The Golden Age of Science Fiction Novels Vol 02

by Anthology

  He yielded to her reasoning, and soon reached her side again.

  "We must to London Bridge, Guy," Phoebe said. "Know you a way back thither?"

  "Wherefore to London, sweet?" asked Guy. "Were we not safer far afield? Why seek the shadow of the Tower?"

  "One way is left thee," said she, with intense earnestness. "A way that is known to me alone. Thereby only canst thou escape. Oh, trust me--trust me, dear heart! Only I can guide thee to safety and to freedom!"

  "On, my Mary!" he cried, gayly. "Lead on! Thou art my star!"

  For the moment both forgot the danger behind them. The intoxication of an ideal and self-forgetting trust--a merger of all else in tenderness--flooded their souls and passed back and forth between them in their mutual glances.

  Then came that pursuing shout again, much nearer than before, and with a shock the two lovers remembered their true plight.

  Sir Guy reined in his steed.

  "Halt--halt, Mary!" he commanded. "We must conceal us here in this dell till that these fellows pass us. Then back to London by the way we came. There is no other road."

  Obedient now in her turn, Phoebe drew rein and followed her lover up the bed of a small stream which crossed the road at this point. Behind a curtain of trees they waited, and ere long saw their two pursuers dart past them and disappear in a cloud of dust down the road.

  "They will stop at the next dwelling to ask news of us, and thus learn of our evasion," said Guy. "The chase has but begun. Come, sweet, let us hasten southward again."

  Darkness had now begun to fall in earnest, and as the two fugitives passed the Peacock Inn, no one saw them.

  They were soon near enough to the city gate to find many houses on either hand, and Sir Guy deemed it wiser to move at a reasonable pace, for fear of attracting suspicion in a neighborhood already aroused by rumors of the man-hunt which had begun. They could count upon the obscurity to conceal their identity.

  They had not proceeded far beyond the inn when they met a party of travellers on horseback, one of whom uttered a pleasant "Good-even!"

  "Good-even!" said Phoebe, thinking only of due courtesy.

  "What the good jere!" cried a voice from the rear of the group. "What dost thou here, Poll?"

  "My father!" exclaimed Phoebe, in terror.

  "Hush!" whispered Sir Guy, putting his hand upon her bridle. "Ride forward at an easy gait until I give example of haste."

  They trotted quietly past the greater number of the group until a dark figure approached and a voice in the gloom said, severely:

  "What dost thou here? Who rides with thee, lass?"

  Sir Guy now leaned forward and spurred his horse, leaping away into the darkness without a word. In equal silence Phoebe followed his example and galloped headlong close behind her lover.

  "Help, ho!" yelled old Sir Isaac. "'Tis the traitor Fenton, with my daughter! After them--stop them--a Burton--a Burton!" and, mad with excitement, the angry father set off in hot pursuit. With one accord the others wheeled about and joined in the chase, uttering cries and imprecations that rang through the country for a mile around.

  "Now have we need of speed!" said Sir Guy, as they galloped together toward London, whose walls were now visible in the distance. "Soon will the whole country join the hue-and-cry. The watch will meet us at the gate."

  "'Twere better, were it not," Phoebe suggested, "that we turn to the left and make a circuit into the Aldersgate?"

  "Good wit, my lady!" cried Guy, whose excitement had taken on the form of an exalted gayety. "Who rides with thee rides safe, my love--e'en as Theseus of old did ride, scathless 'neath the spell of protecting Pallas!"

  "Stuff!" said Phoebe, spurring again, with a smile.

  Guy led the way at once across country to the eastward, the soft English turf so deadening their hoof-beats that those behind them had no clue to their change of route.

  When the pursuing party reached the Bishopsgate, they met the watch and learned that no one had passed since the hue-and-cry was heard.

  "Here divide we, then," cried stout Sir Isaac Burton. "Let eight follow them around the wall, while I with other six ride on, that, if haply they have entered London by the Aldersgate, we may meet them within the city."

  The suggestion was adopted, and, all unconscious of their peril, the lovers were rapidly hemmed in between two bands of pursuers. Sir Guy and Phoebe reached the Aldersgate unmolested and were allowed to pass in without protest, as the hue-and-cry had not yet reached so far. They ambled quietly past the watch, arousing no suspicion, but no sooner had they turned the first corner than once more they urged their tired horses to greater exertion.

