Crown and Sceptre: A West Country Story

and there will be a battle here."

  As he listened, trying hard to stifle his breathing and the throbbingsof his heart, which sounded so loud that he felt sure he would be heard,the Parliamentary officer turned uneasily upon his bed, mutteredsomething about home, and then his breathing became regular and deep.

  When Scarlett had started upon his expedition to see if the enemy werenear, and finding that they had taken possession of the Hall, determinedto make use of the secret passage and see how his mother fared, he knewthat everything depended upon quickness of movement, and that fightingwould be of no avail. So he had stripped off buff jerkin and gorget,and placed them, his weapons, cavalier hat, and heavy horseman's bootsin the wood where he had secured his horse. Hence he was absolutelydefenceless.

  He thought of this as he for a moment dwelt upon the possibility ofslaying this man as he slept, and so escaping.

  But he indignantly thrust from him the treacherous thought, and trustingto the possibility of getting away when his enemy should be soundasleep, he gradually let the curtain fall to his feet.

  In the silence of that room the noise made as the thick material rustleddown, seemed to Scarlett to be enough to awaken the sleeper, but he didnot stir; and after waiting a few minutes, which seemed like an hour,the young Royalist began to move gently from his hiding-place.

  The distance he had to traverse was very short, but there was a greatdifficulty awaiting him--the removal of the table and the other objectplaced against the door. But the sleeper was sound enough now, andScarlett's hopes began to rise as, with outstretched hands, he softlytouched the stand upon which lay the sword, and then his heart'spulsations seemed to stop, for he kicked against one of the heavyjack-boots in the darkness, and the great stiff leather foot and legcovering fell over with what seemed quite a loud noise, while to hishorror Scarlett learned that the door between the rooms was open, soplainly sounded the other officer's voice.

  "Anything the matter?" he said; and there was the rustling sound of onerising upon his elbow.

  It was the saving instinct of the moment, and it had its intendedeffect, the boldness of the conception carrying all before it. For, asthe officer in his sister's room asked that question, Scarlett coveredhis face with his hand, and uttered a deep yawn, like that of ahalf-sleeping man.

  For a moment or two he dreaded lest he had betrayed himself, but to hisintense delight, as he stood with every sense on the strain, he heardthe questioner subside in his place, and Scarlett, with a quickappreciation of his difficulties, seized the opportunity of the man'smovement to cover the sound he made as he glided quickly across the roomto the door, laid his hand upon the table, and recognised it by thetouch as the one which generally stood in the great embayment of thewindow.

  But, just as he touched the heavy carved side, he broke out into a coldperspiration, for there came in a sharp, short, imperious tone--

  "Halt!"

  "He was not asleep," thought Scarlett; and in an instant he had seizedthe table to drag it away, when a loud sound from the adjoining chambermade him drop down on his hands and knees, in the expectation of abullet from a petronel.

  The sound he had heard was that of a man leaping from his bed. Thenthere were the dull soft steps of stockinged feet, and he could hear thesecond officer enter the room.

  "What's the matter?" he said, as he advanced toward the bed where hiscompanion lay.

  "Left troop to the front!" came from the bed.

  "Poor old fellow!" muttered the second officer. "He cannot even keepthis weary work out of his sleep."

  Scarlett heard him walk back to the inner room, and as soon as he feltthat the door was passed, he began to feel for the second obstaclebetween him and liberty.

  For a few moments he could not make out what it was. He tried softly toleft and right, but there was nothing. All he could detect was that theend of the long table was against the door, and then as he rose andstretched his hand across it, he discovered at once what it was--nothingbut a heavy oaken chest, which had been lifted up and stood upon thetable, to give it weight.

  Meanwhile, he could hear every movement of the occupant of the innerchamber, and a dull feeling of despair came upon him, as he knew that toattempt to stir the table, heavily laden as it was, would make so muchnoise that he would be detected.

  "But could I get through in time to reach the stair?" he thought.

