Chapter X. Of our Perilous Adventure on the Plain
We were not half a mile from the town before the roll of kettledrums andthe blare of bugles swelling up musically through the darkness announcedthe arrival of the regiment of horse which our friends at the inn hadbeen expecting.
'It is as well, perhaps,' said Saxon, 'that we gave them the slip,for that young springald might have smelled a rat and played us someill-turn. Have you chanced to see my silken kerchief?'
'Not I,' I answered.
'Nay, then, it must have fallen from my bosom during our ruffle. Ican ill afford to leave it, for I travel light in such matters. Eighthundred men, quoth the major, and three thousand to follow. Should Imeet this same Oglethorpe or Ogilvy when the little business is over,I shall read him a lesson on thinking less of chemistry and more ofthe need of preserving military precautions. It is well always to becourteous to strangers and to give them information, but it is well alsothat the information should be false.'
'As his may have been,' I suggested.
'Nay, nay, the words came too glibly from his tongue. So ho, Chloe, soho! She is full of oats and would fain gallop, but it is so plaguy darkthat we can scarce see where we are going.'
We had been trotting down the broad high-road shimmering vaguely whitein the gloom, with the shadowy trees dancing past us on either side,scarce outlined against the dark background of cloud. We were now comingupon the eastern edge of the great plain, which extends forty miles oneway and twenty the other, over the greater part of Wiltshire and pastthe boundaries of Somersetshire. The main road to the West skirts thiswilderness, but we had agreed to follow a less important track,which would lead us to our goal, though in a more tedious manner. Itsinsignificance would, we hoped, prevent it from being guarded by theKing's horse. We had come to the point where this byroad branches offfrom the main highway when we heard the clatter of horses' hoofs behindus.
'Here comes some one who is not afraid to gallop,' I remarked.
'Halt here in the shadow!' cried Saxon, in a short, quick whisper. 'Haveyour blade loose in the scabbard. He must have a set errand who rides sofast o' nights.'
Looking down the road we could make out through the darkness a shadowyblur which soon resolved itself into man and horse. The rider waswell-nigh abreast of us before he was aware of our presence, when hepulled up his steed in a strange, awkward fashion, and faced round inour direction.
'Is Micah Clarke there?' he said, in a voice which was strangelyfamiliar to my ears.
'I am Micah Clarke,' said I.
'And I am Reuben Lockarby,' cried our pursuer, in a mock heroic voice.'Ah, Micah lad, I'd embrace you were it not that I should assuredly fallout of the saddle if I attempted it, and perchance drag you along. Thatsudden pull up well-nigh landed me on the roadway. I have been slidingoff and clambering on ever since I bade goodbye to Havant. Sure, such ahorse for slipping from under one was never bestridden by man.'
'Good Heavens, Reuben!' I cried in amazement, 'what brings you all thisway from home?'
'The very same cause which brings you, Micah, and also Don Decimo Saxon,late of the Solent, whom methinks I see in the shadow behind you. Howfares it, oh illustrious one?'
'It is you, then, young cock of the woods!' growled Saxon, in no veryoverjoyed voice.
'No less a person,' said Reuben. 'And now, my gay cavalieros, round withyour horses and trot on your way, for there is no time to be lost. Weought all to be at Taunton to-morrow.'
'But, my dear Reuben,' said I, 'it cannot be that you are coming with usto join Monmouth. What would your father say? This is no holiday jaunt,but one that may have a sad and stern ending. At the best, victory canonly come through much bloodshed and danger. At the worst, we are aslike to wind up upon a scaffold as not.'
'Forwards, lads, forwards!' cried he, spurring on his horse, 'it is allarranged and settled. I am about to offer my august person, togetherwith a sword which I borrowed and a horse which I stole, to his mostProtestant highness, James, Duke of Monmouth.'
'But how comes it all?' I asked, as we rode on together. 'It warms myvery heart to see you, but you were never concerned either in religionor in politics. Whence, then, this sudden resolution?'
