Arrah Neil; or, Times of Old

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER XXV.

  "Now go on, and wait for me at the first little public-house you cometo," whispered Captain Barecolt, as soon as he and his companions hadpassed the gates of Hull. "I will not be a minute;" and, turning awayunderneath the wall which surrounded the city, he appeared with ashrewd eye to be examining the fortifications. Lucky it was for himthat he did so; for, the moment after, the officer of the guard,having been roused somewhat early from his slumber, and thinking itunnecessary to go to bed again, sauntered forth to enjoy the breeze ofthe morning, and to observe what the strange captain was about. Nosooner did our worthy friend, giving a backward glance towards thegates, perceive that he was watched, than, without a moment'sdeliberation, he beckoned the officer up to him, and addressed himwhen he approached with a torrent of engineering terms, some inFrench, some in English, some in a language compounded of the two.

  "Begar," he cried, after having vented a great deal of learning uponthe incomprehensive ears of his auditor, "I not able to tell what degouverneur vill have do here. Look, sair; look, my good friend: if Ibe not much mistake, dat hill dare, not above one half-mile off,command de bastion all along. Let me beseech you, have de bounty totake von leetle valk up to de top of de hill. Den vid one stick makinga level--so; see if de line do not cover de top of de curtain--_c'est? dire_, if it do not _domin?_ it. You understand?"

  "Oh, yes; I understand quite well," replied the officer of thetrain-bands; "but I'll tell you what, captain: you must go yourself,for I cannot leave the guard."

  "_Sapristi!_ dat be true," said Barecolt, turning away and walkingtowards the slight elevation he had pointed out. The officer of theguard watched him for a moment, as with his usual dignified stride hewalked on towards the hill, and then turning back again to the gates,entered, causing them once more to be closed behind him.

  Barecolt paused when he reached the top of the rise, and turninground, examined the town of Hull, but more especially the gate fromwhich he had issued forth, making sundry gesticulations as if he wereendeavouring to ascertain the relative height of the hill and thefortifications, suspecting that some one might be observing him still.In doing so, however, he scanned every nook and corner with a curiouseye, and having satisfied himself that he was not watched, he turnedsharply to the left, regained the road along which Falgate and ArrahNeil had taken their way; and, covered by a small clump of trees whichgrew near at that time, he hurried on with long steps towards thelittle public-house which Hugh O'Donnell had mentioned.

  The pace at which he went was so rapid that, notwithstanding theinterruption he had met with, he came in sight of the little solitaryhouse just at the moment that Arrah Neil and her companion reached it.There was a tall man standing at the door; and the next instant,before Captain Barecolt came up, three horses were led out by a manand a boy, and the worthy captain could see his Irish acquaintance,Mr. O'Donnell, lift the fair girl upon one of the beasts, and then,approaching his head close to her ear, appear to whisper to hereagerly for several minutes.

  Whatever was the nature of his communication, it was just over whenCaptain Barecolt laid his hand upon the Irishman's shoulder; and Mr.O'Donnell only added the words, "Remember, to none but himself, orher."

  He then turned to Captain Barecolt, exclaiming, "Quick, quick! uponyour horse's back, and away!"

  "Oh, there's no such haste, Master O'Donnell!" replied Barecolt, wholoved not to receive the word of command from a merchant. "Nothing butcowardice is ever in a hurry; so what is to pay for the horses, myfriend?"

  "Seventeen pounds for that," replied O'Donnell, pointing to one, "andtwo-and-twenty pounds for the other, which you had better mountyourself, lest your long legs touch the ground. They are cheap."

  "Cheap or dear, they must be paid for," replied Barecolt; "and theydon't seem bad beasts either. Come, Master Falgate, bring forth thecrowns; you see, having short legs saves you five pounds;" and whilethe worthy painter unfolded his bundle, in which, besides his ownapparel, were now contained such parts of Barecolt's goods andchattels as he thought it absolutely necessary to take with him, thecaptain drew forth a leathern purse and disbursed the sum required forhis own beast, which operation, to say the truth, left his pocket butscantily garnished.

