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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curse of Carne's Hold, by G. A. Henty
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Curse of Carne's Hold
+       A Tale of Adventure
+
+Author: G. A. Henty
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2012 [EBook #39374]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURSE OF CARNE'S HOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         THE CURSE OF CARNE'S HOLD
+
+                            A Tale of Adventure
+
+                              BY G. A. HENTY
+
+        AUTHOR OF "ALL BUT LOST," "GABRIEL ALLEN, M.P.," ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    _NEW EDITION_
+
+    LONDON
+
+    GRIFFITH FARRAN & CO.
+    NEWBERY HOUSE, 39, CHARING CROSS ROAD
+
+    _The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "_'Hold tight, Mary,' he said, as he cut down a native who
+was springing upon him from the bushes._"]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+       CHAPTER I. HOW THE CURSE BEGAN 5
+
+      CHAPTER II. MARGARET CARNE 21
+
+     CHAPTER III. TWO QUARRELS 39
+
+      CHAPTER IV. A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY 58
+
+       CHAPTER V. THE INQUEST 75
+
+      CHAPTER VI. RUTH POWLETT 96
+
+     CHAPTER VII. THE VERDICT 112
+
+    CHAPTER VIII. ENLISTED 128
+
+      CHAPTER IX. THE OUTBREAK 147
+
+       CHAPTER X. A SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE 165
+
+      CHAPTER XI. ATTACK ON A WAGGON-TRAIN 183
+
+     CHAPTER XII. IN THE AMATOLAS 202
+
+    CHAPTER XIII. THE RESCUE 219
+
+     CHAPTER XIV. RONALD IS OFFERED A COMMISSION 238
+
+      CHAPTER XV. A PARTING 256
+
+     CHAPTER XVI. SEARCHING FOR A CLUE 273
+
+    CHAPTER XVII. RUTH POWLETT CONFESSES 290
+
+   CHAPTER XVIII. GEORGE FORESTER'S DEATH 307
+
+     CHAPTER XIX. THE FIRE AT CARNE'S HOLD 324
+
+      CHAPTER XX. CLEARED AT LAST 340
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+CURSE OF CARNE'S HOLD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HOW THE CURSE BEGAN.
+
+
+There was nothing about Carne's Hold that would have suggested to the
+mind of the passing stranger that a curse lay upon it. Houses to which
+an evil history is attached lie almost uniformly in low and damp
+situations. They are embedded in trees; their appearance is gloomy and
+melancholy; the vegetation grows rank around them, the drive is
+overgrown with weeds and mosses, and lichens cling to the walls. Carne's
+Hold possessed none of these features. It stood high up on the slope of
+a hill, looking down into the valley of the Dare, with the pretty
+village of Carnesford nestling among its orchards, and the bright stream
+sparkling in the sunshine.
+
+There was nothing either gloomy or forbidding about its architecture,
+and the family now simply called their abode The Carnes; the term "Hold"
+that the country people applied to it was indeed a misnomer, for the
+bombardiers of Essex had battered the walls of the old fortified house,
+and had called in the aid of fire to finish the work of destruction.
+The whole of the present structure was therefore subsequent to that
+date; it had been added to and altered many times, and each of its
+owners had followed out his own fancies in utter disregard of those of
+his predecessors; consequently the house represented a medley of diverse
+styles, and, although doubtless an architectural monstrosity, was
+picturesque and pleasing to the eye of men ignorant of the canons of
+Art.
+
+There were no large trees near it, though a clump rose a few hundred
+yards behind it, and took away the effect of bareness it would otherwise
+have had. The garden was well kept, and bright with flowers, and it was
+clear that no blighting influence hung over them, nor, it would be
+thought, over the girl, who, with a straw hat swinging in one hand, and
+a basket, moved among them. But the country people for six miles round
+firmly believed that a curse lay on Carne's Hold, and even among the
+county families no one would have been willing to give a daughter in
+marriage to an owner of the place.
+
+Carnesford, now a good-sized village, had once been a tiny hamlet, an
+appanage of Carne's Hold, but it had long since grown out of leading
+strings, and though it still regarded The Carnes with something of its
+old feudal feeling, it now furnished no suit or service unless paid for
+so doing. Carnesford had grown but little of late years, and had no
+tendency to increase. There was work enough in the neighbourhood for
+such of its inhabitants as wanted to work, and in summer a cart went
+daily with fruit and garden produce to Plymouth, which lay about twenty
+miles away, the coast road dipping down into the valley, and crossing
+the bridge over the Dare at Carnesford, and then climbing the hill again
+to the right of The Hold.
+
+Artists would sometimes stop for a week or two to sketch the quaint
+old-fashioned houses in the main street, and especially the mill of
+Hiram Powlett, which seemed to have changed in no way since the days
+when its owner held it on the tenure of grinding such corn as the owners
+of The Hold required for the use of themselves and their retainers.
+Often, too, in the season, a fisherman would descend from the coach as
+it stopped to change horses at the "Carne's Arms" and would take up his
+quarters there, for there was rare fishing in the Dare, both in the deep
+still pool above the mill and for three or four miles higher up, while
+sea-trout were nowhere to be found plumper and stronger than in the
+stretch of water between Carnesford and Dareport, two miles away.
+
+Here, where the Dare ran into the sea, was a fishing village as yet
+untouched, and almost unknown even to wandering tourists, and offering
+indeed no accommodation whatever to the stranger beyond what he might,
+perchance, obtain in the fishermen's cottages.
+
+The one drawback to Carnesford, as its visitors declared, was the rain.
+It certainly rained often, but the villagers scarcely noticed it. It was
+to the rain, they knew, that they owed the bright green of the valley
+and the luxuriousness of their garden crops, which always fetched the
+top price in Plymouth market; and they were so accustomed to the soft
+mist brought up by the south-west wind from over the sea that they never
+noticed whether it was raining or not.
+
+Strangers, however, were less patient, and a young man who was standing
+at the door of the "Carne's Arms," just as the evening was closing in at
+the end of a day in the beginning of October, 1850, looked gloomily out
+at the weather. "I do not mind when I am fishing," he muttered to
+himself; "but when one has once changed into dry clothes one does not
+want to be a prisoner here every evening. Another day like this, and I
+shall pack up my traps and get back again on board."
+
+He turned and went back into the house, and, entering the bar, took his
+seat in the little sanctum behind it; for he had been staying in the
+house for a week, and was now a privileged personage. It was a snug
+little room; some logs were blazing on the hearth, for although the
+weather was not cold, it was damp enough to make a fire pleasant. Three
+of the landlord's particular cronies were seated there: Hiram Powlett,
+the miller; and Jacob Carey, the blacksmith; and old Reuben Claphurst,
+who had been the village clerk until his voice became so thin and
+uncertain a treble that the vicar was obliged to find a successor for
+him.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Gulston," the landlord said, as his guest entered. "Fine
+day it has been for fishing, and a nice basket you have brought in."
+
+"It's been well enough for fishing, landlord, but I would rather put up
+with a lighter basket, and have a little pleasanter weather."
+
+The sentiment evidently caused surprise, which Jacob Carey was the first
+to give expression to.
+
+"You don't say, now, that you call this unpleasant weather, sir? Now I
+call this about as good weather as we could expect in the first week of
+October--warm and soft, and in every way seasonable."
+
+"It may be all that," the guest said, as he lit his pipe; "but I own I
+don't care about having the rain trickling down my neck from
+breakfast-time to dark."
+
+"Our fishermen about here look on a little rain as good for sport,"
+Hiram Powlett remarked.
+
+"No doubt it is; but I am afraid I am not much of a sportsman. I used to
+be fond of fishing when I was a lad, and thought I should like to try my
+hand at it again, but I am afraid I am not as patient as I was. I don't
+think sea life is a good school for that sort of thing."
+
+"I fancied now that you might be a sailor, Mr. Gulston, though I didn't
+make so bold as to ask. Somehow or other there was something about your
+way that made me think you was bred up to the sea. I was not sure about
+it, for I can't recollect as ever we have had a sailor gentleman staying
+here for the fishing before."
+
+"No," Mr. Gulston laughed, "I don't think we often take to the rod.
+Baiting a six-inch hook at the end of a sea-line for a shark is about
+the extent to which we usually indulge; though sometimes when we are at
+anchor the youngsters get the lines overboard and catch a few fish. Yes,
+I am a sailor, and belong, worse luck, to the flagship at Plymouth. By
+the way," he went on, turning to Jacob Carey, "you said last night, just
+as you were going out, something about the curse of Carne's Hold. That's
+the house up upon the hill, isn't it? What is the curse, and who said
+it?"
+
+"It is nothing sir, it's only foolishness," the landlord said, hastily.
+"Jacob meant nothing by it."
+
+"It ain't foolishness, John Beaumont, and you know it--and, for that,
+every one knows it. Foolishness indeed! Here's Reuben Claphurst can tell
+you if it's nonsense; he knows all about it if any one does."
+
+"I don't think it ought to be spoken of before strangers," Hiram Powlett
+put in.
+
+"Why not?" the smith asked, sturdily. "There isn't a man on the
+country-side but knows all about it. There can be no harm in telling
+what every one knows. Though the Carnes be your landlords, John
+Beaumont, as long as you pay the rent you ain't beholden to them; and as
+for you, Hiram, why every one knows as your great-grandfather bought the
+rights of the mill from them, and your folk have had it ever since.
+Besides, there ain't nothing but what is true in it, and if the Squire
+were here himself, he couldn't say no to that."
+
+"Well, well, Jacob, there's something in what you say," the landlord
+said, in the tone of a man convinced against his will; but, indeed, now
+that he had done what he considered his duty by making a protest, he had
+no objection to the story being told. "Maybe you are right; and, though
+I should not like it said as the affairs of the Carnes were gossiped
+about here, still, as Mr. Gulston might, now that he has heard about the
+curse on the family, ask questions and hear all sorts of lies from those
+as don't know as much about it as we do, and especially as Reuben
+Claphurst here does, maybe it were better he should get the rights of
+the story from him."
+
+"That being so," the sailor said, "perhaps you will give us the yarn,
+Mr. Claphurst, for I own that you have quite excited my curiosity as to
+this mysterious curse."
+
+The old clerk, who had told the story scores of times, and rather prided
+himself on his telling, was nothing loth to begin.
+
+"There is something mysterious about it, sir, as you say; so I have
+always maintained, and so I shall maintain. There be some as will have
+it as it's a curse on the family for the wickedness of old Sir Edgar. So
+it be, surelie, but not in the way they mean. Having been one of the
+officers of the church here for over forty year, and knowing the mind of
+the old parson, ay, and of him who was before him, I always take my
+stand on this. It was a curse, sure enough, but not in the way as they
+wants to make out. It wouldn't do to say as the curse of that Spanish
+woman had nowt to do with it, seeing as we has authority that curses
+does sometimes work themselves out; but there ain't no proof to my mind,
+and to the mind of the parsons as I have served under, that what they
+call the curse of Carne's Hold ain't a matter of misfortune, and not, as
+folks about here mostly think, a kind of judgment brought on them by
+that foreign, heathen woman. Of course, I don't expect other people to
+see it in that light."
+
+This was in answer to a grunt of dissent on the part of the blacksmith.
+
+"They ain't all had my advantages, and looks at it as their fathers and
+grandfathers did before them. Anyhow, there is the curse, and a bitter
+curse it has been for the Carnes, as you will say, sir, when you have
+heard my story.
+
+"You must know that in the old times the Carnes owned all the land for
+miles and miles round, and Sir Marmaduke fitted out three ships at his
+own expense to fight under Howard and Blake against the Spaniards.
+
+"It was in his time the first slice was cut off the property, for he
+went up to Court, and held his own among the best of them, and made as
+brave a show, they say, as any of the nobles there. His son took after
+him, and another slice, though not a big one, went; but it was under Sir
+Edgar, who came next, that bad times fell upon Carne's Hold. When the
+troubles began he went out for the King with every man he could raise in
+the country round, and they say as there was no man struck harder or
+heavier for King Charles than he did. He might have got off, as many
+another one did, if he would have given it up when it was clear the
+cause was lost; but whenever there was a rising anywhere he was off to
+join it, till at last house and land and all were confiscated, and he
+had to fly abroad.
+
+"How he lived there no one exactly knows. Some said as he fought with
+the Spaniards against the Moors; others, and I think they were not far
+from the mark, that he went out to the Spanish Main, and joined a band
+of lawless men, and lived a pirate's life there. No one knows about
+that. I don't think any one, even in those days, did know anything,
+except that when he came back with King Charles he brought with him a
+Spanish wife. There were many tales about her. Some said that she had
+been a nun, and that he had carried her off from a convent in Spain, but
+the general belief was--and as there were a good many Devonshire lads
+who fought with the rovers on the Spanish Main, it's likely that the
+report was true--that she had been the wife of some Spanish Don, whose
+ship had been captured by the pirates.
+
+"She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. Such a beauty, they
+say, as was never seen before or since in this part. But they say that
+from the first she had a wild, hunted look about her, as if she had
+either something on her conscience, or had gone through some terrible
+time that had well-nigh shaken her reason. She had a baby some months
+old with her when she arrived, and a nurse was engaged from the village,
+for strangely enough, as every one thought at the time, Sir Edgar had
+brought back no attendant either for himself or his lady.
+
+"No sooner was he back, and had got possession of his estates, being in
+that more lucky than many another who fought for the Crown, than he set
+to work to rebuild The Hold; living for the time in a few rooms that
+were patched up and made habitable in the old building. Whatever he had
+been doing while he was abroad, there was no doubt whatever that he had
+brought back with him plenty of money, for he had a host of masons and
+carpenters over from Plymouth, and spared no expense in having things
+according to his fancy. All this time he had not introduced his wife to
+the county. Of course, his old neighbours had called and had seen her as
+well as him, but he had said at once that until the new house was fit to
+receive visitors he did not wish to enter society, especially as his
+wife was entirely ignorant of the English tongue.
+
+"Even in those days there were tales brought down to the village by the
+servants who had been hired from here, that Sir Edgar and his wife did
+not get on well together. They all agreed that she seemed unhappy, and
+would sit for hours brooding, seeming to have no care or love for her
+little boy, which set folk more against her, since it seemed natural
+that even a heathen woman should care for her child.
+
+"They said, too, there were often fierce quarrels between Sir Edgar and
+her, but as they always talked in her tongue, no one knew what they were
+about. When the new house was finished they moved into it, and the ruins
+of the old Hold were levelled to the ground. People thought then that
+Sir Edgar would naturally open the house to the county, and, indeed,
+some entertainments were given, but whether it was that they believed
+the stories to his disadvantage, or that they shrank from the strange
+hostess, who, they say, always looked on these occasions stately and
+cold, and who spoke no word of their language, the country gentry
+gradually fell away, and Carne's Hold was left pretty much to its
+owners.
+
+"Soon afterwards another child was born. There were, of course, more
+servants now, and more state, but Lady Carne was as much alone as ever.
+Whether she was determined to learn no word of English, or whether he
+was determined that she should not, she at any rate made no attempt to
+acquire her husband's language, and many said that it was a shame he did
+not get her a nurse and a maid who could speak her tongue; for in the
+days of Charles there were foreigners enough in England, and there could
+have been no difficulty in procuring her an attendant of her own
+religion and race.
+
+"They quarrelled more than ever; but the servants were all of opinion
+that whatever it was about it was her doing more than his. It was her
+voice to be heard rising in passionate tones, while he said but little,
+and they all agreed he was polite and courteous in his manner to her. As
+for her, she would walk for hours by herself up and down the terrace,
+talking aloud to herself, sometimes wringing her hands and throwing her
+arms wildly about. At this time there began to be a report among the
+country round that Lady Carne was out of her mind.
+
+"She was more alone than ever now, for Sir Edgar had taken to making
+journeys up to town and remaining for weeks at a time, and there was a
+whisper that he played heavily and unluckily. So things went on until
+the third child was born, and a fortnight afterwards a servant from The
+Hold rode through the village late at night on his way for the doctor,
+and stopped a moment to tell the news that there was a terrible scene up
+at The Hold, for that during a momentary absence of the nurse, Lady
+Carne had stabbed her child to death, and when he came away she was
+raving wildly, the efforts of Sir Edgar and two of the servants hardly
+sufficing to hold her.
+
+"After that no one except the inmates of The Hold ever saw its mistress
+again; the windows in one of the wings were barred, and two strange
+women were brought down from London and waited and attended on the poor
+lady. There were but few other servants there, for most of the girls
+from about here soon left, saying that the screams and cries that rang
+at times through the house were so terrible that they could not bear
+them; but, indeed, there was but small occasion for servants, for Sir
+Edgar was almost always away. One night one of the girls who had stayed
+on and had been spending the evening with her friends, went home late,
+and just as she reached the house she saw a white figure appear at one
+of the barred windows.
+
+"In a moment the figure began crying and screaming, and to the girl's
+surprise many of her words were English, which she must have picked up
+without any one knowing it. The girl always declared that her language
+made her blood run cold, and was full of oaths, such as rough sailor-men
+use, and which, no doubt, she had picked up on ship-board; and then she
+poured curses upon the Carnes, her husband, the house, and her
+descendants. The girl was so panic-stricken that she remained silent
+till, in a minute or two, two other women appeared at the window, and by
+main force tore Lady Carne from her hold upon the bars.
+
+"A few days afterwards she died, and it is mostly believed by her own
+hand, though this was never known. None of the servants, except her own
+attendants, ever entered the room, and the doctor never opened his lips
+on the subject. Doubtless he was well paid to keep silence. Anyhow, her
+death was not Sir Edgar's work, for he was away at the time, and only
+returned upon the day after her death. So, sir, that is how the curse
+came to be laid on Carne's Hold."
+
+"It is a terrible story," Mr. Gulston said, when the old clerk ceased;
+"a terrible story. It is likely enough that the rumour was true, and
+that he carried her off, after capturing the vessel and killing her
+husband, and perhaps all the rest of them, and that she had never
+recovered from the shock. Was there ever any question as to whether they
+had been married?"
+
+"There was a question about it--a good deal of question; and at Sir
+Edgar's death the next heir, who was a distant cousin, set up a claim,
+but the lawyer produced two documents Sir Edgar had given him. One was
+signed by a Jack Priest, who had, it was said, been one of the crew on
+board Sir Edgar's ship, certifying that he had duly and lawfully married
+Sir Edgar Carne and Donna Inez Martos; and there was another from a
+Spanish priest, belonging to a church at Porto Rico, certifying that he
+had married the same pair according to Catholic rites, appending a note
+saying that he did so although the husband was a heretic, being
+compelled and enforced by armed men, the town being in the possession of
+a force from two ships that had entered the harbour the night before.
+As, therefore, the pair had been married according to the rites of both
+Churches, and the Carnes had powerful friends at Court, the matter
+dropped, and the title has never since been disputed. As to Sir Edgar
+himself, he fortunately only lived four years after his wife's death.
+Had he lived much longer, there would have been no estate left to
+dispute. As it was, he gambled away half its wide acres."
+
+"And how has the curse worked?" Mr. Gulston asked.
+
+"In the natural way, sir. As I was saying before it has just been in the
+natural way, and whatever people may say, there is nothing, as I have
+heard the old parson lay down many a time, to show that that poor
+creature's wild ravings had aught to do with what followed. The taint in
+the blood of Sir Edgar's Spanish wife was naturally inherited by her
+descendants. Her son showed no signs of it, at least as far as I have
+heard, until he was married and his wife had borne him three sons. Then
+it burst out. He drew his sword and killed a servant who had given him
+some imaginary offence, and then, springing at his wife, who had thrown
+herself upon him, he would have strangled her had not the servants run
+in and torn him off her. He, too, ended his days in confinement. His
+sons showed no signs of the fatal taint.
+
+"The eldest married in London, for none of the gentry of Devonshire
+would have given their daughter in marriage to a Carne. The others
+entered the army; one was killed in the Low Countries, the youngest
+obtained the rank of general and married and settled in London. The son
+of the eldest boy succeeded his father, but died a bachelor. He was a
+man of strange, moody habits, and many did not hesitate to say that he
+was as mad as his grandfather had been. He was found dead in his
+library, with a gun just discharged lying beside him. Whether it had
+exploded accidentally, or whether he had taken his life, none could say.
+
+"His uncle, the General, came down and took possession, and for a time
+it seemed as if the curse of the Carnes had died out, and indeed no
+further tragedies have taken place in the family, but several of its
+members have been unlike other men, suffering from fits of morose gloom
+or violent passion. The father of Reginald, the present Squire, was of a
+bright and jovial character, and during the thirty years that he was
+possessor of The Hold was so popular in this part of the country that
+the old stories have been almost forgotten, and it is generally believed
+that the curse of the Carnes has died out."
+
+"The present owner," Mr. Gulston asked; "what sort of a man is he?"
+
+"I don't know nothing about him," the old man replied; "he is since my
+time."
+
+"He is about eight-and-twenty," the landlord said. "Some folks say one
+thing about him, some another; I says nothing. He certainly ain't like
+his father, who, as he rode through the village, had a word for every
+one; while the young Squire looks as if he was thinking so much that he
+didn't even know that the village stood here. The servants of The Hold
+speak well of him--he seems kind and thoughtful when he is in the
+humour, but he is often silent and dull, and it is not many men who
+would be dull with Miss Margaret. She is one of the brightest and
+highest spirited young ladies in the county. There's no one but has a
+good word for her. I think the Squire studies harder than is good for
+him. They say he is always reading, and he doesn't hunt or shoot; and
+natural enough when a man shuts himself up and takes no exercise to
+speak of, he gets out of sorts and dull like; anyhow, there's nothing
+wrong about him. He's just as sane and sensible as you and I."
+
+After waiting for two days longer and finding the wet weather continue,
+Mr. Gulston packed up his rods and fishing tackle and returned to
+Plymouth. He had learned little more about the family at The Hold,
+beyond the fact that Mrs. Mervyn, who inhabited a house standing half a
+mile further up the valley, was the aunt of Reginald and Margaret Carne,
+she having been a sister of the late possessor of The Hold. In her youth
+she had been, people said, the counterpart of her niece, and it was not
+therefore wonderful that Clithero Mervyn had, in spite of the advice of
+his friends and the reputation of the Carnes, taken what was considered
+in the county the hazardous step of making her his wife.
+
+This step he had never repented, for she had, like her brother, been one
+of the most popular persons in that part of the county, and a universal
+favourite. The Mervyn estate had years before formed part of that of the
+Carnes, but had been separated from it in the time of Sir Edgar's
+grandson, who had been as fond of London life and as keen a gambler as
+his ancestor.
+
+The day before he started, as he was standing at the door of the hotel,
+Reginald Carne and his sister had ridden past; they seemed to care no
+more for the weather than did the people of the village, and were
+laughing and talking gaily as they passed, and Charles Gulston thought
+to himself that he had never in all his travels seen a brighter and
+prettier face than that of the girl.
+
+[Illustration: "_Charles Gulston thought he had never seen a prettier
+and brighter face than that of the girl._"]
+
+He thought often of the face that day, but he was not given to romance,
+and when he had once returned to his active duties as first lieutenant
+of H.M.S. _Tenebreuse_, he thought no more on the subject until three
+weeks later his captain handed him a note, saying:
+
+"Here, Gulston, this is more in your line than mine. It's an invitation
+to a ball, for myself and some of my officers, from Mrs. Mervyn. I have
+met her twice at the Admiral's, and she is a very charming woman, but as
+her place is more than twenty miles away and a long distance from a
+railway station, I certainly do not feel disposed to make the journey.
+They are, I believe, a good county family. She has two pretty daughters
+and a son--a captain in the Borderers, who came into garrison about a
+month ago; so I have no doubt the soldiers will put in a strong
+appearance."
+
+"I know the place, sir," Gulston said; "it's not far from Carnesford,
+the village where I was away fishing the other day, and as I heard a
+good deal about them I think I will take advantage of the invitation. I
+dare say Mr. Lucas will be glad to go too, if you can spare him."
+
+"Certainly, any of them you like, Gulston, but don't take any of the
+midshipmen; you see Mrs. Mervyn has invited my officers, but as the
+soldiers are likely to show up in strength, I don't suppose she wants
+too many of us."
+
+"We have an invitation to a ball, doctor," Lieutenant Gulston said after
+leaving the captain, to their ship's doctor, "for the 20th, at a Mrs.
+Mervyn's. The captain says we had better not go more than three.
+Personally I rather want to go. So Hilton of course must remain on
+board, and Lucas can go. I know you like these things, although you are
+not a dancing man. As a rule it goes sorely against my conscience taking
+such a useless person as one of our representatives; but upon the
+present occasion it does not matter, as there is a son of the house in
+the Borderers; and, of course, they will put in an appearance in
+strength."
+
+"A man can make himself very useful at a ball, even if he doesn't
+dance, Gulston," the doctor said. "Young fellows always think chits of
+girls are the only section of the female sex who should be thought of.
+Who is going to look after their mothers, if there are only boys
+present? The conversation of a sensible man like myself is quite as
+great a treat to the chaperones as is the pleasure of hopping about the
+room with you to the girls. The conceit and selfishness of you lads
+surprise me more and more, there are literally no bounds to them. How
+far is this place off?"
+
+"It's about twenty miles by road, or about fifteen by train, and eight
+or nine to drive afterwards. I happen to know about the place, as it's
+close to the village where I was fishing a fortnight ago."
+
+"Then I think the chaperones will have to do without me, Gulston. I am
+fond of studying human nature, but if that involves staying up all night
+and coming back in the morning, the special section of human nature
+there presented must go unstudied."
+
+"I have been thinking that one can manage without that, doctor. There is
+a very snug little inn where I was stopping in the village, less than a
+mile from the house. I propose that we go over in the afternoon, dine at
+the inn, and dress there. Then we can get a trap to take us up to the
+Mervyns', and can either walk or drive down again after it is over, or
+come back by train with the others, according to the hour and how we
+feel when the ball is over."
+
+"Well, that alters the case, lad, and under those conditions I will be
+one of the party."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MARGARET CARNE.
+
+
+Ronald Mervyn was, perhaps, the most popular man in his regiment. They
+were proud of him as one of the most daring steeplechase riders in the
+service, and as a man who had greatly distinguished himself by a deed of
+desperate valour in India. He was far and away the best cricketer in the
+corps; he could sing a capital song, and was an excellent musician and
+the most pleasant of companions. He was always ready to do his friends a
+service, and many a newly-joined subaltern who got into a scrape had
+been helped out by Ronald Mervyn's purse. And yet at times, as even
+those who most liked and admired him could not but admit, Ronald Mervyn
+was a queer fellow. His fits were few and far between, but when they
+occurred he was altogether unlike himself. While they lasted, he would
+scarce exchange a word with a soul, but shut himself in his room, or, as
+soon as parade was over, mounted his horse and rode off, not to return
+probably until late at night.
+
+Mervyn's moods were the subject of many a quiet joke among the young
+officers of the regiment. Some declared that he must have committed a
+murder somewhere, and was occasionally troubled in his conscience; while
+some insisted that Mervyn's strange behaviour was only assumed in order
+that he might be the more appreciated at other times. Among the two or
+three officers of the regiment who came from that part of the country,
+and knew something of the family history of the Mervyns, it was
+whispered that he had inherited some slight share of the curse of the
+Carnes. Not that he was mad in the slightest degree--no one would think
+of saying that of Ronald Mervyn--but he had certainly queer moods.
+Perhaps the knowledge that there was a taint in his blood affected him,
+and in course of time he began to brood over it.
+
+When this mood was on him, soon after joining the regiment, he himself
+had spoken to the doctor about it.
+
+"Do you know, doctor, I am a horrible sufferer from liver complaint?"
+
+"You don't look it, Mervyn," the surgeon replied; "your skin is clear,
+and your eye is bright. You are always taking exercise, your muscles are
+as hard as nails. I cannot believe that there is much the matter with
+you."
+
+"I assure you, doctor, that at times for two or three days I am fit for
+nothing. I get into such a state that I am not fit to exchange a word
+with a human being, and could quarrel with my best friend if he spoke to
+me. I have tried all sorts of medicines, but nothing seems to cure me. I
+suppose it's liver; I don't know what else it can be. I have spoken
+about it to the Major, and asked him if at any time he sees me look
+grumpy, to say a word to the mess, and ask them to leave me to myself;
+but I do wish you could give me something."
+
+The doctor had recommended courses of various foreign waters, and had
+given him instructions to bathe his head when he felt it coming on; but
+nothing had availed. Once a year, or sometimes oftener, Ronald retired
+for two or three days, and then emerged as well and cheerful as before.
+
+Once, when the attack had been particularly severe, he had again
+consulted the doctor, this time telling him the history of his family on
+his mother's side, and asking him frankly whether he thought these
+periodical attacks had any connection with the family taint. The doctor,
+who had already heard the story in confidence from one of the two men
+who knew it, replied:
+
+"Well, Mervyn, I suppose that there's some sort of distant connection
+between the two things, but I do not think you are likely to be
+seriously affected. I think you can set your mind at ease on that score.
+A man of so vigorous a frame as you are, and leading so active and
+healthy a life, is certainly not a likely subject for insanity. You
+should dismiss the matter altogether from your mind, old fellow. Many
+men with a more than usual amount of animal spirits suffer at times from
+fits of depression. In your case, perhaps due, to some extent, to your
+family history, these fits of depression are more severe than usual.
+Probably the very circumstance that you know this history has something
+to do with it, for when the depression--which is, as I have said, not
+uncommon in the case of men with high spirits, and is, in fact, a sort
+of reaction--comes over you, no doubt the thought of the taint in the
+blood occurs to you, preys upon your mind, and deeply intensifies your
+depression."
+
+"That is so, doctor. When I am in that state my one thought is that I am
+going mad, and I sometimes feel then as if it would be best to blow out
+my brains and have done with it."
+
+"Don't let such a fancy enter your head, Mervyn," the doctor said,
+earnestly. "I can assure you that I think you have no chance whatever of
+becoming insane. The fits of depression are of course troublesome and
+annoying, but they are few and far apart, and at all other times you are
+perfectly well and healthy. You should, therefore, regard it as I do--as
+a sort of reaction, very common among men of your sanguine temperament,
+and due in a very slight degree to the malady formerly existent in your
+family. I have watched you closely since you came to the regiment, and,
+believe me, that I do not say it solely to reassure you when I affirm
+that it is my full belief and conviction that you are as sane as other
+men, and it is likely that as you get on in life these fits of
+depression will altogether disappear. You see both your mother and uncle
+were perfectly free from any suspicion of a taint, and it is more than
+probable that it has altogether died out. At any rate the chances are
+slight indeed of its reappearing in your case."
+
+"Thank you, doctor; you can imagine what a relief your words are to me.
+I don't worry about it at other times, and indeed feel so thoroughly
+well, that I could laugh at the idea were it mooted; but during these
+moods of mine it has tried me horribly. If you don't mind, I will get
+you to write your opinion down, so that next time the fit seizes me I
+can read it over, and assure myself that my apprehensions are
+unfounded."
+
+Certainly no one would associate the idea of insanity with Ronald
+Mervyn, as upon the day before the ball at his mother's house he sat on
+the edge of the ante-room table, and laughed and talked with a group of
+five young officers gathered round him.
+
+"Mind, you fellows must catch the seven o'clock train, or else you will
+be too late. There will be eight miles to drive; I will have a trap
+there to meet you, and you won't be there long before the others begin
+to arrive. We are not fashionable in our part of the county. We shall
+have enough partners for you to begin to dance by half-past nine, and I
+can promise you as pretty partners as you can find in any ball-room in
+England. When you have been quartered here a bit longer you will be
+ready to admit the truth of the general opinion, that, in point of
+pretty women, Devonshire can hold its own against any county in
+England. No, there is no fear whatever of your coming in too great
+strength. Of course, in Plymouth here, one can overdo the thing, but
+when one gets beyond the beat of the garrison, men are at a premium. I
+saw my mother's list; if it had not been for the regiment the female
+element would have predominated terribly. The army and navy, India and
+the colonies, to say nothing of all-devouring London, are the scourges
+of the country; the younger sons take wings to themselves and fly, and
+the spinsters are left lamenting."
+
+"I think there is more push and go among younger sons than there is in
+the elders," one of the young officers said.
+
+"They have not got the same responsibilities," Ronald laughed. "It is
+easy to see you are a younger son, Charley; there's a jaunty air about
+your forage cap and a swagger in your walk, that would tell any
+observant person that you are free from all responsibilities, and could,
+as the Latin grammar says, sing before a robber."
+
+There was a general laugh, for Charley Mansfield was notoriously in a
+general state of impecuniosity. He, himself, joined merrily in the
+laugh.
+
+"I can certainly say," he replied, "'He who steals my purse steals
+trash;' but I don't think he would get even that without a tussle.
+Still, what I said is true, I think. I know my elder brother is a
+fearfully stately personage, who, on the strength of two years'
+difference of age, and his heirship, takes upon himself periodically to
+inflict ponderous words of wisdom upon me. I think a lot of them are
+like that; but after all, as I tell him, it's the younger sons who have
+made England what it is. We won her battles and furnished her colonies,
+and have done pretty nearly everything that has been done; while the
+elder sons have only turned into respectable landowners and prosy
+magistrates."
+
+"Very well, Charley, the sentiments do you honour," another laughed;
+"but there, the assembly is sounding. Waiter, bring me a glass of
+sherry; your sentiments have so impressed me, Charley, that I intend to
+drink solemnly to the success of second sons."
+
+"You are not on duty, are you, Mervyn?"
+
+"No, I am starting in half an hour to get home. I shall be wanted to aid
+in the final preparations. Well, I shall see you all to morrow night.
+Don't forget the seven o'clock train. I expect we shall keep it up till
+between three and four. Then you can smoke a cigar, and at five the
+carriages will be ready to take you to the station to catch the first
+train back, and you will be here in time for a tub and a change before
+early parade."
+
+The ball at the Mervyns' was a brilliant one. The house was large, and
+as Mr. Mervyn had died four years before, and Ronald had since that time
+been absent on foreign service, it was a long time since an
+entertainment on a large scale had been given there to the county. A
+little to the disappointment of many of the young ladies in the
+neighbourhood, the military and naval officers did not come in uniform.
+There were two or three girls staying in the house, and one of them in
+the course of the evening, when she was dancing with Ronald, said:
+
+"We all consider you have taken us in, Captain Mervyn. We made sure that
+you would all be in uniform. Of course those who live near Plymouth are
+accustomed to it, but in these parts the red coats are rather a novelty,
+and we feel we have been defrauded."
+
+"We never go to balls, Miss Blackmoor, in uniform, except when they are
+regular naval or military balls, either given by our own regiment or
+some of the regiments in garrison, or by the navy. That is generally the
+rule though perhaps in some regiments it is not so strictly adhered to
+as with us."
+
+"Then I consider that it is a fraud upon the public, Captain Mervyn.
+Gentlemen's dress is so dingy and monotonous that I consider it
+distinctly the duty of soldiers to give us a little light and colour
+when they get the chance."
+
+"Very well, Miss Blackmoor, I will bear it in mind; and next time my
+mother gives a ball, the regiment, if it is within reach, shall come in
+uniform. By the way, do you know who is the man my cousin is dancing
+with? There are lots of faces I don't know here; being seven or eight
+years away makes a difference in a quiet country place."
+
+"That is Mr. Gulston; he is first-lieutenant of the flagship at
+Plymouth. I know it because he was introduced to me early in the
+evening, and we danced together, and a capital dancer he is, too."
+
+"He is an uncommonly good-looking fellow," Ronald said.
+
+Margaret Carne seemed to think so, too, as she danced with him two or
+three times in the course of the evening, and went down to supper on his
+arm.
+
+Ronald having, as the son of the house, to divide his attentions as much
+as possible, did not dance with his cousin. Lieutenant Gulston had been
+accompanied by the third-lieutenant, and by the doctor, who never missed
+an opportunity of going to a ball because, as he said, it gave him an
+opportunity of studying character.
+
+"You see," he would argue, "on board a ship one gets only the one side
+of human nature. Sailors may differ a bit one from another, but they can
+all be divided into two or three classes--the steady honest fellow who
+tries to do his work well; the reckless fellow who is ready to do his
+work, but is up to every sort of mischief and devilment; and the lazy,
+loafing fellow who neglects his duty whenever he possibly can, and is
+always shamming sick in order to get off it. Some day or other I shall
+settle on shore and practise there, and I want to learn something about
+the people I shall have to deal with; besides, there's nothing more
+amusing than looking on at a ball when you have no idea of dancing
+yourself. It's astonishing what a lot of human nature you see if you do
+but keep your wits about you."
+
+In the course of the evening he came up to the first-lieutenant.
+
+"Who is that man you have just been talking to, Gulston? I have been
+watching him for some time. He has not been dancing, but has been
+standing in corners looking on."
+
+"He is Mr. Carne, doctor; a cousin, or rather a nephew, of our hostess."
+
+"Is he the brother of that pretty girl you have been dancing with?"
+
+The lieutenant nodded.
+
+"Then I am sorry for her," the surgeon said, bluntly.
+
+"Sorry! What for?"
+
+The surgeon answered by another question.
+
+"Do you know anything about the family, Gulston?"
+
+"I have heard something about them. Why?"
+
+"Never mind now," the surgeon said. "I will tell you in the morning;
+it's hardly a question to discuss here," and he turned away before the
+lieutenant could ask further.
+
+It was four o'clock before the dancing ceased and the last carriage
+rolled away. Then the military and naval men, and two or three visitors
+from Plymouth, gathered in the library, and smoked and talked for an
+hour, and were then conveyed to the station to catch the early train.
+The next day, as they were walking up and down the quarter-deck, the
+first-lieutenant said: "By the way, doctor, what was it you were going
+to say last night about the Carnes? You said you were sorry for Miss
+Carne, and asked me if I knew anything about the history of the family."
+
+"Yes, that was it, Gulston; it wasn't the sort of thing to talk about
+there, especially as I understand the Mervyns are connections of the
+Carnes. The question I was going to ask you was this: You know their
+family history; is there any insanity in it?"
+
+The lieutenant stopped suddenly in his walk with an exclamation of
+surprise and pain.
+
+"What do you mean, Mackenzie? Why do you ask such a question?"
+
+"You have not answered mine. Is there insanity in the blood?"
+
+"There has been," the lieutenant said, reluctantly.
+
+"I felt sure of it. I think you have heard me say my father made a
+special study of madness; and when I was studying for my profession I
+have often accompanied him to lunatic asylums, and I devoted a great
+deal of time to the subject, intending to make it my special branch
+also. Then the rambling fit seized me and I entered the service; but I
+have never missed following the subject up whenever I have had an
+opportunity. I have therefore visited asylums for lunatics whenever such
+existed, at every port which we have put into since I have been in the
+service.
+
+"When my eye first fell upon Mr. Carne he was standing behind several
+other people, watching the dancing, and the expression of his face
+struck me as soon as my eye fell upon him. I watched him closely all
+through the evening. He did not dance, and rarely spoke to any one,
+unless addressed. I watched his face and his hands--hands are, I can
+tell you, almost as expressive as faces--and I have not the smallest
+hesitation in saying that the man is mad. It is possible, but not
+probable, that at ordinary times he may show no signs of it; but at
+times, and last night was one of those times, the man is mad; nay, more,
+I should be inclined to think that his madness is of a dangerous type.
+
+"Now that you tell me it is hereditary, I am so far confirmed in my
+opinion that I should not hesitate, if called upon to do so, to sign a
+certificate to the effect that, in my opinion, he was so far insane as
+to need the most careful watching, if not absolute confinement."
+
+The colour had faded from the lieutenant's face as the doctor spoke.
+
+"I am awfully sorry," he said, in a low tone, "and I trust to God,
+doctor, that you are mistaken. I cannot but think that you are. I was
+introduced to him by his sister, and he was most civil and polite,
+indeed more than civil, for he asked me if I was fond of shooting, and
+when I said that I was extremely so, he invited me over to his place. He
+said he did not shoot himself, but that next week his cousin Mervyn and
+one or two others were coming to him to have two or three days' pheasant
+shooting, and he would be glad if I would join the party; and, as you
+may suppose, I gladly accepted the invitation."
+
+"Well," the doctor said, drily, "so far as he is concerned, there is no
+danger in your doing so, if, as you say, he doesn't shoot. If he did, I
+should advise you to stay away; and in any case, if you will take the
+advice which I offer, you won't go. You will send an excuse."
+
+The lieutenant made no answer for a minute or two, but paced the room in
+silence.
+
+"I won't pretend to misunderstand you, Mackenzie. You mean there's no
+danger with him, but you think there may be from her. That's what you
+mean, isn't it?"
+
+The doctor nodded.
+
+"I saw you were taken with her, Gulston; that is why I have spoken to
+you about her brother."
+
+"You don't think--confound it, man--you can't think," the lieutenant
+said, angrily, "that there is anything the matter with her?"
+
+"No, I don't think so," the doctor said, gravely. "No, I should say
+certainly not; but you know in these cases where it is in the blood it
+sometimes lies dormant for a generation and then breaks out again. I
+asked somebody casually last night about their father, and he said that
+he was a capital fellow and most popular in the country; so if it is in
+the blood it passed over him, and is showing itself again in the son. It
+may pass over the daughter and reappear in her children. You never know,
+you see. Do you mind telling me what you know about the family?"
+
+"Not now; not at present. I will at some other time. You have given me a
+shock, and I must think it over."
+
+The doctor nodded, and commenced to talk about other matters. A minute
+or two later the lieutenant made some excuse, and turned into the cabin.
+Dr. Mackenzie shook his head.
+
+"The lad is hard hit," he said, "and I am sorry for him. I hope my
+warning comes in time; it will do if he isn't a fool, but all young men
+are fools where women are concerned. I will say for him that he has more
+sense than most, but I would give a good deal if this had not happened."
+
+Lieutenant Gulston was, indeed, hard hit; he had been much struck with
+the momentary glance he had obtained of Margaret Carne as he stood on
+the steps of the "Carne Arms," and the effect had been greatly
+heightened on the previous day. Lieutenant Gulston had, since the days
+when he was a middy, indulged in many a flirtation, but he had never
+before felt serious. He had often laughed at the impressibility of some
+of his comrades, and had scoffed at the idea of love at first sight,
+but now that he began to think matters seriously over, the pain the
+doctor's remarks had given him opened his eyes to the fact that it was a
+good deal more than a passing fancy.
+
+Thinking it over in every light, he acknowledged the prudent course
+would be to send some excuse to her brother, with an expression of
+regret that he found that a matter of duty would prevent his coming
+over, as he had promised, for the shooting. Then he told himself that
+after all the doctor might be mistaken, and that it would be only right
+that he should judge for himself. If there was anything in it, of course
+he should go no more to The Hold, and no harm would be done. Margaret
+was certainly very charming; she was more than charming, she was the
+most lovable woman he had ever met. Still, of course, if there was any
+chance of her inheriting this dreadful thing, he would see her no more.
+After all, no more harm could be done in a couple of days than had been
+done already, and he was not such a fool but that he could draw back in
+time. And so after changing his mind half-a-dozen times, he resolved to
+go over for the shooting.
+
+"Ruth, I want to speak to you seriously," Margaret Carne said to her
+maid two days after the ball. Ruth Powlett was the miller's daughter,
+and the village gossips had been greatly surprised when, a year before,
+they heard that she was going up to The Hold to be Miss Carne's own
+maid; for although the old mill was a small one, and did no more than a
+local business, Hiram was accounted to have laid by a snug penny, and as
+Ruth was his only child, she was generally regarded as the richest
+heiress in Carnesford. That Hiram should then let her go out into
+service, even as maid to Miss Carne at The Hold, struck every one with
+surprise.
+
+It was generally assumed that the step had been taken because Hiram
+Powlett wanted peace in the house. He had, after the death of his first
+wife, Ruth's mother, married again, and the general verdict was that he
+had made a mistake. In the first place, Hiram was a staunch Churchman,
+and one of the churchwardens at Carnesford; but his wife, who was a
+Dareport woman--and that alone was in the opinion of Carnesford greatly
+against her--was a Dissenter, and attended the little chapel at
+Dareport, and entertained the strongest views as to the prospects and
+chances of her neighbours in a future state; and in the second place,
+perhaps in consequence of their religious opinions, she was generally on
+bad terms with all her neighbours.
+
+But when Hiram married her she had a good figure, the lines of her face
+had not hardened as they afterwards did, and he had persuaded himself
+that she would make an excellent mother for Ruth. Indeed, she had not
+been intentionally unkind, and although she had brought her up strictly,
+she believed that she had thoroughly done her duty; lamenting only that
+her efforts had been thwarted by the obstinacy and perverseness of her
+husband in insisting that the little maid should trot to church by his
+side, instead of going with her to the chapel at Dareport.
+
+Ruth had grown up a quiet and somewhat serious girl; she had blossomed
+out into prettiness in the old mill, and folks in the village were
+divided as to whether she or Lucy Carey, the smith's daughter, was the
+prettiest girl in Carnesford. Not that there was any other matter in
+comparison between them, for Lucy was somewhat gay and flirty, and had a
+dozen avowed admirers; while Ruth had from her childhood made no secret
+of her preference for George Forester, the son of the little farmer
+whose land came down to the Dare just where Hiram Powlett's mill stood.
+
+He was some five years older than she was, and had fished her out of the
+mill-stream when she fell into it, when she was eight years old. From
+that time he had been her hero. She had been content to follow him about
+like a dog, to sit by his side for hours while he fished in the deep
+pool above the mill, under the shadow of the trees, quite content with
+an occasional word or notice. She took his part heartily when her
+stepmother denounced him as the idlest and most impertinent boy in the
+parish; and when, soon after she was fifteen, he one day mentioned that,
+as a matter of course, she would some day be his wife, she accepted it
+as a thing of which she had never entertained any doubt whatever.
+
+But Hiram now took the alarm, and one day told her that she was to give
+up consorting with young Forester.
+
+"You are no longer a child, Ruth, and if you go on meeting young
+Forester down at the pool, people will be beginning to talk. Of course I
+know that you are a good girl, and would never for a moment think of
+taking up with George Forester. Every one knows what sort of young
+fellow he is; he never does a day's work on the farm, and he is in and
+out of the 'Carne Arms' at all hours. He associates with the worst lot
+in the village, and it was only the other day that when the parson tried
+to speak to him seriously, he answered him in a way that was enough to
+make one's hair stand on end."
+
+Ruth obeyed her father, and was no more seen about with George Forester;
+but she believed no tale to his disadvantage, and when at times she met
+with him accidentally, she told him frankly enough that though her
+father didn't like her going about with him, she loved him and meant to
+love him always, whatever they might say. Upon all other points her
+father's will was law to her, but upon this she was firm; and two years
+afterwards, when some words young Forester had spoken at a public-house
+about his daughter came to his ears, Hiram renewed the subject to her,
+she answered staunchly that unless he gave his consent she would not
+marry George Forester, but that nothing would make her give him up or go
+back from her word.
+
+For once Hiram Powlett and his wife were thoroughly in accord. The
+former seldom spoke upon the subject, but the latter was not so
+reticent, and every misdeed of young Forester was severely commented
+upon by her in Ruth's hearing. Ruth seldom answered, but her father saw
+that she suffered, and more than once remonstrated with his wife on what
+he called her cruelty, but found that as usual Hesba was not to be
+turned from her course.