'Well, truth to tell,' he replied, 'I am neither a king's man nor aduke's man, nor would I give a button which sat upon the throne. I donot suppose that either one or the other would increase the custom ofthe Wheatsheaf, or want Reuben Lockarby for a councillor. I am a MicahClarke man, though, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet;and if he rides to the wars, may the plague strike me if I don't stickto his elbow!' He raised his hand excitedly as he spoke, and instantlylosing his balance, he shot into a dense clump of bushes by the roadsidewhence his legs flapped helplessly in the darkness.
'That makes the tenth,' said he, scrambling out and clambering intohis saddle once more. 'My father used to tell me not to sit a horse tooclosely. "A gentle rise and fall," said the old man. Egad, there is morefall than rise, and it is anything but gentle.'
'Odd's truth!' exclaimed Saxon. 'How in the name of all the saints inthe calendar do you expect to keep your seat in the presence of an enemyif you lose it on a peaceful high-road?'
'I can but try, my illustrious,' he answered, rearranging his ruffledclothing. 'Perchance the sudden and unexpected character of my movementsmay disconcert the said enemy.'
'Well, well, there may be more truth in that than you are aware of,'quoth Saxon, riding upon Lockarby's bridle arm, so that there was scarceroom for him to fall between us. 'I had sooner fight a man like thatyoung fool at the inn, who knew a little of the use of his weapon, thanone like Micah here, or yourself, who know nothing. You can tell whatthe one is after, but the other will invent a system of his own whichwill serve his turn for the nonce. Ober-hauptmann Muller was reckoned tobe the finest player at the small-sword in the Kaiser's army, and couldfor a wager snick any button from an opponent's vest without cutting thecloth. Yet was he slain in an encounter with Fahnfuhrer Zollner, who wasa cornet in our own Pandour corps, and who knew as much of the rapier asyou do of horsemanship. For the rapier, be it understood, is designedto thrust and not to cut, so that no man wielding it ever thinks ofguarding a side-stroke. But Zollner, being a long-armed man, smote hisantagonist across the face with his weapon as though it had been acane, and then, ere he had time to recover himself, fairly pinked him.Doubtless if the matter were to do again, the Oberhauptmann would havegot his thrust in sooner, but as it was, no explanation or excuse couldget over the fact that the man was dead.'
'If want of knowledge maketh a dangerous swordsman,' quoth Reuben, 'thenam I even more deadly than the unpronounceable gentleman whom you havementioned. To continue my story, however, which I broke off in order tostep down from my horse, I found out early in the morning that ye weregone, and Zachary Palmer was able to tell me whither. I made up my mind,therefore, that I would out into the world also. To this end I borroweda sword from Solomon Sprent, and my father having gone to Gosport,I helped myself to the best nag in his stables--for I have too muchrespect for the old man to allow one of his flesh and blood to goill-provided to the wars. All day I have ridden, since early morning,being twice stopped on suspicion of being ill-affected, but having thegood luck to get away each time. I knew that I was close at your heels,for I found them searching for you at the Salisbury Inn.'
Decimus whistled. 'Searching for us?' said he.
'Yes. It seems that they had some notion that ye were not what yeprofessed to be, so the inn was surrounded as I passed, but none knewwhich road ye had taken.'
'Said I not so?' cried Saxon. 'That young viper hath stirred up theregiment against us. We must push on, for they may send a party on ourtrack.'
'We are off the main road now, 'I remarked; 'even should they pursue us,they would be unlikely to follow this side track.'
'Yet it would be wise to show them a clean pair of heels,' said Saxon,spurring his mare into a gallop. Lockarby and I followed his example,and we all three rode swiftly a
long the rough moorland track.
We passed through scattered belts of pinewood, where the wild cat howledand the owl screeched, and across broad stretches of fenland and moor,where the silence was only broken by the booming cry of the bittern orthe fluttering of wild duck far above our heads. The road was in partsovergrown with brambles, and was so deeply rutted and so studded withsharp and dangerous hollows, that our horses came more than once upontheir knees. In one place the wooden bridge which led over a stream hadbroken down, and no attempt had been made to repair it, so that we werecompelled to ride our horses girth deep through the torrent. At firstsome scattered lights had shown that we were in the neighbourhood ofhuman habitations, but these became fewer as we advanced, until the lastdied away and we found ourselves upon the desolate moor which stretchedaway in unbroken solitude to the shadowy horizon. The moon had brokenthrough the clouds and now shone hazily through wreaths of mist,throwing a dim light over the wild scene, and enabling us to keep tothe track, which was not fenced in in any way and could scarce bedistinguished from the plain around it.
