No Quarter! Part 20

If Birch was not himself a pack-horse carrier, in his capacity of trading merchant he was well acquainted with all the country routes, and the modes of traffic and transit thereon. At a glance he took in the character of the cadgers; saw they were rustics fresh from the country; and, by the direction from which they were approaching, concluded they must have made entry at the gate towards Gloucester. On the bridge there was light in plenty, both from lamps and shops; and, as they came close, a scrutiny of their features gave the sharp-witted captain an idea that they, too, were of quick wit, especially the woman. She looked like one who did not tramp the roads without seeing what was to be seen, and hearing all that could be heard; one, moreover, capable of forming a correct estimate of how things stood, social, political, or military. If from Gloucester, or even Berkeley, she or the man might have picked up some sc.r.a.ps of news worth extracting from them.

Stepping out into the middle of the causeway, he confronted the cadger party, and brought it to a stop, with the interrogation:

"Whence come you, my worthy people?"

"Frae Gloster, yer honner," responded Jack, spokesman by right of s.e.x and seniority.

"And what's your business in Bristol?"

"Only our reg'lar business, sir. As ye see, us be cadgers."

"But your panniers appear to be empty!" said the officer, peeping into and giving them a shake. "How is that?"

The question was awkward, nonplussing Jerky, and, the second time, calling for explanation from his sister; who, however, promptly vouchsafed it.

"Ye see, master, us be come to Bristol to take back some things Gloster way, an' far ayont. Us belong to the Forest o' Dean."

"Ah! All that way off. And when left you the Forest country?"

"A good week agone, yer honner," Jerky giving the response.

"At least that, I should say," rejoined the officer, with a look at the wooden leg. "Well, you must have seen and met many people upon the road, especially between this and Gloucester. Can you tell me whether--"

He ceased speech abruptly, seeing it was overheard by the street pa.s.sengers, who, attracted by the oddness of the group, had begun to gather round it.

He was about to demand of the cadgers, _sotto voce_, where they intended putting up, with a view to further conference, when a man of herculean stature--soldier in cavalry uniform--made appearance inside the circle of bystanders, going straight up to the woman, and speaking some words, as one who had familiar acquaintance with her,--

"Ah! Sergeant Wilde," said the Volunteer officer, "you know these people, do you?"

"I ought to, Captain. All o' us war born an' brought up in the Forest o' Dean, not very far apart."

"Enough," said, or rather thought, Birch, who, after a whispered word with the colossal trooper, gave permission for the cadger party to pa.s.s on over the bridge.

Rob went with them; soon as beyond earshot of the crowd, saying:

"Dear Win! I ha' got leave o' guard duty for the whole o' an hour.

Captain Trevor coined back to the gate 'most the minnit ye left it.

When I tolt him who'd pa.s.sed through, it war, 'Rob, go and see to their bein' stowed in comfortable quarters.' Kind o' him, warn't it?"

"Deed war it," answered Win, but without thinking it strange; her woman's instinct told her the why and wherefore of Captain Trevor's kindness.

Jerky seemed less satisfied than either of the other two; for a reason he knew of, equally known to his sister. That detention on the bridge's head had been torture to him; it might forfeit the reward promised and expected. She cared less for it, hers already gained, in having her beloved Rob once more by her side.

The two, talking of old things and times, might have lagged upon the way, had Jack given them time and opportunity, which he did not; on the contrary, urging greater haste than ever, while persuading Jink.u.m to make still better speed by a multiplication of "gee-ups," and a storm of solid thwacks administered by the cudgel.

But they had not reached the Bird in the Bush--were scarce beyond sight of the people who saw them depart from the bridge--when he who had just held speech with them was accosted by one whose speech and air told that she, too--for it was a woman--had a secret to communicate; but, unlike the cadgeress, wanted--was impatient--to reveal it. And altogether unlike the latter otherwise was the new applicant for converse with Captain Birch--so far as could be seen of her--for she was cloaked and hooded. But when the hood was tossed back, so that she could herself see and speak freely, a face was revealed, beautiful and of delicate outlines, unmistakably that of a lady.

That she was not unknown to the young Volunteer officer might be told from the start of surprise at seeing her. Still better proof of their being acquainted in the words she addressed to him, spoken in panting haste and excitedly. He had said, interrogatively:

"What's brought you hither, Marian?" to get for response, "You, John; your life's in danger."

"How? From what?"

"Treason. Even now--at this minute--there are conspirators armed and ready to start out into the streets, with a cry for the King."

"But where?"

"Some in the house of Yeomans, others at Boucher's. They have expectation of help from the outside; that's why they're gathered now."

"How do you know it, Marian?"

"Don't ask me, John; G.o.d help me! To think my own father is one of them--my brother, too! But your life is dearer to me than either. And you will lose it if you don't listen to my warning."

"Dearest Marian, I not only listen to, but believe in it. More, I'll take instant action to stop this conspiracy you speak of, trust me for that."

She could trust him, and did; saw that to leave him unfettered, and free for the action intended, she should no longer remain there; and pulling the hood down over her face, though not till after two pairs of lips had met under it, she lightened the cloak around her shoulders, and hurried away from the bridge-head.

