The Cornet of Horse: A Tale of Marlborough's Wars
Page 25
Chapter 25: Flight and Pursuit.
It was early in the afternoon when Monsieur Perrot, with hisdaughter behind him on a pillion, and his servant riding a shortdistance in the rear, rode under the gateway of Parthenay. A partyof soldiers were at the gateway, and a gendarmerie officer stoodnear. The latter glanced carelessly at the passport which themerchant showed him, and the travellers rode on.
"Peste!" one of the soldiers said; "what is monsieur the Marquis dePignerolles doing here, riding about dressed as a bourgeois, with ayoung woman at his back?"
"Which is the Marquis de Pignerolles?" one of the others said.
"He who has just ridden by. He was colonel of my regiment, and Iknow him as well as I do you."
"It can't be him, Pierre. I saw Louis Godier yesterday, he has comehome on leave--he belongs to this town, you know--wounded at Lille.He was telling me about the siege, and he said that the marquis wastaken prisoner by the English."
"Prisoner or not prisoner," the other said obstinately, "that isthe marquis. Why, man, do you think one could be mistaken in hisown colonel?--a good officer, too; rather strict perhaps, but agood soldier, and a lion to fight."
The gendarme moved quietly away, and repeated what he had heard tohis captain.
"The Marquis de Pignerolles, travelling under the name of MonsieurPerrot, silk merchant of Nantes, with a young lady behind him," theofficer exclaimed. "While he is supposed to be a prisoner inEngland? This must be his daughter, for whom we made such a searchtwo years ago, and who has been on our lists ever since.
"This is important, Andre. I will go at once to the prefecture, andobtain an order for their arrest. They will be sure to have put upat the Fleur de Lys, it is the only hostelry where they could finddecent accommodation. Go at once, and keep an eye on them. There isno great hurry, for they will not think of going further today, andthe prefect will be at dinner just at present, and hates beingdisturbed."
The marquis and Adele were standing over a blazing fire of logs inthe best room of the Fleur de Lys, when Rupert, who was looking outof the casemented window, said:
"Monsieur le marquis, I do not want to alarm you unnecessarily, butthere is a gendarme on the other side of the street watching thishouse. He was standing by a group of soldiers at the gate when werode through. I happened to notice him particularly.
"He is walking slowly backwards and forwards. I saw him when I wasat the door a quarter of an hour ago, and he is there still, andjust now I saw him glance up at these windows. He is watching us.That is why I made an excuse to come up here to ask you about thehorses."
"Are you sure, Rupert?"
"Quite sure," Rupert said, gravely.
"Then there is no doubt about it," the marquis said; "for I knowthat you would not alarm us unnecessarily. What do you advise?"
"I will go down," Rupert said, "and put the saddles on quietly. Thestable opens into the street behind. There is a flight of stairs atthe end of the long passage here, which leads down into a passagebelow, at the end of which is a door into the stable yard. I havejust been examining it. I should recommend Adele to put on herthings, and to be in readiness, and then to remain in her room. Ifyou keep a watch here, you will see everyone coming down thestreet, and the moment you see an officer approaching, if you willlock the door outside and take the key with you, then call Adele,and come down the back stairs with her into the yard, I will havethe horses in readiness. There is only one man in the stable. Acrown piece will make him shut his eyes as we ride out, and theywill be five minutes at the door before they find that we havegone."
The marquis at once agreed to the plan, and Rupert went down intothe stable yard, and began to resaddle the horses.
"What, off again?" the ostler said.
"Yes," Rupert answered. "Between you and I, my master has just seena creditor to whom he owes a heavy bill, and he wants to slip awayquietly. Here is a crown for yourself, to keep your tongue betweenyour teeth.
"Now lend me a hand with these saddles, and help bring them outquickly when I give the word."
The horses resaddled and turned in their stables ready to bebrought out without a moment's delay, Rupert took his place at theentrance, and watched the door leading from the hotel. In tenminutes it opened, and the marquis, followed by Adele, came out.
"Quick with that horse," Rupert said to the ostler; and seeing tothe other, they were in the yard as soon as the marquis came up.
"An officer and eight men," he whispered to Rupert as he leapt intothe saddle, while Rupert lifted Adele on to the pillion.
"Mounted?"
"No."
"Then we have a good half-hour's start.
"Which is the way to the west gate?"
"Straight on, till you reach the wall; follow that to the right, itwill bring you to the gate."
Rupert vaulted into his saddle, and the party rode out into thestreet; and then briskly, but without any appearance ofextraordinary haste, until they reached the gate.
The guardian of the gate was sitting on a low block of wood at thedoor of the guardroom. There was, Rupert saw, no soldier about.Indeed, the place was quiet, for the evening was falling, and butfew people cared to be about in those times after nightfall.
