Chapter XV. Of our Brush with the King's Dragoons
Some little distance from us a branch road ran into that along which weand our motley assemblage of companions-in-arms were travelling. Thisroad curved down the side of a well-wooded hill, and then over the levelfor a quarter of a mile or so before opening on the other. Just at thebrow of the rising ground there stood a thick bristle of trees, amid thetrunks of which there came and went a bright shimmer of sparkling steel,which proclaimed the presence of armed men. Farther back, where the roadtook a sudden turn and ran along the ridge of the hill, several horsemencould be plainly seen outlined against the evening sky. So peaceful,however, was the long sweep of countryside, mellowed by the golden lightof the setting sun, with a score of village steeples and manor-housespeeping out from amongst the woods, that it was hard to think that thethundercloud of war was really lowering over that fair valley, and thatat any instant the lightning might break from it.
The country folk, however, appeared to have no difficulty at all inunderstanding the danger to which they were exposed. The fugitives fromthe West gave a yell of consternation, and ran wildly down the road orwhipped up their beasts of burden in the endeavour to place as safe adistance as possible between themselves and the threatened attack. Thechorus of shrill cries and shouts, with the cracking of whips, creakingof wheels, and the occasional crash when some cart load of goods came togrief, made up a most deafening uproar, above which our leader's voiceresounded in sharp, eager exhortation and command. When, however, theloud brazen shriek from a bugle broke from the wood, and the head ofa troop of horse began to descend the slope, the panic became greaterstill, and it was difficult for us to preserve any order at all amidstthe wild rush of the terrified fugitives.
'Stop that cart, Clarke,' cried Saxon vehemently, pointing with hissword to an old waggon, piled high with furniture and bedding, which waslumbering along drawn by two raw-boned colts. At the same moment I sawhim drive his horse into the crowd and catch at the reins of anothersimilar one.
Giving Covenant's bridle a shake I was soon abreast of the cart whichhe had indicated, and managed to bring the furious young horses to astand-still.
'Bring it up!' cried our leader, working with the coolness which only along apprenticeship to war can give. 'Now, friends, cut the traces!'A dozen knives were at work in a moment, and the kicking, strugglinganimals scampered off, leaving their burdens behind them. Saxon sprangoff his horse and set the example in dragging the waggon across theroadway, while some of the peasants, under the direction of ReubenLockarby and of Master Joshua Pettigrue, arranged a couple of othercarts to block the way fifty yards further down. The latter precautionwas to guard against the chance of the royal horse riding throughthe fields and attacking us from behind. So speedily was the schemeconceived and carried out, that within a very few minutes of the firstalarm we found ourselves protected front and rear by a lofty barricade,while within this improvised fortress was a garrison of a hundred andfifty men.
'What firearms have we amongst us?' asked Saxon hurriedly.
'A dozen pistols at the most,' replied the elderly Puritan, who wasaddressed by his companions as Hope-above Williams. 'John Rodway,the coachman, hath his blunderbuss. There are also two godly men fromHungerford, who are keepers of game, and who have brought their pieceswith them.'
'They are here, sir,' cried another, pointing to two stout, beardedfellows, who were ramming charges into their long-barrelled muskets.'Their names are Wat and Nat Millman.'
'Two who can hit their mark are worth a battalion who shoot wide,' ourleader remarked, 'Get under the waggon, my friends, and rest your piecesupon the spokes. Never draw trigger until the sons of Belial are withinthree pikes' length of ye.'
'My brother and I,' quoth one of them, 'can hit a running doe at twohundred paces. Our lives are in the hands of the Lord, but two, atleast, of these hired butchers we shall send before us.'
'As gladly as ever we slew stoat or wild-cat,' cried the other, slippingunder the waggon. 'We are keeping the Lord's preserves now, brother Wat,and truly these are some of the vermin that infest them.'