We had slackened our pace under the impression that all fear of pursuitwas at an end, and Reuben was amazing us by an account of the excitementwhich had been caused in Havant by our disappearance, when through thestillness of the night a dull, muffled rat-tat-tat struck upon my ear.At the same moment Saxon sprang from his horse and listened intentlywith sidelong head.
'Boot and saddle!' he cried, springing into his seat again. 'They areafter us as sure as fate. A dozen troopers by the sound. We must shakethem off, or goodbye to Monmouth.'
'Give them their heads,' I answered, and striking spurs into our steeds,we thundered on through the darkness. Covenant and Chloe were as freshas could be wished, and soon settled down into a long springy gallop.Our friend's horse however, had been travelling all day, and itslong-drawn, laboured breathing showed that it could not hold out forlong. Through the clatter of our horses' hoofs I could still from timeto time hear the ominous murmur from behind us.
'This will never do, Reuben,' said I anxiously, as the weary creaturestumbled, and the rider came perilously near to shooting over its head.
'The old horse is nearly foundered,' he answered ruefully. 'We are offthe road now, and the rough ground is too much for her.'
'Yes, we are off the track,' cried Saxon over his shoulder--for he ledus by a few paces. 'Bear in mind that the Bluecoats have been on themarch all day, so that their horses may also be blown. How in Himmelcame they to know which road we took?'
As if in answer to his ejaculation, there rose out of the still nightbehind us a single, clear, bell-like note, swelling and increasing involume until it seemed to fill the whole air with its harmony.
'A bloodhound!' cried Saxon.
A second sharper, keener note, ending in an unmistakable howl, answeredthe first.
'Another of them,' said he. 'They have loosed the brutes that we sawnear the Cathedral. Gad! we little thought when we peered over the railsat them, a few hours ago, that they would so soon be on our own track.Keep a firm knee and a steady seat, for a slip now would be your last.'
'Holy mother!' cried Reuben, 'I had steeled myself to die in battle--butto be dogsmeat! It is something outside the contract.'
'They hold them in leash,' said Saxon, between his teeth, 'else theywould outstrip the horses and be lost in the darkness.
Could we but come on running water we might put them off our track.'
'My horse cannot hold on at this pace for more than a very few minutes,'Reuben cried. 'If I break down, do ye go on, for ye must rememberthat they are upon your track and not mine. They have found cause forsuspicion of the two strangers of the inn, but none of me.'
'Nay, Reuben, we shall stand or fall together,' said I sadly, for atevery step his horse grew more and more feeble. 'In this darkness theywill make little distinction between persons.'
'Keep a good heart,' shouted the old soldier, who was now leading us bytwenty yards or more. 'We can hear them because the wind blows from thatway, but it's odds whether they have heard us. Methinks they slacken intheir pursuit.'
'The sound of their horses has indeed grown fainter,' said I joyfully.
'So faint that I can hear it no longer,' my companion cried.
We reined up our panting steeds and strained our ears, but not asound could we hear save the gentle murmur of the breeze amongst thewhin-bushes, and the melancholy cry of the night-jar. Behind us thebroad rolling plain, half light and half shadow, stretched away tothe dim horizon without sign of life or movement. 'We have eitheroutstripped them completely, or else they have given up the chase,' saidI. 'What ails the horses that they should tremble and snort?'
'My poor beast is nearly done for,' Reuben remarked, leaning forward andpassing his hand down the creature's reeking neck.
'For all that we cannot rest,' said Saxon. 'We may not be out of dangeryet. Another mile or two may shake us clear. But I like it not.'
'Like not what?'
'These horses and their terrors. The beasts can at times both see andhear more than we, as I could show by divers examples drawn from mineown experience on the Danube and in the Palatinate, were the time andplace more fitting. Let us on, then, before we rest.'
The weary horses responded bravely to the call, and struggled onwardsover the broken ground for a considerable time. At last we were thinkingof pulling up in good earnest, and of congratulating ourselves uponhaving tired out our pursuers, when of a sudden the bell-like bayingbroke upon our ears far louder than it had been before--so loud, indeed,that it was evident that the dogs were close upon our heels.
