The Little Ball O' Fire; or, the Life and Adventures of John Marston Hall

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER I.

  My father was a gentleman of small estate in Lincolnshire, whosefamily possessions, under a race of generous ancestors, had dwindledfrom splendid lordships to bare competence. His blood, which wasderived from as noble a source as that of any in the land, had comedown to him pure through a number of knights and nobles, who, thoughthey were little scrupulous as to the means of spending their riches,were very careful not to augment them by cultivating any but thesomewhat barren field of war. He made a love match with a daughter ofthe second Lord Wilmerton; and, in order that his wife might not drawunpleasant comparisons between the station of her husband and that ofher father, he frequented the court, and lived beyond his means. Hewas already in difficulties when I was born; but, like a brave man, heresolved to meet them boldly, and, after some solicitation, obtained asmall military appointment, which increased his revenue without addingto his expenses. Loyalty with him was a passion, which, like love inother men, prevented him from seeing any faults in its object; and, ofcourse, as the court well knew that no benefits could make him moreloyal than he already was, it showered its favours upon persons whoseaffection was to be gained, leaving him to struggle on without furthernotice.

  My mother I hardly remember, though my memory is very good; but as herdeath took place before I was three years of age, her cares of myinfancy were never extended even to my boyhood.

  Left thus to conduct my education alone, my father, I firmly believe,would have suffered nothing to remain undone which could havecontributed to render me a learned man, had not the civil war brokenout, and all the royalists hastened to the support of the King.Amongst the first of the volunteers who flocked to the royal standard,when it was raised at Nottingham, was Captain Hall; and having beensent to Worcester with Prince Rupert, he showed himself the foremostin those acts of daring courage which turned the contest betweenColonel Sandys and the Prince in favour of the Cavaliers. In everyskirmish and in every battle which took place throughout the course ofthe great rebellion my father had his share. The natural desire ofstimulus and excitement, which was originally strong in his character,grew gradually into a habit, and from a habit became a passion. Thetidings of an approaching conflict would, at any time, have inducedhim to ride as far and fast as other men would go for more pacificpastimes; and the commanders of the royal armies perceived a want intheir ranks when, on looking along the line, they could not discoverthe face of Captain John Hall.

  During the first year of the civil war I was left at home, under thecharge of my nurse, and of the events of that period I, of course,remember but little. But shortly after the taking of Birmingham, byPrince Rupert, a party of Gettes's brigade were quartered at our housefor three days, swept the whole estate of everything that it produced,carried off all that could tempt their rapacity, and, on theirdeparture, set fire to the house, as that of a notorious malignant.

  My father's home had by this time become the tented field. Houselessand nearly penniless, the nurse carried me away in search of my onlysurviving parent, whose regiment was quartered at a few milesdistance; and being a woman who loved quiet, and hated to see housesburned over head, she resigned her charge of me as soon as she hadconscientiously placed me in the hands of my natural protector. Butthe addition of a child of four years old to his camp equipage was notby any means desirable in my father's eyes; and for some time hetalked of placing me with a relation here, or a friend there, where Imight remain in security. Two or three months, however, fled withoutthis plan being executed. We had often during that time to change ourquarters; passed through more than one adventure; were involved inmore than one severe struggle, and encountered as many hardships as alonger campaign could have inflicted. My father found that I bore upstoutly against them all, that I was not so great an encumbrance, inmoments of danger and haste, as he had expected; and that in thoselapses of inaction which will break in upon a soldier's life, Iafforded him amusement and occupation of the tenderest and mostengaging kind. Thus I soon became necessary to his comfort and hishappiness; and, though he would often talk still, of having me placedin some situation where I could be properly instructed in arts andsciences, and learned lore, it became evident to every one who saw ustogether that he would never part with me so long as he could keep mewith him. To make up for the want of other knowledge, however, hehimself began, from my very earliest years, to teach me everythingthat might render me successful in that way of life which he himselfhad so ardently embraced. My hands, almost in infancy, were accustomedto the sword, the dag, and the petronel; and I remember, ere I was sixyears old, being permitted, as a high favour, to apply the match tothe touchhole of a culverin that commanded a road by which theRoundheads were advancing.

