Neither of the lads answered, for a feeling of confusion which troubled
them. They felt abashed at being seen in each other's company; but they
had to stop, for the old man planted himself right in the middle of the
narrow track, where it passed between two blocks of stone, and as soon
as the cob reached him, it began to sniff at his breast and creel, and
stood still. "The wolf and the lamb together," said the old man drily,
and in the most serious manner; "but which is wolf, and which is lamb?"
Then, without waiting for a reply, he caught sight of something in the
dimming light beneath the trees, and said; "What's this? Surely, my
dear lads, you two have not been fighting? You have--and with swords."
Mark's cheeks flushed, and his eyes fell for a moment before the old
man's piercing eyes; but he recovered himself directly, before Ralph
could speak, and said:
"Yes, we've had a desperate fight coming home. Set upon by about a
dozen ruffians, and if it had not been for young Darley here--"
"You did as much as I did, or more," cried Ralph.
"Oh, never mind who did most. We don't know. Had enough to do without.
But we whipped them, Master Rayburn, and made the beggars run."
"Where was this?" cried the old man.
"In the vale at the foot of Ergles. They came down from the cave
there."
"Were they a set of disbanded soldiers--those who came up to Cliff
Castle, Ralph?"
"Yes, and to the Black Tor, too," cried Mark.
"I thought as much," said the old man eagerly. "Then this accounts for
the witches seen on the mountain, and the thefts that have taken place."
"Too late, Master Rayburn," cried Mark, laughing. "We caught that fish
first.--Didn't we, Darley?"
"Yes; we said that was it," replied Ralph.
"Then I am too late; and I had made up my mind to go out that way, after
I had taken home my fish--after dark--and watch. So you had to run for
it?"
"Well, I don't know about that," said Mark bluntly. "We retreated at
last, when they got too many for us, but we charged six of 'em.--Didn't
we, Darley?"
"Yes; and upset four, and the other two ran," said Ralph modestly. "But
we only had to fight two at a time, and of course that made it even."
"Very," said the old man drily; and his eyes sparkled in the gloom at
the frank way in which the two deadly enemies were relating their
adventures.
"Then some more came down from up above," continued Mark, "and two more
got up again, and the odds seemed to be too great, and we retreated."
"And very wisely too," said Master Rayburn. "But let me look at your
hurt, Mark, lad.--Tut-tut! soaked with blood.--Wound in the thigh."
"Ah! Don't touch it," shouted the lad. "You hurt."
"This must be seen to, my dear boy. I'll come home with you and dress
it."
"Yes do, please. It makes me wriggle like a worm on a hook; but he's
hurt too."
"Yes, I see. Roughly-bandaged, but, tut-tut-tut--why, the sword thrust
has gone through. There is blood on both sides."
"But it's only through the skin, I think," said Ralph.
"Only through the skin, my lad! It must be worse than that. But the
other side? You paid them for this, I hope."
"Oh yes, we gave them as much as we could, but we didn't kill any one."
"But we saw them carrying one away," said Ralph.
"Oh yes: so we did."
"The villains! And they wounded you both like this."
Mark glanced at Ralph, and Ralph glanced at him.
"No," said Ralph quietly; "they did not wound us."
"Then how came these injuries?" said the old man anxiously.
"Oh, never mind," cried Mark pettishly; "it doesn't matter. We got
'em--somehow."
"How was it, Ralph Darley?" said the old man sternly.
"He overtook me, and we quarrelled, and fought," said the lad quietly.
"Ah!"
"And just in the middle of it we found that these men had surrounded
us."
"Yes, yes, yes; don't make such a fuss about it, Master Rayburn," cried
Mark hastily. "And then we had to join and whip the beggars, and we did
whip 'em at last; and my leg hurts horribly, and you stand there
talking, instead of coming home to doctor it."
"Yes," said the old man, looking at the lad curiously, and then at
Ralph. "Come along, boy. You, Darley, you had better come up to the
Black Tor, and be attended to there."
"No, thank you, Master Rayburn; I must make haste back. Come and see to
my arm when you have done his."
Ralph turned upon his heel as he spoke, and hurried away through the
bushes; while, feeling puzzled, and yet pleased and hopeful, Master
Rayburn gave the cob its head, and walked on and up the steep zigzag
beside his young friend, carefully avoiding all allusion to the lads'
duel, and discussing the possibility of an expedition to drive the
marauders out of their stronghold.
"I'm not a man of war, Mark," he said; "but I shall have to carry a pike
instead of an eel-spear against these villains. We shall none of us be
safe."
"Oh yes, we'll talk about that to-morrow," said Mark peevishly. "This
hurts horribly. I say, don't say anything to my father about my
fighting alongside that young Darley. I was obliged to, you see."
"Of course you were, my lad! We must all make common cause against such
an enemy. No, I will not say anything unless you wish me to."