  "Choose we the side streets," said Guy. "Who knows what watch hath been set on Gracechurch Street. 'Tis for London Bridge we are bound, is't not?"

  "Yes," said Phoebe. "I pray no prying watch detain us ere we pass that way!"

  Picking their way through the dark and narrow streets at a pace necessarily much reduced, they slowly approached their goal, until at length, on emerging into New Fish Street, they discerned the towering walls of London Bridge.

  Here they reined in suddenly with one accord, for, plainly visible in the moonlight, a group of horsemen was gathered and there was borne to their ears the sturdy voice of Sir Isaac.

  "Hallo!" he cried. "There be riders in New Fish Street. See where they lurk in the shadow! What ho, there! Give a name! Stand forth there!"

  Sir Guy drew his sword.

  "'Tis time for steel to answer!" he laughed.

  "Nay--nay! Wait--wait!" said Phoebe, earnestly. "There must be other issue than in blood!"

  Two or three horsemen now detached themselves from the group near the bridge and cantered up New Fish Street. Sir Isaac was among them.

  "Are ye there, traitor?" he cried. "Where is my daughter?"

  Sir Guy was about to reply when Phoebe put her hand on his arm.

  "Hush!" she whispered. "Hearken!"

  Faint at first, but growing momentarily louder, there came the clear trilling of a mysterious bell. It floated out from the dark by-ways whence they had themselves just emerged, and something eerie and uncanny in its clamor brought a thrill of terror to the young knight's nerves for the first time.

  "Now, what in God's name--" he began.

  But he broke off in horror, for there flashed past him, as silent as the wind and swifter, a dark, bent figure, with flying cloak, under which, as the moonlight struck him, there whirled a web of glittering tissue whereon he seemed to ride. That uncanny tinkling floated back from this strange vision, confirming to the ear what otherwise might have appeared a mere trick of the vision.

  As for Sir Isaac and his band, the distant bell had early brought them to a wondering stand; and now, as this rushing phantom--trilling--trilling--trilling--swept down on a living moonbeam, with one accord they put spurs to their steeds, and with cries of horror fled in all directions.

  "Forward!" cried Phoebe, exultantly. "Why, what now!" she exclaimed, as she saw her lover still sitting petrified with fear. "How now, my knight! Why sit you here amazed? Is not the way clear? Come--follow--follow!" and she started forward on a trot.

  But her lover did not move, and she was obliged to turn back. Laying her hand on his arm:

  "Why, what ails thee, dear heart?" she asked.

  "The spectre--the ghostly steed!" he stammered.

  "Oh--oh!" laughed Phoebe. "Why, this was but some venturous bicyclist on his wheel!"

  "A bicyclist!" exclaimed Sir Guy. "Can you thus give a name to this black phantom, Mary?"

  "'Tis naught, dear Guy, believe me!" she said. Then, in pleading tones, she continued: "Didst not agree to trust thy lady, dear?"

  The young knight passed his hand over his eyes and straightened himself resolutely in his saddle.

  "E'en to the death, love. Lead on! I shall not falter!"

  They trotted forward through a now silent street to the bridge, and soon found themselves enveloped in the darkness and assailed by the countle
ss odors of London Bridge. From time to time they crossed a path of moonlight, and here Phoebe would smile into the eyes of her still much-puzzled lover and murmur words of encouragement.

  Before they reached Southwark, there rang out behind them the sound of hoofs upon the stones of the bridge.

  "Can these be your father's minions, think you?" said Sir Guy.

  "Nay!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Rest assured, they were scattered too far to dog our steps again to-night."

  They emerged some moments later on the Southwark side and saw the pillory towering ahead of them.

  "How far shall we fare to-night, love?" asked the knight.

  "To Newington on horseback," Phoebe replied, "and then--well, then shalt thou see more faring."

  There was a loud cry from the bridge, startling the pair from their fancied security.

  "There they ride! The watch, ho! Stop the traitor! Stop him! For the Queen! For the Queen!"

  "God help us!" cried Phoebe. "'Tis the two yeomen of the Peacock Inn!"

