"Thou shameless puppy! A man murder"d!"
"Aye, nunky; and the worst is they say "twas I that kill"d him."
"He"s mad. The boy"s stark raving mad!" exclaim"d my kinsman. "To come here in this trim!"
"Why, truly, nunky, thou art a strange one to talk of appearances.
Oh, dear!" and I burst into a wild fit of laughing, for the wine had warm"d me up to play the comedy out. "To hear thee sing
""With a fa--la--tweedle--tweedle!"
and--Oh, nunky, that medlar on thy face is so funny!"
"In Heaven"s name, stop!" broke in the Prince Maurice. "Am I mad, or only drunk? Rupert, if you love me, say I am no worse than drunk."
"Lord knows," answer"d his brother. "I for one was never this way before."
"Indeed, your Highnesses be only drunk," said I, "and able at that to sign the order that I shall ask you for."
"An order!"
"To pa.s.s the city gates to-night."
"Oh, stop him somebody," groan"d Prince Rupert: "my head is whirling."
"With your leave," I explain"d, pouring out another gla.s.sful: "tis the simplest matter, and one that a child could understand. You see, this young man was kill"d, and they charg"d me with it; so away I ran, and the Watch after me; and therefore I wish to pa.s.s the city gates. And as I may have far to travel, and gave my last groat to a thief for hoisting me over Master Carter"s wall--"
"A thief--my wall!" repeated Master Carter. "Oh well is thy poor mother in her grave!"
"--Why, therefore I came for money," I wound up, sipping the wine, and nodding to all present.
"Twas at this moment that, catching my eye, the Prince Maurice slapp"d his leg, and leaning back, broke into peal after peal of laughter. And in a moment his brother took the jest also; and there we three sat and shook, and roar"d unquenchably round Master Carter, who, staring blankly from one to another, sat gaping, as though the last alarm were sounding in his ears.
"Oh! oh! oh! Hit me on the back, Maurice!"
"Oh! oh! I cannot--"tis killing me--Master Carter, for pity"s sake, look not so; but pay the lad his money."
"Your Highness----"
"Pay it I say; pay it: "tis fairly won."
"Fifty pounds!"
"Every doit," said I: "I"m sick of schooling."
"Be hang"d if I do!" snapp"d Master Carter.
"Then be hang"d, sir, but all the town shall hear to-morrow of the frog and the pool! No, sir: I am off to see the world----
""Says he: "This is better than moping in school!"""
"Your Highnesses," pleaded the unhappy man, "if, to please you, I sang that idiocy, which, for fifty years now, I had forgotten----"
"Exc"ll"nt shong," says Prince Rupert, waking up; "less have"t again!"
To be short, ten o"clock was striking from St. Mary"s spire when, with a prince on either side of me, and thirty guineas in my pocket (which was all the loose gold he had), I walked forth from Master Carter"s door. To make up the deficiency, their highnesses had insisted on furnishing me with a suit made up from the simplest in their joint wardrobes--riding-boots, breeches, buff-coat, sash, pistols, cloak, and feather"d hat, all of which fitted me excellently well. By the doors of Christ Church, before we came to the south gate, Prince Rupert, who had been staggering in his walk, suddenly pull"d up, and leaned against the wall.
"Why--odd"s my life--we"ve forgot a horse for him!" he cried.
"Indeed, your Highness," I answered, "if my luck holds the same, I shall find one by the road." (How true this turned out you shall presently hear.)
There was no difficulty at the gate, where the sentry recogniz"d the two princes and open"d the wicket at once. Long after it had clos"d behind me, and I stood looking back at Oxford towers, all bath"d in the winter moonlight, I heard the two voices roaring away up the street:
"It was a frog leap"d into a pool--"
At length they died into silence; and, hugging the king"s letter in my breast, I stepped briskly forward on my travels.
CHAPTER IV.
I TAKE THE ROAD.
So puffed up was I by the condescension of the two princes, and my head so busy with big thoughts, that not till I was over the bridges and climbing the high ground beyond South Hincksey, with a shrewd northeast wind at my back, could I spare time for a second backward look. By this, the city lay spread at my feet, very delicate and beautiful in a silver network, with a black clump or two to southward, where the line of Bagley trees ran below the hill. I pulled out the letter that Anthony had given me. In the moonlight the brown smear of his blood was plain to see, running across the superscription:
"_To our trusty and well beloved Sir Ralph Hopton, at our Army in Cornwall--these._"
"Twas no more than I look"d for; yet the sight of it and the king"s red seal, quicken"d my step as I set off again. And I cared not a straw for Dr. Kettle"s wrath on the morrow.
Having no desire to fall in with any of the royal outposts that lay around Abingdon, I fetched well away to the west, meaning to shape my course for Faringdon, and so into the great Bath road. "Tis not my purpose to describe at any length my itinerary, but rather to reserve my pen for those more moving events that overtook me later.
Only in the uncertain light I must have taken a wrong turn to the left (I think near Besselsleigh) that led me round to the south: for, coming about daybreak to a considerable town, I found it to be, not Faringdon, but Wantage. There was no help for it, so I set about enquiring for a bed. The town was full, and already astir with preparations for cattle-fair; and neither at the "Bear" nor the "Three Nuns" was there a bed to be had. But at length at the "Boot"
tavern--a small house, I found one just vacated by a couple of drovers, and having cozen"d the chambermaid to allow me a clean pair of sheets, went upstairs very drowsily, and in five minutes was sleeping sound.
I awoke amid a clatter of voices, and beheld the room full of womankind.
"He"s waking," said one.
"Tis a pity, too, to be afflicted thus--and he such a pretty young man!"
This came from the landlady, who stood close, her hand shaking my shoulder roughly.
"What"s amiss?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
"Why, "tis three of the afternoon."