TO HORSE AND AWAY
If Hugh Gwyeth had been a few years older he might perhaps have cursed
his ill fortune; if he had been a few years younger he would assuredly
have put his head down on his knees and wept; as it was, being neither
man nor child, he blinked his eyelids rapidly and forced a weak grin,
then asked: “There’s a road that runs west from Nottingham, is there
not, friend? Perhaps then there is some cross-way from here by which I
may reach it?”
The man delayed long enough to give full information about a path, a
stile, a meadow, and an ancient right of way, which Hugh checked off
mechanically. But after the man had passed on he still sat a time
staring at the distant roofs of Nottingham and blinking fast.
At length he got to his feet and started down the hillside by the path
the man had shown him, slowly, for all the spring had gone out of his
gait now, and his knees felt weak and shook so that more than once he
had to pause to rest. During such a halt a sickening fear seized him:
suppose after all he should never reach his father? There was no danger
of his dying of starvation yet, for he had had food as late as the
previous morning; but what if strength failed him and he fell down in
the fields or lonely woods and slowly perished there? That fear still
staying with him, he made his night’s resting-place under a hedge,
almost within hail of a farmhouse. He lay down early in the twilight,
too exhausted to make the day’s march longer, but he could not sleep for
very hunger. In the first hours of his waking the dim light in the
distant farmhouse gave him company, but after that he had only the
stars. He lay huddled in a heap for warmth and stared up into the sky at
Charles’s Wain and the North Star, that were shining clear as on the
night when he quitted Everscombe.
He lost sight of the stars at last, slept, and woke in white moonlight,
then slept and woke again, and, finding the chilly dawn breaking, rose
and plodded painfully out into the highway. The farmhouse in the gray
morning did not bear out the hospitable promise of its candle of the
night before; so, sick with hunger though he was, Hugh went by it
without so much as asking for a drink of water. But a few rods farther
on, when he caught sight of some apple trees, he crawled through the
hedge and helped himself, then hurried away guiltily and tramped the
next quarter mile so fearful of apprehension that he durst not taste the
plunder. When he did so he found that the apples were half sour and
hard, so he could scarcely swallow a mouthful, and that little sickened
him. When he resumed his walk he felt dizzier and weaker even than
before.
About eleven of the morning he passed through a small village, where he
met people coming to their midday meal. He loitered along slowly and
rested a time by a well in the centre of the place; it was in his mind
to go boldly to some cottage and ask for food, but he could not decide
which house looked least inhospitable. While he was still debating, the
shameful realization of what he was doing came over him; he jumped up
and, pulling his battered felt hat over his face, walked away with
something of his old dignified step. But once outside the village his
pace slackened, as he told himself unsparingly that begging befitted a
gentleman far better than stealing, and he must now do one or the other.
It was several hours later that a third resource occurred to him: he
might trade something for food, his pistol, perhaps. He examined it
carefully and decided that, though it looked a trifle rusty, it might
serve. In the expectation of getting food for it at the next town he
labored on more hopefully, but the next village seemed never to come,
for his knees were now fairly knocking together and his halts grew more
frequent and prolonged. Once, when he had to cross a small stream, he
found himself too unsure of foot to keep the stepping-stones, so he must
splash into the water up to his knees. A branch sent his hat into the
stream, and, without heart enough left even to struggle after it, he let
it drift away.
The sun was nearly set when at last he came to scattered houses, which
he judged must be on the outskirts of a considerable town. At the
thought of food he stumbled forward more rapidly, with his pistol in his
hand ready for the barter, but he saw no possible purchaser till he came
to a small inn. There he found a knot of men gathered about a side door,
so, after a moment’s hesitation, he ventured into the courtyard. Country
fellows they proved to be, idling and smoking on the inn porch; one, who
took the deference of his comrades as a matter of course, had the look
of a small farmer; another seemed a smith; the rest were of the ordinary
breed of tavern frequenters. Hugh paused by a horseblock, and, looking
them over, found little encouragement in their appearance, yet he was
trying to frame a proper greeting with which to go up to them, when a
tapster bustled out on the porch and, getting sight of him, hailed him
roughly, “Now then, what brings you here?”
Hugh hesitated over to the porch; he had forgot what he had meant to say
and for a moment no words came to him; then, realizing it was now or
never, he managed to stammer: “I have a pistol here. Maybe some one of
you would—wish to buy it.” As he spoke he held out the pistol, but the
farmer, the great man of the crew, shoved it aside and, pulling fiercely
at his pipe, wheezed out something about vagabonds and the stocks. The
blacksmith, however, took the pistol carelessly, turned it over, and
laughed. “How many men hast killed wi’ this, sirrah?” he asked in a big
voice, and passed the pistol to his neighbor, who grinned and offered a
ha’penny for it.
