Micah Clarke Part 12

In the meanwhile the city elders, headed by our friend the Mayor, advanced from the gate in all the dignity of silk and fur to pay homage to the King. Sinking upon one knee by Monmouth's stirrup, he kissed the hand which was graciously extended to him.

'Nay, good Master Mayor,' said the King, in a clear, strong voice, 'it is for my enemies to sink before me, and not for my friends. Prythee, what is this scroll which you do unroll?'

'It is an address of welcome and of allegiance, your Majesty, from your loyal town of Taunton.'

'I need no such address,' said King Monmouth, looking round. 'It is written all around me in fairer characters than ever found themselves upon parchment. My good friends have made me feel that I was welcome without the aid of clerk or scrivener. Your name, good Master Mayor, is Stephen Timewell, as I understand?'

'The same, your Majesty.'

'Too curt a name for so trusty a man,' said the King, drawing his sword and touching him upon the shoulder with it. 'I shall make it longer by three letters. Rise up, Sir Stephen, and may I find that there are many other knights in my dominions as loyal and as stout.'

Amidst the huzzahs which broke out afresh at this honour done to the town, the Mayor withdrew with the councilmen to the left side of the gate, whilst Monmouth with his staff gathered upon the right. At a signal a trumpeter blew a fanfare, the drums struck up a point of war, and the insurgent army, with serried ranks and waving banners, resumed its advance upon the town. As it approached, Saxon pointed out to us the various leaders and men of note who surrounded the King, giving us their names and some few words as to their characters.

'That is Lord Grey of Wark,' said he; 'the little middle-aged lean man at the King's bridle arm. He hath been in the Tower once for treason. 'Twas he who fled with the Lady Henrietta Berkeley, his wife's sister. A fine leader truly for a G.o.dly cause! The man upon his left, with the red swollen face and the white feather in his cap, is Colonel Holmes. I trust that he will never show the white feather save on his head. The other upon the high chestnut horse is a lawyer, though, by my soul, he is a better man at ordering a battalion than at drawing a bill of costs. He is the republican Wade who led the foot at the skirmish at Bridport, and brought them off with safety. The tall heavy-faced soldier in the steel bonnet is Anthony Buyse, the Brandenburger, a soldado of fortune, and a man of high heart, as are most of his countrymen. I have fought both with him and against him ere now.'

'Mark ye the long thin man behind him?' cried Reuben. 'He hath drawn his sword, and waves it over his head. 'Tis a strange time and place for the broadsword exercise. He is surely mad.'

'Perhaps you are not far amiss,' said Saxon. 'Yet, by my hilt, were it not for that man there would be no Protestant army advancing upon us down yonder road. 'Tis he who by dangling the crown before Monmouth's eyes beguiled him away from his snug retreat in Brabant. There is not one of these men whom he hath not tempted into this affair by some bait or other. With Grey it was a dukedom, with Wade the woolsack, with Buyse the plunder of Cheapside. Every one hath his own motive, but the clues to them all are in the hands of yonder crazy fanatic, who makes the puppets dance as he will. He hath plotted more, lied more, and suffered less than any Whig in the party.'

'It must be that Dr. Robert Ferguson of whom I have heard my father speak,' said I.

'You are right. 'Tis he. I have but seen him once in Amsterdam, and yet I know him by his shock wig and crooked shoulders. It is whispered that of late his overweening conceit hath unseated his reason. See, the German places his hand upon his shoulder and persuades him to sheathe his weapon. King Monmouth glances round too, and smiles as though he were the Court buffoon with a Geneva cloak instead of the motley. But the van is upon us. To your companies, and mind that ye raise your swords to the salute while the colours of each troop go by.'