'Let all who have pistols line the waggon,' said Saxon, tying his mareto the hedge--an example which we all followed. 'Clarke, do you takecharge upon the right with Sir Gervas, while Lockarby assists MasterPettigrue upon the left. Ye others shall stand behind with stones.Should they break through our barricades, slash at the horses with yourscythes. Once down, the riders are no match for ye.'
A low sullen murmur of determined resolution rose from the peasants,mingled with pious ejaculations and little scraps of hymn or of prayer.They had all produced from under their smocks rustic weapons of somesort. Ten or twelve had petronels, which, from their antique look andrusty condition, threatened to be more dangerous to their possessorsthan to the enemy. Others had sickles, scythe-blades, flails,half-pikes, or hammers, while the remainder carried long knives andoaken clubs. Simple as were these weapons, history has proved that inthe hands of men who are deeply stirred by religious fanaticism they areby no means to be despised. One had but to look at the stern, set facesof our followers, and the gleam of exultation and expectancy which shonefrom their eyes, to see that they were not the men to quail, either fromsuperior numbers or equipment.
'By the Mass!' whispered Sir Gervas, 'it is magnificent! An hour of thisis worth a year in the Mall. The old Puritan bull is fairly at bay. Letus see what sort of sport the bull-pups make in the baiting of him! I'lllay five pieces to four on the chaw-bacons!'
'Nay, it's no matter for idle betting,' said I shortly, for hislight-hearted chatter annoyed me at so solemn a moment.
'Five to four on the soldiers, then!' he persisted. 'It is too good amatch not to have a stake on it one way or the other.'
'Our lives are the stake,' said I.
'Faith, I had forgot it!' he replied, still mumbling his toothpick. '"Tobe or not to be?" as Will of Stratford says. Kynaston was great on thepassage. But here is the bell that rings the curtain up.'
Whilst we had been making our dispositions the troop of horse--for thereappeared to be but one--had trotted down the cross-road, and had drawnup across the main highway. They numbered, as far as I could judge,about ninety troopers, and it was evident from their three-corneredhats, steel plates, red sleeves, and bandoliers, that they were dragoonsof the regular army. The main body halted a quarter of a mile from us,while three officers rode to the front and held a short consultation,which ended in one of them setting spurs to his horse and cantering downin our direction. A bugler followed a few paces behind him, waving awhite kerchief and blowing an occasional blast upon his trumpet.
'Here comes an envoy,' cried Saxon, who was standing up in the waggon.'Now, my brethren, we have neither kettle-drum nor tinkling brass, butwe have the instrument wherewith Providence hath endowed us. Let us showthe redcoats that we know how to use it.
"Who then dreads the violent, Or fears the man of pride? Or shall I flee from two or three If He be by my side?"'
Seven score voices broke in, in a hoarse roar, upon the chorus--
'Who then fears to draw the sword, And fight the battle of the Lord?'
I could well believe at that moment that the Spartans had found the lamesinger Tyrtaeus the most successful of their generals, for the sound oftheir own voices increased the confidence of the country folk, while themartial words of the old hymn roused the dogged spirit in their breasts.So high did their courage run that they broke off their song with aloud warlike shout, waving their weapons above their heads, and ready Iverily believe to march out from their barricades and make straight forthe horsemen. In the midst of this clamour and turmoil the young dragoonofficer, a handsome, olive-faced lad, rode fearlessly up to the barrier,and pulling up his beautiful roan steed, held up his hand with animperious gesture which demanded silence.
'Who is the leader of this conventicle?' he asked.
'Address your message to me, sir,' said our leader fr
om the top ofthe waggon, 'but understand that your white flag will only protect youwhilst you use such language as may come from one courteous adversary toanother. Say your say or retire.'
'Courtesy and honour,' said the officer, with a sneer, 'are not extendedto rebels who are in arms against their lawful sovereign. If you are theleader of this rabble, I warn you if they are not dispersed within fiveminutes by this watch'--he pulled out an elegant gold time-piece--'weshall ride down upon them and cut them to pieces.'