  Many, too, were the dangers through which I passed in safety. Often intimes of surprise and confusion have I sat upon the peak of myfather's saddle, while he cut his way through the enemy; and oftenhave I stood as a mere child amidst the charging squadrons and thebristling pikes of a general field of battle. Strife and bloodshedbecame so familiar to my mind, that I could hardly conceive anotherstate of things; and when any occasional pause took place in thedreadful struggle that then desolated our native land, I used towonder at the space of time such idleness was suffered to continue,and to long for the moment of activity and exertion. It was with joyand satisfaction that my father beheld this disposition in his son,and he strove by every means in his power to promote its growth, andto direct the efforts that it prompted. He taught me to be quick anddecisive, as well as bold and fearless: he bade me always think, inthe first place, what was best to be done, and how it might best beexecuted; and then to perform what my reason had suggested withouteither fear or hesitation. Always keeping his view fixed upon theultimate advantage of the cause he had espoused, he zealouslyinstructed me to remark and remember every part of the country throughwhich we passed in our wandering life, and the person of every one whowas brought into temporary connexion with us in the changing fortunesof those adventurous times.

  Besides teaching me to ride and to shoot, and to perform all othermilitary exercises, he did not fail to give me what little education,of a milder kind, circumstances permitted, during the short lapses oftranquillity which occasionally intervened. He was himself, however,obliged to be my preceptor; for he was not only prevented fromengaging any other person in that capacity, by our continual changesfrom place to place, but he was also rendered unable to do so by hispecuniary circumstances, which had by this time been reduced to thelowest ebb. Our own property had been sequestrated: the King had nomoney to bestow; and, although Captain Hall sometimes enjoyed a momentof temporary prosperity, after squeezing some rich parliamentarian, orcapturing some inimical town, his whole property more usuallyconsisted in his horse, his sword, and his son. I acquired, it istrue, in a desultory manner, some knowledge of history, geography, andarithmetic; but this, together with a smattering of Latin, and thecapability of writing and reading, was all that I could boast of bythe time I was ten years old.

  Our moments of quiet, indeed, were always of very short duration; and,during all my early remembrances, I scarcely can recollect havingpassed six weeks without seeing blood flow in civil strife.

  It must not be thought, however, that our state was melancholy orpainful. To those who thought as little of human life as the personsdid by whom I was generally surrounded, this kind of existence was gayand happy enough. When they saw a comrade sent to his long home, or afriend fall dead by their side, a minute's mourning, and a vow torevenge him, was all that the sight excited; and many a cheerful bowl,and a gay jest, would circulate in the evening amongst the Cavalierswho had lost, in the morning, the dearest acquaintances and oldestcompanions.

  Habit is a wonderful thing; and it would be difficult to make otherpeople comprehend how little emotion bloodshed or massacre produces inthe minds of men accustomed to be daily spectators of such scenes. Itis not at all surprising then, that a boy--born, as it were, andbrought up in the midst of them--should feel
their awful nature lessthan others, and should enter with more pleasure into the adventurousexcitement which they certainly afford. Such, at all events, was thecase with myself; and although I have learned, from after events, tobelieve that my heart was neither naturally hard nor cruel, yet it isscarcely possible to describe the joy and enthusiasm I experienced onthe approach of strife or battle, the triumph that I felt at theoverthrow or death of any remarkable foe, or the careless disregardwith which I viewed the slaughter of my countrymen, and the fall evenof those I personally knew. This military zeal was known and remarkedby all my father's comrades; and the amusement and gratification whichthey derived from my early passion for that course of life, to whichthey had given themselves up at a more mature age, caused me to be ageneral favourite with every old soldier in the ranks of theroyalists; so that each one vied with the other in exciting me moreand more upon the very track which I was already too eager to pursue.Amongst the Cavaliers I was generally known by the name of "LittleBall-o'-Fire;" and I soon learned to be proud of that appellation, andvexed when I was addressed by any other. In times of prosperity I wasloaded with presents and caresses; and in moments of defeat and dangerthere was still some one to think of and protect Little Ball-o'-Fire,the soldier's son. Nor were these good deeds entirely without requitalon my part; for, shrewd, active, and fearless, I was often enabled toassist the defeated or pursued Cavalier, to mislead theParliamentarian by false information, or to gain intelligence of theenemy's movements, and to guide my friends either to security orvictory.