Whilst our companion had been talking, the whole Protestant army had been streaming towards the town, and the head of the fore-guard was abreast with the gateway. Four troops of horse led the way, badly equipped and mounted, with ropes instead of bridles, and in some cases squares of sacking in place of saddles. The men were armed for the most part with sword and pistol, while a few had the buff-coats, plates, and headpieces taken at Axminster, still stained sometimes with the blood of the last wearer. In the midst of them rode a banner-bearer, who carried a great square ensign hung upon a pole, which was supported upon a socket let into the side of the girth. Upon it was printed in golden letters the legend, 'Pro libertate et religione nostra.' These horse-soldiers were made up of yeomen's and farmers' sons, unused to discipline, and having a high regard for themselves as volunteers, which caused them to cavil and argue over every order. For this cause, though not wanting in natural courage, they did little service during the war, and were a hindrance rather than a help to the army.

Behind the horse came the foot, walking six abreast, divided into companies of varying size, each company bearing a banner which gave the name of the town or village from which it had been raised. This manner of arranging the troops had been chosen because it had been found to be impossible to separate men who were akin and neighbours to each other. They would fight, they said, side by side, or they would not fight at all. For my own part, I think that it is no bad plan, for when it comes to push of pike, a man stands all the faster when he knows that he hath old and tried friends on either side of him. Many of these country places I came to know afterwards from the talk of the men, and many others I have travelled through, so that the names upon the banners have come to have a real meaning with me. Homer hath, I remember, a chapter or book wherein he records the names of all the Grecian chiefs and whence they came, and how many men they brought to the common muster. It is pity that there is not some Western Homer who could record the names of these brave peasants and artisans, and recount what each did or suffered in upholding a n.o.ble though disastrous cause. Their places of birth at least shall not be lost as far as mine own feeble memory can carry me.

The first foot regiment, if so rudely formed a band could be so called, consisted of men of the sea, fishers and coastmen, clad in the heavy blue jerkins and rude garb of their cla.s.s. They were bronzed, weather-beaten tarpaulins, with hard mahogany faces, variously armed with birding pieces, cutla.s.ses, or pistols. I have a notion that it was not the first time that those weapons had been turned against King James's servants, for the Somerset and Devon coasts were famous breeding-places for smugglers, and many a saucy lugger was doubtless lying up in creek or in bay whilst her crew had gone a-soldiering to Taunton. As to discipline, they had no notion of it, but rolled along in true blue-water style, with many a shout and halloo to each other or to the crowd. From Star Point to Portland Roads there would be few nets for many weeks to come, and fish would swim the narrow seas which should have been heaped on Lyme Cobb or exposed for sale in Plymouth market. Each group, or band, of these men of the sea bore with it its own banner, that of Lyme in the front, followed by Topsham, Colyford, Bridport, Sidmouth, Otterton, Abbotsbury, and Charmouth, all southern towns, which are on or near the coast. So they trooped past us, rough and careless, with caps c.o.c.ked, and the reek of their tobacco rising up from them like the steam from a tired horse. In number they may have been four hundred or thereabouts.

The peasants of Rockbere, with flail and scythe, led the next column, followed by the banner of Honiton, which was supported by two hundred stout lacemakers from the banks of the Otter. These men showed by the colour of their faces that their work kept them within four walls, yet they excelled their peasant companions in their alert and soldierly bearing. Indeed, with all the troops, we observed that, though the countrymen were the stouter and heartier, the craftsmen were the most ready to catch the air and spirit of the camp. Behind the men of Honiton came the Puritan clothworkers of Wellington, with their mayor upon a white horse beside their standard-bearer, and a band of twenty instruments before him. Grim-visaged, thoughtful, sober men, they were for the most part clad in grey suits and wearing broad-brimmed hats. 'For G.o.d and faith' was the motto of a streamer which floated from amongst them. The clothworkers formed three strong companies, and the whole regiment may have numbered close on six hundred men.

The third regiment was headed by five hundred foot from Taunton, men of peaceful and industrious life, but deeply imbued with those great principles of civil and religious liberty which were three years later to carry all before them in England. As they pa.s.sed the gates they were greeted by a thunderous welcome from their townsmen upon the walls and at the windows. Their steady, solid ranks, and broad, honest burgher faces, seemed to me to smack of discipline and of work well done. Behind them came the musters of Winterbourne, Ilminster, Chard, Yeovil, and Collumpton, a hundred or more pikesmen to each, bringing the tally of the regiment to a thousand men.

