CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
MASTER RAYBURN BEGINS TO THINK.
Neither of the lads answered, for a feeling of confusion which troubledthem. They felt abashed at being seen in each other's company; but theyhad to stop, for the old man planted himself right in the middle of thenarrow track, where it passed between two blocks of stone, and as soonas the cob reached him, it began to sniff at his breast and creel, andstood still. "The wolf and the lamb together," said the old man drily,and in the most serious manner; "but which is wolf, and which is lamb?"Then, without waiting for a reply, he caught sight of something in thedimming light beneath the trees, and said; "What's this? Surely, mydear lads, you two have not been fighting? You have--and with swords."
Mark's cheeks flushed, and his eyes fell for a moment before the oldman's piercing eyes; but he recovered himself directly, before Ralphcould speak, and said:
"Yes, we've had a desperate fight coming home. Set upon by about adozen ruffians, and if it had not been for young Darley here--"
"You did as much as I did, or more," cried Ralph.
"Oh, never mind who did most. We don't know. Had enough to do without.But we whipped them, Master Rayburn, and made the beggars run."
"Where was this?" cried the old man.
"In the vale at the foot of Ergles. They came down from the cavethere."
"Were they a set of disbanded soldiers--those who came up to CliffCastle, Ralph?"
"Yes, and to the Black Tor, too," cried Mark.
"I thought as much," said the old man eagerly. "Then this accounts forthe witches seen on the mountain, and the thefts that have taken place."
"Too late, Master Rayburn," cried Mark, laughing. "We caught that fishfirst.--Didn't we, Darley?"
"Yes; we said that was it," replied Ralph.
"Then I am too late; and I had made up my mind to go out that way, afterI had taken home my fish--after dark--and watch. So you had to run forit?"
"Well, I don't know about that," said Mark bluntly. "We retreated atlast, when they got too many for us, but we charged six of 'em.--Didn'twe, Darley?"
"Yes; and upset four, and the other two ran," said Ralph modestly. "Butwe only had to fight two at a time, and of course that made it even."
"Very," said the old man drily; and his eyes sparkled in the gloom atthe frank way in which the two deadly enemies were relating theiradventures.
"Then some more came down from up above," continued Mark, "and two moregot up again, and the odds seemed to be too great, and we retreated."
"And very wisely too," said Master Rayburn. "But let me look at yourhurt, Mark, lad.--Tut-tut! soaked with blood.--Wound in the thigh."
"Ah! Don't touch it," shouted the lad. "You hurt."
"This must be seen to, my dear boy. I'll come home with you and dressit."
"Yes do, please. It makes me wriggle like a worm on a hook; but he'shurt too."
"Yes, I see. Roughly-bandaged, but, tut-tut-tut--why, the sword thrusthas gone through. There is blood on both sides."
"But it's only through the skin, I think," said Ralph.
"Only through the skin, my lad! It must be worse than that. But theother side? You paid them for this, I hope."
"Oh yes, we gave them as much as we could, but we didn't kill any one."
"But we saw them carrying one away," said Ralph.
"Oh yes: so we did."
"The villains! And they wounded you both like this."
Mark glanced at Ralph, and Ralph glanced at him.
"No," said Ralph quietly; "they did not wound us."
"Then how came these injuries?" said the old man anxiously.
"Oh, never mind," cried Mark pettishly; "it doesn't matter. We got'em--somehow."
"How was it, Ralph Darley?" said the old man sternly.
"He overtook me, and we quarrelled, and fought," said the lad quietly.
"Ah!"
"And just in the middle of it we found that these men had surroundedus."
"Yes, yes, yes; don't make such a fuss about it, Master Rayburn," criedMark hastily. "And then we had to join and whip the beggars, and we didwhip 'em at last; and my leg hurts horribly, and you stand theretalking, instead of coming home to doctor it."
"Yes," said the old man, looking at the lad curiously, and then atRalph. "Come along, boy. You, Darley, you had better come up to theBlack Tor, and be attended to there."
"No, thank you, Master Rayburn; I must make haste back. Come and see tomy arm when you have done his."
Ralph turned upon his heel as he spoke, and hurried away through thebushes; while, feeling puzzled, and yet pleased and hopeful, MasterRayburn gave the cob its head, and walked on and up the steep zigzagbeside his young friend, carefully avoiding all allusion to the lads'duel, and discussing the possibility of an expedition to drive themarauders out of their stronghold.
"I'm not a man of war, Mark," he said; "but I shall have to carry a pikeinstead of an eel-spear against these villains. We shall none of us besafe."
"Oh yes, we'll talk about that to-morrow," said Mark peevishly. "Thishurts horribly. I say, don't say anything to my father about myfighting alongside that young Darley. I was obliged to, you see."
"Of course you were, my lad! We must all make common cause against suchan enemy. No, I will not say anything unless you wish me to."