  Impossible! He would be heard by the officer, and probably by thesentinel in the hall, and with his heart sinking, he determined to makefor the window, and drop down from there.

  The casement was still open, and crossing softly, he cautiously lookedout, to find that a couple of sentinels were marching to and fro to meetevery minute just beneath the spot where he stood.

  "No," he said to himself, "there is but one road;" and going back to thetable, he nerved himself for the effort, and began to draw it softlyaway by almost imperceptible degrees.

  Fortunately for him, the floor by the door was covered by a thick rug,over which the table began to move; but, to Scarlett's horror, it hadnot passed a couple of inches before there was a sharp crack.

  An impatient movement came from the far room, and Scarlett knew as wellas if he were present in the broad daylight, that the officer hadstarted up and was listening; but, fortunately at that moment, the heavysleeper said something aloud and stirred upon the bed.

  This was sufficient to satisfy his companion, who lay down again. Butit was impossible to attempt more for a time, and the would-be fugitivewas forced to crouch there, letting the valuable moments fly, andfretting, as he knew how impossible it would be for him to escape if hewaited till day.

  At last, with the feeling of despair upon him strongly, he seized thetable again, and, lifting one end, drew it slowly towards him, this timefinding, to his great delight, that the rug glided with it over theoaken boards, so that he knew that with a little more effort, theobstacle would be sufficiently far away for him to open the door.

  Had it been light, he would have seen the danger, but, all he realisedwas that the table came along more and more easily, and then in theblack darkness there was a loud crash, the coffer placed upon the tablehad, consequent upon its being inclined, glided slowly over the polishedsurface, till it was right beyond the edge, and then it was but a matterof moments before it overbalanced and fell.

  Scarlett heard two loud ejaculations and the leaping of his enemies fromtheir beds; but, quick as thought, he had dragged the door open, boundedinto the corridor, and ran to the left to the top of the stairs.

  He was in the act of seizing the balustrade, when shouts came from thedoor he had left. Worse still, he saw a faint spark of light below him,and heard the challenge of the sentry in the hall.

  To have tried to escape by the passage would have meant the discovery ofthe way, for there was not time to get the stair open, so withouthesitation, as he heard the alarm spreading, he dashed down the stairs,followed by the shouts of the two officers as other doors were opened,and the noise of gathering feet could be heard.

  There was a sharp flash, a loud report, and Scarlett heard the thud inthe wainscot beside him as he leaped the last half-dozen stairs, righton to the sentinel, who was driven backward by the force of the blow,while Scarlett darted across the hall, through the porch, and betweentwo of the men stationed outside so closely that they touched him.

  "Fire, fire!" roared a voice from the gallery, and matches were blown,and shots went whizzing after the fugitive, who was hard followed byhalf a dozen of the heavily armed men.

  But the darkness held good, and Scarlett had the advantage of knowingevery inch of the ground, every bush and clump which could give himshelter; and besides, he was dressed for running, his pursuers beingheavily hindered by their thick garments, steel protections, and heavyboots.

  Still the pursuit was kept up, and the piquets round, alarmed by thesounds of firing, began to close in.

  It was a desperate game to play, but Scarlett played it. He madestraight for the lake, and kept
as near to its bank as he could for theoverhanging trees, till he neared the eastern end, where, with theshouts of his pursuers ringing in his ears, he slowly lowered himselfdown by the steep rocky bank, stepped silently into the clear water,which looked terribly black and treacherous, waded out a short distance,with the water rapidly rising to his chest, then to his chin, and beganswimming as easily as an otter for the opposite side.

  It was a cold plunge, but Scarlett did not notice it in his excitement.His mind was too much taken up with endeavouring to swim steadily andquietly, so as not to betray his whereabouts by a splash.

  As he swam, he could see lights moving about in the Hall, and he couldtell by the shouts that his pursuers were not very far distant, whilesoon after he began to realise, with a profound feeling of satisfaction,that the men and their leaders had come to the conclusion that they hadonly to form a line across from the house down to the shore in twoplaces to succeed in capturing him, for the lake