'The accursed hounds!' cried Saxon, putting spurs to his horse andshooting ahead of us; 'I feared as much. They have freed them from theleash. There is no escape from the devils, but we can choose the spotwhere we shall make our stand.'
'Come on, Reuben,' I shouted. 'We have only to reckon with the dogs now.Their masters have let them loose, and turned back for Salisbury.'
'Pray heaven they break their necks before they get there!' he cried.'They set dogs on us as though we were rats in a cock-pit. Yet they callEngland a Christian country! It's no use, Micah. Poor Dido can't stiranother step.'
As he spoke, the sharp fierce bay of the hounds rose again, clear andstern on the night air, swelling up from a low hoarse growl to a highangry yelp. There seemed to be a ring of exultation in their wild cry,as though they knew that their quarry was almost run to earth.
'Not another step!' said Reuben Lockarby, pulling up and drawing hissword. 'If I must fight, I shall fight here.'
'There could be no better place,' I replied. Two great jagged rocks rosebefore us, jutting abruptly out of the ground, and leaving a space oftwelve or fifteen feet between them. Through this gap we rode, andI shouted loudly for Saxon to join us. His horse, however, had beensteadily gaining upon ours, and at the renewed alarm had darted offagain, so that he was already some hundred yards from us. It was uselessto summon him, even could he hear our voices, for the hounds would beupon us before he could return.
'Never heed him,' I said hurriedly. 'Do you rein your steed behindthat rock, and I behind this. They will serve to break the force of theattack. Dismount not, but strike down, and strike hard.'
On either side in the shadow of the rock we waited in silence for ourterrible pursuers. Looking back at it, my dear children, I cannot butthink that it was a great trial on such young soldiers as Reuben andmyself to be put, on the first occasion of drawing our swords, into sucha position. For I have found, and others have confirmed my opinion,that of all dangers that a man is called upon to face, that arising fromsavage and determined animals is the most unnerving. For with men thereis ever the chance that some trait of weakness or of want of courage maygive you an advantage over them, but with fierce beasts there is no suchhope. We knew that the creatures to whom we were opposed could neverbe turned from our throats while there was breath in their bodies. Onefeels in one's heart, too, that the combat is an unequal one, for yourlife
is precious at least to your friends, while their lives, what arethey? All this and a great deal more passed swiftly through our mindsas we sat with drawn swords, soothing our trembling horses as best wemight, and waiting for the coming of the hounds.
Nor had we long to wait. Another long, deep, thunderous bay soundedin our ears, followed by a profound silence, broken only by the quickshivering breathing of the horses. Then suddenly, and noiselessly, agreat tawny brute, with its black muzzle to the earth, and its overhungcheeks napping on either side, sprang into the band of moonlight betweenthe rocks, and on into the shadow beyond. It never paused or swerved foran instant, but pursued its course straight onwards without a glanceto right or to left. Close behind it came a second, and behind that athird, all of enormous size, and looking even larger and more terriblethan they were in the dim shifting light. Like the first, they took nonotice of our presence, but bounded on along the trail left by DecimusSaxon.
The first and second I let pass, for I hardly realised that they socompletely overlooked us. When the third, however, sprang out into themoonlight, I drew my right-hand pistol from its holster, and restingits long barrel across my left forearm, I fired at it as it passed. Thebullet struck the mark, for the brute gave a fierce howl of rage andpain, but true to the scent it never turned or swerved. Lockarby firedalso as it disappeared among the brushwood, but with no apparent effect.So swiftly and so noiselessly did the great hounds pass, that they mighthave been grim silent spirits of the night, the phantom dogs of Hernethe hunter, but for that one fierce yelp which followed my shot.
'What brutes!' my companion ejaculated; 'what shall we do, Micah?'
'They have clearly been laid on Saxon's trail,' said I. 'We must followthem up, or they will be too many for him. Can you hear anything of ourpursuers?'
'Nothing.'
'They have given up the chase, then, and let the dogs loose as a lastresource. Doubtless the creatures are trained to return to the town. Butwe must push on, Reuben, if we are to help our companion.'
