""Twas well done, Master Inch!"
And pressing a couple of guineas into the beadle"s hand, he added,-
"Her ladyship will further repay when you"ve found the rest of her property. In the meanwhile, these, I presume, are the letters she lost."
"Only one letter, sir," said Master Inch, as somewhat taken off his pompous guard he allowed Jack to take the paper from him.
There was not a minute to be lost. Master Mittachip, having vainly tried to harangue the yokels, who were still pelting his Honour with miscellaneous vegetables, was now hurrying to the Court House as fast as his thin legs would carry him.
Bathurst took one glance at the paper which Master Inch had given him.
A cry of the keenest disappointment escaped his lips.
"What is it, Captain?" asked John Stich, who had anxiously been watching his friend"s face.
"Nothing, friend," replied Bathurst, "only a receipt and tally for some sheep."
John Stich uttered a violent oath.
"And the scoundrel"ll escape with a shower of potatoes and no more punishment than the stocks. And you"ve risked your life, Captain, for nothing!"
"Nay! not for nothing, honest friend," said Jack, in a hurried whisper, as he mounted Jack o" Lantern with all the speed his helpless arm would allow. "Do you go back to her ladyship as fast as you can. Beg her from me not to give up hope, but to feign an illness and on no account speak to anyone about the events of to-day until she has seen me again.
You understand?"
"Aye! aye! Captain!"
At this moment there came a wild cry from the precincts of the Court House, and Master Mittachip, accompanied by Squire West himself, and closely followed by the beadle, were seen tearing across the green towards the village stocks.
"The truth is out, friend," shouted Jack, as pressing his knees against Jack o" Lantern"s sides, and giving the gallant beast one cry of encouragement, he galloped away at break-neck speed out towards the Moor.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE MAN HUNT
By the time Squire West and the whole of the parish of Bra.s.sington had realised what a terrible practical joke had been perpetrated on them by the stranger, the latter was far out of sight, with not even a cloud of dust to mark the way he went.
But the hue-and-cry after him had never ceased the whole of that day.
Squire West, profuse and abject in his apologies, had told off all the soldiers who were quartered in the village to scour the Heath day and night, until that rogue was found and brought before him. The Sergeant, who was in command of the squad, and the Corporal too, had a score of their own to settle with the mysterious stranger, whom the general consensus of opinion declared to have been none other than that scoundrel unhung, the notorious highwayman, Beau Brocade.
Master Inch, as soon as he had recovered his breath, distinctly recollected now seeing a beautiful chestnut horse pawing the ground outside the Court House during the course of the morning: he blamed himself severely for not having guessed the ident.i.ty of the creature, so closely a.s.sociated in every one"s mind with the exploits of the highwayman.
The yokels, however, at this juncture, entrenched themselves behind a barrier of impenetrable density. In those days, just as even now, it is beyond human capacity to obtain information from a Derbyshire countryman if he do not choose to give it. Whether some of those who had pelted Sir Humphrey Challoner with vegetables had or had not known who his Honour was, whether some of them had or had not guessed Beau Brocade"s presence in the village, remained, in spite of rigorous cross-examination a complete mystery to the perplexed Squire and to his valiant henchman, the beadle.
Promises, threats, bribes were alike ineffectual.
"I dunno!" was the stolid, perpetual reply to every question put on either subject.
Her ladyship, on the other hand, overcome with fatigue, was too ill to see anyone.
The posse of soldiers, a score or so by now, had however been reinforced as the day wore on by a contingent of Squire West"s own indoor and outdoor servants, also by a few loafers from Bra.s.sington itself, of the sort that are to be found in every corner of the world where there is an ale-house, the idlers, the toadies, those who had nothing to lose and something to gain by running counter to popular feeling and taking up cudgels against Beau Brocade, for the sake of the reward lavishly promised by Squire West and Sir Humphrey Challoner.
The latter"s temper had not even begun to simmer down at this late hour of the day when, all arrangements for the battue after the highwayman being completed, he at last found himself on horseback, ambling along the bridle-path towards the shepherd"s hut, with Master Mittachip beside him.
