Great Britain -- History -- Stuarts, 1603-1714 -- Fiction
I had none, and I knew that my mother could have but little. Of
course, my father never had any. I doubt if he had possessed a
single penny since his ejection.
'Well,' said Barnaby, 'I thought to give my money to mother. But I
now perceive that if she has it she will give it to Dad; and, if he
has it, he will give it all to the Duke for the Cause--wherefore,
Sister, do you take it and keep it, not for me, but to be expended
as seemeth you best.' He lugged out of his pocket a heavy bag. 'Here
is all the money I have saved in ten years. Nay--I am not as some
sailors, one that cannot keep a penny in purse, but must needs fling
all away. Here are two hundred and fifty gold pieces. Take them,
Alice. Hang the bag round thy neck, and never part with it, day or
night. And say nothing about the money either to mother or to Dad,
for he will assuredly do with it as I have said. A time may come
when thou wilt want it.'
Two hundred and fifty gold pieces! Was it possible that Barnaby
could be so rich? I took the bag and hung it round my waist--not
my neck--by the string which he had tied above the neck, and, as
it was covered by my mantle, nobody ever suspected that I had this
treasure. In the end, as you shall hear, it seemed to be useful.
It was now broad daylight, and the sun was up. As we drew near
Bridport there stood a man in the road armed with a halbert.
'Whither go ye, good people?' he asked. 'What is your business?'
'Friend,' said Barnaby, flourishing his oaken staff, 'we ride upon
our own business. Stand aside, or thou mayest henceforth have no
more business to do upon this earth!'
'Ride on then--ride on,' he replied, standing aside with great
meekness. This was one of the guards whom they posted everywhere
upon the roads in order to stop the people who were flocking to the
camp. In this way many were sent back, and many were arrested on
their way to join Monmouth.
Now, as we drew near to Bridport, the time being about four o'clock,
we heard the firing of guns and a great shouting.
'They have begun the fighting,' said Barnaby. 'I knew it would not
be long a-coming.'
It was, in fact, the first engagement, when the Dorsetshire Militia
were driven out of Bridport by the Duke's troops, and there would
have been a signal victory at the very outset but for the cowardice
of Lord Grey, who ran away with the Horse.
Well, it was a strange and a wonderful thing to think that close at
hand were men killing each other on the Sabbath; yea, and some lying
wounded on the roads; and that civil war had again begun.
'Let us push on,' said Humphrey, 'out of the way of these troops.
They are but country lads all of them. If they retreat, they will
run; and if they run they will be seized with a panic, and will run
all the way back to Lyme, trampling on everything that is in the
road.'
This was sound advice, which we followed, taking an upper track
which brought us into the high road a mile or so nearer Charmouth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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