A squadron of horse trotted by, closely followed by the fourth regiment, bearing in its van the standards of Beaminster, Crewkerne, Langport, and Chidiock, all quiet Somersets.h.i.+re villages, which had sent out their manhood to strike a blow for the old cause. Puritan ministers, with their steeple hats and Geneva gowns, once black, but now white with dust, marched st.u.r.dily along beside their flocks. Then came a strong company of wild half-armed shepherds from the great plains which extend from the Blackdowns on the south to the Mendips on the north-very different fellows, I promise you, from the Corydons and Strephons of Master Waller or Master Dryden, who have depicted the shepherd as ever shedding tears of love, and tootling upon a plaintive pipe. I fear that Chloe or Phyllis would have met with rough wooing at the hands of these Western savages. Behind them were musqueteers from Dorchester, pikemen from Newton Poppleford, and a body of stout infantry from among the serge workers of Ottery St. Mary. This fourth regiment numbered rather better than eight hundred, but was inferior in arms and in discipline to that which preceded it.

The fifth regiment was headed by a column of fen men from the dreary marches which stretch round Athelney. These men, in their sad and sordid dwellings, had retained the same free and bold spirit which had made them in past days the last resource of the good King Alfred and the protectors of the Western s.h.i.+res from the inroads of the Danes, who were never able to force their way into their watery strongholds. Two companies of them, towsy-headed and bare-legged, but loud in hymn and prayer, had come out from their fastnesses to help the Protestant cause. At their heels came the woodmen and lumberers of Bishop's Lidiard, big, st.u.r.dy men in green jerkins, and the white-smocked villagers of Huish Champflower. The rear of the regiment was formed by four hundred men in scarlet coats, with white cross-belts and well-burnished muskets. These were deserters from the Devons.h.i.+re Militia, who had marched with Albemarle from Exeter, and who had come over to Monmouth on the field at Axminster. These kept together in a body, but there were many other militiamen, both in red and in yellow coats, amongst the various bodies which I have set forth. This regiment may have numbered seven hundred men.

The sixth and last column of foot was headed by a body of peasants bearing 'Minehead' upon their banner, and the ensign of the three wool-bales and the sailing s.h.i.+p, which is the sign of that ancient borough. They had come for the most part from the wild country which lies to the north of Dunster Castle and skirts the sh.o.r.es of the Bristol Channel. Behind them were the poachers and huntsmen of Porlock Quay, who had left the red deer of Exmoor to graze in peace whilst they followed a n.o.bler quarry. They were followed by men from Dulverton, men from Milverton, men from Wivelis...o...b.. and the sunny slopes of the Quantocks, swart, fierce men from the bleak moors of Dunkerry Beacon, and tall, stalwart pony rearers and graziers from Bampton. The banners of Bridgewater, of Shepton Mallet, and of Nether Stowey swept past us, with that of the fishers of Clovelly and the quarrymen of the Blackdowns. In the rear were three companies of strange men, giants in stature, though somewhat bowed with labour, with long tangled beards, and unkempt hair hanging over their eyes. These were the miners from the Mendip hills and from the Oare and Bagworthy valleys, rough, half-savage men, whose eyes rolled up at the velvets and brocades of the shouting citizens, or fixed themselves upon their smiling dames with a fierce intensity which scared the peaceful burghers. So the long line rolled in until three squadrons of horse and four small cannon, with the blue-coated Dutch cannoniers as stiff as their own ramrods, brought up the rear. A long train of carts and of waggons which had followed the army were led into the fields outside the walls and there quartered.

When the last soldier had pa.s.sed through the Shuttern Gate, Monmouth and his leaders rode slowly in, the Mayor walking by the King's charger. As we saluted they all faced round to us, and I saw a quick flush of surprise and pleasure come over Monmouth's pale face as he noted our close lines and soldierly bearing.