+
+"No, Hiram Powlett," she said, shutting her lips tightly together; "I
+must do my duty whether it pleases you or not, and it is my duty to see
+that Ruth does not throw away her happiness in this world and the next
+by her headstrong conduct. She does not belong to the fold, but in other
+respects I will do her credit to say she is a good girl and does her
+duty as well as can be expected, considering the dulness of the light
+she has within her; but if she were to marry this reprobate she would be
+lost body and soul; and whatever you may think of the matter, Hiram
+Powlett, I will not refrain from trying to open her eyes."
+
+"I am quite as determined as you are, Hesba, that the child shall not
+marry this young rascal, but I don't think it does any good to be always
+nagging at her. Women are queer creatures; the more you want them to go
+one way the more they will go the other."
+
+But though Hiram Powlett did not say much, he worried greatly. Ruth had
+always been quiet, but she was quieter than ever now, and her cheeks
+gradually lost their roses, and she looked pale and thin. At last Hiram
+determined that if he could not obtain peace for her at home he would
+elsewhere, and hearing that Miss Carne's maid was going to be married he
+decided to try to get Ruth the place. She would be free from Hesba's
+tongue there, and would have other things to think about besides her
+lover, and would moreover have but few opportunities of seeing him. He
+was shy of approaching the subject to her, and was surprised and pleased
+to find that when he did, instead of opposing it as he had expected, she
+almost eagerly embraced the proposal.
+
+In fact, Ruth's pale cheeks and changed appearance were not due, as her
+father supposed, to unhappiness at her stepmother's talk against George
+Forester; but because in spite of herself she began to feel that her
+accusations were not without foundation. Little by little she learnt,
+from chance words dropped by others, that the light in which her father
+held George Forester was that generally entertained in the village. She
+knew that he often quarrelled with his father, and that after one of
+these altercations he had gone off to Plymouth and enlisted, only to be
+bought out a few days afterwards.
+
+She knew that he drank, and had taken part in several serious frays that
+had arisen at the little beershop in the village; and hard as she fought
+against the conviction, it was steadily making its way, that her lover
+was wholly unworthy of her. And yet, in spite of his faults, she loved
+him. Whatever he was with others, he was gentle and pleasant with her,
+and she felt that were she to give him up his last chance would be gone.
+So she was glad to get away from the village for a time, and to the
+surprise of her father, and the furious anger of George Forester, she
+applied for and obtained the post of Margaret Carne's maid.
+
+She had few opportunities of seeing George Forester now; but what she
+heard when she went down to the village on Sundays was not encouraging.
+He drank harder than before, and spent much of his time down at
+Dareport, and, as some said, was connected with a rough lot there who
+were fonder of poaching than of fishing.
+
+Margaret Carne was aware of what she considered Ruth's infatuation. She
+kept herself well informed of the affairs of the village--the greater
+portion of which belonged to her and her brother--and she learnt from
+the clergyman, whose right hand she was in the choir and schools, a good
+deal of the village gossip. She had never spoken to Ruth on the subject
+during the nine months she had been with her, but now she felt she was
+bound to do so.
+
+"What is it, Miss Margaret?" Ruth said, quietly, in answer to her
+remark.
+
+"I don't want to vex you, and you will say it is no business of mine,
+but I think it is, for you know I like you very much, besides, your
+belonging to Carnesford. Of course I have heard--every one has heard,
+you know--about your engagement to young Forester. Now a very painful
+thing has happened. On the night of the dance our gamekeepers came
+across a party of poachers in the woods, as of course you have heard,
+and had a fight with them, and one of the keepers is so badly hurt that
+they don't think he will live. He has sworn that the man who stabbed him
+was George Forester, and my brother, as a magistrate, has just signed a
+warrant for his arrest.
+
+"Now, Ruth, surely this man is not worthy of you. He bears, I hear, on
+all sides a very bad character, and I think you will be more than
+risking your happiness with such a man; I think for your own sake it
+would be better to give him up. My brother is very incensed against him;
+he has been out with the other keepers to the place where this fray
+occurred and he says it was a most cowardly business, for the poachers
+were eight to three, and he seems to have no doubt whatever that
+Forester was one of the party, and that they will be able to prove it. I
+do think, Ruth, you ought to give him up altogether. I am not talking to
+you as a mistress, you know, but as a friend."
+
+"I think you are right, Miss Margaret," the girl said, in a low voice.
+"I have been thinking it over in every way. At first I didn't think what
+they said was true, and then I thought that perhaps I might be able to
+keep him right, and that if I were to give him up there would be no
+chance for him. I have tried very hard to see what was my duty, but I
+think now that I see it, and that I must break off with him. But oh! it
+is so hard," she added, with a quiver in her voice, "for though I know
+that I oughtn't to love him, I can't help it."
+
+"I can quite understand that, Ruth," Margaret Carne agreed. "I know if I
+loved any one I should not give him up merely because everybody spoke
+ill of him. But, you see, it is different now. It is not merely a
+suspicion, it is almost absolute proof; and besides, you must know that
+he spends most of his time in the public-house, and that he never would
+make you a good husband."
+
+"I have known that a long time," Ruth said, quietly; "but I have hoped
+always that he might change if I married him. I am afraid I can't hope
+any longer, and I have been thinking for some time that I should have to
+give him up. I will tell him so now, if I have an opportunity."
+
+"I don't suppose you will, for my brother says he has not been home
+since the affair in the wood. If he has, he went away again at once. I
+expect he has made either for Plymouth or London, for he must know that
+the police would be after him for his share in this business. I am very
+sorry for it, Ruth, but I do think you will be happier when you have
+once made up your mind to break with him. No good could possibly come
+of your sacrificing yourself."
+
+Ruth said no more on the subject, but went about her work as quietly and
+orderly as usual, and Margaret Carne was surprised to see how bravely
+she held up, for she knew that she must be suffering greatly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+TWO QUARRELS.
+
+
+Three days later the shooting party assembled. Several gentlemen came to
+stay at the house, while Ronald Mervyn and his party, of course, put up
+at Mervyn Hall. The shooting was very successful, and the party were
+well pleased with their visit. Reginald Carne was quiet and courteous to
+his guests, generally accompanying them through the day, though he did
+not himself carry a gun. After the first day's shooting there was a
+dinner party at Mervyn Hall, and the following evening there was one at
+The Hold.
+
+Lieutenant Gulston enjoyed himself more than any one else, though he was
+one of the least successful of the sportsmen, missing easy shots in a
+most unaccountable manner, and seeming to take but moderate interest in
+the shooting. He had, very shortly after arriving at the house, come to
+the conclusion that the doctor was altogether mistaken, and that
+Reginald Carne showed no signs whatever of being in any way different
+from other men. "The doctor is so accustomed to us sailors," he said to
+himself, "that if a man is quiet and studious he begins to fancy
+directly there must be something queer about him. That is always the
+way with doctors who make madness a special study. They suspect every
+one they come across of being out of their mind. I shouldn't be at all
+surprised if he doesn't fancy I am cracked myself. The idea is perfectly
+absurd. I watched Carne closely at dinner, and no one could have been
+more pleasant and gentlemanly than he was. I expect Mackenzie must have
+heard a word let drop about this old story, and of course if he did he
+would set down Carne at once as being insane. Well, thank goodness,
+that's off my mind; it's been worrying me horribly for the last few
+days. I have been a fool to trouble myself so about Mackenzie's
+croakings, but now I will not think anything more about it."
+
+On the following Sunday, as Ruth Powlett was returning from church in
+the morning, and was passing through the little wood that lay between
+Carnesford and The Hold, there was a rustle among the trees, and George
+Forester sprang out suddenly.
+
+"I have been waiting since daybreak to see you, Ruth, but as you came
+with that old housekeeper I could not speak to you. I have been in
+Plymouth for the last week. I hear that they are after me for that
+skirmish with the keepers, so I am going away for a bit, but I couldn't
+go till I said good-bye to you first, and heard you promise that you
+would always be faithful to me."
+
+"I will say good-bye, George, and my thoughts and prayers will always be
+with you, but I cannot promise to be faithful--not in the way you mean."
+
+"What do you mean, Ruth?" he asked, angrily. "Do you mean that after all
+these years you are going to throw me off?"
+
+Ruth was about to reply, when there was a slight rustling in the bushes.
+
+"There is some one in the path in the wood."
+
+George Forester listened for a moment.
+
+"It's only a rabbit," he said, impatiently. "Never mind that now, but
+answer my question. Do you dare to tell me that you are going to throw
+me over?"
+
+"I am not going to throw you off, George," she said, quietly; "but I am
+going to give you up. I have tried, oh! how hard I have tried, to
+believe that you would be better some day, but I can't hope so any
+longer. You have promised again and again that you would give up
+drinking, but you are always breaking your promise, and now I find that
+in spite of all I've said, you still hold with those bad men at
+Dareport, and that you have taken to poaching, and now they are in
+search of you for being one of those concerned in desperately wounding
+John Morton. No, George, I have for years withstood even my father. I
+have loved you in spite of his reproaches and entreaties, but I feel now
+that instead of your making me happy I should be utterly miserable if I
+married you, and I have made a promise to Miss Carne that I would give
+you up."
+
+"Oh, she has been meddling, has she?" George Forester said with a
+terrible imprecation; "I will have revenge on her, I swear I will. So
+it's she who has done the mischief, and made you false to all you
+promised. Curse you! with your smooth face, and your church-going ways,
+and your canting lies. You think, now they are hunting me away, you can
+take up with some one else; but you shan't, I swear, though I swing for
+it."
+
+And he grasped her suddenly by the throat; but at this moment there was
+a sound of voices in the road behind them, and dashing Ruth to the
+ground with a force that stunned her, he sprang into the woods. A minute
+later the stablemen at The Hold came along the road and found Ruth still
+lying on the ground.
+
+[Illustration: "_He grasped her suddenly by the throat._"]
+
+After a minute's consultation they determined to carry her down to her
+father's house, as they had no idea what was the best course to pursue
+to bring her round. Two of them, therefore, lifted and carried her down,
+while the other hurried on to prepare the miller for their arrival.
+
+"Master Powlett," he said as he entered, "your girl has hurt herself; I
+expect she slipped on a stone somehow, going up the hill, and came down
+heavy; anyhow we found her lying there insensible, and my two mates are
+bringing her down. We saw her two or three hundred yards ahead of us as
+we came out of the churchyard, so she could not have laid there above a
+minute or so when we came up."
+
+Ruth was brought in. Mrs. Powlett had not yet returned from Dareport,
+but a neighbour was soon fetched in by one of the men while another went
+for the doctor, and in a few minutes Ruth opened her eyes.
+
+"Don't talk, dear," her father said, "lie quiet for a few minutes and
+you will soon be better; you slipped down in the road, you know, and
+gave yourself a shake, but it will be all right now."
+
+Ruth closed her eyes again and lay quiet for a short time, then she
+looked up again and tried to sit up.
+
+"I am better now, father."
+
+"Thank God for that, Ruth. It gave me a turn when I saw you carried in
+here, I can tell you; but lie still a little time longer, the doctor
+will be here in a few minutes."
+
+"I don't want him, father."
+
+"Yes, you do, my dear, and anyhow as he has been sent for he must come
+and see you; you need not trouble about going up to The Hold, it was
+three of the men there that found you and brought you down; I will send
+a note by them to Miss Carne telling her you had a bad fall, and that we
+will keep you here until to-morrow morning. I am sure you will not be
+fit to walk up that hill again to-day. Anyhow we will wait until the
+doctor comes and hear what he says."
+
+Ten minutes later the doctor arrived, and after hearing Hiram's account
+of what had happened, felt Ruth's pulse and then examined her head.
+
+"Ah, here is where you fell," he said; "a good deal of swelling, and it
+has cut the skin. However, a little bathing with warm water is all that
+is wanted. There, now, stand up if you can and walk a step or two, and
+tell me if you feel any pain anywhere else.
+
+"Ah, nowhere except in the shoulder. Move your arm. Ah, that is all
+right, nothing broken. You will find you are bruised a good deal, I have
+no doubt. Well, you must keep on the sofa all day, and not do any
+talking. You have had a severe shake, that's evident, and must take care
+of yourself for a day or two. You have lost all your colour, and your
+pulse is unsteady and your heart beating anyhow. You must keep her quite
+quiet, Hiram. If I were you I would get her up to bed. Of course you
+must not let her talk, and I don't want any talking going on around her,
+you understand?"
+
+Hiram did understand, and before Mrs. Powlett returned from chapel,
+Ruth, with the assistance of the woman who had come in, was in bed.
+
+"I look upon it as a judgment," Mrs. Powlett said upon her return, when
+she heard the particulars. "If she had been with me at chapel this never
+would have happened. It's a message to her that no good can come of her
+sitting under that blind guide, the parson. I hope it will open her
+eyes, and that she will be led to join the fold."
+
+"I don't think it is likely, Hesba," Hiram said, quietly, "and you will
+find it hard to persuade her that loose stone I suppose she trod on was
+dropped special into the road to trip her up in coming from church.
+Anyhow you can't talk about it to-day; the doctor's orders are that she
+is to be kept perfectly quiet, that she is not to talk herself, and that
+there's to be no talking in the room. He says she can have a cup of tea
+if she can take it, but I doubt at present whether she can take even
+that; the poor child looks as if she could scarce open her eyes for
+anything, and no wonder, for the doctor says she must have fallen
+tremendous heavy."
+
+Mrs. Powlett made the tea and took it upstairs. Any ideas she may have
+had of improving the occasion, in spite of the doctor's injunctions,
+vanished when she saw Ruth's white face on the pillow. Noiselessly she
+placed the little table close to the bed and put the cup upon it. Ruth
+opened her eyes as she did so.
+
+"Here is some tea, dearie," Hesba said, softly. "I will put it down
+here, and you can drink it when you feel inclined." Ruth murmured "Thank
+you," and Hesba stooped over her and kissed her cheek more softly than
+she had ever done before, and then went quietly out of the room again.
+
+"She looks worse than I thought for, Hiram," she said, as she proceeded
+to help the little servant they kept to lay the cloth for dinner. "I
+doubt she's more hurt than the doctor thinks. I could see there were
+tears on her cheek, and Ruth was never one to cry, not when she was hurt
+ever so much. Of course, it may be because she is low and weak; still I
+tell you that I don't like it. Is the doctor coming again?"
+
+"Yes; he said he would look in again this evening."
+
+"I don't like it," Hesba repeated, "and after dinner I will put on my
+bonnet and go down to the doctor myself and hear what he has got to say
+about her. Perhaps he will tell me more than he would you; he knows what
+poor creatures men are. They just get frighted out of what wits they've
+got, if you let on any one's bad; but I will get it out of him. It
+frets me to think I wasn't here when she was brought in, instead of
+having strangers messing about her."
+
+It came into Hiram's mind to retort that her being away at that moment
+was a special warning against her going to Dareport; but the low,
+troubled voice in which she spoke, and the furtive passing of her hand
+across her cheek to brush away a tear, effectually silenced him. It was
+all so unusual in the case of Hesba, whom, indeed, he had never seen so
+soft and womanly since the first day she had crossed the threshold of
+the house, that he was at once touched and alarmed.
+
+"I hope you are wrong, wife; I hope you are wrong," he said, putting his
+hand on her shoulder. "I don't think the doctor thought badly of it, but
+he seemed puzzled like, I thought; but if there's trouble, Hesba, we
+will bear it together, you and I; it's sent for good, we both know that.
+We goes the same way, you know, wife, if we don't go by the same road."
+
+The woman made no answer, for at that moment the girl appeared with the
+dinner. Hesba ate but a few mouthfuls, and then saying sharply that she
+had no appetite, rose from the table, put on her bonnet and shawl, and,
+without a word, walked out.
+
+She was away longer than Hiram expected, and in the meantime he had to
+answer the questions of many of the neighbours, who, having heard from
+the woman who had been called in of Ruth's accident, came to learn the
+particulars. When Hesba returned she brought a bundle with her.
+
+"The doctor's coming in an hour," she said. "I didn't get much out of
+him, except he said it had been a shock to her system, and he was afraid
+that there might be slight concussion of the brain. He said if that was
+so we should want some ice to put to her head, and I have been up to The
+Hold and seen Miss Carne. I had heard Ruth say they always have ice up
+there, and she has given me some. She was just coming down to inquire
+about Ruth, but of course I told her she couldn't talk to nobody. That
+was the doctor's orders. Has she moved since I have been away?"
+
+Hiram shook his head. "I have been up twice, but she was just lying with
+her eyes closed."
+
+"Well, I will go and sit up there," Hesba said. "Tell that girl if she
+makes any noise, out of the house she goes; and the best thing you can
+do is to take your pipe and sit in that arbour outside, or walk up and
+down if you can't keep yourself warm; and don't let any one come
+knocking at the door and worriting her. It will be worse for them if I
+has to come down."
+
+Hiram Powlett obeyed his wife's parting injunction and kept on guard all
+the afternoon, being absent from his usual place in church for the first
+time for years. In the evening there was nothing for him to do in the
+house, and his wife being upstairs, he followed his usual custom of
+dropping for half an hour into the snuggery of the "Carne Arms."
+
+"Yes, it's true," he said in answer to the questions of his cronies,
+"Ruth has had a bad fall, and the doctor this afternoon says as she has
+got a slight concussion of the brain. He said he hoped she would get
+over it, but he looked serious-like when he came downstairs. It's a bad
+affair, I expect. But she is in God's hands, and a better girl never
+stepped, though I says it." There was a murmur of regret and consolation
+among the three smokers, but they saw that Hiram was too upset for many
+words, and the conversation turned into other channels for a time, Hiram
+taking no share in it but smoking silently.
+
+"It's a rum thing," he said, presently, during a pause in the
+conversation, "that a man don't know really about a woman's nature, not
+when he has lived with her for years and years. Now there's my wife
+Hesba, who has got a tongue as sharp as any one in this village." A
+momentary smile passed round the circle, for the sharpness of Hesba
+Powlett's tongue was notorious. "It scarce seemed to me, neighbours, as
+she had got a soft side to her or that she cared more for Ruth than she
+did for the house-dog. She always did her duty by her, I will say that
+for her; and a tidier woman and a better housewife there ain't in the
+country round. But duty is one thing and love is another. Now you would
+hardly believe it, but I do think that Hesba feels this business as much
+as I do. You wouldn't have knowed her; she goes about the house with her
+shoes off as quiet as a mouse, and she speaks that soft and gentle you
+wouldn't know it was her. Women's queer creatures anyway."
+
+There was a chorus of assent to the proposition, and, in fact, the
+discovery that Hesba Powlett had a soft side to her nature was
+astonishing indeed.
+
+For three days Ruth Powlett lay unconscious, and then quiet and good
+nursing, and the ice on her head, had their effect; and one evening the
+doctor, on visiting her, said that he thought a change had taken place,
+and that she was now sleeping naturally. The next morning there was
+consciousness in her eyes when she opened them, and she looked in
+surprise at the room darkened by a curtain pinned across the window, and
+at Hesba, sitting by her bedside, with a huge nightcap on her head.
+
+"What is it, mother, what has happened?"
+
+"You have been ill, Ruth, but thank God you are better now. Don't talk,
+dear, and don't worry. I have got some beef-tea warming by the fire; the
+doctor said you were to try and drink a cup when you woke, and then to
+go off to sleep again."
+
+Ruth looked with a feeble surprise after Hesba as she left the room,
+missing the sharp, decisive foot-tread. In a minute she returned as
+noiselessly as she had gone.
+
+"Can you hold the cup yourself, Ruth, or shall I feed you?"
+
+Ruth put out her hand, but it was too weak to hold the cup. She was
+able, however, slightly to raise her head, and Hesba held the cup to her
+lips.
+
+"What have you done to your feet, mother?" she asked, as she finished
+the broth.
+
+"I have left my shoes downstairs, Ruth; the doctor said you were to be
+kept quiet. Now try to go to sleep, that's a dear."
+
+She stooped and kissed the girl affectionately, and Ruth, to her
+surprise, felt a tear drop on her cheek. She was wondering over this
+strange circumstance when she again fell asleep.
+
+In a few days she was about the house again, but she was silent and
+grave, and did not gain strength as fast as the doctor had hoped for.
+However, in three weeks' time she was well enough to return to The Hold.
+Hiram had strongly remonstrated against her doing so, but she seemed to
+set her mind upon it, urging that she would be better for having
+something to think about and do than in remaining idle at home; and as
+the doctor was also of opinion that the change would be rather likely to
+benefit than to do her harm, Hiram gave way.
+
+The day before she left she said to her father:
+
+"Do you know whether George Forester has been caught, or whether he has
+got away?"
+
+"He has not been caught, Ruth, but I don't think he has gone away; there
+is a talk in the village that he has been hiding down at Dareport, and
+the constable has gone over there several times, but he can't find signs
+of him. I think he must be mad to stay so near when he knows he is
+wanted. I can't think what is keeping him."
+
+"I have made up my mind, father, to give him up. You have been right,
+and I know now he would not make me a good husband; but please don't say
+anything against him, it is hard enough as it is."
+
+Hiram kissed his daughter.
+
+"Thank God for that news, Ruth. I hoped after that poaching business you
+would see it in that light, and that he wasn't fit for a mate for one
+like you. Your mother will be glad, child. She ain't like the same woman
+as she was, is she?"
+
+"No, indeed, father, I do not seem to know her."
+
+"I don't know as I was ever so knocked over in my life as I was
+yesterday, Ruth, when your mother came downstairs in her bonnet and
+shawl, and said, 'I am going to church with you, Hiram.' I didn't open
+my lips until we were half-way, and then she said as how it had been
+borne in on her as how her not being here when you was brought in was a
+judgment on her for being away at Dareport instead of being at church
+with us; and she said more than that, as how, now she thought over it,
+she saw as she hadn't done right by me and you all these years, and
+hoped to make a better wife what time she was left to us. I wasn't sure
+at church time as it wasn't a dream to see her sitting there beside me,
+and joining in the hymns, listening attentive to the parson as she has
+always been running down. She said on the way home she felt just as she
+did when she was a girl, five-and-twenty years ago, and used to come
+over here to church, afore she took up with the Methodies."
+
+Ruth kissed her father.
+
+"Then my fall has done good after all," she said. "It makes me happy to
+know it."
+
+"I shall be happy when I see you quite yourself again, Ruth. Come back
+to us soon, dear."
+
+"I will, father; in the spring I will come home again for good, I
+promise you," and so Ruth returned for a time to The Hold.
+
+"I am glad you are back again, Ruth," Miss Carne, who had been down
+several times to see her, said. "I told you not to hurry yourself, and I
+would have done without you for another month, but you know I am really
+very glad to have you back again. Mary managed my hair very well, but I
+could not talk to her as I do to you."
+
+Ruth had not been many hours in the house before she learnt from her
+fellow-servants that Mr. Gulston had been over two or three times since
+the shooting party, and that the servants in general had an opinion that
+he came over to see Miss Carne.
+
+"It's easy to see that with half an eye," one of the girls said, "and I
+think Miss Margaret likes him too, and no wonder, for a properer-looking
+man is not to be seen; but I always thought she would have married her
+cousin. Every one has thought so for years."
+
+"It's much better she should take the sailor gentleman," one of the
+elder women said. "I am not saying anything against Mr. Ronald, who is
+as nice a young gentleman as one would want to see, but he is her
+cousin, and I don't hold to marriages among cousins anyhow, and
+especially in a family like ours."
+
+"I think it is better for us not to talk about it at all," Ruth said,
+quietly; "I don't think it right and proper, and it will be quite time
+enough to talk about Miss Margaret's affairs when we know she is
+engaged."
+
+The others were silent for a minute after Ruth's remark, and then the
+under-housemaid, who had been an old playmate of Ruth's, said:
+
+"You never have ideas like other people, Ruth Powlett. It is a funny
+thing that we can't say a word about people in the house without being
+snapped up."
+
+"Ruth is right," the other said, "and your tongue runs too fast, Jane.
+As Ruth says, it will be quite time enough to talk when Miss Margaret
+is engaged; till then the least said the better."
+
+In truth, Lieutenant Gulston had been several times at The Hold, and his
+friend the doctor, seeing his admonition had been altogether thrown
+away, avoided the subject, but from his gravity of manner showed that he
+had not forgotten it; and he shook his head sadly when one afternoon the
+lieutenant had obtained leave until the following day. "I wish I had
+never spoken. Had I not been an old fool I should have known well enough
+that he was fairly taken by her. We have sailed together for twelve
+years, and now there is an end to our friendship. I hope that will be
+all, and that he will not have reason to be sorry he did not take my
+advice and drop it in time. Of course she may have escaped and I think
+that she has done so; but it's a terrible risk--terrible. I would give a
+year's pay that it shouldn't have happened."
+
+An hour before Lieutenant Gulston left his ship, Ronald Mervyn had
+started for The Hold. A word that had been said by a young officer of
+the flagship who was dining at mess had caught his ears. It was
+concerning his first-lieutenant.
+
+"He's got quite a fishing mania at present, and twice a week he goes off
+for the day to some place twenty miles away--Carnesford, I think it is.
+He does not seem to have much luck; anyhow, he never brings any fish
+home. He is an awfully good fellow, Gulston; the best first-lieutenant I
+ever sailed with by a long way."
+
+What Ronald Mervyn heard was not pleasant to him. He had noticed the
+attentions Gulston had paid to Margaret Carne at the ball, and had been
+by no means pleased at meeting him, installed at The Hold with the
+shooting party, and the thought that he had been twice a week over in
+that neighbourhood caused an angry surprise. The next morning,
+therefore, he telegraphed home for a horse to meet him at the station,
+and started as soon as lunch was over. He stayed half an hour at home,
+for his house lay on the road between the station and Carne's Hold. The
+answer he received from his sister to a question he put did not add to
+his good temper.
+
+Oh, yes. Mr. Gulston had called a day or two after he had been to the
+shooting party, and they had heard he had been at The Hold several times
+since.
+
+When he arrived there, Ronald found that Margaret and her brother were
+both in the drawing-room, and he stood chatting with them there for some
+time, or rather chatting with Margaret, for Reginald was dull and moody.
+At last the latter sauntered away.
+
+"What's the matter with you, sir?" Margaret said to her cousin. "You
+don't seem to be quite yourself; is it the weather? Reginald is duller
+and more silent than usual, he has hardly spoken a word to-day."
+
+"No, it's not the weather," he replied, sharply. "I want to ask you a
+question, Margaret."
+
+"Well, if you ask it civilly," the girl replied, "I will answer it, but
+certainly not otherwise."
+
+"I hear that that sailor fellow has been coming here several times. What
+does it mean?"
+
+Margaret Carne threw back her head haughtily. "What do you mean, Ronald,
+by speaking in that tone; are you out of your mind?"
+
+"Not more than the family in general," he replied, grimly; "but you have
+not answered my question."
+
+"I have not asked Lieutenant Gulston what he comes here for," she said,
+coldly; "and, besides, I do not recognise your right to ask me such a
+question."
+
+"Not recognise my right?" he repeated, passionately. "I should have
+thought that a man had every right to ask such a question of the woman
+he is going to marry."
+
+"Going to marry?" she repeated, scornfully. "At any rate this is the
+first I have heard of it."
+
+"It has always been a settled thing," he said, "and you know it as well
+as I do. You promised me ten years ago that you would be my wife some
+day."
+
+"Ten years ago I was a child. Ronald, how can you talk like this! You
+know we have always been as brother and sister together. I have never
+thought of anything else of late. You have been home four or five
+months, anyhow, and you have had plenty of time to speak if you wanted
+to. You never said a word to lead me to believe that you thought of me
+in any other way than as a cousin."
+
+"I thought we understood each other, Margaret."
+
+"I thought so too," the girl replied, "but not in the same way. Oh,
+Ronald, don't say this; we have always been such friends, and perhaps
+years ago I might have thought it would be something more; but since
+then I have grown up and grown wiser, and even if I had loved you in the
+way you speak of, I would not have married you, because I am sure it
+would be bad for us both. We have both that terrible curse in our blood,
+and if there was not another man in the world I would not marry you."
+
+"I don't believe you would have said so a month ago," Ronald Mervyn
+said, looking darkly at her. "This Gulston has come between us, that's
+what it is, and you cannot deny it."
+
+"You are not behaving like a gentleman, Ronald," the girl said, quietly.
+"You have no right to say such things."
+
+"I have a right to say anything," he burst out. "You have fooled me and
+spoilt my life, but you shall regret it. You think after all these years
+I am to be thrown by like an old glove. No, by Heaven; you may throw me
+over, but I swear you shall never marry this sailor or any one else,
+whatever I do to prevent it. You say I have the curse of the Carnes in
+my blood. You are right, and you shall have cause to regret it."
+
+He leapt from the window, which Margaret had thrown open a short time
+before, for the fire had overheated the room, ran down to the stables,
+leapt on his horse, and rode off at a furious pace. Neither he nor
+Margaret had noticed that a moment before a man passed along the walk
+close under the window. It was Lieutenant Gulston. He paused for a
+moment as he heard his name uttered in angry tones, opened the hall door
+without ceremony, and hurried towards that of the drawing-room. Reginald
+Carne was standing close to it, and it flashed across Gulston's mind
+that he had been listening. He turned his head at the sailor's quick
+step. "Don't go in there just at present, Gulston, I fancy Margaret is
+having a quarrel with her cousin. They are quiet now, we had best leave
+them alone."
+
+"He was using very strong language," the sailor said, hotly. "I caught a
+word or two as I passed the windows."
+
+"It's a family failing. I fancy he has gone now. I will go in and see. I
+think it were best for you to walk off for a few minutes, and then come
+back again. People may quarrel with their relatives, you know, but they
+don't often care for other people to be behind the scenes."
+
+"No, you are quite right," Gulston answered; "the fact is, for the
+moment I was fairly frightened by the violence of his tone, and really
+feared that he was going to do something violent. It was foolish, of
+course, and I really beg your pardon. Yes, what you say is quite right.
+If you will allow me I will have the horse put in the trap again. I got
+out at the gate and walked across the garden, telling the man to take
+the horse straight round to the stables; but I think I had better go
+and come again another day. After such a scene as she has gone through
+Miss Carne will not care about having a stranger here."
+
+"No, I don't think that would be best," Reginald Carne said. "She would
+wonder why you did not come, and would, likely enough, hear from her
+maid that you had been and gone away again, and might guess you had
+heard something of the talking in there. No, I think you had better do
+as I said--go away, and come again in a few minutes."
+
+The lieutenant accordingly went out and walked about the shrubbery for a
+short time, and then returned. Miss Carne did not appear at dinner, but
+sent down a message to say that she had so bad a headache she would not
+be able to appear downstairs that evening.
+
+Reginald Carne did not play the part of host so well as usual. At times
+he was gloomy and abstracted, and then he roused himself and talked
+rapidly. Lieutenant Gulston thought that he was seriously discomposed at
+the quarrel between his sister and his cousin; and he determined at any
+rate not to take the present occasion to carry out the intention he had
+formed of telling Reginald Carne that he was in love with his sister,
+and hoped he would have no objection to his telling her so, as he had a
+good income besides his pay as first-lieutenant. When the men had been
+sitting silently for some time after wine was put on the table, he said:
+
+"I think, Carne, I will not stop here to-night. Your sister is evidently
+quite upset with this affair, and no wonder. I shall feel myself
+horribly _de trop_, and would rather come again some other time if you
+will let me. If you will let your man put a horse in the trap I shall
+catch the ten o'clock train comfortably."
+
+"Perhaps that would be best, Gulston. I am not a very lively companion
+at the best of times, and family quarrels are unpleasant enough for a
+stranger."
+
+A few minutes later Lieutenant Gulston was on his way to the station. He
+had much to think about on his way home. In one respect he had every
+reason to be well satisfied with what he had heard, as it had left no
+doubt whatever in his mind that Margaret Carne had refused the offer of
+her cousin, and that the latter had believed that he had been refused
+because she loved him--Charlie Gulston. Of course she had not said so;
+still she could not have denied it, or her cousin's wrath would not have
+been turned against him.
+
+Then he was sorry that such a quarrel had taken place, as it would
+probably lead to a breach between the two families. He knew Margaret was
+very fond of her aunt and the girls. Then the violence with which Ronald
+Mervyn had spoken caused him a deal of uneasiness. Was it possible that
+a sane man would have gone on like that? Was it possible that the curse
+of the Carnes was still working? This was an unpleasant thought; but
+that which followed was still more anxious.
+
+Certainly, from the tone of his voice, he had believed that Ronald
+Mervyn was on the point of using violence to Margaret, and if the man
+was really not altogether right in his head there was no saying what he
+might do. As for himself, he laughed at the threats that had been
+uttered against him. Mad or sane, he had not the slightest fear of
+Ronald Mervyn. But if, as was likely enough, this mad-brained fellow
+tried to fix a quarrel upon him in some public way, it might be horribly
+unpleasant--so unpleasant that he did not care to think of it. He
+consoled himself by hoping that when Mervyn's first burst of passion had
+calmed down, he might look at the matter in a more reasonable light, and
+see that at any rate he could not bring about a public quarrel without
+Margaret's name being in some way drawn into it; that her cousin could
+not wish, however angry he might be with her.
+
+It was an unpleasant business. If Margaret accepted him, he would take
+her away from all these associations. It was marvellous that she was so
+bright and cheerful, knowing this horrible story about that Spanish
+woman, and that there was a taint in the blood. That brother of hers,
+too, was enough to keep the story always in her mind. The doctor was
+certainly right about him. Of course he wasn't mad, but there was
+something strange about him, and at times you caught him looking at you
+in an unpleasant sort of way.
+
+"He is always very civil," the lieutenant muttered to himself; "in fact,
+wonderfully civil and hospitable, and all that. Still I never feel quite
+at my ease with him. If I had been a rich man, and they had been hard
+up, I should have certainly suspected there was a design in his
+invitations, and that he wanted me to marry Margaret; but, of course,
+that is absurd. He can't tell that I have a penny beyond my pay; and a
+girl like Margaret might marry any one she liked, at any rate out of
+Devonshire. Perhaps he may not have liked the idea of her marrying this
+cousin of hers; and no doubt he is right there, and seeing, as I daresay
+he did see, that I was taken with Margaret, he thought it better to give
+me a chance than to let her marry Mervyn.
+
+"I don't care a snap whether all her relations are mad or not. I know
+that she is as free from the taint as I am; but it can't be wholesome
+for a girl to live in such an atmosphere, and the next time I go over I
+will put the question I meant to put this evening, and if she says yes,
+I will very soon get her out of it all." And then the lieutenant
+indulged in visions of pretty houses, with bright gardens looking over
+the sea, and finally concluded that a little place near Ryde or Cowes
+would be in every way best and most convenient, as being handy to
+Portsmouth, and far removed from Devonshire and its associations. "I
+hope to get my step in about a year; then I will go on half-pay. I have
+capital interest, and I daresay my cousin in the Admiralty will be able
+to get me a dockyard appointment of some sort at Portsmouth; if not, I
+shall, of course, give it up. I am not going to knock about the world
+after I am married."
+
+This train of thought occupied him until almost mechanically he left the
+train, walked down to the water, hailed a boat, and was taken alongside
+his ship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.
+
+
+Margaret Carne's message as to her inability to come down to dinner was
+scarcely a veracious one. She was not given to headaches, and had not,
+so far as she could remember, been once laid up with them, but after
+what had been said, she did not feel equal to going downstairs and
+facing Charlie Gulston. She had never quite admitted to herself that she
+loved the young sailor who had for the last few weeks been so much at
+the house, and of whose reason for so coming she had but little doubt;
+but now, as she sat alone in the room, she knew well enough the answer
+she should give to his question, when it came.
+
+At present, however, the discovery of her own feelings caused alarm
+rather than pleasure. There had been no signs of fear in her face when
+her cousin raged and threatened, but she did not believe that the
+threats were empty ones; he had often frightened her when she was a
+child by furious bursts of passion, and although it was many years now
+since she had seen him thus, she felt sure that he would do as he had
+threatened, and was likely enough to take any violent step that might
+occur to him in his passion, to carry out his threat.
+
+Although she had put a bold front on it, Margaret felt at heart that his
+reproach was not altogether unjustified. There had been a boy and girl
+understanding between them, and although it had not been formally
+ratified of late years, its existence was tacitly recognised in both
+families, and until a few months before she herself had considered that
+in the natural course of events she should some day be Ronald Mervyn's
+wife.
+
+Had he reproached her gently, she would have frankly admitted this, and
+would have asked him to forgive her for changing her mind now that years
+had wrought a change in her feelings; but the harshness and suddenness
+of his attack had roused her pride, and driven her to take up the ground
+that there was no formal engagement between them, and that as he had not
+renewed the subject for years she was at perfect liberty to consider
+herself free. She had spoken but the truth in saying that their near
+relationship was in her eyes a bar to their marriage. Of late years she
+had thought much more than she had when a girl over the history of the
+family and the curse of the Carnes, and although she had tried her best
+to prevent herself from brooding over the idea, she could not disguise
+from herself that her brother was at times strange and unlike other men,
+and her recollections of Ronald's outbursts of temper, as a boy, induced
+the suspicion that he, too, had not altogether escaped the fatal taint.
+Still, had not Charlie Gulston come across her path, it was probable
+that she would have drifted on as before, and would, when the time came
+have accepted Ronald Mervyn as her husband.
+
+The next morning, when Ruth Powlett went as usual to call her mistress,
+she started with surprise as she opened the door, for the blind was
+already up and the window open. Closing the door behind her, she went in
+and placed the jug of hot water she carried by the washstand, and then
+turned round to arouse her mistress. As she did so a low cry burst from
+her lips, and she grasped a chair for support. The white linen was
+stained with blood, and Margaret lay there, white and still, with her
+eyes wide open and fixed in death. The clothes were drawn a short way
+down in order that the murderer might strike at her heart. Scarce had
+she taken this in, when Ruth felt the room swim round, her feet failed
+her, and she fell insensible on the ground.
+
+In a few minutes the cold air streaming in through the open window
+aroused her. Feebly she recovered her feet, and, supporting herself
+against the wall, staggered towards the door. As she did so her eye fell
+on an object lying by the side of the bed. She stopped at once with
+another gasping cry, pressed her hand on her forehead, and stood as if
+fascinated, with her eyes fixed upon it. Then slowly and reluctantly, as
+if forced to act against her will, she moved towards the bed, stooped
+and picked up the object she had seen.
+
+She had recognised it at once. It was a large knife with a spring blade,
+and a silver plate let into the buckhorn handle, with a name, G.
+Forester, engraved upon it. It was a knife she herself had given to her
+lover a year before. It was open and stained with blood. For a minute or
+two she stood gazing at it in blank horror. What should she do, what
+should she do? She thought of the boy who had been her playmate, of the
+man she had loved, and whom, though she had cast him off, she had never
+quite ceased to love. She thought of his father, the old man who had
+always been kind to her. If she left this silent witness where she had
+found it there would be no doubt what would come of it. For some minutes
+she stood irresolute.
+
+"God forgive me," she said at last. "I cannot do it." She closed the
+knife, put it into her dress, and then turned round again. She dared not
+look at the bed now, for she felt herself in some way an accomplice in
+her mistress's murder, and she made her way to the door, opened it, and
+then hurried downstairs into the kitchen, where the servants, who were
+just sitting down to breakfast, rose with a cry as she entered.
+
+"What is it, Ruth? What's the matter? Have you seen anything?"
+
+Ruth's lips moved but no sound came from them, her face was ghastly
+white, and her eyes full of horror.
+
+"What is it, child?" the old cook said, advancing and touching her,
+while the others shrank back, frightened at her aspect.
+
+"Miss Margaret is dead," came at last slowly from her lips. "She has
+been murdered in the night," and she reeled and would have fallen again
+had not the old servant caught her in her arms and placed her in a
+chair. A cry of horror and surprise had broken from the servants, then
+came a hubbub of talk.
+
+"It can't be true." "It is impossible." "Ruth must have fancied it." "It
+never could be," and then they looked in each other's face as if seeking
+a confirmation of their words.
+
+"I must go up and see," the cook said. "Susan and Harriet, you come
+along with me; the others see to Ruth. Sprinkle some water on her face.
+She must have been dreaming."
+
+Affecting a confidence which she did not feel, the cook, followed
+timidly by the two frightened girls, went upstairs. She stood for a
+moment hesitating before she opened the door; then she entered the room,
+the two girls not daring to follow her. She went a step into the room,
+then gave a little cry and clasped her hands.
+
+"It is true," she cried; "Miss Margaret has been murdered!"
+
+Then the pent-up fears of the girls found vent in loud screams, which
+were echoed from the group of servants who had clustered at the foot of
+the stairs in expectation of what was to come.
+
+A moment later the door of Reginald Carne's room opened, and he came out
+partly dressed.
+
+"What is the matter? What is all this hubbub about?"
+
+"Miss Margaret is murdered, sir," the two girls burst out, pausing for
+an instant in their outcry.
+
+"Murdered!" he repeated, in low tones. "You are mad; impossible!" and
+pushing past them he ran into Margaret's room.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed, in a long, low note of pain and horror. "Good God,
+who can have done this?" and he leaned against the wall and covered his
+face with his hands. The old servant had advanced to the bed, and laid a
+hand on the dead girl. She now touched her master.
+
+"You had better go away now, Mr. Reginald, for you can do nothing. She
+is cold, and must have been dead hours. We must lock the door up till
+the police come."
+
+So saying, she gently led him from the room, closed the door and locked
+it. Reginald Carne staggered back to his room.
+
+"Poor master," the old servant said, looking after him, "this will be a
+terrible blow for him; he and Miss Margery have always been together.
+There's no saying what may come of it," and she shook her head gravely;
+then she roused herself, and turned sharply on the girls.
+
+"Hold your noise, you foolish things; what good will that do? Get
+downstairs at once."
+
+Driving them before her, she went down to the kitchen, and out of the
+door leading to the yard, where one of the maids was at the moment
+telling the grooms what had happened.
+
+"Joe, get on a horse and ride off and fetch Dr. Arrowsmith. He can't be
+of any good, but he ought to come. Send up Job Harpur, the constable,
+and then ride on to Mr. Volkes; he is the nearest magistrate, and will
+know what to do."
+
+Then she went back into the kitchen.
+
+"She has come to, Mrs. Wilson; but she don't seem to know what she is
+doing."
+
+"No wonder," the cook said, "after such a shock as she has had; and she
+only just getting well after her illness. Two of you run upstairs and
+get a mattress off her bed and two pillows, and lay them down in the
+servants' hall; then take her in there and put her on them. Jane, get
+some brandy out of the cellaret and bring it here; a spoonful of that
+will do her good."
+
+A little brandy and water was mixed, and the cook poured it between
+Ruth's lips, for she did not seem to know what was said to her, and
+remained still and impassive, with short sobs bursting at times from her
+lips. Then two servants half lifted her, and took her into the servants'
+hall, and laid her down on the mattress. All were sobbing and crying,
+for Margaret Carne had been greatly loved by those around her.
+
+In half an hour the doctor arrived.
+
+"Is it possible the news is true?" he asked as he leapt from his gig;
+the faces of those around were sufficient answer. "Good Heavens, what a
+terrible business! Tell Mr. Carne I am here."
+
+Reginald Carne soon came down. He was evidently terribly shaken. He held
+out his hand in silence to the doctor.
+
+"What does it all mean?" the latter said, huskily. "It seems too
+horrible to be true. Can it be that your sister, whom I have known since
+she was a child, is dead? Murdered, too! It seems impossible."
+
+"It does seem impossible, doctor; but it is true. I have seen her
+myself," and he shuddered. "She has been stabbed to the heart."
+
+The doctor wiped his eyes.
+
+"Well, I must go up and see her," he said. "Poor child, poor child. No,
+you need not ring. I will go up by myself."
+
+Dr. Arrowsmith had attended the family for many years, and knew
+perfectly well which was Margaret's room. The old cook was standing
+outside the door of the drawing-room.
+
+"Here is the key, sir. I thought it better to lock the door till you
+came."
+
+"Quite right," the doctor replied. "Don't let any one up till Mr. Volkes
+comes. The servant said he was going for him. Ah, here is Harpur. That
+is right, Harpur; you had better come up with me, but I shouldn't touch
+anything if I were you till Mr. Volkes comes; besides, we shall be
+having the Chief Constable over here presently, and it is better to
+leave everything as it is." They entered the room together.
+
+"Dear, dear, to think of it now," the constable murmured, standing
+awe-struck at the door, for the course of his duty was for the most part
+simple, and he had never before been face to face with a tragedy like
+this.
+
+The doctor moved silently to the bed, and leant over the dead girl.
+
+"Stabbed to the heart," he murmured; "death must have been
+instantaneous." Then he touched her arm and tried to lift it.
+
+"She has been dead hours," he said to the constable, "six or seven
+hours, I should say. Let us look round. The window is open, you see.
+Can the murderer have entered there?" He looked out. The wall was
+covered with ivy, and a massive stem grew close to the window. "Yes," he
+went on, "an active man could have climbed that. See, there are some
+leaves on the ground. I think, Harpur, your best plan will be to go down
+and take your station there and see no one comes along or disturbs
+anything. See, this jewel-box on the table has been broken open and the
+contents are gone, and I do not see her watch anywhere. Well, that is
+enough to do at present; we will lock this room up again until Mr.
+Volkes comes."
+
+When they came downstairs, the cook again came out.
+
+"Please, sir, will you come in here? Ruth Powlett, Miss Margaret's maid,
+seems very bad; it was she who first found it out, and it's naturally
+given her a terrible shock. She came down looking like a mad woman, then
+she fainted off, and she doesn't seem to have any sort of consciousness
+yet."
+
+"Ruth Powlett! why, I have been attending her for the last three weeks.
+Yes, such a shock may be very serious in her case," and the doctor went
+in.
+
+"Have you any sal volatile in the house?" he asked, after he had felt
+her pulse.
+
+"There's some in the medicine chest, I think, sir, but I will soon see."
+
+She went out and presently returned with a bottle. The doctor poured a
+teaspoonful into a glass and added a little water. Then he lifted Ruth's
+head, and forced it between her lips. She gasped once or twice, and then
+slightly opened her eyes.
+
+"That is right, Ruth," the doctor said, cheeringly, "try and rouse
+yourself, child. You remember me, don't you?" Ruth opened her eyes and
+looked up.
+
+"That's right, child, I mustn't have you on my hands again, you know."
+Ruth looked round with a puzzled air, then a sharp look of pain crossed
+her face.
+
+"I know, Ruth," said the doctor, soothingly; "it is terrible for every
+one, but least terrible for your poor young mistress; she passed away
+painlessly, and went at once from life into death. Every one loved her,
+you know; it may be that God has spared her much unhappiness."
+
+Ruth burst into a paroxysm of crying; the doctor nodded to the old
+servant.
+
+"That's what I wanted," he whispered, "she will be better after this.
+Get a cup of hot tea for her, or beef-tea will be better still if you
+have any, make her drink it and then leave her for a time. I will see
+her again presently."
+
+Immediately the doctor left him, Reginald Carne wrote a telegram to the
+Chief Constable of the county, and despatched a servant with orders to
+gallop as fast as he could to the station and send it off.
+
+Mr. Volkes, the magistrate, arrived half an hour later, terribly shocked
+by the news he had heard. He at once set about making inquiries, and
+heard what the doctor and constable had to say. No one else had been in
+the room except the old cook, Mr. Carne, and the poor girl's own maid.
+
+"It would be useless for you to question the girl to-day, Volkes. She is
+utterly prostrate with the shock, but I have no doubt she will be able
+to give her evidence at the inquest. So far as I can see there does not
+seem to be the slightest clue. Apparently some villain who knows
+something about the house has climbed through the window, stabbed her,
+and made off with her jewellery."
