admit, GeneralClavering, that only a man with a feeling for the ridiculous would havethought of----"
"It will be better for you to hear what the sentry has to say, my lord,and I beg of you to regard the matter seriously. I assure you it willnot bear joking on. The rescue of a prisoner is a grave offence. CaptainTwinely, kindly order your man to tell his story."
"Since I am not a prisoner at the bar," said Lord Dunseveric, "I shall,with your permission, sit down. As to the seriousness of the businessin hand, I confess that for the moment the thought of the worthy Twinelywaking this morning not only with a splitting headache but withouta pair of breeches on him keeps the humorous side of the situationprominent in my mind."
The sentry told his story. To Maurice's great relief, he omitted allmention of the girl who had supplied the lamp which so convenientlyburnt low, but he had recognised Maurice and was prepared to swear tohis identity.
"No doubt," said General Clavering, "you will wish to cross-questionthis man, my lord."
Lord Dunseveric yawned.
"I think that quite unnecessary," he said, "a much simpler way ofarriving at the truth of the story will be to ask my son whetherhe rescued the prisoner or not. Maurice, did you bind and gag thisexcellent trooper?"
"Yes."
"Did you subsequently release Neal Ward from the cellar?"
"Yes."
"Now, Maurice, be careful about your answer to my next question. Did youtake the clothes off Captain Twinely?"
"Yes."
"And was that part of the scheme entirely your own? Did the ideaoriginate with you or with the prisoner whom you helped to escape?"
"It was my idea."
"I apologise to you, Maurice. I did you an injustice. You have a certainsense of humour. It is not perhaps of the most refined kind, still youhave, no doubt, provided a joke which will appeal to the officers' messin Belfast, Dublin, and elsewhere; which will be told after dinner inmost houses in the county for many a year to come. And now, GeneralClavering, I presume there is no more to be said. I wish you goodmorning."
"Stop a minute," said General Clavering, "you cannot seriously supposethat your son, simply because he is your son, is to be allowed tointerfere with the course of justice?"
"Of justice?" asked Lord Dunseveric in a tone of mild surprise.
"With His Majesty's officers in the execution of their duty--that is,to release prisoners whom I have condemned--I, the general in commandcharged with the suppression of an infamous rebellion. Your son, mylord, will have to abide the consequences of his acts."
"Maurice," said Lord Dunseveric, "it is evident that you are going tobe hanged. General Clavering is going to hang you. It is reallyprovidential that you didn't steal his breeches. He would probably haveflogged you first and hanged you afterwards if you had."
"Damn your infernal insolence," broke out General Clavering furiously,"You think that because you happen to be a lord and own a few dirtyacres of land that you can sit there grinning like an ape and insultingme. I'll teach you, my lord, I'll teach you. By God, I'll teach you andevery other cursed Irishman to speak civil to an English officer. Youshall know your masters, by the Almighty, before I've done with you."
Lord Dunseveric rose to his feet. He fixed his eyes on GeneralClavering, and spoke slowly and deliberately.
"I ride at once to Dublin," he said. "I shall lay an account of yourdoings and the doings of your troops before His Majesty's representativethere. I shall then cross to England, approach my Sovereign and yours,General Clavering. I shall see that justice is done between you and thepeople you have outraged and harried. As to my son, I have work for himto do. I shall make myself responsible for his appearance before a courtof justice when he is summoned. In the meanwhile, I neither recogniseyou as my master nor your will as my law. I appeal to the constitutionalliberties of this kingdom of Ireland and to the right of every citizento a fair trial before a jury of his fellow-countrymen. You shall notarrest, try, or condemn my son otherwise than as the law allows."
General Clavering grew purple in the face. He stuttered, cursed, laidhis hand on his sword, and took a step forward. Lord Dunseveric, hishands behind his back, a sneer of contempt on his face, looked straightat the furious man in front of him.
"Do you propose," he said, "to stab me and then hang my son?"
This was precisely what General Clavering would have liked to do, but hedared not. He turned instead on Captain Twinely.
"Let me tell you, sir, that you're a damned idiot, an incompetentofficer, a b
esotted fool, and your men are a lot of cowardly loons.You had this infernal young rebel safe and you let him go. You not onlyallowed him to walk off, but you actually provided him with a suit ofclothes to go in. You're the cause of all the trouble. Get your troopto horse. Scour the country for him. Don't leave a house that you don'tsearch, nor a bed that you don't run your sword through. Don't leave adung-heap without raking it, or a haystack that you don't scatter. Getthat man back for me, wherever he hides himself, or, by God, I'll haveyou shot for neglect of duty in time of war, and your damned yeomenburied alive in the same grave with you."
The general was still bent on teaching the Irish to know their mastersand making good his boast of reducing them to the tameness of "geltcats." With Captain Twinely, at least, he seemed likely to succeed.
"I can imagine, Maurice," said Lord Dun-severic, when they were alonetogether again, "that Captain Twinely and his men have at last got a jobto suit them. Sticking swords through old wives feather beds is saferwork than sticking them through rebels. Scattering haystacks will bepleasanter than scattering pikemen. Raking dung heaps will, I suppose,be an entirely congenial occupation."
His tone changed, He spoke rapidly and seriously.
"You will ride with me as far as Belfast. From there you must find somemeans of communicating with the captain of that Yankee brig of which youtold me. If necessary, go yourself to Glasgow and find the man. Pay himwhat he asks and arrange that he lies off Dunseveric and picks up Neal.You must then go home and see to it yourself that Neal gets safe onboard. It may not be easy, for the yeomen will be after him; but it hasgot to be done. I go to Dublin as I said. I shall have some troublein settling this business of yours. It really was an audaciousproceeding--your rescue of the prisoner. It will take me all my timeto get it hushed up. Besides, I must use my influence to prevent badbecoming worse in this unfortunate country of ours. By the way, did youmake any arrangement for the return of Captain Twinely's uniform whenNeal had finished with it?"
"No, I never thought of that."
"You ought to have thought of it. Poor Captain Twinely looks very odd inthe inn-keeper's clothes, which do not fit him in the least."