shelterin the woodland yonder over the hill. Take a dozen men, surround them,and bring them in. Don't let one of them escape. Turned back by one ofthe regiments crossing their path as they were in retreat. Now, then,to horse and away!"
Burning with excitement, Fred forgot all his weariness, buckled hishorse's bit, mounted, and turned to select his men, when he found Samsonalready mounted, and at his elbow.
"Here, what do you want, sir?" he cried.
"What do I want, Master Fred? Why, to go with you."
"Nonsense! You are fagged out. Go and rest, and your horse too."
"Now, I do call that likely, Master Fred. Let you go without me. Ishould just think not."
"But this is nonsense, Samson. I want fresh men."
"Just what I thought, sir. Nonsense for you to go without me, and youdon't want no fresh men. You want me, and I'm coming--there!"
Fred had neither time nor inclination to combat his follower's desire;in fact, he was rather glad to have the sturdy, west-country man at hiselbow, so he rode up to the main portion of the regiment, selectedeleven out of a hundred who wanted to go with the young officer, androde off at a moderate trot across country, forded the stream, and then,bearing away from the woodland, made as if to leave it on his right, soas not to excite suspicion in case they were seen. But just as he waswell opposite, he gave an order, the men divided in two parties, and setoff at a gallop to surround the trees, the mounted men halting at abouta hundred yards apart, and waiting for the signal to advance.
The manoeuvre was soon executed, and the circle moved steadily towardthe centre of the park-like patch of ground, so open that as the ringgrew smaller there was not the slightest prospect of any of the enemybreaking through unseen.
Fred, in his anxiety to carry out his father's commands successfully,had remained at the foot of the wooded slope, Samson being on his rightand another trustworthy fellow on his left, for he felt sure that thoseof whom they were in search would break out in his direction. In fact,he sat there waiting for his men to drive the intended prisoners downfor him to take.
The task was not long, for the tramping of horses was heard, and therustling and crackling of the undergrowth; but the enemy did not breakcover.
At last, though, there was a rush and the clash of steel, and, with hisheart throbbing, the lad signed to his nearest men to close up, and theyadvanced together, then set spur to their horses, and made a dash for aclump of bushes, where three horsemen were striving to get out throughthe tangle; and as they reached them Fred uttered an exclamation full ofanger.
"Look at that!" cried Samson. "Why, they're our own men."
Fred uttered an impatient cry.
"Couldn't you see them?" he said to the first man who struggled out ofthe bushes.
"No, sir; nobody there."
"Then you must have missed them, and they are there now."
"We searched the place well," said another man; and one by one, as theparty closed up, they told the same tale.
"Father was deceived," thought Fred; and the more readily, that it wasnot the first example by many of pieces of false news brought in byspies.
"Here!" he cried aloud, "we'll all ride through again. Ah! look yonder.Forward! Gallop!" he shouted; and, setting spurs to his horse, hedashed off, followed by his men, for there, a quarter of a mile to theleft, was a little party of six horsemen stealing along a narrow coombe,after evading their pursuers in some way.
They were well in view as Fred emerged from the wooded land, and wereevidently spurring hard to escape, and for the next quarter of an hourthe chances seemed even, for the distance was maintained, and each partykept well together; but after that the pace began to tell, and horse andman tailed off till both parties seemed to be straggling over theground, the better-mounted to the front, the worse hanging behind.
It was soon evident that the pursuers' horses were far fresher thanthose of the Royalists; and after shouting to his men to come on, Fredraced forward, with Samson close behind, and after a headlong gallop ofabout ten minutes, the young leader had overtaken the hindmost horseman,who was standing in his stirrups, his morion close down over his eyes,his back up, and apparently blind to everything that was before him aswell as behind.
"Have him, Samson, lad," cried Fred, as he spurred on past this fugitiveto try and overtake the leader, a young-looking man in showy cavalierhat and feathers, who kept on turning in his saddle and encouraging hismen to fresh exertions.