'One more spurt, then, little Dido,' cried Reuben; 'can you musterstrength for one more? Nay, I have not the heart to put spurs to you. Ifyou can do it, I know you will.'
The brave mare snorted, as though she understood her riders words, andstretched her weary limbs into a gallop. So stoutly did she answer theappeal that, though I pressed Covenant to his topmost speed, she wasnever more than a few strides behind him.
'He took this direction,' said I, peering anxiously out into thedarkness. 'He can scarce have gone far, for he spoke of making a stand.Or, perhaps, finding that we are not with him, he may trust to the speedof his horse.'
'What chance hath a horse of outstripping these brutes?' Reubenanswered. 'They must run him to earth, and he knows it. Hullo! what havewe here?'
A dark dim form lay stretched in the moonlight in front of us. It wasthe dead body of a hound--the one evidently at which I had fired.
'There is one of them disposed of, 'I cried joyously; 'we have but twoto settle with now.'
'As I spoke we heard the crack of two pistol-shots some little distanceto the left. Heading our steeds in that direction, we pressed on at thetop of our speed. Presently out of the darkness in front of us therearose such a roaring and a yelping as sent the hearts into our mouths.It was not a single cry, such as the hounds had uttered when they wereon the scent, but a continuous deep-mouthed uproar, so fierce and soprolonged, that we could not doubt that they had come to the end oftheir run.
'Pray God that they have not got him down!' cried Reuben, in a falteringvoice.
The same thought had crossed my own mind, for I have heard a similarthough lesser din come from a pack of otter hounds when they hadovertaken their prey and were tearing it to pieces. Sick at heart, Idrew my sword with the determination that, if we were too late to saveour companion, we should at least revenge him upon the four-footedfiends. Bursting through a thick belt of scrub and tangled gorse bushes,we came upon a scene so unlike what we had expected that we pulled upour horses in astonishment.
A circular clearing lay in front of us, brightly illuminated by thesilvery moonshine. In the centre of this rose a giant stone, oneof those high dark columns which are found all over the plain, andespecially in the parts round Stonehenge. It could not have been lessthan fifteen feet in height, and had doubtless been originally straight,but wind and weather, or the crumbling of the soil, had graduallysuffered it to tilt over until it inclined at such an angle that anactive man might clamber up to the summit. On the top of this ancientstone, cross-legged and motionless, like some strange carved idol offormer days, sat Decimus Saxon, puffing sedately at the long pipe whichwas ever his comfort in moments of difficulty. Beneath him, at the baseof the monolith, as our learned men call them, the two great bloodhoundswere rearing and springing, clambering over each other's backs in theirfrenzied and futile eagerness to reach the impassive figure perchedabove them, while they gave vent to their rage and disappointment in thehideous uproar which had suggested such terrible thoughts to our mind.
We had little time, however, to gaze at this strange scene, for upon ourappearance the hounds abandoned their helpless attempts to reach Saxon,and flew, with a fierce snarl of satisfaction, at Reuben and myself.One great brute, with flaring eyes and yawning mouth, his white fangsglistening in the moonlight, sprang at my horse's neck; but I met himfair with a single sweeping cut, which shore away his muzzle, and lefthim wallowing and writhing in a pool of blood. Reuben, meanwhile, hadspurred his horse forward to meet his assailant; but the poor tiredsteed flinched at the sight of the fierce hound, and pulled up suddenly,with the result that her rider rolled headlong into the very jaws of theanimal. It might have gone ill with Reuben had he been left to his ownresources. At the most he could only have kept the cruel teeth fromhis throat for a very few moments; but seeing the mischance, I drew myremaining pistol, and springing from my horse, discharged it full intothe creature's flank while it struggled with my friend. With a lastyell of rage and pain it brought its fierce jaws together in one wildimpotent snap, and then sank slowly over upon its side, while Reubencrawled from beneath it, scared and bruised, but none the worseotherwise for his perilous adventure.
'I owe you one for that, Micah,' he said gratefully. 'I may live to doas much for you.'
