A FIGHT FOR LIFE
In less than an hour I was back at Devereux Court. The gong was
booming through the hall as I reached the drawing-room, and the little
party had already risen to their feet. Maud's hand was resting on the
coat-sleeve of a man scarcely as tall as herself, with a fair,
insipid-looking face and weak eyes--whom I knew at once must be Lord
Annerley. Sir Francis, who was suffering from a bad attack of gout,
was leaning half on his stick, half on Lady Olive's bare, white
shoulder; but, at my entrance, he withdrew his hand, and she stepped
back, rubbing her arm with a comical air of relief.
"Just in time, Arbuthnot! Come and give me your arm, there's a good
fellow. Annerley, this is Mr. Arbuthnot, my agent."
Lord Annerley returned my greeting with a slightly patronising air, and
then we walked across the hall to the dining-room, Sir Francis leaning
heavily on my shoulder.
Maud had noticed me only by the merest inclination of her stately head,
and during dinner-time she never addressed a single observation to me,
her attention seeming wholly absorbed by her companion. Lady Olive,
although at first she rattled on in her usual style, seemed always
watching for an opportunity to join in their conversation, and when at
last she found it seemed almost to forget my existence. They talked of
people whom I did not know, and subjects in which I had no interest,
but I was well content to be left alone. I was in no mood for talking,
and to answer Sir Francis's few inquiries was quite enough for me.
We were about half-way through dinner when suddenly Sir Francis held up
his finger and cried "Hush!"
Every one stopped talking, and I who had also heard the sound sprung to
my feet. It came again in a second or two, three sharp reports from
the direction of the park.
"Poachers, by G--d!" exclaimed Sir Francis, angrily, "and in the home
spinneys, too! The cheeky rascals!"
I was half-way across the room before he had finished speaking.
"Take care of yourself, my boy," he called out earnestly. "You'll find
my revolver in the top drawer of my cabinet in the library. See that
it's loaded. By Jove, I wish my foot was right! Annerley, I don't
know whether you care about a row as much as I did when I was a
youngster; but if you do, pray go with Arbuthnot. My niece will excuse
you."
Lord Annerley did not seem to find that keen prospect of pleasure in
the affray, which was doubtless proceeding, that Sir Francis would
certainly have done, for as I hurried from the room I heard him mutter
something about his boots being rather thin. An irresistible impulse
made me glance for a moment into Maud's face whilst he was elaborately
excusing himself, and I was satisfied. A slight but distinctly
contemptuous expression had stolen into it.
I was scarcely a moment in the library, for the revolver was in its
place and loaded. As I hurried down the hall, Sir Francis hobbled out
of the drawing-room.
"Arbuthnot," he called out anxiously after me, "I've just remembered
Atkins and Crooks are both away to-night; I gave 'em a holiday; so old
Heggs and his son must be alone in the home spinneys. Those damned
rascals must have known of it. I'll send the men after you, but run,
or you'll be too late!"
There was no need to tell me to run. Holding my revolver clenched in
my right hand, I dashed across the gardens toward the park, leaping
over the flower-beds, and using my left hand to vault over locked gates
and fences. I had scarcely reached the park when I heard the almost
simultaneous report of three or four guns, and immediately afterwards,
the moon shining in a cloudless sky showed me the figure of a man leap
from one of the dark belts of plantation at the head of the slope, and
make for the open country. My first impulse was to strike off to the
right hand and intercept him; but before I had gone half-a-dozen yards
out of my way, I changed my intention, for from the interior of the
plantation came a hoarse, despairing cry for help, followed by another
gunshot.
I was a good runner, and I strained every nerve to reach the spinneys.
But when at last, panting but eager, I dashed up the slope, and leaped
over the low stone wall, a fear came upon me that I was too late.
At first it was too dark to see anything, for the moon's light could
not penetrate through the thickly-growing black fir-trees. But close
in front of me I could hear the sound of muttered curses and the
trampling of feet upon the dried leaves and snapping twigs. A dozen
hasty strides forward, and I burst through the bushes into a small
clearing, and found myself in the thick of the struggle.