  Amongst all the comrades and connexions of my father, Goring,afterwards Lord Norwich, was the foremost in his affections; and withhim also I was an infinite favourite, although there were severalothers to whom I was personally more attached. I remember, however,many instances of great favour received from him; and, as difficultiesmultiplied round the royal cause, and as dangers threatened more andmore imminently the head of our sovereign, it was to the exertions andfriendship of Lord Goring that we were, more than once, indebted forour existence. With him we served in many a campaign in Kent andSussex: with him have I aided my father to empty many a flagon whenthe fight was over; and with him have we lain in concealment for weekstogether, when our paths were surrounded by enemies against whom ourforce was too weak to contend.

  At length, when I was little more than ten years old, and a momentarygleam of success brightened the cause of the Cavaliers, my fatherand Lord Goring unfortunately separated; and with a small butwell-appointed troop we hastened across the country with the intentionof joining the royal army, which was then marching towards Cornwall.At Bolton-le-Moors, however, while we were marching gaily along,without the slightest idea that there was an enemy in ourneighbourhood, we were suddenly surprised by a party of theparliamentarian forces; and, after a rapid but desperate struggle,every man of my father's troop was put to death. He himself fellamongst the last, brought from his horse to the ground by a ballthrough the neck. I was at the distance of about fifty yards from him,and hastened up to give him aid; but just as I was running forward, Isaw one of the pikemen stoop over him, and, while my father held uphis hand, in the vain endeavour to ward off the blow, the man drovehis weapon through him, and pinned him to the ground. I had a largehorse-pistol in my hand, which was instantly directed to the pikeman'shead; and, had I but had time to discharge it, he would, mostassuredly, have lain beside the gallant officer he had just killed.But, at that moment, one of his comrades struck me across the head,with the staff of his pike, crying, "So much for thee, young viper!"and brought me, stunned and powerless, to the ground.

  Fortunate it was for me that the blow, without being sufficientlyviolent to bereave me of life, had been severe enough to deprive me ofall sense or motion, for I was thus passed over as dead, and I foundafterwards that no one had been taken to mercy by the victors. It wasevening when we began a fight, which, in duration, did not last tenminutes; but when I woke from the sort of sleep into which I hadfallen, I found the moon shining bright upon the moors, with my fatherand five-and-twenty gallant soldiers lying dead around me. In truth,this was the first event that ever made me think of death, even for amoment, as of a thing to be feared, or regard strife as the greatdestroyer of all dear affections and kindred ties. The sight washorrible enough, to see the bodies of such a number of brave andnoble-hearted men now cold, inanimate, and most of them stripped ofevery thing valuable, lying dead in the pale moonlight, with theirfaces bearing all the various expressions which the human countenancecan assume under different modes of violent death; but it was thesight of my father's corpse which brought it home to my own heart.

  When I had recovered my senses completely--which was not for severalminutes after consciousness began to return--crept onward to the spotwhere my father had fallen, which was not above ten paces from that onwhich I had been lying; and as I gazed on his still, silent face, andthought of all the affection towards myself which I had seen it bearso often, I could not help feeling that death is indeed a horriblething. I looked at it long, till the moon began to go down, and I knewnot well what to do. I had no means of burying the body, and yet therewas a feeling in my bosom, not to be defined, which would not let meleave the corpse of my father uninterred for the ravens to make ittheir prey, or the dogs to mangle it.

