Micah Clarke

  Chapter XXVII. Of the Affair near Keynsham Bridge

  Monday, June 21, 1685, broke very dark and windy, with dull cloudsmoving heavily across the sky and a constant sputter of rain. Yet alittle after daybreak Monmouth's bugles were blowing in every quarterof the town, from Tone Bridge to Shuttern, and by the hour appointed theregiments had mustered, the roll had been called, and the vanguard wasmarching briskly out through the eastern gate. It went forth in the sameorder as it entered, our own regiment and the Taunton burghers bringingup the rear. Mayor Timewell and Saxon had the ordering of this part ofthe army between them, and being men who had seen much service, theydrew the ordnance into a less hazardous position, and placed a strongguard of horse, a cannon's shot in the rear, to meet any attempt of theRoyal dragoons.

  It was remarked on all sides that the army had improved in order anddiscipline during the three days' halt, owing perchance to the exampleof our own unceasing drill and soldierly bearing. In numbers it hadincreased to nigh eight thousand, and the men were well fed and lightof heart. With sturdy close-locked ranks they splashed their way throughmud and puddle, with many a rough country joke and many a lusty stavefrom song or hymn. Sir Gervas rode at the head of his musqueteers, whosebefloured tails hung limp and lank with the water dripping fromthem. Lockarby's pikemen and my own company of scythesmen were mostlylabourers from the country, who were hardened against all weathers, andplodded patiently along with the rain-drops glistening upon their ruddyfaces. In front were the Taunton foot; behind, the lumbering train ofbaggage waggons, with the horse in the rear of them. So the long linewound its way over the hills.

  At the summit, where the road begins to dip down upon the other side, ahalt was called to enable the regiments to close up, and we looked backat the fair town which many of us were never to see again. From the darkwalls and house roofs we could still mark the flapping and flutter ofwhite kerchiefs from those whom we left behind. Reuben sat his horsebeside me, with his spare shirt streaming in the wind and his greatpikemen all agrin behind him, though his thoughts and his eyes weretoo far away to note them. As we gazed, a long thin quiver of sunshineslipped out between two cloud banks and gilded the summit of theMagdalene tower, with the Royal standard which still waved from it. Theincident was hailed as a happy augury, and a great shout spread fromrank to rank at the sight of it, with a waving of hats and a clatteringof weapons. Then the bugles blew a fanfare, the drums struck up a pointof war, Reuben thrust his shirt into his haversack, and on we marchedthrough mud and slush, with the dreary clouds bending low over us, andbuttressed by the no less dreary hills on either side. A seeker foromens might have said that the heavens were weeping over our ill-fatedventure.

  All day we trudged along roads which were quagmires, over our anklesin mud, until in the evening we made our way to Bridgewater, where wegained some recruits, and also some hundred pounds for our militarychest, for it was a well-to-do place, with a thriving coast tradecarried on down the River Parret. After a night in snug quarters we setoff again in even worse weather than before. The country in these partsis a quagmire in the driest season, but the heavy rains had caused thefens to overflow, and turned them into broad lakes on either side of theroad. This may have been to some degree in our favour, as shielding usfrom the raids of the King's cavalry, but it made our march veryslow. All day it was splashing and swashing through mud and mire, therain-drops shining on the gun-barrels and dripping from the heavy-footedhorses. Past the swollen Parret, through Eastover, by the peacefulvillage of Bawdrip, and over Polden Hill we made our way, until thebugles sounded a halt under the groves of Ashcot, and a rude meal wasserved out to the men. Then on again, through the pitiless rain, pastthe wooded park of Piper's Inn, through Walton, where the floods werethreatening the cottages, past the orchards of Street, and so in thedusk of the evening into the grey old town of Glastonbury, where thegood folk did their best by the warmth of their welcome to atone for thebitterness of the weather.

  The next morning was wet still and inclement, so the army made a shortmarch to Wells, which is a good-sized town, well laid out, with a finecathedral, which hath a great number of figures carved in stone andplaced in niches on the outer side, like that which we saw at Salisbury.The townsfolk were strong for the Protestant cause, and the army was sowell received that their victual cost little from the military chest. Onthis march we first began to come into touch with the Royal horse. Morethan once when the rain mist cleared we saw the gleam of arms upon thelow hills which overlook the road, and our scouts came in with reportsof strong bodies of dragoons on either flank. At one time they massedheavily upon our rear, as though planning a descent upon the baggage.Saxon, however, planted a regiment of pikes on either side, so that theybroke up again and glinted off over the hills.