'The Lord can protect His own,' Saxon answered, amid a fierce hum ofapproval from the crowd. 'Is this all thy message?'
'It is all, and you will find it enough, you Presbyterian traitor,'cried the dragoon cornet. 'Listen to me, misguided fools,' he continued,standing up upon his stirrups and speaking to the peasants at theother side of the waggon. 'What chance have ye with your whittles andcheese-scrapers? Ye may yet save your skins if ye will but deliver upyour leaders, throw down what ye are pleased to call your arms, andtrust to the King's mercy.'
'This exceedeth the limitations of your privileges,' said Saxon, drawinga pistol from his belt and cocking it. 'If you say another word toseduce these people from their allegiance, I fire.'
'Hope not to benefit Monmouth,' cried the young officer, disregardingthe threat, and still addressing his words to the peasants. 'The wholeroyal army is drawing round him and--'
'Have a care!' shouted our leader, in a deep harsh voice.
'His head within a month shall roll upon the scaffold.'
'But you shall never live to see it,' said Saxon, and stooping overhe fired straight at the cornet's head. At the flash of the pistol thetrumpeter wheeled round and galloped for his life, while the roan horseturned and followed with its master still seated firmly in the saddle.
'Verily you have missed the Midianite!' cried Hope-above Williams.
'He is dead,' said our leader, pouring a fresh charge into his pistol.'It is the law of war, Clarke,' he added, looking round at me. 'He hathchosen to break it, and must pay forfeit.'
As he spoke I saw the young officer lean gradually over in his saddle,until, when about half-way back to his friends, he lost his balance andfell heavily in the roadway, turning over two or three times withthe force of his fall, and lying at last still and motionless, adust-coloured heap. A loud yell of rage broke from the troopers atthe sight, which was answered by a shout of defiance from the Puritanpeasantry.
'Down on your faces!' cried Saxon; 'they are about to fire.'
The crackle of musketry and a storm of bullets, pinging on the hardground, or cutting twigs from the hedges on either side of us, lentemphasis to our leader's order. Many of the peasants crouched behind thefeather beds and tables which had been pulled out of the cart. Some layin the waggon itself, and some sheltered themselves behind or underneathit. Others again lined the ditches on either side or lay flat upon theroadway, while a few showed their belief in the workings of Providenceby standing upright without flinching from the bullets. Amongst theselatter were Saxon and Sir Gervas, the former to set an example to hisraw troops, and the latter out of pure laziness and indifference.Reuben and I sat together in the ditch, and I can assure you, my deargrandchildren, that we felt very much inclined to bob our heads when weheard the bullets piping all around them. If any soldier ever told youthat he did not the first time that he was under fire, then that soldieris not a man to trust. After sitting rigid and silent, however, as ifwe had both stiff necks, for a very few minutes, the feeling passedcompletely away, and from that day to this it has never returned to me.You see familiarity breeds contempt with bullets as with other things,and though it is no easy matter to come to like them, like the King ofSweden or my Lord Cutts, it is not so very hard to become indifferent tothem.
The cornet's death did not remain long unavenged. A little old man witha sickle, who had been standing near Sir Gervas, gave a sudden sharpcry, and springing up into the air with a loud 'Glory to God!' fell flatupon his face dead. A bullet had struck him just over the right eye.Almost at the same moment one of the peasants in the waggon was shotthrough the chest, and sat up coughing blood all over the wheel. I sawMaster Joshua Pettigrue catch him in his long arms, and settle somebedding under his head, so that he lay breathing heavily and patteringforth prayers. The minister showed himself a man that day, for amid thefierce carbine fire he walked boldly up and down, with a drawn rapier inhis left hand--for he was a left-handed man--and his Bible in the other.'This is what you are dying for, dear brothers,' he cried continually,holding the brown volume up in the air; 'are ye not ready to die forthis?' And every time he asked the question a low eager murmur of assentrose from the ditches, the waggon, and the road.