The next minute, as they thundered along, Samson rode straight at theman with the morion over his eyes, but before he could reach him thefugitive's horse made a poor attempt to clear a bush in his way,stumbled, fell headlong, and shot his rider half a dozen yards in front.
"Prisoners; and don't hurt them," shouted Fred, waving his sword, andhis men gave an answering yell. So did the pursued, for no sooner didthe young leader discover that one of his men was down than he checkedhis horse, held up his sword for the others to rally round him, andturned at once on the party headed by Fred.
It was a gallant attempt, but useless. Their horses were spent, and asthey were checked before they could make any effective stand, Fred'sparty literally sprung at them. There was a sharp shock; the exchangeof a few blows, and it was all over, the little party being literallyridden down, their leader going over, horse and all, at Fred's charge.
The young Cavalier struggled free from his fallen horse, and tried todrag a pistol from the holster at his saddle-bow, for his sword hadflown a dozen yards away among the bushes; but Fred had him by the neckdirectly, his hand well inside the steel gorget he wore, and in onebreath he shouted, as he held his sword at his breast, "Surrender!" andthen, "Scar Markham! You!"
"Yes. Give up, my lads," cried the prisoner. "We've done all we could.Let the crop-ears have a few prisoners for once in a way."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
TEASING A PRISONER.
Fred Forrester was too much astonished at the result of his pursuit tomake any sharp retort, but sat holding his prisoner by the gorget,staring wildly at his old playmate, who seemed wonderfully changed sincetheir last meeting, and who had looked, in spite of dust and sweat, talland handsome in his gay frippery, scarf, scarlet feather, and longcurling hair.
"Well, rebel," cried the prisoner; and Fred started from his reverie."Am I the first you ever had the luck to take that you stare in thatway? Don't choke me."
Fred's tanned cheeks grew crimson, and his brow was knit as he turnedaway his face to look after his men, who in the meantime had taken thewhole of the little party, dismounted those who needed it, bound theirarms behind their back, and collected the horses.
"Look ye here, sir," cried Samson, dragging forward the man in themorion, who came behind limping, "I've got him at last. This is mywretch of a brother, who has taken up arms against me."
"Against you--you ill-looking dog!" cried Scarlett, fiercely. "How dareyou! Crop-eared rebel!"
"That will do, sir," said Fred, sternly; for, after being a littleoverawed by the gallant aspect of his prisoner, he was recoveringhimself, and recollecting his position. "Will you give your promise notto escape, or must I have you bound?"
"Promise to a set of knaves like you?" cried the youth, fiercely. "No.Do what you will; only, mind this--our time will come."
"Yes; and when it does," cried Nat, shaking his head to get rid of theiron cap which was over his eyes, for his hands were bound, "we'll showthem what it is to be rebels, eh, Master Scarlett--captain, I mean?"
"Silence, sir!" cried Fred, angrily; and, after giving the men orders,the little party returned with their prisoners in their midst, Scarlettbehind, gazing haughtily before him, and paying no heed to a few wordsaddressed to him at first by his captor, who reined back at the slight,and followed afterwards at the rear of his little troop, angry andindignant at Scarlett's contemptuous manner, and at the same time sorryand glad, the latter feeling perhaps predominating, for he hadsuccessfully carried out his father's commands.
"I wish it h
ad been some one else," he was thinking, as the little partyrode on, the prisoners mounted on their horses, but looking in sorryplight with their hands bound behind. "What will my father say when hesees who it is?"
At that moment the sound of angry voices and a hoarse laugh from thetroopers made Fred urge his horse forward.
"What is this?" he said. "I will not have the prisoners insulted."
"It's the prisoners insulting us, Master Fred--I mean captain. It'sthis ne'er-do-well of a brother o' mine bragging and bouncing becausehis hair's grown a bit longer than mine. He keeps calling me crop-ears,sir, and showing off as if he was a Cavalier."
"So you