+
+"It is a hideous business," the magistrate said; "there has not been
+such a startling crime committed in the county in all my experience. And
+to think that Margaret Carne should be the victim, a girl every one
+liked; it is terrible, terrible. What's your opinion, doctor? Some
+wandering tramp, I suppose?"
+
+"I suppose so. Certainly it can be none of the neighbours. In the first
+place, as you say, every one liked her and in the second, a crime of
+that sort is quite out of the way of our quiet Devonshire people. It
+must have been some stranger, that's evident. Yet on the other hand it
+is singular that the man should have got into her room. I don't suppose
+there has been a window fastened or a door locked on the ground floor
+for years; the idea of a burglary never occurs to any one here. By the
+way, the coroner ought to be informed at once. I will speak to Carne
+about it; if we do it this morning he will have time to send over this
+evening and summon a jury for to-morrow; the sooner it is over the
+better. Directly the Chief Constable arrives he will no doubt send round
+orders everywhere for tramps and suspicious persons to be arrested.
+Plymouth is the place where they are most likely to get some clue; in
+the first place it's the largest town in this part, and in the second
+there are sure to be low shops where a man could dispose of valuables."
+
+In the afternoon, Captain Hendricks, the Chief Constable, arrived, and
+took the matter in hand. In the first place he had a long private
+conversation with Job Harpur, who had been steadily keeping watch in the
+garden beneath the window, leaving him with strict orders to let no one
+approach the spot.
+
+He then, with a sergeant who had arrived with him, made a thorough
+search of the bedroom. After this he examined every one who knew
+anything about the matter, with the exception of Ruth Powlett, for whom
+the doctor said absolute quiet was necessary, as to all they knew about
+it. Then he obtained a minute description of the missing watch and
+jewels, and telegraphed it to Plymouth and Exeter. Having done this he
+went out into the garden again, and there a close search was made on the
+grass and borders for the marks of footsteps. When all this was done he
+had a long private conversation with Reginald Carne.
+
+The news of Margaret Carne's murder created an excitement in Carnesford,
+such as had never been equalled since the day when Lady Carne murdered
+her child and the curse of Carne's Hold began its work. There was not a
+soul in the valley but knew her personally, for Margaret had taken great
+interest in village matters, had seen that soups and jellies were sent
+down from The Hold to those who were sick, had begged many a man off his
+rent when laid up or out of work, and had many pensioners who received
+weekly gifts of money, tea, or other little luxuries. She gave prizes in
+the school; helped the parson with his choir; and scarcely a day passed
+without her figure being seen in the streets of Carnesford. That she
+could be murdered seemed incredible, and when the news first arrived it
+was received with absolute unbelief. When such confirmation was received
+that doubt was no longer possible, all work in Carnesford was suspended.
+Women stood at their doors and talked to their neighbours and wept
+freely. Men gathered in knots and talked it over and uttered threats of
+what they would do if they could but lay hands on the murderer. Boys and
+girls walked up the hill and stood at the edge of the wood, talking in
+whispers and gazing on the house as if it presented some new and
+mysterious attraction. Later in the day two or three constables arrived,
+and asked many questions as to whether any one had heard any one passing
+through the street between one and three in the morning; but Carnesford
+had slept soundly, and no one was found who had been awake between those
+hours.
+
+The little conclave in the sanctum at the "Carne's Arms" met half an
+hour earlier than usual. They found on their arrival there a stranger
+chatting with the landlord, who introduced him to them as Mr. Rentford,
+a detective officer from Plymouth.
+
+"A sad affair, gentlemen, a sad affair," Mr. Rentford said, when they
+had taken their seats and lit their churchwardens. "As sad an affair, I
+should say, as ever I was engaged in."
+
+"It is that," Jacob Carey said. "Here's Mr. Claphurst here, who has been
+here, man and boy, for nigh eighty years. He will tell you that such an
+affair as this has never happened in this part in his time."
+
+"I suppose, now," the detective said, "there's none in the village has
+any theory about it; I mean," he went on, as none of his hearers
+answered, "no one thinks it can be any one but some tramp or stranger to
+the district?"
+
+"It can't be no one else," Jacob Carey said, "as I can see. What do you
+say, Hiram Powlett? I should say no one could make a nearer guess than
+you can, seeing as they say it was your Ruth as first found it out."
+
+"I haven't seen Ruth," Hiram said; "the doctor told me, as he came down,
+as she was quite upset with the sight, and that it would be no good my
+going up to see her, as she would have to keep still all day. So I can't
+see farther into it than another; but surely it must be some stranger."
+
+"There was no one about here so far as you have heard, Mr. Powlett, who
+had any sort of grudge against this poor lady?"
+
+"Not a soul, as far as I know," Hiram replied. "She could speak up
+sharp, as I have heard, could Miss Carne, to a slatternly housewife or a
+drunken husband; but I never heard as she made an enemy by it, though,
+if she had, he would have kept his tongue to himself, for there were not
+many here in Carnesford who would have heard a word said against Miss
+Carne and sat quiet over it."
+
+"No, indeed," Jacob Carey affirmed, bringing down his fist with a heavy
+thump on his knee. "The Squire and his sister were both well liked, and
+I for one would have helped duck any one that spoke against them in the
+Dare. She was the most liked, perhaps, because of her bright face and
+her kind words and being so much down here among us; but the Squire is
+well liked, too; he is not one to laugh and talk as she was, but he is a
+good landlord, and will always give a quarter's rent to a man as gets
+behindhand for no fault of his own, and if there is a complaint about a
+leaky roof or any repairs that want doing, the thing is done at once and
+no more talk about it. No, they have got no enemies about here as I know
+of, except maybe it's the poachers down at Dareport, for though the
+Squire don't shoot himself, he preserves strictly, and if a poacher's
+caught he gets sent to the quarter sessions as sure as eggs is eggs."
+
+"Besides," the old clerk put in, "they say as Miss Carne's watch and
+things has been stolen; that don't look as if it was done out of
+revenge, do it?"
+
+"Well, no," the detective said, slowly; "but that's not always to be
+taken as a sign, because you see if any one did a thing like that, out
+of revenge, they would naturally take away anything that lay handy, so
+as to make it look as if it was done for theft."
+
+The idea was a new one to his listeners, and they smoked over it
+silently for some minutes.
+
+"Lord, what evil ways there are in the world," Reuben Claphurst said at
+last. "Wickedness without end. Now what do you make out of this,
+mister? Of course these things come natural to you."
+
+The detective shook his head. "It's too early to form an opinion yet,
+Mr. Claphurst--much too early. I dare say we shall put two and two
+together and make four presently, but at present you see we have got to
+learn all the facts, and you who live close ought to know more than we
+do, and to be able to put us on the track to begin with. You point me
+out a clue, and I will follow it, but the best dogs can't hunt until
+they take up the scent."
+
+"That's true enough," the blacksmith said, approvingly.
+
+"Have there been any strangers stopping in the village lately?" the
+detective asked.
+
+"There have been a few stopping off and on here, or taking rooms in the
+village," the landlord answered; "but I don't think there has been any
+one fishing on the stream for the last few days."
+
+"I don't mean that class; I mean tramps."
+
+"That I can't tell you," the landlord replied; "we don't take tramps in
+here; they in general go to Wilding's beershop at the other end of the
+village. He can put up four or five for the night, and in summer he is
+often full, for we are just about a long day's tramp out from Plymouth,
+and they often make this their first stopping-place out, or their last
+stopping-place in, but it's getting late for them now, not many come
+along after the harvest is well over. Still, you know, there may have
+been one there yesterday, for aught I know."
+
+"I will go round presently and ask. Any one who was here the night
+before might well have lain in the woods yesterday, and gone up and done
+it."
+
+"I don't believe as you will ever find anything about it. There's a
+curse on Carne's Hold, as every one knows, and curses will work
+themselves out. If I were the Squire, I would pull the place down,
+every stick and stone of it, and I would build a fresh one a bit away. I
+wouldn't use so much as a brick or a rafter of the old place, for the
+curse might stick to it. I would have everything new from top to
+bottom."
+
+"Yes, I have heard of the curse on Carne's Hold," the detective said. "A
+man who works with me, and comes from this part of the country, told me
+all about it as we came over to-day. However, that has nothing to do
+with this case."
+
+"It's partly the curse as that heathen woman, as Sir Edgar brought home
+as his wife, laid on the place," the old clerk said, positively; "and it
+will go on working as long as Carne's Hold stands. That's what I says,
+and I don't think as any one else here will gainsay me."
+
+"That's right enough," the blacksmith agreed, "I think we are all with
+you there, Mr. Claphurst. It ought to have been pulled down long ago
+after what has happened there. Why, if Mr. Carne was to say to me, 'Have
+the house and the garden and all rent free, Jacob Carey, as long as you
+like,' I should say, 'Thank you, Squire, but I wouldn't move into it,
+not if you give me enough beside to keep it up.' I call it just flying
+in the face of Providence. Only look at Hiram Powlett there; he sends
+his daughter up to be Miss Carne's maid at The Hold, and what comes of
+it? Why, she tumbles down the hill a-going up, and there she lies three
+weeks, with the doctor coming to see her every day. That was a clear
+warning if ever there was one. Who ever heard of a girl falling down and
+hurting herself like that? No one. And it would not have happened if it
+hadn't been for the curse of Carne's Hold."
+
+"I shouldn't go so far as that," Hiram Powlett said. "What happened to
+my lass had nothing to do with The Hold; she might have been walking up
+the hill at any time, and she might have slipped down at any time. A
+girl may put her foot on a loose stone and fall without it having
+anything to say to The Hold one way or the other. Besides, I have never
+heard it said as the curse had aught to do except with the family."
+
+"I don't know about that," the smith replied. "That servant that was
+killed by the Spanish woman's son; how about him? It seems to me as the
+curse worked on him a bit, too."
+
+"So it did, so it did," Hiram agreed. "I can't gainsay you there, Jacob
+Carey; now you put it so, I see there is something in it, though never
+before have I heard of there being anything in the curse except in the
+family."
+
+"Why, didn't Miles Jefferies, father of one of the boys as is in the
+stables, get his brains kicked out by one of the old Squire's horses?"
+
+"So he did, Jacob, so he did; still grooms does get their brains kicked
+out at other places besides The Hold. But there is something in what you
+say, and if I had thought of it before, I would never have let my Ruth
+go up there to service. I thought it was all for the best at the time,
+and you knows right enough why I sent her up there, to be away from that
+George Forester; still, I might have sent her somewhere else, and I
+would have done if I had thought of what you are saying now. Sure enough
+no good has come of it. I can't hold that that fall of hers had aught to
+do with the curse of the Carnes, but this last affair, which seems to me
+worse for her than the first, sure enough comes from the curse."
+
+"Who is this George Forester, if you don't mind my asking the question?"
+the detective said. "You see it's my business to find out about people."
+
+"Oh, George hadn't nothing to do with this business," Hiram replied.
+"He's the son of a farmer near here, and has always been wild and a
+trouble to the old man, but he's gone away weeks ago. He got into a
+poaching scrape, and one of the keepers was hurt, and I suppose he
+thought he had best be out of it for a time; anyhow, he has gone. But he
+weren't that sort of a chap. No, there was no harm in George Forester,
+not in that way; he was lazy and fonder of a glass than was good for
+him, and he got into bad company down at Dareport, and that's what led
+him to this poaching business, I expect, because there was no call for
+him to go poaching. His father's got a tidy farm, and he wanted for
+nothing. If he had been there he couldn't have wanted to steal Miss
+Carne's jewellery. He was passionate enough, I know, and many a quarrel
+has he had with his father, but nothing would have made me believe, even
+if he had been here, that old Jim Forester's son had a hand in a black
+business like this; so don't you go to take such a notion as that into
+your head."
+
+"He would not be likely to have any quarrel with Miss Carne?" the
+detective asked.
+
+"Quarrel? No," Hiram replied sharply, for he resented the idea that any
+possible suspicion of Margaret Carne's murder should be attached to a
+man with whom Ruth's name had been connected. "I don't suppose Miss
+Carne ever spoke a word to him in her life. What should she speak to him
+for? Why, he had left the Sunday school years before she took to seeing
+after it. 'Tain't as if he had been one of the boys of the village."
+
+As Jacob Carey, Reuben Claphurst, and the landlord, each gave an
+assenting murmur to Hiram's words, the detective did not think it worth
+while to pursue the point further, for there really seemed nothing to
+connect this George Forester in any way with Margaret Carne's death.
+
+"Well," he said, taking up his hat, "I will go round to this beershop
+you speak of, and make inquiries as to whether any tramps have been
+staying there. It is quite certain this young lady didn't put an end to
+herself. What we have got to find out is: Who was the man that did it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE INQUEST.
+
+
+It was six o'clock, and already quite dark, when, as Lieutenant Gulston
+was writing in his cabin, his servant told him that Dr. Mackenzie had
+just come off from the shore, and would be glad if he could spare him a
+few minutes' conversation.
+
+"Tell him I will be on the quarter-deck in a minute." He added a few
+lines to the letter he was writing, put it in an envelope, and, taking
+his cap, went out, dropping the letter into the post-bag that hung near
+his cabin, and then went on to the quarter-deck. He was rather pleased
+with the doctor's summons, for he highly esteemed him, and regretted the
+slight estrangement which had arisen between them.
+
+"Well, doctor," he asked, cheerily, "have some of the men been getting
+into mischief ashore?"
+
+"No, lad, no," the doctor replied, and the first-lieutenant felt that
+something more serious was the matter, for since he had obtained his
+rank of first-lieutenant the doctor had dropped his former habit of
+calling him lad. "No, I have heard some news ashore that will affect you
+seriously. I am sorry, dear lad, very sorry. I may have thought that you
+were foolish, but that will make no difference now."
+
+"What is it, doctor?" Lieutenant Gulston asked, with a vague alarm at
+the gravity of the doctor's manner of treating him.
+
+"The evening papers came out with an early edition, Gulston, and the
+boys are shouting out the news of a terrible affair, a most terrible
+affair at your friends the Carnes'. Be steady, lad, be steady. It's a
+heavy blow for a man to have to bear. Miss Carne is dead."
+
+"Dead! Margaret dead!" the lieutenant repeated, incredulously. "What are
+you saying, doctor? There must be some mistake. She was well yesterday,
+for I was over there in the evening and did not leave until nine
+o'clock. It can't be true."
+
+"It is true, lad, unhappily; there is no mistake. She was found dead in
+her bed this morning."
+
+The lieutenant was almost stunned by the blow.
+
+"Good God!" he murmured. "It seems impossible."
+
+The doctor walked away and left him for a minute or two to himself. "I
+have not told you all as yet, lad," he went on, when he returned; "it
+makes no difference to her, poor girl--none. She passed out of life, it
+seems, painlessly and instantly, but it is worse for those who are
+left."
+
+He paused a moment. "She was found stabbed to the heart by a midnight
+robber."
+
+An exclamation of horror broke from the sailor. "Murdered? Good
+Heavens!"
+
+"Ay, lad, it is true. It seems to have been done in her sleep, and death
+was instantaneous. There, I will leave you for a while, now. I will put
+the paper in your cabin, so that when you feel equal to reading the
+details you can do so. Try and think it is all for the best, lad. No one
+knows what trouble might have darkened her life and yours had this thing
+not happened. I know you will not be able to think so now, but you will
+feel it so some day."
+
+An hour later Lieutenant Gulston entered the doctor's cabin. There was a
+look of anger as well as of grief on his face that the doctor did not
+understand.
+
+"Doctor, I believe this is no murder by a wandering tramp, as the paper
+says. I believe it was done from revenge, and that the things were
+stolen simply to throw people off the scent. I will tell you what took
+place yesterday. I drove up as far as the gate in the garden; there one
+road sweeps round in front of the house, the other goes straight to the
+stables; so I got down, and told the man he might as well drive straight
+in, while I walked up to the house. The road follows close under the
+drawing-room windows, and, one of these being open, as I passed I heard
+a man's voice raised loud in anger, so loudly and so passionately,
+indeed, that I involuntarily stopped. His words were, as nearly as I can
+recollect, 'You have fooled me and spoilt my life, but you shall regret
+it. You think after all these years I am to be thrown off like an old
+glove. No, by Heaven; you may throw me over, but I swear you shall never
+marry this sailor or anybody else, whatever I may have to do to prevent
+it. You say I have the curse of the Carnes in my blood! You are right,
+and you shall have cause to regret it.' The voice was so loud and
+passionate that I believed the speaker was about to do some injury to
+Margaret, for I did not doubt that it was to her he was speaking, and I
+ran round through the hall-door to the door of the room; but I found
+Carne himself standing there. He, too, I suppose, when he had been about
+to enter, had heard the words. He said, 'Don't go in just at present,
+Margaret and her cousin are having a quarrel, but I think it's over
+now.' Seeing that he was there at hand I went away for a bit, and found
+afterwards that Mervyn had jumped from the window, gone to the stable
+and ridden straight off. Margaret didn't come down to dinner, making an
+excuse that she was unwell. Now, what do you think of that, doctor? You
+know that Mervyn's mother was a Carne, and that he has this mad blood
+that you warned me against in his veins. There is his threat, given in
+what was an almost mad outburst of passion. She is found dead this
+morning; what do you think of it?"
+
+"I don't know what to think of it, Gulston; I know but little of Mervyn
+myself, but I have heard men in his regiment say that he was a queer
+fellow, and though generally a most cheery and pleasant companion, he
+has at times fits of silence and moroseness similar, I should say, to
+those of his cousin, Reginald Carne. It is possible, lad, though I don't
+like to think so. When there is madness in the blood no one can say when
+it may blaze out, or what course it can take. The idea is a terrible
+one, and yet it is possible; it may indeed be so, for the madness in the
+family has twice before led to murder. The presumption is certainly a
+grave one, for although his messmates may consider Mervyn to be, as they
+say, a queer fellow, I do not think you would find any of them to say he
+was mad, or anything like it. Remember, Gulston, this would be a
+terrible accusation to bring against any man, even if he can prove--as
+probably he can prove--that he was at home, or here in Plymouth, at the
+time of the murder. The charge that he is mad, and the notoriety such a
+charge would obtain, is enough to ruin a man for life."
+
+"I can't help that," the lieutenant said, gloomily. "I heard him
+threaten Margaret, and I shall say so at the coroner's inquest
+to-morrow. If a man is such a coward as to threaten a woman he must put
+up with any consequences that may happen to befall him."
+
+The coroner and jury met in the dining-room at The Hold; they were all
+Carnesford men. Hiram Powlett, Jacob Carey, and the landlord of the
+"Carne's Arms" were upon it, for the summoning officer had been careful
+to choose on such an important occasion the leading men of the village.
+After having gone upstairs to view the body, the coroner opened the
+proceedings. The room was crowded. Many of the gentry of the
+neighbourhood were present. Lieutenant Gulston, with a hard set look
+upon his face, stood in a corner of the room with the doctor beside him.
+Ronald Mervyn, looking, as some of the Carnesford people remarked in a
+whisper, ten years older than he did when he drove through the village a
+few days before, stood on the other side of the table talking in low
+tones to some of his neighbours.
+
+"We shall first, gentlemen," the coroner said, "hear evidence as to the
+finding of the body. Ruth Powlett, the maid of the deceased lady, is the
+first witness."
+
+A minute later there was a stir at the door, and Ruth was led in by a
+constable. She was evidently so weak and unhinged that the coroner told
+her to take a chair.
+
+"Now, Miss Powlett, tell us what you saw when you entered your
+mistress's room."
+
+"Upon opening the door," Ruth said, in a calmer and more steady voice
+than was expected from her appearance, "I saw that the window was open
+and the blind up. I was surprised at this, for Miss Carne did not sleep
+with her window open in winter, and the blind was always down. I walked
+straight to the washstand and placed the can of hot water there; then I
+turned round to wake Miss Carne, and I saw her lying there with a great
+patch of blood on her nightdress, and I knew by her face that she was
+dead. Then I fainted. I do not know how long I lay there. When I came to
+myself I got up and went to the door, and went downstairs to the kitchen
+and gave the alarm."
+
+"You did not notice that any of Miss Carne's things had been taken from
+the table?" the coroner asked.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Were there any signs of a struggle having taken place?"
+
+"No, sir, I did not see any. Miss Carne lay as if she was sleeping
+quietly. She was lying on her side."
+
+"The bedclothes were not disarranged?"
+
+"No, sir, except that the clothes were turned down a short distance."
+
+"You were greatly attached to your mistress, Miss Powlett?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"She was generally liked--was she not?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Every one who knew Miss Carne was fond of her."
+
+"Have any of you any further questions to ask?" the coroner asked the
+jury.
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Powlett. I will not trouble you further at present."
+
+The cook then gave her testimony, and Dr. Arrowsmith was next called. He
+testified to the effect that upon his arrival he found that the room had
+not been disturbed in any way; no one had entered it with the exception,
+as he understood, of Miss Carne's maid, the cook, and Mr. Carne. The
+door was locked. When he went in, he found the deceased was dead, and it
+was his opinion, from the coldness and rigidity of the body, that she
+must have been dead seven or eight hours. It was just nine o'clock when
+he arrived. He should think, therefore, that death had taken place
+between one and half-past two in the morning. Death had been caused by a
+stab given either with a knife or dagger. The blow was exactly over the
+heart, and extended down into the substance of the heart itself. Death
+must have been absolutely instantaneous. Deceased lay in a natural
+position, as if asleep. The clothes had been turned down about a foot,
+just low enough to uncover the region of the heart.
+
+After making an examination of the body, he examined the room with the
+constable, and found that a jewel-box on the table was open and its
+contents gone. The watch and chain of the deceased had also disappeared.
+He looked out of the window, and saw that it could be entered by an
+active man by climbing up a thick stem of ivy that grew close by. He
+observed several leaves lying on the ground, and was of the opinion that
+the assassin entered there.
+
+"From what you say, Dr. Arrowsmith, it is your opinion that no struggle
+took place?"
+
+"I am sure that there was no struggle," the doctor replied. "I have no
+question that Miss Carne was murdered in her sleep. I should say that
+the bedclothes were drawn down so lightly that she was not disturbed."
+
+"Does it not appear an extraordinary thing to you, Dr. Arrowsmith, that
+if, as it seems, Miss Carne did not awake, the murderer should have
+taken her life?"
+
+"Very extraordinary," the doctor said, emphatically. "I am wholly unable
+to account for it. I can understand that had she woke and sat up, a
+burglar might have killed her to secure his own safety, but that he
+should have quietly and deliberately set himself to murder her in her
+sleep is to me most extraordinary."
+
+"You will note this circumstance, gentlemen," the coroner said to the
+jury. "It is quite contrary to one's usual experiences in these cases.
+As a rule, thieves are not murderers. To secure their own safety they
+may take life, but as a rule they avoid running the risk of capital
+punishment, and their object is to effect robbery without rousing the
+inmates of the house. At present the evidence certainly points to
+premeditated murder rather than to murder arising out of robbery. It is
+true that robbery has taken place, but this might be merely a blind."
+
+"You know of no one, Dr. Arrowsmith, who would have been likely to
+entertain any feeling of hostility against Miss Carne?"
+
+"Certainly not, sir. She was, I should say, universally popular, and
+certainly among the people of Carnesford she was regarded with great
+affection, for she was continually doing good among them."
+
+"I am prepared to give evidence on that point," a voice said from the
+corner of the room, and there was a general movement of surprise as
+every one turned round to look at the speaker.
+
+"Then perhaps, sir, we may as well hear your evidence next," the coroner
+said, "because it may throw some light upon the matter and enable us to
+ask questions to the point of further witnesses."
+
+The lieutenant moved forward to the table: "My name is Charles Gulston.
+I am first-lieutenant of the _Tenebreuse_, the flagship at Plymouth. I
+had the honour of the acquaintance of Mr. and Miss Carne, and have spent
+a day or two here on several occasions. I may say that I was deeply
+attached to Miss Carne, and had hoped some day to make her my wife. The
+day before yesterday I came over here upon Mr. Carne's invitation to
+dine and spend the night. His dogcart met me at the station. As we drove
+up to the last gate--that leading into the garden--I alighted from the
+trap and told the man to drive it straight to the stable, while I walked
+across the lawn to the house. The drawing-room window was open, and as I
+passed I heard the voice of a man raised in tones of extreme passion, so
+much so that I stopped involuntarily. His words were:
+
+"'You have fooled me and spoilt my life, but you shall regret it. You
+think that after all these years I am to be thrown off like an old
+glove. No, by Heaven! You may throw me over, but I vow that you shall
+never marry this sailor, or any one else, whatever I may have to do to
+prevent it. You say I have the curse of the Carnes in my blood. You are
+right, and you shall have cause to regret it.'
+
+"The words were so loud and the tone so threatening that I ran round
+into the house and to the door, and should have entered it had not Mr.
+Carne, who was standing there, having apparently just come up, begged me
+not to do so, saying that his sister and cousin were having a quarrel,
+but that it was over now. As he was there I went away for a few minutes,
+and when I returned I found that Miss Carne had gone upstairs, and that
+her cousin had left, having, as Mr. Carne told me, left by the open
+window."
+
+While Lieutenant Gulston was speaking a deep silence reigned in the
+room, and as he mentioned what Reginald Carne had said, every eye turned
+towards Ronald Mervyn, who stood with face as white as death, and one
+arm with clenched hand across his breast, glaring at the speaker.
+
+"Do you mean, sir----?" he burst out as the lieutenant ceased; but the
+coroner at once intervened.
+
+"I must pray you to keep silent for the present, Captain Mervyn. You
+will have every opportunity of speaking presently.
+
+"As to these words that you overheard, Mr. Gulston, did you recognise
+the speaker of them before you heard from Mr. Carne who was with his
+sister in the drawing-room?"
+
+"Certainly. I recognised the voice at once as that of Captain Mervyn,
+whom I have met on several occasions."
+
+"Were you impressed with his words, or did they strike you as a mere
+outburst of temper?"
+
+"I was so impressed with the tone in which they were spoken that I ran
+round to the drawing-room to protect Miss Carne from violence."
+
+"Was it your impression, upon thinking of them afterwards, that the
+words were meant as a menace to Miss Carne?"
+
+"No, sir. The impression left upon my mind was that Captain Mervyn
+intended to fix some quarrel on me, as I had no doubt whatever that it
+was to me he alluded in his threats. The matter dwelt in my mind all the
+evening, for naturally nothing could have been more unpleasant than a
+public quarrel with a near relative of a lady to whom one is attached."
+
+There was a long silence. Then the coroner asked the usual question of
+the jurymen.
+
+None of them had a question to ask; indeed, all were so confounded by
+this new light thrown upon the matter that they had no power of framing
+a question.
+
+Job Harpur was then called. He testified to entering the bedroom of the
+deceased with Dr. Arrowsmith, and to the examination he had made of it.
+There he had found the jewel-box opened, its contents abstracted, and
+the watch gone. He could find nothing else disarranged in the room, or
+any trace whatever that would give a clue as to the identity of the
+murderer. He then looked out of the window with Dr. Arrowsmith, and saw
+by a few leaves lying on the ground, and by marks upon the bark of the
+ivy, that some one had got up or down.
+
+Dr. Arrowsmith had suggested that he should take up his post there, and
+not allow any one to approach, as a careful search might show footsteps
+or other marks that would be obliterated were people allowed to approach
+the window. When Captain Hendricks came they examined the ground
+together. They could find no signs of footsteps, but at a distance of
+some ten yards, at the foot of the wall, they found a torn glove, and
+this he produced.
+
+"You have no reason in connecting this with the case in any way, I
+suppose, constable?" the coroner asked as the glove was laid on the
+table before him. "It might have been lying there for some time, I
+suppose."
+
+"It might, sir."
+
+It was a dog-skin glove stitched with red, with three lines of black and
+red stitching down the back. While the glove was produced and examined
+by the jury, Ronald Mervyn was talking in whispers to some friends
+standing round him.
+
+"I wish to draw your attention," Lieutenant Gulston said in a low tone
+to Captain Hendricks, "that Captain Mervyn is at this moment holding in
+his hand a glove that in point of colour exactly matches that on the
+table; they are both a brighter yellow than usual." The Chief Constable
+glanced at the gloves and then whispered to the coroner. The latter
+started, and then said, "Captain Mervyn, would you kindly hand me the
+glove you have in your hand. It is suggested to me that its colour
+closely resembles that of the glove on the table." Mervyn, who had not
+been listening to the last part of the constable's evidence, turned
+round upon being spoken to.
+
+"My glove, yes, here it is. What do you want it for?" The coroner took
+the glove and laid it by the other. Colour and stitching matched
+exactly; there could be no doubt but that they were a pair. A smothered
+exclamation broke from almost every man in the room.
+
+"What is it?" Ronald Mervyn asked.
+
+"The constable has just testified, Captain Mervyn, that he found this
+glove a few feet from the window of the deceased. No doubt you can
+account for its being there, but until the matter is explained it has,
+of course, a somewhat serious aspect, coupled with the evidence of
+Lieutenant Gulston."
+
+Again Ronald Mervyn whitened to the hair.
+
+"Do I understand, sir," he said in a low voice, "that I am accused of the
+murder of my cousin?"
+
+"No one is at present accused," the coroner said, quietly. "We are only
+taking the evidence of all who know anything about this matter. I have
+no doubt whatever that you will be able to explain the matter perfectly,
+and to prove that it was physically impossible that you could have had
+any connection whatever with it."
+
+Ronald Mervyn passed his hand across his forehead.
+
+"Perhaps," the coroner continued, "if you have the fellow of the glove
+now handed to me in your pocket, you will kindly produce it, as that
+will, of course, put an end to this part of the subject."
+
+"I cannot," Ronald Mervyn answered. "I found as I was starting to come
+out this morning that one of my gloves was missing, and I may say at
+once that I have no doubt that the other glove is the one I lost; though
+how it can have got near the place where it was found I cannot explain."
+
+The men standing near fell back a little. The evidence given by Mr.
+Gulston had surprised them, but had scarcely affected their opinion of
+their neighbour, but this strong piece of confirmatory evidence gave a
+terrible shock to their confidence in him.
+
+Mr. Carne was next called. He testified to being summoned while dressing
+by the cries of the servants, and to having found his sister lying dead.
+
+"Now, Mr. Carne," the coroner said, "you have heard the evidence of
+Lieutenant Gulston as to a quarrel that appears to have taken place on
+the afternoon of this sad event, between your sister and Captain Mervyn.
+It seems from what he said that you also overheard a portion of it."
+
+"I beg to state that I attach no importance to this," Reginald Carne
+said, "and I absolutely refuse to give any credence to the supposition
+that my cousin, Captain Mervyn, was in any way instrumental in the death
+of my sister."
+
+"We all think that, Mr. Carne, but at the same time I must beg you to
+say what you know about the matter."
+
+"I know very little about it," Reginald Carne said, quietly. "I was
+about to enter the drawing-room, where I knew my cousin and my sister
+were, and I certainly heard his voice raised loudly. I opened the door
+quietly, as is my way, and was about to enter, when I heard words that
+showed me that the quarrel was somewhat serious. I felt that I had
+better leave them alone, and therefore quietly closed the door again. A
+few seconds later Lieutenant Gulston rushed in from the front door, and
+was about to enter when I stopped him. Seeing that it was a mere family
+wrangle, it was better that no third person should interfere in it,
+especially as I myself was at hand, ready to do so if necessary, which I
+was sure it was not."
+
+"But what were the words that you overheard, Mr. Carne?"
+
+Reginald Carne hesitated. "I do not think they were of any consequence"
+he said. "I am sure they were spoken on the heat of the moment, and
+meant nothing."
+
+"That is for us to judge, Mr. Carne. I must thank you to give them us as
+nearly as you can recollect."
+
+"He said then," Reginald Carne said, reluctantly, "'I swear you shall
+never marry this sailor or any one else, whatever I may have to do to
+prevent it.' That was all I heard."
+
+"Do you suppose the allusion was to Lieutenant Gulston?"
+
+"I thought so at the time, and that was one of the reasons why I did not
+wish him to enter. I thought by my cousin's tone that did Lieutenant
+Gulston enter at that moment an assault might take place."
+
+"What happened after the lieutenant, in compliance with your request,
+left you?"
+
+"I waited a minute or two and then went in. My sister was alone. She was
+naturally much vexed at what had taken place."
+
+"Will you tell me exactly what she said?"
+
+Again Reginald Carne hesitated.
+
+"I really don't think," he said after a pause, "that my sister meant
+what she said. She was indignant and excited, and I don't think that her
+words could be taken as evidence."
+
+"The jury will make all allowances, Mr. Carne. I have to ask you to tell
+them the words."
+
+"I cannot tell you the precise words," he said, "for she spoke for some
+little time. She began by saying that she had been grossly insulted by
+her cousin, and that she must insist that he did not enter the house
+again, for if he did she would certainly leave it. She said he was mad
+with passion; that he was in such a state that she did not feel her life
+was safe with him. I am sure, gentlemen, she did not at all mean what
+she said, but she was in a passion herself and would, I am sure, when
+she was cool, have spoken very differently."
+
+There was a deep silence in the room. At last the coroner said:
+
+"Just two more questions, Mr. Carne, and then we have done. Captain
+Mervyn, you say, had left the room when you entered it. Is there any
+other door to the drawing-room than that at which you were standing?"
+
+"No, sir, there is no other door; the window was wide open, and as it is
+only three feet from the ground I have no doubt he went out that way. I
+heard him gallop off a minute or two later, so that he must have run
+straight round to the stables."
+
+"In going from the drawing-room window to the stables, would he pass
+under the window of your sister's room?"
+
+"No," Reginald replied. "That is quite the other side of the house."
+
+"Then, in fact, the glove that was found there could not have been
+accidentally dropped on his way from the drawing-room to the stable?"
+
+"It could not," Reginald Carne admitted, reluctantly.
+
+"Thank you; if none of the jury wish to ask you any question, that is
+all we shall require at present."
+
+The jury shook their heads. They were altogether too horrified at the
+turn matters were taking to think of any questions to the point. The
+Chief Constable then called the gardener, who testified that he had
+swept the lawn on the afternoon of the day the murder was committed, and
+that had a glove been lying at that time on the spot where it was
+discovered he must have noticed it.
+
+When the man had done, Captain Hendricks intimated that that was all the
+evidence that he had at present to call.
+
+"Now, Captain Mervyn," the coroner said, "you will have an opportunity
+of explaining this matter, and, no doubt, will be able to tell us where
+you were at the time Miss Carne met her death, and to produce witnesses
+who will at once set this mysterious affair, as far as you are
+concerned, at rest."
+
+Ronald Mervyn made a step forward. He was still very pale, but the look
+of anger with which he had first heard the evidence against him had
+passed, and his face was grave and quiet.
+
+"I admit, sir," he began in a steady voice, "the whole facts that have
+been testified. I acknowledge that on that afternoon I had a serious
+quarrel with my cousin, Margaret Carne. The subject is a painful one to
+touch upon, but I am compelled to do so. I had almost from boyhood
+regarded her as my future wife. There was a boy and girl understanding
+between us to that effect, and although no formal engagement had taken
+place, she had never said anything to lead me to believe that she had
+changed her mind on the subject; and I think I may say that in both of
+our families it was considered probable that at some time or other we
+should be married.
+
+"On that afternoon I spoke sharply to her--I admit that--as to her
+receiving the attentions of another man; and upon her denying altogether
+my right to speak to her on such a subject, and repudiating the idea of
+any engagement between us, I certainly, I admit it with the greatest
+grief, lost my temper. Unfortunately I have been from a child given to
+occasional fits of passion. It is long since I have done so, but upon
+this occasion the suddenness of the shock, and the bitterness of my
+disappointment, carried me beyond myself, and I admit that I used the
+words that Lieutenant Gulston has repeated to you. But I declare that I
+had no idea whatever, even at that moment, of making any personal threat
+against her. What was in my mind was to endeavour in some way or other
+to prevent her marrying another man."
+
+Here he paused for a minute. So far the effect of his words had been
+most favourable, and as he stopped, his friends breathed more easily,
+and the jury furtively nodded to each other with an air of relief.
+
+"As to the glove," Ronald Mervyn went on, deliberately, "I cannot
+account for its being in the place where it was found. I certainly had
+both gloves on when I rode over here; how I lost it, or where I lost it,
+I am wholly unable to say. I may also add that I admit that I went
+direct from the drawing-room to the stable, and did not pass round the
+side of the house where the glove was found." He again paused. "As to
+where I was between one o'clock and half-past two the next morning, I
+can give you no evidence whatever." A gasp of dismay broke from almost
+every one in the room.
+
+"It was becoming dark when I mounted my horse," he said, "and I rode
+straight away; it is my custom, as my fellow-officers will tell you,
+when I am out of spirits, or anything has upset me, to ride away for
+hours until the fit has left me, and I have sometimes been out all
+night. It was so on this occasion. I mounted and rode away. I cannot say
+which road I took, for when I ride upon such occasions, I am absorbed in
+my thoughts and my horse goes where he will. Of myself, I do not know
+exactly at what hour I got home, but I asked the stableman, who took my
+horse, next morning, and he said the clock over the stable-gate had just
+struck half-past three when I rode in. I do not know that I have
+anything more to say."
+
+The silence was almost oppressive for a minute or two after he had
+finished, and then the coroner said: "The room will now be cleared of
+all except the jury."
+
+The public trooped out in silence. Each man looked in his neighbour's
+face to see what he thought, but no one ventured upon a word until they
+had gone through the hall and out into the garden. Then they broke up in
+little knots, and began in low tones to discuss the scene in the
+dining-room. The shock given by the news of the murder of Miss Carne was
+scarcely greater than that which had now been caused by the proceedings
+before the coroner. A greater part of those present at the inquest were
+personal friends of the Carnes, together with three or four farmers
+having large holdings under them. Very few of the villagers were
+present, it being felt that although, no doubt, every one had a right to
+admission to the inquest, it was not for folks at Carnesford to thrust
+themselves into the affairs of the family at The Hold.
+
+Ronald Mervyn had, like the rest, left the room when it was cleared. As
+he went out into the garden, two or three of his friends were about to
+speak to him, but he turned off with a wave of the hand, and paced up
+and down the front of the house, walking slowly, with his head bent.
+
+"This is a horribly awkward business for Mervyn," one of the young men,
+who would have spoken to him, said. "Of course Mervyn is innocent; still
+it is most unfortunate that he can't prove where he was."
+
+"Most unfortunate," another repeated. "Then there's that affair of the
+glove and the quarrel. Things look very awkward, I must say. Of course,
+I don't believe for a moment Mervyn did it, because we know him, but I
+don't know what view a jury of strangers might take of it."
+
+Two or three of the others were silent. There was present in their minds
+the story of The Hold, and the admitted fact of insanity in the family
+of Ronald Mervyn, which was in close connection with the Carnes. Had it
+been any one else they, too, would have disbelieved the possibility of
+Ronald Mervyn having murdered Margaret Carne. As it was, they doubted:
+there had been other murders in the history of the Carnes. But no one
+gave utterance to these thoughts, they were all friends or acquaintances
+of the Mervyn family. Ronald might yet be able to clear himself
+completely. At any rate, at present no one was inclined to admit that
+there could be any doubt of his innocence.
+
+"Well, what do you think, doctor, now?" Lieutenant Gulston asked his
+friend, as separated from the rest they strolled across the garden.
+
+"I don't quite know what to think," Dr. Mackenzie said, after a pause.
+
+"No?" Gulston said in surprise. "Why it seems to me as clear as the sun
+at noon-day. What I heard seemed pretty conclusive. Now there is the
+confirmation of the finding of the glove, and this cock and bull story
+of his riding about for hours and not knowing where he was."
+
+"Yes, I give due weight to these things," the doctor said, after another
+pause, "and admit that they constitute formidable circumstantial
+evidence. I can't account for the glove being found there. I admit that
+is certainly an awkward fact to get over. The ride I regard as
+unfortunate rather than damnatory, especially if, as he says, his fellow
+officers can prove that at times, when upset, he was in the habit of
+going off for hours on horseback."
+
+"But who else could have done it, Mackenzie? You see the evidence of the
+doctor went to show that she was murdered when asleep; no common burglar
+would have taken life needlessly, and have run the risk of hanging; the
+whole thing points to the fact that it was done out of revenge or out of
+ill-feeling of some sort, and has it not been shown that there is not a
+soul in the world except Mervyn who had a shadow of ill-feeling against
+her?"
+
+"No, that has not been shown," the doctor said, quietly. "No one was her
+enemy, so far as the witnesses who were asked knew; but that is a very
+different thing; it's a very difficult thing to prove that any one in
+the world has no enemies. Miss Carne may have had some; some servant may
+have been discharged upon her complaint, she may have given deep offence
+to some one or other. There is never any saying."
+
+"Of course that is possible," said the lieutenant again, "but the
+evidence all goes against one man, who is known to have an enmity
+against her, and who has, to say the least of it, a taint of insanity in
+his blood. What are the grounds on which you doubt?"
+
+"Principally on his own statement, Gulston. I watched him narrowly from
+the time that you gave your evidence, and I own that my impression is
+that he is innocent. I give every weight to your evidence and that
+afforded by the glove, and to his being unable to prove where he was;
+and yet, alike from his face, his manner, and the tone of his voice, I
+do not think that he is capable of murder."
+
+No other words were spoken for some time, then the lieutenant asked:
+
+"Do you think that an insane person could commit a crime of this kind
+and have no memory of it in their saner moments?"
+
+"That is a difficult question, Gulston. I do believe that a person in a
+sudden paroxysm of madness might commit a murder, and upon his recovery
+be perfectly unconscious of it; but I do not for a moment believe that a
+madman sufficiently sane to act with the cunning here shown in the mode
+of obtaining access, by the quiet stealthiness in which the victim was
+killed whilst in her sleep, and by the attempt to divert suspicion by
+the abstraction of the trinkets, would lose all memory of his actions
+afterwards. If Captain Mervyn did this thing, I am sure he would be
+conscious of it, and I am convinced, as I said, that he is not
+conscious."
+
+"What will the jury think?" the lieutenant asked after a long pause.
+
+"I think they are sure to return a verdict against him. A coroner's jury
+are not supposed to go to the bottom of a matter; they are simply to
+declare whether there is _primâ facie_ evidence connecting any one with
+a crime; such evidence as is sufficient to justify them in coming to a
+conclusion that it should at any rate be further examined into. It's a
+very different thing with a jury at a trial; they have the whole of the
+evidence that can be obtained before them. They have all the light that
+can be thrown on the question by the counsel on both sides, and the
+assistance of the summing-up of the judge, and have then to decide if
+the guilt of the man is absolutely proven. A coroner's jury is not
+supposed to go into the whole merits of the case, and their finding
+means no more than the decision of a magistrate to commit a prisoner for
+trial. I think the coroner will tell the jury that in this case such
+evidence as there is before them points to the fact that Captain Mervyn
+committed this murder, and that it will be their duty to find such a
+verdict as will ensure the case being further gone into."
+
+"Most of the jury are tenants of the Carnes," Gulston said; "two or
+three of them I know are, for I met them at the inn when I was over here
+fishing. They will scarcely like to find against a relation of the
+family."
+
+"I don't suppose they will," the doctor argued, "but at the same time
+the coroner will not improbably point out to them that their verdict
+will simply lead to further investigation of the case, and that even for
+Captain Mervyn's own sake it is desirable that this should take place,
+for that the matter could not possibly rest here. Were they to acquit
+him, I imagine the Chief Constable would at once arrest him and bring
+him before a magistrate, who, upon hearing a repetition of the evidence
+given to-day, would have no choice but to commit him for trial."
+
+"I suppose he would do that, anyhow?" Lieutenant Gulston said.
+
+"Not necessarily. I fancy a man can be tried upon the finding of a
+coroner's jury as well as upon that of a magistrate. Perhaps, however,
+if the coroner's jury finds against him he may be formally brought up
+before the magistrates, and a portion of the evidence heard, sufficient
+to justify them in committing him for trial. See, people are going into
+the house again. Probably they have thrown the door open, and the jury
+are going to give their finding. I don't think we need go in."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+RUTH POWLETT.
+
+
+Lieutenant Gulston and his companion had not long to wait to learn the
+verdict, for in a few minutes the people began to pour out of the house,
+and a constable came out, and, after looking round, walked up to the
+lieutenant.
+
+"Mr. Gulston," he said, "your presence will be required to-morrow at
+eleven o'clock at Mr. Volkes's. Captain Mervyn will be brought up there
+at eleven o'clock to-morrow."
+
+"Very well," Mr. Gulston replied. "What verdict have the coroners jury
+found?"
+
+"They have found Captain Mervyn guilty of wilful murder," the man
+replied.
+
+The next morning the inquiry was heard before Mr. Volkes and two other
+magistrates, and the doctor's evidence, that of Mr. Gulston, the
+gardener, the cook, and the constable who found the glove, was
+considered sufficient. Mr. Carne was not summoned, and although Ruth
+Powlett's name was called, she did not answer to it, Dr. Arrowsmith
+explaining to the bench that she was too ill to be present. Captain
+Mervyn was asked if he had any questions to ask the witnesses, or any
+statement to make; but he simply said that he should reserve his
+defence, and the case was then adjourned for a week to see if any
+further evidence would be forthcoming, the magistrates intimating that
+unless some altogether new light was thrown upon the subject they should
+commit the prisoner for trial.
+
+Very gravely and silently the men who composed the coroner's jury walked
+down to Carnesford; scarce a word was spoken on the way, and a
+stranger, meeting them, might have supposed, not unnaturally, that they
+were returning from a funeral. The news had arrived before them, having
+been carried down at full speed by one of the few villagers who had been
+present. It had at first been received with absolute incredulity. The
+idea that Captain Mervyn should kill Margaret Carne seemed so wild a
+proposition that the first person to arrive with it was wholly
+disbelieved, and even the confirmation of those who followed him was
+also doubted. People, however, moved towards the foot of the hill to
+meet the jury, and a small crowd had collected by the time they had come
+down. The jury, upon being questioned, admitted that they had found
+Ronald Mervyn guilty, and when the fact was grasped, a sort of awed
+silence fell upon their hearers.
+
+"Why, whatever were you all thinking of?" one of the men said. "Why, you
+must have been downright mad. You find that Captain Mervyn was the
+murderer of his own cousin, and Mr. Carne your own landlord, too! I
+never heard tell of such a thing."
+
+The jury, indeed, were regarded almost as culprits; even to themselves
+now, their verdict seemed monstrous, though at the time the evidence had
+appeared so strong that they had felt themselves unable to resist the
+coroner's expressed opinion that, upon the evidence before them, they
+had no course open but to return a verdict of wilful murder against
+Ronald Mervyn.
+
+"You will hear about it presently, lads," Hiram Powlett said. "If you
+had been in our place, and had heard what we have heard, you would have
+said the same. I should have no more believed it myself this morning, if
+any one had told me that Captain Mervyn had murdered his cousin, than I
+should if they had told me that the mill stream was running the wrong
+way; but now I sees otherwise. There ain't one of us here as wouldn't
+have given another verdict if we could have done so, but having heard
+what we heard there weren't no other verdict to be given. I would have
+given a hundred pounds myself to have found any other way, but I
+couldn't go against my conscience; and besides, the coroner told us that
+if Captain Mervyn is innocent, he will have full opportunity of proving
+it at the trial. And now I must be off home, for I hear Mr. Carne sent
+down Ruth, as soon as she had given her evidence, in one of his
+carriages."