'They aim like yokels at a Wappenschaw,' said Saxon, seating himselfon the side of the waggon. 'Like all young soldiers they fire too high.When I was an adjutant it was my custom to press down the barrels of themuskets until my eye told me that they were level. These rogues thinkthat they have done their part if they do but let the gun off, thoughthey are as like to hit the plovers above us as ourselves.'
'Five of the faithful have fallen,' said Hope-above Williams. 'Shall wenot sally forth and do battle with the children of Antichrist? Are we tolie here like so many popinjays at a fair for the troopers to practiseupon?'
'There is a stone barn over yonder on the hill-side,' I remarked. 'Ifwe who have horses, and a few others, were to keep the dragoons inplay, the people might be able to reach it, and so be sheltered from thefire.'
'At least let my brother and me have a shot or two back at them,' criedone of the marksmen beside the wheel.
To all our entreaties and suggestions, however, our leader only repliedby a shake of the head, and continued to swing his long legs over theside of the waggon with his eyes fixed intently upon the horsemen, manyof whom had dismounted and were leaning their carbines over the cruppersof their chargers.
'This cannot go on, sir,' said the pastor, in a low earnest voice; 'twomore men have just been hit.'
'If fifty more men are hit we must wait until they charge,' Saxonanswered. 'What would you do, man? If you leave this shelter you willbe cut off and utterly destroyed. When you have seen as much of war asI have done, you will learn to put up quietly with what is not to beavoided. I remember on such another occasion when the rearguard ornachhut of the Imperial troops was followed by Croats, who were inthe pay of the Grand Turk, I lost half my company before the mercenaryrenegades came to close fighting. Ha, my brave boys, they are mounting!We shall not have to wait long now.'
The dragoons were indeed climbing into their saddles again, and formingacross the road, with the evident intention of charging down upon us.At the same time about thirty men detached themselves from the main bodyand trotted away into the fields upon our right. Saxon growled a heartyoath under his breath as he observed them.
'They have some knowledge of warfare after all,' said he. 'They mean tocharge us flank and front. Master Joshua, see that your scythesmenline the quickset hedge upon the right. Stand well up, my brothers, andflinch not from the horses. You men with the sickles, lie in the ditchthere, and cut at the legs of the brutes. A line of stone throwersbehind that. A heavy stone is as sure as a bullet at close quarters. Ifye would see your wives and children again, make that hedge good againstthe horsemen. Now for the front attack. Let the men who carry petronelscome into the waggon. Two of yours, Clarke, and two of yours, Lockarby.I can spare one also. That makes five. Now here are ten others of a sortand three muskets. Twenty shots in all. Have you no pistols, Sir Gervas?
'No, but I can get a pair,' said our companion, and springing upon hishorse he forced his way through the ditch, past the barrier, and so downthe road in the direction of the dragoons.
The movement was so sudden and so unexpected that there was a deadsilence for a few seconds, which was broken by a general howl of hatredand execration from the peasants. 'Shoot upon him! Shoot down the falseAmalekite!' they shrieked. 'He hath gone to join his kind! He hathdelivered us up into the hands o
f the enemy! Judas! Judas!' As to thehorsemen, who were still forming up for a charge and waiting for theflanking party to get into position, they sat still and silent, notknowing what to make of the gaily-dressed cavalier who was speedingtowards them.
We were not left long in doubt, however. He had no sooner reached thespot where the cornet had fallen than he sprang from his horse andhelped himself to the dead man's pistols, and to the belt whichcontained his powder and ball. Mounting at his leisure, amid a shower ofbullets which puffed up the white dust all around him, he rode onwardstowards the dragoons and discharged one of his pistols at them. Wheelinground he politely raised his cap, and galloped back to us, none theworse for his adventure, though a ball had grazed his horse's fetlockand another had left a hole in the skirt of his riding-coat. Thepeasants raised a shout of jubilation as he rode in, and from that dayforward our friend was permitted to wear his gay trappings and to bearhimself as he would, without being suspected of having mounted thelivery of Satan or of being wanting in zeal for the cause of the saints.