On the ground, only a few feet from me, lay Heggs, groaning heavily,
with his leg doubled up under him. Close by his son was struggling
desperately with two powerfully-built, villainous-looking men, and on
the ground were stretched the forms of two others, one, an
under-keeper, writhing about in pain, and the other, whose face was
unknown to me, lying quite still, and evidently insensible. Two other
men were hastily filling a bag with their spoil, one holding it open,
and the other collecting the birds from a broken net on the ground and
throwing them in.
The sound of my rapid approach naturally changed the situation. The
two men struggling with young Heggs relapsed their grasp for a moment
to look round, and with a great effort he wrenched himself free, and
stood back panting. The others who were filling the bag started up as
though to run, but seeing I was alone hesitated, and one of them
snatching up a gun commenced hastily to load. But his companion, who
appeared to be the leader, yelled to him with an oath to put it down.
"Put your barker down, you fool!" he shouted. "We shall have the whole
blooming lot down here if we got using them any more. It's only one of
the fine birds from the Court! We'll soon settle him."
One of the men who had been filling the bag sprang up, and, holding his
gun by the barrel, rushed at me. Suddenly he stopped and cowered back,
for he looked full into the dark muzzle of my revolver. I would have
spared him, but the odds were too desperate. There was a sharp report,
and the arm which held his weapon sunk helplessly to his side. He
staggered back with a howl of pain, and then, turning away, bounded
into the thicket.
"You are at my mercy," I cried to the others. "Stay where you are, or
I shall fire."
An oath was the only answer, and then two of the men rushed at me,
whilst another, turning away to escape, was seized by young Heggs, who
had been leaning, panting, against a tree. The desperate struggle
which followed I could never describe in detail. One of my assailants
I should certainly have shot through the heart, _but that in the sudden
shock of recognising him_ my hand swerved and the bullet only grazed
his cheek. Backwards and forwards, amongst the bushes and on the
ground, we struggled and fought. But for my Devonshire training in
boxing and wrestling, I must have been overpowered at once, for the men
who had attacked me were fighting like wild beasts for their
liberty--biting, kicking, and dealing out sledge-hammer blows, any one
of which had it struck me would have sent me down like a log. Heggs
could render me no assistance, for, wearied with his long struggle, he
was overmatched himself, and in desperate straits. Suddenly there came
the sound of voices, and feet clambering over the low stone wall. With
a giant effort the taller of the two men with whom I had been
struggling flung me backwards amongst the bushes, and bounded away,
leaping the wall and scudding away across the park. But in my fall I
never relaxed my grasp upon the other man, and together we rolled over
and over in a fierce embrace, his teeth almost meeting in my hand,
which held him firmly by the throat.
It was all over, for help had come. Nearly dozen of the servants and
stablemen from the Court poured into the enclosure, some taking up the
pursuit, some making preparations to carry Heggs and the other wounded
man up to the house, some tying together the hands, and zealously
guarding my prisoner, and all plying me with eager questions. My
recollection of all that directly followed is obscure. I remember
staggering across the park up to the Court, and meeting Sir Francis,
anxious yet thankful, in the courtyard. Then faint and giddy, the
blood pouring from a wound in my head down my shirt-front, and my
clothes torn and soiled, I sank down upon a couch in the hall, whilst
Sir Francis, with his own hand, strove to force some brandy down my
throat. A deadly, sickening unconsciousness was creeping over me;
there was a singing in my cars, and a buzzing in my head. But although
every one and everything around me seemed to my reeling senses confused
and chaotic, one person I saw as vividly as my eyes could show her to
me. First standing in the open doorway, then close to my side. I saw
her with white, pitying face, and an agony of terror in her dimmed blue
eyes, gazing at my shirt-front soaked with blood, and asking eagerly,
with quivering lips, where I was hurt. And my last effort was to force
a ghastly smile and to utter reassuring words, which died away
half-uttered and altogether incomprehensible upon my lips. Then black
darkness surged in upon me, blotting her out from my sight, and I
swooned.