  From Wells we marched upon the twenty-fourth to Shepton Mallet, with theominous sabres and helmets still twinkling behind and on either side ofus.

  That evening we were at Keynsham Bridge, less than two leagues fromBristol as the crow flies, and some of our horse forded the river andpushed on almost to the walls.

  By morning the rain clouds had at last cleared, so Reuben and I rodeslowly up one of the sloping green hills which rose behind the camp, inthe hope of gaining some sight of the enemy. Our men we left litteredabout upon the grass, trying to light fires with the damp sticks, orlaying out their clothes to dry in the sunshine. A strange-looking bandthey were, coated and splashed with mud from head to heel, their hatsall limp and draggled, their arms rusted, and their boots so worn thatmany walked barefoot, and others had swathed their kerchiefs roundtheir feet. Yet their short spell of soldiering had changed themfrom honest-faced yokels into fierce-eyed, half-shaven, gaunt-cheekedfellows, who could carry arms or port pikes as though they had donenought else since childhood.

  The plight of the officers was no better than that of the men, norshould an officer, my dears, when he is upon service, ever demeanhimself by partaking of any comfort which all cannot share with him. Lethim lie by a soldier's fire and eat a soldier's fare, or let him hence,for he is a hindrance and a stumbling-block. Our clothes were pulp, oursteel fronts red with rust, and our chargers as stained and splashed asthough they had rolled in the mire. Our very swords and pistols were insuch a plight that we could scarce draw the one or snap the other. SirGervas alone succeeded in keeping his attire and his person as neat andas dainty as ever. What he did in the watches of the night, and how hegained his sleep, hath ever been a mystery to me, for day after dayhe turned out at the bugle call, washed, scented, brushed, with wigin order, and clothes from which every speck of mud had been carefullyremoved. At his saddle-bow he bore with him the great flour dredgerwhich we saw him use at Taunton, and his honest musqueteers had theirheads duly dusted every morning, though in an hour their tails wouldbe as brown as nature made them, while the flour would be trickling inlittle milky streams down their broad backs, or forming in cakes uponthe skirts of their coats. It was a long contest between the weather andthe Baronet, but our comrade proved the victor.

  'There was a time when I was called plump Reuben,' quoth my friend, aswe rode together up the winding track. 'What with too little that issolid and too much that is liquid I am like to be skeleton Reuben ere Isee Havant again. I am as full of rain-water as my father's casks are ofOctober. I would, Micah, that you would wring me out and hang me to dryupon one of these bushes.'

  'If we are wet, King James's men must be wetter,' said I, 'for at leastwe have had such shelter as there was.'

  'It is poor comfort when you are starved to know that another is inthe same plight. I give you my word, Micah, I took in one hole of mysword-belt on Monday, two on Tuesday, one yesterday, and one to-day. Itell you, I am thawing like an icicle in the sun.'

  'If you should chance to dwindle to nought,' said I, laughing, 'whataccount are we to give of you in Taunton? Since you have donned armourand taken to winning the hearts of fair maidens, you have outstripped usall in importance, and become a man of weight and substance.'

&nbsp
; 'I had more substance and weight ere I began trailing over thecountryside like a Hambledon packman,' quoth he. 'But in very truth andwith all gravity, Micah, it is a strange thing to feel that the wholeworld for you, your hopes, your ambitions, your all, are gathered intoso small a compass that a hood might cover it, and two little pattenssupport it. I feel as if she were my own higher self, my loftierpart, and that I, should I be torn from her, would remain for ever anincomplete and half-formed being. With her, I ask nothing else. Withouther, all else is nothing.'

  'But have you spoken to the old man?' I asked. 'Are you indeedbetrothed?'

  'I have spoken to him,' my friend answered, 'but he was so busy infilling ammunition cases that I could not gain his attention. When Itried once more he was counting the spare pikes in the Castle armourywith a tally and an ink-horn. I told him that I had come to crave hisgranddaughter's hand, on which he turned to me and asked, "which hand?"with so blank a stare that it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. Onthe third trial, though, the day that you did come back from Badminton,I did at last prefer my request, but he flashed out at me that this wasno time for such fooleries, and he bade me wait until King Monmouth wason the throne, when I might ask him again. I warrant that he did notcall such things fooleries fifty years ago, when he went a-courtinghimself.'

  'At least he did not refuse you,' said I. 'It is as good as a promisethat; should the cause be successful, you shall be so too.'

