Arthur Conan Doyle

“ Well, if we must have civil war, I hope it may be hot and sudden, not spun out for a dozen years like the last one. If our throats are to be cut, let it be with a shairp knife, and not with a blunt hedge shears.'
'What say you to a stoup of cider?' I asked, for we were passing an ivy-clad inn, with 'The Beaufort Arms' printed upon the sign.
'With all my heart, lad,' my companion answered. 'Ho, there! two pints of the old hard-brewed! That will serve to wash the dust down. ”

“ For of all the seeming misfortunes which have befallen me during my wandering life, there is not one which I have not come to look upon as a blessing. And if you once take this into your hearts, it is a mighty help in enabling you to meet all troubles with a stiff lip; for why should a man grieve when he hath not yet determined whether what hath chanced may not prove to be a cause of rejoicing? Now here ye will perceive that I began by being dashed upon a stony road, beaten, kicked, and finally well-nigh put to death in mistake for another. ”

“ Two mounted lackeys galloped in front, and two others all in light blue and silver liveries rode on either side.
'His Grace is not within, else there had been an escort behind,' said the farmer, as we reined our horses aside to let the carriage pass. As they swept by he shouted out a question as to whether the Duke was at Badminton, and received a nod from the stately bewigged coachman in reply.
'We are in luck to catch him,' said Farmer Brown. 'He's as hard to find these days as a crake in a wheatfield. We should be there in an hour or less. ”

“ He had large projecting blue eyes, with great pouches of skin beneath them, and a yellow, sallow visage. At his heels walked a dozen officers and men of rank, with flowing wigs and clanking swords. They had hardly passed through the opposite door into the Duke's own room, when the gentleman with the list called out a name, and the guests began one after the other to file into the great man's presence.
'Methinks his Grace is in no very gentle temper,' quoth Farmer Brown. ”

“ When it clears we shall turn her head for it, but until we can take our bearings it is anxious work wi' the sands under our lee.'
'Keep a look-out there, Tom Baldock!' cried Dicon to a man in the bows. 'We are in the track of every Bristol ship, and though there's so little wind, a high-sparred craft might catch a breeze which we miss.'
'Sh!' said Long John suddenly, holding up his hand in warning. 'Sh!'
We listened with all our ears, but there was no sound, save the gentle wash of the unseen waves against our sides.
'Call the mate!' whispered the seaman. 'There's a craft close by us. ”

“ Once used they can never he fitted back into the scabbard again.'
'The tall man who goes in now is an inventor,' quoth the first. 'He hath the secret of some very grievous fire, such as hath been used by the Greeks against the Turks in the Levant, which he desires to sell for the better fortifying of Bristol.'
The Greek fire seemed to be in no great request with the Duke, for the inventor came out presently with his face as red as though it had been touched by his own compound. The next upon the list was my honest friend the farmer. ”

“ In very truth the strong active lad of one-and-twenty was another man from the grey-headed old fellow who sits in the chimney corner and can do naught better than tell old tales to the youngsters. Shallow water gives a great splash, and so a braggart has ever been contemptible in my eyes. I trust, therefore, that ye will never think that your grandad is singing his own praises, or setting himself up as better than his neighbours. ”

“ On the high poop stood an elderly officer with cocked hat and trim white wig, who at once whipped up his glass and gazed at us through it.
'Ahoy, there!' he shouted, leaning over the taffrail. 'What lugger is that?'
'The Lucy,' answered the mate, 'bound from Porlock Quay to Bristol with hides and tallow. Stand ready to tack!' he added in a lower voice, 'the fog is coming down again.'
'Ye have one of the hides with the horse still in it,' cried the officer. 'Run down under our counter. ”

“ Affairs o' State belike,' said he, with a whistle. 'Well, a still tongue saves many a neck. I'm a cautious man myself, and these be times when I wouldna whisper some o' my thoughts--no, not into the ears o' my old brown mare here--for fear I'd see her some day standing over against me in the witness-box.'
'They seem very busy over there,' I remarked, for we were now in full sight of the walls of Bristol, where gangs of men were working hard with pick and shovel improving the defences.
'Aye, they be busy sure enough, makin' ready in case the rebels come this road. ”

“ I observed that many of them cast haughty and inquiring glances round them, in the pauses between the dishes, as though each marvelled how he came to be a member of so motley a crew. Their only common feature appeared to be the devotion which they showed to the platter and the wine flagon. There was little talking, for there were few who knew their neighbours. Some were soldiers who had come to offer their swords and their services to the King's lieutenant; others were merchants from Bristol, with some proposal or suggestion anent the safety of their property. ”

“ As we drew near the house we came on a large extent of level sward on which a troop of horse were exercising, who were raised, as my companion informed me, entirely from the Duke's own personal attendants. Passing them we rode through a grove of rare trees and came out on a broad space of gravel which lay in front of the house. The building itself was of great extent, built after the new Italian fashion, rather for comfort than for defence ”

“ I have never seen grounds so tastefully laid out, and it was done, as all good work in art must be done, by following Nature so closely that it only differed from her handiwork in its profusion in so narrow a compass. ”

“ Mark that the order be declared null and void unless fulfilled within the time appointed.'
'It is so marked, your Grace.'
'Captain Micah Clarke,' said the Duke, reading from the list in front of him. 'What is your wish, Captain?'
'One which it would be better if I could deliver privately to your Grace,' I answered.
'Ah, you are he who desired private audience? Well, Captain, these are my council and they are as myself. So we may look upon ourselves as alone. What I may hear they may hear. ”

“ Cromwell and his tawnies found it a rasper in my vather's time, and Monmouth is like to do the same.'
'It hath a strong garrison, too,' said I, bethinking me of Saxon's advice at Salisbury. 'I see two or three regiments out yonder on the bare open space.'
'They have four thousand foot and a thousand horse,' the farmer answered. 'But the foot are only train-bands, and there's no trusting them after Axminster. They say up here that the rebels run to nigh twenty thousand, and that they give no quarter. ”

“ Yet when he hath time to think, and hath cooled down, he is just in the main. Your horse hath been in the water this morning, vriend.'
'Yes,' said I shortly, 'he hath had a bath.'
'I am going to his Grace on the business of a horse,' quoth my companion. 'His officers have pressed my piebald four-year-old, and taken it without a "With your leave," or "By your leave," for the use of the King. I would have them know that there is something higher than the Duke, or even than the King. There is the English law, which will preserve a man's goods and his chattels. ”

“ Can you tell me the way?'
'What! Not know the way to Badminton!' he cried, with a blank stare of wonder. 'Whoy, I thought all the warld knew that. You're not fra Wales or the border counties, zur, that be very clear.'
'I am a Hampshire man,' said I. 'I have come some distance to see the Duke.'
'Aye, so I should think!' he cried, laughing loudly. 'If you doan't know the way to Badminton you doan't know much! But I'll go with you, danged if I doan't, and I'll show you your road, and run my chance o' finding the Duke there. ”