+
+Ruth had so far recovered that she was sitting on a chair by the fire
+when her father entered. She had heard nothing of what had taken place
+at the inquest beyond her own evidence, and she looked anxiously at her
+father as he slowly took off his coat and hat and hung them up, and came
+over to the fire beside her.
+
+"How are you feeling now, Ruth? You were looking sadly when you were in
+the court."
+
+"I believe you will kill the child between you," Mrs. Powlett said,
+testily, as she entered with the dinner. "Any one can see with half an
+eye that she ain't fit to be going before a court and giving evidence
+after the shock as she 'as had. She ought to have been left quiet. If
+you had half the feeling of a man in you, Hiram Powlett, you wouldn't
+have let them do it. If I had been there I should have got up and said:
+'Your worship can see for yourself as my daughter is more fit to be in
+bed than to be worrited and questioned here. She ain't got nothing to
+tell you more than you knows yourself. She just came in and found her
+mistress dead, and that's all she knows about it.'"
+
+"And what verdict did you find, father?" Ruth asked, as soon as her
+mother had finished.
+
+[Illustration: "'_What verdict did you find, father?' Ruth asked._"]
+
+"Verdict! What verdict should they find," Mrs. Powlett said, angrily,
+"but that they just knew nothing at all about it?"
+
+"That wasn't the verdict, Hesba," Hiram Powlett said, as he seated
+himself at the table; "I wish to God it had been. There was things came
+out at the trial as altogether altered the case. We found as one had
+been quarrelling with Miss Carne, and threatening what he would do to
+her. We found as something belonging to him had been found close at
+hand, where it could only have been put somewhere about the time of the
+murder. We found as the person couldn't tell us where he had been at the
+time; and though it were sorely against us to do it, and seemed the most
+unnatural thing in the world, we had to find a verdict of wilful murder
+against Captain Mervyn."
+
+Ruth had risen from her seat as her father was speaking; her face had
+grown whiter and whiter as he went on, and one hand had gone to her
+heart, while the other clutched at the back of the chair. As he finished
+she gave a sudden start, and burst into a scream of hysterical laughter,
+so startling Hiram Powlett and his wife, neither of whom was looking at
+her, that the former upset his chair as he started to his feet, while
+the latter dropped the plate she was in the act of setting before him.
+
+For some minutes the wild laughter rang through the house. Hesba had at
+once taken the girl in her arms, and seated her in the chair again, and
+after trying for a minute or two vainly to soothe her, turned to Hiram.
+
+"Don't stand staring there, Hiram; run for the doctor. Look what you
+have done, with your stories about your courts and your verdicts. You
+have just scared her out of her mind."
+
+Fortunately as Hiram ran up into the village street he saw Dr.
+Arrowsmith--who had waited at The Hold, talking over the matter to some
+of his neighbours--driving down the hill, and at once fetched him in to
+Ruth.
+
+"The girl is in violent hysterics, Hiram," the doctor said, as soon as
+he had entered. "Carry her upstairs, and lay her down on the bed; it's
+no use trying to get her to drink that now"--for Mrs. Powlett was trying
+in vain to get Ruth to take some brandy--"she cannot swallow. Now I will
+help you upstairs with her. The great thing is to get her to lie down."
+
+It seemed hours to Hiram Powlett, as he listened to the wild screaming
+and laughter overhead, but in reality it was not many minutes before the
+doctor came down again.
+
+"I am going to drive home and get some chloroform," he said, "I shan't
+be two minutes gone;" and before Hiram could ask a question he hurried
+out, jumped into his dogcart, and drove off.
+
+There was no change until his return, except that once or twice there
+was a moment's cessation in the screaming. Hiram could not remain in the
+house, but went out and walked up and down until the doctor returned.
+
+"No change, I hear," the latter remarked, as he jumped down from the
+dogcart, for Ruth's cries could be heard down at the gate of the garden.
+
+Then he hurried on into the house and upstairs, poured some chloroform
+into a handkerchief, and waved it in Ruth's face. Gradually the screams
+abated, and in two or three minutes the girl was lying quiet and still.
+
+"Now, lift her head, Mrs. Powlett, while I pour a few drops of this
+narcotic between her lips."
+
+"Can she swallow, sir?"
+
+"Not consciously, but it will find its way down her throat. I don't like
+doing it, but we must send her to sleep. Weak as she is, and shaken by
+all she has gone through, she will kill herself if she goes on with
+these hysterics."
+
+As soon as Ruth showed signs of returning consciousness, the doctor
+again placed the handkerchief near her face, keeping his fingers
+carefully on her pulse as he did so.
+
+This was repeated again and again, and then the opiate began to take
+effect.
+
+"I think she will do now," he said, at last; "it's a hazardous
+experiment, but it was necessary. Now you can go down to your husband
+for a few minutes, and tell him how she is. I shall remain here for a
+time."
+
+"She is off now," Mrs. Powlett said, as she came downstairs.
+
+"Asleep?" Hiram asked.
+
+"Well, it's sleep, or chloroform, or laudanum, or a little of each of
+them," Mrs. Powlett said. "Anyhow, she is lying quiet, and looks as if
+she were asleep. Dear, dear, what things girls are. And to think that
+all these years we have never had a day's sickness with her, and now it
+all comes one on the top of the other; but, of course, when one's got a
+husband who comes and blurts things out before a girl that's that
+delicate that the wind would blow her over, what can you expect?"
+
+"I didn't mean----" Hiram began, but Hesba cut him short.
+
+"That's the way with men; they never do mean; they never use the little
+sense they have got. I don't expect that there's a man, woman, or child
+in Carnesford that wouldn't have known better. Here you had her down
+here for well nigh a month as bad as she could be; then she gets that
+terrible shock and goes off fainting all day; then she has to go into
+court, and as if that wasn't enough for her, you comes and blurts out
+before her that you found as Captain Mervyn murdered his cousin. I
+wouldn't call myself a man if I was you, Hiram Powlett. I had a better
+idea of you before."
+
+"What could I have said?" urged Hiram, feebly.
+
+"Said?" Hesba repeated, scornfully. "In the first place you need not
+have said anything; then if you couldn't hold your tongue, you might
+have said that, of course, you had found a verdict of wilful murder
+against some one or other, which would be quite true; but even if it
+hadn't been you need not have minded that when it comes to saving your
+own daughter's life. There, sit down and have some food, and go out to
+your mill."
+
+Hiram Powlett had no appetite whatever, but he meekly sat down, ate a
+few mouthfuls of food, and then, when Hesba left the room for a moment,
+took his cap from the peg and went out. Mrs. Powlett ate her meal
+standing; she had no more appetite for it than her husband, but she knew
+she should not have an opportunity of coming downstairs again when once
+the doctor had left, so she conscientiously forced herself to eat as
+much as usual, and then, after clearing away the things, and warning the
+little servant that she must not make the slightest sound, she went into
+the parlour and sat down until the doctor came downstairs.
+
+"She is quiet now. I will come back again when I have had my dinner. Sit
+close by her, and if you see any signs of change, sprinkle a little
+water on her face and send for me; and you may pour a few drops of
+brandy down her throat. If her breathing continues regular, and as slow
+as it is at present, do nothing until I return."
+
+For a fortnight Ruth Powlett lay between life and death, then she turned
+the corner, and very slowly and gradually began to recover. Six weeks
+had passed by, and she was about again, a mere shadow of her former
+self. No further evidence of any kind had been obtained with reference
+to the murder at The Hold. Mrs. Mervyn had a detective down from
+London, and he had spent days in calling at all the villages within
+twenty miles in the endeavour to find some one who had heard a horseman
+pass between the hours of twelve and three. This, however, he failed to
+do; he had tracked the course of Ronald Mervyn up to ten o'clock, but
+after that hour he could gather no information. Even a reward of fifty
+pounds failed to bring any tidings of a horseman after that hour. Ronald
+Mervyn had followed a circuitous route, apparently going quite at
+random, but when heard of at ten o'clock he was but thirteen miles
+distant, which would have left an ample margin of time for him to have
+ridden to The Hold and carried out his designs.
+
+The description of Margaret Carne's watch and jewellery had been
+circulated by the police throughout England, but so far none of it
+appeared to have been offered for sale at any jeweller's or pawnbroker's
+in the country. In South Devonshire, people were divided into two
+parties on the subject of Ronald Mervyn's guilt or innocence. No one
+remained neutral on the subject. Some were absolutely convinced that, in
+spite of appearances, he was innocent. Others were equally positive that
+he was guilty. The former insisted that the original hypothesis as to
+the murder was the correct one, and that it had been committed by some
+tramp. As to the impossibility of this man having killed Margaret Carne
+in her sleep, they declared that there was nothing in it. Every one knew
+that tramps were rough subjects, and this man might be an especially
+atrocious one. Anyhow, it was a thousand times more probable that this
+was how it came about than that Ronald Mervyn should have murdered his
+cousin.
+
+The other party were ready to admit that it was improbable that a man
+should murder his cousin, but they fell back upon the evidence that
+showed he and no one else had done it, and also upon the well-known
+curse upon Carne's Hold, and the fact that Mervyn on his mother's side
+had the Carne blood in his veins. Every one knew, they argued, that mad
+people murder their husbands, wives, or children; why, then, not a
+cousin?
+
+There was a similar difference of opinion on the subject among the
+little conclave in the snuggery at the "Carne's Arms."
+
+Jacob Carey and the old clerk were both of opinion that Ronald Mervyn
+was guilty, the former basing his opinion solely upon the evidence, and
+the latter upon the curse of the Carnes. The landlord maintained a
+diplomatic reserve. It was not for him to offend either section of his
+customers by taking a decided side. He therefore contented himself by
+saying, "There's a great deal in what you say," to every argument
+brought forward in the coffee-room, the tap-room, or snuggery.
+
+The "Carne's Arms" was doing a larger trade than it had ever done
+before. There were two detectives staying in the house, and every day
+coaches brought loads of visitors from Plymouth; while on Saturday and
+Monday hundreds of people tramped over from the railway station, coming
+from Plymouth and Exeter to have a view of the house where the tragedy
+had taken place. The pressure of business was indeed so great that the
+landlord had been obliged to take on two extra hands in the kitchen, and
+to hire three girls from the village to attend to the customers in the
+coffee-room and tap-room.
+
+Hiram Powlett was Captain Mervyn's champion in the snuggery. It was true
+he had few arguments to adduce in favour of his belief, and he allowed
+the smith and Reuben Claphurst to do the greater part of the talking,
+while he smoked his pipe silently, always winding up the discussion by
+saying: "Well, neighbours, I can't do much in the way of arguing, and I
+allow that what you say is right enough, but for all that I believe
+Captain Mervyn to be innocent. My daughter Ruth won't hear a word said
+as to his being guilty, and I think with her."
+
+Hiram Powlett and his wife had indeed both done their best to carry out
+the doctor's orders that nothing should be said in Ruth's hearing of the
+murder. But the girl, as soon as she was sufficiently recovered to talk,
+was always asking questions as to whether any further clue had been
+discovered as to the murderer, and she was indeed so anxious and urgent
+on the matter that the doctor had felt it better to withdraw his
+interdict, and to allow her father to tell her any little scraps of
+gossip he had picked up.
+
+"The idea has evidently got possession of her mind, Hiram," the doctor
+said. "She was very attached to her mistress, and is no doubt most
+anxious that her murderer shall be brought to justice. I have changed my
+opinion, and think now that you had better not shirk the subject. She
+has been a good deal more feverish again the last day or two. Of course
+she must stay here now until after the trial, which will come off in a
+fortnight. When that is over, I should strongly recommend you to send
+her away from here for a time; it doesn't matter where she goes to, so
+that she is away from here. If you have any friends or relations you can
+send her to, let her go to them; if not, I will see about some home for
+convalescent patients where she would be taken in. There are several of
+them about; one at the Isle of Wight, I believe. That would suit her
+very well, as the climate is mild. Anyhow, she must not stop here. I
+shall be heartily glad myself when the trial is over. Go where I will I
+hear nothing else talked about. No one attends to his own business, and
+the amount of drunkenness in the place has trebled. If I had my way, I
+would have a regulation inflicting a heavy fine upon every one who
+after the conclusion of the trial ventured to make any allusion, however
+slight, to it. It's disgusting to see the number of people who come here
+every day and go up the hill to have a look at the house."
+
+As the day for the trial approached, Ruth Powlett became more and more
+anxious and nervous about it. It kept her awake at nights, and she
+brooded on it during the day. For hours she would sit with her eyes
+fixed upon the fire without opening her lips, and the doctor became
+seriously anxious lest she should be again laid up before it became
+necessary to give her evidence.
+
+There was indeed a terrible fight going on in Ruth's mind. She knew that
+Captain Mervyn was innocent; she knew that George Forester was guilty,
+and yet the memory of her past life was still so strong in her that she
+could not bring herself to denounce him, unless it became absolutely
+necessary to do so to save Ronald Mervyn's life. Ronald had insulted and
+threatened her mistress, and had not George Forester been beforehand
+with him, he might have done her some grievous harm, or he might perhaps
+have murdered Lieutenant Gulston, for whom Ruth felt a strong attraction
+because she had discerned that Margaret loved him.
+
+It was right, then, that Ronald Mervyn should suffer, but it was not
+right that he should be hung. If he could clear himself without her
+being obliged to denounce George Forester, let him do so; but if not, if
+he were found guilty, then she had no other course open to her. She must
+come forward and produce the knife and describe how she had found it,
+and confess why she had so long concealed it. All this would be very
+terrible. She pictured to herself the amazement of the court, the
+disapproval with which her conduct would be received, the way in which
+she would be blamed by all who knew her, the need there would be for
+going away from home afterwards and living somewhere where no one would
+know her story; but not for this did she ever waver in her
+determination. Ronald Mervyn must be saved from hanging, for she would
+be as bad as a murderess if she kept silent and suffered him to be
+executed for a crime she knew that he had not committed.
+
+Still she would not do it until the last thing; not till everything else
+failed would she denounce George Forester as a murderer. She loved him
+no longer; she knew that had he not been interrupted he would perhaps
+have killed her. It was partly the thought of their boy-and-girl life,
+and of the hours they had spent together by the side of the Dare, that
+softened her heart; this and the thought of the misery of the kind old
+man, his father.
+
+"I don't understand Ruth," the doctor said one day to Mrs. Powlett. "She
+ought to get better faster than she does. Of course she has had a
+terrible shock, and I quite understand its affecting her as it did, just
+as she was recovering from her former illness; but she does not mend as
+she ought to do. She has lost strength instead of gaining it during the
+past week. She is flushed and feverish, and has a hunted look about her
+eyes. If I had known nothing of the circumstances of the case I should
+have said that she has something on her mind."
+
+"There is nothing she can have on her mind," Hesba Powlett replied. "You
+know we had trouble with her about that good-for-nothing George
+Forester?" The doctor nodded. It was pretty well known throughout the
+village how matters stood.
+
+"She gave him up weeks and weeks ago, just at the time he went away,
+when he was wanted for the share he had in that poaching business up in
+the Carne Woods. She told her father that she saw we had been right, and
+would have nothing more to say to him. That was a week or more before
+she had that fall on the hill, and I have never heard her mention his
+name since. I feel sure that she is not fretting about him. Ruth has
+always been a sensible girl, and once she has made up her mind she
+wasn't likely to turn back again."
+
+"No, I should not say that she was fretting on his account, Mrs.
+Powlett. Fretting in young women shows itself in lowness of spirits and
+general depression and want of tone. In her case it appears to me to be
+rather some sort of anxiety, though about what I cannot guess. If it had
+been any other girl in the village, I should have had my suspicion that
+she had taken a fancy in some way to Ronald Mervyn, and was anxious
+about the trial; but of course that is out of the question in Ruth's
+case. No doubt she is anxious about the trial, and has a nervous dread
+of being obliged to stand up and describe the scene again in a crowded
+court, and perhaps be questioned and cross-questioned. It's a trying
+thing for any one; still more so, of course, for a girl whose nerves
+have been shattered, and who is in a weak and debilitated state of
+health. Well, I shall be heartily glad when it's all over, and we settle
+down into our ordinary ways."
+
+"What do you think will be the verdict, sir? Do you think they will find
+Captain Mervyn guilty?"
+
+"I do not like to give an opinion, Mrs. Powlett. It depends so much on
+the jury, and on the way the counsel and judge put it, but I hardly
+think that the evidence is sufficient to hang a man. There are, of
+course, grave grounds for suspicion, but I should doubt whether any jury
+would find Mervyn guilty upon them. It would be amply sufficient if it
+were merely a case of robbery, but men don't like to find a verdict when
+there is a possibility of their finding out too late to save a man's
+life that they have been mistaken. At any rate, Mrs. Powlett, do your
+best to keep Ruth's thoughts from dwelling on the subject. I wish it was
+summer weather, and that she could sit out in the garden. Of course she
+is not strong enough to be able to walk, except for a hundred yards or
+so, but I would get her to take a little turn, if it's only once round
+the garden now and then."
+
+"I don't think she would walk if she could, sir. When I was speaking the
+other day about her getting well enough to go out for walks, she turned
+white and shivered, and said she didn't want to go outside the door
+again, not for ever so long. That fall she got seems to have changed her
+altogether."
+
+"Well, well, we must get her away, as I said, Mrs. Powlett. She wants
+more bracing air than you have got here, and to have the wind either
+coming straight off the sea or else to be in some hilly, breezy place."
+
+"I am sure I don't know how it's to be managed. She can't go by herself,
+and I don't see how I am to leave Hiram."
+
+"You will have to leave Hiram for a day or two, and take her wherever we
+fix upon as the best place and settle her there. Hiram will get on very
+well without you for a day or two. She is no more fit to travel alone
+than a baby. However, I must be off. Keep up her spirits as well as you
+can, and don't let her brood over this business."
+
+At last the day when Ronald Mervyn was to be tried for murder arrived.
+The Assizes were at Exeter, and never in the memory of man had there
+been such numerous applications to the sheriff and other officials for
+seats in the court. The interest in the case had extended far beyond the
+limits of Devonshire. The rank in life of the victim and the accused,
+the cold-blooded nature of the murder, and the nature of the evidence
+rendered the affair a _cause célèbre_, and the _pros_ and _cons_ of the
+case were discussed far and wide.
+
+The story of the curse of Carne's Hold had been given at full length by
+the reporters of the local papers and copied by all the journals of the
+kingdom, and the fact that madness was hereditary in the family went for
+much in the arguments of those who held that Captain Mervyn was guilty.
+Had it not been for this, the tide of public feeling would have been
+distinctly in favour of the accused.
+
+By itself, the rest of the evidence was inconclusive. Men who have been
+jilted not unfrequently use strong language, and even threats, without
+anything coming of it. The fact of the glove having been found where it
+was was certainly suspicious, but, after all, that in itself did not
+count for much; the glove might have been blown to where it was found,
+or a dog might have picked it up and carried it there. A dozen
+explanations, all possible even if not probable, could be given for its
+presence, and before a man could be found guilty of murder upon
+circumstantial evidence, there must be no room whatever left for doubt.
+Therefore, the quarrel, the finding of the glove, and even the fact that
+Captain Mervyn was unable to prove an _alibi_, would scarcely have
+caused public opinion to decide against him had it not been for the fact
+of that taint of insanity in his blood. Call a dog mad and you hang him.
+Call a man mad and the public will easily credit him with the commission
+of the most desperate crimes; therefore, the feeling of the majority of
+those who assembled at the Court House at Exeter, was unfavourable to
+Ronald Mervyn.
+
+The attitude of the prisoner did much to dispel this impression; he was
+grave, as one might well be with such a charge hanging over him, but
+there was nothing moody or sombre, still less wild, in his expression;
+he looked calmly round the court, acknowledged the encouraging nods
+given him by some of his fellow officers, who had come over to bear
+witness on the point of character, and who to a man believed him to be
+innocent. Certainly there was nothing to suggest in the slightest degree
+the suspicion of madness in his appearance; and many of those who had
+before been impressed by the story of the family taint, now veered round
+and whispered to their friends that the story of insanity was all
+nonsense, and that Ronald Mervyn looked wholly incapable of such a crime
+as that of which he was accused.
+
+Dr. Arrowsmith had brought Ruth over under his personal charge. As she
+came out, when he called in his trap to take her to the station, he was
+surprised at the change which had taken place since he saw her the
+evening before. The anxious and nervous expression of her face was gone,
+and she looked calm and composed. There was indeed a certain determined
+expression in her face that led the doctor to believe that she had by a
+great effort conquered her fear of the ordeal to which she was to be
+exposed, and had nerved herself to go through it unflinchingly. As they
+journeyed in the train she asked him:
+
+"Shall we be in the court all the time, doctor?"
+
+"No, Ruth, I do not think you will be in court. I fancy the witnesses
+remain in a room together until they are wanted. I myself shall be in
+court, as the solicitor for the defence is a personal friend of mine,
+and will give me a place at his table."
+
+"Do you think, sir, that after I have given my evidence they would let
+me stand there until it is done?"
+
+"I should hardly think so, Ruth, and I am sure it would be a very bad
+thing for you."
+
+"I have a particular reason for wanting to be there, Dr. Arrowsmith, and
+to hear it to the end. A most particular reason. I can't tell you what
+it is, but I must be there."
+
+The doctor looked at her in surprise.
+
+"You think you will not feel the suspense as much if you are in the
+court as you would outside Ruth? Is that what you mean?"
+
+"That's it, partly, sir. Anyhow, I feel that I must be there."
+
+"Very well, Ruth, if you see it in that way, I will do what I can for
+you. I will ask Captain Hendricks to speak to the policemen in the
+court, and tell them to let you remain there after you have given your
+evidence. There will be a great crowd, you know, and it will be very
+close, and altogether I think it is foolish and wrong of you."
+
+"I am sorry you think so, sir; but I do want to be there, whatever
+happens to me afterwards."
+
+"Of course you can do as you like, Ruth; but the probability is that you
+will faint before you have been there five minutes."
+
+"I will try not to, sir, and I don't think I shall. It is only when I
+get a sudden shock that I faint, and I don't think I can get one there."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE VERDICT.
+
+
+The trial of Ronald Mervyn for the murder of Margaret Carne was marked
+by none of the unexpected turns or sudden surprises that not
+unfrequently give such a dramatic interest to the proceedings. All the
+efforts of the police had failed in unearthing any facts that could
+throw a new light upon the subject, and the evidence brought forward was
+almost identical with that given at the coroner's inquest; the counsel
+asked a great many questions, but elicited no new facts of importance;
+the only witnesses called for the defence were those as to character,
+and one after another the officers of Mervyn's regiment came forward to
+testify that he was eminently popular, and that they had never observed
+in him any signs of madness.
+
+They said that at times he got out of spirits, and was in the habit of
+withdrawing himself from their society, and that on these occasions he
+not infrequently went for long rides, and was absent many hours; he was,
+perhaps, what might be called a little queer, but certainly not in the
+slightest degree mad. Old servants of the family and many neighbours
+gave testimony to the same effect, and Dr. Arrowsmith testified that he
+had attended him from childhood, and that he had never seen any signs of
+insanity in his words or actions.
+
+Ruth had escaped the one question which she dreaded, whether she had
+seen anything in the room that would afford a clue to the discovery of
+the perpetrator of the crime. She had thought this question over a
+hundred times, and she had pondered over the answer she should give. She
+was firmly resolved not to tell an actual lie, but either to evade the
+question by replying that when she recovered her senses she made
+straight to the door without looking round; or, if forced to reply
+directly, to refuse to answer, whatever the consequences might be. It
+was then with a sigh of deep relief that she left the witness-box, and
+took up her station at the point to which the policeman made way for
+her. As she did so, however, he whispered:
+
+"I think you had better go out, my girl. I don't think this is a fit
+place for you. You look like to drop now;" but she shook her head
+silently, and took up her station in the corner, grasping in one hand
+something done up in many folds of paper in her pocket.
+
+The same question had been asked other witnesses by the counsel for the
+defence, and he had made a considerable point of the fact that the
+constable and Dr. Arrowsmith both testified that the candles were
+standing one on each side of the looking-glass, and although the room
+had been carefully searched, no half-burnt match had been discovered. In
+his address for the defence he had animadverted strongly upon this
+point.
+
+"It was a dark night, gentlemen. A dark night in November. You will
+remember we had the evidence that whoever committed this murder must
+have moved about the room noiselessly; the evidence shows that the
+murderer drew down the clothes so gently and softly that he did not
+awaken the sleeper. Now, as intelligent men, you cannot but agree with
+me that no man could have made his way about this absolutely dark room
+with its tables and its furniture, and carried out this murder in the
+way stated, without making some noise; it would be an utter
+impossibility. What is the conclusion? He was either provided with a
+light, or he was forced to strike a match and light a candle.
+
+"In the latter case he must have been provided with silent matches, or
+the noise would have awakened the sleeper. Of one thing you may be sure,
+Captain Mervyn had not provided himself with silent matches; but even
+had not the sound of an ordinary match being struck awakened the
+sleeper, surely the sudden light would have done so. I ask you from your
+own experience whether, however soundly you might be sleeping, the
+effect of a candle being lit in your room would not awaken you;
+therefore I think it safe to assume that in the first place, because no
+match was found, and in the second place, because had a candle been lit
+it would assuredly have awakened the sleeper, and we know that she was
+not awakened, that no candle was lighted in the room.
+
+"How then did the assassin manage after entering the room to avoid the
+dressing-table, the chairs, and other furniture, and to see to
+manipulate the bedclothes so gently that the sleeper was not awakened?
+Why, gentlemen, by means of the implement carried by every professional
+burglar, I mean, of course, a dark lantern. Opening the shade slightly,
+and carefully abstaining from throwing the light towards the bed, the
+burglar would make his way towards it, showing sufficient light to carry
+out his diabolical purpose, and then opening it freely to examine the
+room, open the trinket-box, and carry away the valuables.
+
+"The counsel for the prosecution, gentlemen, has not even ventured to
+suggest that the prisoner, Captain Mervyn, was possessed of such an
+article. His course has been traced through every village that he rode,
+up to ten o'clock at night, by which time every shop had long been
+closed, and had he stopped anywhere to buy such an article we should
+surely have heard of it. Therefore, gentlemen, I maintain that even if
+this fact stood alone, it ought to convince you of the innocence of the
+prisoner.
+
+"In his reply, the counsel for the prosecution had admitted that some
+weight must be attached to this point, but that it was quite possible
+that whoever entered the window might have felt on the table until he
+found a candlestick, and lit it, stooping down behind the table, or at
+the bottom of the bed, and so shading it with his coat that its light
+would not fall on the face of the sleeper. As for the point made that no
+match had been found, no great weight could be attached to it; the
+prisoner might have put it in his pocket or thrown it out of the
+window."
+
+When the defence was concluded, and the counsel for the prosecution rose
+to speak, the feeling in the court was still against the prisoner.
+
+In all that had been said the evidence pointed against him, and him
+only, as the author of the crime; no hint of suspicion had been dropped
+against any other person; and the manner in which the crime had been
+committed indicated strongly that it was the act of a person actuated by
+jealousy, or animosity rather than that of a mere burglar. This view of
+the case was strongly brought out by the counsel for the prosecution.
+
+"The theory of the prosecution is," he said, "not that this unfortunate
+gentleman, while in the full possession of his senses, slew this lady,
+to whom he was nearly related, and for whom he had long cherished a
+sincere affection--the character you have heard given him by so many
+witnesses would certainly seem to show him to be a man incapable of such
+a crime. Our theory is that the latent taint of insanity in his
+blood--that insanity which, as you have heard from Dr. Arrowsmith and
+other witnesses, is hereditary in his ancestors on his mother's side,
+and has, before now, caused calamities, almost if not quite as serious
+as this--suddenly flamed out. We believe that, as has been shown by
+witnesses, he galloped away many miles over the country, but we believe
+that at last, wrought up to the highest pitch of frenzy, he returned,
+scaled the wall, opened the window, and murdered Miss Carne. You have
+heard that he was subject to moody fits, when he shunned all society;
+these fits, these wild rides you have heard of, are symptoms of a
+disordered mind. Perhaps had all gone happily with him, the malady would
+not have shown itself in a more serious form.
+
+"Unfortunately, as we know, there was sharp and sudden unhappiness--such
+unhappiness as tries the fibre even of the sanest men, and might well
+have struck a fatal blow to his mind. It is not because you see him now,
+calm and self-possessed, that you are to conclude that this theory is a
+mistaken one. Many, even the most dangerous madmen, have long intervals
+when, apparently, their sanity is as perfect as that of other people.
+Then suddenly, sometimes altogether without warning, a change takes
+place, and the quiet and self-possessed man becomes a dangerous
+lunatic--perhaps a murderer.
+
+"Such, gentlemen, is the theory of the prosecution. You will, of course,
+weigh it carefully in your minds, and it will be your duty, if you agree
+with it, to give expression to your opinion in your verdict."
+
+The judge summed up the case with great care. After going through the
+evidence piecemeal, he told the jury that while the counsel for the
+defence had insisted upon the uncertainty of circumstantial evidence,
+and the numerous instances of error that had resulted from it, it was
+his duty to tell them that in the majority of cases of murder there
+could be, from the nature of things, only circumstantial evidence to go
+upon, for that men did not commit murder in the open streets in sight of
+other people. At the same time, when circumstantial evidence alone was
+forthcoming, it was necessary that it should be of the most conclusive
+character, and that juries should, before finding a verdict of guilty,
+be convinced that the facts showed that it was the prisoner, and he
+only, who could have done the deed.
+
+"It is for you, gentlemen, to decide whether the evidence that has been
+submitted to you does prove, absolutely and conclusively to your minds,
+that the prisoner must have been the man who murdered Miss Carne.
+Counsel on both sides have alluded to the unquestioned fact that madness
+is hereditary in the family of the prisoner; whether or not it is
+inherited by him, is also for you to decide in considering your verdict.
+You will have to conclude first whether the prisoner did or did not
+commit this murder. If you believe that he did so, and that while he did
+so he was insane, and incapable of governing his actions, your duty will
+be to find him not guilty upon the ground of insanity."
+
+The general tenor of the summing-up certainly showed that in the opinion
+of the judge the evidence, although strong, could not be considered as
+absolutely conclusive. Still, the bias was not strongly expressed, and
+when the jury retired, opinions in court were nearly equally divided as
+to what the verdict would be.
+
+When he left the witness-box, Dr. Arrowsmith made his way to the corner
+in which one of the policemen had placed Ruth after giving her evidence.
+She had done this with a steadiness and composure that had surprised the
+doctor; she had fortunately escaped much questioning, for the counsel
+saw how fragile and weak she looked, and as she had but entered the
+room, seen her mistress dead, fainted and left again, there was but
+little to ask her. The questions put were: "Was the jewellery safe in
+the box when she left the room the night before? Did she remember
+whether the window was fastened or not?" To this her reply was negative.
+Miss Carne had shut it herself when she went up in the afternoon, and
+she had not noticed whether it was fastened. "Was the blind a Venetian
+or an ordinary roller blind?"
+
+"A roller blind."
+
+"Then, if the window opened, it could be pushed aside without noise. Did
+you notice whether the candlesticks were standing where you had left
+them?"
+
+"I noticed that they were on the table and in about the same place where
+they were standing the night before, but I could not say exactly."
+
+"I want you to go out, Ruth," Dr. Arrowsmith said, when he reached her
+after the jury had retired. "They may be an hour or more before they
+make up their minds. You are as white as death, child. Let me lead you
+out."
+
+Ruth shook her head, and murmured, "I must stay." The doctor shrugged
+his shoulders and returned to his seat. It was an hour and a half before
+the door opened and the foreman of the jury entered. As he was
+unaccompanied, it was evident he wanted to ask a question.
+
+"My lord," he said, "we are unanimous as to one part of the verdict, but
+we can't agree about the other."
+
+"How do you mean, sir?" the judge asked. "I don't want to know what you
+are unanimous about, but I don't understand what you mean about being
+unanimous about one part of the verdict and not unanimous on the other."
+
+The foreman hesitated. Then, to the astonishment of the court, the
+prisoner broke in in a clear steady voice:
+
+"I will not accept acquittal, sir, on the ground of insanity. I am not
+mad; if I had been the events of the last two months would have driven
+me so. I demand that your verdict be guilty or not guilty."
+
+The judge was too surprised to attempt to check the prisoner when he
+first began to speak, and although he attempted to do so before he had
+finished, the interruption was ineffectual.
+
+"Go back, sir," the judge then said to the foreman. "You must be
+unanimous as to the whole of your verdict."
+
+The interruption of the prisoner had enlightened those in court as to
+the nature of the foreman's question. Undoubtedly he had divined
+rightly. The jury were in favour of the verdict not guilty, but some of
+them would have added on the ground of insanity. The interruption,
+although irregular, if not unprecedented, had a favourable effect upon
+his hearers. The quickness with which the accused had seized the point,
+and the steady, resolute voice in which he had spoken, told in his
+favour, and many who before, had they been in the jury-box, would have
+returned the verdict of not guilty on the ground of insanity, now
+doubted whether they would add the concluding words.
+
+A quarter of an hour later the jury returned.
+
+"We are now unanimous, my lord. We say that the prisoner at the bar is
+not guilty."
+
+A sound like a sigh of relief went through the court. Then every one got
+up, and there was a movement to the doors. The policeman lifted the bar,
+and Ronald Mervyn stepped out a free man, and in a moment was surrounded
+by a number of his fellow officers, while some of his neighbours also
+pressed forward to shake him by the hand.
+
+"I will shake hands with no man," he said, drawing back; "I will greet
+no man so long as this cloud hangs over me--so long as it is unproved
+who murdered Margaret Carne."
+
+"You don't mean it, Mervyn; you will think better of it in a few days,"
+one of his fellow officers said, as they emerged into the open air.
+"What you have gone through has been an awful trial, but now that you
+are proved to be innocent you will get over it."
+
+"I am not proved to be innocent, though I am not proved to be guilty.
+They have given me the benefit of the doubt; but to the end of my life
+half the world will believe I did it. Do you think I would go through
+life to be pointed at as the man who murdered his cousin? I would rather
+blow out my brains to-night. No, you will never see me again till the
+verdict of guilty has been passed on the wretch who murdered my cousin.
+Good-bye. I know that you believe me innocent, but I will not take your
+hands now. When you think it over, you will see as well as I do that
+you couldn't have a man in the regiment against whom men as he passed
+would whisper 'murderer.' God bless you all." And Ronald Mervyn turned
+and walked rapidly away. One or two of the officers would have followed
+him, but the colonel stopped them.
+
+"Leave him alone, lads, leave him alone. We should feel as he does were
+we in his place. Good Heavens! how he must have suffered. Still, he's
+right, and however much we pity him, we cannot think otherwise. At the
+present moment it is clear that he could not remain in the regiment."
+
+As soon as the crowd had turned away, Dr. Arrowsmith made his way to the
+point where Ruth had been standing. Somewhat to his surprise he found
+her still on her feet. She was leaning back in the corner with her eyes
+closed, and the tears streaming down her cheeks.
+
+"Come, my dear," he said, putting his arm under hers, "let us be moving.
+Thank God it has all ended right."
+
+"Thank God, indeed, doctor," she murmured. "I had hardly hoped it, and
+yet I have prayed so much that it might be so."
+
+The doctor found that though able to stand while supported by the wall,
+Ruth was unable to walk. With the aid of a policeman he supported her
+from the court, placed her in a vehicle, and took her to an hotel.
+
+"There, my dear," he said, when Ruth had been assisted up to a bedroom
+by two of the maids, "now you go to bed, and lie there till to-morrow
+morning. I will have a basin of strong broth sent you up presently. It's
+quite out of the question your thinking of going home to-night. I have
+several friends in the town, and am glad of the excuse to stay over the
+night. I will call for you at ten o'clock in the morning; the train goes
+at half-past ten; I will have your breakfast sent up here. I will go
+down to the station now. There are lots of people over here from
+Carnesford, and I will send a messenger back to your mother, saying that
+you have got through it better than I expected, but I wanted you to have
+a night's rest, and you will be home in the morning."
+
+"Thank you, doctor; that is kind of you," Ruth murmured.
+
+"Help her into bed, girls. She has been ill, and has had a very trying
+day. Don't ask her any questions, but just get her into bed as soon as
+you can."
+
+Then the doctor went downstairs, ordered the broth and a glass of sherry
+for Ruth, and a bedroom for himself, and then went off to see his
+friends. In the morning he was surprised, when Ruth came downstairs, to
+see how much better she looked.
+
+"My prescription has done you good, Ruth. I am glad to see you look
+wonderfully better and brighter."
+
+"I feel so, sir. I went to sleep directly I had taken the broth and wine
+you sent me up, and I did not wake till they called me at half-past
+eight. I have not slept for an hour together for weeks. I feel as if
+there was such a load taken off my mind."
+
+"Why, Ruth, you didn't know Captain Mervyn to speak to, did you, that
+you should feel such an interest in him?" the doctor said, looking at
+her sharply.
+
+"No, sir, I have never once spoken to him that I know of."
+
+"Then why do you care so much about his being acquitted?"
+
+"It would have been dreadful if he had been found guilty when he was
+innocent all the time."
+
+"But then no one knew he was innocent for certain," the doctor said.
+
+"I felt sure he was innocent," Ruth replied.
+
+"But why did you feel sure, Ruth?"
+
+"I can't exactly say, sir, but I did feel that he was innocent."
+
+The doctor looked puzzled, but at this moment the cab arrived at the
+station, and the subject was not renewed, but the doctor afterwards
+wondered to himself more than once whether Ruth could have any
+particular reason for her assurance of Ronald Mervyn's innocence.
+
+For another ten days the Mervyn trial was the great topic of
+conversation throughout the country, and the verdict was canvassed with
+almost as much keenness and heat as the crime had been before the trial.
+Now that Ronald Mervyn was no longer in hazard of his life, the feeling
+of pity which had before told so strongly in his favour was wanting. If
+a man so far forgets himself as to use threats to a woman, he must not
+be surprised if he gets into trouble. Of course, now the jury had given
+a verdict of "Not guilty," there was no more to be said. There was no
+doubt he was a very lucky fellow, and the jury had given him the benefit
+of the doubt. Still, if he hadn't done it, who had killed Margaret
+Carne?
+
+Such was the general opinion, and although Ronald had still some staunch
+adherents in his own neighbourhood, the tide of feeling ran against him.
+
+Two months after the trial, Mrs. Mervyn died, broken down by grief, and
+while this naturally caused a renewal of the talk, it heightened rather
+than otherwise the feeling against her son. The general verdict was that
+it was his doing; whether he killed Margaret Carne or not, there was no
+doubt that he had killed his mother. All this was doubtless unfair, but
+it was not unnatural; and only those who believed thoroughly in Ronald's
+innocence felt how hard this additional pain must be for him.
+
+Immediately the funeral was over, the two girls moved away to London,
+and the house was advertised to let, but the odour of the recent tragedy
+hung over it. No one cared to take a house with which such a story was
+connected. A month or two later there was a sale of the furniture; the
+house was then shut up and lost to the county. Ten days after the trial
+it was announced in _The Gazette_ that Ronald Mervyn had retired from
+the service upon sale of his commission. No one had seen him after he
+had left the court a free man. His horses were sold a week later, and
+his other belongings forwarded from the regiment to an address he gave
+in London. His mother and sister had a few days later gone up for a day
+to town, and had met him there. He had already written to them that he
+intended to go abroad, and they did not seek to combat his resolution.
+
+"I can never come back, mother, unless this is cleared up. You must feel
+as well as I do, that I cannot show my face anywhere. I am surprised
+that I have got off myself, and indeed if it were not that I am sure I
+never got off my horse that night, I should sometimes suspect that I
+must for a time have been really mad and have done what they accuse me
+of. I have already sent down a detective to the village. There must be
+some clue to all this if one could only hit upon it, but I own that at
+present I do not see where it is to be looked for. I do not believe that
+it was done by some passing tramp. I agree with every word that was said
+at my trial in that respect.
+
+"Everything points to the fact that she was deliberately murdered,
+though who, except myself, could have entertained a feeling of animosity
+against Margaret, God only knows. There is one comfort, mother, and only
+one," he said with a hard laugh. "I can set our minds at ease on one
+point, which I have never felt sure about before, that is, that I have
+not inherited the curse of the Carnes. Had I done so, the last two
+months would have made a raving lunatic of me, whereas I have never felt
+my head cooler and my reason clearer than I have since the day I was
+arrested. But you mustn't grieve for me more than you can help, mother;
+now that it is over, I feel more for you and the girls than I do for
+myself. I have a sort of conviction that somehow, though I don't see
+how, the thing will be cleared up some day. Anyhow I mean to go and lead
+a rough life somewhere, to keep myself from brooding over it. The weight
+will really fall upon you, far more than upon me, and I should strongly
+advise you to shut up the house, let it if you can, and either come up
+here or settle in some place--either Brighton or Hastings--where this
+story will be soon forgotten and no one will associate your names with
+this terrible business."
+
+About that time a stranger arrived at Carnesford. He announced that he
+was a carpenter from the North, and that he suffered from weak lungs,
+and had been recommended to live down South. After staying for a week at
+the "Carne's Arms," he stated that he liked the village so much that he
+should settle there if he saw a chance of making a livelihood, and as it
+happened that there was no carpenter in the village, the idea was
+received with favour, and a week later he was established in a cottage
+that happened to be vacant. As he was a man who seemed to have travelled
+about England a good deal, and was well spoken and informed, he soon
+took a good position in the place, and was even admitted to form one of
+the party in the snuggery, where he would talk well upon occasions, but
+was specially popular as an excellent listener.
+
+When spring came there was a fresh sensation. The gardener at The Hold,
+in digging up some ground at the edge of the shrubbery, to plant some
+rhododendrons there, turned up the missing watch and jewellery of
+Margaret Carne. It was all buried together a few inches below the soil,
+without any wrapper or covering of any kind. Captain Hendricks arrived
+at Carnesford as soon as the news of the discovery reached him. Reginald
+Carne was himself away, having been absent ever since the trial took
+place. Most of the servants had left at once; the old cook and a niece
+of hers alone remaining in charge, and two stablemen from the garden
+also staying in the house.
+
+Nothing came of the discovery; but it, of course, renewed the interest
+in the mystery of Margaret Carne's death, and the general opinion was
+that it was fortunate indeed for Ronald Mervyn that the discovery had
+not been made before his trial, for it completely demolished the theory
+that the murder was the work of a burglar. It was possible, of course,
+that such a man, knowing the active hue and cry that would be set on
+foot, and that it would be dangerous to offer the jewellery for sale,
+and still more dangerous to keep it about him, had at once buried it,
+intending to go back some day to recover it, for, as Reginald stated at
+the trial, the missing jewels were worth fifteen hundred pounds.
+
+But had they been so hidden they would assuredly have been put in a box
+or some sort of cover that would protect them from the damp, and not
+have been merely thrust into the ground. Altogether the discovery
+greatly heightened, instead of diminishing, the impression that the
+murder was an act of revenge and not the outcome of robbery; and the
+cloud over Ronald Mervyn became heavier rather than lighter in
+consequence.
+
+Ruth Powlett had gained health and strength rapidly after the verdict
+"Not guilty" had been returned against Ronald Mervyn. She was still
+grave and quiet, and as she went about her work at home, Hesba would
+sometimes tell her that she looked more like a woman of fifty than a
+girl of nineteen; but her mind had been lightened from the burden of her
+terrible secret, and she felt comparatively happy. She spent much of her
+time over at the Foresters', for the old man and his wife were both
+ailing, and they knew that there was little chance of their ever seeing
+their son again, for the gamekeeper who had been injured in the poaching
+affray had since died, and as the evidence given at the inquest all
+pointed to the fact that it was George Forester who had struck the blow
+that had eventually proved fatal, a verdict of "Wilful murder" had been
+returned against him.
+
+Ruth's conscience was not altogether free as to her conduct in the
+matter, and at the time of Mrs. Mervyn's death she suffered much. As for
+Ronald Mervyn himself, she had little compassion for him. She would not
+have permitted him to be hung; but the disgrace that had fallen upon
+him, and the fact that he had been obliged to leave the country,
+affected her but little. She had been greatly attached to her mistress,
+who had treated her rather as a friend than as a servant; and that he
+should have insulted and threatened Margaret was in her eyes an offence
+so serious that she considered it richly deserved the punishment that
+had befallen him.
+
+Until she heard of Mrs. Mervyn's death, she had scarcely considered that
+the innocent must suffer with the guilty, and after that she felt far
+more than she had done before, that she had acted wrongly in keeping the
+secret, the more so since the verdict returned against George Forester
+in the other case had rendered the concealment to some extent futile.
+But, indeed, Forester and his wife did not suffer anything like the pain
+and shame from this verdict that they would have done had their son been
+proved to have been the murderer of Miss Carne. Public opinion, indeed,
+ran against poaching as against drunkenness, or enlisting in the army,
+or other wild conduct; but it was not considered as an absolute crime,
+nor was the result of a fight, in which a keeper might be killed by a
+blow struck in self-defence, regarded as a murder, in whatever point of
+view the law might take it. Still Ruth suffered, and at times told
+herself bitterly that although she meant to act for the best, she had
+done wrongly and wickedly in keeping George Forester's secret.
+
+Three months later, to the regret of all Carnesford, the carpenter, who,
+although not a first-rate hand, had been able to do the work of the
+village and neighbourhood, suddenly left. He had, he said, received a
+letter telling him he had come into a little property up in the North,
+and must return to see after it. So two days later the cottage again
+stood vacant, and Carnesford, when it wanted a carpenter's job done, was
+obliged to send over to the next village for a man to do it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ENLISTED.
+
+
+It was in August, 1850. Some newly-arrived emigrants had just landed
+from their ship, and were walking through the streets of Cape Town,
+watching with great amusement the novel sights, the picturesque groups
+of swarthy Malays in huge beehive-shaped hats, with red-and-yellow
+bandanas round their necks, and their women in dresses of the most
+gorgeous colours. Settlers from inland farms rode at a reckless pace
+through the streets, and huge waggons drawn by eight or ten bullocks
+came creaking along, often at a trot. One of the party stopped before a
+placard.
+
+"Active young men wanted for the Cape Mounted Rifles. For full
+particulars as to service and pay, inquire of the Adjutant at the
+Barracks of the Corps."
+
+"I thought they were recruited in England," he muttered to himself. "I
+will go round presently and see about it, but I will look at the papers
+first. If there is any trouble on with the natives it would suit me
+well, but I certainly will not enlist merely to dawdle about in the
+towns. I would rather carry out my idea of buying a farm and going in
+for stock-raising." He went into a liquor shop, called for some of the
+native wine, and took up a newspaper. It contained numerous letters from
+settlers on the frontier, all saying that the attitude of the natives
+had changed greatly within the last few weeks, and that all sorts of
+alarming rumours were current, and it was feared that in spite of the
+solemn treaties they had made two years before, the natives were again
+going to take up arms.
+
+"I think that's good enough," he said to himself. "There are likely to
+be stirring times again here. Nothing would suit my case better than an
+active life, hard work, and plenty of excitement."
+
+Having finished his wine, he inquired the way to the barracks of the
+detachment of the corps stationed at Cape Town, and being directed to
+it, entered the gates. He smiled to himself at his momentary feeling of
+surprise at the sentry at the gate neglecting to salute him, and then
+inquiring for the orderly room, he went across the little barrack-yard
+and entered. The adjutant looked up from the table at which he was
+writing.