  'By my faith,' cried Reuben, 'if a man could by his own single bladebring that about, there is none who hath so strong an interest in it asI. No, not Monmouth himself! The apprentice Derrick hath for a long timeraised his eyes to his master's daughter, and the old man was ready tohave him as a son, so much was he taken by his godliness and zeal. Yet Ihave learned from a side-wind that he is but a debauched and low-livingman, though he covers his pleasures with a mask of piety. I thought asyou did think that he was at the head of the roisterers who tried tobear Mistress Ruth away, though, i' faith, I can scarce think harshlyof them, since they did me the greatest service that ever men did yet.Meanwhile I have taken occasion, ere we left Wells two nights ago, tospeak to Master Derrick on the matter, and to warn him as he loved hislife to plan no treachery against her.

  'And how took he this mild intimation?' I asked.

  'As a rat takes a rat trap. Snarled out some few words of godly hatred,and so slunk away.'

  'On my life, lad,' said I, 'you have been having as many adventures inyour own way as I in mine. But here we are upon the hill-top, with asfair an outlook as man could wish to have.'

  Just beneath us ran the Avon, curving in long bends through thewoodlands, with the gleam of the sun striking back from it here andthere, as though a row of baby suns had been set upon a silver string.On the further side the peaceful, many-hued country, rising and fallingin a swell of cornfields and orchards, swept away to break in a fringeof forest upon the distant Malverns. On our right were the green hillsnear Bath and on our left the rugged Mendips, with queenly Bristolcrouching behind her forts, and the grey channel behind flecked withsnow-white sails. At our very feet lay Keynsham Bridge, and our armyspotted in dark patches over the green fields, the smoke of their firesand the babble of their voices floating up in the still summer air.

  A road ran along the Somersetshire bank of the Avon, and down this twotroops of our horse were advancing, with intent to establish outpostsupon our eastern flank. As they jangled past in somewhat loose order,their course lay through a pine-wood, into which the road takes a sharpbend. We were gazing down at the scene when, like lightning from acloud, a troop of the Horse Guards wheeled out into the open, andbreaking from trot to canter, and from canter to gallop, dashed down ina whirlwind of blue and steel upon our unprepared squadrons. A crackleof hastily unslung carbines broke from the leading ranks, but in aninstant the Guards burst through them and plunged on into the secondtroop. For a space the gallant rustics held their own, and the densemass of men and horses swayed backwards and forwards, with the swirlingsword-blades playing above them in flashes of angry light. Then bluecoats began to break from among the russet, the fight rolled wildly backfor a hundred paces, the dense throng was split asunder, and the RoyalGuards came pouring through the rent, and swerved off to right and leftthrough hedges and over ditches, stabbing and hacking at the fleeinghorsemen. The whole scene, with the stamping horses, tossing manes,shouts of triumph or despair, gasping of hard-drawn breath and musicalclink and clatter of steel, was to us upon the hill like some wildvision, so swiftly did it come and so swiftly go. A sharp, sternbugle-call summoned the Blues back into the road, where they formed upand trotted slowly away before fresh squadrons could come up from thecamp. The sun gleamed and the river rippled as ever, and there wasnothing save the long litter of men and horses to mark the course of thehell blast which had broken so suddenly upon us.

  As the Blues retired we observed that a single officer brought up therear, riding very slowly, as though it went much against his mood toturn his back even to an army. The space betwixt the troop and him wassteadily growing greater, yet he made no effort to quicken his pace,but jogged quietly on, looking back from time to time to see if he werefollowed. The same thought sprang into my comrade's mind and my own atthe same instant, and we read it in each other's faces.

  'This path,' cried he eagerly. 'It brings us out beyond the grove, andis in the hollow all the way.'

  'Lead the horses until we get on better ground,' I answered. 'We mayjust cut him off if we are lucky.'

  There was no time for another word, for we hurried off down the uneventrack, sliding and slipping on the rain-soaked turf. Springing into oursaddles we dashed down the gorge, through the grove, and so out on tothe road in time to see the troop disappear in the distance, and to meetthe solitary officer face to face.

  He was a sun-burned, high-featured man, with black mustachios, mountedon a great raw-boned chestnut charger. As we broke out on to the road hepulled up to have a good look at us. Then, having fully made up his mindas to our hostile intent, he drew his sword, plucked a pistol out of hisholster with his left hand, and gripping the bridle between his teeth,dug his spurs into his horse's flanks and charged down upon us at thetop of his speed. As we dashed at him, Reuben on his bridle arm and Ion the other, he cut fiercely at me, and at the same moment fired at mycompanion. The ball grazed Reuben's cheek, leaving a red weal behind itlike a lash from a whip, and blackening his face with the powder. Hiscut, however, fell short, and throwing my arm round his waist as the twohorses dashed past each other, I plucked him from the saddle and drewhim face upwards across my saddlebow. Brave Covenant lumbered on withhis double burden, and before the Guards had learned that they had losttheir officer, we had brought him safe, in spite of his struggles andwrithings, to within sight of Monmouth's camp.