'They are coming,' cried Saxon. 'Let no man draw trigger until he seesme shoot. If any does, I shall send a bullet through him, though it wasmy last shot and the troopers were amongst us.'
As our leader uttered this threat and looked grimly round upon us withan evident intention of executing it, a shrill blare of a bugle burstfrom the horsemen in front of us, and was answered by those upon ourflank. At the signal both bodies set spurs to their horses and dasheddown upon us at the top of their speed. Those in the field were delayedfor a few moments, and thrown into some disorder, by finding that theground immediately in front of them was soft and boggy, but havingmade their way through it they re-formed upon the other side and rodegallantly at the hedge. Our own opponents, having a clear course beforethem, never slackened for an instant, but came thundering down with ajingling of harness and a tempest of oaths upon our rude barricades.
Ah, my children! when a man in his age tries to describe such things asthese, and to make others see what he has seen, it is only then that heunderstands what a small stock of language a plain man keeps by him forhis ordinary use in the world, and how unfit it is to meet any callupon it. For though at this very moment I can myself see that whiteSomersetshire road, with the wild whirling charge of the horsemen, thered angry faces of the men, and the gaping nostrils of the horses allwreathed and framed in clouds of dust, I cannot hope to make it clearto your young eyes, which never have looked, and, I trust, never shalllook, upon such a scene. When, too, I think of the sound, a mere rattleand jingle at first, but growing in strength and volume with every step,until it came upon us with a thunderous rush and roar which gave theimpression of irresistible power, I feel that that too is beyond thepower of my feeble words to express. To inexperienced soldiers likeourselves it seemed impossible that our frail defence and our feebleweapons could check for an instant the impetus and weight of thedragoons. To right and left I saw white set faces, open-eyed and rigid,unflinching, with a stubbornness which rose less from hope than fromdespair. All round rose exclamations and prayers. 'Lord, save Thypeople!' 'Mercy, Lord, mercy!' 'Be with us this day!' 'Receive oursouls, O merciful Father!' Saxon lay across the waggon with his eyesglinting like diamonds and his petronel presented at the full lengthof his rigid arm. Following his example we all took aim as steadily aspossible at the first rank of the enemy. Our only hope of safety layin making that one discharge so deadly that our opponents should be toomuch shaken to continue their attack.
Would the man never fire? They could not be more than ten paces from us.I could see the buckles of the men's plates and the powder charges intheir bandoliers. One more stride yet, and at last our leader's pistolflashed and we poured in a close volley, supported by a shower of heavystones from the sturdy peasants behind. I could hear them splinteringagainst casque and cuirass like hail upon a casement. The cloud of smokeveiling for an instant the line of galloping steeds and gallant ridersdrifted slowly aside to show a very different scene. A dozen men andhorses were rolling in one wild blood-spurting heap, the unwoundedfalling over those whom our balls and stones had brought down.Struggling, snorting chargers, iron-shod feet, staggering figures risingand falling, wild, hatless, bewildered men half stunned by a fall, andnot knowing which way to turn--that was the foreground of the picture,while behind them the remainder of the troop were riding furiously back,wounded and hale, all driven by the one desire of getting to a place ofsafety where they might rally their shattered formation. A great shoutof praise and thanksgiving rose from the delighted peasants, andsurging over the barricade they struck down or secured the few uninjuredtroopers who had boon unable or unwilling to join their companions intheir flight. The carbines, swords, and bandoliers were eagerly pouncedupon by the victors, some of whom had served in the militia, and knewwell how to handle the weapons which they had won.
