SIR BATES DUDLEY'S RIDE
After a night of revelry, the winter morning broke on men lying tipsy
or asleep about the smouldering embers of their fire, against the walls
of houses, or crowded on the benches and on the stone floor of the
Galilee. Every tavern was packed, and many private houses as well. The
rioters had demanded admission, and had threatened violence if opposed.
Doors had accordingly been opened to them, and they had received
reluctant admission.
On the whole, little serious mischief had been done. A few shops had
been invaded, a few well-to-do persons blackmailed, some windows
broken, all the ale and spirits in the public-houses drunk out, and
all the hams in the licensed victuallers' consumed; but with the sole
exception of the cutting open of the head of the chief constable, no
personal violence had been done to any one.
The demonstration had been absolutely resultless, so far as concerned
the purpose for which it had been organised. The only fruit that would
come of it would be that the bakers, millers, and provision-dealers
would raise their prices, so as to recoup themselves for what they had
lost, and that certain of the rioters would suffer penalties out of all
proportion to the injury done.
Some consciousness that a mistake had been made stole over the dull
brains of the men as they awoke, chilled and headachy, on the morning
after the entry into Ely. Those men who had promoted the movement, but
had not been suffered to direct it, were certainly alive to the fact
that a great blunder had been made, and that their safety was at stake.
And when the rumour spread that the dragoons from Bury were about to
arrive, the pot-valiant fen-men rapidly dispersed.
Droves and roads radiating from Ely were thronged with fugitives,
flying at their utmost speed towards their homes, and none speeding
more rapidly than those men who were guardians of the money collected
from the farmers and shopmen and millers for the cause, and who sought
not only to secure their persons, but also the money they carried with
them, for their own advantage. The sum collected might enable them to
escape from the neighbourhood, and it would form a comfortable little
capital on which to start business where they were unknown.
When, about noon, the military arrived, the streets of Ely were almost
as silent and unoccupied as on any day in the week save market day.
They were met by the magistrates, preceded by Sir Bates Dudley, Bart.,
an old canon of Ely; the chief constable showed with his head bandaged,
and the high sheriff looked approval from his bedroom window, in
nightcap and dressing-gown.
Orders were issued for the pursuit of the rioters to Littleport, their
headquarters. As it was necessary that a magistrate should accompany
them, Sir Bates Dudley was lifted into a saddle. He was a small, very
globular man, with a red face and a wig of sandy hair.
'You won't go very fast with me?' inquired the baronet of the officer
in charge. 'Be—be—cause, though I was a horseman oo—oo—once, I
haven't ridden these forty years.'
Then, turning to his footman, he said, 'Tut—Tut—Thomas, you'll please
to run at my s—s—ide, and hold my leg, lest I tut—tut—tumble off.
If you see me getting at all out of the per—per—per—pendicular, just
run round and give a pull to the other leg.'
Presently Sir Bates Dudley addressed Drownlands, who was standing near
him, holding his own horse.
'You will cuc—come too—so important a witness; and you will indicate
who are the persons to be arrested, and who are na—na—named in the
warrants I signed. You will oblige me if you will ri—ride at my side,
and as Tut—Tut—Thomas is negligent, and his at—at—tention may be
distracted, and he may forget his doo—doo—dooty to me, if you see me
at all out of the per—per—perpendicular, just give a thrust, will
you, with your riding-whip, and set me up—pup—right again. I haven't
ridden for forty years. I hope the saddle won't ga—ga—gall the horse.'
'I'll keep at your side, sir,' said Drownlands.
'That wo—wo—won't be quite enough,' said the baronet. 'If you wouldn't
mind keeping an eye on my left leg, and if you see it go—go—going up
the side of the saddle, just tut—trot round the ba—ba—back and give me
a thrust with the end of your whip, and set me per—per—perpendicular
again. I can't trust Tut—Tut—Thomas entirely.'
'I'll do what I can for you, sir,' said Drownlands.
