Part 67 (2/2)

Overjoyed at this unexpected piece of good fortune, Fred hurried to his sleeping quarters, to try and give a few touches to his personal appearance, for, after months in the field, he did not feel at all proud of his sombre and shabby uniform.

This done, he made off just as the little force of well-mounted, st.u.r.dy men under the general's command were filing slowly out, and making for the broad open park, where a long and arduous drill was to be carried out.

It was a glorious day, and the prospect of being at home for even so short a time, and seeing his mother and those who had been his best friends was delightful. There was no sign of warfare anywhere, such as he had seen in other parts, in the shape of devastated crops and burned outhouses. But as he rose one of the hills that he had to cross, a glint of steel, where the sun shone on a morion, showed where one of the outposts was on the look-out. Further on, away to the left, he caught sight of another, and knowing pretty well where to look, he had no difficulty, sooner or later, in making out where the different vedettes were placed.

”Puzzle an enemy to catch our weasel asleep,” he said to himself, laughingly, as he trotted on. ”Why, if all our leaders were like General Hedley and my father, the war would soon be at an end--and a good thing too.”

He rode on, thinking of the reception he would get, and hoping that Lady Markham would not behave coldly to him; and then the watchfulness of the pupil in military matters came out.

It was not his business to see where the outposts were, but it seemed to come natural to him to note their positions.

”I might have to place men myself, some day,” he said; ”and it's as well to know.”

”Yes; there he is,” he muttered, as he caught sight of another and then of another far away, but forming links of a chain of men round the camp, well within touch of each other, and all ready to gallop at the first alarm.

”There ought to be one out here,” said Fred, at last, just as he was nearing the Manor; and for the moment he was ready to pa.s.s him over, and think of nothing but those whom he had come to see, but discipline mastered.

The spot he was approaching was a little eminence, which commanded a deep valley or coombe, that went winding and zigzagging for miles, and here he looked in vain for the outpost.

”Strange!” thought Fred; and he rode on a little further, till he was nearly to the top of the eminence, when his heart leaped, and by instinct he clapped his hand to his sword. For there, with lowered head, cropping the sweet short gra.s.s among the furze and heath, was the outpost's horse; and this, to Fred's experienced eye, meant the rider shot down at his post.

Half dreaming a similar fate, he looked sharply round, and then uttered an angry exclamation, as he touched his horse's flanks, and rode forward to where the man lay between two great bushes.

But not wounded. The secret of his fall was by his side. By some means he had contrived to get a large flask of wine up at the Hall, and the vessel lay by him empty, while he was sound asleep.

”You scoundrel!” cried Fred, closing up and bending down to take hold of the man's piece, where it stood leaning against a bush.

As he raised it, a distant flash caught his eye, and there, winding slowly and cautiously along the bottom of the coombe, with advanced guards, came a strong body of hors.e.m.e.n, whose felt hats and feathers here and there told only too plainly that they belonged to the Cavaliers.

To his horror, Fred saw that some of the advance were coming up the side of the valley not two hundred yards away, and that unless the alarm were given, the little force so calmly going through their manoeuvres in the park would be surprised. At the same moment, he saw that he had been noticed before he caught sight of the approaching enemy, but he did not hesitate. Raising the heavy piece, he fired, and at the shot the grazing horse tossed its head and cantered to his side, leaving its master to take his chance.

”He'll get no wine as a prisoner,” said Fred, bitterly, as he spurred his horse to a gallop, just as shot after shot from the other outposts carried on his alarm--while, following a shout to him to surrender, came shots that were not intended to give the alarm, but to bring him down.

Fred glanced back once, and saw that the advance guard of the enemy were in full pursuit, a sight which made him urge on his steed to its utmost, while as he glanced back on getting to the top of the next hill, he could see that the enemy had divided into two bodies, and throwing off all concealment, they were thundering on, so as to get up with those who would spread the alarm, intending to spread it themselves, and to a dangerous extent.

”They'll overtake me,” muttered Fred, as he looked back and saw how well some of the leading men were mounted, and also that some of those in the main body were better mounted still, and were rapidly diminis.h.i.+ng the distance between them and their advance guard.

Right and left and well ahead of him he could see their own outposts galloping in toward the centre, but, strive how he would, he felt that he must be overtaken long before he could reach the Hall.

”They will not kill me,” he said to himself. ”They would only make a prisoner of me, unless some fierce Cavalier cuts me down.”

”But I have saved them from a surprise,” he continued; and he once more tried to get a little speed out of the worn-out horse he rode.

It was a neck-or-nothing gallop, and over and over again Fred would have been glad to change his mount, and leap on to the trained horse which kept its place riderless by his side. But the enemy were thundering on in full pursuit, and to have paused meant certain capture.

On they rode, the Cavaliers behind, with their blades flas.h.i.+ng, and their feathers streaming, and in the excitement of the race he could not help thinking of the gallant appearance they made, as they spurred one against the other in their reckless endeavour to overtake him.

He had forsaken the road, and turned on to the rough moorland, a more difficult way, but he and his horse were more at home there, and he knew how to avoid the roughest rocky portions, and the pieces of bog, while there was always the hope that the pursuers might try to make some cut to intercept him, and so find themselves foundered in the mire.

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