'And I owe ye both one,' said Saxon, who had scrambled down from hisplace of refuge. 'I pay my debts, too, whether for good or evil. I mighthave stayed up there until I had eaten my jack-boots, for all the chanceI had of ever getting down again. Sancta Maria! but that was a shrewdblow of yours, Clarke! The brute's head flew in halves like a rottenpumpkin. No wonder that they stuck to my track, for I have left both myspare girth and my kerchief behind me, which would serve to put them onChloe's scent as well as mine own.'
'And where is Chloe?' I asked, wiping my sword.
'Chloe had to look out for herself. I found the brutes gaining on me,you see, and I let drive at them with my barkers; but with a horseflying at twenty mile an hour, what chance is there for a single slugfinding its way home?' Things looked black then, for I had no time toreload, and the rapier, though the king of weapons in the duello, isscarce strong enough to rely upon on an occasion like this. As luckwould have it, just as I was fairly puzzled, what should I come acrossbut this handy stone, which the good priests of old did erect, as far asI can see, for no other purpose than to provide worthy cavalieros withan escape from such ignoble and scurvy enemies. I had no time to sparein clambering up it, for I had to tear my heel out of the mouth of theforemost of them, and might have been dragged down by it had he notfound my spur too tough a morsel for his chewing. But surely one of mybullets must have readied its mark.' Lighting the touch-paper in histobacco-box, he passed it over the body of the hound which had attackedme, and then of the other.
'Why, this one is riddled like a sieve,' he cried. 'What do you loadyour petronels with, good Master Clarke?'
'With two leaden slugs.'
'Yet two leaden slugs have made a score of holes at the le
ast! And ofall things in this world, here is the neck of a bottle stuck in thebrute's hide!'
'Good heavens!' I exclaimed. 'I remember. My dear mother packed a bottleof Daffy's elixir in the barrel of my pistol.'
'And you have shot it into the bloodhound!' roared Reuben. 'Ho! ho! Whenthey hear that tale at the tap of the Wheatsheaf, there will be somethroats dry with laughter. Saved my life by shooting a dog with a bottleof Daffy's elixir!'
'And a bullet as well, Reuben, though I dare warrant the gossips willsoon contrive to leave that detail out. It is a mercy the pistol did notburst. But what do you propose to do now, Master Saxon?'
'Why, to recover my mare if it can anywise be done,' said theadventurer.' Though on this vast moor, in the dark, she will be asdifficult to find as a Scotsman's breeches or a flavourless line in"Hudibras."'
'And Reuben Lockarby's steed can go no further,' I remarked. 'But domine eyes deceive me, or is there a glimmer of light over yonder?'
'A Will-o'-the-wisp,' said Saxon.
"An _ignis fatuus_ that bewitches, And leads men into pools and ditches."
Yet I confess that it burns steady and clear, as though it came fromlamp, candle, rushlight, lanthorn, or other human agency.'
'Where there is light there is life,' cried Reuben. 'Let us make for it,and see what chance of shelter we may find there.'
'It cannot come from our dragoon friends,' remarked Decimus. 'A murrainon them! how came they to guess our true character; or was it on thescore of some insult to the regiment that that young Fahnfuhrer has setthem on our track? If I have him at my sword's point again, he shallnot come off so free. Well, do ye lead your horses, and we shall explorethis light, since no better course is open to us.'
Picking our way across the moor, we directed our course for the brightpoint which twinkled in the distance; and as we advanced we hazardeda thousand conjectures as to whence it could come. If it were a humandwelling, what sort of being could it be who, not content with living inthe heart of this wilderness, had chosen a spot so far removed from theordinary tracks which crossed it? The roadway was miles behind us, andit was probable that no one save those driven by such a necessity asthat which had overtaken us would ever find themselves in that desolateregion. No hermit could have desired an abode more completely isolatedfrom all communion with his kind.
As we approached we saw that the light did indeed come from a smallcottage, which was built in a hollow, so as to be invisible from anyquarter save that from which we approached it. In front of this humbledwelling a small patch of ground had been cleared of shrub, and in thecentre of this little piece of sward our missing steed stood grazing ather leisure upon the scanty herbage. The same light which had attractedus had doubtless caught her eye, and drawn her towards it by hopes ofoats and of water. With a grunt of satisfaction Saxon resumed possessionof his lost property, and leading her by the bridle, approached the doorof the solitary cottage.