Part 20 (2/2)
”They will not catch a sight of any of us if we are in hiding, and they can scarcely injure our poor old ht”
”Then by all means let us try the latter course,” said Stephen, his spirits rising as he thought of oncethen,” said young Stubbs ”One of us is going with you, the rest re close to the far across the country We wish to serve you as we know you well Mother will remain in the house, and be as much surprised as the soldiers when they find you, their prisoners, have gone She is a wonderful woman, and will not yield an inch, besides which, we shall be at hand; should any violence be offered her by the soldiers, ill be ready to astonish them”
Simon said this while he led the way to the stables He quickly led out Stephen's and Andrew's horses, with one for himself
”Mount,” he said ”There is no time to lose My brothers will look after the troopers' aniood care that they are not in a fit condition to follow us They have had no food all this time, poor brutes Some they will la we forgot The uniforms you wear are likely to betray you
It will be better to change the Wait here, and I will be back in a minute” Simon, who had not yeta couple of bundles, with two countrye these e are farther on the road, before daybreak”
At first they walked the horses, till they had got out of hearing of the house, then stuck their spurs into the anialloped on
Simon knew the road, and did not pull rein for a dozen ht across Devonshi+re so as to reach the southern coast, where theyover to France, or still better, to Holland, where they would be a friends Stephen and Andrew felt their spirits rise at thus finding theain at liberty, and they doubted not that this time they should ent fellow, and up to all sorts of plans and projects for eluding the ene a thick wood, in which he said he had no doubt a strea their horses; they could here change their clothes, and hide their uniforms in some place where they were not likely to be found Stephen was inclined implicitly to follow his advice, and without hesitation did as he suggested; but after refreshi+ng the about they found a hollow beneath an old tree; here they put in their uniforht earth and leaves; they then reain for a couple of hours more Even should the Cornet and his men follow them, it was impossible that they could reach thus far for several hours to coly disrass for their horses; thanks to Siht, they had food to last them, he calculated, till they could reach the coast
The next two stages wereasked by the people they would have th they considered that they ly, after breakfasting near a stream, of which they found an abundance on their road, they pushed forward during theAs they kept as es, they met but few people Some of them looked at them askance, others addressed thereater nu, probably, that they were far fro the Duke of Monmouth'sof the Duke's ht, the less said about theht be taken for partisans of one side or the other, and all they wanted just noas to attend to their own affairs, iht be to others This answer satisfied the inquirers, and the travellers got on with less inconvenience than they had expected They were not generally very acute persons, or they ht have suspected that Stephen and his brother, ere fine-looking young h Simon, both in his dialect and appearance, showed his real character At length the coast was reached It was one of those rocky secluded little bays, or coves as they are called, which abound on the shores of Devonshi+re; three or four fisheres were scattered about on the sides of the cliffs; one was considerably larger and better built than the rest In the centre of the bay floated a boat, or rather a little vessel
”The probabilities are that that boat belongs to the owner of the cottage She is large enough to carry us to France or Holland If the oill let her to us we can procure sufficient provisions”
”Let us inquire then,” said Andrew ”Sio down to the cottage”
Stephen, agreeing to this, set off, and was soon at the door of the cottage A superior-looking seafaring ht up in the bay belong to you, friend?” he asked
”Yes, and as wholesoh any amount of sea, always provided she is properly handled”
”Then I should think she is just the craft to suit my two friends and me I want to knohether you will let her to us for a couple of weeks or so”
”Where do you want to go to in her?” asked the oldhis visitor
”To be honest with you, we desire to be put across either to the coast of France, or should the wind prove favourable, we should prefer running on to Holland”
The old”You have soet off,” he remarked
”It is not o, I need not expect you to bring the boat back again”
”To be frank with you, we have a particular reason,” said Stephen ”We are willing to pay accordingly We will hand over to you a security, and pay a certain suive you a promissory note for the re the matter in his mind ”I cannot send the boat alone, but you shall have the man who usually sails her since I have been laid by, Joe Savin, and es from the time they sail to the tily agreed, highly pleased to ly,his horse, rode back to where he had left Andrew and Simon, who at once accompanied him to the house of the old pilot, for such he appeared to be Here they all three underwent a further scrutiny
”Here are our horses, which, if I mistake not, are worth a considerable portion of the value of the boat; I will, in addition, pay you five pounds down, and will give you a promissory note for a further 10 pounds, which ton Hall, will pay you”
”That is tolerably good pay my boat,” said the pilot; ”but that risk is very considerable, and you must understand that if I did not suspect more than you have told me, I would not enter into the venture I do not ask questions”
From this remark Stephen knew that the old pilot suspected hie to allow
”As there is no tiive directions to your o on board to store the craft with such provisions as we shall require for the voyage I, of course, shall be ready to pay for theood store”