Part 1 (1/2)
GRIT
by Percy F Westers of the Restoration Ca behind the tree-clad Ha shadows of Rake Hill lay athwart the es in the valley beneath began to hold its own against the rapidly fading daylight The cold east wind, for it was but the beginning of March, in the year of grace 1660, whistled through the cluaunt pine trees that marked the summit of the hill, and, despite the fact that each of us wore a thick doublet, the chilly blast cut us like a knife
I reraven on h on twoscore and ten winters and summers have passed over my head since the eventful year of which I write
My father and I were returning horeat fair at Petersfield For an old e, e Tall but sparely built, his frath of body that harmonized with the deterlance of his steel-coloured eyes Report says that when he came to Rake to settle down, so but an infant in ar one Caleb Ja his pate with his own staff on the roadside hard by Milland Church
Moreover, as proof of his hardiness, is there not the testieon of Lyss--the saton's action off Beachy Head,--to the effect that though practice was slack around Lyss, yet he perforce would have to give up if none were better patients than honest Owen Wentworth
Despite the fact that he was on the losing side,his attachh our neighbours, even the Roundheads, were favourably disposed to hiers who passed along the great highway betwixt London Town and Portsmouth, honest Owen's outspoken declarations oft led to wordy strife, and on occasions ended in blows
In defiance of the Puritan regulations against anything tending towards the lost cause, h ruined by confiscations and sequestration, endeavoured to maintain the appearance of a careless and social de a hope that each day see lovelocks, while the lower part of his weather-worn face was adorned by a greyish beard of Van Dyck cut, which failed to hide a portion of a long, whitish scar that extended froacy of a pike-thrust in the sanguinary encounter of Cropredy Bridge He was dressed in a dark-blue suit, relieved by a deep collar of Mechlin lace, while, on account of the severity of the weather, he was further attired in a long cloak that barely concealed the end of a short hanger--a necessary weapon in these troublous tis, or Scottish pistols, yet of these there was no outward sign
As we neared the foot of the hill, instead of turning to the right towards our ho: ”I will call in at the 'Flying Bull' Possibly the chap is there If so, I can replenish un flints”
As we entered the doorway of the ”Flying Bull”--an old hostelry that has sheltered all sorts and conditions of s and queens even to the arch-traitor Old Noll hin of which, painted by a limner who had learned his art in the tih on four hundred years--ere greeted with a chorus of welcoe stone-flagged cooes the price of malt and barley at Petersfield?” questioned oneof a bull
”Man,” retorted another, ”doth thy reasoning not rise above the price of petty huckstering, Obadiah Blow-the-truood Master Wentworth Hast news of honest George Monk and his arh rumour hath it that the fleet at Portsmouth hath sided with Monk, and that John Tippets, the mayor, hath called out the train bands and manned the ordnance on the Platforer hath reached Sir Giles Seaith orders to raise the countryside and to assemble in Petersfield marketplace to-ain drenched in blood!”
”Ay,” rejoined another, ”but, as man to man, Master Wentworth, what think ye? Hos the wind in London?” he added darkly
”My friend, ht from the Low Country”
”No,” thundered a voice from a seat in the chimney corner; ”the blast of the Lord, that destroyed Sennacherib and his host, will utterly consu Charles Stuart, the son of the ene to his feet, white with fury All eyes were centred on the speaker He was a short, thick-set e ears, small ferrety eyes, close-cropped hair, and a clean-shaven face deeply pitted with smallpox He wore a buff-coloured jerkin, opened at the neck for co of ar been reuards, and a heavy broadsword, lay on the settle within arhted bandolier hung across the back of a chair on which theSpanish boots, rested
On er leisurely rose from his seat and extended his hand in an attitude of conterey hairs taught thee wisdom! Wouldst threaten me, Increase Joyce, trooper of Parliamentary Horse?”
”Draw, knave, draw!” shouted er ”Either unsay those words or else s them!”
Instantly all was confusion Some of the more timid made towards the door, tables were overturned, tankards clattered on the floor, excited ible voices For my own part, I remained by onist, and, at the sa that my father in his choler would brook no interference froht not with old men,” retorted Joyce ”But this I know: 'The axe is laid unto the root of the trees', an' if that arch-profligate, Charles Stuart, were to set foot in England----”
He was interrupted by a violent knocking at the door, which, being throide open, showed aand apparently exhausted horse
”Host!” he shouted ”Where or which is the host?”
Old Giles Perrin, the innkeeper, came forward and awaited his commands
”Now, sirrah, on thy life, hasten! Provender for my beast; a cup of spiced ale for myself With all dispatch, er strode into the room, stooped and replaced one of the overturned stools, seated hi a cloth that encircled his neck, wiped his heated brow vigorously Then he stared haughtily around at the asseht, and drained it at one gulp
I remarked that he spoke with an accent totally different from the Southern dialect of our part of Hampshi+re and Sussex, but my doubts were soon set at rest
”How far down yon road is't to Petersfield? And is one like to rants of that condition?”
It was my father who answered hier clapped him on the shoulder: ”By all the powers of darkness! You, S----”
”Hold, man!” replied my father in a tone that implied no denial Then, in an undertone, I heard hientlesby, though, thanks to er, but captain in his favourite regiment Let me think 'Tis but thrice that I have seen thee since we parted at Holwick, you to join the king at Nottinghaehill, when I, a , lay under the hoofs of Rupert's horse Secondly, at Cropredy Bridge, when I did turn aside the pike that would have let your soul out of the keeping of your body Lastly, when at the trial of----”
”Ssh!+ I would have you re ears”
My father spoke truly, for though the stranger had uttered his lengthy speech but in an undertone, yet I, with the curiosity of youth, did not fail to hear,also that the reeneration” was applied to me, I , sby's amusement
”So this is your son, Master Wentworth? A fitting chip of the old block! What wouldst thou be, lad; a fighting man, like thy sire?”
”Ay,” I replied ”But I would love to go to sea, and becoh he were a Roundhead!”
”What knowest thou of Blake?”
”Henry Martin hath told allant deeds, and besides, he hath shown me hisye Triuht in which Martin lost his leg”
”Ah, Master Wentworth, that's the spirit I like! The ti at each other's throats Host,me kindly on the head, he strode towards the door; then, turning, he addressed the coht aCharles II to return to his throne I bear orders to the fleet at Portsmouth that they all, with the exception of the Naseby, the naiveth offence to His Majesty, proceed to the Downs, there to welco!”
While the silence that prevailed in the roo announcement, still resby resumed his momentous journey towards Petersfield
When, a quarter of an hour or so later, we left the ”Flying Bull”, theshadows of the dark pines athwart the road Our humble abode lay about a mile on the by-road from Rake to Midhurst, and ho on the frosty road When but half the distance was covered, I heard the sound of the crackling of the dry brushwood in a coppice on our left, followed by the cry of a bird and the fluttering of its wings as it flew over our heads
Instinctively I edged closer to rasped his left hand
”Lad, art afraid of a fox running through the covert?” he exclaimed ”And wouldst be a sailor, too!”
In spite ofBull”, my heart throbbed painfully, and my reply seemed like to stick in my throat We continued in silence, and presently caht-hand side of the road, while on the other a dense cluloom over our path