Hilary's burst of merriment was of very short duration. There is, no
doubt, something very amusing to a young naval officer in the fact of
his being made a prisoner, and carried off in a donkey-cart; but the
pleasure is not of a lasting kind.
At the end of a few moments Hilary's mirth ceased, and he grew very
wrathful. He was exceedingly hot and in no little pain, and in addition
his sensations were such that he began to wonder whether he should live
to reach his destination, where ever that might be, without being
stifled.
For the folds of the cloak were very tight about his head, and the straw
on which he lay let him settle down into a hole, while that above shook
down more closely and kept out the air.
For a few minutes a horrible sensation of dread troubled him, and he
uttered a hoarse cry; but, making a struggle to master his fear, he grew
more calm, and though he was exceedingly hot and the effort was painful,
he found he could breathe, and after a final effort to relieve himself
of his bonds he lay still, patiently waiting for his release.
The road seemed to grow rougher and rougher, and he felt that he must be
going along some out-of-the-way by-lane, full of tremendous ruts, for
sometimes one wheel would be down low, sometimes the other; and every
now and then the cart seemed to stick fast, and then followed the sound
of blows.
Whenever there came this sound of blows the cart began to echo back the
noise with a series of tremendous kicks; for it soon became evident that
this was no patient, long-suffering donkey, but one with a spirit of its
own, and ready to resist.
On again, and then another stick-fast.
Whack! whack! whack! went a stick, and clatter, clatter came the
donkey's heels against the front of the cart, in such close proximity to
Hilary's head that he began to be alarmed for the safety of his skull,
and after a good dead of wriggling he managed to screw himself so far
round that when the next assault took place with the stick and battering
with the donkey's heels the front boards of the cart only jarred against
Hilary's arm.
Another term of progress, during which the road seemed better, and they
appeared to get along some distance before there was another jerk up and
another jerk down, and then a series of jumps as if they were going
downhill; and then the cart gave a big bump and stuck fast.
The driver shouted and banged the donkey, and the donkey brayed and
battered the front of the cart, and once more, in spite of his pain and
discomfort, Hilary lay under the straw and laughed as he pictured
accurately enough the scene that was taking place in that narrow lane.
For he was in a rutty, little-used track, in a roughly-made, springless
cart, drawn by a big, ragged, powerful jackass, which every time the
cart stuck, and his driver used the light ash stick he carried, laid
down his ears, bared his teeth, and kicked at the front of the cart,
which was rough with indentations and splinters, the result of the
prowess of the donkey's heels.
On again--stop again--jolt here--jolt there--more blows and kicking, and
Hilary still lying there half stifled beneath the straw; but his youth
and abundant vitality kept him up, so that he lay listening to the
battles between the donkey and his driver; then he thought of his men,
and wondered whether they had made a good search for him; then he began
to think of the lieutenant, and wondered what he would say when the men
went back and reported his absence; lastly, he began to wonder whether
Mr Lipscombe would come with the _Kestrel_ and try to find him.
"Not much good to come with the cutter," he thought as drew a long
breath; "he would want a troop of light horse if I'm being taken inland,
as it seems to me I am."
Then he began to wonder what would be done with him, whether Sir Henry
Norland knew of his capture. Perhaps it was by Sir Henry's orders.
"Well, if it is," he said, half aloud, "if he don't behave well to me he
is no gentleman."
He began musing next about Adela, and thought of how she had altered
since the old days when Sir Henry was a quiet country gentleman, and had
not begun to mix himself up with the political questions of the day.
"Oh!" said Hilary at last, "this is horribly tiresome and very
disgusting. I don't know that I should have much minded being made
prisoner by a French ship, and then sent ashore, so long as they treated
me well; but to be kidnapped like this by a beggarly set of smugglers is
too bad."
"Well," he thought, "I don't see that I shall be very much better off if
I make myself miserable about my condition. I can't escape just at
present; they are evidently not going to kill me. That's not likely.
Why should they? So I shall just make the best of things, and old
Lipscombe must grumble as long as he likes."
Phew! It was very hot, and he was very weary. The kicking of the
donkey and the sound of the blows had ceased to amuse him. He was so
sore with the jolting that he told himself he could not get any worse.
And still the cart went on, jolt, jolt, till a curious sensation of
drowsiness came over him, and before he was aware that such a change was
approaching he dropped off fast asleep, to make up for the wakefulness
and excitement of the past night, the long and arduous walk of that
morning, and the exhaustion produced by the jolting and shaking to which
he had been subjected at intervals for the past two hours. During that
time he had striven very hard to guess in which direction he was being
taken, and wished he had known a little more of the locality inland, his
geographical knowledge being confined to the points, bays, cliffs,
villages, churches, and ports along the coast.
It was no slow dozing off and re-awaking--no softly passing through a
pleasant dreamy state into a light sleep, for Nature seemed to say, with
stern decision, that his body and mind had borne as great a strain as
was good for either; and one moment he was awake, feeling rather drowsy;
the next he was gone--plunged deep down in one of those heavy, dreamless
sleeps in which hours pass away like moments, and the awakened sleeper
wonders at the lapse of time.
Nature is very kind to her children, whether they are old or young; and
during those restful times she builds up what the learned folks call
tissue, and strengthens mind and muscle, fitting the said children for
the wear and tear that is to go on again the next day, and the next.
Hilary awoke with a start, and so deep had been his sleep that it was
some little time before he could recall what had taken place.
At first he thought he was in his berth on board the _Kestrel_, for it
was intensely dark, but on stretching out his hands he could touch
nothing, so it could not be there, where his elbows struck the side, and
not many inches above his head there was the top.
No, it could not be there. Where was he then?
Asleep and dreaming, he believed the next minute; and then all came back
with a leap--his capture, the swing off the cliff, the straw in the
donkey-cart, and that was where he was now, only the donkey was standing
still, for there was no jolting, and it had ceased to kick the front
board of the cart.