"Thank ye. Father mightn't like it, you see."
"But you will tell him?"
"No, I think not--I don't know--well, there, not to-night. I'm giddy,and feel sick. I didn't notice it so much when I was hot and all in thefight, but it's very painful now. Would you mind putting your arm roundme? I feel as if I should fall off."
"My poor brave boy!" said the old man gently, as he supported thewounded lad. "There, only a little farther. Ah! Hoi! Rugg! DummyRugg! Here, quick!"
The lad, who was perched upon a block of stone half-way up the zigzag,evidently watching for his young master's return, sprang down and camerunning to them.
"What's the matter?" he cried hoarsely. "Don't say Master Mark's hurt!"
"Hush! Quiet, boy!" said Master Rayburn quickly. "Help me to get himinto his own room without frightening Miss Mary."
"Yes; but what's the matter?" cried the boy.
"Been attacked--fighting--slightly wounded."
"But who done it?--I know. It was them Darleys. Which of 'em was it?"
"Quiet, I tell you, boy! Can't you see he has fainted? Why do you wantto know?"
"To kill him," said the lad, through his teeth.
"Humph! you young savage," muttered Master Rayburn; "then you will notknow from me. Lead the pony carefully, Dummy," he continued aloud."Where is Sir Edward? where is your young mistress?"
"Out in the garden, waiting for him to come home to supper. Who hurthim?"
"Will you mind the pony's head, or must I come and lead him?" cried theold man angrily.
"Yes; but I want to help Master Mark," cried the lad.
"Mind the pony, sir. Ah! here is one of the men. Here, you arestronger than I am. Lift Master Mark up carefully, so as not to jar hisleg. Dummy, run in and get a chair."
This was done, another of the serving men coming out to see what was thematter, and they lifted and bore in the half-fainting lad; while MasterRayburn disencumbered himself of his creel and rod, and prepared tofollow, to turn chirurgeon instead of angler, when Dummy caught him bythe sleeve.
"You won't tell me who did it?" he said sharply.
"No: it is no affair of yours, boy," said the old man; and he shook himoff, and entered the gate.
"Yes, it is," muttered Dummy; and he did what he had never done before--sprang after the old man, entered the hall, and caught him by thesleeve.
"You here, sir!" cried Master Rayburn. "What is it now?"
"Is Master Mark going to die?"
"Yes, when he grows to be an old man. Not now. Go away."
"Yes, I'll go away," muttered Dummy, as he slunk out, and away throughthe gate.
"But I want to know who it was. I know it was one of themDarleys, and I'm going to see; and if it was, I'll kill him."
As he spoke, the lad stood for a few moments thinking of what he hadbetter do, and ended by dashing down the steep zigzag path leading tothe bottom of the rock, when he made his way through the gap, and beganto run at a dog-trot in the direction taken by Ralph a quarter of anhour before.
Ralph, on parting from Mark and Master Rayburn, walked away quitebriskly till he was well out of sight, and then he stopped short to leanagainst a tree and rest for a while, for he felt deadly sick. He laidhis left hand upon his sleeve, and felt that it was very wet; but thebandage had stopped the bleeding, though not the pain, which was likethe sensation of a hot iron being plunged into his flesh, accompanied bythrobbings which at times seemed too painful to bear.
But after a few minutes' rest he went on again, light in spirit, inspite of the bodily suffering; and the way seemed short when he waswalking, for his mind was full of the recollections of the day.
For that day had begun well. The walk had been delightful in thepleasant cool breeze which blew from the hills, and promised a ripple onthe water of the open river he was bound to fish, and he had not beendeceived. In fact the grayling had risen freely to the natural fly hehad softly thrown, and his creel had grown heavier till well on in theafternoon, when he had started back with his load.
Then came the _pad_, _pad_ of the pony's hoofs on the soft grass, withan occasional click when the shoe caught upon a stone. Then he wasovertaken by Mark, and the encounter followed, one which was more fullof pleasure in its memories than pain, and the lad's lips curled in asmile as he went over everything which had passed till they parted.
Somehow these thoughts would be pleasant, although mingled with themcame others of their next meeting. Every now and then, though, thelad's progress was hindered by the throbbing of his wound, and thegiddy, faint sensation which followed; and twice over, when his foreheadturned damp, he threw himself down amongst the ferns to lie for a fewminutes on the cool moist earth, with the result each time that thesensation of swimming and sickness passed off.
Then he rose again, and plodded on, getting nearer and nearer to home;but the darkness increased till it became hard work to avoid the stoneswhich lay about, and his way beneath the trees near the river grewsolemn and gloomy in the extreme.
Once he started as he was listening to the croaking of the frogs downamong the sedges and rushes, for a peculiar hoarse cry arose from closeby; but he was country boy enough to know that it was the peculiarsonorous squawk of a heron, evidently a visitor to the river for thesake of the aforesaid frogs.
