George Manville Fenn

“ He calls me to his help, and do you think I am going to play the coward and knave, and hide here in idleness while every rogue is striking at the crown? Come: be a woman. Do your duty.”
“My duty is to those children, Godfrey,” said Lady Markham, piteously.
“And to your husband. You, as a brave, true woman, now that the perilous time has come when ruin and destruction threatens the kingdom, you, I say, should be the first to buckle on your husband’s sword.”
“Father!” cried Scarlett, “are you going away?”
“Yes, boy; I am summoned to Exeter. From there, perhaps to Bristol.” ”

“ Another minute, and the horses’ hoofs were slashing up the babbling water of the stream which crossed the road—the tiny river where they had so often waded after trout and stone loaches.
There at last, calm and still in the starlight, lay the Manor, and the young officer felt a wild kind of joy, which he had to fight down, lest he should seem childish before his followers, for the impulse of the moment was to leap from the horse and rush through the garden, over the lawn, and up to the doorway, shouting for joy. ”

“ There does not seem to be much in a few snips with a pair of big scissors; but the young leader’s use of those cutting implements had completely changed the state of affairs in the little party. For while the guard were merry, and looked in the best of spirits, the common prisoners seemed as if they felt most bitterly the insult offered to their young captain, sitting heavily in their saddles, with their chins down upon their chests, and neither looking to right nor left, while Scarlett Markham gazed straight before him, his eyes flashing beneath the steel headpiece he now wore. ”

“ He drew back to look admiringly at his work.
“That’ll catch him, sir,” he said.
“Yes, they’ll see that,” cried Fred, eagerly. “Now let’s get back to the lake, and fish for an hour.”
“But we aren’t got no lines, sir.”
“Never mind; we must pretend, in case we are watched. Come along quickly.”
Fred spoke in a low excited whisper, just as if he had helped in the setting of a gin for some wild creature; and as he hurried Samson back toward the lake he turned once, full of exultation, and shook his follower warmly by the hand. ”

“ Fred marched up and down without a word.
“You see, sir, it’s like this. Young Master Scar Markham’s bouncing about and ordering and behaving as if he was everybody.—You won’t fight him, sir?”
“No!”—emphatically.
“Then why not do something just to show him he isn’t everybody, and that you are not afraid of him?”
“You know I am not afraid of him, Samson,” cried Fred, hotly.
“Of course I do, sir; but the men don’t know. How could they? There isn’t one there as took you in hand from a little one, when you was always tumbling down and knocking the skin off your knees.” ”

“ In one indentation—a spot where the flat-bottomed boat lay moored—Scarlett felt certain that they had found the entrance; but when they lay flat on the overhanging bank and peered down below, there was nothing to be seen but black leaves and dead branches far below, while in mid-water, bar-sided perch in golden green armour, floated slowly to and fro, seeming to watch the movements of sundry carp close to the surface, gliding in and out among the stems of the lilies and nestling beneath the leaves.
“It’s of no use, Fred. I’m afraid we have made a mistake. ”

“ Away as far as eye could reach to right and left lay the softly blue Welsh coast; but Fred’s attention was divided between the lion’s head-like outline of the Rill, and the slowly advancing figure of Scarlett Markham, who finished his ascent by breaking into a trot, and zigzagging up the last steep piece to throw himself down beside his friend.
They lay for some few minutes enjoying themselves, their ideas of enjoyment consisting in lying face downward resting upon their crossed arms, which formed a pillow for their chins, and kicking the turf with their toes. ”

“ The straw rustled, and steps were heard upon the rough loft ladder, to be followed by the rattle of a chain, and the creaking of a windlass, Fred seeming to see all as plainly as if he were there, and watching the girl’s actions at the draw-well in the yard below.
And all this time the two boys gazed at each other in silence—a silence that was broken by the splash of water; then there were footsteps on the ladder again, and the red-faced lass came back, knelt down behind the injured lad’s head, the kerchief was soaked, and the cool refreshing water did its work. ”

“ And all this time, to Fred and Scar, home was becoming rapidly a memory. By the merest chances, they heard that all was well, and, compelled to be content with this scanty news, they plunged into their work again, till the roar of cannon and clash of steel became familiar as were the terrors of the scene of some desperate fight, such as modern soldiers would speak of as a desultory skirmish. ”

“ He made a faint effort to thrust his son away, but Scarlett still held his hands, while the fire crackled and roared in the rooms on either side, and kept on narrowing the space they occupied, as the great smoke wreaths, pierced by ruddy tongues, rolled heavily overhead.
Scarlett set his teeth and closed his eyes for a moment, as a feeling of horror ran through him, and there before him, beyond the smoke of the burning woodwork, he saw in a instant the bright sunshiny paths of life inviting him on and on for a long career, such as youth may look forward to in its growing vigour ”

“ A trumpet roused Scarlett Markham from his dream of home. The deep roll of drums awakened Fred, and as daylight came, and the larks sprang from the dewy moor to carol high in the soft, grey, gold flecked sky, there was the trampling of men and the snorting of horses, and then the first gun belched forth its destroying message against the advancing forces of the king. ”

“ I say, is it as dark as it was when we first came down?”
“Our eyes are getting used to it,” said Scarlett, as they both stood gazing across the opening at the black-looking rock-face before them, and, gaining courage from familiarity, they once more approached the edge of the shelf, and felt their way about, seeking vainly for the means of descent.
“I’m afraid it’s of no use, Fred. The only way is for one of us to let the other down with the rope, and the one who goes down to call for help.” ”

