Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 13817-h.htm or 13817-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/1/13817/13817-h/13817-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/1/13817/13817-h.zip) Herbert Strang's Historical Series WITH MARLBOROUGH TO MALPLAQUET A Story of the Reign of Queen Anne by HERBERT STRANG and RICHARD STEAD Fellow of the Royal Historical Society With Four Illustrations in Colour and a Map LONDON 1908 NOW READY IN THIS SERIES. WITH THE BLACK PRINCE: a Story of the Reign of Edward III. By HERBERT STRANG and RICHARD STEAD. A MARINER OF ENGLAND: a Story of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. By the same authors. WITH MARLBOROUGH TO MALPLAQUET: a Story of the Reign of Queen Anne. By the same authors. Other volumes to follow. [Illustration: A mounted officer came galloping up. See Chapter X.] With Marlborough to Malplaquet NOTE The object of this series is to encourage a taste for history among boys and girls up to thirteen or fourteen years of age. An attempt has been made to bring home to the young reader the principal events and movements of the periods covered by the several volumes. If in these little stories historical fact treads somewhat closely upon the heels of fiction, the authors would plead the excellence of their intentions and the limitations of their space. CONTENTS CHAPTER I A BOUT AT SINGLESTICK CHAPTER II THE ATTACK ON THE COLLIERY CHAPTER III THE FIRE AT BINFIELD TOWERS CHAPTER IV THE RESCUE CHAPTER V GEORGE RECONNOITRES CHAPTER VI THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR CHAPTER VII BLENHEIM CHAPTER VIII COMRADES IN ARMS CHAPTER IX ANNUS MIRABILIS CHAPTER X "OUR OWN MEN, SIR!" CHAPTER XI THE HARDEST FIGHT OF THEM ALL CHAPTER XII CONCLUSION HISTORICAL SUMMARY ILLUSTRATIONS A MOUNTED OFFICER CAME GALLOPING UP "NOW!" CAME THE ORDER GEORGE FOUND HIMSELF ENGAGED IN A HAND TO HAND ENCOUNTER THE RESCUE OF MARLBOROUGH MAP OF WESTERN EUROPE IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ANNE CHAPTER I A BOUT AT SINGLESTICK "Get thee down, laddie, I tell thee." This injunction, given for the third time, and in a broad north-country dialect, came from the guard of the York and Newcastle coach, a strange new thing in England. A wonderful vehicle the York and Newcastle coach, covering the eighty-six long miles between the two towns in the space of two-and-thirty hours, and as yet an object of delight, and almost of awe, to the rustics of the villages and small towns on that portion of the Great North Road.