"Thank ye. Father mightn't like it, you see."
"But you will tell him?"
"No, I think not--I don't know--well, there, not to-night. I'm giddy,
and feel sick. I didn't notice it so much when I was hot and all in the
fight, but it's very painful now. Would you mind putting your arm round
me? I feel as if I should fall off."
"My poor brave boy!" said the old man gently, as he supported the
wounded lad. "There, only a little farther. Ah! Hoi! Rugg! Dummy
Rugg! Here, quick!"
The lad, who was perched upon a block of stone half-way up the zigzag,
evidently watching for his young master's return, sprang down and came
running to them.
"What's the matter?" he cried hoarsely. "Don't say Master Mark's hurt!"
"Hush! Quiet, boy!" said Master Rayburn quickly. "Help me to get him
into his own room without frightening Miss Mary."
"Yes; but what's the matter?" cried the boy.
"Been attacked--fighting--slightly wounded."
"But who done it?--I know. It was them Darleys. Which of 'em was it?"
"Quiet, I tell you, boy! Can't you see he has fainted? Why do you want
to know?"
"To kill him," said the lad, through his teeth.
"Humph! you young savage," muttered Master Rayburn; "then you will not
know from me. Lead the pony carefully, Dummy," he continued aloud.
"Where is Sir Edward? where is your young mistress?"
"Out in the garden, waiting for him to come home to supper. Who hurt
him?"
"Will you mind the pony's head, or must I come and lead him?" cried the
old man angrily.
"Yes; but I want to help Master Mark," cried the lad.
"Mind the pony, sir. Ah! here is one of the men. Here, you are
stronger than I am. Lift Master Mark up carefully, so as not to jar his
leg. Dummy, run in and get a chair."
This was done, another of the serving men coming out to see what was the
matter, and they lifted and bore in the half-fainting lad; while Master
Rayburn disencumbered himself of his creel and rod, and prepared to
follow, to turn chirurgeon instead of angler, when Dummy caught him by
the sleeve.
"You won't tell me who did it?" he said sharply.
"No: it is no affair of yours, boy," said the old man; and he shook him
off, and entered the gate.
"Yes, it is," muttered Dummy; and he did what he had never done before--
sprang after the old man, entered the hall, and caught him by the
sleeve.
"You here, sir!" cried Master Rayburn. "What is it now?"
"Is Master Mark going to die?"
"Yes, when he grows to be an old man. Not now. Go away."
"Yes, I'll go away," muttered Dummy, as he slunk out, and away through
the gate. "But I want to know who it was. I know it was one of them
Darleys, and I'm going to see; and if it was, I'll kill him."
As he spoke, the lad stood for a few moments thinking of what he had
better do, and ended by dashing down the steep zigzag path leading to
the bottom of the rock, when he made his way through the gap, and began
to run at a dog-trot in the direction taken by Ralph a quarter of an
hour before.
Ralph, on parting from Mark and Master Rayburn, walked away quite
briskly till he was well out of sight, and then he stopped short to lean
against a tree and rest for a while, for he felt deadly sick. He laid
his left hand upon his sleeve, and felt that it was very wet; but the
bandage had stopped the bleeding, though not the pain, which was like
the sensation of a hot iron being plunged into his flesh, accompanied by
throbbings which at times seemed too painful to bear.
But after a few minutes' rest he went on again, light in spirit, in
spite of the bodily suffering; and the way seemed short when he was
walking, for his mind was full of the recollections of the day.
For that day had begun well. The walk had been delightful in the
pleasant cool breeze which blew from the hills, and promised a ripple on
the water of the open river he was bound to fish, and he had not been
deceived. In fact the grayling had risen freely to the natural fly he
had softly thrown, and his creel had grown heavier till well on in the
afternoon, when he had started back with his load.
Then came the _pad_, _pad_ of the pony's hoofs on the soft grass, with
an occasional click when the shoe caught upon a stone. Then he was
overtaken by Mark, and the encounter followed, one which was more full
of pleasure in its memories than pain, and the lad's lips curled in a
smile as he went over everything which had passed till they parted.
Somehow these thoughts would be pleasant, although mingled with them
came others of their next meeting. Every now and then, though, the
lad's progress was hindered by the throbbing of his wound, and the
giddy, faint sensation which followed; and twice over, when his forehead
turned damp, he threw himself down amongst the ferns to lie for a few
minutes on the cool moist earth, with the result each time that the
sensation of swimming and sickness passed off.
Then he rose again, and plodded on, getting nearer and nearer to home;
but the darkness increased till it became hard work to avoid the stones
which lay about, and his way beneath the trees near the river grew
solemn and gloomy in the extreme.
Once he started as he was listening to the croaking of the frogs down
among the sedges and rushes, for a peculiar hoarse cry arose from close
by; but he was country boy enough to know that it was the peculiar
sonorous squawk of a heron, evidently a visitor to the river for the
sake of the aforesaid frogs.