Then Sir Bates turned to his man Thomas and said—
'Ki—ki—keep an even habit of mind, Tut—Thomas, and don't let your
thoughts ramble to Mary. Don't pup—pup—pull my right leg too hard,
nor let it go too lax.'
Then, addressing Drownlands—
'I am shush—shush—sure the Government and all law-abiding citizens
owe a debt of gratitude to you, Mr. Dud—Dud—Drownlands.' The baronet
gasped at the name, opening his mouth and jerking his face forward,
as though endeavouring to catch a bluebottle and swallow it. 'I
con—con—congratulate you on your activity, observation, and spirit.
You will be the primary means of convicting the ri—ri—rioters.'
The canon rode along, balancing himself uncertainly in his saddle. The
dragoons trotted after.
When, however, the clay land of the Isle of Ely was left, trotting was
out of the question. The horses made their way painfully through the
slough, and military order was not to be maintained.
Sir Bates's horse tossed his head, and endeavoured to keep up a trot.
There is pride in brutes as well as in men, and the baronet's steed
was elate at the idea of preceding the splendid dragoon chargers,
so well groomed, so gorgeously accoutred, and bearing such radiant
beings on their backs. Let the fen cart-horses see that he, Sir Bates
Dudley's cob, took precedence of, was on gracious terms with, these war
chargers. Every now and then, when a horse was visible in a stubble
field, he neighed to him a challenge to observe who went by and in what
company.
'I don't quite like this mo—mo—motion,' gasped the canon, who was
bouncing like a pea on a drum. 'I am afraid the saddle will terribly
ga—ga—gall my horse's back.'
At that moment Drownlands uttered an exclamation, and, turning to the
colonel of the dragoons, cried, as he pointed with his whip at a figure
in a field separated from the drove by a lane of water—
'There is Ephraim Beamish, a ringleader. A warrant against him is
signed. He has the audacity to look on as though this did not concern
him.'
The colonel gave orders to two of his soldiers to ride in pursuit.
The men detailed for the purpose at once leaped their horses across
the dyke. The road bank was sufficiently firm to enable the beasts to
spring.
Then they started in pursuit.
'Shoot! Shoot!' cried Drownlands. 'You will never take a prisoner like
that.'
The dragoons were careering over the field, one of fifteen to twenty
acres, but it was hard work for the horses, so spongy was the soil; and
Pip Beamish ran before them without greatly exerting himself.
The dragoons on the drove, at the command of the colonel, drew up in
line, and watched the chase.
'They will never catch him,' repeated Drownlands; 'they never can. Give
orders that he be shot.'
'I cannot do that,' said the officer in command. 'They will outstrip
and head him shortly.'
'They never will. You do not know the Fens.'
In another moment Beamish was seen to plant a long pole he was
carrying, swing himself aloft easily and gracefully, and fall lightly
on his feet on the farther side of the dyke limiting the field.
One of the dragoon's horses floundered and rolled over in the soft
soil, but the other was close behind Beamish. It rose, and in a moment
vanished along with its rider in the dyke. The hind feet had found
nothing substantial on which to obtain the necessary purchase for a
leap across the water, and the beast and rider had fallen into the
stagnant, slimy liquid that filled the ditch.
In spite of discipline, oaths and curses broke from the dragoons who
were looking on.
'I knew it,' said Drownlands. 'Why did you not shoot? If that horse
hasn't broke his back it is a lucky job. Now Pip Beamish is beyond
reach, beyond gunshot, and it will take a day to get the horse dug out.'
'What do you mean?' asked the colonel angrily.
'Mean? Why, that no horse that falls into a dyke can get himself out,
or be got out save by spade-work. There he must remain; every struggle
makes him sink deeper. There is no bottom to the dykes till you reach
the clay, and for that you must go down twenty feet. He will never do
it again, if that is any consolation to you. But ten to one his back is
broke, and you may as well send a bullet through his head.'
'Here,' shouted the colonel, 'dismount and go help Standish out.' He
beckoned to three men.
'Help him out?' mocked Drownlands. 'They can't do it. They must have
workmen that understand the business. They must have the proper tools.