An idea flashed across Rupert's mind, and he rode up to themarquis:
"Please lead my horse," he said. "Wait for me a hundred yards on. Iwill be with you in three minutes."
Without waiting for an answer, he leapt from his horse, threw thereins to the marquis, and ran back to the gate, which was butthirty yards back.
"A word with you, good man," he said, going straight into theguardroom.
"Hullo!" the man said, getting up and following him in. "And whomay you be, I should like to know, who makes so free?"
Rupert, without a word, sprang upon the man and bore him to theground. Then, seeing that there was an inner room, he lifted him,and ran him in there, the man being too astonished to offer theslightest resistance. Then Rupert locked him in, and taking downthe great key of the gate, which hung over the fireplace, went out,closed the great gate of the town, locked it on the outside, andthrew the key into the moat. Then he went off at a run and joinedthe marquis, who with Adele was waiting anxiously at the distancehe had asked him.
"What have you been doing, Rupert?"
"I have just locked the great gate and thrown the key into themoat," Rupert said. "The gate is a solid one, and they will not getit open tonight. If they are to pursue us, they must go round toone of the other gates, and then make a circuit to get into thisroad again. I have locked the porter up, and I don't suppose theywill find it out till they ride up, half an hour hence. They willtry for another quarter of an hour to open the gate, and it will beanother good half-hour's ride to get round by the road, so we haveover one hour's start."
"Capital, indeed," the marquis said, as they galloped forward. "Thedangers you have gone through have made you quick witted indeed,Rupert.
"I see you have changed saddles."
"Yes, your horse had been carrying double all day, so I thought itbetter to give a turn to the other. It is fortunate that we havebeen making short journeys each day, and that our horses arecomparatively fresh."
"Why did you come out by the west gate, Rupert? The north was ourway."
"Yes, our direct way," Rupert said; "but I was thinking it overwhile waiting for you. You see with the start we have got and goodhorses, we might have kept ahead of them for a day; but with onehorse carrying double, there is no chance of us doing so for eightymiles. We must hide up somewhere to let the horses rest. They wouldmake sure that we were going to take ship, and would be certain tosend on straight to Nantes, so that we should be arrested when wearrive there.
"As it is we can follow this road for thirty miles, as if going toLa Rochelle, and then strike up for a forty miles ride across toNantes."
"Well thought of, indeed," Monsieur de Pignerolles said.
"Adele, this future lord and master of yours is as long headed ashe is long limbed."
"With a ten miles start they ought not to overtake us till morning,Rupert."
"No," Rupert said, "supposing that we could keep on, but we cannot.The horses have done twenty-five miles today. They have had an hourand a half's rest, but we must not do more than as much farther, orwe shall run the risk of knocking them up."
So they rode on at a fast trot for three hours.
"Here is a little road to the right," Rupert said. "Let us ride upthere, and stop at the first house we come to."
It was a mere byroad, and as once out of the main road they werefor the present safe from pursuit, they now suffered the horses tobreak into a walk. It was not until two miles had been passed thatthey came to a small farmhouse. Rupert dismounted and knocked atthe door.
"Who is there?" a voice shouted within.
"Travellers, who want shelter and are ready to pay well for it."
"No, no," the voice said. "No travellers come along here, much lessat this time of night. Keep away. We are armed, I and my son, andit will be worse for you if you do not leave us alone."
"Look here, good man, we are what I say," Rupert said. "Open anupstairs casement and show a light, and you will see that we have alady with us. We are but two men. Look out, I say. We will pay youwell. We need shelter for the lady."
There was more talking within, and then a heavy step was heardascending the stairs. Then a light appeared in an upper room. Thecasement opened and a long gun was first thrust out, then a faceappeared.
The night was not a very dark one, and he was able to see the formof the horse, and of a rider with a female figure behind him. Sofar assured, he brought a light and again looked out. Theinspection was satisfactory, for he said:
"I will open the door directly."
Soon Adele was sitting before a fire bright with logs freshlythrown on. The horses, still saddled, were placed in a shed with anample allowance of food. One of the sons, upon the promise of ahandsome reward, started to go a mile down the road, withinstructions to discharge his gun if he heard horsemen coming upit.
In a quarter of an hour Adele, thoroughly fatigued with her day'sexertions, went to lie down on the bed ordinarily used by thefarmer's daughter. The marquis wrapped himself in his cloak and laydown in front of the fire, while Rupert took the first watchoutside.
The night passed quietly, and at daybreak the next morning theparty were again in their saddles. Their intention was to ride bycross lanes parallel to the main road, and to come into that roadagain when they felt sure they were ahead of their pursuers, who,with riding nearly all night, would be certain to come to theconclusion that they were ahead of the fugitives, and would beginto search for some signs of where they had left the road.
