Will you walk out, sir?
And if I do not beat thee presently
Into as sound belief as sense can give thee,
Brick me into the wall there for a chimney-piece,
And say,--I was one o' th' Cæsars, done by a seal-cutter.
RULE A WIFE AND HAVE A WIFE.
In the meanwhile, Herman,--or Hyland Gilbert, as he must now be
called,--(so soon as he beheld the maiden, wooed so wildly and
vainly, fly to her parent for refuge,) turned from the illuminated
path, and taking advantage of his previous knowledge of the garden,
soon succeeded in making his way out of it, and, as he thought,
without being observed. He hurried through the park, torn by a
tempest of passions, and had almost reached the gate, when he was
suddenly roused by a tap on the shoulder, which brought him to a
stand. The moon had set, and the light of the stars, breaking through
ragged clouds, was not sufficient to make him acquainted with the
visage of the intruder; but the first word of the salutation that
accompanied the touch, told him he was now confronted with his rival.
"An excellent good night to you, my fine hail-fellow-well-met!" cried
Harry Falconer; "you'll be jogging, will you? A word in your ear:
there's star-light enough to be civil by, soft moist grass for
sleeping on, and, gad's my life, as good barren clay at your feet as
ever gentleman rotted under. Now you may be surprised to hear it, but
I have the prettiest pair of pistols in my pocket that were ever made
for a lady's finger; somewhat dwarfish, to be sure--but, egad, as
good, at six paces, for blowing one's brains out, as a battering
piece at point-blank distance. So douse kit, as the cobbler says, and
let's begin.--Harkee, sir, no skulking! Don't put me to the painful
necessity of calling hard names. No sneaking!"
"You are a fool," said Hyland, sternly. "If you will renew your
quarrel, come to me in the morning."
"By your leave, no," said the lieutenant, laying hand on his collar.
"As to being a fool, adzooks, as the Captain says, I am, or _was_,
for supposing you an honest, respectable sort of a vagabond young
man; whereas, on the contrary"----
"Remove your hand, or----Well, sir," cried the young Gilbert, "what
will you have? Must I cut your throat? Trust me, my fingers have been
itching to do it all day; and, at this moment, they are hotter than
ever. Begone, therefore, while you may, and while the devil is yet
behind me. This is no time nor place for quarrelling."
"The best in the world," said the officer; "and to end your scruples
at once, know that I give you choice only of two alternatives. Being
a cursed Hawk-Hollow Gilbert"----
"Hah!"
"You have a certain claim to the gallows; but being also an
exceedingly well-behaved, genteel, handsome young dog, who have done
me the honour to court my sweetheart, you have an equal claim to die
in a gentlemanly way. So take your choice--a pistol, six paces, and a
shot at _one-two-three_; or yield yourself a prisoner, and die by a
drum-head court-martial."
"What if I say,--Neither?" replied Gilbert. "Away, molest me not."
And he turned again to depart, but was again arrested by the hot
soldier.
"Oh, gad," cried this worthy, "one thing you _must_ say."
"Look you, Mr. Henry Falconer," said Hyland, with a trembling voice,
"I have never yet harmed a human creature, and I would not willingly
hurt even you, though I have a double cause to wish you ill. Provoke
me no farther. You have been drinking, and are now beside yourself."
"Never think it," said the lieutenant, dropping his tone of
bagatelle, but speaking with characteristic impetuosity. "You have
presumed to be impertinent to a certain lady, who shall be nameless;
for which reason I will forget that you are a low and contemptible
scoundrel, worthy only"----
"Give me the pistol," said Hyland, "and your blood be on your own
head. I will abide no more from the son of your father."
"Spoken like a man," cried Falconer, instantly stepping off six paces
on the grass, and counting them aloud as he stepped. Then turning, he
added, with a furious voice, as if giving way to his passions, "Now,
you rascal, prepare to fire as soon as you hear me count three; and
if I don't teach you manners, you gallows dog, may I never more smell
gunpowder. Ready, you rogue! fire! One,--two,--three!"
The instant the last word escaped his lips, he fired his own pistol,
and Hyland staggered backwards, as if the shot had taken effect.
Immediately recovering himself, however, he cried, with an agitated
voice, "Let that satisfy you--I will not hurt you," and threw his own
undischarged weapon away. The act of generosity was not appreciated
by his rival, who, inflamed by a rage to which he seemed now to have
given himself up, uttered an oath, and whipping out the sword he
always carried at his side, rushed upon him, crying, "Villain, you
don't escape me so easily!"
Thus attacked, and with a fury that seemed to aim at nothing short of
his life, Hyland, who was entirely without arms, avoided the lunge
aimed at his heart, and immediately closing with his adversary, they
fell together to the ground.