Hugh gazed helplessly at the ring of mocking faces, then let his eyes
drop to the ground, and with the blood tingling in his cheeks waited
their pleasure. He would gladly have seized upon his pistol and flung
away from them, but he felt too faint and hungry to walk a rod, and
before he could get food he must make this sale. But at last, with slow
sickening disappointment, he realized they had no notion of purchasing,
but were making sport of him. “If you will not buy—” he blurted out with
weak anger.
“What is going on here?” a pleasantly drawling voice struck in.
Turning sharply Hugh almost brushed against a man who had approached
from the direction of the stables, a gentleman, by his dress and easy
bearing. “Will you not suffer me to see, friends?” he drawled slowly,
and reaching out his hand took the pistol from the man who held it.
Gazing up at him hopefully Hugh saw that the newcomer was not above two
or three and twenty years of age, with long dark hair and a slight
mustache, under which Hugh fancied he saw his mouth twitch as he looked
the pistol over. Then the gentleman glanced up and showed a pair of
humorous brown eyes, which, as he surveyed Hugh, suddenly grew grave.
“Here, I’ve need of a pistol,” he said, and held out a piece of money.
It was a crown piece, Hugh saw, that would buy unlimited bread, and
meat, too; but, as his fingers were closing over it, the remembrance of
the twitch in the purchaser’s lips and the laugh in his eyes recurred to
him, and of a sudden he understood that a pistol which thieves
themselves would not deprive him of could not be worth even a ha’penny.
He had no right to take money for it, he knew, and in his disappointment
he grew angry at his own stupidity, and angry at the brown-haired
gentleman for offering him charity, and angry at the other men who
looked on and thought him a beggar and worse. “After all, I’ll not sell
it,” he muttered sullenly. “Perhaps—’tis not in good condition.”
“Tis a serviceable weapon,” replied the other.
“It’s worthless,” Hugh maintained doggedly. “Give it back to me.”
“But I’ve taken a fancy to it.”
“Keep it, then,” Hugh retorted, fiercely, so his voice might not break,
and elbowing his way through the group of men walked off. He could smell
the food cooking inside the tavern, and hunger gnawed him so savagely
that even the thought that he had refused charity and had not deceived
any one into buying a worthless pistol could not keep a lump from
gathering in his throat. His step wavered and he had to halt an instant
to lean against the gate-post: out beyond the street looked lonely and
chill in the misty twilight. Just then he heard the click of spurs upon
the stones of the courtyard, and some one took him by the shoulder. Even
before he heard the drawl he knew it was the young gentleman. “Look you
here, sir, I cannot take your pistol as a gift.”
More than one rough speech came to Hugh’s lips, but he did not utter a
word, only shook off the grasp on his shoulder and without looking up
made a step forward. Then his knees seemed to give way, the ground
suddenly came nearer, and, pride, resentment, and all, he pitched down
on the stones at the gentleman’s feet.
The other bent over him quickly, and this time Hugh had neither strength
nor will to shake him off. “What’s wrong with you, lad?” There was
almost no drawl in the speakers voice, “Hurt? Tired? Hungry?”
Hugh nodded dumbly.
“Well, well! That’s easier remedied than a broken leg. Up with you,
now.” Hugh found himself upon his feet again, and, with the young man’s
hand beneath his elbow, stumbled obediently back across the courtyard
and through the little group about the door, who made way for them.
Within they turned up a staircase, and now he heard the man beside him
asking: “You’ll not refuse to take supper with me, perchance? When
gentlemen meet on the road—”
“You’ve no need to make it easy unto me,” Hugh gulped out brokenly. “If
some one did not help me I doubt if I could tramp many days more,
and—I’d liefer take help from you.”
Indeed, utter weariness and hunger had for the moment made an end of
Hugh’s dignity as effectually as if he had cast it quite away at the inn
gate. He suffered the stranger to lead him into a room and seat him in a
big chair by the fire, where he drank what was given him and swallowed
down some mutton broth, sparingly, at first, as he was told. He troubled
himself neither to think nor to speak, but he noted that the dark inn
chamber seemed like home, the fire felt warm, and the candles twinkled
dazzlingly. He found, too, that the brown-haired gentleman had a kind,
elder-brotherly way with him, and that in private life he dispensed with
his drawl, though his voice lost none of its pleasant tone.