+
+"I see a notice that you want men, sir," the new-comer said.
+
+"Yes, we are raising two fresh troops. What age are you?"
+
+"Twenty-eight."
+
+"You have served before, have you not?" the adjutant said, looking at
+the well-knit figure standing before him.
+
+[Illustration: "'_You have served before, have you not?' the Adjutant
+said._"]
+
+"Yes, I have served before."
+
+"Infantry or cavalry?"
+
+"The infantry; but I can ride."
+
+"Have you your papers of discharge?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Have you any one to speak to your character?"
+
+"No one here. I only landed this morning by the _Thalia_, which came in
+from England last night."
+
+"That is awkward," the officer said. "You know that as a rule we only
+enlist in England, and only take applicants of good character."
+
+"I am aware of that, sir; but as just at present you are likely to want
+men who can fight, character is not of so much importance."
+
+The adjutant smiled, and again scrutinised the applicant closely.
+
+"The man has been an officer," he said to himself. "Well, that is
+nothing to me; he has the cut of a soldier all over."
+
+"Do you know the conditions of service? You provide your own horse and
+uniform. Government provides arms. In the event of your not being able
+to find your horse and uniform, Government will--as it is anxious to
+fill up the ranks as soon as possible--provide them, and stop the money
+from your pay."
+
+"I can provide horse and uniform."
+
+"Very well, then, I will take you," the officer said.
+
+"I enlist as Harry Blunt. I may say, sir, that I should feel very
+greatly obliged if, as I know my duty, you would post me to a troop
+already up the country instead of to one of those you are raising, and
+who will have to learn their drill and how to sit a horse before they
+can be sent up on active duty."
+
+"I can do that," the officer said; "it is only yesterday that we called
+for recruits, and we have only had two or three applications at present;
+there is a draft going on to Port Elizabeth next week, and if I find
+that you are, as you say, up in your drill, I will send you up with
+them."
+
+"Thank you, sir, I am very much obliged to you."
+
+"The major will be here at four o'clock," the adjutant said; "come in at
+that time, and you can be attested and sworn in."
+
+"After all," Ronald Mervyn said to himself, as he strode away, "there's
+nothing like soldiering. I know I should have fretted for the old work
+if I had settled down on a farm, or even if I had gone in, as I half
+thought of doing, for shooting for a year or so before settling down. If
+these natives really mean to make trouble, we shall have an exciting
+time of it, for the men I have talked with who fought in the last war
+here say that they have any amount of pluck, and are enemies not to be
+despised. Now I will be off and look for a horse. I'd better not order
+my uniform until I am sworn in; the major may, perhaps, refuse me on the
+ground of want of character." He went up to two or three young farmers
+who were standing talking in the street.
+
+"I am a stranger, gentlemen, and have just landed. I want to buy a good
+horse; can you tell me what is the best way to set about it?"
+
+"You will have no difficulty about that," one of them replied, "for
+there's been a notice up that Government wants to buy horses, and at two
+o'clock this afternoon, those who have animals to dispose of fit for
+cavalry service are to bring them into the parade ground in front of the
+infantry barracks. Government has only asked for fifty horses, and there
+will probably be two or three times that number brought in. We have
+each brought in a horse or two, but they are rather expensive animals. I
+believe the horses are intended for mounts for staff-officers. They want
+more bone and strength than is general in the horses here."
+
+"I don't much mind what I pay," Ronald said, carelessly. "However,
+gentlemen, I may see you down there, and if Government does not take
+your horses, perhaps I may make a deal with one of you."
+
+At the appointed hour Ronald strolled down to the parade. There were a
+good many officers assembled there, and a large number of young Boer
+farmers, each with one or more horses, led by natives. The major and
+adjutant of the Cape Mounted Rifles were examining the horses, which
+were ridden up and down before them by their owners, the adjutant
+himself sometimes mounting and taking them a turn. Presently his eyes
+fell upon Ronald, who was closely scrutinising the horses.
+
+"That is the young fellow I was speaking to you about, major, the man in
+the tweed suit examining that horse's mouth."
+
+"Yes, I have no doubt you are right, Lawson; he has the cut of a
+military man all over, and beyond all question a gentleman. Out-ran the
+constable at home, I suppose. Well, we will take him anyhow; for rough
+work men of that stamp make the very best soldiers. I fancy we have more
+than one in our ranks now. No, you need not bring that horse up," he
+broke off, addressing the young farmer, whose horse Ronald had just been
+examining. "He's got some vice about him, or you would not be offering
+him at our prices."
+
+"He's as good a horse as there is in the colony," the young Dutchman
+said; "but I am not offering him at your price. I thought that some
+young officer might be inclined to buy him, and I have brought him down
+to show. There is no vice about him that I know of, but he has only been
+mounted twice, and as he has never been off the farm before he is a bit
+fidgety."
+
+"What do you want for him?" the major asked, examining the horse
+closely.
+
+"I want a hundred and twenty pounds for him."
+
+"A hundred and twenty fiddlesticks," the major said. "Why, man, there
+are not ten horses in the colony worth a hundred and twenty pounds."
+
+"Perhaps not," the young Dutchman said, coolly, "but this is one of the
+ten."
+
+Several of the other officers now came up and examined the horse, and
+they were unanimous in their approval of him.
+
+"He would be worth three hundred as a hunter at home," one of them
+remarked, "but nobody's going to give such a price as that out here,
+when you can get a decent runner for twenty; but he is certainly the
+handsomest horse I have seen since I have been in the colony, and I have
+seen some good ones, too."
+
+The farmer moved off with the horse. As he left the ground, Ronald again
+walked up to him.
+
+"I like your horse," he said, "and if you will take a hundred pounds for
+him, I will give it you."
+
+"Very well," the Dutchman said, "I will take it, but I wouldn't take a
+penny under. Have you the money here?"
+
+"I have not got it in my pocket," Ronald replied, "but I have letters of
+credit on the bank. Walk round with me there, and I will give you the
+cash."
+
+In ten minutes the money was obtained and handed to the farmer, who gave
+Ronald a receipt for it. Ronald took the halter from the hands of the
+native, and at once led the horse to the stable of the hotel at which
+he had already left his luggage. Then he ordered one of the cases to be
+opened, and took out a saddle and bridle which he had brought out with
+him in view of rough colonial work.
+
+"I did not expect to be suited so soon," he said to himself, "and
+certainly did not expect to find such a mount here. I like him better
+than either of my old hunters, and will back him, after a couple of
+months' good handling, to win any military steeplechase. That's money
+well laid out; when a man may have to ride for his life, money in
+horseflesh is a good investment."
+
+He went down at four o'clock, and was attested and sworn in.
+
+"I saw you down on the parade ground, Blunt," the adjutant said. "We
+have bought a score of horses for the use of recruits. You can have one
+of them at the Government price if you choose."
+
+"I am much obliged to you, sir," Ronald replied, "but I picked one up
+myself."
+
+"He will have to pass inspection, you know, Blunt?"
+
+"I think he's good enough to pass, sir," Ronald said, quietly. "I am
+considered a pretty good judge of a horse."
+
+"There is the address of a tailor," the adjutant said, handing him a
+card; "he has got a supply of the right cloth, and has contracted to
+supply uniforms at a very reasonable price. You need not come into
+barracks until to-morrow, unless you choose."
+
+"I thank you, sir. I have a few things to get, and I would rather not
+report myself until to-morrow afternoon, if you will give me leave."
+
+"Very well, then, I will not ration you to-morrow. Report yourself to
+Sergeant Menzies any time before nine o'clock in the evening."
+
+Ronald gave the military salute, turned on his heel, and went out of
+the barracks. He went straight to the tailor whose card had been given
+to him. "I want to be measured for a uniform for the Mounted Rifles," he
+said. "How much do you charge?"
+
+"We supply tunic, jacket, and two pairs of breeches, and cap, for nine
+pounds."
+
+"When can you let me have them?"
+
+"In three days."
+
+"I must have them by to-morrow afternoon, by six o'clock, and I will pay
+you two pounds extra to get them done by then. But mind, I want
+good-fitting clothes. Do you understand?"
+
+"You will pay eleven pounds for them if I get them ready by six o'clock.
+Very well, then, I will try and do them."
+
+"Of course you can do them, if you choose," Ronald said. "If you get
+them cut out and stitched together, I will come in at nine o'clock in
+the morning to try them on. Now where can I get jack-boots?"
+
+"The last shop down the end of this street. Moens is the name. He always
+keeps a lot by him, and the Mounted Rifles here mostly deal with him."
+
+Ronald was fortunate enough to obtain a pair of boots that fitted him
+well, and he now strolled back to his hotel. The next morning, after
+trying on his uniform, which was of dark green, he went to the stables
+and saddled his new purchase. The horse was fidgety and nervous from its
+new surroundings, and refused for some time to let him mount; but he
+patted and soothed it, and then putting one hand on the saddle, sprang
+into it at a bound. He rode at a walk through the streets, and when he
+got beyond the limits of the town touched the horse with his spurs. The
+animal reared up, lashed out behind once or twice, and then went off at
+a gallop. Ronald kept along the road until he was beyond the patches of
+land cultivated by the natives. When once in the open country, he left
+the road, and allowed the horse to gallop across country until its speed
+abated, by which time he was nearly ten miles from Cape Town; then he
+turned its head, and at a quiet pace rode back to the town.
+
+"A month's schooling," he said, "and it will be an almost perfect horse;
+its pace is very easy, and there's no doubt about its strength and wind.
+You are a beauty, old boy," he went on, as he patted the animal's neck,
+"we shall soon be capital friends."
+
+The uniform was delivered punctually, and after saying good-bye to his
+fellow-passengers who were staying at the hotel, Ronald put on his
+uniform, filled the valise, he had that afternoon purchased, with a
+useful kit, took out an excellent sporting rifle that would carry
+Government ammunition, and a brace of revolvers, and, packing up his
+other clothes and ordering all the baggage to be put away in a store
+until required, he mounted and rode into barracks.
+
+"Where shall I find Sergeant Menzies?" he asked one of the men at the
+guardroom.
+
+"His quarters are over there, the last door in that corner."
+
+Ronald rode over to the point indicated, and then dismounted. He entered
+the passage. The sergeant's name was written on a piece of paper
+fastened on the first door. He came out when Ronald knocked. "I was
+ordered by the adjutant to report myself to you, sergeant," Ronald said,
+saluting.
+
+"He told me that a recruit was coming, but how did you get your uniform?
+Why, you only enlisted yesterday."
+
+"I hurried them up a bit," Ronald said. "Where shall I put my horse?"
+
+The sergeant went into his quarters and came out with a lantern. He
+held it up and examined the horse.
+
+"Well, lad, you have got a bonny beast, a downright beauty. You will
+have to get the regulation bridle, and then you will be complete. Let me
+look at you." He held up the lantern. "You will do, lad," he said, "if
+you make as good a soldier as you look. You only want the sword and belt
+to be complete. You will have them served you out in the morning. Now,
+come along and I will show you the stable." He made his way to the
+stable, where there was a vacant stall, and stood by while Ronald
+removed the saddle and bridle and put on the head-stall. "You can take
+an armful of hay from that rack yonder. I can't get him a ration of
+grain to-night, it's too late."
+
+"He's just had a good feed," Ronald said, "and will not want any more,
+but I may as well give him the hay to amuse himself with. It will
+accustom him to his new quarters. What shall I do with my rifle and
+pistols?"
+
+"Bring them with you, lad; but there was no occasion for you to have
+brought them. Government finds arms."
+
+"I happened to have them with me," Ronald said, "and as the rifle
+carries Government ammunition, I thought they would let me use it."
+
+"If it's about the right length I have no doubt they will be glad to do
+so, for we have no very great store of arms, and we are not quite so
+particular about having everything exactly uniform as they are in a
+crack corps at home. As for the pistols, there is no doubt about them,
+as being in the holsters they don't show. Several of the men have got
+them, and most of the officers. Now, I will take you up to your
+quarters." The room to which he led Ronald contained about a dozen men.
+Some had already gone to bed, others were rubbing up bits and
+accoutrements; one or two were reading. "Here's a new comrade, lads,"
+the sergeant said; "Blunt's his name. He is a new arrival from home, and
+you won't find him a greenhorn, for he has served already."
+
+Ronald had the knack of making himself at home, and was, before he
+turned in an hour later, on terms of good fellowship with his comrades.
+
+In the morning, after grooming his horse, he went into the barrack-yard,
+when the troop formed up for dismounted drill.
+
+"Will you take your place at once in the ranks?" Sergeant Menzies asked.
+"Do you feel equal to it?"
+
+"Yes; I have not grown rusty," Ronald replied, as he fell in.
+
+An hour's work sufficed to show Sergeant Menzies, who was drilling the
+troop, that the new recruit needed no instructions on that score, and
+that he was as perfect in his drill as any one in the troop.
+
+"Are you as well up in your cavalry drill as in the infantry?" he asked
+Ronald as the troop fell out.
+
+"No," Ronald said, "but when one knows one, he soon gets well at home in
+the other. At any rate, for simple work the system is exactly the same,
+and I think with two or three drills I shall be able to keep my place."
+
+After breakfast the troop formed up again in their saddles, and the
+officers took their places in the ranks. As the sergeant handed to the
+adjutant some returns he had been compiling, the latter asked:
+
+"By the way, sergeant, did the recruit Blunt join last night?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and he is in his place now in the rear rank. He was in his
+uniform when he came, and I found this morning that he is thoroughly
+well up in his drill. A smart soldier all over, I should say. I don't
+know that he will do so well mounted, but I don't think you will see him
+make many blunders. He is evidently a sharp fellow."
+
+"He ought not to have taken his place until I had passed his horse,
+sergeant. Still I can do that after parade drill is over."
+
+The adjutant then proceeded to put the troop through a number of easy
+movements, such as forming from line to column, and back into line, and
+wheeling. There was no room for anything else in the barrack-yard, which
+was a small one, as the barracks would only hold a single troop. Before
+the movements were completed, the major came out. When the troop was
+dismissed Sergeant Menzies brought Ronald up to the two officers. He had
+in the morning furnished him with the regulation bridle, belt, and
+sword. Ronald drew up his horse at a short distance from the two
+officers and saluted.
+
+"There's no doubt about his horse," the major said, "that is if he is
+sound. What a good-looking beast!"
+
+"That it is, major. By Jove, I believe it's the very animal that young
+Boer asked us one hundred and twenty pounds for yesterday; 'pon my word,
+I believe it's the same."
+
+"I believe it is," the major agreed. "What a soldierly-looking young
+fellow he is! I thought he was the right stamp yesterday, but I hardly
+expected to see him turn out so well at first."
+
+The two officers walked up to Ronald, examined his horse, saddle, and
+uniform.
+
+"That's not a regulation rifle you have got there," the major said.
+
+"No, sir, it is one I brought from England with me. I have been
+accustomed to its use, and as it is the regulation bore, I thought
+perhaps I might carry it."
+
+"It's a trifle long, isn't it?" the adjutant asked.
+
+"Yes, sir, it's just two inches too long, but I can have that cut off by
+a gunsmith."
+
+"Very well; if you do that you can carry it," the major said. "Of course
+it's much better finished than the regulation one, but not much
+different in appearance. Very well, we pass the horse." Ronald saluted
+and rode off to the stables.
+
+"He hasn't come out penniless, anyhow," the major laughed.
+
+"No, that's quite evident," the adjutant agreed. "I dare say his friends
+gave him a hundred or two to start on a farm, and when he decided to
+join us he thought he might as well spend it, and have a final piece of
+extravagance."
+
+"I dare say that's it," the major agreed; "anyhow I think we have got
+hold of a good recruit this time."
+
+"I wish they were all like him," the adjutant sighed, thinking of the
+trouble he often had with newly-joined recruits.
+
+"By the way," the major said, "I have got word this morning that the
+draft is to be embarked to-morrow instead of next week. They took up a
+ship for them yesterday; it seems our men there are worked off their
+legs, for the Kaffirs are stealing cattle and horses in all directions,
+and the colonists have sent in such a strong letter of complaint to the
+Governor that even he thinks the police force on the frontier ought to
+be strengthened. Not, of course, that he admits in the slightest that
+there is any ground for alarm, or believes for a moment that the Kaffirs
+have any evil intentions whatever; still, to reassure the minds of the
+settlers, he thinks the troops may as well go forward at once."
+
+"I wish to goodness," the adjutant said, bitterly, "that Sir Harry Smith
+would take a cottage for two or three months close to the frontier; it
+would not be long before his eyes were opened a little as to the
+character and intentions of the Kaffirs."
+
+"It would be a good thing," the major agreed, "but I doubt if even that
+would do it till he heard the Kaffirs breaking in his doors; then the
+enlightenment would come too late to be of any service to the colony.
+By-the-bye, the colonel told me yesterday he should send me forward next
+week to see after things. He says that of course if there is any serious
+trouble he shall go forward himself."
+
+The following morning the draft of Cape Mounted Rifles embarked on board
+a steamer and were taken down to Algoa Bay, and landed at Port
+Elizabeth, drenched to the skin by the passage through the tremendous
+surf that beats upon the coast, and were marched to some tents which had
+been erected for them on a bare sandhill behind the town.
+
+Ronald Mervyn was amused at the variety of the crowd in the straggling
+streets of Port Elizabeth. Boer farmers, Hottentots, Malays, and
+Fingoes, with complexions varying through every shade of yellow and
+brown up to black; some gaily dressed in light cottons, some wrapped in
+a simple cowhide or a dirty blanket, many with but little clothing
+beyond their brass and copper ornaments.
+
+The country round was most monotonous. As far as the eye could see it
+was nothing but a succession of bare, sandy flats, and, beyond these,
+hills sprinkled with bush and occasional clumps of aloes and elephant
+trees. Upon the following morning the troop marched, followed by a
+waggon containing their baggage and provisions, drawn by ten oxen. A
+little naked boy marched at the head of the oxen as their guide, and
+they were driven by a Hottentot, armed with a tremendous whip of immense
+length, made of plaited hide fastened to the top of a bamboo pole. After
+a fourteen miles' march the troop reached the Zwart Kop river, and,
+crossing the ford, encamped among the scattered mimosas and numerous
+wait-a-bit thorns. The horses were then knee-haltered, and they and the
+oxen were turned out to feed till night. The next day's march was a very
+long one, and for the most part across a sandy desert, to the Sunday
+River, a sluggish stream in which, as soon as the tents were pitched,
+the whole party enjoyed a bath.
+
+"To-morrow we shall reach the Addoo Bush, Blunt," one of his comrades,
+who knew the country well, remarked. "This is near the boundary of what
+you may call the Kaffir country, although I don't think they have their
+kraals as far south as this, though there was fighting here in the last
+war, and may be again."
+
+"But I thought our territory extended as far as the Kei River?"
+
+"So it does nominally," the other said. "All the country as far as that
+was declared to be forfeited; but in point of fact the Kaffirs remained
+in possession of their lands on condition that they declared their
+allegiance to the Crown, and that each chief was made responsible for
+any cattle or other robberies, the spoor of which could be traced to his
+kraal. Of course they agreed to this, as, in fact, they would agree to
+anything, resolving, naturally, to break the conditions as soon as it
+suited them. Local magistrates and commissioners are scattered about
+among them, and there have been a lot of schools and missionary stations
+started. They say that they are having great success. Well, we shall see
+about that. In the last war the so-called Christian natives were among
+the first to turn against us, and I expect it will be the same here, for
+it's just the laziest and worst of the natives who pretend to become
+Christians. They get patches of land given them, and help in building
+their huts, and all sorts of privileges. By about half-a-day's work each
+week they can raise enough food to live upon, and all that is really
+required of them is to attend services on a Sunday. The business
+exactly suits them, but as a rule there are a great many more Hottentots
+than Kaffirs among the converts. I can give you a specimen of the sort
+of men they are. Not long since a gentleman was coming down with a
+waggon and a lot of bullocks from King Williamstown. The drivers all
+took it into their head to desert one day--it's a way these fellows
+have, one of them thinks he will go, and then the whole lot go, and a
+settler wakes up in the morning and finds that there isn't a single hand
+left on his place, and he has perhaps four or five hundred cows to be
+milked, and twice as many oxen and horses to look after. Well, this
+happened within a mile or so of the missionary station, so the gentleman
+rode over there and asked if some of the men would go with him down to
+Beaufort, a couple of days' march. Nobody would go; he raised his
+offers, and at last offered five times the usual rate of pay, but not
+one of the lazy brutes would move, and he had at last to drive the whole
+lot down himself, with the aid of a native or two he picked up on the
+way. However, there has been pretty good order along the frontier for
+the last two years, partly due to the chiefs having to pay for all
+cattle traced to their kraals, partly to the fact that we have got four
+hundred Kaffir police--and an uncommon smart lot of fellows they
+are--scattered all along the frontier, instead of being, like us, kept
+principally in towns. You see, we are considered more as a military
+body. Of course, we have a much easier time of it than if we were
+knocking about in small parties among the border settlements; but there
+is a lot more excitement in that sort of life, and I hope that if there
+is trouble they will send us out to protect the settlements."
+
+"I hope so," Ronald said, cordially. "Barrack life at a dull little town
+is the slowest thing in the world. I would never have enlisted for that
+sort of thing."
+
+"Well, if what the settlers say turns out right, you will have plenty of
+excitement, I can tell you. I was in the last war, and I don't know that
+I want to go through another, for these beggars fight a great deal too
+well for it to be pleasant, I can tell you. The job of carrying
+despatches or escorting waggons through a bush where these fellows are
+known to be lurking, is about as nasty a one as a man can wish. At any
+moment, without the least notice, you may have half-a-dozen assegais
+stuck in your body. And they can shoot straight, too; their guns are
+long and clumsy, but they carry long distances--quite as far as our
+rifles, while, as for the line muskets, they haven't a chance with
+them."
+
+Two more days' marching and the troop arrived at Grahamstown. Here they
+encamped near Fort England, where a wing of the 91st Regiment was
+quartered, and the next fortnight was spent in constant drills. The
+rifles were then ordered forward to King Williamstown, where two days
+later they were joined by the infantry.
+
+Before starting, the adjutant had specially called the attention of
+Captain Twentyman, who commanded the troop, to his last joined recruit.
+
+"You will find that man Blunt, who joined us yesterday, a good soldier,
+Twentyman. It may be he has been an officer, and has got into some row
+at home and been obliged to leave the service. Of course you noticed his
+horse on parade this morning; we have nothing like it in the Corps. The
+farmer who owned it offered it to us yesterday afternoon, and wanted a
+hundred and twenty pounds for it. He said that both his sire and dam
+were English hunters, the sire he had bought from an English officer,
+and the grandsire was a thoroughbred horse. The man has a large farm,
+about twenty-five miles from Cape Town, and goes in for horse-breeding;
+but I have seen nothing before of his as good as that. I expect the
+young fellow has spent his last penny in buying it. Of course I don't
+know what he will turn out in the way of conduct; but you will find, if
+he is all right in that respect, that he will make a first-rate
+non-commissioned officer, and mounted as he is, will, at any rate, be a
+most useful man for carrying despatches and that sort of thing. I
+confess I am very much taken with him. He has a steady, resolute sort of
+face; looks pleasant and good-tempered, too. Keep your eye upon him."
+
+Captain Twentyman had done so during the voyage and on the line of
+march, and Ronald's quickness, alacrity, and acquaintance with his duty
+convinced him that the adjutant's supposition was a correct one.
+
+"By Jove, Twentyman," an officer of the 91st said as he was standing
+beside him when Ronald rode up and delivered a message, "that fellow of
+yours is wonderfully well mounted. He's a fine soldierly-looking fellow,
+too, and I don't know why, but his face seems quite familiar to me."
+
+"I fancy he has been an officer," Captain Twentyman replied, "we have
+several in the corps--men who have been obliged for some reason or other
+to sell out, and who, finding nothing else to do, have enlisted with us.
+You see the pay is a good deal higher than it is in the regular cavalry,
+and the men as a whole are a superior class, for you see they find their
+own horses and uniforms, so the life is altogether more pleasant than
+the regular service for a man of that kind. Almost all the men are of
+respectable family."
+
+"I certainly seem to know his face," said the officer, thoughtfully,
+"although where I saw it I have not the least idea. What is his name?"
+
+"He enlisted as Harry Blunt, but no doubt that's not his real name.
+Very few men of his kind, who enlist in the army, do so under their own
+names."
+
+"I don't know any one of that name," the officer said, "but I certainly
+fancy I have seen your man before; however, I don't suppose in any case
+he would like being recognised; men who are under a cloud don't care
+about meeting former acquaintances."
+
+A week later, to Ronald's great satisfaction, a party of twenty men, of
+whom he was one, under Troop-Lieutenant Daniels, were ordered to march
+the next morning to the Kabousie River, whence the settlers had written
+praying that a force might be sent for their protection, as the Kaffirs
+in the neighbourhood were becoming more and more insolent in their
+manner. Many of their cattle had been driven off, and they were in daily
+expectation of an attack. No waggons accompanied the party, as they
+would erect huts if they remained in one place, and would have no
+difficulty in obtaining provisions from the farmers. The men chosen for
+the service were all in high glee at the prospect of a change from the
+dulness of the life at King Williamstown, and were the objects of envy
+to their comrades.
+
+The start was made at daybreak, and after two days' long marching they
+reached their destination. The country was a fertile one, the farmhouses
+were frequent, most of them embedded in orchards and vineyards, showing
+signs of comfort and prosperity.
+
+"This is the first place that I have seen since I reached the colony,"
+Ronald said to the trooper riding next to him, "where I should care
+about settling."
+
+"There are a good many similar spots in this part of the country," the
+man said, "and I believe the folks here are everywhere doing well, and
+would do better if it were not for these native troubles. They suffered
+a lot in the last war, and will, of course, bear the brunt of it if the
+natives break out again. There are a good many English and Scotch
+settlers in this part. There are, of course, some Dutch, but as a rule
+they go in more for cattle-farming on a big scale. Besides, they do not
+care about English neighbours; they are an unsociable set of brutes, the
+Dutch, and keep themselves to themselves as much as possible."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE OUTBREAK.
+
+
+As it was possible that the detachment might remain for some time in
+their present quarters, Lieutenant Daniels at once set them to work to
+erect a couple of huts, each capable of holding ten men. Several of the
+farmers sent two or three of their native labourers to assist in cutting
+and bringing to the spot timber for the framework and supplying straw
+for thatching the roofs. The operation was not a long one. The walls
+were made with wattle plastered with mud, and the work was accomplished
+in a couple of days. The men were glad of the shelter, for, although the
+heat was very great during the day, the nights were cold and sharp. The
+horses were picketed behind the huts; the officer took up his quarters
+at a farmhouse a hundred yards away. Once housed, the men had little to
+do, for, in the daytime, there was no fear of the Kaffirs coming down on
+their plundering expeditions, such attempts being only made at night.
+When evening fell, the saddles were placed on the horses, and the men
+lay down in their clothes, simply taking off their jackets and
+jack-boots, so as to be in readiness to turn out at a moment's alarm.
+Sometimes they rode out in small parties patrolling the whole country,
+not with any idea of finding cattle-thieves, but merely to give
+confidence to settlers, whose Kaffir servants were sure to give
+intelligence to their friends in the bush of the presence of the Mounted
+Rifles in the neighbourhood.
+
+When they had been there a fortnight they heard that the Governor had
+come to King Williamstown, and had summoned the various chiefs to
+assemble there. They had all come with the exception of the paramount
+Chief Sandilli, had assured the Governor of their fidelity, sworn
+allegiance anew, and ratified it by kissing the stick of peace. The
+Governor was so satisfied with their assurances that he issued a reply
+to the petitions of the colonists, saying that reports throughout
+British Kaffraria were most satisfactory, that the chiefs were
+astonished at the sudden arrival of the troops, and that he hoped to
+arrest some of the Kaffirs who had spread the alarming reports. The
+Governor gave his solemn assurance to those of the settlers who had left
+their farms that there was no occasion for alarm.
+
+A commission, however, appointed by him to investigate the numerous
+complaints of the settlers, speedily forwarded to him such alarming
+accounts of the critical state of affairs, that he again left for the
+frontier, taking with him from Cape Town the 73rd Regiment and a
+detachment of artillery. A proclamation was at once issued for the
+establishment of a police force, the enrolment of new levies and of a
+corps of volunteers for self-defence, so as to leave the whole of the
+military at liberty for operations.
+
+One day, towards the end of November, Ronald and a comrade had ridden
+some twelve miles out of the station, when they saw a young lady on
+horseback riding towards them. She drew rein when she reached them.
+
+"We have had fifty cattle driven off in the night," she said, "and some
+of the neighbours have followed the trail. I am riding over to report
+the fact to your officer."
+
+"We can report it," Ronald said, "and save you the trouble of riding
+further; but if you like we will ride back with you first, and see if we
+can be of any service."
+
+"I am afraid it will be no use," the girl said; "they will be in the
+woods before they can be overtaken, and then, you know, there will be
+nothing to do but to report where their trail ended and wait for the
+chance of getting compensation from the chief."
+
+By this time they were galloping back with her. The tale was similar to
+scores of others they had heard since their arrival in the valley, and
+they knew that there was but slight chance of recovering the trail, the
+order being stringent that they were on no account to enter the bush.
+The cattle, therefore, were as good as lost, for all were well aware
+that in the present state of things there was but little prospect of
+receiving compensation from the chief. The party found, indeed, upon
+their arrival at the farmhouse, which was a large and comfortable one,
+and furnished in English style, that the neighbours had returned, having
+traced the spoor of the stolen cattle up to the edge of the bush.
+
+The farmer came out to the door as his daughter rode up.
+
+"Come in," he said to the troopers, "and have some refreshment. The
+rascals have got away again. I expect that they are some of my old
+servants, for they knew the trick of the fastenings I have had put to
+the gate of the cattle-kraal, which would certainly have puzzled any of
+the Kaffirs. Now sit down and make yourselves at home."
+
+The other settlers were already seated at the table that the Hottentots
+or, as they were always called, "tottie" servants, had laid with a
+profusion of food. The young lady, still in her blue riding-habit, did
+not sit down to the table, but moved about, seeing that the "tottie"
+girls attended to the wants of the guests. She was, Ronald thought,
+about eighteen years old, and had the graceful, active figure so common
+among girls who spend much of their time on horseback. She was
+strikingly pretty, and her expression of delicacy and refinement was
+unusual among the daughters of the colonial farmers. This he was not
+surprised at, when he glanced at her father, who was a fine-looking man,
+with a gray moustache.
+
+"I am always glad to see the uniform again," he said, presently, to
+Ronald. "I served myself when I was a young man, and was an ensign in
+the Rifles at Waterloo, but I got tired of soldiering in the times of
+peace, and came out to the Cape thirty years ago, so you can well
+understand that I am fond of a sight of the uniform again, especially
+that of your corps, which is nearly the colour of my own. Well, I have
+had pretty nearly enough of the Cape, and intend in another year or two
+to go back home. I have moved a good many times, as you may imagine,
+since I came out, but I don't like running away, and, besides, just at
+present I should get nothing for my farm."
+
+"I can imagine that farms are rather a drug in the market just now,"
+Ronald replied, "especially those at the edge of the frontier. However,
+we must hope that this trouble will blow over, and now that the Governor
+is, as I hear, coming round with the 73rd, the Kaffirs may think better
+of it."
+
+"I think they have made up their mind to give us a little trouble," the
+settler said. "Their witch-doctor, Umlanjeni, has been stirring them up
+with all sorts of predictions, and Sandilli, who no doubt set him to
+work, has, we know, been intriguing with the other chiefs. The sudden
+disappearance of the Kaffir servants from all the farms of this part of
+the country was, of course, in obedience to orders, and is certainly
+ominous. They say that there are altogether three thousand muskets, six
+million rounds of ball cartridge, and half-a-million assegais in the
+hands of the natives. It has been a suicidal business allowing trade in
+firearms and ammunition to be carried on with them. I wish that the
+talkative fools at Cape Town who manage our affairs were all located
+down on the frontier; they might learn some sense then as to the way of
+dealing with the natives. But the worst sign of all is that, as I have
+heard to-day from some of my Hottentots, the order has been given by
+Umlanjeni to slay and eat."
+
+"To slay and eat!" Ronald repeated in surprise. "What does that mean,
+sir?"
+
+"Ah, that question shows you have not been long in the colony," the
+settler said. "You know, the Kaffirs live at ordinary times entirely
+upon a vegetable diet, but it is their custom upon the approach of war
+to eat meat, believing that flesh gives them courage and ferocity.
+However, as it was only three weeks ago that the chiefs all swore to be
+peaceable and faithful, I hardly think that there's any danger of an
+outbreak for some time to come, perhaps not for some months. You see, it
+is just midsummer now, and my crops are nearly fit for cutting. I sent
+most of my cattle away a fortnight since, and when I have got my crops
+in I shall shut up the house and move into Grahamstown. We have many
+friends there, and shall stop there until we see what comes of this
+business, and when it is all over I shall dispose of my farm. I do not
+think there is any real danger here. We have always been on excellent
+terms with the natives, and Anta, who is chief of the tribe in this
+part, often comes down here and begs a bottle of Cape smoke or a pound
+of tobacco. He has smoked many a pipe in this room, and treacherous as
+the people are, I cannot think that he would allow his men to do us any
+harm. He generally addresses me as his white brother."
+
+An active conversation was at the same time going on between the other
+guests, who were discussing the farm at which it would be best for
+neighbours to assemble in case of attack. The settler, whose name was
+Armstrong, had placed Ronald next himself, while his comrade was at the
+other end of the table, these being the only seats vacant at the table
+when they entered. Ronald and the settler chatted quietly together for
+some time. Mary Armstrong, who had taken her place leaning on the back
+of her father's chair, when she had seen the guests attended to,
+occasionally joined in.
+
+Mr. Armstrong was pleased with his guest.
+
+"I hope next time when you ride over in this direction you will call in
+again," he said. "I can assure you that we shall be heartily glad to see
+you, and, if you can get leave off duty for a night, to put you up. It
+is a real pleasure to me to have a chat with some one fresh from
+England, and to hear how things look after all these years. Why, I shall
+hardly know the country again, cut up as it seems to be with these
+railways."
+
+After the meal was over, Ronald and his friend rode back to their
+quarters.
+
+"That's a nice-looking little girl," the trooper said, as they rode away
+from the house; "they say her father is the richest man in these parts,
+and that he owns a lot of property at the Cape. If I were him I should
+live there instead of in this out-of-the-way place."
+
+"I suppose he is fond of a country life," Ronald replied, ignoring the
+first part of the remark; "I should think that society in Cape Town is
+not very interesting."
+
+"I don't know that," the other replied. "I know that if I had money
+enough to settle down there you wouldn't find me many hours knocking
+about here as a trooper."
+
+"It's all a matter of taste," Ronald replied. "When I was at home I
+lived in the country and prefer it to town, and like an active life in
+the open air better than anything Cape Town could give me."
+
+"That's a nice young fellow, Mary--that man in the Cape Rifles," Mr.
+Armstrong said to his daughter the same evening. "I should say he is
+altogether above his position, don't you think so?"
+
+"I do not know that I thought much about it, father. Yes, I suppose he
+wasn't like an ordinary soldier."
+
+"Not at all, Mary, not at all. I fancy from what I have heard that there
+are a good many young men of decent family serving in the corps. It's a
+thousand times better for a young fellow who's got neither money nor
+interest to come out here than to stay at home breaking his heart in
+trying to get something to do. Yes. I should say from his talk, and
+especially from the tone of his voice, that he has seen better days.
+It's a pity the colony can't afford to keep on foot four or five
+regiments of these Mounted Rifles. We should not hear much of native
+troubles if they did. The natives are much more afraid of them than of
+the soldiers; and no wonder. In the first place they are more accustomed
+to the country, and in the second place they are armed with weapons that
+will kill at a considerable distance, while Brown Bess is of no use at
+over a hundred yards. Well, I hope that young fellow will drop in again;
+I should like another chat with him. It's a pleasant change to meet any
+one who is willing to talk on some subject other than natives, and
+crops, and cattle."
+
+A week later, Ronald was sent with a despatch to King Williamstown.
+
+"There will be no answer, Blunt," Lieutenant Daniels said, as he handed
+it to him; "at least, no answer of any consequence. So you can stay a
+day in the town if you like."
+
+"Thank you, sir; but as I do not care for towns, I will, if you will
+allow me, stop on my way back at Mr. Armstrong's. That is where the
+cattle were stolen the other day, and it will not be far out of my way
+from King Williamstown. He invited me to stay there for a day if I could
+get leave."
+
+"Certainly, you can do so," the lieutenant said. "You can hear if there
+is any news of the Kaffirs stirring in that neighbourhood; they seem to
+have been a bit more quiet for the last week or so."
+
+Two days later Ronald drew rein in front of Mr. Armstrong's house, late
+in the afternoon.
+
+"I have taken you at your word, Mr. Armstrong," he said, as the farmer
+came to the door.
+
+"I am glad to see you," the other said, cordially. "It is not a mere
+flying visit, I hope; but you will be able to stay with us till
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Thank you, yes. I am not due at the station till to-morrow evening, and
+am my own master till then. I have been carrying a despatch to
+Williamstown."
+
+"We have had some of the Kaffir police here to-day," the farmer said to
+him while they were at supper. "What do you think of them?"
+
+"They seem smart fellows, and well up to their duty. So far as I can see
+they are just the sort of men for border police work."
+
+"Yes," Mr. Armstrong agreed, "on any other border but this. To my mind
+they are much too closely related to the fellows in the bush to be
+trustworthy. They are all well enough for following up a trail or
+arresting a stray thief, and would, I dare say, be quite reliable if
+opposed to any tribe to which they were not akin, but I doubt whether
+they will stand to us if there is trouble with Sandilli, Macomo, and the
+rest of them. You see how powerful the influence of these chiefs is.
+When the order came, pretty nearly every Kaffir in this colony left
+instantly, many of them leaving considerable arrears of wages behind. If
+the tribal tie is so strong that men entirely beyond the reach of their
+chief come home the instant they are summoned, how can it be expected
+that the Kaffirs in this police force will fight against their own
+kindred?"
+
+"It does not seem reasonable to expect such a thing, certainly," Ronald
+agreed. "I cannot think myself why they did not raise the force among
+the Fingoes. They are just as fine a race as the Kaffirs, and speak the
+same language, and yet they are bitterly hostile to them."
+
+"Yes, it would have been better," Mr. Armstrong said. "I think that
+there was a prejudice against the Fingoes in the first place. They were
+not a powerful people like the Gaikas and Galegas and Basutos. A good
+many of them had escaped from the chiefs who held them in subjection,
+and came in and loafed about the colony. As all Kaffirs are given to
+thieving and drunkenness whenever they get the chance, the colonists
+looked down upon them more than upon the other natives. Not that there
+is any reason for their doing so, except that they saw more of them, for
+all the Kaffirs are the same in that respect."
+
+"Do you think it is safe stopping here, Mr. Armstrong?" Ronald asked.
+They had been talking of the various cattle-stealing raids that had
+taken place at various points of the frontier.
+
+"I still think so for the present. By New Year's Day I shall have got my
+crops in, and then I will go into town, as I told you I would; but in
+the meantime five or six of our nearest neighbours have agreed to move
+in here; I have the largest farm hereabout, and we could stand a stout
+siege."
+
+"I am glad to hear that, Mr. Armstrong; the same thing has been done in
+a good many places and in that way you should be quite safe. I quite
+think the Kaffirs capable of coming down in small parties and attacking
+isolated houses, and murdering their occupants; but after their late
+protestations of fidelity, I cannot believe that the chiefs would permit
+anything like large parties to sally out to make war."
+
+"That is my idea. But they are treacherous hounds, and there is never
+any trusting them."
+
+"If you can manage to send one of your Fingoes off with news to us, you
+may be sure we shall be with you in the shortest possible time, and we
+will soon make mincemeat of them."
+
+"Do not be too sure of that. I don't say in the open they would stand
+against a force of cavalry anywhere approaching their own numbers, but I
+can tell you that in the bush I consider they are fully a match for our
+troops man to man. What chance has a soldier with his clothes and fifty
+or sixty pounds weight on his back, who goes crashing along through the
+bushes and snapping the twigs with his heavy boots, against a native who
+can crawl along stark naked without making the slightest noise, and who
+gives the first intimation of his presence by a shot from behind a tree,
+or a stab with his spear? When I came out here I had naturally the same
+ideas as you have, and scoffed at the notion of naked savages standing
+up against a regular soldier, but I can tell you I have changed my
+opinion, and if the tribes under Sandilli are really in earnest, I
+promise you that you will want five times as many troops as we have got
+in the colony to tackle them."
+
+Two days later a message arrived with orders to Lieutenant Daniels to
+rejoin with his detachment at once. On the 16th of December the whole of
+the troops in Albany and British Kaffraria were assembled and moved
+under the Commander-in-Chief towards the Amatolas, the object being to
+overawe the Gaikas without resorting to force, which was to be carefully
+avoided. The troops consisted of the 6th, 73rd, and 93rd Regiments and
+the Cape Mounted Rifles, altogether about 1,500 strong, with two
+divisions of the Kaffir police. The force moved in three columns. The
+Governor, who was with the central column, was met by a great number of
+the Gaikas chiefs, with about 3,000 of their men, at Fort Cox. They
+again expressed their desire for peace, but their bearing and attitude
+was not satisfactory. Sandilli and his half-brother, Anta, were declared
+by the Governor to be outlawed, and a reward issued for their
+apprehension.
+
+A few days passed without further movement. On the evening of the 23rd,
+Sergeant Menzies said to Ronald, whom he met just as he had come out
+from Captain Twentyman's, "I have two pieces of news for you, Blunt. In
+the first place, as you know, Corporal Hodges has lost his stripes and
+has been sent back to the ranks for getting drunk. Captain Twentyman
+asked me who I could recommend for the stripes, and I told him I thought
+there was no one in the troop who would make a better non-commissioned
+officer than you would. He said that you were the man he had his eye
+upon. At ordinary times he should not have liked to give you your
+corporal's stripes after being such a short time in the corps, but that
+in the present state of things it was essential to have the best man who
+could be picked out, irrespective of his length of service: besides, as
+you have served before it makes it altogether a different thing."
+
+"I am much obliged to you, sergeant," Ronald answered. "If it hadn't
+been for this trouble I should have preferred remaining in the ranks. I
+like a trooper's life and do not care about the extra pay one way or the
+other. Besides, as a non-commissioned officer one has more
+responsibility and less freedom. However, as it is I shall be glad of
+the step, for doubtless if there is fighting there will be a lot of
+scouting and escort work with very small detachments, and I confess I
+would prefer being in command of five or six men on such work as that,
+to being under the orders of a man who perhaps wouldn't know as well as
+I do what ought to be done. And now what is your next news?"
+
+"The next is that our troop and B troop are to form part of a column,
+five hundred strong, that is to march to-morrow to a place where
+Sandilli is supposed to be concealed."
+
+"Well, we shall see then," Roland said, "whether these fellows mean
+business or not."
+
+"I was talking to the headquarter mess-sergeant. He tells me that the
+Governor's cock-sure there will be no fighting, but that Sandilli will
+either surrender at once or bolt before we get there."
+
+"From all I can hear, sergeant, the Governor's opinions are usually
+wrong. However, we shall see about it to-morrow, and, at any rate, it's
+a good thing to have the question solved one way or the other. Nothing
+can be worse for the colonists and every one else than this state of
+suspense. The fellows will have to make up their mind one way or the
+other now."
+
+In the morning the detachment, five hundred and eighty strong, under
+Colonel Mackinnon, marched from Fort Cox. The Kaffir police led the way,
+and were followed by the Cape Mounted Rifles, the infantry forming the
+rear. There were a good many natives about, but these shouted friendly
+greetings as the column passed, and it proceeded quietly until it
+reached the narrow rocky gorge of the Keiskamma, which could only be
+traversed in single file. Ronald Mervyn had been placed in orders the
+previous evening as corporal, and he was pleased to find by the remarks
+of the men that they did not grudge him his promotion, for soldiers are
+quick to recognise steadiness and ability, and they had long since
+concluded that Harry Blunt, although he never spoke about his military
+experiences, had served for some time, thoroughly knew his work, and had
+been a non-commissioned officer, if not an officer.
+
+"I don't like the look of this place at all," he said to Sergeant
+Menzies as they halted at the mouth of the gorge. "If I were in command
+of the force moving among a population who might any moment show
+themselves hostile, I would not advance through this gorge till I had
+sent a company of infantry on ahead to skirmish among the bushes, and
+find out whether there is any one hidden there. On horseback as we are
+we should be almost at their mercy."
+
+"The Kaffir policemen ahead ought to have done that work," the sergeant
+said. "Why, bless you, if there was as much as a fox lurking among the
+bushes they could find him."
+
+"Yes, I have no doubt they could if they wanted to," Ronald agreed, "but
+the question is, do they want to? I have no faith whatever in those
+Kaffir police. I have been watching them for the last day or two talking
+to the Gaikas, and if the natives really mean mischief I would wager the
+police join them."
+
+It was now their turn to enter the gorge, and as they moved along in
+single file, Ronald opened one of his holsters and held a revolver ready
+in hand, while he narrowly scanned the bushes that came down to the
+narrow path along which they were making their way. He drew a deep
+breath of relief when he emerged from the pass. As the troop reached the
+open ground they formed up and were about to move forward when they
+heard a sudden outburst of musketry--at first the deep roar of the long,
+heavy guns carried by the natives, and then quickly afterwards the
+continuous rattle of the soldiers' muskets.
+
+A cry of rage broke from the troopers. Captain Twentyman, who was in
+command of the squadron, saw that cavalry could be of no use in the
+gorge, and that they would only add to the confusion did they try to go
+back to assist the infantry. He therefore spread them out in the shape
+of a fan in front of the entrance to the gorge, to protect it against
+any body of natives who might be approaching. Rifles in hand, and with
+eyes straining into the forest ahead of them, the cavalry sat their
+horses, anxiously listening to the din behind them. Presently the
+infantry began to emerge, and at last the whole of the force was
+reunited. It was found that the assistant surgeon and eleven men had
+been killed, and two officers and seven privates wounded. They had,
+however, beaten off the enemy with considerable loss.
+
+As it was clear that, now the Kaffirs had broken into open war, it would
+be unsafe in the extreme with the force under him to endeavour to
+penetrate further, Colonel Mackinnon ordered the column to retire. The
+gorge was thoroughly searched by infantry before the movement began, and
+it was not until they had found it was completely deserted by the enemy
+that the column moved back. They reached camp in the evening, and the
+Governor, upon hearing what had taken place, immediately proclaimed
+martial law, and ordered a strict inquiry to be made into the conduct of
+the Kaffir police. In the morning, however, the encampment of the corps
+was found deserted, three hundred and eighty-five men, taking with them
+their wives, cattle, and equipments, having deserted to the enemy during
+the night. Two strong patrols were sent out to carry the news to the
+commanders of the other two columns, and to examine the state of the
+country. They came upon a sight that enraged the troops, even more than
+the attack upon themselves. A party of the 45th Regiment, consisting of
+a sergeant and fourteen privates, escorting waggons from Fort White to
+King Williamstown, had been suddenly attacked by the Kaffirs, who had
+murdered the whole party.
+
+Ronald Mervyn did not hear of this unprovoked atrocity at the time.
