III
IN WHICH MY ENEMY SCORES FIRST
True to his promise, Richard Jennifer met me in the cool gray birthlightof the new day at a turn in the river road not above a mile or two fromthe rendezvous, and thence we jogged on together.
After the greetings, which, as you may like to know, were gratefulenough on my part, I would fain inquire how the baronet had taken hissecond's defection; but of this Jennifer would say little. He had brokenwith his principal, whether in anger or not I could only guess; and oneof Falconnet's brother officers, that younger of the twain who had criedshame at the baronet's vile boast, was to serve in his stead.
It was such a daydawn as I have sometimes seen in the Carpathians; cooland clear, but with that sweet dewy wetness in the lower air whichwashes the over-night cobwebs from the brain, and is both meat and drinkto one who breathes it. On the left the road was overhung by thebordering forest, and where the branches drooped lowest we brushed thefragrance from the wild-grape bloom in passing. On the right the river,late in flood, eddied softly; and sounds other than the murmuring of thewaters, the matin songs of the birds, and the dust-muffled hoof-beats ofour horses there were none. Peace, deep and abiding, was the key-note ofnature's morning hymn; and in all this sylvan byway there was naughtremindful of the fierce internecine warfare aflame in all thecountryside. Some rough forging of this thought I hammered out forJennifer as we rode along, and his laugh was not devoid of bitterness.
"Old Mother Nature ruffles her feathers little enough for any teapottempest of ours," he said. "But speaking of the cruelties, we provincialsavages, as my Lord Cornwallis calls us, have no monopoly. Thepost-riders from the south bring blood-curdling stories of ColonelTarleton's doings. 'Tis said he overtook some of Mr. Lincoln'sreinforcements come too late. They gave battle but faint-heartedly,being all unready for an enemy, and presently threw down their arms andbegged for quarter--begged, and were cut down as they stood."
"Faugh!" said I. "That is but hangman's work. And yet in London I heardthat this same Colonel Tarleton was with Lord Howe in Philadelphia andwas made much of by the ladies."
Jennifer's laugh was neither mirthful nor pleasant.
"'Tis a weakness of the sex," he scoffed. "The women have a fondness fora man with a dash of the brute in him."
I laughed also, but without bitterness.
"You say it feelingly. Do you speak by the book?"
"Aye, that I do. Now here is my lady Madge preaching peace and allmanner of patience to me in one breath, and upholding in the next thisbaronet captain who, though I would have seconded him at a pinch, is buta pattern of his brutal colonel."
I put two and two together.
"So Falconnet is on terms at Appleby Hundred, is he?"
"Oh, surely. Gilbert Stair keeps open house for any and all of thewinning hand, as I told you."
The thought of this unspoiled young maiden having aught to do with sucha thrice-accursed despoiler of women made my blood boil afresh; and inthe heat of it I let my secret slip, or rather some small part of it.
"Sir Francis had ever a sure hand with the women," I said; and then Icould have bitten my masterless tongue.
"So?" queried Jennifer. "Then this is not your first knowing of him?"
"No." So much I said and no more.
We rode on in silence for a little space, and then my youthling mustneeds break out again in fresh beseechings.
"Tell me what you know of him, and what it was he said of Madge," heentreated. "You can't deny me now, Jack."
"I can and shall. It matters not to you or to any what he is or hasbeen."
"Why?"
"Because, as God gives me strength and skill, I shall presently run himthrough, and so his account will be squared once for all with allmen--and all women, as well."
"God speed you," quoth my loyal ally. "I knew not your quarrel with himwas so bitter."
"It is to the death."
"So it seems. In that case, if by any accident he--"
I divined what he would say and broke in upon him.
"Nay, Dick; if he thrusts me out, you must not take up my quarrel. Iknow not where you learned to twirl the steel, or how, but you may besure he would spit you like a trussed fowl in the first bout. I haveseen him kill a man who was reckoned the best short sword in my oldregiment of the Blues."
"Content yourself," said my young Hotspur, grandly. "If you spare him heshall answer to me for that thing he said of Madge Stair; this though Iknow not what it was he said."
