*CHAPTER XIII*
*PURSUED*
Morning came, clear and bright, and as I stepped out from myhiding-place I was conscious that the air of the dawn had served to whetmy hunger. I hurried to the other side of the loch and renewed mysearch. Crouching down I ferreted in every likely nook and corner, butfound nothing. Was it that there was nothing to find? Was the larderalready empty, or had the troopers discovered it after they had donetheir deed of blood, and rifled it of its poor contents? Whatever thecase, my search, repeated over and over again during the course of themorning--till I knew every blade of grass and bracken-frond on that sideof the loch--revealed nothing. While I searched, my hunger abated; whenI paused I was painfully conscious of it, and then, suddenly, Iremembered the little trickling stream and in a moment I was bendingover it seeking for trout. My search was rewarded and ere long I hadcaught enough to make a meal. Hunger made me forget discretion, and Ilit a fire to cook them.
While the stone on which I was to broil my meal was warming in theflames, I went to the loch side and picked up the garments of my deadfriend. Hastily I divested myself of my uniform, and filling thepockets, which I had emptied of my possessions, with large stones, Iswam into the middle of the loch and let the heavy burden drop into itsdepths. Then I made for the shore, and ran in the sunlight till the airhad dried me, and then aglow and breathless I donned the clothing of thedead preacher. I felt the flute in the pocket of his coat and drew itout, looking at it with fond eyes, and placed it to my lips--but as Iwas about to blow, I stopped. It would be sacrilege for unclean lipslike mine to call one note from this the plaything and the solace of thedead saint, so I replaced it in my pocket.
I cooked my fish, and, forgetful of the risk I ran, omitted toextinguish my fire. I stretched my hands out to enjoy its warmth andwatched the silver grey spirals of smoke coil like ghostly things intothe blue atmosphere.
I sat in a reverie, and after awhile I rose to make another search forthe undiscovered hiding-place of the old man's hoard.
I had wandered afield, and had come to the brow of the hill. When Irose from my crouching position to stretch myself, I saw a sight thatchilled me. Less than half a mile away was a company of troopers whowere riding at a gallop. I flung myself upon my face and prayed that mydark figure against the horizon had escaped notice, and then the thoughtflashed upon me that they were coming direct to the place where I was,and the fire which I had left burning was the beacon that had attractedthem. Doubtless they had been continuing their search for me in anotherquarter of these mountain fastnesses, and now through my own folly I hadshown them where to find me.
Crouching low, I raced to the loch side. Then, remembering that theloch was in the cup of the hills, and that until they reached the summitof the slope they could not see me. I rose erect and raced with all myspeed to the end of the loch and on. Fear lent wings to my feet. To besafe at all I must put many miles between my pursuers and myself beforeI thought of hiding. The country was practically unknown to me, but Iremembered roughly the way we had taken when we went to thehill-meeting, and I imagined that somewhere in that direction mygreatest safety would lie.
Never stopping to look back, but with panting breath, hot-foot I ran,leaping over boulders and crashing through the heather, until my limbsalmost refused to respond to my desires; then I flung myself down into adeep bed of bracken and turned to scan the way I had come. Already Ihad travelled far, and, when I looked back, piercing the distance witheager eyes, I could see no trace of my pursuers.
Though there was no sign of them, I dared not count on safety till I hadplaced a much greater distance between us or until night should fall.So, when I had recovered my breath, I left my shelter and hurried on.As I went I recognised some of the landmarks I had passed two daysbefore, and by and by I came to the gorge in the hills where the servicehad taken place. As I entered the little amphitheatre my eyes wanderedinstinctively to the stone where Mary had sat, but, to my surprise, thestones were no longer there in orderly array. I looked to where thepulpit had been, but it was scattered. Then I knew that some of theworshippers before they left that hallowed spot had, with craftyforesight, scattered the stones that might have been a witness to someband of troopers that a "field preaching" had taken place. Wearily Iascended the slope on one side of the amphitheatre and crouching lowamong the heather I scanned the surrounding country. The afternoon wasnow far advanced, and the evening shadows were beginning to gather.Look where I might I could see no sign of my pursuers, and, glad atheart, I decided that here I should rest for an hour or two and thencontinue my flight when the darkness fell. There was something holyabout the place, for she had worshipped here.
My long run had exhausted me, so I crawled into a clump of bracken andwas soon asleep, my last waking thoughts being of Mary, and not of mydanger.
When I woke the moon was high in the heavens. I was conscious of hungerand thirst, but I had not the wherewithal to appease them: but I hopedthat on my way I might stumble upon some moorland rivulet, or at theworst a pool of brackish water among the moss-hags. Hunger a man canbear, but thirst is torture to a fugitive.
Somewhere an owl hooted drearily and the eerie sound in that place ofdesolation startled me, alive in every sense to anything unexpected.
As I began my flight once more I was conscious that my limbs were stiff,but in a few moments, as movement began to warm me, the stiffnessdisappeared. On a trackless moor it is ever a hard thing for a manunacquainted with the country-side to make much speed, and I had to gowarily lest I should stumble, as once before, into some treacherous bog.
The wind had risen and was bringing with it an army of clouds thatswept, a dark host, across the sky. Suddenly the darkness was rent by aflashing blade of light which shook like a sword of molten metal held bysome giant in the skies, and then, as though a thousand iron doors wereflung against their doorposts, the heavens crashed round me. The wildpeal of thunder rolled through the night air. Caught by every tremblinghill-top, it reverberated and reverberated again till it pulsed intosilence. My ears ached. The lightning and the thunder had brought me toa standstill, when again the sky was torn by a blaze of fire. Hard onits heels came another thunderclap and with it a deluge of rain. Everydrop was a missile, stinging my face like a whip-lash. Startled, I madehaste to seek cover from the storm, but I had left the hills behind meand there was no friendly boulder near at hand.
I turned to look to the hill-side, when, again, a shaft of lightninglike a mighty javelin hurtled earthward from the sky. The wholehill-side was lit up by its blaze, and I saw its point strike a greatrock of granite that stood on the slope and cleave it in twain. Thedarkness closed like a door and ere the following peal hammered upon myears I heard the crash of the shattered boulder as headlong it roareddown the hillside.
The air was heavy with the smell of sulphur; the earth was soddenbeneath my feet. My clothes hung heavily upon me and at every step thewater oozed from my shoes.
Remembering a trick of the moor men I dropped on my knees and tore up apiece of turf and scooped away some of the underlying earth with myhands. Quickly the water oozed into the bowl from the ground round aboutit, and when I had given it a moment to settle, I bent and drank deeply.Then I rose and hurried on and, in the hope of discovering some shelterere long, I broke into a run. It was a foolish thing to do, for savewhen a lightning flash lit up the ground I could not see more than ayard or two ahead.
Suddenly, as though a red-hot knife had struck me, I felt a stab of painin my right ankle, and I fell upon my face. The fall winded me, and asI lay while the pitiless rain beat upon me, I tried to realise what hadhappened. I had trodden upon a stone which had betrayed my foot; myfoot had slipped on its edge, and I knew from the pain that I had donemyself an injury.
I tried to gather myself up, but every effort sent a pang to my heart.Slowly I raised myself upon my hands and knees, and then with a greateffort I lifted myself t
o my feet, but I found that I could not bear thepressure of my injured foot upon the ground. I tried to raise it, butthe movement only redoubled my agony, and, bemoaning my fate, I loweredmyself gently to a sitting posture on the wet earth.
Flower o' the Heather: A Story of the Killing Times Page 13