XLII
IN WHICH MY LORD HAS HIS MARCHING ORDERS
Though I had passed out of the British lines less than a week before indecent good odor, save for Colonel Tarleton's ill word, I met withnothing like the welcome at the outpost camp that a king's courier had aright to expect.
The captain in command was not the one who had passed me out. He was asurly brute of the Yorkshire breed; and when he had heard that I was anexpress rider from Major Ferguson, he was pleased to demand my papers.
To this I must needs make answer that I carried no written despatches;that my news was for the commander-in-chief's private ear. This I toldmy Yorkshire pig, demanding to be sent, under guard if he chose, to theheadquarters in Charlotte.
But Captain Nobbut would hear to no such reasonable proposal. On thecontrary, he would hold me in arrest till he could report me and haveinstructions from his colonel.
Knowing what a stake it was I rode for, you may imagine how this day indurance ate into me like a canker. With ordinary diligence the trooperwho carried the news of me should have gone to Charlotte by way ofQueensborough and returned by noon. But being of the same surly breedwith his captain, 'twas full three of the clock before he came amblingback with an order to set me forthwith upon the road to headquarters.
Once free of the camp of detention you may be sure I put Blackstar tohis best paces; but hasten as I would it was coming on to evening when Ipassed the inner safety line and galloped down the high street of thetown.
As luck would have it, the first familiar face I saw was that of CharlesStedman, the commissary-general. On my inquiry he directed me straight.
"My Lord is at supper at Mr. Stair's. Have you news, Captain?"
I drew breath of relief. Happily the loss of the day had not made me thebearer of stale tidings. So I made answer with proper reticence, sayingthat I had news, but it was for Lord Cornwallis's ear first of all. Nonethe less, if the commissary-general were pleased to come with me--
He took the hint at once; and he it was who procured me instantadmittance to the house, and who took on himself the responsibility ofbreaking in upon the party in the supper-room.
I shall not soon forget the scene that fronted us when we came into myLord's presence. The supper was in some sort a gala feast held in honorof my Lord's accession to his earldom. The table, lighted by greatsilver candelabra which I recognized as Ireton heirlooms, was wellfilled around by the members of the commander-in-chief's militaryfamily, with the earl at the head, and Mistress Margery, bedight asbefitted a lady of the quality, behind the tea-urn at the foot.
At our incoming all eyes were turned upon us, but it required my Lord'ssharp question to make me leave off dwelling upon my sweet lady'sradiant beauty.
"How now, Captain Ireton? Do you bring us news from the major?"
I broke the fascinating eyehold and turned slowly to face my fate.
"I do, my Lord."
"Well, what of him? You left him hastening to rejoin with his newloyalist levies, I hope?"
I drew my sword, reversed it and laid it upon the table.
"May all the enemies of the Commonwealth be even as he is, my Lord," Isaid, quietly.
Now, truly, I had hanged my petard well and 'twas plain the shock of ithad gone far to shatter the wall of confidence our enemies had buildedon the field of Camden and elsewhere. Had a hand-grenade with the fusealight been dropped upon the table, the consternation could scarce havebeen greater. To a man the tableful was up and thronging round me; butabove all the hubbub I heard a little cry of misery from the table-footwhere my lady sat.
"How is this, sir?--explain yourself!" thundered my Lord, forgettingfor once his mild suavity.
"'Tis but a brief tale, and I will make it as crisp as may be in thetelling," I replied. "I came upon the major some miles this side of thecrossing of the Broad. He was marching to rejoin you, in accordance withhis orders. But when he had your Lordship's command to stand and fight,he obeyed."
"My command?--but I gave him no such order!"
"Nay, truly, you did not--neither in the original nor in the duplicate,my Lord. But when we had waylaid Lieutenant Tybee and quenched theduplicate, and had so amended the original as to make it fit ourpurpose, the brave major thanked you for what you had not done and madehis stand to await the upcoming of the over-mountain men."
For a moment I thought they would hew me limb from limb, but my Lordquelled the fierce outburst with a word.
"Put up your swords, gentlemen. We shall know how to deal with thistraitor," he said. And then to me: "Go on, sir, if you please; there hasbeen a battle, as I take it?"
"There has, indeed. The mountain men came up with us in the afternoon ofthe Saturday. In an hour one-third of the major's force was dead ordying, the major himself was slain, and every living man left on thefield was a prisoner."
Again a dozen swords hissed from their scabbards, and again I heard thelittle cry of misery from the table-foot. I bowed my head, lookingmomently to pay the penalty; but once more my Lord put the swordsaside.
"Let us have a clean breast of it this time, Captain Ireton," he said."You know well what you have earned, and nothing you can say will makeit better or worse for you. Was this your purpose in making yoursubmission to me?"
"It was."
"And you have been a rebel from the first?"
I met the cold anger in the womanish eyes as a condemned man might.
"I have, my Lord--since the day nine years agone when I learned thatyour king's minions had hanged my father in the Regulation."
"Then it was a farrago of lies you told me about your adventures in thewestern mountains?"
"Not wholly. It was your Lordship's good pleasure to send succors ofpowder and lead to your allies, the western savages. I and three othersfollowed Captain Falconnet and his Indians, and I have the honor toreport that we overtook and exploded them with their own powder cargo."
"And Captain Sir Francis Falconnet with them?"
"I do so hope and trust, my Lord."
He turned short on his heel, and for a moment a silence as of death fellupon the room. Then he took the Ferara from the table and sought tobreak it over his knee; but the good blade, like the cause it stood for,bent like a withe and would not snap.
"Put this spy in irons and clear the room," he ordered sharply. Andthis is how the little drama ended: with the supper guests crowding tothe door; with my Lord pacing back and forth at the table-head; with twosergeants bearing me away to await, where and how I knew not, the wordwhich should efface me.
The Master of Appleby Page 44