Heart full of sweet thoughts, thrilled by them, the young merchant-soldier stood looking after the graceful figure till it waned and was lost in the dim light of distant lamps. No wonder he should so long continue his gaze. She was one of Bristol's fairest daughters; daughter, too, of one of its richest merchants, and proudest; her father a man who would have seen her hurled from the parapet of that bridge, and drowned in Avon's stream, rather than know of her having stood upon its head, and said what she had said to John Birch.

Whatever the reflections of John Birch himself about this jealously-guarded daughter, they seemed to pa.s.s away soon as she was out of sight; though not the warning she had given. This was with him still; and so vividly realistic, he lost not a moment in acting up to it. A word or two with his sergeant of guard--orders earnestly enjoined--and away went he from the bridge, with face turned towards the Castle, and step hurried as man could make, almost a run!

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

IN COUNCIL OF WAR.

The man who had succeeded Colonel Ess.e.x in the governors.h.i.+p of Bristol was well, even enthusiastically, affected to the Parliamentary cause.

Beyond that, he was altogether unfitted for the trust reposed in him. A lawyer before becoming soldier, he better understood the marshalling of arguments than armies, and, though a man of grave, serious thought, his pa.s.sionate temper gave offence to friends as foes, oft thwarting his best intentions. Fortunately he had around him men of greater military capacity and experience, by whose counsels he was, to some extent, controlled--officers who had seen service in the Low Countries, Sweden, and Germany--among them Sir Richard Walwyn.

How the knight came to be in Bristol--Eustace Trevor too--may need making known. At the breaking out of hostilities, when blood began to flow, the Dean Foresters were, in a way, taken by surprise, and for a time overpowered. In addition to their old enemy, Sir John Wintour, threatening them on the south, they had to contend with the strong and well-disciplined force of Lord Herbert on the west; while Harry Lingen, a man of more capability than either--as a partisan leader unsurpa.s.sed-- had commenced hara.s.sing them from the Herefords.h.i.+re side.

Seeing he would be unable to hold ground against such odds, Sir Richard, who had hastily got together a body of horse, withdrew it from the Forest, and joined the main force of the Parliament, which confronted that of the King. At the time the two armies were manoeuvring in Worcesters.h.i.+re, Warwick, and Salop, every day expecting to come into collision, which they did soon after at Edgehill--a drawn battle, with feats of daring on both sides, and on both displays of abject cowardice.

The men commanded by Sir Richard Walwyn were not chargeable with this last; instead, on that day distinguishable by the first, having performed prodigies of valour. Since then he and his Foresters had shown themselves on other fields, and done other gallant deeds, till the troop of horse, with the "big sergeant," had become a name of terror to the Royalist soldiers. Even Rupert's pick Cavaliers would have s.h.i.+ed encounter with it, unless they knew themselves in the proportion of two to one.

By the drift of events, this small but efficient body became part of the garrison of Bristol--disagreeable duty to the Foresters, but forced upon them by the chances of war.

So in Bristol we now find them, with their commanding officer Sir Richard, their "big sergeant" Rob Wilde, and for one of their captains the ex-gentleman-usher, Eustace Trevor. To explain his presence there and position it needs but referring back to his words spoken in that hour when Lunsford was hammering at the door of Hollymead House.

Reverting to the new governor, we must give him the credit of endeavour to do his best--that at least. Entering upon the office full of hope and spirit, he was correspondingly vigorous in the execution of its duties. And as there had been no time for his enthusiasm to get cool, or his vigour to become relaxed, before that 7th of March--but a few days after Ess.e.x had been clapped under arrest--Fiennes was in the very blush of energetic activity. Not dining, wining, and dancing, as his predecessor would have been, in the company of gay Cavaliers, and light-hearted, as light-headed ladies; but within one of the reception rooms of the castle, holding counsel with half-a-score of grave men-- chiefly commanding officers of the troops that composed the garrison of the city.

All were impressed with the seriousness of the situation, feeling themselves, if not actually besieged, likely soon to be. From without, reports were pouring in, daily, hourly, of reverses sustained by the Parliamentarians. The capture and ma.s.sacre at Cirencester, the surrendering of Malmesbury, Tewkesbury, and Devizes, with the abandonment of Sudley and Berkeley Castles,--all adverse events, following in quick succession as the blows of a hammer,--were enough to alarm the new governor and the men in consultation with him.

The more, from their belief that in all likelihood Bristol would be the next point aimed at by the now victorious Royalists. For they knew it was the quarry these would most like to stoop at and kill. Ever since the commencement of hostilities, it and Gloucester had been very thorns in the side of the Royalist party; both cities being storehouses of war material, and other effects conducive to the supply of its sinews. But chiefly the great seaport, at once door of entry and key to the rich Severn Valley--with its towns and villages up to Shrewsbury--while also commanding the commerce and intercourse with South Wales.

Rupert, now at the head of a considerable body of troops, held all the open country from the Severn up to Oxford, raiding over and ravaging it at will. But the rumour had got ground that he meant soon to engage in something more than mere skirmis.h.i.+ng warfare, by making a dash at Bristol, either to attempt taking that city by a.s.sault, or laying siege to it.

The a.s.semblage of officers at the Castle was in consequence of this rumour, which had just reached the Governor's ears, and he had hastily called them together to have their views and advice upon what steps had best be taken in the contingency--should it occur.