  'A narrow shave, friend,' quoth Reuben, with his hand to his cheek. 'Hehath tattooed my face with powder until I shall be taken for SolomonSprent's younger brother.'

  'Thank God that you are unhurt,' said I. 'See, our horse are advancingalong the upper road. Lord Grey himself rides at their head. We had besttake our prisoner into camp, since we can do nought here.'

  'For Christ's sake, either slay me or set me down!' he cried. 'I cannotbear to be carried in this plight, like a half-weaned infant, throughyour campful of grinning yokels.'

  'I would not make sport of a brave man,' I answered. 'If you will giveyour word to stay with us, you shall walk between us.'

  'Willingly,' said he, scrambling down and arranging his ruffled attire.'By my faith, sirs, ye have taught me a lesson not to think too meanlyof mine enemies. I should have ridden with my troop had I thought thatthere was a chance of falling in with outposts or videttes.'

  'We were upon the hill before we cut you off,' quoth Reuben. 'Had thatpistol ball been a thought straighter, it is I that should have beentruly the cut-off one. Zounds, Micah! I was grumbling even now that Ihad fallen away, but had my cheek been as round as of old the slug hadbeen through it.'

  'Wh
ere have I seen you before?' asked our captive, bending his darkeyes upon me. 'Aye, I have it! It was in the inn at Salisbury, wheremy light-headed comrade Horsford did draw upon an old soldier who wasriding with you. Mine own name is Ogilvy--Major Ogilvy of the HorseGuards Blue. I was right glad that ye did come off safely from thehounds. Some word had come of your errand after your departure, so thissame Horsford with the Mayor and one or two other Tantivies, whose zealmethinks outran their humanity, slipped the dogs upon your trail.'

  'I remember you well,' I answered. 'You will find Colonel Decimus Saxon,my former companion, in the camp. No doubt you will be shortly exchangedfor some prisoner of ours.'

  'Much more likely to have my throat cut,' said he, with a smile. 'Ifear that Feversham in his present temper will scarce pause to makeprisoners, and Monmouth may be tempted to pay him back in his owncoin. Yet it is the fortune of war, and I should pay for my want of allsoldierly caution. Truth to tell, my mind was far from battles and rusesat the moment, for it had wandered away to aqua-regia and its actionupon the metals, until your appearance brought me back to soldiership.'

  'The horse are out of sight,' said Reuben, looking backwards, 'ours aswell as theirs. Yet I see a clump of men over yonder at the other sideof the Avon, and there on the hillside can you not see the gleam ofsteel?'

  'There are foot there,' I answered, puckering my eyes. 'It seems to methat I can discern four or five regiments and as many colours of horse.King Monmouth should know of this with all speed.'

  'He does know of it,' said Reuben. 'Yonder he stands under the treeswith his council about him. See, one of them rides this way!'

  A trooper had indeed detached himself from the group and gallopedtowards us. 'If you are Captain Clarke, sir,' he said, with a salute,'the King orders you to join his council.'

  'Then I leave the Major in your keeping, Reuben,' I cried. 'See thathe hath what our means allow.' So saying I spurred my horse, and soonjoined the group who were gathered round the King. There were Grey,Wade, Buyse, Ferguson, Saxon, Hollis, and a score more, all looking verygrave, and peering down the valley with their glasses. Monmouth himselfhad dismounted, and was leaning against the trunk of a tree, with hisarms folded upon his breast, and a look of white despair upon his face.Behind the tree a lackey paced up and down leading his glossy blackcharger, who pranced and tossed his lordly mane, a very king amonghorses.

  'You see, friends,' said Monmouth, turning lack-lustre eyes from oneleader to another, 'Providence would seem to be against us. Some newmishap is ever at our heels.'

  'Not Providence, your Majesty, but our own negligence,' cried Saxonboldly. 'Had we advanced on Bristol last night, we might have been onthe right side of the ramparts by now.'

  'But we had no thought that the enemy's foot was so near!' exclaimedWade.

  'I told ye what would come of it, and so did Oberst Buyse and the worthyMayor of Taunton,' Saxon answered. 'However, there is nought to begained by mourning over a broken pipkin. We must e'en piece it togetheras best we may.'

  'Let us advance on Bristol, and put oor trust in the Highest,' quothFerguson. 'If it be His mighty will that we should tak' it, thenshall we enter into it, yea, though drakes and sakers lay as thick ascobblestanes in the streets.'