I smiled at his fuming ardor, and glancing at the pair of pistolshanging from his saddle-bow, asked if he could shoot.
"Indifferent well."
"Then make him challenge you and choose your own weapon. 'Tis your onlyhope, and poor enough at that, I fear. I have heard he can clip aguinea at ten paces."
From that we fell silent again, being but a little way from therendezvous, and so continued until, at a sudden turn in the road, wecame in sight of a rude barricade of felled trees barring the way.Jennifer saw it first and pulled up short, loosing his pistols in theircases as he drew rein.
"'Ware the wood!" he said sharply, and none too soon, for even as hespoke the glade at our left filled as by magic with a motley troopdeploying into the road as to surround us.
"Now who are these?" I asked; "friends or foes?"
"Foes who will hang you in your own halter strap; Jan Howart'sTories--the same that burned the Westcotts in their cabin a fortnightsince. Will your horse take that barricade, think you?"
"Aye,--standing, if need be."
"Then at them, in God's name. Charge!"
It needed but the word and we were in the thick of it. I remembered myold field-marshal's maxim, _Von Feinden umringt, ist die Zeit zuzerschmettern_; and truly, being so plentifully outnumbered, we didstrike both first and hard.
A line of the ragged horsemen strung itself awkwardly across the road toguard the flimsy barricade, and at this we charged, stirrup to stirrup.In the dash there was a scattering volley from the wood, answeredinstantly by the bellowings of Jennifer's great pistols; and then wecame to the steel.
It was my first fleshing of the good old Andrea, and a better balancedblade I had never swung in hand-to-hand mellay. As we closed with thehalf-dozen defenders of the barrier, Jennifer reined aside to give meroom to play to right and left, and in the midst of it went nigh todeath because he held his hand to watch a cut and double thrust of mine.
"Over with you!" I shouted, pricking the man who would have mowed himdown with a great scythe handled as a sword.
Our horses took the barrier in a flying leap, straining themselves forthe race beyond. When we had pulled them down to a foot pace we weresafely out of rifle shot and there was space to count the cost.
There was no cost worth counting. A saddle horn bullet-shattered for me,and the back of Jennifer's sword hand scored lightly across by anotherof the random missiles summed up our woundings. Dick whipped out hiskerchief to twist about the scored hand, while I glanced back to see ifany Tory cared to follow.
"Lord, Jack! I owe you one to keep and one to pay back," quoth myyoungster, warmly. "I never saw a swordsman till this day!"
"Mere tricks, Dick, my lad; I have had fifteen years in which to learnthem. And these were but country yokels armed with farming tools. Thetwo with swords had little wit to use them."
"Oh, come!" said he. "I know a pretty bit of sword play when I see it.If we come whole out of this adventure with the baronet you shall teachme some of these 'mere tricks' of yours."
I promised, glancing back toward the dust-veiled barrier in thedistance.
"Dick, you passed this way an hour ago; was that breastwork in the roadthen?"
"Not a stick of it."
"Then we may dare say our volunteer captain fights unwillingly."
"How so?" he demanded, being much too straightforward himself to suspectduplicity in others.
"'Tis plain enough. This was a trap, meant to stop or delay us, and I'llwager high it was the ba
ronet who set and baited it. It would please himwell to be able to say what our failure to come would give him warrantfor. Let us gallop a bit, lest we be late and so play into his hand."
Jennifer smiled grimly and gave his horse the rein. "I think you'dcharge the Fall of Man to him if that would give you better leave tokill him. I'd hate to own you for my enemy, John Ireton."
For all our swift speeding we were yet a little late at the rendezvousunder the tall oaks. When we came on the ground the baronet was walkingup and down arm in arm with his second, a broad-shouldered young Briton,fair of skin and ruddy of face.
If Falconnet had set the Tory trap for us he veiled his disappointmentat its failure. His face, dark and inscrutable as it always was, wasmade more sinister by the plasters knitting up his broken cheek, but Iwas right glad to make sure that my blow had spared his eyes. Richly ashe deserved his fate, I thought it would be ill to think on afterwardthat I had had him at a disadvantage of my own making.