“Well, you feel almost your own man again now, do you not?” his host
queried at last.
Hugh essayed a smile in reply.
“Wait an hour or so and, if soft answers still have power with tavern
women, we’ll have a good supper then,—I take it you’ll be ready for it.
And now it seems time for ceremonious introductions. My name is Richard
Strangwayes.”
“And my name is Hugh Gwyeth. My father is Colonel Alan Gwyeth of the
king’s army.” Hugh spoke slowly as if he liked to linger over the words;
it was the first time he had ever claimed his father.
“And you are bound for the king’s camp?” asked Strangwayes, sitting down
on the opposite side of the fireplace.
Hugh explained very briefly that he had left home to join his father and
had had a hard march, to which Strangwayes listened with sympathetic
eyes, though when he took up the conversation again his tone was light.
“We are headed for the same place, then, Master Gwyeth, for I am wearing
out my horse to reach his Majesty’s army. I am going to join my uncle,
Sir William Pleydall—”
Hugh felt he could have hugged the man, he seemed suddenly to have come
so very near. “Why, I know Sir William,” he cried, “I was at school with
his son. I’ve a letter from him here.” Pulling out Frank’s worn letter
he passed it to Strangwayes, who stared at him an instant, then hastily
scanned the sheet. When he handed it back Hugh noted a change in his
manner; he had been kind before with the kindness of one stranger to
another, but now he seemed to have taken to himself a permanent right to
befriend Hugh. He came across the hearth and shook hands with the boy.
“I’m right glad we chanced to meet, Hugh,” he said warmly. “We’ll
journey the rest of the way together. Oh, yes, I can procure you a
horse.”
Hugh ventured some weak objection, rather shamefacedly, for he knew he
hoped Strangwayes would thrust it aside, and he felt only satisfaction
when the young man did so. “Leave you to come on alone? Folly! I only
lend you the horse; your father will settle the matter with me. I’ll
charge him Jew’s interest, if ’twill content you. Do you think I mean to
leave my cousin Frank’s comrade to fray out his clothes and his body
along the road?”
Afterwards, when they were eating supper together and the maid who
served them had quitted the room, Strangwayes suddenly looked up and
asked quizzically, “You are well assured there is no Spanish blood in
you?”
Hugh was quite sure; why had Master Strangwayes asked? What were
Spaniards like, anyway? Strangwayes drawled on disjointedly for a
quarter of an hour, while his eyes laughed in a provoking way: Spaniards
were fierce fighters, and their women were pretty, and they liked gold,
and they were proud as the devil, and they were very cruel, and they had
a deal of dignity, and they grew oranges in their country. “Dream it out
to-night, Hugh,” he advised, as they rose from the table; but Hugh
disobeyed flagrantly, for the instant he was laid in a Christian bed
once more he was sound asleep.
He woke in broad daylight, and, having assured himself that the bed was
real, so Richard Strangwayes could not have been a dream, dozed
contentedly again, and woke with a start to rise and dress with the
unsettled feeling of one who has slept long enough to lose count of
time. When he went downstairs he judged by the sunlight that flooded the
courtyard that it must be near noon, and his guess was verified by the
tapster, who was vastly more respectful than he had been on the
preceding evening. Those loitering about the courtyard, too, eyed him
curiously but no longer mocked him. The only relic of last night’s
dismal scene which he found was a rusted pistol that lay near the post
of the outer gate. After a hasty glance about to make sure none were
looking, Hugh snatched it up and, hiding it beneath his coat, sauntered
nonchalantly out of the courtyard. Just across the road was a sluggish
muddy ditch, and into this he dropped the pistol that had once been
Peregrine Oldesworth’s. Even as he did so he felt a quick pang of
regret, for he realized he had trusted in the worthless weapon as he
never could trust again in the truest sword or the surest musket.
A bit saddened and a bit shamed at such a feeling, he retraced his steps
to the gateway, where he came face to face with Strangwayes, very
martial indeed with his big hat and riding-boots, who trotted up on a
long-legged white horse. By the bridle he led a despondent-looking gray,
which halted with the greatest readiness, as Strangwayes reined in his
own steed and addressed Hugh: “What do you think of this high-tempered
charger? Unless appearances are arrant liars, he is the prettiest bit of
horse-flesh within two league of here. His Majesty,—Heaven bless him and
requite it to his followers!—has carried away every well-seeming thing
that goes o’ four legs. Here, sirrah hostler, give the beasts a bite.
We’ll do the like service to ourselves, Hugh, and then the word is, ‘To
horse and away.’”