A little farther on, after one of his rests, just as he was startingagain, a low whoo-whoo-whoo! was uttered close to his ear, and answeredfrom a little farther on, to be apparently echoed again from the treeshigh up on the side of the cliff.
But after the first startled sensation, he walked on steadily enough,for the cry of the brown owl was quite familiar to him, and he knew thatit was only uttered in all probability close to some patch of ivy, wheresmall birds roosted, to startle them out, ready for the sharp dash oftheir enemy's claw, from whose four-way talon clutch there was noescape.
"How cowardly I am to-night," he said to himself. "Everything soundsdifferent. It's being tired, and feeling the pain of my wound. Soon behome now."
Then he began thinking of his father, and what he would say about thetwo encounters; and in imagination he saw his stern frowning face.
But he was satisfied that Sir Morton would be glad to hear the newsabout Captain Purlrose and his men, and he began to think that therewould be some talk of attacking the gang of thieves in theirlurking-place; for, as Master Rayburn had said, they could not beallowed to harbour there.
Ralph gave quite a jump now, for he heard a sharp rustling sound,followed by the rattle of a little stone, a short distance behind him,and he increased his pace, with his heart beating heavily.
"Just as if some one was following me," he thought, "and stepped upon astone, and sent it rolling."
But he soon calmed down again, though he did not slacken his pace,keeping on as fast as his weakness and the darkness would allow, withthe result that it was not more than half of his ordinary rate.
Again he was startled by a sound behind, this time as if a piece of deadwood had cracked sharply, from the weight of some one following.
This time it was nearer, and succeeded by a rustling, plainly enoughcaused by some one or something forcing a way through the bushes. Someone or something? The lad felt that it must be something. If it hadbeen some one, he would have spoken; but what thing could it be?
He was in a dense part of his way now, with the sky quite hidden by theoverhanging boughs, so that it was not possible to see more than a fewfeet behind or before him, and hence he looked back in vain; and thoughhe listened intently there was no heavy snorting breath, such as hewould probably have heard if it had been pony or cow.
"It's some one tracking me," thought the lad at last, as again he heard,very near him now, the rustle of the leaves and the flying back oftwigs.
So impressed was he now, and satisfied that whoever followed might meanhim harm, that he essayed to draw his sword as he hurried on; but thesheer agony caused to the stiffened wound made him drop his hand atonce, and trust to getting out of the wood to where the ground was moreopen, and he could reach the cliff, for he felt that now he could not bemany hundred yards from the way leading to the step-like path cut in thestone.
Again there was a quick rustle, as if his pursuer had tried to diminishthe distance, and a minute later this sounded so near that, convinced ofhis follower being one of the men who had attacked them that evening,Ralph suddenly faced round--just when the sensation was strong that someone was about to leap upon him and strike him down--and shouted aloud:
"Keep back, whoever you are. I am armed."
"Ralph! that you?" came from a short distance in his rear.
"Yes, yes, quick!" cried the lad faintly; and he staggered on now, tofind himself a minute later in his father's arms.
"Why, Ralph, boy, what does this mean? I have half-a-dozen men outhunting for you."
"I'll--I'll tell you presently," panted the lad, who was bathed insweat. "Draw your sword, and be on your guard. Some one has beenfollowing me this last half-hour."
"Who?"
"I don't know. Be on your guard."
"Not fancy, is it, my boy?" said Sir Morton, rather doubtfully.
There was a sharp rustling sound, and a foot kicked a stone, as itsowner was evidently retreating fast.
"Humph! Then some one has been following you.--Hallo, there! stop!"
"Hoi! hillo!" came from a distance in answer.
"Quick!" said Sir Morton. "This way, man. Found--found!"
The cliffs echoed the words, and Sir Morton took the lad's arm andpressed it firmly--fortunately the left.
"I beg your pardon, Ralph. I thought you were scared by the darkness ofthe wood. Some one was after you; but it would be folly to try andcatch him in this gloomy place. Why, what's the matter, boy? you arereeling about. Feel faint?"
"Yes," panted the lad heavily. "I have been fighting--wounded. Helpme, please."
Sir Morton Darley passed his arm under his son's, and helped him quicklyalong; a whistle brought Nick Garth and another man to his side; and theformer carried the lad right up the slope to the entrance of the castle,where a little rest and refreshment recovered the sufferer sufficientlyto enable him to relate why he had brought back no fish, a task he hadhardly ended, when Master Rayburn entered to dress his second patient'sarm.
"We must put an end to such alarms as this, Master Rayburn," said SirMorton angrily.
"Ay; and the sooner the better," cried that gentleman, as he carefullyre-bandaged the lad's hurt.--"I wonder," he said to himself, "whetherRalph has told him how he obtained his wound? Is this the beginning ofthe end?"
Black Tor: A Tale of the Reign of James the First Page 14