'By my faith, gentlemen,' he said, glancing round at his staff, 'our worthy friend the Mayor must have inherited Cadmus's dragon teeth. Where raised ye this pretty crop, Sir Stephen? How came ye to bring them to such perfection too, even, I declare, to the hair powder of the grenadiers?'

'I have fifteen hundred in the town,' the old wool-worker answered proudly; 'though some are scarce as disciplined.

These men come from Wilts.h.i.+re, and the officers from Hamps.h.i.+re. As to their order, the credit is due not to me, but to the old soldier Colonel Decimus Saxon, whom they have chosen as their commander, as well as to the captains who serve under him.'

'My thanks are due to you, Colonel,' said the King, turning to Saxon, who bowed and sank the point of his sword to the earth, 'and to you also, gentlemen. I shall not forget the warm loyalty which brought you from Hamps.h.i.+re in so short a time. Would that I could find the same virtue in higher places! But, Colonel Saxon, you have, I gather, seen much service abroad. What think you of the army which hath just pa.s.sed before you?'

'If it please your Majesty,' Saxon answered, 'it is like so much uncarded wool, which is rough enough in itself, and yet may in time come to be woven into a n.o.ble garment.'

'Hem! There is not much leisure for the weaving,' said Monmouth. 'But they fight well. You should have seen them fall on at Axminster! We hope to see you and to hear your views at the council table. But how is this? Have I not seen this gentleman's face before?'

'It is the Honourable Sir Gervas Jerome of the county of Surrey,' quoth Saxon.

'Your Majesty may have seen me at St. James's,' said the baronet, raising his hat, 'or in the balcony at Whitehall. I was much at Court during the latter years of the late king.'

'Yes, yes. I remember the name as well as the face,' cried Monmouth. 'You see, gentlemen,' he continued, turning to his staff, 'the courtiers begin to come in at last. Were you not the man who did fight Sir Thomas Killigrew behind Dunkirk House? I thought as much. Will you not attach yourself to my personal attendants?'

'If it please your Majesty,' Sir Gervas answered, 'I am of opinion that I could do your royal cause better service at the head of my musqueteers.'

'So be it! So be it!' said King Monmouth. Setting spurs to his horse, he raised his hat in response to the cheers of the troops and cantered down the High Street under a rain of flowers, which showered from roof and window upon him, his staff, and his escort. We had joined in his train, as commanded, so that we came in for our share of this merry crossfire. One rose as it fluttered down was caught by Reuben, who, I observed, pressed it to his lips, and then pushed it inside his breastplate. Glancing up, I caught sight, of the smiling face of our host's daughter peeping down at us from a cas.e.m.e.nt.

'Well caught, Reuben!' I whispered. 'At trick-track or trap and ball you were ever our best player.'

'Ah, Micah,' said he, 'I bless the day that ever I followed you to the wars. I would not change places with Monmouth this day.'

'Has it gone so far then!' I exclaimed. 'Why, lad, I thought that you were but opening your trenches, and you speak as though you had carried the city.'

'Perhaps I am over-hopeful,' he cried, turning from hot to cold, as a man doth when he is in love, or hath the tertian ague, or other bodily trouble. 'G.o.d knows that I am little worthy of her, and yet-'

'Set not your heart too firmly upon that which may prove to be beyond your reach,' said I. 'The old man is rich, and will look higher.'

'I would he were poor!' sighed Reuben, with all the selfishness of a lover. 'If this war last I may win myself some honour or t.i.tle. Who knows? Others have done it, and why not I!'

'Of our three from Havant,' I remarked, 'one is spurred onwards by ambition, and one by love. Now, what am I to do who care neither for high office nor for the face of a maid? What is to carry me into the fight?'

'Our motives come and go, but yours is ever with you,' said Reuben. 'Honour and duty are the two stars, Micah, by which you have ever steered your course.'