You don't happen to have brought any "beckets" with you, I suppose?'
The man who had been precipitated into the water, was now seen on the
bank. He had scrambled out by means of the reeds that grew rankly in
the ooze. He was stamping, his splendid accoutrements were tarnished,
and the foul fen-water was streaming from him. Holding the reins, by
coaxing words he endeavoured to encourage his horse to struggle out
of the water. The poor brute made efforts to escape, churning up the
sludgy mud and peat in the dyke, but was incapable of doing anything to
extricate himself. The more he struggled the deeper he sank.
When the situation was thoroughly realised—and the colonel would
not for some time believe the assertion of Drownlands that the horse
could be extricated by no other means than the formation of an incline
by spade labour—then he consented grudgingly to negotiate with some
loafers who had followed the troop, and by promises of liberal payment
to engage them to undertake the rescue of the charger.
When this was settled,—and it took some time to settle,—the body of
soldiers advanced towards Littleport. Tidings had come that the rioters
were making a rally there, and intended to contest the way with the
military. That they were armed was known, as also that the fowlers of
the Fens were crack shots. If they held to their resolution, Littleport
would not be occupied without effusion of blood.
It was indeed true that a rally had been made at Littleport. The men
living there, fearing that they would be arrested for the part they had
taken in the disturbance, spoke of defending themselves—better die
with guns in their hands, they said, than swing on the scaffold. But
now, as before, there was neither discipline nor cohesion among the
men. The colonel knew that they had no leaders, and did not greatly
concern himself at the menace. He was impatient to reach Littleport,
not lest the rioters should gather force, but to get finished with
an unpleasant and inglorious affair. Moreover, at Littleport most of
the arrests would have to be made, and it was as well to reach it as
speedily as possible, before every rioter had hidden under a bed, or in
a rabbit-hole.
In the meantime, a considerable number of persons assembled on the
drove, partly to stare at the unprecedented sight of the glittering
military parade, but partly also as a means of exhibiting their own
peaceful demeanour, and showing that they had no sympathy with the
disturbers of tranquillity. As it happened, some of the men who had
been instigators to violence thought this a happy way of throwing a
veil over their past proceedings. By putting on a look of sheep-like
innocence, and thrusting themselves forward, they hoped to escape. But
they had miscalculated. They might have escaped, but for the presence
of Drownlands, who had followed the mob, watched its proceedings, had
taken note of everything done, and of the doers, and had denounced some
forty men to the magistrates, and was now accompanying the military and
Sir Bates Dudley, to point out those of whom it was advisable to make
an example, and who were already down on his 'information,' and against
whom warrants had been issued.
'I think,' said Sir Bates, 'that if I am not absolutely
nec—cess—cessary, I would rather return to Ely. The saddle somehow
does not fit the horse.'
'We must have a magistrate with us,' said the officer in command of the
dragoons.
The canon looked piteously about him, drew out a silk
pocket-handkerchief, and wiped his brow.
'It is of the horse I am thinking. A gall is so painful, so very
pup—pup—painful to the horse. I will do my dud—dud—duty, however
painful it may be to the horse.'
The soldiery trotted on to Littleport. There the rioters had overthrown
a waggon across the road, and by means of bundles of straw had composed
a rude barricade. The resistance offered by them was feeble and
half-hearted. The sight of the dragoons overawed the men, and several,
after firing from behind the bundles, slunk away.
The soldiers speedily passed the barricade and dashed among the men who
remained. A shot from behind a garden paling broke a dragoon's arm,
another brought down one of the chargers. This encouraged the men for
a moment, and they sprang at the heads of the horses, whilst others
assailed the riders with pitchforks. There ensued a brief hand-to-hand
scuffle. But when one of the rioters was shot through the head, and
the men saw that the soldiers were determined no longer to trifle with
them, they fled in all directions.
Numerous arrests were made, and then the dragoons returned towards Ely,
Sir Bates jogging before them, and their captives well guarded in their
midst.