There was little time wasted in the preliminaries. When Falconnet saw ushe dropped his second's arm and began to make ready. I gave my sword toJennifer, and the seconds went apart together. There was some measuringand balancing of weapons, and then Richard came back.
"The baronet's sword is a good inch longer than yours in the blade, andis somewhat heavier. Tybee has brought a pair of French short-swordswhich he offers. Will you change your terms?"
"No; I am content to fight with my own weapon."
Jennifer nodded. "So I told him." And then: "There was no surgeon to behad in town, Dr. Carew having gone with the Minute Men to join Mr.Rutherford. Tybee says 'tis scarce in accordance with the later rulingsto fight without one."
"To the devil with their hairsplittings!" said I. "Let us have done withthem and be at it."
Falconnet was removing his coat, and I stripped mine. The seconds chosethe ground where the turf was short and firm, and yet yielding enough togive good footing. We faced each other, my antagonist baring an armwhich, despite the bejeweled hand, was to the full as big-muscled as myown. My glance went from his weapon, a rather heavy German blade,straight and slender-pointed, to his face. He was smiling as one whostrives to make the outer man a mask to cover all emotion, and theplasters on his cheek drew the smile into a grimace that was all butdevilish.
The seconds fell back, but when Jennifer would have given the signal Istopped him.
"One moment, if you please. Sir Francis Falconnet, you know me?"
The thin-lidded eyes were veiled for an instant, and then he liedsmoothly.
"Your pardon, Captain Ireton; I have not that honor."
"'Tis a small matter, but you do lie this morning as basely as you liedto Richard Coverdale nine years agone," said I; and then I signedJennifer to give the word.
"Attention, gentlemen! On guard!"
My enemy's sword leaped to meet mine, and at the same instant I heardanother click of steel betokening that the seconds had fallen to in abit of by-play between themselves, as was then the fashion. After that Iheard nothing for a time save the sibilant whisperings of the Ferara andthe German long-sword, and saw nothing save the fierce eyes glaring atme out of the midst of the plaster-marred smile.
Recreant though he was, I must do my adversary the justice to say thathe was a skilful master of fence, agile as a French dancer, and withalwell-breathed and persevering. Twice, nay, thrice, before I found myadvantage he had pricked me lightly with that extra inch of slenderpoint. But when I had fairly felt his wrist I knew that his heavierweapon would shortly prove his undoing; knew that the quick parry andlightning-like thrust would presently lag a little, and then I shouldhave him.
Something of this prophecy of triumph he must have read in my eyes, foron the instant he was up and at me like a madman, and I had my work wellcut out to hold him at the blade's length. I was so holding him; was, inmy turn, beginning to press him slowly, when there came a drumming ofhoofbeats on the soft turf, and then a woman's cry.
I looked aside, and to my dying day I shall swear that my antagonist didlikewise. What I saw was Mistress Margery Stair riding down upon us at ahand-gallop, and I lowered my point, as any gentleman would.
In the very act--'twas while Jennifer was clutching at her bridle reinto stay her from riding fair between us--I felt the hot-wire prick ofthe steel in my shoulder and knew that my enemy had run me through as Istood.
Of what befell afterward I have but dim memories. There were morehoof-tramplings, and then I felt the dewy turf under my hands and softfingers tremblingly busy at my neckerchief. Then I saw swimmingly, asthrough a veil of mist, a woman's face just above my own, and it wasfull of horror; and I heard my enemy say: "'Twas most unfortunate and Ido heartily regret it, Mr. Jennifer. I saw not why he had lowered hispoint. Can I say more?"
How Richard Jennifer made answer to this lie I know not; nor do I knowaught else, save by hear-say, of any further happening in that grassyglade beneath my father's oaks. For the big German blade was a shrewdblood-letter, and I fell asleep what time my lady was trying to stanchwith her kerchief the ebbing tide of life.
The Master of Appleby Page 5