In the meanwhile, the pistol-shot had reached the ears of the captain
of cavalry, and one or two of the late banqueters, who were, at that
moment, making their way to Gilbert's Folly, in obedience to a
summons from Miss Falconer, which, although meant only for her
brother, the domestic entrusted with it, had communicated, in his
absence, to captain Caliver. It found that worthy gentleman, as well
as all others present, somewhat incapable of understanding it; but as
it related to the Hawks of the Hollow, and seemed to require the
presence of the lieutenant or his friends at the mansion, it was
obeyed by all, not even excepting the gallant Ephraim; although, as
it afterwards appeared, this mysterious individual had, after setting
out, separated from the party, which was now but three in number.
"By the eternal Jupiter!" cried Caliver, toiling and stumbling up an
ascent that led to the park-gate, as the sudden explosion, followed
immediately after by angry voices, broke the solemn silence of the
night,--"by the eternal Jupiter, halt!--there's the tories! They're
beating up the old cock's quarters!"
"Let us retreat," cried one of his attendants, "and get our horses."
"Halt--hark!" exclaimed the soldier, "there's Harry Falconer's voice!
the dogs are murdering him! Prepare to charge, and hold your
tongues.--Now follow me, and I'll have a whole regiment on
them.--Halloo!" he cried at the top of his voice, as if really
calling upon a competent force of both horse and foot; "Make bayonet
work of it, you light-infantry dogs! Horsemen, over the fence, and
surround the vagabonds!--No quarter!--Double quick-step, march!
Charge the villains!" And with this valiant stratagem, the officer
ran boldly up the hill, followed by his two companions,--though not
until they had heard behind them, or fancied they heard, the clatter
as of a party of horsemen descending the hill they had already left.
As Caliver rushed into the park, he again heard the voice of his
friend, and rushing up, beheld, to his great amazement, the band of
tories dwindled into a single individual, lying across Falconer's
breast, and in the very act of transfixing him with his own weapon.
"By the eternal Jupiter! what means all this?" he cried, dragging
Hyland off his prey. "What! my jolly gentleman-volunteer, hah! What
means this, you absurd young cut-throats?"
"It means," cried Falconer, rising and darting at his foe with
unexampled fury, "that I've nabbed a tory lieutenant, and I'll have
his blood!"
He took his adversary at a disadvantage, for Hyland was still held by
the captain; and before this bewildered peace-maker could interfere,
the combatants were again rolling together upon the ground, only that
their positions were reversed, for Falconer was now uppermost, and
armed with Caliver's sword, which he had snatched out of the
captain's hand, not knowing, nor indeed caring, what had become of
his own.
At this juncture, a new feature was given to the battle-field.
"Enemies!" cried Caliver's two attendants; and the cry was echoed by
a fierce yell, like the war-whoop of a savage, coming from the gate,
through which galloped they knew not how many dusky figures, looking
to the eyes of the revellers like the fiends of darkness themselves.
The astounded captain, deserted in a moment by his attendants, looked
up, and beheld with still greater amazement, the apparition, as it
seemed, of Ephraim Patch astride his gallant gray; only that this
impression was put to flight by the spectre urging the steed right
upon him, crying at the same time in a voice of thunder, "Down with
the rebel dogs! trample them to death!" and the next moment, the
unlucky officer was struck to the ground by the blow of a hoof, and
there lay insensible.
"Victory!" cried the valiant rider, springing from his steed, and
cheering his companion (for he had but one,) who was at that moment
dashing after the two volunteers. "Victory!" he exclaimed, rushing
towards the original combatants, and immediately proceeding to knock
young Falconer on the head with the butt of a pistol, crying at the
same time to Hyland, whom he assisted to rise, "Up, brother actor and
Hawk of the Hollow,--'my name is Harry Percy!' 'The trumpet sounds
retreat, the day is ours!'"
"Good God!" cried young Gilbert, bending over his adversary, "you
have killed him!"
"Quarter!" murmured the lieutenant, faintly, "quarter, if you be
Christian men!"
"Hell and furies!" cried Ephraim, thrusting the pistol into his face,
"you die, were you the king's son!" and he would have killed the
unlucky youth on the spot, had it not been for Hyland, who dashed the
weapon out of his hand, exclaiming, "Touch him not, on your
peril!--What! can you stand?" he added, addressing Falconer:
"Away--you are safe. You would have taken my life--I give you yours.
But, remember, Henry Falconer," he whispered in his ear, as he led
him a little way, "remember _this_: you are seeking Catherine Loring
against her will. If you persist, it were better for you had you
never been born. Away with you, ere those come who will not be so
merciful."
The young officer, confused by the blow he had received, and perhaps
terrified by the appearance of enemies so unexpected and of a
character so incomprehensible, stole away and concealed himself among
some neighbouring bushes. He heard the crash of hoofs over the
avenue, as if he who had chased away the volunteers, were now
returning to his unknown companions, then a murmur of voices, and
finally a renewed sound of horses' feet, whereby he perceived that
the midnight assailants had left the paddock. He then crept from his
concealment, and made his way towards the mansion, to which, as was
evident from the flashing of lights in the windows and on the porch,
the alarm had been already communicated.