They instructed their hosts to make no secret of their having beenthere, but to tell the exact truth as to their time of arrival anddeparture, and to say that from their conversation they were goingsouth to La Rochelle.
The windings of the country roads that they traversed added greatlyto the length of the journey, and the marquis proposed that theyshould strike at once across it for Nantes. Rupert, however, beggedhim to continue the line that they had chosen and to show at leastonce on the La Rochelle road, so as to lead their pursuers to theconclusion that it was to that town that they were bound.
In the middle of the day they halted for two hours at a farmhouse,and allowed their horses to rest and feed, and then shifted thesaddles again, for Rupert had, since starting in the morning, runthe greater part of the way with his hand on the horse's saddle, sothat the animal was quite fresh when they reached their firsthalting place.
They then rode on and came down into the La Rochelle road, at aspot near which they had heard that a wayside inn stood at whichthey could obtain refreshments. The instant they drew rein at thedoor, they saw from the face of the landlord that inquiries hadbeen made for them.
"You had better not dismount, sir. These fellows may play you sometrick or other. I will bring some refreshments out, and learn thenews."
So saying, Rupert leapt from his horse, took his pistols from theirholsters, placed one in his belt, and having cocked the other, wentup to the landlord.
"Bring out five manchettes of bread," he said, "and a few bottlesof your best wine; and tell me how long is it since men came hereasking if you had seen us?"
"This morning, about noon," the man said. "Two gendarmes camealong, and a troop of soldiers passed an hour since; they came fromParthenay."
"Did they say anything besides asking for us? Come, here is a louisto quicken your recollection."
"They said to each other, as they drank their wine, that you couldnot have passed here yet, since you could not get fresh horses, asthey had done. Moreover, they said that troops from every place onthe road were out in search of you."
"Call your man, and bid him bring out quickly the things I havenamed," Rupert said.
The man did so; and a lad, looking scared at the sight of Rupert'sdrawn pistol, brought out the wine and bread, and three drinkinghorns.
"How far is it to La Rochelle?" Rupert asked.
"Thirty-five miles."
"Are there any byroads, by which we can make a detour, so as toavoid this main road, and so come down either from the north orsouth into the town?"
The landlord gave some elaborate directions.
"Good!" Rupert said. "I think we shall get through yet."
Then he broke up two of the portions of bread, and gave them to thehorses, removed the bits from their mouths, and poured a bottle ofwine down each of their throats; then bridled up and mounted,throwing two louis to the host, and saying:
"We can trust you to be secret as to our having been here, can wenot?"
The landlord swore a great oath that he would say nothing of theirhaving passed, and they then rode on.
"That landlord had 'rogue' written on his face," Adele said.
"Yes, indeed," Rupert said. "I warrant me by this time he has sentoff to the nearest post. Now we will take the first road to thenorth, and make for Nantes. It is getting dark now, and we must notmake more than another ten miles. These poor brutes have gonethirty already."
Two hours' further riding at an easy pace brought them to avillage, where they were hospitably received at the house of themaire of the place.
The start was again made early.
"We must do our best today," the marquis said. "We have afifty-five mile ride before us; and if the horses take us there,their work is done, so we can press them to the utmost. The troopswill have been marching all night along the road on which theinnkeeper set them; but by this morning they will begin to suspectthat they have been put on a false scent, and as likely as not willsend to Nantes. We must be first there, if possible."
The horses, however, tired by their long journeys on the twopreceding days, flagged greatly during the last half of thejourney, and it was late in the afternoon before they came in sightof Nantes. At a slight rise half a mile from the town Rupert lookedback along the straight, level road on which they had ridden thelast few miles of the journey.
"There is a body of men in the distance, marquis. A troop ofcavalry, I should say. They are a long way behind--three miles orso; and if they are in chase of us, their horses must be fagged;but in five-and-twenty minutes they will be here."
They urged their weary steeds into a gallop as far as the town, andthen rode quietly along the streets into an inn yard. Here theydismounted in a leisurely way.
"Take the horses round to the stable, rub them down and give themfood," the marquis said to the ostler who came out.
Then turning to the host, he said:
"A sitting room, with a good fire. Two bedrooms for myself and mydaughter, a bedroom for my servant. Prepare a meal at once. We havea friend to see before we enter."
So saying, he turned with his dau
ghter, as if to retrace his stepsup the street; but on reaching the first side street, turned, andthen, by another street, made his way down to the river, Rupertfollowing closely behind.
"There is La Belle Jeanne," the marquis exclaimed. "That isfortunate. The captain said he should be returning in a week or tendays, so I hope he has his cargo on board, and will be open to makea start at once."