It had been a glorious day, and the evening now gave promise of a balmy night to come, but the Heath"s majestic repose was disturbed by the doings of man. Beneath the gorse and bracken lizards and toads had gone to rest in the marshy land beyond, waterhen and lapwing were asleep, but all the while on the great Moor, through the scrub and blackthorn, along path and ravine, man was hunting man and finding enjoyment in the sport.
As Sir Humphrey Challoner and the attorney rode slowly along, they could hear from time to time the rallying cry of the various parties stalking the Heath for their big game. The hunt was close on the heels of Beau Brocade. Earlier in the afternoon his horse had been seen to make its way, riderless, towards the forge of John Stich.
The quarry was on foot, he was known to be wounded, he must fall an easy prey to his trackers soon enough: sometimes in the distance there would come a shout of triumph, when the human blood-hounds had at last found a scent, then Sir Humphrey would rouse himself from his moody silence, a look of keen malice would light up his deep-set eyes, and reining in his horse, he would strain his ears to hear that shout of triumph again.
"He"ll not escape this time, Sir Humphrey," whispered Mittachip, falling obsequiously into his employer"s mood.
"No! curse him!" muttered his Honour with a string of violent oaths, "I shall see him hang before two days are over, unless these dolts let him escape again."
"Nay, nay, Sir Humphrey! that"s not likely!" chuckled Master Mittachip.
"Squire West has pressed all his own able-bodied men into the service, and the posse of soldiers were most keen for the chase. Nay, nay, he"ll not escape this time."
""Sdeath!" swore his Honour under his breath, "but I do feel stiff!"
"A dreadful indignity," moaned the attorney.
"Nay! but Squire West was most distressed, and his apologies were profuse! Indeed he seemed to feel it as much as if it had happened to himself."
"Aye! but not in the same place, I"ll warrant! Odd"s life, I had no notion how much a turnip could hurt when flung into one"s eye," added his Honour, with one of those laughs that never boded any good.
"A most painful incident, Sir Humphrey!" sighed Mittachip, br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with sympathy.
""Twas not the incident that was painful! Zounds! I am bruised all over. But I"ll have the law of every one of those dolts, aye! and make that fool West administer it on all of them! As for that ape, the beadle, he shall be publicly whipped. Death and h.e.l.l! they"ll have to pay for this!"
"Aye! aye! Sir Humphrey! your anger is quite natural, and Squire West a.s.sured me that that rascal Beau Brocade, who played you this impudent trick, cannot fail to be caught. The hunt is well organised, he cannot escape."
As if to confirm the attorney"s words, there rose at this moment from afar a weird and eerie sound, which caused Master Mittachip"s shrivelled flesh to creep along his bones.
"What was that?" he whispered, horror-struck.
"A blood-hound, the better to track that rascal," muttered Sir Humphrey, savagely.
The attorney shivered; there had been so much devilish malice in his Honour"s voice, that suddenly his puny heart misgave him. He took to wishing himself well out of this unmanly business. The horror of it seemed to grip him by the throat: he was superst.i.tious too, and firmly believed in a material h.e.l.l; the sound of that distant snarl, followed by the significant yelping of a hound upon the scent, made him think of the cries the devils would utter at sight of the d.a.m.ned.
"The dog belongs to one of Squire West"s grooms," remarked his Honour, carelessly, "a savage beast enough, by the look of him. Luck was in our favour, for our gallant highwayman had carried Lady Patience"s plaint inside his coat for quite a long time, and then left it on his Honour"s table ... quite enough for any self-respecting blood-hound, and this one is said to be very keen on the scent.... Squire West tried to protest, but set a dog to catch a dog, say I."
Master Mittachip tried to shut his ears to the terrible sound.
Fortunately it was getting fainter now, and Sir Humphrey did not give him time for much reflection.
His Honour had stopped for awhile listening, with a chuckle of intense satisfaction, to the yelping of the dog straining on the leash, then when the sound died away, he said abruptly,-
"Are we still far from the hut?"