“I am ready,” Hugh answered. “But I fear I have made you to lose time—”
“Time spent in horse-dealing is never lost,” Strangwayes replied
sententiously; “especially when the rascal who owns the horse has
likewise a winsome daughter. Now come to dinner.”
It was during this meal that a new care burdened Hugh. Now that he was
no longer half starved and near desperate he had time to take heed to
minor matters, and he was keenly aware of the holes in his stockings and
the rents in his breeches and jacket. It seemed Strangwayes had guessed
something of his thought, for, as they rose from the table, he spoke out
with a half embarrassment: “Look you here, Hugh, I meant—to lend you
money to get you fresh clothes, but, faith, the gray there cost a penny
more than I thought, and, as we’ve no wish to starve again, methinks you
must be content to let your new coat ride away on his back.”
“’Tis no great matter,” Hugh forced himself to say. “If you be willing
to take the road with such a vagrant-looking fellow as I.”
Strangwayes suggested, however, that they do what they could, so the
tapster was bribed and the chambermaid cajoled, till out of the inn
stores Hugh was furnished with a cap and a pair of boothose, and a good
part of the hedge mud was brushed off the rest of his apparel. So when
at last he rode out from the inn on the gray horse Hugh felt himself a
very passable Cavalier, for his covered head greatly increased his
self-respect, and the boothose in most hypocritical fashion concealed
the torn stockings. But had he been quite out at elbow he felt he would
have shone in the borrowed light of Strangwayes’ completeness, and would
have been content with that or anything he might owe to his new friend.
That night they slept within the borders of Staffordshire, and, sparing
their horses, took the road late next morning beneath a lowering sky.
They were headed for Shrewsbury, Hugh learned, whither the king was
marching by a northern road; they would keep to the south, however, in
the hope of speedily overtaking a scouting party led by one Butler, an
old friend of Strangwayes, whom the reports of tavern-keepers placed
less than four and twenty hours ahead of them. If the horses held out,
they doubtless would come up with him in the course of a twelvemonth,
Strangwayes announced dolorously, after a morning spent in flogging his
beast along the heavy road. It was impossible to mend the pace, so they
forgot it at last in talk, for after his days of non-intercourse Hugh
was but too happy to tell some one his thoughts and plans; and he felt
Strangwayes was as safe a confessor as a man could have. So he related
his early life, much in detail, and the intimate reasons of his present
quest, and all he knew of his father. At that Strangwayes’ dark eyebrows
went up amazingly and came down in a twist above his nose. “Name of
Heaven!” he ejaculated, turning in his saddle to face Hugh, “do you mean
to tell me you are tracing over the kingdom after a father who has not
set eyes on you for twelve years? What think you the man will say to you
or do with you?”
Hugh paused blankly, assailed with sudden queer doubts, as Strangwayes
thus harked back to his grandfather’s hints. But next instant the older
man laughed off his surprise and plunged headlong into a tale that soon
ended Hugh’s discomfort. “Confidence for confidence, Hugh. Would you
hear something of myself? If they ever put me in a chap-book they can
say I was the unhappy third son of a worthy knight of Lincolnshire. They
put me to school at a tender age,—pass over that; no doubt you can guess
what it means. No, I did not run from school; mine has been a sober and
industrious life, fit for all youth to take instruction by. When I was
sixteen I betook myself to Oxford, for my father was too loyal a
gentleman to trust even so poor a piece of goods as a third son among
the Puritans of Cambridge. There at Oxford I improved my hours to best
advantage and learned to play famously at bowls, and would have become a
past master at tennis, had not the Scots war broke out. Sir William
Pleydall procured me a lieutenancy—”
“And you have been to war once already?” asked Hugh, suffering the gray
to slacken the pace to his natural amble. “Tell me of your battles, I
pray you, Master Strangwayes.”
“If you’ll clip my title to Dick,” replied the other. “It sounds more
natural. Truth to tell, I was in but one battle, Hugh, and that was the
fierce and bloodless battle of Wilterswick, here in this same pleasant
Staffordshire. You remember, doubtless, when the king went against the
Scots, how loath our excellent yokels were to follow after. Rank
Puritans, the most of the levies were, and worked off their warlike
energies pulling down communion rails and hunting parsons out of their
parishes. We had a choice lot of such spirits in our troop, and, to put
a leaven to the whole lump, the captain was an Irishman, ergo, a
Catholic. A proper black fellow he was, Dennis Butler; the same one at
whose mess-table we may chance to sit to-morrow night. This Butler and I
took ourselves to rest one wet night at Wilterswick, and, faith, we
waked to the hunt’s up of a big stone crashing in at our casement and
found our trusty followers crowding the street before the inn, clamoring
to hang the captain for a Papist. At their head was a venomous,
two-legged viper, Constant-In-Business Emry,—he was rightly named,—a
starveling of a fellow,—I’d swear he began life a tailor. Butler had
rated him a day or two before, so he was in earnest, and, truth, the
rest of them looked it. So Denny Butler, being a gentleman of resources,
gathered himself into his clothes and left by the rear door.”