+
+At daybreak, six detachments--drawn from the Cape Mounted Rifles, and
+each composed of six men and a non-commissioned officer--were ordered to
+start at once to various settlements on the border, to warn the
+colonists of the outbreak of war. Ronald was placed in the command of
+one of these detachments, and was chosen to lead that which was to warn
+the settlers on the Kabousie River, as he was acquainted with the
+country there. It was hoped that these detachments would arrive in time,
+for it was supposed that the attack on the column had been an isolated
+affair, the work of the tribe in the immediate neighbourhood.
+Circumstances proved, however, that that action was only a part of a
+preconcerted plan, for on the following day, which happened to be
+Christmas, a simultaneous attack was made upon almost all the border
+settlements.
+
+Some of these were military villages, Government having at the
+conclusion of the previous war given grants of land and assistance to
+start in their farms to a number of discharged soldiers, upon the
+condition of their turning out at any time for the defence of the
+country. A number of prosperous little villages had thus sprung up, and
+the settlers lived on most friendly terms with the neighbouring Kaffirs,
+constantly entertaining them as their guests and employing many of them
+on their farms. In a few cases the news of the fight at Keiskamma
+arrived in time for the settlers to prepare for defence, but in the
+great majority of cases they were taken by surprise and massacred, often
+by the very men who had just been sharing their Christmas dinner. Many
+of the villages were entirely destroyed, and in some cases not a single
+man escaped to tell the tale.
+
+It needed no orders for the messengers to use speed. Ronald and his men
+went at a gallop, only breaking into a slower pace at times to enable
+the men to breathe their horses. They had a long ride before them, and
+anxious as he was to get on, it was necessary to spare the horses as
+much as possible. He arrived at the station his detachment had before
+occupied at about one o'clock. The inhabitants were just sitting down to
+dinner. A good many Kaffirs were scattered about through the village.
+These looked surprised at the arrival of a detachment of cavalry, and
+gradually disappeared, supposing that Ronald's party was but the advance
+guard of a larger body. As soon as the news spread, the inhabitants
+hurried from their houses, men, women, and children, loaded with such
+articles they could snatch up in their haste, and all hastened to the
+building which they had before decided should be used as a citadel in
+case of need. Boys galloped out to the fields to drive the cattle into
+the kraal that had been constructed within easy range of the guns of the
+defenders of the Fort. Men were placed on sentry, while others brought
+in from the houses food, bedding, and clothes, and in a short time the
+village was prepared for a defence.
+
+Ronald made a stay of a few minutes only. A mouthful of food was given
+to the horses, as he watched the settlers collecting for defence, and
+then, satisfied that they were prepared against surprise here, he rode
+on with his men. At the isolated farmhouses he passed, horses were put
+into light carts as soon as his news was told. In these women and
+children were stowed. A bundle or two of clothes were thrown in, the men
+then mounted, and the whole made off at the top of their speed towards
+the nearest town. A few of the younger men, and those unencumbered by
+women and children, mounted their horses, and taking their arms, joined
+Ronald's party. The next village was five miles from the first, and as
+they approached they heard piercing screams mingled with yells. Putting
+spurs to their horses the little party dashed on. Round each of the five
+or six houses in the village were groups of Kaffirs, who were dragging
+the inhabitants from the houses and massacring them. One or two shots
+were heard as they rode up, showing that some of the men were selling
+their lives dearly. With a shout, the little party of horsemen, counting
+fifteen men, dashed in upon the Kaffirs. Taken wholly by surprise, the
+latter did not see their foes until they were just upon them, and it was
+too late to throw their assegais with effect. Pouring in a volley from
+their rifles the troop rode in among them, hewing right and left with
+their sabres, the sharp cracks of their pistols following in rapid
+succession. With yells of dismay the Kaffirs, although numbering upwards
+of a hundred, at once fled, making for the forest. The infuriated
+troopers and settlers followed them, cutting down or shooting numbers
+before they reached the shelter of the trees. In their rage they would
+have followed them had not Ronald called them off.
+
+"It would only be throwing away your lives to enter the wood," he said.
+"We should have to dismount, and they could spear us as they chose.
+Besides, we have other work to do."
+
+They rode straight back to the village. More than half of the
+inhabitants had been murdered, and the rest were gathered round their
+dead friends in attitudes of despair, many of them streaming with blood
+from several wounds.
+
+"Friends," Ronald said, as he rode up, "you must be up and doing. You
+must either gather in one house for mutual defence--for we have to ride
+on and the natives will return as soon as we leave--or as will be much
+wiser, put your horses into light carts, take the bodies of your
+friends, some of them may be only stunned by the knobkerries, and drive
+for your lives to the town. We will stop another ten minutes. The
+natives will not venture out of the woods until we go on."
+
+Ronald's words roused the unfortunate settlers from their stupor. The
+men, aided by the troopers, harnessed the horses to the carts, lifted
+the wounded and dead into them, and taking with them a few of their
+valuables, drove away, and Ronald rode on with his party. At one or two
+houses the attack had not begun, and the settlers at once harnessed up
+and drove off. In others the party arrived too late to save, although
+they were able to avenge by surprising and cutting up the treacherous
+servants who, aided by the Gaikas from the hills, had murdered their
+masters, and were engaged in the work of plunder when the troop rode up.
+In each case they found that the Fingo servants had shared the fate of
+their employers, showing that they had been kept in the dark as to the
+deadly intentions of the Kaffirs.
+
+As he neared the house occupied by his friends, the Armstrongs, Ronald
+Mervyn's anxiety heightened. Each scene of massacre had added to his
+fears, and he chafed at the comparatively slow rate of speed at which it
+was now necessary to go in order to spare the tired horses. Presently he
+heard the sound of distant firing in the direction in which he knew the
+Armstrong's house was situated. It was a welcome sound, for although it
+showed that the party were attacked, it gave hopes that they had not
+been entirely taken by surprise, and were still defending themselves.
+
+"Jones," he said, turning to one of the troopers, "you can't go faster
+than you are going, but my horse has plenty in hand. I will ride on with
+the burghers at full speed; you keep well together and follow as fast as
+you can. If they make a fight of it with us, your coming up suddenly may
+cow them and decide the matter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE.
+
+
+The sounds of firing still continued as Ronald Mervyn, with his party of
+burghers, rode at the top of their speed towards Mr. Armstrong's house.
+As they neared it a number of Kaffirs were seen gathered round it. As
+these perceived the approach of the horsemen there was a movement of
+flight, but a chief who was with them, seeing the smallness of the force
+approaching, called upon them to stand, and they at once gathered to
+meet the advancing horsemen.
+
+"Halt," Ronald shouted as he pulled up his horse a hundred and fifty
+yards from the house, "there are a couple of hundred of them; we shall
+be riddled with spears if we charge them, and shall throw away our lives
+without being of any assistance to our friends. Dismount, lads, and tie
+your horses up to the trees. Don't tie them too firmly, for if they make
+a rush we must ride off and then return again. Now each get behind a
+tree and open a steady fire upon them. Let each pick out his man and
+don't throw away a shot. Don't all fire together. Let the man on the
+right fire first, and then the one next to him, and so on, so that two
+or three of the right hand men can be loaded again before the last on
+the left has emptied his rifle."
+
+A second or two later the first rifle spoke out and a native fell. Shot
+after shot was fired and every bullet told. The two chiefs were among
+the first who fell, and their loss to some extent paralysed the advance
+of the natives. Some of them ran back to the shelter under the house,
+but forty or fifty of them with loud shouting rushed forward.
+
+"Give them one volley," Ronald shouted, "and then to your horses."
+
+Every loaded gun was discharged; the men unhitched their horses, sprang
+into their saddles, and dashed off. All were accustomed to load on
+horseback, and as soon as the cartridges were down and the caps on,
+Ronald led them back again. The natives were this time holding the
+orchard. Ronald took a sweep as if to cut them off from the house, and,
+afraid of being separated, they ran back to rejoin their comrades. A
+volley was poured in, and then a charge was made upon them, sword and
+pistol in hand.
+
+For a minute or two there was a sharp fight. Many of the natives were
+shot or cut down, while several of the burghers received assegai wounds.
+
+A large body of natives were running up to the assistance of their
+comrades, when the six men of the Mounted Rifles rode up. The advancing
+natives paused at the sight of the soldiers, and before they could make
+up their minds to advance, the greater portion of those who had occupied
+the orchard were killed.
+
+"Draw off fifty yards," Ronald said, "and reload rifles and pistols."
+
+This was done, and several steady volleys poured into the Kaffirs.
+
+"That will do," Ronald said; "they are beginning to slip off. Now we
+will charge straight down upon them; I and my troopers will cut our way
+through and enter the house. There is fighting going on in there still.
+Do you, gentlemen, take our horses as we dismount, and ride off, and
+then open fire again on the rascals from a distance. We shall be able to
+hold the house if we can once enter."
+
+The plan was carried out. With a desperate charge they burst through the
+natives round the door. Ronald and the troopers sprang to the ground,
+and threw the reins of their horses to the colonists who caught them and
+rode off again.
+
+"Close the door behind you," Ronald said, as he sprang forward into the
+passage, which was crowded with natives. The troopers followed him,
+closing and barring the door behind them. There was a sharp fight in the
+passage, but Ronald's two revolvers and the rifles of his men were more
+than a match for the natives, and in two or three minutes the last of
+them fell.
+
+"Close and bar all the shutters," Ronald shouted, as he rushed into the
+dining-room, over the bodies of eight or ten natives lying inside.
+
+His appearance was greeted with a hearty cheer, and Mr. Armstrong and
+three or four others ran in through the door of an inner room.
+
+"Thank God we are in time," Ronald said, grasping Mr. Armstrong's hand.
+
+"Thank God, indeed," the farmer replied. "We have had a hot time for the
+last hour."
+
+"Miss Armstrong is not hurt, I hope?"
+
+"No, she has escaped without a scratch, and I think that that's more
+than any of the rest of us can say."
+
+"I must see about my men now," Ronald said; "will you get all the
+shutters downstairs fastened and barred?"
+
+Ronald ran out and found that his men had just succeeded in clearing the
+house. They had found several Kaffirs upstairs engaged in the work of
+plundering. Some of them had been cut down, whilst others had jumped
+from the open windows. As soon as the shutters had been fastened, Ronald
+and his men took their places at the upper windows and opened fire upon
+the natives, who were already drawing off. The fire of the defenders of
+the house was aided by that of the burghers, and the retreat of the
+natives soon became a flight, many dropping before they were out of
+range of the rifles. As soon as the natives were fairly in retreat
+Ronald again went downstairs, where he found Mr. Armstrong and the other
+defenders of the house engaged attending upon the wounded. Ronald
+looked round the room.
+
+"My daughter is in there," Mr. Armstrong said, pointing to the inner
+room. "She has behaved splendidly through it all, but she broke down
+when she found that the danger was over. I think you had better leave
+her alone for a few minutes."
+
+"No wonder!" Ronald said, as he looked round the room. Seven or eight
+natives lay dead close to the doorway, three or four others in other
+parts of the room, three white men and two women also lay dead; and on
+the ground lay a table-cloth, broken plates and dishes, and the remains
+of a feast. Mr. Armstrong and four other farmers were now engaged in
+attending to each other's wounds, and binding them up with bandages made
+out of strips of the table-cloth.
+
+"I was never so pleased in my life," Mr. Armstrong said, "as when I
+heard the first sound of your guns. Who you were I could not of course
+make out, but I supposed it must be a party from one of the villages
+which had got news of the attack on us here."
+
+"It is partly so, sir," Ronald said. "We have six of our men besides
+myself, and fourteen or fifteen burghers joined us as we came along. I
+hear them riding up to the door now. I am sorry to say that no more were
+to be obtained, for the attack has been general, and I fear that three
+parts of the villages along the frontier have been destroyed, and their
+inhabitants massacred. Fortunately we arrived in time to save the place
+where we were before encamped, and to rescue a few of those at the next
+village. But at fully half the farmhouses we passed the work of massacre
+had already been carried out."
+
+The front door was now opened, and the burghers entered. Ronald found
+that two of the party had been killed in the charge up to the house, and
+that most of them had received more or less serious wounds in the
+fight, while three of the Rifles had also been pierced with the
+assegais. He himself had been struck by a spear that had glanced off his
+ribs, inflicting a nasty flesh wound, while another assegai had laid
+open his cheek. Mary Armstrong and two other women now came out from the
+inner room and assisted in dressing the wounds, while the men who were
+unhurt carried the bodies of the Kaffirs who had fallen in the house
+some distance away, while those of the white men and women were placed
+side by side in another room. They then got buckets of water and soon
+removed the pools of blood from the floor.
+
+"Now, Mary," Mr. Armstrong said, "will you and your friends get a fresh
+table-cloth out, and bring in some cold meat and bread and anything else
+that you can lay your hands on, for our brave friends? The rascals can't
+have had time to find out our cellar, and though I don't think any of
+our party want anything to eat, a draught of spirits and water will be
+acceptable all round."
+
+"Not for those who are wounded, father; tea will be better for them, I
+am sure."
+
+"Perhaps it will, my dear."
+
+The women were glad of something to do. One of them was the wife of one
+of the farmers who had fallen, but she, too, in a dull mechanical
+manner, aided Mary Armstrong and the other, and as soon as the place was
+made quite tidy, six or seven children, of different ages, were called
+out from the inner room.
+
+Ronald and the troopers did justice to the food, for they had ridden
+upwards of sixty miles, and had had nothing to eat save a piece of hard
+biscuit before starting.
+
+"Now," Mr. Armstrong said, when their appetites were appeased, "tell us
+by what miracle you arrived here just in time to save us. I thought all
+the troops in the colony were somewhere near Fort Cox, at least that was
+the news that came to us yesterday."
+
+"So we were, sir," Ronald said. "A column advanced from there yesterday
+morning, and were attacked by the Kaffirs in the gorge of the Keiskamma
+and some twenty or thirty killed and wounded. It occurred through the
+treachery of the Kaffir police, all of whom deserted last night. Some
+parties were sent off the first thing this morning to warn the border
+settlements, but I am afraid that very few of them arrived in time. We
+shall have terrible tidings, I fear, of this day's work everywhere."
+
+"You are in command of this party?"
+
+"Yes; I got my corporal's stripes the day before yesterday, and I was
+lucky enough to be chosen to command this detachment, as I knew the
+country; and now, sir, how did this business begin here?"
+
+"We were at dinner," Mr. Armstrong said, "when without the least notice,
+just as we had finished, there was a rush through the door. All my
+friends had brought their rifles with them, and the instant the Kaffirs
+entered we knew what was up. Those who could caught their rifles, others
+snatched up table-knives, and the fight began. As you saw, several of
+our party were killed at once, but the rest of us made such a good fight
+with our clubbed rifles and knives that for the moment we cleared the
+room, then two of us held the door while the rest fell back into the
+inner room, where, fortunately, all the children were at the time, for
+the table was not large enough to hold us all, and they had had their
+meal first.
+
+"Directly those who got in there recapped their rifles--for we found
+that our rascally Hottentot servants had removed the caps while we were
+at dinner--Thompson and I, who were at the door, fell back. Then, you
+see, matters were easy enough. Two of us were posted at the door of the
+inner room, and the moment a native showed himself inside the door of
+this room he was shot down. Of course we had shut the shutters of the
+inner room directly we entered, and one of us kept guard there. I don't
+think the Kaffirs would ever have forced their way in; but no doubt, as
+soon as they had stripped the house of everything valuable to them, they
+would have set it on fire, and then we should have had the choice of
+being burnt out here or being speared outside.
+
+"I need not say that we had all agreed that it was a thousand times
+better to die here than to trust ourselves to those fiends, who always
+put their prisoners to death with atrocious tortures. Anyhow, my
+friends, we owe our lives to you, for sooner or later the end must have
+come to us. Now what are you going to do? You do not think of pushing on
+any further, I hope."
+
+"No, I think that would be useless," Ronald said. "The massacre is
+apparently universal, and evidently began at the same time all along the
+line. We should be too late to warn any one now. Still," he said, rising
+suddenly from his seat, "we might not be too late to rescue them. There
+may be other parties holding out. I hadn't thought of that, and we had
+better push on further."
+
+"I doubt if our horses can go any further," one of the men said. "Mine
+could scarcely carry me for the last five miles."
+
+"Yes, that is so," Ronald said. "I think my horse is good for another
+twenty miles, and the horses of our friends the burghers are quite
+fresh, so I will leave you here and ride on with them. You will, of
+course, keep a sharp look-out; but I do not think it likely that they
+will renew the attack. They must have lost between fifty and sixty men.
+I will ride on with the burghers to the last settlement along this line.
+It is not, I think, more than twenty miles further. We will sleep there
+and return the first thing in the morning. By that time, Mr. Armstrong,
+you will, I suppose, be ready to move into town."
+
+"Yes, I shall be ready by that time," the farmer said. "I sent off four
+loads of wheat yesterday morning, and the waggons will be back to-night.
+I will pack everything I want to take, and we shall be ready to start by
+the time you return. Of course, I shall drive the cattle with us--that
+is, if there are any cattle left to drive."
+
+"I saw them in the kraal behind the house as we rode up," Ronald said.
+"I suppose the Kaffirs thought they might as well finish with you first,
+and they could then divide the cattle among them at their leisure."
+
+"Well, that's good news," the settler said. "I made sure they were all
+gone. But don't you think you have done enough for to-day?"
+
+"Yes; don't go any further," Mary Armstrong added.
+
+"I feel that it is my duty to go, Miss Armstrong. I would much rather
+stay, I can assure you, but it's possible some of the garrisons may be
+holding out."
+
+"Yes, we are wrong to ask you to stay," Mr. Armstrong said; "but just
+wait a minute, my horses are kraaled with the cattle. I will bring one
+round and change the saddles; it will be a pity to founder that splendid
+horse of yours. You see he has got a lot of English blood in him, and
+can't go on for ever like our Cape horses."
+
+Five minutes later, mounted on a fresh horse, Ronald started with the
+burghers. Every farm they visited exhibited a spectacle of desolation;
+many had been forsaken some time previously, but they had been broken
+into, and, in many cases, fired. In others, the bodies of the occupants
+were beneath the embers of their homes; in a few the settlers had not
+been taken unawares, and stains of blood round the buildings showed that
+they had sold their lives dearly, and inflicted considerable loss on the
+Kaffirs before they had succeeded in bursting open the doors. In one
+little cluster of three or four houses, the bodies of men, women, and
+children lay scattered about; but one stoutly-built farmhouse, inhabited
+by a Boer farmer and six sons, had resisted all the attacks of the
+Kaffirs. The natives had drawn off before the arrival of the troops. The
+Boer stated that he intended to see it out.
+
+"Two of my sons," he said, "have already driven off the cattle and
+horses. I have got a couple of cows in milk in the shed adjoining the
+house, and I shall bring them inside at night. The Kaffirs will never
+beat down my shutters or door, and one of us will watch by turns, so
+that we will give it them hot if they do venture to come on; but I think
+they have had pretty nearly enough of us."
+
+This was the only house where a successful resistance was made, and on
+getting to the last station the party bivouacked near the ruins of the
+house, and, placing two men on guard, were soon asleep. They were
+undisturbed till morning, and mounting as soon as it was daylight, rode
+back to Mr. Armstrong's station. Three waggons had arrived late the
+night before, and with the assistance of the troopers were already
+loaded with furniture and other effects.
+
+Two of the burghers offered to assist Mr. Armstrong in driving his
+cattle and horses to King Williamstown. The party was accompanied by the
+other settlers and their families, several of whom had saved their
+waggons and animals, as the Kaffirs had made their first attack upon Mr.
+Armstrong, knowing from the Hottentot servants that the settlers from
+three or four of the adjoining farms would be gathered there. Their
+defeat, therefore, had saved not only Mr. Armstrong's, but the other
+farms from pillage. Very warm were the thanks that the settlers, before
+starting, bestowed upon Ronald and the troopers, and Ronald, as soon as
+the caravan had started, rode somewhat thoughtfully off with his men to
+the first place he had visited.
+
+Here they found that the Kaffirs, after they had left, had made a
+determined attack upon the place, but had been beaten off with much loss
+after several hours' fighting. The settlers were now, however, occupied
+in preparing to leave their farms, as the attack might at any moment be
+renewed, and perhaps with overwhelming numbers. The party of mounted
+police remained in the village until the following morning, as their
+horses, after their heavy work on the previous day, were not fit to take
+the long journey back to the camp. On the following morning they saw the
+settlers fairly on their way, and then galloped off to rejoin their
+corps at Fort Cox.
+
+As they ascended a piece of rising ground within a mile of the Fort, and
+obtained a fair view of it, they reined in their horses simultaneously.
+The Fort itself appeared silent and deserted, but at a distance of a few
+hundred yards from it they could see a large number of men moving about.
+
+"Those are not soldiers," Ronald exclaimed, "they must be Kaffirs. By
+Jove, the place is absolutely besieged. Look at the puffs of smoke. Yes,
+there can be no doubt about it. I expect the column has gone out again,
+and the Kaffirs are trying to take it before they return. Well, lads,
+it's too late in the afternoon now for us to do anything. We had better
+ride back two or three miles and then camp for the night. In the morning
+we must try and find out what has taken place, and where the troop have
+got to."
+
+All agreed that this was the best plan, and they accordingly rode
+quietly back, as for aught they could tell keen eyes might be upon them.
+They did not attempt to halt until it was quite dark, when they turned
+off at right angles to their former course, and after riding for about a
+mile, encamped in a clump of bushes. They had plenty of cold meat with
+them, for the settlers had, before starting, filled their haversacks.
+There was, therefore, no occasion to light a fire, which, indeed, they
+would in no case have done, as, should a Kaffir catch sight of a light,
+he would assuredly bring an overpowering force down upon them.
+
+"We will have two out on sentry, and relieve guard every hour," Ronald
+said, "but we can eat our meal in comfort first. There is no fear of
+their coming down upon us at present, at any rate."
+
+The manner in which he had led them in the attack on the Kaffirs had
+greatly impressed the men, and they yielded as ready and willing
+obedience, as if their corporal had been an officer. After the meal was
+over, Ronald placed a sentry on each side of the bush.
+
+"I will relieve you at the end of an hour," he said. "Keep your ears
+open. I shall go out for a bit and reconnoitre, and mind you don't shoot
+me as I come back. I will give a low whistle, like this, when I get near
+you. If you hear any one approaching, and he doesn't whistle, challenge,
+but don't shout too loud, or you might be heard by any Kaffirs who may
+be in search of us. If he don't answer, challenge again, and then step
+into the bushes. If he comes on, and you are sure it is a man, fire; but
+don't fire if you have the slightest doubt, for it might be a stray
+animal, and your rifle might bring the Kaffirs down on us."
+
+During the greater part of the night, Ronald moved about, keeping about
+a hundred yards from the clump, and returning every hour to see the
+sentries changed. Towards morning, having heard nothing to lead him to
+suppose that there were any Kaffirs in the neighbourhood, he returned to
+the bushes, and threw himself down for a couple of hours' sleep. At
+daybreak, they were in the saddle again, and approaching as near as they
+dared to the Fort, they concealed themselves, and presently succeeded in
+capturing a Kaffir woman who was out collecting sticks. One of the troop
+knew a little of the language, and from her they learnt that the greater
+part of the soldiers had marched away on the previous morning, and also
+gathered the direction they had taken. Keeping up a vigilant look-out,
+they rode in that direction, and presently met a detachment of the 91st
+and their own troop of the Rifles marching back to Fort Cox.
+
+The force was under the command of Colonel Somerset, the colonel of the
+Cape Mounted Rifles. Captain Twentyman, to whom Ronald reported himself,
+rode forward at once to the colonel with the news that Fort Cox was
+invested by the enemy. Ronald was sent for, and questioned as to the
+strength of the Kaffirs. He said that owing to the position from which
+he had seen them, he only commanded a view of a portion of the ground.
+There appeared to him to be seven or eight hundred men so far as he
+could see, but, of course, there might have been double that force on
+the other side.
+
+"Well, I think we ought to push forward at once," the colonel said to
+the officer commanding the infantry. "The Governor is in the Fort, and
+the force for its defence is a very small one. At any rate we must try
+to relieve him."
+
+The troops were halted for half an hour, and as the news soon spread
+that the Kaffirs were beleaguering Fort Cox, and that they would
+probably have to fight their way through, they formed up with alacrity
+as soon as the order was given. The Cape Mounted Rifles went out in
+skirmishing order, ahead of the infantry, keeping a vigilant look-out
+for lurking foes. The men had learned from Ronald's party of the
+massacre at the border settlements, and were burning with impatience to
+get at the enemy.
+
+After marching two miles, the column came to a spot where a broad belt
+of wood extended across the country. As the mounted men approached this,
+several assegais were hurled from the bushes. The cavalry replied with
+their rifles, and then fell back upon the infantry, who advanced with a
+cheer against the wood. Half the cavalry were dismounted, and, handing
+their horses to their comrades, advanced on foot. Ronald was one of
+those who remained behind. Keeping up a heavy fire at their invisible
+foe, the 91st advanced into the wood. The troopers with the horses
+listened anxiously to the sound of the fray--the rattle of musketry, the
+loud reports of the Kaffir rifles, and their shrill yells, amid which a
+British cheer could be occasionally heard.
+
+"It's hot work in there, corporal," Lieutenant Daniels said. "Too hot to
+be pleasant, I should say. Judging by the yelling, the wood must be full
+of Kaffirs."
+
+"I should think so too, sir," Ronald agreed. "I fancy each Kaffir is
+capable of doing an immense amount of yelling; but still, as you say,
+the wood must be full of them to make such a terrific noise as that."
+
+A quarter of an hour passed, and then the rifles emerged from the wood.
+Those with the horses at once galloped forward to meet them, and soon
+all were in the saddle. Ronald heard Captain Twentyman, who had led the
+dismounted party, say to the lieutenant:
+
+"There are too many of them, Daniels; the wood is crowded with them.
+Take half the troop and draw off to the right, and I will take the other
+half to the left. The 91st will fall back directly. As they come out,
+prepare to charge the Kaffirs in flank if they pursue them."
+
+Now the redcoats began to appear at the edge of the wood. They were in
+pairs, and every two men were carrying a wounded comrade. Presently the
+main body came out in regular order with their faces to the enemy. With
+yells of triumph the Kaffirs poured out from the wood. The rifles
+fidgeted in their saddles for the order to charge, but Lieutenant
+Daniels had his eye upon the other wing of the troop, and Captain
+Twentyman did not give the order to advance until he saw that the
+Kaffirs were so far out upon the plain that they could not get back to
+the wood before he would be upon them. Then he gave the order to charge,
+and as his men got into motion, Lieutenant Daniels gave the same order.
+As he saw the cavalry sweeping down, Colonel Somerset gave the word, and
+the 91st poured a tremendous volley into the Kaffirs, and a moment later
+the two bodies of cavalry swept down on their flank. With a yell of fear
+the Kaffirs ran for the wood, but numbers of them were cut down before
+they could gain shelter. Then the cavalry fell back and joined the
+infantry. It was found there had been a desperate hand-to-hand struggle,
+bayonets against assegais. Two officers and twenty privates had been
+killed, and a great many of the men wounded. They afterwards learned
+that the Kaffir loss in killed had exceeded two hundred.
+
+The party then fell back and rejoined Colonel Mackinnon. There was now
+an anxious consultation, when it was decided that as Fort Cox could
+probably resist all attacks of the enemy, it would be better not to
+attempt an advance to its relief until a junction had been effected with
+the other columns, which were now at a considerable distance away. On
+the 31st, the news reached them that that morning the Governor, with a
+small body of Cape Mounted Rifles, had made a dash right through the
+enemy, and had ridden to King Williamstown, twelve miles away, where he
+had at once issued a proclamation calling upon the colonists to rise _en
+masse_ to assist the troops to expel the Gaikas from the Amatolas, while
+a force of Fingoes was at once ordered to be raised.
+
+In the meantime, the Kaffirs were plundering and destroying all over the
+country. The settlers entirely abandoned their farms; and the roads to
+Williamstown, Grahamstown, and Beaufort were blocked with the great
+herds of cattle driven in. The news came that the Gaikas had been joined
+by the T'Slambies and Tambookies, numbering not less than 15,000 men;
+and it was reported that an influential chief--Kairie--who could put
+10,000 men in the field, was preparing to make common cause with the
+rebels. The Hottentots of the London missionary station at Cat River,
+who had for years been fed and clothed by the Government, and put into
+free possession of a beautiful and fertile district, joined the Kaffirs,
+and took a leading part in their attacks on the settlers. Their example
+was speedily followed by the so-called Christian Hottentots at the
+missionary settlements of Shiloh and Theopolis.
+
+Against such overpowering forces as were now leagued against him, the
+Governor could do nothing with the small body of troops at his disposal,
+and was forced to remain inactive at Williamstown until reinforcements
+could arrive. He contented himself, therefore, with throwing supplies
+into Forts Cox, White, and Hare, this being accomplished only after
+severe contests with the natives. Bodies of Kaffirs had now completely
+overrun the colony, rendering even communication between the towns
+dangerous in the extreme, unless sent by messengers escorted by
+considerable bodies of troops.
+
+On arriving at King Williamstown, Ronald Mervyn was greatly disappointed
+to find that the Armstrongs had gone on to Grahamstown. He found a
+letter awaiting him from Mr. Armstrong, saying that he was very sorry to
+leave without another opportunity of thanking him for the immense
+services he had rendered him, "but," he said, "my daughter, now that it
+is all over, is terribly shaken by all she has gone through, and I think
+it necessary to get her to a place a little further removed from all
+this trouble. I shall probably leave for England before long. I hope to
+see you before we go, but, if not, I will write to you, giving you our
+address in England, and we shall both be very glad to see you if you
+return, as I hope you will, and that before long. We shall never forget
+how much we owe you."
+
+"Perhaps it is better so," Ronald said, as he finished the letter. "It
+would only have made it harder for me if I had seen her again. For if
+there is one thing more certain than another, it is that I can never ask
+any woman to be my wife."
+
+The Cape Town Rifles were before long joined by two troops from Cape
+Town and Elizabeth Town, and were continually employed in escorting
+convoys and carrying despatches. A batch of twenty recruits also came up
+to fill the vacancies that had already been made by the war, and to
+bring the troops engaged up to their full force. One of the four men who
+joined Captain Twentyman's troop gave a slight start of surprise as his
+eyes fell upon Ronald Mervyn. He looked at him several times, and a
+slight smile stole across his face.
+
+"Who is that corporal?" he asked one of the troopers.
+
+"Corporal Blunt," the man said; "and a fine fellow he is, too. He led a
+small detachment of our men splendidly in an affair down by the Kabousie
+River. Why do you ask? Have you ever seen him before?"
+
+"No," the man said, carelessly; "but he reminded me of some one I knew
+at home."
+
+"He is a first-rate soldier," the man said, "and I expect he will get
+the first vacancy among the sergeants. We all think he has been an
+officer, though he never talks about it. He's the best-tempered fellow
+possible, but you can never get him to talk about the past. However,
+that makes no difference to us."
+
+"Not a bit," the recruit agreed. "I dare say he isn't the only one with
+a queer history in the regiment."
+
+"I didn't say he had a queer history," the man replied, angrily. "He is
+as good a comrade, and as good a fellow as one wants to meet; there's
+not a man in the troop grudges his being pushed on."
+
+"I meant no offence," the recruit said. "The man he reminded me of had a
+queer history, and I suppose that is what put it into my head."
+
+"Well, if you don't want your head punched, you had better say nothing
+against Blunt," the trooper grumbled, "either in my hearing or out of
+it."
+
+The recruit turned away and occupied himself in grooming his horse.
+
+"This is a rum start," he said to himself. "Who would have thought of
+meeting Captain Mervyn out here? I saw in one of the papers, soon after
+I came out, the account of his trial. I wonder how I should have felt if
+I had been standing in his place? So he has changed his name. I suppose
+he arrived at the Cape when I was up the country, and must have enlisted
+at once, for it's nearly three months since I joined the depôt, and a
+draft had only sailed the day before. At any rate it's not likely he
+will know me; not that he could do me any harm if he did, still it's
+always useful to know a man and to know something against him,
+especially when he doesn't know you. If I ever get into a row I can put
+the screw on nicely."
+
+As the recruit, who had enlisted in the name of Jim Smith, had expected
+would be the case, Ronald Mervyn's eye showed no signs of recognition as
+it fell upon his face. He thought the new recruit was a strapping
+fellow, and would be a good man to have beside one in a hand-to-hand
+fight with the Kaffirs; but beyond this he gave him no further thought.
+
+A considerable number of the Fingo allies had now arrived at King
+Williamstown. They had no idea whatever of discipline, and looked every
+bit as wild as their Kaffir foes. But there was no doubt they were ready
+to fight, for they were eager to be led against the Kaffirs, who had so
+long kept them in slavery. They had been armed with muskets, and each
+carried a heavy knobkerrie. At present they had nothing to do but to
+sleep and eat, to dance war dances, and to get drunk whenever they could
+obtain sufficient money to indulge in that luxury.
+
+They were accompanied by their wives, who not only waited upon and
+cooked for them, but earned money by going out into the woods and
+bringing in bundles of faggots. Numbers of Hottentot women were engaged
+upon the same work, while the men of the same tribe looked after the
+great herds of cattle, furnished drivers for the waggons, helped in the
+commissariat stores, and, so far as their lazy nature permitted, made
+themselves useful.
+
+"If I were the General," Ronald said one day to Sergeant Menzies, "I
+wouldn't have a Hottentot about the place. I believe that they are all
+in league with the enemy. Look how they all went over from the
+missionary stations, and the farmers tell me they left in the majority
+of cases on the day before the massacre. It's quite evident that the
+Kaffirs somehow always get information of our movements. How could they
+have laid that ambush for us at Keiskamma River if they had not known
+the column was going that way? How was it they were ready to attack the
+detachments that went with provisions to the Forts? It could not have
+been from their own people, for not a Kaffir has been near us since the
+troubles began. I believe it's these hateful little Hottentots."
+
+"They are hateful," the sergeant said, "whether they are traitors or
+not. Except the Bushmen, I do believe that they are the most disgusting
+race on the face of the earth, with their stunted bodies and their
+yellow faces, and their filthy and disgusting ways. I don't know that I
+should turn them out of the camp if I were the General, but I should
+certainly order them to be washed. If you get half-a-dozen of them on
+the windy side of you, it's enough to make you sick."
+
+"I wonder the Kaffirs didn't exterminate the little brutes," Ronald
+Mervyn said. "I suppose they would have done if it had not been for the
+Dutch first and us afterwards. The missionaries made pets of them, and
+nice pets they have turned out. It is just the same thing in India. It's
+the very dregs of the people the missionaries always pick up with."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ATTACK ON A WAGGON-TRAIN.
+
+
+"Sergeant Blunt, you will take a detachment of fourteen men, ride down
+to Port Elizabeth, and escort some waggons back here. There will be a
+party of native levies to come back with you, so that they, with your
+party, will make a pretty strong force. The dangerous point is, of
+course, the Addoo Bush. It is, I hear, full of these Kaffir villains.
+Going down you will pass through it by daylight; and, travelling fast,
+there is no fear of their interfering with a party like yours. Coming
+back the Fingoes will let you know of any danger, and I should hardly
+think that the natives will venture to attack so strong a party; still,
+as the waggons will be laden with ammunition, and these fellows always
+seem in some way or other to know exactly what is going on, you cannot
+be too careful."
+
+"Very well, sir. I will do my best in the matter."
+
+An hour later Ronald started with the detachment. They travelled
+rapidly, and reached Port Elizabeth on the third day after starting,
+without any adventure whatever. The waggons were not ready to start, for
+a heavy sea was setting in, and the boats could not continue the work of
+unloading the ship that had arrived with the ammunition two days before.
+Ronald, after seeing that the horses were well cared for, the rations
+served out, and the cooking commenced, strolled down to the beach to
+watch the heavy surf breaking on the shore.
+
+The encampment of the native levies was on the shore, and a white
+officer was inspecting their arms when Ronald arrived. He stood for some
+time watching the motley group of Fingoes; some of them were in
+blankets, others in karosses of cow skin, many with feathers stuck in
+their hair, all grinning and highly amused at the efforts of their
+officer to get them to stand in regular line, and to hold their muskets
+at an even slope on their shoulders. Some of their wives were looking on
+and laughing; others were squatting about by the shelters they had
+erected, cooking mealies for dinner. The officer, who was quite a young
+man, seeing Ronald looking on, said, ruefully:
+
+"I don't think there is any making soldiers out of these fellows,
+sergeant."
+
+"I don't think they would be any the better for it if you could, sir,"
+Ronald said. "The fellows will fight after their own fashion, and I do
+not think any amount of drill would improve them in the slightest; in
+fact, it would only puzzle and confuse them to try to teach them our
+discipline. They must skirmish with the Kaffirs in Kaffir fashion. When
+it comes to regular fighting, it must be done by the troops. All you can
+expect of the native levies is that they shall act as our scouts, find
+out where the enemy are hiding, prevent surprises, and pursue them when
+we have defeated them."
+
+"Do they not try to drill them up at the front?"
+
+"Not at all, sir. It would be quite useless to attempt it. So that they
+attend on parade in the right number--and their own head man looks after
+that--nothing more is expected of them. They march in a straggling body
+anyhow, and when it comes to fighting, they fight in their own way, and
+a very useful way it is."
+
+"Well, I am very glad to hear you say so, sergeant. I have been doing
+the best I can to give them some idea of drill; but I have, as you see,
+failed altogether. I had no orders except to take command of these
+fellows, but I supposed I was expected to drill them to some extent;
+still, if you say they have given it up as hopeless in the front, I need
+not bother myself about it."
+
+"I don't think you need, sir. I can assure you that no attempt is made
+to drill them in that way at the front."
+
+The young officer, with an air of relief, at once dismissed the natives
+from parade.
+
+"I am in charge of the party of Rifles going up with you to-morrow, sir,
+or at least as soon as the waggons are ready for you."
+
+"Oh, is it you, sergeant? I heard that a detachment of your corps were
+to accompany us. I suppose you have just arrived from King
+Williamstown?"
+
+"I came in about an hour ago, sir, and have just been seeing that the
+men were comfortable."
+
+"Did you meet with any Kaffirs on the way down?"
+
+"We saw no sign of them. We came through the Addoo Bush, which is the
+most dangerous point, at a trot. Not that there was much chance of their
+attacking us. The natives seldom attack unless there is something to be
+got by it; but we shall have to be careful as we go back. We shall be a
+fairly strong party, but others as strong have been attacked; and the
+fact of our having ammunition--the thing of all others they want--is, of
+course, against us."
+
+"But how will they know that we are carrying ammunition?"
+
+"From the Hottentots, who keep them informed of everything," Ronald
+said. "At least, we have no doubt whatever that it is the Hottentots. Of
+course, the General doesn't think so. If he did, I suppose he would keep
+them out of camp; but there is only one opinion in the ranks about it."
+
+The conversation was interrupted by yells and screams from the natives,
+and a general rush down to the beach.
+
+"There is something the matter," the young officer exclaimed; and he and
+Ronald ran down to the edge of the water.
+
+They soon saw what was the occasion of the alarm among the natives. Some
+of the women and boys had been down at the edge of the surf, collecting
+bits of wood, as they were thrown up, for their fires. A boy of some
+fourteen years of age had seen a larger piece than usual approaching the
+shore, and just as a wave had borne it in, he made a dash into the
+water, eager to be the first to capture the prize. Ignorant, however, of
+the force of the water, he had been instantly swept off his feet by the
+back rush of the wave. The next roller had carried him some little
+distance up, and then borne him out again, and he was now in the midst
+of the surf. He could swim a little, but was helpless in the midst of
+such a sea as this. The natives on the beach were in a state of the
+wildest excitement; the women filled the air with their shrill screams,
+the men shouted and gesticulated.
+
+"Nothing can save him," the officer said, shaking his head. Ronald
+looked round; there was no rope lying anywhere on the shore.
+
+"There's just a chance, I think," he said, throwing off his belt, tunic,
+and boots. "Make these fellows join hand in hand, sir; I will swim out
+to him--he's nearly gone now--and bring him in. We shall be rolled over
+and over, but if the line of men can grab us and prevent the
+under-current from carrying us out again, it will be all right."
+
+The officer was about to remonstrate, but Ronald, seizing the moment
+when a wave had just swept back, rushed in, sprang head foremost into
+the great wall of approaching water, and in half a minute later appeared
+some distance out. A few vigorous strokes took him to the side of the
+drowning boy, whom he seized by his shoulders; then he looked towards
+the shore. The young officer, unable to obtain a hearing from the
+excited Fingoes, was using his cane vigorously on their shoulders, and
+presently succeeded in getting them to form a line, holding each other
+by the hands. He took his place at their head, and then waved his hand
+to Ronald as a sign that he was ready.
+
+Good swimmer as he was, the latter could not have kept much longer
+afloat in such a sea; and was obliged to continue to swim from shore to
+prevent himself from being cast up by each wave which swept under him
+like a racehorse, covering him and his now insensible burden. The moment
+he saw that the line was formed he pulled the boy to him and grasped him
+tightly; then he laid himself broadside to the sea, and the next roller
+swept him along with resistless force on to the beach. He was rolled
+over and over like a straw, and just as he felt that the impetus had
+abated, and he was again beginning to move seaward, an arm seized him.
+
+For a few seconds the strain was tremendous, and he thought he would be
+torn from the friendly grasp; then the pressure of the water diminished
+and he felt himself dragged along, and a few seconds later was beyond
+the reach of the water. He was soon up on his feet, feeling bruised,
+shaken, and giddy; the natives, who had yelled with joy as they dragged
+him from the water, now burst into wailings as they saw that the boy
+was, as they thought, dead.
+
+"Carry him straight up to the fires," Ronald said as soon as he
+recovered his shaken faculties.
+
+The order was at once obeyed. As soon as he was laid down, Ronald seized
+the blanket from one of the men's shoulders, and set the natives to rub
+the boy's limbs and body vigorously; then he rolled him in two or three
+other blankets, and telling the men to keep on rubbing the feet, began
+to carry out the established method for restoring respiration, by
+drawing the boy's arms above his head, and then bringing them down and
+pressing them against his ribs. In a few minutes there was a faint sigh,
+a little later on an attempt to cough, and then the boy got rid of a
+quantity of sea water.
+
+"He will do now," Ronald said. "Keep on rubbing him, and he will be all
+right in a quarter of an hour." As Ronald rose to his feet a woman threw
+herself down on her knees beside him, and seizing his hand pressed it to
+her forehead, pouring out a torrent of words wholly beyond his
+comprehension, for although he had by this time acquired some slight
+acquaintance with the language, he was unable to follow it when spoken
+so volubly. He had no doubt whatever that the woman was the boy's
+mother, and that she was thanking him for having preserved his life. Not
+less excited was a native who stood beside him.
+
+"This is their head man," the officer interpreted; "he is the boy's
+father, and says that his life is now yours, and that he is ready to
+give it at any time. This is a very gallant business, sergeant, and I
+wish I had the pluck to have done it myself. I shall, of course, send in
+a report about your conduct. Now come to my tent. I can let you have a
+shirt and pair of trousers while yours are being dried."
+
+"Thank you, sir; they will dry of themselves in a very few minutes. I
+feel cooler and more comfortable than I have done for a long time; ten
+minutes under this blazing sun will dry them thoroughly."
+
+It was another two days before the sea subsided sufficiently for the
+surf-boats to bring the ammunition to shore, and during that time the
+chief's wife came several times up to the barracks, each time bringing a
+fowl as a present to Ronald.
+
+"What does that woman mean, sergeant?" one of the men asked on the
+occasion of her second visit. "Has she fallen in love with you? She
+takes a practical way of showing her affection. I shouldn't mind if two
+or three of them were to fall in love with me on the same terms."
+
+Ronald laughed.
+
+"No, her son got into the water yesterday, and I picked him out, and
+this is her way of showing her gratitude."
+
+"I wonder where she got the fowls from," the trooper said. "I haven't
+seen one for sale in the town anywhere."
+
+"She stole them, of course," another trooper put in, "or at least if she
+didn't steal them herself she got some of the others to do it for her.
+The natives are all thieves, man, woman, and child; they are regularly
+trained to it. Sometimes fathers will lay wagers with each other as to
+the cleverness of their children; each one backs his boy to steal
+something out of the other's hut first, and in spite of the sharp watch
+you may be sure they keep up, it is very seldom the youngsters fail in
+carrying off something unobserved. It's a disgrace in a native's eyes to
+be caught thieving; but there's no disgrace whatever, rather the
+contrary, in the act itself. There's only one thing that they are as
+clever at as thieving, and that is lying. The calmness with which a
+native will tell a good circumstantial lie is enough to take one's
+breath away."
+
+Ronald knew enough of the natives to feel that it was probable enough
+that the fowls were stolen; but his sense of morality was not
+sufficiently keen for him to hurt the woman's feelings by rejecting her
+offerings.
+
+"The Kaffirs have proved themselves such an ungrateful set of
+scoundrels," he argued to himself, "that it is refreshing to see an
+exception for once."
+
+As soon as the ammunition was on shore it was loaded into three waggons,
+and on the following morning the party started. It was slow work, after
+the rapid pace at which Ronald and his men had come down from King
+Williamstown, and the halting-places were the same as those at which the
+troop had encamped on its march up the country five months before.
+
+The greatest caution was observed in their passage through the great
+Addoo Bush, for although this was so far from the main stronghold of the
+natives, it was known that there were numbers of Kaffirs hiding there,
+and several mail carriers had been murdered and waggons attacked. The
+party, however, were too strong to be molested, and passed through
+without adventure. The same vigilance was observed when crossing over
+the sandy flats, and when they passed through Assegai Bush. Once
+through this, the road was clear to Grahamstown. Here they halted for a
+day, and then started on the road leading through Peddie to King
+Williamstown. After a march of fifteen miles they halted at the edge of
+a wide-spreading bush. They had heard at Grahamstown that a large body
+of Kaffirs were reported to be lying there, and as it was late in the
+afternoon when they approached it, Ronald advised the young officer in
+command of the Fingoes to camp outside and pass through it by daylight.
+
+[Illustration: "_The greatest caution was observed in their passage
+through the great Addoo Bush._"]
+
+"There is no making a rush," he said; "we must move slowly on account of
+the waggons, and there will be no evading the Kaffirs. I do not think
+there is much chance of their attacking such a strong party as we are;
+but if we are attacked, we can beat them off a great deal better in the
+daylight than at night; in the darkness we lose all the advantage of our
+better weapons. Besides, these fellows can see a great deal better than
+we can in the dark."
+
+They started as soon as it was light. The Fingoes, who were a hundred
+strong, were to skirmish along the road ahead and in the wood on each
+flank of the waggons, round which the detachment of Rifles were to keep
+in a close body, the Fingo women and children walking just ahead of the
+bullocks. Scarcely a word was spoken after they entered the forest. The
+waggons creaked and groaned, and the sound of the sharp cracks of the
+drivers' whips alone broke the silence. The Rifles rode with their arms
+in readiness for instant use, while the Fingoes flitted in and out among
+the trees like dark shadows. Their blankets and karosses had been handed
+to the women to carry, and they had oiled their bodies until they shone
+again, a step always taken by the natives when engaged in expeditions in
+the bush, with the view of giving more suppleness to the limbs, and also
+of enabling them to glide through the thorny thickets without being
+severely scratched.