'Faith, Mistress Ruth has taught you to make pretty speeches,' said I, 'but methinks she ought to be here amid the beauty of Taunton.'

As I spoke we were riding into the market-place, which was now crowded with our troops. Round the cross were grouped a score of maidens clad in white muslin dresses with blue scarfs around their waists. As the King approached, these little maids, with much pretty nervousness, advanced to meet him, and handed him a banner which they had worked for him, and also a dainty gold-clasped Bible. Monmouth handed the flag to one of his captains, but he raised the book above his head, exclaiming that he had come there to defend the truths contained within it, at which the cheerings and acclamations broke forth with redoubled vigour. It had been expected that he might address the people from the cross, but he contented himself with waiting while the heralds proclaimed his t.i.tles to the Crown, when he gave the word to disperse, and the troops marched off to the different centres where food had been provided for them. The King and his chief officers took up their quarters in the Castle, while the Mayor and richer burgesses found bed and board for the rest. As to the common soldiers, many were billeted among the townsfolk, many others encamped in the streets and Castle grounds, while the remainder took up their dwelling among the waggons in the fields outside the city, where they lit up great fires, and had sheep roasting and beer flowing as merrily as though a march on London were but a holiday outing.

Chapter XXI. Of my Hand-grips with the Brandenburger

King Monmouth had called a council meeting for the evening, and summoned Colonel Decimus Saxon to attend it, with whom I went, bearing with me the small package which Sir Jacob Clancing had given over to my keeping. On arriving at the Castle we found that the King had not yet come out from his chamber, but we were shown into the great hall to await him, a fine room with lofty windows and a n.o.ble ceiling of carved woodwork. At the further end the royal arms had been erected without the bar sinister which Monmouth had formerly worn. Here were a.s.sembled the princ.i.p.al chiefs of the army, with many of the inferior commanders, town officers, and others who had pet.i.tions to offer. Lord Grey of Wark stood silently by the window, looking out over the countryside with a gloomy face. Wade and Holmes shook their heads and whispered in a corner. Ferguson strode about with his wig awry, shouting out exhortations and prayers in a broad Scottish accent. A few of the more gaily dressed gathered round the empty fireplace, and listened to a tale from one of their number which appeared to be shrouded in many oaths, and which was greeted with shouts of laughter. In another corner a numerous group of zealots, clad in black or russet gowns, with broad white bands and hanging mantles, stood round some favourite preacher, and discussed in an undertone Calvinistic philosophy and its relation to statecraft. A few plain homely soldiers, who were neither sectaries nor courtiers, wandered up and down, or stared out through the windows at the busy encampment upon the Castle Green. To one of these, remarkable for his great size and breadth of shoulder, Saxon led me, and touching him on the sleeve, he held out his hand as to an old friend. 'Mein Gott!' cried the German soldier of fortune, for it was the same man whom my companion had pointed out in the morning, 'I thought it was you, Saxon, when I saw you by the gate, though you are even thinner than of old. How a man could suck up so much good Bavarian beer as you have done, and yet make so little flesh upon it, is more than I can verstehen. How have all things gone with you?'

'As of old,' said Saxon. 'More blows than thalers, and greater need of a surgeon than of a strong-box. When did I see you last, friend? Was it not at the onfall at Nurnberg, when I led the right and you the left wing of the heavy horse?'

'Nay,' said Buyse. 'I have met you in the way of business since then. Have you forgot the skirmish on the Rhine bank, when you did flash your snapphahn at me? Sapperment! Had some rascally schelm not stabbed my horse I should have swept your head off as a boy cuts thistles mit a stick.'

'Aye, aye,' Saxon answered composedly, 'I had forgot it. You were taken, if I remember aright, but did afterwards brain the sentry with your fetters, and swam the Rhine under the fire of a regiment. Yet, I think that we did offer you the same terms that you were having with the others.'