A little farther on, after one of his rests, just as he was starting
again, a low whoo-whoo-whoo! was uttered close to his ear, and answered
from a little farther on, to be apparently echoed again from the trees
high up on the side of the cliff.
But after the first startled sensation, he walked on steadily enough,
for the cry of the brown owl was quite familiar to him, and he knew that
it was only uttered in all probability close to some patch of ivy, where
small birds roosted, to startle them out, ready for the sharp dash of
their enemy's claw, from whose four-way talon clutch there was no
escape.
"How cowardly I am to-night," he said to himself. "Everything sounds
different. It's being tired, and feeling the pain of my wound. Soon be
home now."
Then he began thinking of his father, and what he would say about the
two encounters; and in imagination he saw his stern frowning face.
But he was satisfied that Sir Morton would be glad to hear the news
about Captain Purlrose and his men, and he began to think that there
would be some talk of attacking the gang of thieves in their
lurking-place; for, as Master Rayburn had said, they could not be
allowed to harbour there.
Ralph gave quite a jump now, for he heard a sharp rustling sound,
followed by the rattle of a little stone, a short distance behind him,
and he increased his pace, with his heart beating heavily.
"Just as if some one was following me," he thought, "and stepped upon a
stone, and sent it rolling."
But he soon calmed down again, though he did not slacken his pace,
keeping on as fast as his weakness and the darkness would allow, with
the result that it was not more than half of his ordinary rate.
Again he was startled by a sound behind, this time as if a piece of dead
wood had cracked sharply, from the weight of some one following.
This time it was nearer, and succeeded by a rustling, plainly enough
caused by some one or something forcing a way through the bushes. Some
one or something? The lad felt that it must be something. If it had
been some one, he would have spoken; but what thing could it be?
He was in a dense part of his way now, with the sky quite hidden by the
overhanging boughs, so that it was not possible to see more than a few
feet behind or before him, and hence he looked back in vain; and though
he listened intently there was no heavy snorting breath, such as he
would probably have heard if it had been pony or cow.
"It's some one tracking me," thought the lad at last, as again he heard,
very near him now, the rustle of the leaves and the flying back of
twigs.
So impressed was he now, and satisfied that whoever followed might mean
him harm, that he essayed to draw his sword as he hurried on; but the
sheer agony caused to the stiffened wound made him drop his hand at
once, and trust to getting out of the wood to where the ground was more
open, and he could reach the cliff, for he felt that now he could not be
many hundred yards from the way leading to the step-like path cut in the
stone.
Again there was a quick rustle, as if his pursuer had tried to diminish
the distance, and a minute later this sounded so near that, convinced of
his follower being one of the men who had attacked them that evening,
Ralph suddenly faced round--just when the sensation was strong that some
one was about to leap upon him and strike him down--and shouted aloud:
"Keep back, whoever you are. I am armed."
"Ralph! that you?" came from a short distance in his rear.
"Yes, yes, quick!" cried the lad faintly; and he staggered on now, to
find himself a minute later in his father's arms.
"Why, Ralph, boy, what does this mean? I have half-a-dozen men out
hunting for you."
"I'll--I'll tell you presently," panted the lad, who was bathed in
sweat. "Draw your sword, and be on your guard. Some one has been
following me this last half-hour."
"Who?"
"I don't know. Be on your guard."
"Not fancy, is it, my boy?" said Sir Morton, rather doubtfully.
There was a sharp rustling sound, and a foot kicked a stone, as its
owner was evidently retreating fast.
"Humph! Then some one has been following you.--Hallo, there! stop!"
"Hoi! hillo!" came from a distance in answer.
"Quick!" said Sir Morton. "This way, man. Found--found!"
The cliffs echoed the words, and Sir Morton took the lad's arm and
pressed it firmly--fortunately the left.
"I beg your pardon, Ralph. I thought you were scared by the darkness of
the wood. Some one was after you; but it would be folly to try and
catch him in this gloomy place. Why, what's the matter, boy? you are
reeling about. Feel faint?"
"Yes," panted the lad heavily. "I have been fighting--wounded. Help
me, please."
Sir Morton Darley passed his arm under his son's, and helped him quickly
along; a whistle brought Nick Garth and another man to his side; and the
former carried the lad right up the slope to the entrance of the castle,
where a little rest and refreshment recovered the sufferer sufficiently
to enable him to relate why he had brought back no fish, a task he had
hardly ended, when Master Rayburn entered to dress his second patient's
arm.
"We must put an end to such alarms as this, Master Rayburn," said Sir
Morton angrily.
"Ay; and the sooner the better," cried that gentleman, as he carefully
re-bandaged the lad's hurt.--"I wonder," he said to himself, "whether
Ralph has told him how he obtained his wound? Is this the beginning of
the end?"