+
+They had got about half-way through the bush without anything being seen
+of the lurking enemy, when a sudden outburst of firing, mingled with
+yells and shouts, was heard about a quarter of a mile ahead.
+
+"The scoundrels are attacking a convoy coming down," Ronald exclaimed.
+
+"Shall we push on to their aid, sergeant?" the young officer, who was
+riding next to Ronald, asked.
+
+"I cannot leave the waggons," Ronald said; "but if you would take your
+men on, sir, we will be up as soon as we can."
+
+The officer shouted to his Fingoes, and at a run the natives dashed
+forward to the scene of the conflict, while Ronald urged the drivers,
+and his men pricked the bullocks with their swords until they broke into
+a lumbering trot.
+
+In a few minutes they arrived on the scene of action. A number of
+waggons were standing in the road, and round them a fight was going on
+between the Fingoes and greatly superior numbers of Kaffirs. Ronald gave
+the word, and his men charged down into the middle of the fight. The
+Kaffirs did not await their onslaught, but glided away among the trees,
+the Fingoes following in hot pursuit until recalled by their officer,
+who feared that their foes might turn upon them when beyond the reach of
+the rifles of the troopers.
+
+Ronald saw at once as he rode up that although the Fingoes had arrived
+in time to save the waggons, they had come too late to be of service to
+the majority of the defenders. Some half-dozen men, gathered in a body,
+were still on their feet, but a score of others lay dead or desperately
+wounded by the side of the waggons. As soon as the Fingoes returned and
+reported the Kaffirs in full flight, Ronald and the troops dismounted to
+see what aid they could render. He went up to the group of white men,
+most of whom were wounded.
+
+"This is a bad job," one of them said; "but we thought that as there
+were about thirty of us, the Kaffirs wouldn't venture to attack us. We
+were all on the alert, but they sprang so suddenly out of the bushes
+that half of us were speared before we had time to draw a trigger.
+
+"What had we better do, sir--go on or go back?" This question was
+addressed to the young officer.
+
+"I should think that now you have got so far you had better go on," he
+said. "The Kaffirs are not likely to return for some little time. I will
+give you half my Fingoes to escort you on through the wood. Don't you
+think that will be the best plan, sergeant?"
+
+"I think so, sir. I will let you have half my men to go back with them.
+The rest of us had better stay here until they return. But, first of
+all, we will see to these poor fellows. They may not be all dead."
+
+Most of them, however, were found to be so, the Kaffirs having sprung
+upon them and cut their throats as soon as they had fallen. Two of them
+who had fallen near the group which had maintained the resistance were,
+however, found to be still living, and these were lifted into the
+waggons. Just as the party were going to move on towards the coast, a
+groan was heard among the bushes by the side of the road. Ronald and two
+of the troopers at once proceeded to the spot.
+
+"Good Heavens!" the former exclaimed, as he leaned over the man who was
+lying there, "it is Mr. Armstrong."
+
+He was lifted up and carried into the road. An assegai had passed
+through both legs, and another had transfixed his body near the right
+shoulder. The point projected some inches through the back, the shaft
+having broken off as he fell. Ronald seized the stump of the spear, and
+with the greatest difficulty drew it out from the wound.
+
+"Cut his things off," he said to the troopers, "and tear up something
+and lightly bandage the wound. I am afraid it is a fatal one." Then he
+hurried off to the men.
+
+"Were there not some women in the waggons?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, there were three of them," the man said; "a girl and two women.
+The women were the wives of two of the men who have been killed. The
+girl was the daughter of another. I suppose the natives must have
+carried them off, for I see no signs of them."
+
+Ronald uttered an exclamation of horror; he knew the terrible fate of
+women who fell into the hands of the Kaffirs. He returned to the
+officer.
+
+"What is it, sergeant?" he asked. "Any fresh misfortune?"
+
+"A young lady, sir, daughter of that poor fellow we have just picked up,
+and two other women, have been carried off by the natives."
+
+"Good Heavens!" the young man said, "this is dreadful; they had a
+thousand times better have been shot with their friends. What's to be
+done, sergeant?"
+
+"I don't know," Ronald said, "I can't think yet. At any rate, instead of
+waiting till the party with these waggons come back, I will push
+straight on out of the wood, and will then send the rest of my men back
+at full gallop to meet you, then you can all come on together. I think
+you said you would take command of the party going back with the
+waggons."
+
+The two trains were at once set in motion. Ronald's party met with no
+further interruption until they were clear of the bush. As soon as he
+was well away from it, he sent back the Rifles to join the other party,
+and return with them through the forest. He went on for half a mile
+further, then halted the waggons and dismounted.
+
+Mr. Armstrong had been placed in one of the waggons going up the
+country, as they were nearer to a town that way than to Port Elizabeth;
+besides, Ronald knew that if he recovered consciousness, he would for
+many reasons prefer being up the country. Ronald walked up and down,
+restless and excited, meditating what step he had best take, for he was
+determined that in some way or other he would attempt to rescue Mary
+Armstrong from the hands of the natives. Presently the head man of the
+Fingoes came up to him, and said, in a mixture of English and his own
+tongue:
+
+"My white friend is troubled; can Kreta help him?"
+
+"I am troubled, terribly troubled, Kreta. One of the white ladies who
+has been carried off by the Kaffirs is a friend of mine. I must get her
+out of their hands."
+
+Kreta looked grave.
+
+"Hard thing that, sir. If go into bush get chopped to pieces."
+
+"I must risk that," Ronald said; "I am going to try and save her,
+whether it costs me my life or not."
+
+"Kreta will go with his white friend," the chief said; "white man no
+good by himself."
+
+"Would you, Kreta?" Ronald asked, eagerly. "But no, I have no right to
+take you into such danger as that. You have a wife and child; I have no
+one to depend upon me."
+
+"Kreta would not have a child if it had not been for his white friend,"
+Kreta said; "if he goes, Kreta will go with him, and will take some of
+his men."
+
+"You are a good fellow, Kreta," Ronald said, shaking the chief heartily
+by the hand. "Now, what's the best way of setting about it?"
+
+The Fingo thought for some little time, and then asked:
+
+"Is the white woman young and pretty?"
+
+"Yes," Ronald replied, rather surprised at the question.
+
+"Then I think she's safe for a little while. If she old and ugly they
+torture her and kill her quick; if she pretty and young, most likely
+they send her as present to their big chief; perhaps Macomo, or
+Sandilli, or Kreli, or one of the other great chiefs, whichever tribe
+they belong to. Can't do nothing to-day; might crawl into the wood; but
+if find her how can get her out? That's not possible. The best thing
+will be this: I will send two of my young men into the bush to try and
+find out what they do with her, and where they are going to take her.
+Then at night we try to cut them off as they go across the country. If
+we no meet them we go straight to Amatolas to find out the kraal to
+which they take her, and then see how to get her off."
+
+"How many men will you take, Kreta?"
+
+"Five men," the chief said, holding up one hand; "five enough to creep
+and crawl. No use to try force; too many Kaffirs. Five men might do;
+five hundred no good."
+
+"I think you are right, chief. It must be done by craft if at all."
+
+"Then I will send off my two young men at once," the chief said. "They
+go a long way round, and enter bush on the other side; then creep
+through the bush and hear Kaffir talk. If Kaffir sees them they think
+they their own people; but mustn't talk; if they do, Kaffirs notice
+difference of tongue. One, two words no noticed, but if talk much find
+out directly."
+
+"Then there's nothing for me to do to-night," Ronald said.
+
+The chief shook his head. "No good till quite dark."
+
+"In that case I will go on with the convoy as far as Bushman's River,
+where we halt to-night."
+
+"Very well," the chief said. "We go on with you there, and then come
+back here and meet the young men, who will tell us what they have found
+out."
+
+The chief went away, and Ronald saw him speaking to some of his men.
+Then two young fellows of about twenty years old laid aside their
+blankets, put them and their guns into one of the waggons, and then,
+after five minutes' conversation with their chief, who was evidently
+giving them minute instructions, went off at a slinging trot across the
+country.
+
+In less than an hour the party that was escorting the settlers' waggons
+through the bush, and the mounted men who had gone to meet them,
+returned together, having seen no sign of the enemy. The waggons were
+set in motion, and the march continued. Ronald Mervyn rode up to the
+officer of the native levy.
+
+"I am going, sir, to make what may seem a most extraordinary request,
+and indeed it is one that is, I think, out of your power to grant; but,
+if you give your approval, it will to some extent lessen my
+responsibility."
+
+"What is it, sergeant?" the young officer asked, in some surprise.
+
+"I want when we arrive at the halting-place to hand over the command of
+my detachment to the corporal, and for you to let me go away on my own
+affairs. I want you also to allow your head man, Kreta, and five of his
+men, leave of absence."
+
+The young officer was astonished. "Of course I am in command of the
+convoy, and so have authority over you so long as you are with me; but
+as you received orders direct from your own officers to take your
+detachment down to the coast, and return with the waggons, I am sure
+that I have no power to grant you leave to go away."
+
+"No, sir, that's just what I thought; but at the same time, if you
+report that, although you were unable to grant me leave, you approved of
+my absence, it will make it much easier for me. Not that it makes any
+difference, sir, because I admit frankly that I should go in any case.
+It is probable that I may be reduced to the ranks; but I don't think
+that, under the circumstances, they will punish me any more severely
+than that."
+
+"But what are the circumstances, sergeant? I can scarcely imagine any
+circumstance that could make me approve of your intention to leave your
+command on a march like this."
+
+"I was just going to tell you them, sir, but I may say that I do not
+think it at all probable that there will be any further attack on the
+convoy. There is no more large bush to pass between this and
+Williamstown, and so far as we have heard, no attempt has been made
+further on the road to stop convoys. That poor fellow who is lying
+wounded in the waggon is a Mr. Armstrong. He was an officer in the
+service when he was a young man, and fought, he told me, at Waterloo.
+His place is near the spot where I was quartered for two months just
+before the outbreak, and he showed me great kindness, and treated me as
+a friend. Well, sir, one of the three women who were, as you heard,
+carried off in the waggons, was Mr. Armstrong's daughter. Now, sir, you
+know what her fate will be in the hands of those savages: dishonour,
+torture, and death. I am going to save her if I can. I don't know
+whether I shall succeed; most likely I shall not. My life is of no great
+consequence to me, and has so far been a failure; but I want to try and
+rescue her whether it costs me my life or not. Kreta has offered to
+accompany me with five of his men. Alone, I should certainly fail, but
+with his aid there is a chance of my succeeding."
+
+"By Jove, you are a brave fellow, sergeant," the young officer said,
+"and I honour you for the determination you have formed," and waiving
+military etiquette, he shook Ronald warmly by the hand. "Assuredly I
+will, so far as is in my power, give you leave to go, and will take good
+care that in case you fail, your conduct in thus risking your life shall
+be appreciated. How do you mean to set about it?"
+
+Ronald gave him a sketch of the plan that had been determined upon by
+himself and Kreta.
+
+"Well, I think you have a chance at any rate," the officer said, when he
+concluded. "Of course the risk of detection in the midst of the Kaffirs
+will be tremendous, but still there seems just a chance of your escape.
+In any case no one can possibly disapprove of your endeavour to save
+this young lady from the awful fate that will certainly be hers unless
+you can rescue her. Poor girl! Even though I don't know her, it makes my
+blood run cold to think of an English lady in the hands of those
+savages. If I were not in command of the convoy, I would gladly go with
+you and take my chance."
+
+As soon as the encampment was reached, Kreta came up to Ronald.
+
+"Must change clothes," he said, "and go as Kaffir." Ronald nodded his
+head, as he had already decided that this step was absolutely necessary.
+
+"Must paint black," the chief went on; "how do that?"
+
+"The only way I can see is to powder some burnt wood and mix it with a
+little oil."
+
+"Yes, that do," the chief said.
+
+"I will be with you in five minutes. I must hand over the command to the
+corporal."
+
+"Corporal James," he said, when he went up to him, "I hand over the
+command of this detachment to you. You are, of course, to keep by the
+waggons and protect them to King Williamstown."
+
+"But where are you going, sergeant?" the corporal asked, in surprise.
+
+"I have arranged with Mr. Nolan to go away on detached duty for two or
+three days. I am going to try to get the unfortunate women who were
+carried off this morning out of the hands of the Kaffirs." The corporal
+looked at him as if he had doubts as to his sanity.
+
+"I may not succeed," Ronald went on, "but I am going to try. At any
+rate, I hand over the command to you. I quite understand that Mr. Nolan
+cannot give me leave, and that I run the risk of punishment for leaving
+the convoy; but I have made up my mind to risk that."
+
+"Well, of course you know best, sergeant; but it seems to me that,
+punishment or no punishment, there is not much chance of your rejoining
+the corps; it is just throwing away your life going among them savages."
+
+"I don't think it is as bad as that," Ronald said, "although of course
+there is a risk of it. At any rate, corporal, you can take the convoy
+safely into King Williamstown. That's your part of the business."
+
+Ronald then returned to the encampment of the native levies. A number of
+sticks were charred and then scraped. There was no oil to be found, but
+as a substitute the charcoal was mixed with a little cart-grease. Ronald
+then stripped, and was smeared all over with the ointment, which was
+then rubbed into him. Some more powdered charcoal was then sprinkled
+over him, and this also rubbed until he was a shiny black, the operation
+affording great amusement to the Fingoes. Then a sort of petticoat,
+consisting of strips of hide reaching half-way down to the knee and sewn
+to a leathern belt, was put round his waist, and his toilet was
+complete.
+
+Nothing could be done as to his hair, which was already cut quite short
+to prevent its forming a receptacle for dust. The Kaffirs have, as a
+rule, scarcely any hair on their heads, and nothing could have made
+Ronald's head resemble theirs. As, however, the disguise was only meant
+to pass at night, this did not matter. When all was done, the Fingoes
+applauded by clapping their hands and performing a wild dance round
+Ronald, while the women, who now crowded up, shrieked with laughter.
+
+The chief walked gravely round him two or three times, and then
+pronounced that he would pass muster. A bandolier for cartridges, of
+native make, was slung over his shoulder, and with a rifle in one hand
+and a spear in the other, and two or three necklaces of brass beads
+round his neck, Ronald would, at a short distance, pass muster as a
+Kaffir warrior. In order to test his appearance, he strolled across to
+where Mr. Nolan was inspecting the serving out of rations.
+
+"What do you want?" the officer asked. "The allowance for all the men
+has been served out already; if you haven't got yours you must speak to
+Kreta about it. I can't go into the question with each of you."
+
+"Then you think I shall do very well, Mr. Nolan?"
+
+The officer started.
+
+"Good Heavens, sergeant, is it you? I had not the slightest conception
+of it. You are certainly admirably disguised, and, except for your hair,
+you might walk through the streets of Cape Town without any one
+suspecting you; but you will never be able to get through the woods
+barefooted."
+
+"I have been thinking of that myself," Ronald said, "and the only thing
+I can see is to get them to make me a sort of sandal. Of course it
+wouldn't do in the daytime, but at night it would not be observed,
+unless I were to go close to a fire or light of some sort."
+
+"Yes, that would be the best plan," the officer agreed. "I dare say the
+women can manufacture you something in that way. There is the hide of
+that bullock we killed yesterday, in the front waggon; it was a black
+one."
+
+Ronald cut off a portion of the hide, and went across to the natives and
+explained to them what he wanted. Putting his foot on the hide, a piece
+was cut off large enough to form the sole of the foot and come up about
+an inch all round; holes were made in this, and it was laced on to the
+foot with thin strips of hide. The hair was, of course, outside, and
+Ronald found it by no means uncomfortable.
+
+"You ride horse," the chief said, "back to bush. I take one fellow with
+me to bring him back."
+
+Ronald was pleased at the suggestion, for he was by no means sure how he
+should feel after a walk of ten miles in his new foot-gear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+IN THE AMATOLAS.
+
+
+The corporal had already spread the news among the men of Ronald's
+intended enterprise, and they gave him a hearty cheer as he rode off.
+Mr. Nolan had advised him to keep the native who was going to fetch his
+horse back.
+
+"You won't want to walk into King Williamstown in that guise," he said;
+"therefore you had best put your uniform into the valise, and tell the
+man to meet you at any point you like--I should say the nearer to the
+bush the better; for if you succeed in getting the young lady out of
+these rascals' clutches you may be pursued, and, if your horse is
+handy, may succeed in getting her away, when you would otherwise be soon
+overtaken."
+
+Ronald thankfully accepted the suggestion, for he saw that it might
+indeed be of vital importance to him to have his horse ready at hand.
+
+With a last wave of his hand he rode off, the chief and his six
+companions trotting alongside.
+
+The sun had set an hour when they reached the spot at which the chief
+had directed his two followers to meet him. They had not yet arrived.
+
+"Do you think they will be sure to be able to find the place?" Ronald
+asked the chief.
+
+"A Fingo never loses his way," the chief replied. "Find his way in dark,
+all same as day."
+
+In spite of the chief's assurance, Ronald was fidgety and anxious. He
+wrapped a blanket round him, and walked restlessly up and down. It was
+nearly an hour before the chief, who, with his companions, had thrown
+himself down and lighted a pipe, which passed from hand to hand, said
+suddenly:
+
+"One man come!"
+
+Ronald listened intently, but could hear nothing. A moment later a dark
+figure came up.
+
+Kreta at once questioned him, and a long conversation took place between
+them.
+
+"What is he saying, chief? What is he saying?" Ronald broke in
+impatiently several times; but it was not until the man had finished
+that the chief translated.
+
+"White girl alive, incos, the other two women alive, but not live long,
+torture them bad. Going to take girl to Macomo."
+
+"Thank God for that," Ronald exclaimed, fervently, for he had all day
+been tormented with the fear that Mary Armstrong might have met with her
+fate directly she was carried away.
+
+"Where are they going to take her?"
+
+"A lot of them go off to-night; go straight to Amatolas; take her with
+them."
+
+"How many, Kreta; will there be any chance of attacking them on the
+way?"
+
+The chief asked a question of his messenger.
+
+"Heaps of them," he said to Ronald, for the natives are incapable of
+counting beyond very low figures. "Too many; no chance to attack them;
+must follow behind. They show us the way."
+
+"But how do we know whereabouts they will come out of the wood, Kreta?
+It's miles long; while we are watching at one place, they may be off in
+another."
+
+"That's so, incos; no use to watch the wood. We must go on to the Great
+Fish River. Only two places where they can ford it--Double Drift and
+Cornetjies Drift, one hour's walk apart. Put half one place, half the
+other; then when they pass, follow after and send messengers to fetch up
+others."
+
+"That will do very well, chief; that's a capital idea of yours. You are
+sure that there's no other way they can go?"
+
+"Heaps of ways," the chief said, "but those shortest ways--sure to go
+short ways, so as to pass over ground quickly."
+
+"What are they going back for?"
+
+"No bullock in bush, incos, eaten up all the things round, want to go
+home to kraals; besides hear that many white soldiers come over sea to
+go to Amatolas to fight."
+
+"How far is it to these fords?"
+
+"Three hours' march. We start now. Kaffirs set out soon. Get on horse
+again."
+
+Ronald was not sorry to do so, for he felt that in the dark he should
+run a considerable risk of laming himself against stones or stumps, and
+in any case he would scratch himself very severely with the thorns.
+
+"Tell me, chief," he said, when they had started, "how did your
+messenger learn this, and what has become of your other man?"
+
+"Not know about other man," the chief said. "Perhaps they caught him and
+killed him; perhaps he is hiding among them and dare not venture out.
+This man tell he go into forest and creep and crawl for a long time,
+then at last he saw some Kaffirs come along; he followed them, and at
+last they came to place in the bush where there was a heap of their
+fellows. They were all gathered round something, and he heard women
+crying very loud. Presently some of the men went away and he could see
+what it was--two white women tied to trees. The Kaffirs had stripped
+them and cut their flesh in many places. They die very soon, perhaps
+to-night or to-morrow morning. Then he crawl up and lay in the bushes,
+very close, and listen to talk. He heard that to-night heap party go
+away to Amatolas and take white woman as present for Macomo; then other
+Kaffirs come and lie down all about, and he did not dare move out till
+the light go away. Then he crawl through the bushes a good piece; then
+he got up and ran to bring the news."
+
+"He has done very well," Ronald said; "tell him he shall be well
+rewarded. Now I think he might as well go to the camp and tell the
+officer there from me that two of the white women have been killed; but
+that the other has been taken away, as I hoped she would be, and that I
+am going after her."
+
+"Message no use," the chief said, after a moment's thought; "better take
+him with us, may be useful by-and-by; may want to send to settlement."
+
+"Perhaps it would be as well," Ronald agreed; "and the message is of no
+real importance."
+
+After three hours' fast travelling--the natives going at a run, in spite
+of the darkness of the night, and Ronald leaving the reins loose, and
+trusting to his horse to feel his way--they came to the river; after
+making a narrow examination of the bank, the chief pronounced the ford
+to be a quarter of a mile lower down, and in a few minutes they came
+upon the spot where a road crossed the river.
+
+"I think this way they are most likely to take," the chief said, when
+they had crossed the stream. "Country more broken this way, and further
+from towns, not so much chance of meeting soldiers. You and I and four
+men will stay here; three men go on to other ford, then if they cross
+there, send one man to tell us; the other two follow them, and see which
+way they go."
+
+"Do you know the Amatolas at all, chief?"
+
+"Not know him, incos; never been there; travel all about these parts in
+last war, but never go up to Amatolas."
+
+"Then, of course, you do not know at all where Macomo's kraal is?"
+
+"Not know him at all. We follow men, sure enough we get there."
+
+The three men had not started above five minutes, when the chief said in
+a low tone:
+
+"They are coming," and gave an order to one of his men, who at once set
+off at the top of his speed to overtake the others and bring them back.
+
+It was nearly ten minutes before Ronald could hear the slightest sound,
+then he became conscious of a low murmur of voices in the air, and a
+minute or two later there was a splashing of water at the ford, fifty
+yards from the spot where they had lain down under a bush. One of the
+natives had, at Kreta's orders, taken the horse away, the chief telling
+him to go half a mile off, as were it to paw the ground suddenly, or
+make any noise, the attention of the Kaffirs, if within hearing, would
+be instantly drawn to it.
+
+Dark as the night was, the figures of those crossing the water could be
+dimly made out, and Ronald judged there must be fully three hundred of
+them. After the first few had passed they came along in such a close
+body that he was unable to make out whether there was a female among
+them. The numbers of the Kaffirs sufficed to show him there was no
+chance whatever of effecting a rescue of Mary Armstrong while surrounded
+by so large a body.
+
+As soon as all had crossed, two of the Fingoes followed close upon their
+traces, five minutes afterwards another started, and scarcely had he
+gone when the three men who had been sent to the other ford returned
+with the messenger who had recalled them. They left at short intervals
+after each other, and then Ronald mounted his horse, which had now been
+fetched up, and followed with Kreta.
+
+"There is no fear of our missing them, chief?"
+
+"No fear of that, incos; that star over there shines over the Amatolas,
+they go straight for it; besides, the two men behind them can hear them
+talking. If they turn off one come back to tell us."
+
+But they did not turn off, but kept on for hours in a straight
+undeviating line, travelling at a fast walk. Roland Mervyn kept
+wondering how Mary Armstrong was bearing up. She was a strong active
+girl, accustomed to plenty of exercise, and at ordinary times could
+doubtless have walked a long distance; but the events of the day, the
+sudden attack upon the waggons, her capture by the Kaffirs, her
+uncertainty as to the fate of her father, the harrowing tortures of her
+companions, which she had probably been compelled to witness, and the
+hopelessness of her own fate, might well have broken her down. He was
+sure that the Kaffirs would compel her to walk as long as she could drag
+her limbs along, but as she was destined as a present to their chief,
+they might, when she could go no further, carry her.
+
+He groaned at his helplessness to aid her, and had he not had a perfect
+faith in the cunning of his companions, and in their ability to follow
+her up wherever she was taken, he would have been inclined to take the
+mad step of charging right in among the Kaffirs, upon the one chance of
+snatching her up and carrying her off from among them.
+
+Roland Mervyn, of the Cape Rifles, was a very different man from Captain
+Mervyn, of the Borderers. The terrible event that had caused him to
+throw up his commission and leave the country had in other respects been
+of great advantage. He had for years been haunted by the fear of
+madness, and whenever he felt low and out of spirits this fear of
+insanity had almost overpowered him. The trial had cured him of this; he
+had convinced himself that had he inherited the slightest taint of the
+curse of the Carnes, he would have gone mad while he was awaiting his
+trial; that he had kept his head perfect under such circumstances seemed
+to him an absolute proof that he was as sane as other men, and
+henceforth he banished the fear that had so long haunted him.
+
+It was in truth that fear which had held him back so long from entering
+into a formal engagement with his cousin Margaret. He looked upon it as
+an absolutely settled thing that they would be married some day, but had
+almost unconsciously shrunk from making that day a definite one; and
+although for the moment he had burst into a fit of wild anger at being
+as he considered thrown aside, he had since acknowledged to himself that
+Margaret's decision had been a wise one, and that it was better that
+they two should not have wedded.
+
+He had always been blessed with good spirits, except at the times when
+the fit of depression seized him; but since he had been at the Cape, and
+been on active duty, these had entirely passed away, and his unvarying
+good temper under all circumstances had often been the subject of remark
+among his comrades.
+
+As he rode along that night he acknowledged, what he had never before
+admitted to himself, that he loved Mary Armstrong. The admission was a
+bitter rather than a pleasant one.
+
+"I shall never marry now," he had said to his mother, at his last
+interview with her. "No wife or child of mine shall ever hear it
+whispered that her husband or father was a murderer. Unless this cloud
+is some day lifted--and how it can be, Heaven only knows--I must go
+through the world alone," and so he thought still. It might be that as
+Harry Blunt he might settle down in the Colony and never be recognised;
+but he would always have the fear that at any moment some officer he had
+known, some man of his regiment, some emigrant from his own county,
+might recognise him, and that the news would be passed round that Harry
+Blunt was the Captain Mervyn who escaped, only from want of legal proof,
+from being hung as the murderer of his cousin.
+
+"I didn't think I was such a fool," he muttered to himself, "as to be
+caught by a pretty face. However, it will make no difference. She will
+never know it. If her father recovers, which is doubtful, she will go
+back with him to the old country. If not, she will go back alone, for
+without friends or relatives she cannot stay here, and she will never
+dream that the sergeant of the Cape Rifles, who had the luck twice to
+save her life--that is, if I do save it--was fool enough to fall in love
+with her."
+
+An hour before morning one of the Fingoes came back from the front with
+the news that the Kaffirs had turned off into a kloof, and were going to
+halt there. The party soon collected, and retired to a clump of trees a
+mile back. One of them was ordered to act as sentry near the kloof, and
+bring back word at once should any movement take place. The rest of the
+party, upon reaching the shelter of the trees, threw themselves upon the
+ground, and were soon fast asleep; even Ronald, anxious as he was,
+remaining awake but a few minutes after the others.
+
+The sun was high before they awoke. As they were eating their breakfast
+the sentry returned, and another was despatched to take his place. The
+man reported that he had seen nothing of the main body of Kaffirs, but
+that four of them were placed on the watch near the kloof. Kreta led
+Ronald to the edge of the wood, and pointing to a jagged range of hills
+in the distance said, "Amatolas."
+
+"How far are they away, Kreta?"
+
+"Six hours' fast walking," the chief said. "They get to foot of hills
+to-night. If Macomo's kraal anywhere this side, they may get there. If
+not, they wait and rest a bit, and then go on. No need travel fast when
+get to hills; they know very well no white soldier there."
+
+"What had we better do, do you think?"
+
+"They have plenty of men always on look-out, sure to be some on hills. I
+will send two men after these fellows, and they creep and crawl through
+the bushes, find out the way and bring news to me; then when they come
+back we will start."
+
+"But we must be there in the evening," Ronald said; "we must be there,
+chief; do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, incos, but it seems to me that it do no good to throw our lives
+away. If you say go, Kreta will go too, but if we killed, girl will be
+killed too, and no good that, that Kreta can see; if we go in daytime we
+killed, sure enough. Not possible to get into Amatolas without being
+seen; all grass and smooth land at foot of hill. On hill some places
+trees, there we manage very well; some open spaces, there they see us."
+
+"I don't wish to throw our lives away, chief; if I wanted to throw my
+own away, I have no right to sacrifice yours and your men's; but scouts
+on the look out would surely take us at a distance for a party of their
+own men returning from some plundering expedition, probably as part of
+the party ahead, who had hung back for some purpose on the road."
+
+"Great many kraals, great many people in Amatolas," the chief said;
+"sure to meet some one. They begin to ask questions, and see very soon
+we not Kaffirs, see directly you not Kaffir; might pass at night very
+well, but no pass in day. But perhaps we have time, incos. Chiefs wander
+about, hold council and meet each other; perhaps Macomo not at home,
+very likely he away when they get there."
+
+"Pray God it may be so," Ronald said, despairingly. "It seems the only
+hope we have. Well, Kreta, I put myself in your hands. You know much
+more about it than I do. As you say, we shall do no good to Miss
+Armstrong by throwing away our lives, therefore, I put aside my own
+plans and trust to you."
+
+"I no say we can save her, incos, but if we can we will. You make sure
+of that."
+
+The next night took them to the foot of the hills, and when the Kaffirs
+halted, the chief ordered two of his men to make a circuit, climb the
+hill, and conceal themselves in the bush before morning broke, so that
+when the Kaffirs moved on they could at once follow them without having
+to cross in daylight the grassy slopes of the foot hills. Minute
+instructions were given to both to follow close behind the Kaffir party,
+the order being that if either of them could pounce upon a solitary
+native, he was to stun him with his knobkerry, and force him when he
+recovered to give information as to the distance, direction, and road to
+Macomo's kraal, and that he was then to be assegaid at once. Feeling
+that Ronald might not altogether approve of this last item, for he was
+aware that the white men had what he considered a silly objection to
+unnecessary bloodshed, Kreta, whilst telling Ronald the rest of the
+instructions he had given to the spies, did not think it necessary to
+detail this portion of them.
+
+"Where shall we stay till morning?" Ronald inquired of him; "the country
+seems perfectly flat and unbroken, their look-out will see us a long way
+off."
+
+"Yes, incos, we lie down in little bush behind there. We send horse back
+to first wood and tell man to bring him every night to bottom of the
+hill, or if he sees us from a distance coming down the hill with Kaffirs
+after us, to come to meet us. We lie down till morning. Then when they
+go on, we go on too, little time afterwards, as you said, and follow as
+far as first wood; look-out think we belong to big party; then we hide
+there till one of my men come back. I told them we should be somewhere
+in wood, and he is to make signals as he walks along. We will push on as
+far as we can, so that we don't come upon kraals."
+
+"That will do very well indeed," Ronald said, "for every inch that we
+can get nearer to Macomo's kraal is so much gained."
+
+He removed the pistols from his holsters, and fastened them to his belt,
+putting them so far back that they were completely hidden by the blanket
+he wore over his shoulders, and then went with the party some little
+distance back, and lay down till morning. Almost as soon as it was
+daybreak, the Fingo who was on the watch announced that the Kaffirs were
+moving, and the little party at once followed. The Kaffirs had
+disappeared among the woods, high up on the hill side, when they began
+to ascend the grassy slope. They had no doubt that they were observed by
+the Kaffir watchmen, but they proceeded boldly, feeling sure it would be
+supposed that they belonged to the party ahead of them.
+
+The path through the forest was a narrow one, and they moved along in
+single file. One of the party went fifty yards ahead, walking
+cautiously, and listening intently for suspicious sounds; the rest
+proceeded noiselessly, prepared to bound into the forest directly the
+man ahead gave the signal that any one was approaching. For upwards of a
+mile they kept their way, the ground rising continually; then they
+reached a spot where a deep valley fell away at their feet. It divided
+into several branches, and wreaths of smoke could be seen curling up
+through the trees at a number of points. Similar indications of kraals
+could be seen everywhere upon the hill side, and Kreta shook his head
+and said:
+
+"No can go further. Heaps of Kaffir all about. Must wait now."
+
+Even Ronald, anxious as he was to go on, felt that it would be risking
+too much to proceed. The kraals were so numerous that as soon as they
+got into the valley they would be sure to run into one, and, moreover,
+the path would fork into many branches, and it would be impossible for
+them to say which of these the party ahead had taken.
+
+They turned aside into the wood for some little distance and lay down,
+one being left on the watch in the bush close to the path. The hours
+passed slowly while they waited the return of one of the scouts, who had
+been ordered to follow close upon the footsteps of the Kaffirs to
+Macomo's kraal. It was three o'clock before the look-out by the path
+returned, accompanied by one of them.
+
+He said a few words to the chief, and although Ronald could not
+understand him he saw by the expression of Kreta's face that the news
+was satisfactory.
+
+"Girl got to Macomo's kraal," the chief said. "Macomo not there. Gone to
+Sandilli. May come back to-night. Most likely get drunk and not come
+back till to-morrow. Macomo drink very much."
+
+"All the better," Ronald said. "Thank God we have got a few hours before
+us."
+
+The man gave a narration of his proceedings to Kreta, who translated
+them to Ronald.
+
+Directly the Kaffirs had passed the point where he and his comrade were
+hidden, they came out of the bush and followed closely behind them,
+sometimes dropping behind a little so as to be quite out of sight if any
+of them should look round, and then going on faster until they could get
+a glimpse of them, so as to be sure that they were going in the right
+direction. They had passed through several kraals. Before they came to
+each of these the men had waited a little, and had then gone on at a
+run, as if anxious to catch up the main body. They had thus avoided
+questioning.
+
+Three hours' walking took them to Macomo's kraal, and they had hung
+about there until they found out that Macomo was away, having gone off
+early to pay a visit to Sandilli. Kreta did not translate his followers'
+description of the manner in which this information had been obtained,
+and Ronald, supposing they had gathered it from listening to the
+Kaffirs, asked no questions. As soon as they had learned what they
+wanted to know, one of them had remained in hiding near the village, and
+the other had returned with the news. He had been nearly twice as long
+coming back as he was going, as this time he had been obliged to make a
+circuit so as to pass round each of the kraals, and so to avoid being
+questioned.
+
+"Did he see the young lady?" Ronald asked; "and how was she looking?"
+
+Yes, he had seen her as they passed his ambush the first thing in the
+morning. She looked very white and tired, but she was walking. She was
+not bound in any way. That was all he could tell him.
+
+"How soon can we go on, chief?" Ronald asked, impatiently. "You see, it
+is three hours' marching even if we go straight through."
+
+"Can go now," the chief said. "Now we know where Macomo's kraal is we
+can go straight through the bush."
+
+They went back to the path. The Fingo pointed to the exact position
+among the hills where Macomo's kraal was. There were two intermediate
+ridges to be crossed, but Ronald did not doubt the Fingo's power to
+follow a nearly direct line to the spot.
+
+"Now," the chief said, "you follow close behind me. Keep your eyes
+always on ground. Do not look at trees or rocks, or anything, but tread
+in my footsteps. Remember if you tread on a twig, or make the least
+sound, perhaps some one notice it. We may be noticed anyhow. Fellows
+upon the watch may see us moving through the trees overhead, but must
+risk that; but only don't make noise."
+
+Ronald promised to obey the chief's instructions, and the party, again
+leaving the path, took their way through the trees straight down into
+the valley. At times they came to such precipitous places that they were
+forced to make detours to get down them. One of the men now went ahead,
+the rest following at such a distance that they could just keep him in
+sight through the trees. From time to time he changed his course, as he
+heard noises or the sound of voices that told him he was approaching a
+kraal. At times they came across patches of open ground. When it was
+impossible to avoid these they made no attempt to cross them rapidly, as
+they knew that the sharp eyes of the sentries on the hill top could look
+down upon them. They, therefore, walked at a quiet pace, talking and
+gesticulating to each other as they went, so that they might be taken
+for a party going from one kraal to another.
+
+It was eight o'clock in the evening, and the sun had set some time, when
+they approached the kraal of Macomo.
+
+It was a good-sized village, and differed little from the ordinary
+Kaffir kraals except that two or three of the huts were large and
+beehive-shaped. There was a good deal of noise going on in the village;
+great fires were burning, and round these numbers of the Kaffirs were
+dancing, representing by their action the conflict in which they had
+been engaged, and the slaughter of their enemies. The women were
+standing round, keeping up a monotonous song, to the rhythm of which the
+men were dancing.
+
+As they approached within a hundred yards of the edge of the clearing
+round the village, a sharp hiss was heard among the bushes. Kreta at
+once left the path, the others following him. They were at once joined
+by the other scouts.
+
+"What is the news?"
+
+"The white woman is still in the woman's hut next to that of Macomo."
+
+"Are there any guards at the door?" Ronald asked. The chief put the
+question.
+
+"No, no guards have been placed there. There are many women in the hut.
+There was no fear of her escape. Besides, if she got out, where could
+she go to?"
+
+"Well, now, incos, what are we to do?" the chief asked. "We have brought
+you here, and now we are ready to die if you tell us. What you think we
+do next?"
+
+"Wait a bit, Kreta, I must think it over."
+
+Indeed, Ronald had been thinking all day. He had considered it probable
+that Mary Armstrong would be placed in the hut of one of the chief's
+wives. The first question was how to communicate with her. It was almost
+certain that either some of the women would sit up all night, or that
+sentries would be placed at the door. Probably the former. The Kaffirs
+had made a long journey, and had now doubtless been gorging themselves
+with meat. They would be disinclined to watch, and would consider their
+responsibility at an end when they had handed her over to the women. It
+was almost certain that Mary herself would be asleep after her fatigue
+of the last three days; even the prospect of the terrible fate before
+her would scarce suffice to keep her awake.
+
+"Do you think two women will sit up with her all night?"
+
+"Two or three of them, sure," Kreta replied.
+
+"My plan is this, Kreta; it may not succeed, but I can think of no
+other. In the first place, I will go into the kraal. I will wait until
+there is no one near the door, then I will stoop and say in a loud
+voice, so that she may hear, that she is to keep awake at night.
+Macomo's women are none of them likely to understand English, and before
+they run out to see what it is, I shall be gone. If they tell the men
+they have heard a strange voice speaking unknown words, they will be
+laughed at, or at most a search will be made through the kraal, and of
+course nothing will be found. Then, to-night, chief, when everything is
+still, I propose that three of you shall crawl with me into the kraal.
+When we get to the door of the hut, you will draw aside the hide that
+will be hanging over it and peep in. If only two women are sitting by
+the fire in the centre, two of you will crawl in as noiselessly as
+possible. I know that you can crawl so that the sharpest ear cannot hear
+you. Of course, if there are three, three of you will go in; if two, two
+only. You will crawl up behind the women, suddenly seize them by the
+throat and gag and bind them. Then you will beckon to the young lady to
+follow you. She will know from my warning that you are friends. If she
+has a light dress on, throw a dark blanket round her, for many of the
+Kaffirs will go on feasting all night, and might see her in the light of
+the fire. Then I will hurry her away, and your men follow us so as to
+stop the Kaffirs a moment and give us time to get into the bushes if we
+are seen."
+
+"Kreta will go himself," the chief said, "with two of his young men. Do
+you not think, incos, that there is danger in your calling out?"
+
+"Not much danger, I think, Kreta. They will not dream of a white man
+being here, in the heart of the Amatolas. I think there is less danger
+in it than that the girl might cry out if she was roused from her sleep
+by men whom she did not know. She might think that it was Macomo come
+home."
+
+Kreta agreed in this opinion.
+
+"I will go down at once," Ronald said; "they're making such a noise that
+it is unlikely any one outside the hut would hear me, however loud I
+spoke, while if I waited until it got quieter, I might be heard. Take my
+rifle, Kreta, and one of the pistols; I want to carry nothing extra with
+me, in case I have to make a sudden bolt for it."
+
+Mary Armstrong was lying apparently unnoticed by the wall of the hut,
+while a dozen women were chattering round the fire in the centre.
+Suddenly she started; for from the door, which was but three feet high,
+there came a loud, clear voice, "Mary Armstrong, do not sleep to-night.
+Rescue is at hand."
+
+The women started to their feet with a cry of alarm at these mysterious
+sounds, and stood gazing at the entrance; then there was a clamour of
+tongues, and presently one of them, older than the rest, walked to the
+entrance and looked out.
+
+"There is no one here," she said, looking round, and the greater part of
+the women at once rushed out. Their conduct convinced Mary Armstrong
+that she was not in a dream, as she at first thought, but had really
+heard the words. Who could have spoken them, or what rescue could reach
+her? This she could not imagine; but she had sufficient self-possession
+to resume her reclining position, from which she had half risen, and to
+close her eyes as if sound asleep. A minute later, one of the women
+appeared with a blazing brand, and held it close to her eyes.
+
+"The girl is asleep," she said in Kaffir, which Mary understood
+perfectly; "what can have been the words we heard?"
+
+"It must have been an evil spirit," another woman said; "who else can
+have spoken in an unknown tongue to us?"
+
+There was a good deal of hubbub in the kraal when the women told their
+story; some of the men took up their weapons and searched the village
+and the surrounding bushes, but the greater portion altogether
+disbelieved the story. Whoever heard of a spirit talking in an unknown
+tongue to a lot of women? If he had wanted to say anything to them, he
+would have spoken so that they could understand. It must have been some
+man who had drunk too much, and who bellowed in at the door to startle
+them; and so gradually the din subsided, the men returned to the dance,
+and the women to their huts.
+
+Had Mary Armstrong been in spirits to enjoy it, she would have been
+amused at the various propositions started by the women to account for
+the voice they had heard; not one of them approached the truth, for it
+did not occur to them as even possible that a white man should have
+penetrated the Amatolas to Macomo's kraal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE RESCUE.
+
+
+Ronald, with Kreta and two of his men, now crept down to the very edge
+of the bushes at a spot where they could command a view of the entrance
+to the hut. For a long time female figures came in and out, and it was
+not until long past midnight that they saw the last female figure
+disappear inside and the skin drawn across the entrance.
+
+"How long shall we give them, Kreta?"
+
+"In an hour Kreta will go see," the chief said; "but better give two
+hours for all to be fast asleep."
+
+In about an hour Ronald, who had been half lying on the ground with his
+head on his hands, looked round and found that the chief had stolen
+away. He sat up and watched the hut intently. The fires were burning low
+now, although many of the Kaffirs were sitting round them; but there was
+still light enough for him, looking intently, to see a figure moving
+along. Once or twice he fancied he saw a dark shadow on the ground close
+to the hut, but he was not sure, and was still gazing intently when
+there was a touch on his shoulder, and, looking round, he saw the chief
+beside him.
+
+"Two women watch," he said, "others all quiet. Give a little time
+longer, to make sure that all are asleep, then we go on."
+
+It seemed to Ronald fully two hours, although it was less than one,
+before Kreta again touched him.
+
+"Time to go, incos," he said. "You go down with me to the hut, but not
+quite close. Kreta bring girl to you. You better not go. Kreta walk more
+quietly than white man. Noise spoil everything, get all of us killed."
+
+Ronald gave his consent, though reluctantly, but he felt it was right
+that the Fingo, who was risking his life for his sake, should carry out
+his plans in his own way. Kreta ordered one of his men to rejoin his
+companions, and with the other advanced towards the village.
+
+When within forty yards of the hut, he touched Ronald and whispered to
+him to remain there. Then he and his companion lay down on the ground,
+and, without the slightest sound that Ronald could detect, disappeared
+in the darkness, while Ronald stood with his revolver in his hand,
+ready at any moment to spring forward and throw himself upon the
+Kaffirs.
+
+Mary Armstrong lay awake, with every faculty upon the stretch. Where the
+succour was to come from, or how, she could not imagine; but it was
+evident, at least, that some white man was here, and was working for
+her. She listened intently to every sound, with her eyes wide open,
+staring at the two women, who were cooking mealies in the fire, and
+keeping up a low, murmured talk. She had not even a hope that they would
+sleep. She knew that the natives constantly sit up talking and feasting
+until daylight is close at hand; and as they had extra motives for
+vigilance, she was sure that they would keep awake.
+
+Suddenly, so suddenly that she scarcely knew what had happened, the two
+women disappeared from her sight. A hand had grasped each tightly by the
+throat, another hand seized the hair, and, with a sharp jerk, pulled the
+head on one side, breaking the neck in a moment--a common mode among the
+Kaffirs of putting any one to death. The whole thing did not occupy a
+moment, and as the women disappeared from her sight, two natives rose to
+their feet and looked round. Convinced that this was the succour
+promised her, she sat up. One of the natives put his finger upon his
+lips to indicate the necessity of silence, and beckoned for her to rise
+and come to him. When she did so he wrapped her in a dark blanket and
+led her to the door. He pushed aside the hanging and went out.
+
+Mary followed close behind him. He now put the blanket over her head and
+lifted her in his arms. A momentary dread seized her lest this might be
+an emissary of some other chief, who had sent him to carry off Macomo's
+new captive, but the thought of the English words reassured her; and, at
+any rate, even if it were so, her position could not possibly be worse
+than on the return of Macomo the next morning. She was carried a short
+distance, then she heard her bearer say in English: "Come along; I take
+her a bit further. Too close to Kaffir still." She was carried on for
+some distance. Then there was a stop, and she was placed on her feet;
+the blanket was removed from her head, and a moment later a dark figure
+seized her hand.
+
+"Thank God, we have got you out, Miss Armstrong."
+
+The revulsion of feeling at hearing her own tongue was so great that she
+was not capable of speaking, and she would have fallen had she not been
+clasped in the arms of the person who addressed her. Her surprise at
+feeling that the arms that encircled her were bare, roused her.
+
+"Who are you, sir?" she asked, trembling.
+
+"I am Sergeant Blunt, Miss Armstrong. No wonder you did not know me. I
+am got up in native fashion. You can trust yourself with me, you know."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes," the girl sobbed. "I know I can, you saved my life once
+before. How did you come here? And, oh, can you tell me any news about
+my father?"
+
+"He is hurt, Miss Armstrong, but I have every hope that he will recover.
+Now you must be strong, for we must be miles from here before morning.
+Can you walk?"
+
+"Oh yes, I can walk any distance," the girl said. "Yesterday it seemed
+to me that I could not walk an inch further were it to save my life, and
+they had to carry me the last mile or two, but now I feel strong enough
+to walk miles."
+
+"She can walk at present, chief," Ronald said, "let us go forward at
+once."
+
+They were now on the pathway leading down to the kraal. The chief took
+the lead, telling Mary Armstrong to take hold of his blanket and follow
+close behind him, while Ronald followed on her heels, the other Fingoes
+keeping in the rear. The darkness beneath the trees was dense, and it
+was some time before Ronald could make out even the outline of the
+figures before him. Before approaching a kraal a halt was always made,
+and one of the Fingoes went on ahead to see if the fires were out and
+all natives inside their huts. Several times, although all the human
+beings were asleep, the scout returned, saying that they could not pass
+through the kraal, for the dogs had scented him and growled fiercely,
+and would set up such a barking when the party passed as to bring all
+the village out to see what was the matter.
+
+Then long detours, that would have been difficult through the thick bush
+in daylight, but at night were almost impossible, had to be made. Each
+time that this had to be done, Kreta lifted Mary Armstrong and carried
+her, and she had now become so exhausted that she was unable even to
+protest. Ronald would have carried her himself, but he felt that it
+would be worse than useless to attempt to do so. Though unencumbered, he
+had the greatest difficulty in making his way through the bushes, which
+scratched and tore his flesh terribly; but the chief seemed to be
+possessed of the eyes of a bat, and glided through them, scarcely moving
+a twig as he passed. After going on for upwards of three hours, the
+chief stopped.