  With one accord the pair clapped spurs to their horses' sides and resumed once more the flight which they had thought concluded.

  CHAPTER XVII

  REBECCA'S TRUMP CARD

  When Rebecca set out for the Panchronicon from London Bridge, she knew that she had a long walk in prospect, and settled down to the work with dogged resolution. Her trip was quite uneventful until she neared the village of Newington, and then she realized for the first time that she did not know exactly where to find the deserted grove. One grove looked much like another, and how was she to choose between garden walls "as like as two peas," as she expressed it?

  "Look here, Rebecca Wise," she said, aloud, as she paused in the middle of the road, "you'll be lost next you know!"

  She looked about dubiously and shook her head.

  "The thing fer you to do is to set right down an' wait fer that pesky good-fer-nothin' Copernicus Droop!" she remarked, and suiting action to speech she picked her way to a convenient mile-stone and seated herself.

  Having nothing better to do, she began to review mentally the events of the last two days, and as she recalled one after the other the unprecedented adventures which had overtaken her, she wondered in a dreamy way what would next befall. She built hazy hypotheses, sitting there alone in the moonlight, nodding contentedly. Suddenly she straightened up, realizing that she had been aroused from a doze by a cry near at hand.

  Turning toward London, she saw a wriggling mass about fifty feet away which, by a process of slow disentanglement, gradually developed into a man's form rising from the ground and raising a fallen bicycle.

  "Darn the luck!" said this dark figure. "Busted my tire, sure as shootin'!"

  "Copernicus Droop!" cried Rebecca, in a loud voice.

  Droop jumped high in the air, so great was his nervousness. Then, realizing that it was Rebecca who had addressed him, he limped toward her, rolling his bicycle beside him.

  "How in creation did you get here?" he asked. "Ain't any steam-cars 'round here, is there?"

  "Guess not!" Rebecca replied. "I come by short cut up river. I guessed you'd make fer the Panchronicle, and I jest made up my mind to come, too. Thinks I, 'that Copernicus Droop ud be jest mean enough to fly away all by himself an' leave me an' Phoebe to shift fer ourselves.' So I'm here to go, too--an' what's more, we've got to take Phoebe!"

  "How'll ye find yer sister, Cousin Rebecca?" said Droop. "We must git out to-night. When the Queen gets on her ear like that, it's now or never. Can you find Cousin Phoebe to-night?"

  "Where is the old machine, anyhow?" Rebecca asked, not heeding Droop's question.

  "Right over yonder," said he, pointing to a dark group of trees a few rods distant.

  "Well, come on, then. Let's go to it right away," said Rebecca. "I'd like to rest a bit. I'm tired!"

  "Tired!" Droop exclaimed. "What about me, then?"

  Without further parley, the two set off toward the grove which Droop had indicated. Having dwelt here for several weeks, he knew his bearings well, but it was not until they came much nearer to the deserted mansion that Rebecca recognized several landmarks which convinced her that he had made no mistake.

  Under the trees, the shadows were so black that they were unable to find the breach in the wall.

  "Got any matches, Cousin Rebecca?" Droop asked.

  "Yes. Wait a minute an' I'll strike a light. I know that blessed hole is somewhere right near here."

  She found again her card of matches, and breaking off one of them, soon had a tiny taper which lit up their surroundings wonderfully.

  "There 'tis! I've found it," cried Droop, and, taking Rebecca by the arm, he led her toward the broken place in the wall. The match went out just as they reached it.

  Droop was about to suggest that he go in first to see if all was well, when he was startled by Rebecca's hand on his arm.

  "Hark!" she cried.

  He listened and distant cries coming nearer through the night were borne to his ears.

  "What's that?" Rebecca exclaimed again.

  Rigid with excitement and dread, they stood there listening. At length Droop pulled himself free of Rebecca's hold.

  "That's some o' them palace folks chasin' after me!" he cried, in a panic.

  "Fiddle-dee-dee!" Rebecca exclaimed, with energy. "How should they know where you are?"

  By this time the sounds were more distinct, and they could easily make out cries of: "Traitor! Stop him! For the Queen! Stop him!"

  The two listeners had just mentally concluded that this alarm did not in any wise concern them when Rebecca was startled beyond measure to hear her sister Phoebe's voice, loud above all other sounds.