'Some such base offer was indeed made me,' said the German sternly. 'To which I answered that, though I sold my sword, I did not sell my honour. It is well that cavaliers of fortune should show that an engagement is with them-how do ye say it?-unbreakable until the war is over. Then by all means let him change his paymaster. Warum nicht?'

'True, friend, true!' replied Saxon. 'These beggarly Italians and Swiss have made such a trade of the matter, and sold themselves so freely, body and soul, to the longest purse, that it is well that we should be nice upon points of honour. But you remember the old hand-grip which no man in the Palatinate could exchange with you? Here is my captain, Micah Clarke. Let him see how warm a North German welcome may be.'

The Brandenburger showed his white teeth in a grin as he held out his broad brown hand to me. The instant that mine was enclosed in it he suddenly bent his whole strength upon it, and squeezed my fingers together until the blood tingled in the nails, and the whole hand was limp and powerless.

'Donnerwetter!' he cried, laughing heartily at my start of pain and surprise. 'It is a rough Prussian game, and the English lads have not much stomach for it.'

'Truly, sir,' said I, 'it is the first time that I have seen the pastime, and I would fain practise it under so able a master.'

'What, another!' he cried. 'Why, you must be still pringling from the first. Nay, if you will I shall not refuse you, though I fear it may weaken your hold upon your sword-hilt.'

He held out his hand as he spoke, and I grasped it firmly, thumb to thumb, keeping my elbow high so as to bear all my force upon it. His own trick was, as I observed, to gain command of the other hand by a great output of strength at the onset. This I prevented by myself putting out all my power. For a minute or more we stood motionless, gazing into each other's faces. Then I saw a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead, and I knew that he was beaten. Slowly his grip relaxed, and his hand grew limp and slack while my own tightened ever upon it, until he was forced in a surly, muttering voice to request that I should unhand him.

'Teufel und hexerei!' he cried, wiping away the blood which oozed from under his nails, 'I might as well put my fingers in a rat-trap. You are the first man that ever yet exchanged fair hand-grips with Anthony Buyse.'

'We breed brawn in England as well as in Brandenburg,' said Saxon, who was shaking with laughter over the German soldier's discomfiture. 'Why, I have seen that lad pick up a full-size sergeant of dragoons and throw him into a cart as though he had been a clod of earth.'

'Strong he is,' grumbled Buyse, still wringing his injured hand, 'strong as old Gotz mit de iron grip. But what good is strength alone in the handling of a weapon? It is not the force of a blow, but the way in which it is geschlagen, that makes the effect. Your sword now is heavier than mine, by the look of it, and yet my blade would bite deeper. Eh? Is not that a more soldierly sport than kinderspiel such as hand-grasping and the like?'

'He is a modest youth,' said Saxon. 'Yet I would match his stroke against yours.'

'For what?' snarled the German.

'For as much wine as we can take at a sitting.

'No small amount, either,' said Buyse; 'a brace of gallons at the least. Well, be it so. Do you accept the contest?'

'I shall do what I may,' I answered, 'though I can scarce hope to strike as heavy a blow as so old and tried a soldier.'

'Henker take your compliments,' he cried gruffly. 'It was with sweet words that you did coax my fingers into that fool-catcher of yours. Now, here is my old headpiece of Spanish steel. It has, as you can see, one or two dints of blows, and a fresh one will not hurt it. I place it here upon this oaken stool high enough to be within fair sword-sweep. Have at it, Junker, and let us see if you can leave your mark upon it!'

'Do you strike first, sir,' said I, 'since the challenge is yours.'

'I must bruise my own headpiece to regain my soldierly credit,' he grumbled. 'Well, well, it has stood a cut or two in its day.' Drawing his broadsword, he waved back the crowd who had gathered around us, while he swung the great weapon with tremendous force round his head, and brought it down with a full, clean sweep on to the smooth cap of steel. The headpiece sprang high into the air and then clattered down upon the oaken floor with a long, deep line bitten into the solid metal.