“And you?” Hugh cried out, “I hold your captain went like a coward.”
“Nay, nay, we’d agreed to it; I knew they’d not hurt me. So I slipped on
my shirt and breeches, and went down to speak unto them. They threw
stones and other things, and roared somewhat, but at last I made myself
heard; then I talked to them like a preacher and a father, and tripped
up Constant-In-Business Emry on a theological point, and demonstrated
that I was a good Church of England man, like all my ancestors before
me. By that they were tolerably subdued, so I called for a Book of
Common Prayers and read them morning service, then down we all knelt in
the mud of the courtyard and I prayed over them. You never know how hard
you can pray till you’re put to it. By that Butler was well away, so I
went back to my chamber and finished dressing. I ruined a serviceable
pair of velvet breeches kneeling in that mud, and the lesson of that is
to go rough clad when you go to war. And that was the end of my military
glory, for the king struck a truce with the Scots, I lost my commission,
and, as I would have no more of the university, my father packed me off
to London to take chambers in the Middle Temple. He held the Puritans
should not have a monopoly of lawyers, ‘fight the devil with his own
weapons,’ as ’twere. But I confess the only court I followed was the
king’s court and I learned far more of dancing and sonneteering than of
the precepts of worthy Sir Edward Coke. Then my father,—Heaven rest
him!—died, and left me an annuity. I have no liking for annuities; they
encourage a man in the sordid practice of living within his means. I
sold mine out of hand, and, with a droll streak of prudence, as rare as
strange, committed a round sum to Sir William Pleydall to hold in trust
for me, then set out with the rest to see the world. I went to the Low
Countries and served a time as a gentleman volunteer, and then to
France, where I learned some handy tricks at fencing.”
“You’re a great swordsman?” Hugh queried with bated breath. “Did you
ever fight a duel?”
“On my honor, yes,” the other replied with a smile. “No earlier than
last April I crossed swords with a certain Vicomte de Saint Ambroix. The
manner of it? Do you think of challenging any one, Master Hugh? Why,
monsieur the vicomte chose to speak some scurvy untruths of Englishwomen
in my company, so I did but go up to him and strike him across the
mouth, saying, ‘Monsieur, I do myself the honor of telling you that you
lie in your throat.’ Which was a great waste of words. But we fought and
he was hurt somewhat in the shoulder. No, I have no scars, but I got
then a piteous gaping wound in a crimson satin doublet of mine, which
has never healed, as flesh and blood heals in time. That was the last
adventure, fortunately, for here comes what shall abridge my story.”
Strangwayes pointed before him where the dusky roofs of a straggling
village showed among the wet trees.
“But how came you home, Dick?” Hugh coaxed.
“Simply told. I heard there was work for men of enterprise, and I judged
my loyal uncle would have turned my pounds and shillings into troopers
and muskets, and would gladly give me a commission in exchange. So I
spent what surplus money I had,—’tis the surest way to cheat
thieves,—and took ship for King’s Lynn. I paid a swift visit to my elder
brother in Lincolnshire; he is for the Parliament,—Heaven and my
father’s spirit forgive him! So I mounted and faced me westward to the
king, and here I am now, and here we are.”
The two horses clinked across the cobbles of the courtyard of the
village inn, a hostler ran up officiously, and the host himself came
puffing out to greet the guests. “Well, friend, what news on the road?”
cried Strangwayes, swinging out of his saddle. “Has a troop of Cavaliers
passed through here?”
The host gazed from one to the other, then up at the sky, then back at
the travellers. “Be you king’s men?” he finally asked, with mild
curiosity.
“Sure, I trust we all be honest people,” Strangwayes answered dryly.
“Well, well, that may be as it may be; I say naught; only ’tis good hap
for you, you lie in a snug haven to-night.”
“Why, what mean you? Are there hobgoblins farther on?” Strangwayes’
voice dropped to a ridiculous quaver that made Hugh smile.
“Worse nor hobgoblins, master,” replied the host. “Have ye not heard,
then? They do say a stout band of Puritan rogues are plundering the
country, yonder toward the west of us.”