The victory, however, was by no means completed. The flanking squadronhad ridden boldly at the hedge, and a dozen or more had forced their waythrough, in spite of the showers of stones and the desperate thrusts ofthe pikemen and scythemen. Once amongst the peasants, the long swordsand the armour of the dragoons gave them a great advantage, and thoughthe sickles brought several of the horses to the ground the soldierscontinued to lay about them freely, and to beat back the fierce butill-armed resistance of their opponents. A dragoon sergeant, a man ofgreat resolution and of prodigious strength, appeared to be the leaderof the party, and encouraged his followers both by word and example.A stab from a half-pike brought his horse to the ground, but hesprang from the saddle as it fell, and avenged its death by a sweepingback-handed cut from his broadsword. Waving his hat in his left hand hecontinued to rally his men, and to strike down every Puritan who cameagainst him, until a blow from a hatchet brought him on his knees anda flail stroke broke his sword close by the hilt. At the fall of theirleader his comrades turned and fled through the hedge, but the gallantfellow, wounded and bleeding, still showed fight, and would assuredlyhave been knocked upon the head for his pains had I not picked him upand thrown him into the waggon, where he had the good sense to lie quietuntil the skirmish was at an end. Of the dozen who broke through, notmore than four escaped, and several others lay dead or wounded upon theother side of the hedge, impaled by scythe-blades or knocked offtheir horses by stones. Altogether nine of the dragoons were slainand fourteen wounded, while we retained seven unscathed prisoners, tenhorses fit for service, and a score or so of carbines, with good storeof match, powder, and ball. The remainder of the troop fired asingle, straggling, irregular volley, and then galloped away down thecross-road, disappearing amongst the trees from which they had emerged.
All this, however, had not been accomplished without severe loss uponour side. Three men had been killed and six wounded, one of themvery seriously, by the musketry fire. Five had been cut down whenthe flanking party broke their way in, and only one of these could beexpected to recover. In addition to this, one man had lost his lifethrough the bursting of an ancient petronel, and another had his armbroken by the kick of a horse. Our total losses, therefore, were eightkilled and the same wounded, which could not but be regarded as a verymoderate number when we consider the fierceness of the skirmish, and thesuperiority of our enemy both in discipline and in equipment.
So elated were the peasants by their victory, that those who had securedhorses were clamorous to be allowed to follow the dragoons, the more soas Sir Gervas Jerome and Reuben were both eager to lead them. DecimusSaxon refused, however, to listen to any such scheme, nor did he showmore favour to the Reverend Joshua Pettigrue's proposal, that he shouldin his capacity as pastor mount immediately upon the waggon, and improvethe occasion by a few words of healing and unction.
'It is true, good Master Pettigrue, that we owe much praise and muchoutpouring, and much sweet and holy contending, for this blessing whichhath come upon Israel,' said he, 'but the time hath not yet arrived.There is an hour for prayer and an hour for labour. Hark ye, friend'--toone of the prisoners--'to what regiment
do you belong?'
'It is not for me to reply to your questions,' the man answered sulkily.
Nay, then, we'll try if a string round your scalp and a few twists of adrumstick will make you find your tongue,' said Saxon, pushing his faceup to that of the prisoner, and staring into his eyes with so savage anexpression that the man shrank away affrighted.
'It is a troop of the second dragoon regiment,' he said.
'Where is the regiment itself?'
'We left it on the Ilchester and Langport road.'
'You hear,' said our leader. 'We have not a moment to spare, or we mayhave the whole crew about our ears. Put our dead and wounded in thecarts, and we can harness two of these chargers to them. We shall not bein safety until we are in Taunton town.'
Even Master Joshua saw that the matter was too pressing to permit ofany spiritual exercises. The wounded men were lifted into the waggon andlaid upon the bedding, while our dead were placed in the cart which haddefended our rear. The peasants who owned these, far from making anyobjection to this disposal of their property, assisted us in every way,tightening girths and buckling traces. Within an hour of the ending ofthe skirmish we found ourselves pursuing our way once more, and lookingback through the twilight at the scattered black dots upon the whiteroad, where the bodies of the dragoons marked the scene of our victory.