“ He keeps calling me crop-ears, sir, and showing off as if he was a Cavalier.”
“So you are a crop-ear and a rebel,” said Nat, for his fall had hurt him, and made him disagreeable.
“Silence, sir!” cried Fred, as he made a gesture as if to strike the ex-gardener a blow with the flat of his sword.
“Shan’t silence,” said Nat. “You’re not my master. Rebels can’t be masters, and you daren’t hit me now I’m tied up, much as you’d like to. Cowards, all of you!”
“Beg pardon, captain,” said Samson, “but may I untie his arms, sir, and have him down under the trees with our buffs off? ”

“ Scarlett rose to his feet from where he had been lying, and they once more searched the side of the lake, which toward the house was deep and dark below its high bank.
There were places where it might be possible for a tunnel to run down into the water, shady spots where willows and alders overhung the lake; places where birch and hazels grew close up to the patches of rushes and reed-mace, with its tall broken pokers standing high above the waving leaves. ”

“ You always were true as steel, Samson.”
“Master Fred, lad, I’d die for you!” half sobbed Samson, with his face working; and he clung now to the hand extended to him. “But do, do speak, sir. Poor Nat aren’t dead?”
“No, no! How could I have been such an idiot!”
“Such a what, sir? Here, who says so?” cried Samson, truculently.
“I can’t think how it was I never thought of it before.”
“Here, sir, ’pon my head, I don’t know which hole you’re coming out of. What do you mean?”
“They’re alive, Samson; they’re alive!”
“He’s alive, sir—he’s alive, you mean.”
“No; I mean they must be alive.” ”

“ Regiments were gradually disbanded, and the Forresters at last returned to the Manor, from which Colonel Forrester’s stern sense of duty had kept him away, as much as the calls of his military life.
“There, Samson,” he said, smiling, as they rode home, “you may sheathe your sword, and sharpen your rusty scythe; while you, Fred—what are we to do with you? Send you back to school?”
“No, father, I must be what I am—a soldier still,” said Fred, proudly; “but I hope in peace more than in war.”
“Yes; we have had enough of war for years to come.” ”

“ Samson stopped short, and burst into a roar of laughter.
“What’s the matter, now?” cried Fred, wonderingly.
“Oh, you can tell ’em when you like, sir,” cried Samson. “Haw, haw, haw! No, no, no; you won’t get me to believe that. But let’s get on, sir; we’re ’bout out o’ sight of the sentries. No; there’s one looking at us over the hill. Let’s sit down just yonder, and seem to begin.” ”

“ I could tell Sir Godfrey a deal more than you think for.”
“Yes, you’d better,” cried Fred. “You do, that’s all, and I’ll go home and lead Samson such a life.”
“Wish you would, sir, for he deserves it. A nasty, stuck-up, obstint fellow as never was. I never meet him without he wants to quarrel with me and fight. Thinks he’s the strongest man there is, and that he can do anything. And talk about a temper!”
“Shan’t,” cried Fred. “What do we want to talk about tempers for? Our Samson has got as good a temper as you have.” ”

“ There was a long silence here, during which the two lads looked out at the garden flooded with sunshine, where Nat was working very deliberately close by the sun-dial. And beyond him, at the lake, from which the sunbeams flashed whenever a fish or water-fowl disturbed the surface.
“I say,” said Fred at last, “don’t let’s sit here any longer. You’re as dull as if you had no tongue. What are you thinking about now?”
“I was wondering whether I shall be such a coward when I grow up to be a man.” ”

“ Samson rubbed his hands and began to smile, but the pleasant look was ousted by a grotesque twitching of the countenance.
“What’s the matter?”
“I always forget, sir. Wound reminds me when I go too fast, and aren’t careful. All right again soon, though. Don’t hear no noos of the war being over, sir, I s’pose?”
“No, Samson, none. Tired of it?”
“Tired, sir? I don’t know about tired, but I can’t help thinking of the manor now and then, and what sort of a state my garden will be in. Why, Master Fred, sir, you know that bit under the north wall, where the mistress’s herbs and simples grow!” ”

“ He crept to where Sir Godfrey lay, and felt for his face, which was cold and clammy, sending a shudder through the fingers which touched the icy brow, and then sought for the region of the heart.
Incongruous ideas of a trivial nature occur to people even in the most terrible times, and it was so here, for as Scarlett’s hand sought for his father’s breast, he found himself thinking of how good a thing it was that he removed the armour when he took him upon his back. ”

“ But, restful as the scene was, and pleasant as the reclining posture was to his aching bones, Fred did not feel happy, for he knew that not far away men were lying in fever and weariness, cut, stabbed, trampled by horse hoof, and shattered by bullet, many of them waiting anxiously for death, the same death that had come upon so many of their fellows, who were lying stark on the field, or being hastily laid in rows in their shallow grave. ”

“ But the men don’t know you as I do, sir. Call a halt, sir, and fight him.”
“Samson, I am talking to you as my old friend now, not as your officer. It is impossible.”
“Not it, sir. The men would like it. So would you; and as for me—let me fight brother Nat same time, and I’ll give him such a beating as he won’t know whether it’s next We’n’sday or last We’n’sday, or the year before last.”
“I tell you, man, it’s impossible, so say no more.”
“Very well, Master Fred. I only tell you the truth; and if you find the lads aren’t so willing to follow you, mind, it’s that.” ”