  "Nay--nay, Guy!" she was screaming. "Stop not to fight! Fly--follow! Shelter is here at hand!"

  Forgetting everything but possible danger for Phoebe, Rebecca dashed out from under the trees.

  There in the moonlight she saw Phoebe on horseback, her head uncovered, her hair floating free and her clothing in tatters. A few paces behind her was Sir Guy, also mounted, fiercely attacking two pursuing horsemen with his sword. Farther back, rendered indistinct by distance, was a larger group of mingled horse and foot travellers. There was a lantern among them, and Rebecca inferred that the watch was with them.

  A moment later, one of the two men engaged with Sir Guy fell from his horse. Instantly the young knight turned upon the second pursuer, who fled at once toward the larger group now rapidly approaching.

  Rebecca ran forward and waved her card of matches frantically, apparently thinking in her excitement that she held a flag.

  "Here, Phoebe--here, child!" she screamed. "This way, quick! Here we are awaitin' fer ye. Come, quick--quick!"

  With a loud cry of joy, Phoebe slipped from her horse and ran toward her sister.

  "Oh, Rebecca, Rebecca!" she cried, throwing herself into her sister's arms. "Oh, you dear, lovely, sweet old darling!"

  Rebecca kissed her younger sister with tears in her eyes, almost as affected as the girl herself, who was now laughing and crying hysterically on her breast.

  While they stood thus tightly locked in each other's arms, Guy came to their side with sword in hand.

  "Quick!" he said, sharply. "You must away to shelter. Here comes the watch apace. I will protect the rear."

  The two women started apart and Phoebe set forward obediently, but Rebecca only gave the fast-approaching crowd a look of proud contempt.

  "Fiddle-ends!" she exclaimed. "You go on ahead, Guy. I'll fix them queer folks!"

  Whether Rebecca's voice convinced him of her power to make good her words or that he felt his first duty was at Phoebe's side, the fact is that the young knight strode forward with his sweetheart toward the breach in the wall, leaving Rebecca behind to bear the first attack.

  Droop had already passed within the enclosure and was groping his way toward the black mass of the Panchronicon.

  Phoebe, led by an accurate memory of her surroundings, had but little difficulty in finding
the opening, and, by her voice, Sir Guy and Rebecca were guided to it.

  Phoebe passed through first and Sir Guy followed just as the advance guard of the pursuing mob rushed under the trees, swinging their two lanterns and shouting aloud:

  "Here--this way! We have 'em fast!"

  Rebecca coolly stooped and drew the edge of her entire card of matches across a stone at her feet. Then, standing erect, she thrust the sulphurous blue blaze into the faces of two rough-looking fellows just advancing to seize her.

  Sir Guy, who stood within the wall, found cause for deep amazement in the yell of startled fear with which Rebecca's act was met; and deeper yet grew his astonishment when that cry was re-echoed by the whole terror-stricken mob, who turned as one man to flee from this flaming, sulphurous sorceress.

  Rebecca quietly waited until the sulphur had burned off and the wood blazed bright and clear. Then she pushed through the broken wall and showed the way to their destination by the light of the small torch.

  Sir Guy's feelings may be imagined when he suddenly found that they were all four standing before a strangely formed structure in the side of which Copernicus had just opened a door.

  "Why, Mary!" he exclaimed, pausing in his walk. "What have we here?"

  She took his hand with a smile and drew him gently forward.

  "Trust thy Mary yet further, Guy," she said. "Thy watchword must be, 'Trust and question not.'"

  He smiled in reply and, sheathing his sword, stepped boldly forward into the interior of the Panchronicon. Phoebe knew the power of superstition in that age, and she glowed with pride and tenderness, conscious that in this act of faith in her the knight evinced more courage than ever he might need to bear him well in battle.

  When the electric lights shed a sudden bright glare down the spiral staircase, Sir Guy cowered and stopped short again, turning pale with a fear irrepressible. But Phoebe put one arm about his neck and drew his head down to hers, whispering in his ear. What she said none heard save him, but the spell of her words was potent, for the young knight stood erect once more and firmly ascended to the room above.

  Droop stood nervously waiting at the engine-room door.