  "Now, mount, mount, Master Falgate!" continued Barecolt. "T'other sideof your horse, man, and t'other foot in the stirrup, or we shall haveyou with your face to the tail. Now, Mistress Arrah, are you ready?"

  But when he turned to look at her, Arrah Neil had fallen into one ofher deep fits of abstraction, and he had to repeat the question beforeshe roused herself.

  "Yes, yes," she answered with a start, "I am ready;" and then turningto O'Donnell, added, "I remember it all now. That name, like thesudden drawing of a curtain, has let in the light upon memory, and Isee the past."

  "God speed you, young lady!" replied O'Donnell; "but now hasten uponyour way, and I will take mine; for it will not be long ere yourflight is discovered, and before that I hope I shall be in my house,and you many miles hence."

  Thus saying he waved his hand, and Barecolt, striking his horse withhis heel, led the way along the road at a quick pace. Arrah Neilfollowed, and was at his side in a moment; but good Diggory Falgate,who seemed less accustomed to equestrian exercise than either of hiscompanions, was not a little inconvenienced by the trotting of hishorse. Merciless Captain Barecolt, however, though, to tell the truth,he saw the difficulty with which their companion followed them at astill increasing distance, kept up the same rapid rate of progressionfor some six or seven miles, speaking now and then a word to his faircompanion, but showing, upon the whole, wonderful abstinence from hisusual frailty. At length they reached the top of a long sloping hillwhich commanded a view over a wide extent of country behind them, andalong at least one-half of the road they had followed from Hull; andturning his horse for a moment or two, Captain Barecolt paused andexamined the track beneath his eyes, to see if he could discover anysigns of pursuit. All was clear, however. The sun, now risen a degreeor two above the horizon, but still red and large from the horizontalmist through which it shone, cast long shadows from tree, and house,and village spire, over the ground in some places, and in others,bright gleams of rosy light; but almost all the world seemed stillslumbering, for no moving object was to be seen on the road, andnothing even in the fields around but where team of horses drivenslowly by a whistling ploughman, at about a hundred yards upon theleft of the party on the hill, wended slowly onward to commence theirlabours for the day.

  "You may go a little slower now, young lady," said Barecolt, after hehad concluded his examination; "we have a good start of them, and I donot think they would venture to send out far in pursuit."

  "Thank God!" answered Arrah Neil, not in the common tone ofsatisfaction with which those words are usually pronounced, but withthe voice of heartfelt gratitude to Him from whom all deliverancecomes. "But do you think we are really safe?" continued Arrah, after amoment's thought. "Perhaps it would be better to go on quickly for atime; but that good man who came with us seems hardly able to make hishorse keep up with us."

  "Then we will make him lead as soon as he comes up," answeredBarecolt; "we can follow at his pace, for I think we are secure enoughjust now. The truth is, he is evidently unaccustomed to a horse'sback, and sits his beast like a London tapster in a city pageant. 'Tisa lamentable thing, Mistress Arrah, that so few people in this countryever learn to ride. Now, before I was twelve years old, there was nota _pas_ of the _man?ge_ that I could not make the wildest horseperform; and serviceable indeed have I found it in my day; for Iremember well when the small town of Alais was taken, which I hadaided to defend, with twenty other gentlemen of different nations, wedetermined that we would have nothing to do with the capitulation; andon the morning when the king's troops were just about to march intothe town, we issued forth to cut our way out, or to find it throughthem in some manner. We had not gone above three hundred yards fromthe gate when we found a line of pikemen drawn up across the road
andin a meadow. There were no other troops on that side of the town, forthe chief attack was at another point; but as soon as they saw us,down went their pikes, when, crying 'Now, gentlemen, follow me!' Idashed up to them as if to charge. I was mounted on a swift andpowerful horse--I called him Drake, in memory of the great SirFrancis; but, just as I was at the point of their pikes, I lifted himon his haunches, struck my spurs into his flanks, and with one springover the line we went."