'Well struck!' 'A brave stroke!' cried the spectators. 'It is proof steel thrice welded, and warranted to turn a sword-blade,' one remarked, raising up the helmet to examine it, and then replacing it upon the stool.

'I have seen my father cut through proof steel with this very sword,' said I, drawing the fifty-year-old weapon. 'He put rather more of his weight into it than you have done. I have heard him say that a good stroke should come from the back and loins rather than from the mere muscles of the arm.'

'It is not a lecture we want, but a beispiel or example,' sneered the German. 'It is with your stroke that we have to do, and not with the teaching of your father.'

'My stroke,' said I, 'is in accordance with his teaching;' and, whistling round the sword, I brought it down with all my might and strength upon the German's helmet. The good old Commonwealth blade sh.o.r.e through the plate of steel, cut the stool asunder, and buried its point two inches deep in the oaken floor. 'It is but a trick,' I explained. 'I have practised it in the winter evenings at home.'

'It is not a trick that I should care to have played upon me,' said Lord Grey, amid a general murmur of applause and surprise. 'Od's bud, man, you have lived two centuries too late. What would not your thews have been worth before gunpowder put all men upon a level!'

'Wunderbar!' growled Buyse, 'wunderbar! I am past my prime, young sir, and may well resign the palm of strength to you. It was a right n.o.ble stroke. It hath cost me a runlet or two of canary, and a good old helmet; but I grudge it not, for it was fairly done. I am thankful that my head was not darin. Saxon, here, used to show us some brave schwertspielerei, but he hath not the weight for such smas.h.i.+ng blows as this.'

'My eye is still true and my hand firm, though both are perhaps a trifle the worse for want of use,' said Saxon, only too glad at the chance of drawing the eyes of the chiefs upon him. 'At backsword, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, single falchion and case of falchions, mine old challenge still holds good against any comer, save only my brother Quartus, who plays as well as I do, but hath an extra half-inch in reach which gives him the vantage.'

'I studied sword-play under Signor Contarini of Paris,' said Lord Grey. 'Who was your master?'

'I have studied, my lord, under Signer Stern Necessity of Europe,' quoth Saxon. 'For five-and-thirty years my life has depended from day to day upon being able to cover myself with this slip of steel. Here is a small trick which showeth some nicety of eye: to throw this ring to the ceiling and catch it upon a rapier point. It seems simple, perchance, and yet is only to be attained by some practice.'

'Simple!' cried Wade the lawyer, a square-faced, bold-eyed man. 'Why, the ring is but the girth of your little finger. A man might do it once by good luck, but none could ensure it.'

'I will lay a guinea a thrust on it,' said Saxon; and tossing the little gold circlet up into the air, he flashed out his rapier and made a pa.s.s at it. The ring rasped down the steel blade and tinkled against the hilt, fairly impaled. By a sharp motion of the wrist he shot it up to the ceiling again, where it struck a carved rafter and altered its course; but again, with a quick step forward, he got beneath it and received it on his sword-point. 'Surely there is some cavalier present who is as apt at the trick as I am,' he said, replacing the ring upon his finger.

'I think, Colonel, that I could venture upon it,' said a voice; and looking round, we found that Monmouth had entered the room and was standing quietly on the outskirts of the throng, unperceived in the general interest which our contention had excited. 'Nay, nay, gentlemen,' he continued pleasantly, as we uncovered and bowed with some little embarra.s.sment; 'how could my faithful followers be better employed than by breathing themselves in a little sword-play? I prythee lend me your rapier, Colonel.' He drew a diamond ring from his finger, and spinning it up into the air, he transfixed it as deftly as Saxon had done. 'I practised the trick at The Hague, where, by my faith, I had only too many hours to devote to such trifles. But how come these steel links and splinters of wood to be littered over the floor?'

'A son of Anak hath appaired amang us,' said Ferguson, turning his face, all scarred and reddened with the king's evil, in my direction. 'A Goliath o' Gath, wha hath a stroke like untae a weaver's beam. Hath he no the smooth face o' a bairn and the thews' o' Behemoth?'