  Near the spot, however, there was a little copse, with some tall treesrising out of the brushwood; and, after many a painful thought,thither I retreated for shelter. As I knew not who might visit thefield from the town, and as I had heard that the people of theneighbourhood were rank Roundheads, I thought it best to climb one ofthe oaks; and there I watched till the dawn of morning. Hardly was thesky grey with the first light when I saw six or seven people comingover the Downs with spades and shovels, and I soon found that theirpurpose was to bury the dead. By them that office was performeddecently enough on the spot itself; and in about three or four hoursit was all over, leaving no trace of the skirmish, but the turf beatenup by the horses' feet, and here and there died with gore, and thelong low mound of fresh earth which covered the trench containing thedead bodies. I found, by the conversation of the men employed, thatthis act of charity had been performed by order of some persons in thelittle town who had witnessed the affair; and who, partly moved by asense of decency, and partly with a view to salubrity, had caused thecorpses to be thus covered over with earth.

  I was now, like many another, alone in all the earth; without friends,or home, or resource; without money, or protection, or expectation;but perhaps I was better fitted for such circumstances than any onewho was ever yet cast an orphan upon the world. I was accustomed torely upon myself alone; to take every event as I found it; and I hadbeen so long in the habit of seeing the sunshine and the shade, thedefeat and the triumph, the disaster and the success, succeed eachother like April clouds and beams, that though my heart was full ofmourning for my father, yet I confidently anticipated that the nextcast of the die in fortune's hand would reverse my fate, and bring meback to prosperity again.

  I was mistaken, however. A long series of sufferings ensued; and theywere sufferings of a nature that I had never encountered before. I hadoften, indeed, undergone privation, and known poverty. I had oftenbeen more than one day without tasting food, and had slept for many anight together on the bare ground; but all these inconveniences werepart of the soldier's fate, matters which, however unpleasant at thetime, were laughed at and forgotten as soon as they were over. Now,however, I had to endure poverty without one alleviating circumstance,or one consoling reflection.

  All that I had on earth, at the moment my father was slain, consistedof two crown pieces, which had been given me by Lord Goring when weparted; but when I came to seek for them, after recovering my senses,I found that they had not escaped the researches of the plunderers whohad stripped the dead around me. My clothes, indeed, probably being oflittle value either in point of size or quality, had been left me; andthese, with a pistol and a dagger, which I found upon the ground,constituted my whole property, when at length I left th
e earth thatcontained the body of my unfortunate parent, and went forth again intothe world.

  It would be difficult to give any detailed account of the life I nowled. I wandered over almost every part of England, seeking aprecarious subsistence by every means that my habits and educationpermitted. Often I fell in with old comrades of my father; and then Iwas sure of protection and assistance as long as they had the means ofaffording it. Often I joined myself to a troop of Cavaliers, and for afew days lived the life to which I had been accustomed in formeryears. But the power of the Parliament was daily increasing, that ofthe King daily going down; and, one by one, every force to which Ijoined myself was dispersed, and I was again obliged to seek my wayalone. I never, however, yielded for one moment to despair; and attimes,--when I have shared in the stores provided by nature for thebirds in the air, when my sole food has been haws and whortle-berries,roots and acorns,--I have hummed to myself

  "There's a better time coming!"

  and gone on with a light heart to seek a richer meal for the next day.

  Although to plunder or to kill a Roundhead in any way that chancehappened to present, was, in my mind, at that time, neither sin norshame, yet I cannot remember ever having done what I should even nowconsider an evil act on my own account. Nevertheless, I mustacknowledge, that, when a wounded or a fugitive companion wanted foodor other necessaries, and could not obtain them for himself, I haveoften ventured beyond any code of morality that I know of, and havegone down to spoil the Philistines with indescribable glee.

  Well known to every leader in the royal cause, and almost to everysoldier, I was often employed as a guide, and still more frequently asa messenger. In the latter capacity, indeed, I was generallysuccessful, even where others would probably have failed; and whenLangdale rose in Wales he intrusted his design to me, for thepurpose of having it clearly communicated to Musgrave in the north,and to the Cavaliers in Kent. I received no written document, indeed,although my youth and my knowledge of the country enabled me, ingeneral, to pass unmolested: but Langdale knew that he could trust tomy never-failing memory to repeat every word as he had spoken it; andwas also aware that the other royalists would trust to my report.