  "And what became of the rest?" asked Arrah Neil.

  "You shall hear," replied Barecolt. "The horse as he came over lashedout behind, and striking one of the pikemen on the head, dashed in hissteel cap and his skull together, so that down he went, and my friendscharging on, cut a way for a part of themselves before the confusionwas over. Five got through and joined me; but the rest had to eat coldsteel."

  "They were killed?" asked Arrah Neil. "Alas! war is a sad thing."

  "Very true," replied Barecolt; "but one comes to think of it asnothing. It is the occupation of brave men and gentlemen; and when onemakes up one's mind every day to lose one's life if need be, he doesnot think much of seeing others go a few hours before us. If I couldcall up again all the men I have seen killed, since I first smeltpowder when I was about fifteen, I should have a pretty strong army ofghosts to fight the Roundheads with.----Well, Master Falgate," hecontinued, as the painter came up, "you seem red in the face and outof breath."

  "Ugh! there never was such a beast!" exclaimed Falgate. "It is likeriding a rhinoceros. He has as many hard knobs in him as a cow, andhis pace is like a galloping earthquake. Oons, captain! you go sofast, too!"

  "Well, my good friend, tell me," said Barecolt, "did you ever take ajourney on a horse before?"

  "No," replied Falgate boldly, "else I do not think I should ever havegot on one again. But, in pity, good Captain Barecolt, don't go atsuch a rate, or faith you must leave me behind, which would not belike a good _camarado_."

  "No, no; we won't leave you behind, Falgate," replied Barecolt, "andfor that reason we will make you go first. So shall we be ready topick you up if you fall off; and you can go at your own pace, thoughit must be the quickest you can manage."

  "Oh, butter and eggs for ever!" cried Falgate, putting himself in thevan, and going on at a jog-trot: "if an old market-woman can keep herseat and not break her eggs, I do not see why one of the lords of thecreation should tumble off and crack his bones."

  "Nor I either," replied Barecolt; "and if he do, he deserves to breakhis head. But get on a little faster, Master Falgate, or we shall havethe fat citizens of Hull at our heels."

  "Oh, no fear! no fear!" rejoined Falgate; "they are all miraculoushorsemen, and ride as well as I do; so, unless the governor pursue youin person, and bring all the horses out of his own stable, you mayride to York and back before any of them will stir. Would that the manwho sold me this horse were in as sore a skin as he who bought it," hecontinued, after a short pause; "I am sure he must have had anill-will at my poor bones--plague light upon him!"

  "Ah, no!" cried Arrah Neil. "He is a good and a kind man."

  "He is a very close one," replied Barecolt; "for I know, young lady, Itried my best yesterday to worm out of him all the secrets that wewanted to know; but he held his mouth as tight shut as the shell of anoyster."

  "He had a reason, doubtless," answered Arrah Neil, falling intothought again.

  "Well, if he have told you all about it," rejoined Barecolt, assumingan indifferent air, "it does not matter. I have no curiosity. Onlywhen we wish to send despatches securely, we give a copy to twoseparate messengers, and if, as I understood him, you are to tell LordWalton or the young lady, it might have been better to inform me too,as then I could have carried them the intelligence in case of ourbeing separated and of my seeing them first."

  "Perhaps it might have been better," said Arrah Neil; "but allpromises are sacred things, and, methinks, more especially, promisesto the dead."

  "Ay, that they are," answered Barecolt, who saw that he was not likelyto learn from his fair companion what had been the substance of herconversation with O'Donnell. "Ay, that they are. I remember a verycurious and entertaining story about that, which happened at the siegeof a certain town, when I was serving in the north. I will tell it toyou as we go; it will serve to while away the time."