'A shrewd blow indeed,' King Monmouth remarked, picking up half the stool. 'How is our champion named?'

'He is my captain, your Majesty,' Saxon answered, resheathing the sword which the King had handed to him; 'Micah Clarke, a man of Hamps.h.i.+re birth.'

'They breed a good old English stock in those parts,' said Monmouth; 'but how comes it that you are here, sir? I summoned this meeting for my own immediate household, and for the colonels of the regiments. If every captain is to be admitted into our councils, we must hold our meetings on the Castle Green, for no apartment could contain us.'

'I ventured to come here, your Majesty,' I replied, 'because on my way hither I received a commission, which was that I should deliver this small but weighty package into your hands. I therefore thought it my duty to lose no time in fulfilling my errand.'

'What is in it?' he asked.

'I know not,' I answered.

Doctor Ferguson whispered a few words into the King's ear, who laughed and held out his hand for the packet.

'Tut! tut!' said he. 'The days of the Borgias and the Medicis are over, Doctor. Besides, the lad is no Italian conspirator, but hath honest blue eyes and flaxen hair as Nature's certificate to his character. This is pa.s.sing heavy-an ingot of lead, by the feel. Lend me your dagger, Colonel Holmes. It is st.i.tched round with packthread. Ha! it is a bar of gold-solid virgin gold by all that is wonderful. Take charge of it, Wade, and see that it is added to the common fund. This little piece of metal may furnish ten pikemen. What have we here? A letter and an enclosure. "To James, Duke of Monmouth"-hum! It was written before we a.s.sumed our royal state. "Sir Jacob Glancing, late of Snellaby Hall, sends greeting and a pledge of affection. Carry out the good work. A hundred more such ingots await you when you have crossed Salisbury Plain." Bravely promised, Sir Jacob! I would that you had sent them. Well, gentlemen, ye see how support and tokens of goodwill come pouring in upon us. Is not the tide upon the turn? Can the usurper hope to hold his own? Will his men stand by him? Within a month or less I shall see ye all gathered round me at Westminster, and no duty will then be so pleasing to me as to see that ye are all, from the highest to the lowest, rewarded for your loyalty to your monarch in this the hour of his darkness and his danger.'

A murmur of thanks rose up from the courtiers at this gracious speech, but the German plucked at Saxon's sleeve and whispered, 'He hath his warm fit upon him. You shall see him cold anon.'

'Fifteen hundred men have joined me here where I did but expect a thousand at the most,' the King continued. 'If we had high hopes when we landed at Lyme Cobb with eighty at our back, what should we think now when we find ourselves in the chief city of Somerset with eight thousand brave men around us? 'Tis but one other affair like that at Axminster, and my uncle's power will go down like a house of cards. But gather round the table, gentlemen, and we shall discuss matters in due form.'

'There is yet a sc.r.a.p of paper which you have not read, sire,' said Wade, picking up a little slip which had been enclosed in the note.

'It is a rhyming catch or the posy of a ring,' said Monmouth, glancing at it. 'What are we to make of this?

"When thy star is in trine, Between darkness and s.h.i.+ne, Duke Monmouth, Duke Monmouth, Beware of the Rhine!"

Thy star in trine! What tomfoolery is this?'

'If it please your Majesty,' said I, 'I have reason to believe that the man who sent you this message is one of those who are deeply skilled in the arts of divination, and who pretend from the motions of the celestial bodies to foretell the fates of men.'

'This gentleman is right, sir,' remarked Lord Grey. '"Thy star in trine" is an astrological term, which signifieth when your natal planet shall be in a certain quarter of the heavens. The verse is of the nature of a prophecy. The Chaldeans and Egyptians of old are said to have attained much skill in the art, but I confess that I have no great opinion of those latter-day prophets who busy themselves in answering the foolish questions of every housewife.'

'And tell by Venus and the moon, Who stole a thimble or a spoon.'