  This commission I executed with ease and safety, as far as my journeyto the north went; but in making my way towards Kent, I encounteredmore difficulties and some dangers. The small stock of money withwhich I had been furnished failed me before the object wasaccomplished; and at Reading I was recognised by a Puritan whom I hadonce, about six months before, tripped up into a river, while I ranoff with a fat baked pig, which he was carrying out of the town fromthe baker's oven. Of the pig my share had been small, having performedthe feat in favour of three old comrades who were lying concealed inthe neighbouring fields, and were half dying of hunger: but, in thepresent case, the Roundhead made no nice distinctions; and as soon ashe set eyes upon me, caught me by the throat, conveyed me to the townprison, notwithstanding my most vigorous resistance, and left me inthe hands of a gaoler, whose tokens of affection remained upon my skinfor several weeks afterwards. Not at all admiring my fare or treatmentin the prison, and having also acquired a strong distaste to remaininglong in any one place, the very first opportunity afforded by opendoors I made my escape,--not unpursued, it is true; but that matteredlittle; for at that time it was only necessary to give me the free useof my limbs, and a start of ten paces, and the man would have beenswift and strong indeed that could have overtaken me.

  Several other adventures also befel me: but at length I made my wayinto Kent; and here, to my unspeakable joy, I found myself amongst aroyalist population, and saw in every part of the county preparationsfor a great effort in favour of the King. I heard, in every quarter,too, that Lord Goring was to take the command of the forces; and, sureof receiving protection and assistance, I made my way forward to joinhim, with a feeling in my heart that a change was about to come overmy fate. T was half starved by this time, and was all in rags; butmany a better Cavalier than myself was in the same state, and I didnot fear that my father's old friend would deny me.

  Before I could reach the army, however, the royalist force hadadvanced towards London, and were again in retreat; and when I arrivedin Maidstone, I found the Cavaliers pouring in, and learned that theenemy were following fast upon their steps. During the whole of thatevening I could not find Lord Goring, (who, by the way, had, beforethis, become Earl of Norwich,) but I met with many an old acquaintanceamongst the officers, and every kindness was shown to the son ofCaptain Hall. As an attack was expected early the next morning, thetroops were under arms before dawn; and as the Earl was riding alongthe line, I ran up to the side of his horse, and spoke to him. For amoment, in the rags that now covered me, he did not recognise hisfriend's child, and replied, sharply, "Get along, boy! get along! Icannot speak to thee now!"

  It was the first rebuff I had ever received from a Cavalier, and Ithought that my heart would have broke; but I still clung to hisstirrup, and said, "What, my Lord, have you forgot LittleBall-o'-Fire?" At that name he drew in his rein short, gazed upon myface for a moment, and then stooping down over his saddle bow, hecaught me in his arms, and lifted me quite up to his bosom. "Forgetthee! no, my boy! no!" he cried; "and now I have found thee again,thou shalt never quit me, for thy good father's sake."

  There was little time given for farther conversation. The enemy hadbeen more on the alert than we expected, and were, by this time,rapidly advancing, and the shot of their artillery began to tell uponour line. Every one has heard of the gallant defence of Maidstone: butit soon became clear that we could not maintain the position in whichwe were first attacked; and Lord Goring, who had laid out his plan thenight before, ordered a slow and firm retreat to the ground he hadfixed upon, at the back of the town. Before he left the green,however, he beckoned me up, and gave me a scrap of paper, on which hehad written something hastily. "Get thee behind that house,Ball-o'-Fire," he said, "and wait there till you see a young gentlemancome up with a troop of Cavaliers. Ask if he be Colonel Masterton: givehim that paper, and then guide him down by the back of the town to thehollow way, by which the enemy must advance: take him to any point hecan best cut his way through, and bring him to me, on the edge of yonhill."