  'Aye! aye! On to Bristol! God with us!' cried several of the Puritansexcitedly.

  'But it is madness--dummheit--utter foolishness,' Buyse broke in hotly.'You have the chance and you will not take it. Now the chance is goneand you are all eager to go. Here is an army of, as near as I can judge,five thousand men on the right side of the river. We are on the wrongside, and yet you talk of crossing and making a beleaguering of Bristolwithout breaching-pieces or spades, and with this force in our rear.Will the town make terms when they can see from their ramparts the vanof the army which comes to help them? Or does it assist us in fightingthe army to have a strong town beside us, from which horse and foot canmake an outfall upon our flank? I say again that it is madness.'

  What the German soldier said was so clearly the truth that even thefanatics were silenced. Away in the east the long shimmering linesof steel, and the patches of scarlet upon the green hillside, werearguments which the most thoughtless could not overlook.

  'What would you advise, then?' asked Monmouth moodily, tapping hisjewelled riding-whip against his high boots.

  'To cross the river and come to hand-grips with them ere they canget help from the town,' the burly German answered bluntly. 'I cannotunderstand what we are here for if it be not to fight. If we win, thetown must fall. If we lose, We have had a bold stroke for it, and can dono more.'

  'Is that your opinion, too, Colonel Saxon?' the King asked.

  'Assuredly, your Majesty, if we can fight to advantage. We can scarcedo that, however, by crossing the river on a single narrow bridge inthe face of such a force. I should advise that we destroy this KeynshamBridge, and march down this southern bank in the hope of forcing a fightin a position which we may choose.'

  'We have not yet summoned Bath,' said Wade. 'Let us do as Colonel Saxonproposes, and let us in the meantime march in that direction and send atrumpet to the governor.'

  'There is yet another plan,' quoth Sir Stephen Timewell, 'which is tohasten to Gloucester, to cross the Severn there, and so march throughWorcestershire into Shropshire and Cheshire. Your Majesty has manyfriends in those parts.'

  Monmouth paced up and down with his hand to his forehead like onedistrait. 'What am I to do,' he cried at last, 'in the midst of all thisconflicting advice, when I know that not only my own success, but thelives of these poor faithful peasants and craftsmen depend upon myresolution?'

  'With all humbleness, your Majesty,' said Lord Grey, who had justreturned with the horse, 'I should suggest, since there are only a fewtroops of their cavalry on this side of the Avon, that we blow up thebridge and move onwards to Bath, whence we can pass into Wiltshire,which we know to be friendly.'

  'So be it!' cried the King, with the reckless air of one who acceptsa plan, not because it is the best, but because he feels that all areequally hopeless. 'What think you, gentlemen?' he added, with a bittersmile. 'I have heard news from London this morning, that my uncle hasclapped two hundred merchants and others who are suspected of being trueto their creed into the Tower and the Fleet. He will have one half ofthe nation mounting guard over the other half ere long.'

  'Or the whole, your Majesty, mounting guard over him,' suggested Wade.'He may himself see the Traitor's Gate some of these mornings.'

  'Ha, ha! Think ye so? think ye so!' cried Monmouth, rubbing his handsand brightening into a smile. 'Well, mayhap you have nicked the truth.Who knows? Henry's cause seemed a losing one until Bosworth Fieldsettled the contention. To your charges, gentlemen. We shall march inhalf-an-hour. Colonel Saxon and you, Sir Stephen, shall cover the rearand guard the baggage--a service of honour with this fringe of horseupon our skirts.'

  The council broke up forthwith, every man riding off to his ownregiment. The whole camp was in a stir, bugles blowing and drumsrattling, until in a very short time the army was drawn up in order, andthe forlorn of cavalry had already started along the road which leads toBath. Five hundred horse with the Devonshire militiamen were in the van.After them in order came the sailor regiment, the North Somerset men,the first Taunton regiment of burghers, the Mendip and Bagworthy miners,the lace and wool-workers of Honiton, Wellington, and Ottery St. Mary;the woodmen, the graziers, the marsh-men, and the men from the Quantockdistrict. Behind were the guns and the baggage, with our own brigade andfour colours of horse as a rearguard. On our march we could see the redcoats of Feversham keeping pace with us upon the other side of the Avon.A large body of his horse and dragoons had forded the stream and hoveredupon our skirts, but Saxon and Sir Stephen covered the baggage soskilfully, and faced round so fiercely with such a snarl of musketrywhenever they came too nigh, that they never ventured to charge home.