  I did as I was bid; and Lord Goring himself remained for about tenminutes longer with the Kentish horse, keeping the green firmlyagainst the enemy, while the other regiments filed off, and took uptheir position on the slope beyond. At length, he too retreated; and Ihid myself while the enemy passed over the same ground. Scarcely wasthe green clear, when up at the full gallop came a young gentleman,seemingly scarcely twenty, with as gallant a regiment of horse as everI saw. He halted his men before "The Bush" ale-house, and then rode ona few yards to see what was passing in the hollow way and on theslope.

  His countenance was a pleasant one, at least to me; with a broad openbrow, and quick fine eyes; and although I saw by the manner in whichhe looked at some dead and wounded soldiers who were scattered hereand there, that he was not so habituated to scenes of death andconflict as myself, yet I could not help thinking that he must be theColonel Masterton to whom I was ordered to address myself. I watchedhim for a minute, as his keen rapid glance ran over the confusedspectacle that was passing beyond the town; and as I saw him turn hishorse, and ride back towards his men, I ran up and spoke to him. Atfirst he did not distinctly hear what I said, but he bent down hishead towards me with a good-humoured smile, and I again repeated thewords "Colonel Masterton."

  "Well, my little man," he replied, with a look of surprise, "what isit?"

  I saw at once, from his tone and his look, that I was right, and Igave him the billet from Lord Norwich. He read it attentively; andthen asked "Can you lead me by some bypath to the left of the enemy'sline?" I answered that I could; and, without more ado, set off beforehim, and conducted him by the back streets to a point where a limeroad led out into the country.

  The moment that his eye gained a clear sight of the enemy, I observedit mark every part
of their position, rest fixed on one particularspot for an instant longer than anywhere else; and I saw that God hadmade him a soldier. His plan was evidently formed; his orders wereshort, clear, and accurate; and, drawing out his regiment from thetown, he charged a large body of cavalry, who, together with somepieces of artillery, lay upon the extreme left of the enemy's line,and in a moment drove them to the devil.

  I ran on as hard as I could to see what was going forward, and, justas I came up, I found the Roundhead horse forced back into the linesof the pikemen; and, one of the first faces that I beheld, amongst theParliamentarian foot, was that of the man who had killed my father. Inever forget faces, and his I was not likely to forget. The fellow waspike in hand, in front of the young Cavalier; and I had just time tomark him so as not to be mistaken, when Colonel Masterton's horsepassed the pike, and at one blow of the rider's sword the Roundheadwent down never to rise again.

  The battle was like all other battles; but by one means or another Icontrived to keep near Colonel Masterton's regiment through the wholeaffair, till just when they were in some difficulty I offered to guidethem up the lime road to Lord Goring, if one of the men would take mebehind him on his horse. The young gentleman seemed surprised to findme so near him; and after another charge upon a body of Londontroopers we made our way forward, and reached the brow of the hillwhere the Commander-in-chief then stood.

  The event of that day every one knows. The enemy were repulsed at allpoints, but it could hardly be considered as a battle won, for we wereultimately obliged to retreat. After a long, severe march, we haltedfor the night, and I remained quartered with Colonel Masterton and hisregiment, and was treated with the greatest kindness both by officersand men. It was soon found that the army, being chiefly composed ofraw and ill-disciplined troops, could not be held together; and thesame night Colonel Masterton was ordered to lead his regiment towardsthe right of the enemy's line of advance, and, if possible, to effecta diversion, while Lord Goring, with whatever veteran troops could becollected, endeavoured to cross the country, and throw himself intoColchester. After having attacked an outpost, against which he wasparticularly directed, the young officer was ordered to disband a footregiment which was joined to his cavalry force; and then--making thebest of his way back to Devonshire, whence he had come--to dispersehis men, and keep quiet till better times. As his family, fromparticular circumstances, although attached to the royal cause, hadnot called upon themselves the indignation of the Parliament, in nearso high a degree as it had been excited against Lord Goring, thatnobleman, on giving me to Colonel Masterton as a guide, made himpromise that he would always protect and never abandon me; and welldid he keep his word.