+
+"It will be getting light soon. We must hide her now. Cannot get further
+until to-morrow night."
+
+Although Ronald Mervyn, struggling along in the darkness, had not
+noticed it, the party had for the last hour turned off from the line
+they had before been following. They stopped by a little stream, running
+down the valley. Here a native refilled the gourds, and Mary Armstrong
+felt better after a drink of water.
+
+"I think," Ronald said to her, "that if you were to bathe your face and
+hands it would refresh you. There is a rock here just at the edge of
+the stream, I am sure your feet must be sore and blistered. It will be
+half an hour before there is a gleam of light, and I should recommend
+you to take off your shoes and stockings and paddle your feet in the
+water."
+
+"That would be refreshing," the girl said. "My feet are aching
+dreadfully. Now please tell me all that has happened, and how you came
+to be here."
+
+Sitting beside her, Ronald told her what had been done from the time
+when his party arrived and beat off the natives attacking the waggons.
+
+"How can I thank you enough?" she said, when he had finished. "To think
+that you have done all this for me."
+
+"Never mind about thanks, Miss Armstrong; we are not out of the wood
+yet, our dangers are only half over, and if it were not that I trust to
+the cunning of our good friend Kreta and his Fingoes I should have very
+little hope of getting out of this mess. I think it is just beginning to
+get light, for I can make out the outlines of the trunks of the trees,
+which is more than I could do before. I will go and ask Kreta what he is
+going to do, and by the time I come back perhaps you had better get your
+shoes on again, and be ready for a start. I don't suppose we shall go
+far, but no doubt he will find some sort of hiding-place." Kreta, in
+fact, was just giving instructions to his men.
+
+"We are going out to find some good place to hide away in to-day," he
+said. "In the morning they search all about the woods. We must get into
+shelter before it light enough for the men on hill tops to see down
+through trees. You stop here quiet. In half an hour we come back again.
+There is plenty time; they no find out yet that woman gone."
+
+In a few minutes Mary Armstrong joined Ronald.
+
+"How do you feel now?" he asked.
+
+"All the fresher and better for the wash," she said; "but I really don't
+think I could walk very far, my feet are very much blistered. I don't
+see why they should be so bad; we have only gone about twenty-four miles
+each day, and I always considered that I could walk twenty miles without
+difficulty."
+
+"It makes all the difference how you walk, Miss Armstrong. No doubt, if
+you had been in good spirits, and with a pleasant party, you could have
+walked fifty miles in two days, although that is certainly a long
+distance for a woman; but depressed and almost despairing, as you were,
+it told upon you generally, and doubtless you rather dragged your feet
+along than walked."
+
+"I don't want to think about it," the girl said, with a shudder. "It
+seems to have been an awful dream. Some day I will tell you about it;
+but I cannot now."
+
+"Here are some mealies and some cold meat. We each brought a week's
+supply with us when we left the waggons. I am sure that you will be all
+the better for eating something."
+
+"I do feel very hungry, now I think of it," the girl assented; "I have
+hardly eaten a mouthful since that morning."
+
+"I am hungry myself," Ronald said "I was too anxious yesterday to do
+justice to my food."
+
+"I feel very much better now," the girl said when she had finished. "I
+believe I was faint from want of food before, although I did not think
+of it. I am sure I could go on walking now. It was not the pain that
+stopped me, but simply because I didn't feel as if I could lift my foot
+from the ground. And there is one thing I want to say: I wish you would
+not call me Miss Armstrong, it seems so formal and stiff, when you are
+running such terrible risks to save me. Please call me Mary, and I will
+call you Harry. I think I heard you tell my father your name was Harry
+Blunt."
+
+"That is the name I enlisted under, it is not my own name; men very
+seldom enlist under their own names."
+
+"Why not?" she asked in surprise.
+
+"Partly, I suppose, because a good many of us get into scrapes before we
+enlist, and don't care for our friends to be able to trace us."
+
+"I am sure you never got into a scrape," the girl said, looking up into
+Ronald's face.
+
+"I got into a very bad scrape," Ronald answered, "a scrape that has
+spoilt my whole life; but we will not talk about that. But I would
+rather, if you don't mind, that you should call me by my own name now we
+are together. If we get out of this I shall be Sergeant Blunt again, but
+I should like you to call me Ronald now."
+
+"Ronald," the girl said, "that sounds Scottish."
+
+"I am not Scotch, nor so far as I know is there any Scotch blood in my
+veins, but the name has been in the family a good many years; how it got
+there I do not know."
+
+"I almost wish it was dark again," the girl said, with a little laugh;
+"in the dark you seem to me the Sergeant Blunt who came just in time to
+save us that day the farm was attacked; but now I can see you I cannot
+recognise you at all; even your eyes look quite different in that black
+skin."
+
+"I flatter myself that my get up is very good," Ronald laughed. "I have
+had some difficulty in keeping up the colour. Each day before starting
+we have gone to our fires and got fresh charcoal and mixed it with some
+grease we brought with us and rubbed it in afresh."
+
+"Your hair is your weak point, Ronald; but, of course, no European could
+make his hair like a native's. Still, as it is cut so close, it would
+not be noticed a little way off."
+
+Two or three of the Fingoes had by this time returned, and in a few
+minutes all had gathered at the spot. Kreta listened to the reports of
+each of his men, and they held a short consultation. Then he came up to
+Ronald.
+
+"One of my men has found a place that will do well," he said. "It is
+time we were going."
+
+One of the Fingoes now took the lead; the others followed. A quarter of
+an hour's walk up the hill, which grew steeper and steeper every step,
+brought them to a spot where some masses of rock had fallen from above.
+They were half covered with the thick growth of brushwood. The native
+pushed one of the bushes aside, and showed a sort of cave formed by a
+great slab of rock that had fallen over the others. Kreta uttered an
+expression of approval. Two of the natives crept in with their assegais
+in their hands. In two or three minutes one of them returned with the
+bodies of two puff adders they had killed. These were dropped in among
+some rocks.
+
+"You can go in now," Kreta said. "There are no more of them."
+
+Ronald crawled in first, and helped Mary Armstrong in after him; the
+natives followed. Kreta came in last, carefully examining the bush
+before he did so, to see that no twig was broken or disarranged. He
+managed as he entered to place two or three rocks over the entrance.
+
+"Good place," he said, looking round as he joined the others. It was
+indeed of ample size to contain the party, and was some four feet in
+height. Light came in in several places between the rocks on which the
+upper slab rested.
+
+"It could not be better, Kreta, even if it had been made on purpose. It
+was lucky indeed your fellow found it."
+
+"We found two or three others," the chief said, "but this best."
+
+"It is lucky those men came in first and found the snakes," Mary
+Armstrong said, "for we have not got here the stuff we always use in the
+colony as an antidote, and their bite is almost always fatal unless that
+can be used in time." Ronald was aware of this, and had, indeed, during
+the night's march, had snakes constantly in his mind, for he knew that
+they abounded in the hills.
+
+One of the Fingoes had taken his station at the entrance, having moved
+one of the stones the chief had placed there, so that he could sit with
+his head out of the opening. Half an hour after they had entered the
+cave he turned round and spoke to the chief.
+
+"The Kaffirs are hunting," Kreta said. Listening at the opening they
+could hear distant shouts. These were answered from many points, some of
+them comparatively close.
+
+"The news is being passed from kraal to kraal," Ronald said; "they will
+be up like a swarm of bees now, but search as they will they are not
+likely to find us here. Do you think they will trace us at all, chief?"
+
+"They will find where we stopped close to kraal," Kreta said; "the dead
+leaves were stirred by our feet; after that not find, too many people
+gone along path; ground very hard; may find, sometime, mark of the white
+woman's shoe; but we leave path many times, and after I carry no find at
+all. Mountains very big, much bush; never find here."
+
+The chief now told his follower to replace the stone and join the
+others, and ordered all to be silent. Sitting with his ear at one of the
+openings he listened to the sounds in the woods; once or twice he
+whispered that Kaffirs were passing close, searching among the bushes;
+and one party came so near that their words could be plainly heard in
+the cave. They were discussing the manner in which the fugitive had
+escaped, and were unanimous in the belief that she had been carried off
+by the followers of some other chief, for that an enemy should have
+penetrated into the heart of the Amatolas did not strike them as
+possible.
+
+The argument was only as to which of the other chiefs would have
+ventured to rob Macomo, and the opinion inclined to the fact that it
+must have been Sandilli himself, who would doubtless have heard, from
+the messenger sent over on the previous afternoon to inform Macomo, of
+the return of the band with a pretty young white woman as a captive.
+Macomo had of course been drunk, and Sandilli might have determined to
+have the prize carried off for himself.
+
+Mary Armstrong shuddered as she listened to the talk, but when they had
+gone on Kreta said:
+
+"Good thing the Kaffirs have that thought, not search so much here.
+Search in Sandilli's country. Perhaps make great quarrel between Macomo
+and Sandilli. Good thing that."
+
+As the day went on the spirits of the Fingoes rose, and in low tones
+they expressed their delight at having outwitted the Kaffirs.
+
+No footsteps had been heard in their neighbourhood for some time, and
+they felt sure that the search had been abandoned in that quarter.
+Towards sunset all ate a hearty meal, and as soon as it became dark the
+stones at the entrance were removed and the party crept out. Mary
+Armstrong had slept the greater part of the day, and Ronald and the
+Fingoes had also passed a portion of their time in sleep. They started,
+therefore, refreshed and strong.
+
+It took them many hours of patient work before they arrived at the edge
+of the forest on the last swell of the Amatolas. They had been obliged
+to make many detours to avoid kraals, and to surmount the precipices
+that often barred their way. They had started about eight in the
+evening, and it was, as they knew from the stars, fully three o'clock
+in the morning when they emerged from the forest.
+
+Mary Armstrong had kept on well with the rest; her feet were extremely
+painful, but she was now strong and hopeful, and no word of complaint
+escaped her. Ronald and the chief kept by her side, helping her up or
+down difficult places, and assisting her to pass through the thorny
+bushes, which caught her dress, and would have rendered it almost
+impossible for her to get through unaided. Once out of the bush, the
+party hurried down the grassy slope, and then kept on a mile further.
+The chief now gave a loud call. It was answered faintly from the
+distance; in five minutes the sound of a horse's hoofs were heard, and
+in a short time the Fingo who had been left in charge of it, galloped up
+with Ronald's horse. Mary Armstrong was sitting on the ground, for she
+was now so utterly exhausted she could no longer keep her feet, and had,
+since they left the bush, been supported and half carried by Ronald and
+Kreta. She made an effort to rise as the horse came up.
+
+"Please wait a moment; I will not be above two minutes," Ronald said;
+"but I really cannot ride into Williamstown like this."
+
+He unstrapped his valise, took the jack-boots that were hanging from the
+saddle, and moved away in the darkness. In two or three minutes he
+returned in his uniform.
+
+"I feel a civilised being again," he said, laughing; "a handful of sand
+at the first stream we come to will get most of this black off my face.
+I have left my blanket as a legacy to any Kaffir who may light upon it.
+Now I will shift the saddle a few inches further back. I think you had
+better ride before me, for you are completely worn out, and I can hold
+you there better than you could hold yourself if you were to sit behind
+me." He strapped on his valise, shifted his saddle, lifted Mary up, and
+sprang up behind her.
+
+"Are you comfortable?" he asked.
+
+"Quite comfortable," she said, a little shyly, and then they started.
+The light was just beginning to break in the east as they rode out from
+the clump of trees. They were not out of danger yet, for parties of
+Kaffirs might be met with at any time until they arrived within musket
+shot of King Williamstown. The Fingoes ran at a pace that kept the horse
+at a sharp trot. It was very pleasant to Ronald Mervyn to feel Mary
+Armstrong in his arms, and to know, as he did, how safe and confident
+she felt there; but he did not press her more closely than was necessary
+to enable her to retain her seat, or permit himself to speak in a softer
+or tenderer tone than usual.
+
+"If we should come across any of these scoundrels, Mary," he said,
+presently, "do you take the reins. Do you think you can sit steady
+without my holding you firmly?"
+
+"Yes," the girl said, "if I put one foot on yours I could certainly hold
+on. I could twist one of my hands in the horse's mane."
+
+"Can you use a pistol?"
+
+"Of course I can," she replied. "I was as good a shot as my father."
+
+"That is all right, then. I will give you one of my pistols; then I can
+hold you with my right arm, for the horse may plunge if a spear strikes
+him. I will use my pistol in my left hand. I will see that no one
+catches the bridle on that side; do you attend to the right. I hope it
+won't come to that, still there's never any saying, and we shall have
+one or two nasty places to pass through on our way down. We have the
+advantage that should there be any Kaffirs there they will not be
+keeping a watch this way, and we may hope to get pretty well through
+them before they see us."
+
+"Will you promise me one thing, Ronald?" she asked. "Will you shoot me
+if you find that we cannot get past?"
+
+Ronald nodded.
+
+"I am not at all afraid of death," she said; "death would be nothing to
+that. I would rather die a thousand times than fall into the hands of
+the Kaffirs again."
+
+"I promise you, Mary, my last shot but one shall be for you, my last for
+myself; but if I am struck off the horse by a bullet or assegai you must
+trust to your own pistol."
+
+"I will do that, Ronald; I have been perfectly happy since you took me
+out of the hut, and have not seemed to feel any fear of being
+recaptured, for I felt that if they overtook us I could always escape
+so. On the way there, if I could have got hold of an assegai I should
+have stabbed myself."
+
+"Thank God you didn't," said Ronald, earnestly, "though I could not have
+blamed you."
+
+They paused at the entrance to each kloof through which they had to
+pass, and the Fingoes went cautiously ahead searching through the
+bushes. It was not until he heard their call on the other side that
+Ronald galloped after them.
+
+"I begin to hope that we shall get through now," Ronald said, after
+emerging from one of these kloofs; "we have only one more bad place to
+pass, but, of course, the danger is greatest there, as from that the
+Kaffirs will probably be watching against any advance of the troops from
+the town."
+
+The Fingoes were evidently of the same opinion, for as they approached
+it Kreta stopped to speak to Ronald.
+
+"Kaffir sure to be here," he said, "but me and my men can creep through;
+but we must not call to you, incos; the Kaffirs would hear us and be on
+the watch. Safest plan for us to go through first, not go along paths,
+but through bush; then for you to gallop straight through; even if they
+close to path, you get past before they time to stop you. I think that
+best way."
+
+"I think so too, Kreta. If they hear the horse's hoofs coming from
+behind they will suppose it is a mounted messenger from the hills.
+Anyhow, I think that a dash for it is our best chance."
+
+"I think so, incos. I think you get through safe if go fast."
+
+"How long will you be getting through, Kreta?"
+
+"Quarter of an hour," the chief said; "must go slow. Your ride four,
+five minutes."
+
+Kreta stood thoughtfully for a minute or two.
+
+"Me don't like it, incos. Me tell you what we do. We keep over to left,
+and then when we get just through the bush we fire our guns. Then the
+Kaffirs very much surprised and all run that way, and you ride straight
+through."
+
+"But they might overtake you, Kreta."
+
+"They no overtake," the chief said, confidently. "We run fast and get
+good start. Williamstown only one hour's walk; run less than half hour.
+They no catch us."
+
+When the Fingoes had been gone about ten minutes, Ronald, assured that
+the Kaffirs would be gathered at the far side of the kloof, went forward
+at a walk. Presently he heard six shots fired in rapid succession. This
+was followed by an outburst of yells and cries in front, and he set
+spurs to his horse and dashed forward at a gallop. He was nearly through
+the kloof when a body of Kaffirs, who were running through the wood from
+the right, burst suddenly from the bushes into the path. So astonished
+were they at seeing a white man within a few yards of them that for a
+moment they did not think of using their weapons, and Ronald dashed
+through them, scattering them to right and left. But others sprang from
+the bushes. Ronald shot down two men who sprang at the horse's bridle,
+and he heard Mary Armstrong's pistol on the other side. He had drawn his
+sword before setting off at a gallop. "Hold tight, Mary," he said, as he
+relaxed his hold of her and cut down a native who was springing upon him
+from the bushes. Another fell from a bullet from her pistol, and then he
+was through them. "Stoop down, Mary," he said, pressing her forward on
+the horse's neck and bending down over her. He felt his horse give a
+sudden spring, and knew that it was hit with an assegai; while almost at
+the same instant he felt a sensation as of a hot iron running from his
+belt to his shoulder, as a spear ripped up cloth and flesh and then
+glanced along over him.
+
+A moment later and they were out of the kloof, and riding at full speed
+across the open. Looking over his shoulder he saw that the Kaffirs gave
+up pursuit after following for a hundred yards. Over on the left he
+heard dropping shots, and presently caught a glimpse in that direction
+of the Fingoes running in a close body, pursued at the distance of a
+hundred yards or so by a large number of Kaffirs. But others had heard
+the sound of firing, for in a minute or two he saw a body of horsemen
+riding at full speed from Williamstown in the direction of the firing.
+He at once checked the speed of his horse.
+
+"We are safe now, Mary; that is a troop of our corps. Are you hit?"
+
+"No, I am not touched. Are you hurt, Ronald? I thought I felt you
+start."
+
+"I have got a bit of a scratch on the back, but it's nothing serious. I
+will get off in a moment, Mary; the horse has an assegai in his
+quarters, and I must get it out."
+
+"Take me down, too, please; I feel giddy now it is all over."
+
+Ronald lifted her down, and then pulled the assegai from the horse's
+back.
+
+"I don't think much harm is done," he said; "a fortnight in the stable
+and he will be all right again."
+
+"You are bleeding dreadfully," the girl exclaimed, as she caught sight
+of his back. "It's a terrible wound to look at."
+
+"Then it looks worse than it is," he laughed. "The spear only glanced
+along on the ribs. It's lucky I was stooping so much. After going
+through what we have we may think ourselves well off indeed that we have
+escaped with such a scratch as this between us."
+
+"It's not a scratch at all," the girl said, indignantly; "it's a very
+deep bad cut."
+
+"Perhaps it is a bad cut," Ronald smiled, "but a cut is of no
+consequence one way or the other. Now let us join the others. Ah, here
+they come, with Kreta showing them the way."
+
+The troopers had chased the Kaffirs back to the bush, and, led by the
+Fingo, were now coming up at a gallop to the spot where Ronald and Mary
+Armstrong were standing by the horse.
+
+"Ah, it is you, sergeant," Lieutenant Daniels exclaimed, for it was a
+portion of Ronald's own troop that had ridden up. "I never expected to
+see you again, for we heard the day before yesterday from the officer
+who came in with the ammunition waggons that you had gone off to try to
+rescue three ladies who had been carried off by the Kaffirs. It was a
+mad business, but you have partly succeeded, I am glad to see," and he
+lifted his cap to Mary Armstrong.
+
+"Partly, sir," Ronald said. "The wretches killed the other two the day
+they carried them off. This is Miss Armstrong. I think you stopped at
+her father's house one day when we were out on the Kabousie."
+
+"Yes, of course," the lieutenant said, alighting. "Excuse me for not
+recognising you, Miss Armstrong; but, in fact----"
+
+"In fact, I look very pale, and ragged, and tattered."
+
+"I am not surprised at that, Miss Armstrong. You must have gone through
+a terrible time, and I heartily congratulate Sergeant Blunt on the
+success of his gallant attempt to rescue you."
+
+"Have you heard from my father? How is he?"
+
+"Your father, Miss Armstrong! I have heard nothing about him since I
+heard from Sergeant Blunt that you had all got safely away after that
+attack."
+
+"He was in the waggon, sir," Ronald explained; "he was hurt in the fight
+with the Kaffirs, and Mr. Nolan brought him back in the waggons."
+
+"Oh, I heard he had brought a wounded man with him; but I did not hear
+the name. Nolan said he had been badly wounded, but the surgeon told me
+he thought he might get round. I have no doubt that the sight of Miss
+Armstrong will do him good."
+
+"Perhaps, sir," Ronald said, faintly, "you will let one of the troop
+ride on with Miss Armstrong at once. I think I must wait for a bit."
+
+"Why, what is it, sergeant?" the lieutenant asked, catching him by the
+arm, for he saw that he was on the point of falling. "You are wounded, I
+see; and here am I talking about other things and not thinking of you."
+
+Two of the troop leapt from their horses and laid Ronald down, for he
+had fainted, overcome partly by the pain and loss of blood, but more by
+the sudden termination of the heavy strain of the last four days.
+
+"It is only a flesh wound, Miss Armstrong. There is no occasion for
+fear. He has fainted from loss of blood, and I have no doubt but he will
+soon be all right again. Johnson, hand your horse over to Miss
+Armstrong, and do you, Williams, ride over with her to the hospital. We
+will have Sergeant Blunt in the hospital half an hour after you get
+there, Miss Armstrong."
+
+"It seems very unkind to leave him," the girl said, "after all he has
+done for me."
+
+"He will understand it, my dear young lady, and you can see him in the
+hospital directly you get there."
+
+Mary reluctantly allowed herself to be lifted into the saddle, and rode
+off with the trooper.
+
+"Now take his jacket and shirt off," the lieutenant said, "it's a nasty
+rip that he has got. I suppose he was leaning forward in the saddle when
+the spear touched him. It's lucky it glanced up instead of going through
+him."
+
+The soldiers removed Ronald's coat. There was no shirt underneath, for
+he had not waited to put one on when he mounted. The troopers had heard
+from their comrades, on the return of the escort, that the sergeant had,
+before starting, got himself up as a native; and they were not therefore
+surprised, as they otherwise would have been, at his black skin.
+
+"Put your hand into the left holster of my saddle," the lieutenant said.
+"You will find two or three bandages and some lint there; they are
+things that come in handy for this work. Lay the lint in the gash.
+That's right. Press it down a little, and put some more in. Now lift him
+up a bit, while I pass these bandages round his body. There; I think he
+will do now; but there's no doubt it is a nasty wound. It has cut right
+through the muscles of the back. Now turn him over, and give me my flask
+from the holster."
+
+Some brandy and water was poured between Ronald's lips, and he soon
+opened his eyes.
+
+"Don't move, sergeant, or you will set your wound off bleeding again. We
+will soon get you comfortably into hospital. Ah, that is the very thing;
+good men," he broke off, as Kreta and the Fingoes brought up a litter
+which they had been busy in constructing. "Miss Armstrong has ridden on
+to the hospital to see her father. She wanted to stop, but I sent her
+on, so that we could bandage you comfortably."
+
+"I think I can sit a horse now," Ronald said, trying to rise.
+
+"I don't know whether you can or not, sergeant; but you are not going to
+try. Now, lads, lift him on to the litter."
+
+Kreta and the two troopers lifted him carefully on to the litter; then
+four of the Fingoes raised it to their shoulders. Another took Ronald's
+horse, which now limped stiffly, and led it along behind the litter; and
+with the troop bringing up the rear, the party started for King
+Williamstown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+RONALD IS OFFERED A COMMISSION.
+
+
+As soon as Mary Armstrong reached the hospital, the trooper who had
+accompanied her took her to the surgeon's quarters. The officer, on
+hearing that a lady wished to speak to him, at once came out.
+
+"I am Mary Armstrong," the girl said as she slipped down from the horse.
+"I think my father is here, wounded. He came up in the waggons the day
+before yesterday, I believe."
+
+"Oh yes, he is here, Miss Armstrong. I had him put in one of the
+officers' wards that is otherwise empty at present."
+
+"How is he, doctor?"
+
+"Well, I am sorry to say that just at present he is very ill. The wounds
+are not, I hope, likely to prove fatal, though undoubtedly they are very
+serious; but he is in a state of high fever--in fact, he is delirious,
+principally, I think, owing to his anxiety about you, at least so I
+gathered from the officer who brought him in, for he was already
+delirious when he arrived here."
+
+"I can go to him, I hope?"
+
+"Certainly you can, Miss Armstrong. Your presence is likely to soothe
+him. The ward will be entirely at your disposal. I congratulate you most
+heartily upon getting out of the hands of the Kaffirs. Mr. Nolan told us
+of the gallant attempt which a sergeant of the Cape Mounted Rifles was
+going to make to rescue you; but I don't think that any one thought he
+had the shadow of a chance of success."
+
+"He succeeded, doctor, as you see; but he was wounded to-day just as we
+were in sight of the town. They are bringing him here. Will you kindly
+let me know when he comes in and how he is?"
+
+"I will let you know at once, Miss Armstrong; and now I will take you to
+your father."
+
+One of the hospital orderlies was standing by the bedside of Mr.
+Armstrong as his daughter and the surgeon entered. The patient was
+talking loudly.
+
+"I tell you I will go. They have carried off Mary. I saw them do it and
+could not help her, but I will go now."
+
+Mary walked to the bedside and bent down and kissed her father.
+
+"I am here, father, by your side. I have got away from them, and here I
+am to nurse you."
+
+The patient ceased talking and a quieter expression came over his face.
+Mary took his hand in hers and quietly stroked it.
+
+"That's right, Mary," he murmured; "are the bars of the cattle kraal up?
+See that all the shutters are closed, we cannot be too careful, you
+know."
+
+"I will see to it all, father," she said, cheerfully; "now try to go to
+sleep."
+
+A few more words passed from the wounded man's lips, and then he lay
+quiet with closed eyes.
+
+"That is excellent, Miss Armstrong," the surgeon said; "the
+consciousness that you are with him has, you see, soothed him at once.
+If he moves, get him to drink a little of this lemonade, and I will send
+you in some medicine for him shortly."
+
+"How are the wounds, doctor?"
+
+"Oh, I think the wounds will do," the surgeon replied; "so far as I can
+tell, the assegai has just missed the top of the lung by a hair's
+breadth. Two inches lower and it would have been fatal. As for the
+wounds in the legs, I don't anticipate much trouble with them. They have
+missed both bones and arteries and are really nothing but flesh wounds,
+and after the active, healthy life your father has been living, I do not
+think we need be uneasy about them."
+
+In half an hour the surgeon looked in again.
+
+"Sergeant Blunt has arrived," he said. "You can set your mind at ease
+about him; it is a nasty gash, but of no real importance whatever. I
+have drawn the edges together and sewn them up; he is quite in good
+spirits, and laughed and said that a wound in the back could scarcely be
+called an honourable scar. I can assure you that in ten days or so he
+will be about again."
+
+"Would you mind telling him," Mary asked, "that I would come to see him
+at once, but my father is holding my hand so tight that I could not draw
+it away without rousing him?"
+
+"I will tell him," the surgeon said. "Oh, here is the orderly with your
+medicine as well as your father's."
+
+The orderly brought in a tray with a bowl of beef tea and a glass of
+wine. "You will take both these, if you please, Miss Armstrong, and I
+will have the other bed placed by the side of your father, so that you
+can lie down with him holding your hand. You are looking terribly pale
+and tired, and I do not want you on my hands too."
+
+The tray was placed upon the table within Mary's reach, and the surgeon
+stood by and saw that she drank the wine and beef tea. He and the
+orderly then moved the other couch to the side of Mr. Armstrong's bed,
+and arranged it so that Mary could lie down with her hand still in her
+father's.
+
+"Now," he said, "I recommend you to go off to sleep soon. I am happy to
+say that your father is sleeping naturally, and it may be hours before
+he wakes. When he does so, he will be sure to move and wake you, and the
+sight of you will, if he is sensible, as I expect he will be, go a long
+way towards his cure."
+
+Captain Twentyman, when he returned in the afternoon from a
+reconnaissance that he had been making with a portion of the troop,
+called at once to see Ronald, but was told that he was sound asleep, and
+so left word that he would come again in the morning.
+
+The news of Sergeant Blunt's desperate attempt to rescue three white
+women who had been carried off by the Kaffirs had, when reported by
+Lieutenant Nolan, been the subject of much talk in the camp. Every one
+admitted that it was a breach of discipline thus to leave the party of
+which he was in command when upon special service, but no one seriously
+blamed him for this. Admiration for the daring action and regret for the
+loss of so brave a soldier, for none thought that there was the
+slightest chance of ever seeing him again, overpowered all other
+feelings. Mr. Nolan stated that the sergeant had told him that one of
+the three women was the daughter of the wounded man he had brought in
+with him, and that he had known her and her father before, and it was
+generally agreed that there must have been something more than mere
+acquaintance in the case to induce the sergeant to undertake such a
+desperate enterprise. Great interest was therefore excited when, upon
+the return of Lieutenant Daniels' party, it became known that he had
+fallen in with Sergeant Blunt and a young lady, and that the sergeant
+was severely wounded. All sorts of questions were asked the lieutenant.
+
+"Ten to one she's pretty, Daniels," a young subaltern said.
+
+"She is pretty, Mellor," another broke in; "I caught a glimpse of her,
+and she is as pretty a girl as I have seen in the colony, though, of
+course, she is looking utterly worn out."
+
+"He is a gentleman," another officer, who had just come up, said. "I
+have been talking to Nolan, and he tells me that Sergeant Blunt spoke of
+her as a lady, and said that her father had served in the army and
+fought as a young ensign at Waterloo."
+
+"Mr. Armstrong is a gentleman," Lieutenant Daniels said. "He had a farm
+on the Kabousie River, that is where Blunt got to know him. He had the
+reputation of being a wealthy man. Blunt was in command of a party who
+came up and saved them when they were attacked by the Kaffirs on
+Christmas Day. So this is the second time he has rescued the young
+lady."
+
+"I hope Mr. Armstrong isn't going to be a stern father, and spoil the
+whole romance of the business," young Mellor laughed. "One of your
+troopers, Daniels, however brave a fellow, can hardly be considered as a
+good match for an heiress."
+
+"Blunt is as much a gentleman as I am," Lieutenant Daniels said,
+quietly. "I know nothing whatever of his history or what his real name
+is, for I expect that Blunt is only a _nom-de-guerre_, but I do know
+that he is a gentleman, and I am sure he has served as an officer. More
+than that I do not want to know, unless he chooses to tell me himself. I
+suppose he got into some scrape or other at home; but I wouldn't mind
+making a heavy bet that, whatever it was, it was nothing dishonourable."
+
+"But how did he get her away from the Kaffirs? It seems almost an
+impossibility. I asked the head man of the Fingoes, who was with him,"
+another said, "but he had already got three parts drunk, so I did not
+get much out of him; but as far as I could make out, they carried her
+off from Macomo's kraal in the heart of the Amatolas."
+
+"Oh, come now, that seems altogether absurd," two or three of the
+officers standing round laughed, and Mellor said, "Orpheus going down to
+fetch Eurydice back from Hades would have had an easy task of it in
+comparison."
+
+"I am glad to see that you have not forgotten your classical learning,
+Mellor," one of the older officers said, "but certainly, of the two, I
+would rather undertake the task of Orpheus, who was pretty decently
+treated after all, than go to Macomo's kraal to fetch back a lady-love.
+Well, I suppose we shall hear about it to-morrow, but I can hardly
+believe this story to be true. The natives are such liars there's no
+believing what they say."
+
+The next morning, after breakfast, Captain Twentyman and Lieutenant
+Daniels walked across to the hospital. They first saw the surgeon.
+
+"Well, doctor, how is my sergeant?"
+
+"On the high way to recovery," the surgeon said, cheerfully. "Of course,
+the wound will be a fortnight, perhaps three weeks, before it is healed
+up sufficiently for him to return to duty, but otherwise there is
+nothing the matter with him. A long night's rest has pulled him round
+completely. He is a little weak from loss of blood; but there is no harm
+in that. There is, I think, no fear whatever of fever or other
+complications. It is simply a question of the wound healing up."
+
+"And the colonist--Armstrong his name is, I think, whose daughter was
+carried away--how is he going on?"
+
+"Much better. His daughter's presence at once calmed his delirium, and
+this morning, when he woke after a good night's sleep, he was conscious,
+and will now, I think, do well. He is very weak, but that does not
+matter, and he is perfectly content, lying there holding his daughter's
+hand. He has asked no questions as to how she got back again, and, of
+course, I have told her not to allude to the subject, and to check him
+at once if he does so. The poor girl looks all the better for her
+night's rest. She was a wan-looking creature when she arrived yesterday
+morning, but is fifty per cent. better already, and with another day or
+two's rest, and the comfort of seeing her father going on well, she will
+soon get her colour and tone back again."
+
+"I suppose we can go up and see Blunt, and hear about his adventures?"
+
+"Oh, yes, talking will do him no harm. I will come with you, for I was
+too busy this morning, when I went my rounds, to have any conversation
+with him except as to his wound."
+
+"My inquiries are partly personal and partly official," Captain
+Twentyman said. "Colonel Somerset asked me this morning to see Blunt,
+and gather any information as to the Kaffirs' positions that might be
+useful. I went yesterday evening to question the Fingo head man who went
+with him, but he and all his men were as drunk as pigs. I hear that when
+they first arrived they said they had carried the girl off from Macomo's
+kraal, but of course there must be some mistake; they never could have
+ventured into the heart of the Amatolas and come out alive."
+
+The three officers proceeded together to the ward in which Ronald was
+lying.
+
+"Well, sergeant, how do you feel yourself?" Captain Twentyman asked.
+
+"Oh, I am all right, sir," Ronald answered cheerfully. "My back smarts a
+bit, of course, but that is nothing. I hope I shall be in the saddle
+again before long--at any rate before the advance is made."
+
+"I hope so, Blunt. And now, if you feel up to telling it, I want to hear
+about your adventure. Colonel Somerset asked me to inquire, as it will
+throw some light on the numbers and position of the Kaffirs; besides,
+the whole camp is wanting to know how you succeeded in getting Miss
+Armstrong out of the hands of the Kaffirs. I can assure you that there
+is nothing else talked about."
+
+"There is nothing much to talk about, as far as I am concerned, sir,"
+Ronald said. "It was the Fingoes' doing altogether, and they could have
+managed as well, indeed better, without me."
+
+"Except that they would not have done it, unless you had been with
+them."
+
+"No, perhaps not," Ronald admitted. "I was lucky enough down at Port
+Elizabeth to fish out the son of Kreta, the head man of the party, who
+had been washed off his feet in the surf; and it was out of gratitude
+for that that he followed me."
+
+"Yes, we heard about that business from Mr. Nolan, and although you
+speak lightly of it, it was, he tells us, a very gallant affair indeed.
+But now as to this other matter."
+
+"In the first place, Captain Twentyman, I admit that going off as I did
+was a great breach of duty. I can only say that I shall be willing,
+cheerfully, to submit to any penalty the colonel may think fit to
+inflict. I had no right whatever to leave my detachment on what was
+really private business; but even if I had been certain that I should
+have been shot as a deserter on my return to the regiment, I should not
+have hesitated in acting as I did."
+
+"We all understand your feelings, Blunt," Captain Twentyman said,
+kindly, "and you have no need to make yourself uneasy on that score. To
+punish a man for acting as you have done would be as bad as the sea
+story of the captain who flogged a seaman, who jumped overboard to save
+a comrade, for leaving the ship without orders. Now for your story: all
+we have heard is that your Fingo says you carried off the young lady
+from Macomo's kraal, but, of course, that is not believed."
+
+"It is quite true, nevertheless," Ronald said. "Well, this is how it
+was, sir," and he gave a full account of the whole adventure.
+
+"Well, I congratulate you most heartily," Captain Twentyman said when he
+finished; "it is really a wonderful adventure--a most gallant business
+indeed, and the whole corps, officers and men, will be proud of it."
+
+"I should be glad, sir, if there could be some reward given to Kreta and
+his men; as you will have seen from my story, any credit that there is
+in the matter is certainly their due."
+
+"I will see to that," the officer replied. "The Fingo desires are,
+happily, easily satisfied; a good rifle, a few cows, and a barrel of
+whisky make up his ideal of happiness. I think I can promise you they
+shall have all these."
+
+In the afternoon, Mr. Armstrong again dropped off to a quiet sleep. This
+time he was not holding his daughter's hand, and as soon as she saw that
+he was fairly off she stole out of the room, and finding the surgeon,
+asked if he would take her up to the ward where Sergeant Blunt was
+lying.
+
+"Yes, I shall be happy to take you up at once, Miss Armstrong.
+Everything is tidy just at present, for I have had a message from
+Colonel Somerset that he and the General are coming round the wards. I
+don't suppose they will be here for half an hour, so you can come up at
+once."
+
+The sick men in the wards were surprised when the surgeon entered,
+accompanied by a young lady. She passed shyly along between the rows of
+beds until she reached that of Ronald. She put her hand in his, but for
+a moment was unable to speak. Ronald saw her agitation, and said
+cheerfully: "I am heartily glad, Miss Armstrong, to hear from the doctor
+such a good account of your father. As for me, I shall not be in his
+hands many days. I told you it was a mere scratch, and I believe that a
+good-sized piece of sticking-plaster was all that was wanted."
+
+"You haven't thought me unkind for not coming to see you before, I
+hope," the girl said; "but I have not been able till now to leave my
+father's room for a moment."
+
+"I quite understood that, Miss Armstrong, and indeed there was no
+occasion for you to come to me at all. It would have been quite time
+enough when I was up and about again. I only wish that it was likely
+that Mr. Armstrong would be on his feet as soon as I shall."
+
+"Oh, he is going on very well," Mary said. "I consider that you have
+saved his life as well as mine. I feel sure it is only having me with
+him again that has made such a change in him as has taken place since
+yesterday. The doctor says so, too. I have not told him yet how it has
+all come about, but I hope ere very long he may be able to thank you for
+both of us."
+
+"You thanked me more than enough yesterday, Miss Armstrong, and I am not
+going to listen to any more of it. As far as I can see, you could not
+have done me any greater service than by giving me the opportunity you
+have. Every one seems disposed to take quite a ridiculous view of the
+matter, and I may look forward to getting a troop-sergeantship when
+there is a vacancy."
+
+The girl shook her head. She was too much in earnest even to pretend to
+take a light view of the matter. Just at that moment there was a
+trampling of horses outside, and the sharp sound of the sentries
+presenting arms.
+
+"Here is the General," Ronald said, with a smile, "and although I don't
+wish to hurry you away, Miss Armstrong, I think you had better go back
+to your father. I don't know whether the Chief would approve of lady
+visitors in the hospital."
+
+"Good-bye," the girl said, giving him her hand. "You won't let me thank
+you, but you know."
+
+"I know," Ronald replied. "Good-bye"
+
+She looked round for the surgeon, who had, after taking her up to
+Ronald, moved away for a short distance, but he was gone, having hurried
+off to meet the General below, and with a last nod to Ronald, she left
+the ward. She passed out through the door into the courtyard just as the
+group of officers were entering.
+
+"That is Miss Armstrong," the surgeon said, as she passed out.
+
+"What, the girl who was rescued?" Colonel Somerset said; "a very pretty,
+ladylike-looking young woman. I am not surprised, now that I see her, at
+this desperate exploit of my sergeant."
+
+"No, indeed," the General said, smiling. "It's curious, colonel, what
+men will do for a pretty face. Those other two poor creatures who were
+carried off were both murdered, and I don't suppose their deaths have
+greatly distressed this young fellow one way or the other. No doubt he
+would have been glad to rescue them; but I imagine that their deaths
+have not in any way caused him to regard his mission as a failure. I
+suppose that it's human nature, colonel."
+
+Colonel Somerset laughed.
+
+"You and I would have seen the matter in the same light when we were
+youngsters, General."
+
+The officers went through the wards, stopping several times to speak a
+few words to the patients.
+
+"So this is the deserter," Colonel Somerset said, with some assumed
+sternness, as they stopped by Ronald's bedside. "Well, sir, we have had
+a good many of those black rascals desert from our ranks, but you are
+the first white soldier who has deserted since the war began. Of course,
+you expect a drumhead court-martial and shooting as soon as the doctor
+lets you out of his hands."
+
+Ronald saw that the old colonel was not in earnest.
+
+"It was very bad, colonel," he said, "and I can only throw myself on
+your mercy."
+
+"You have done well, my lad--very well," the colonel said, laying his
+hand on his shoulder. "There are some occasions when even military laws
+give place to questions of humanity, and this was essentially one of
+them. You are a fine fellow, sir; and I am proud that you belong to my
+corps."
+
+The General, who had stopped behind speaking to another patient, now
+came up.
+
+"You have done a very gallant action, Sergeant Blunt," he said. "Captain
+Twentyman has reported the circumstances to me; but when you are out of
+hospital you must come to head-quarters and tell me your own story. Will
+you see to this, Colonel Somerset?"
+
+"Certainly, sir. I will send him over, or rather bring him over to you,
+as soon as he's about, for I should like to hear the whole story also."
+
+In ten days Ronald Mervyn was on his feet again, although not yet fit
+for duty; the wound had healed rapidly, but the surgeon said it would be
+at least another fortnight before he would be fit for active service. As
+soon as he was able to go out and sit on the benches in the hospital
+yard, many of his comrades came to see him, and there was a warmth and
+earnestness in their congratulations which showed that short as his time
+had been in the corps, he was thoroughly popular with them. Sergeant
+Menzies was particularly hearty in his greeting.
+
+"I knew you were the right sort, Harry Blunt, as soon as I set eyes upon
+you," he said; "but I did not expect you were going to cut us all out so
+soon."
+
+"How is my horse, sergeant?"
+
+"Oh, he's none the worse for it, I think. He has been taking walking
+exercise, and his stiffness is wearing off fast. I think he misses you
+very much, and he wouldn't take his food the first day or two. He has
+got over it now, but I know he longs to hear your voice again."
+
+Sometimes, too, Mary Armstrong would come out and sit for a time with
+Ronald. Her father was progressing favourably, and though still
+extremely weak, was in a fair way towards recovery.
+
+"Will you come in to see father?" Mary said one morning; "he knows all
+about it now; but it was only when he came round just now that the
+doctor gave leave for him to see you."
+
+"I shall be very glad to see him," Ronald said, rising. "I own that when
+I saw him last I entertained very slight hopes I should ever meet him
+alive again."
+
+"He is still very weak," the girl said, "and the doctor says he is not
+to be allowed to talk much."
+
+"I will only pay a short visit, but it will be a great pleasure to me to
+see him; I have always felt his kindness to me."
+
+"Father is kind to every one," the girl said, simply. "In this instance
+his kindness has been returned a hundred-fold."
+
+By this time they had reached the door of the ward.
+
+"Here is Mr. Blunt come to see you, father. Now you know what the doctor
+said; you are not to excite yourself, and not to talk too much, and if
+you are not good, I shall take him away."
+
+"I am glad to see you are better, Mr. Armstrong," Ronald said, as he
+went up to the bed, and took the thin hand in his own.
+
+"God bless you, my boy," the wounded man replied; "it is to you I owe my
+recovery, for had you not brought Mary back to me, I should be a dead
+man now, and would have been glad of it."
+
+"I am very glad, Mr. Armstrong, to have been able to be of service to
+your daughter and to you; but do not let us talk about it now; I am sure
+that you cannot do so without agitating yourself, and the great point at
+present with us all is for you to be up and about again. Do your wounds
+hurt you much?"
+
+"Not much; and yours, Blunt?"
+
+"Oh, mine is a mere nothing," Ronald said, cheerfully, "it's healing up
+fast, and except when I forget all about it, and move sharply, I
+scarcely feel it. I feel something like the proverbial man who swallowed
+the poker, and have to keep myself as stiff as if I were on inspection.
+This ward is nice and cool, much cooler than they are upstairs. Of
+course the verandah outside shades you. You will find it very pleasant
+there when you are strong enough to get up. I am afraid that by that
+time I shall be off, for the troops are all on their march up from the
+coast, and in another ten days we expect to begin operations in
+earnest."
+
+"I don't think the doctor ought to let you go," Mary Armstrong said.
+"You have done quite your share, I am sure."
+
+"I hope my share in finishing up with these scoundrels will be a good
+deal larger yet," Ronald laughed. "My share has principally been
+creeping and hiding, except just in that last brush, and there, if I
+mistake not, your share was as large as mine. I only fired three shots,
+and I think I heard your pistol go four times."
+
+"Yes, it is dreadful to think of now," the girl said; "but somehow it
+didn't seem so at the time. I feel shocked now when I recall it."
+
+"There's nothing to be shocked at, Miss Armstrong; it was our lives or
+theirs; and if your hand had not been steady, and your aim true, we
+should neither of us be here talking over the matter now. But I think my
+visit has been long enough. I will come in again, Mr. Armstrong,
+to-morrow, and I hope each day to find you more and more able to take
+your share in the talk."
+
+In another ten days Ronald rejoined his troop, and the next day received
+an order to be ready at four o'clock to accompany Colonel Somerset to
+the General's.
+
+"Now, sergeant, take a seat," the General said, "and tell me the full
+story of your adventures."
+
+Ronald again repeated his story. When he had done, the General remarked:
+
+"Your report more than bears out what I heard from Captain Twentyman. I
+have already talked the matter over with Colonel Somerset, and as we
+consider that such an action should be signally rewarded, Colonel
+Somerset will at once apply for a commission for you in your own corps,
+or if you would prefer it, I will apply for a commission for you in one
+of the line regiments. I may say that the application under such
+circumstances would certainly be acceded to."
+
+"I am deeply obliged to you for your kindness, sir, and to you, Colonel
+Somerset; but I regret to say that, with all respect, I must decline
+both offers."
+
+"Decline a commission!" the General said in surprise. "Why, I should
+have thought that it was just the thing that you would have liked--a
+dashing young fellow like you, and on the eve of serious operations. I
+can hardly understand you."
+
+Ronald was silent for a moment.
+
+"My reason for declining it, sir, is a purely personal one. Nothing
+would have given me greater pleasure than a commission so bestowed, but
+there are circumstances that absolutely prevent my mingling in the
+society of gentlemen. The name I go by is not my true one, and over my
+own name there is so terrible a shadow resting that so long as it is
+there--and I have little hope of its ever being cleared off--I must
+remain as I am."
+
+Both officers remained silent a moment.
+
+"You are sure you are not exaggerating the case, Blunt?" Colonel
+Somerset said after a pause. "I cannot believe that this cloud of which
+you speak can have arisen from any act of yours, and it would be a pity
+indeed were you to allow any family matter to weigh upon you thus."
+
+Ronald shook his head. "It is a matter in which I am personally
+concerned, sir, and I do not in any way exaggerate it. I repeat, I must
+remain in my present position."
+
+"If it must be so, it must," the General said, "though I am heartily
+sorry. At least you will have the satisfaction of seeing your name in
+General Orders this evening for an act of distinguished bravery."
+
+"Thank you, sir," and Ronald, seeing the conversation was at an end,
+saluted to the two officers, went out, and rode back to his quarters.
+
+The town was full of troops now, for the regiments that had been
+despatched from England had nearly all arrived upon the spot, and the
+operations against the Kaffirs in the Amatolas were to begin at once.
+Some of the troops, including two squadrons of the Rifles, were to march
+next morning.
+
+Ronald went about his duties till evening, and then turned out to walk
+to the hospital. As he passed through the streets, he saw a group round
+one of the Rifles, who had just come out from a drinking shop, and was
+engaged in a fierce altercation with a Fingo. The man was evidently the
+worse for liquor, and Ronald went up to him and put his hand on his
+shoulder.
+
+"You had better go off to the barracks at once," he said, sharply; "you
+will be getting into trouble if you stay here."
+
+The man turned savagely round.
+
+"Oh, it's you, Sergeant Blunt? Hadn't you better attend to your own
+business? I am not committing any crime here. I haven't been murdering
+women, or anything of that sort."
+
+Ronald started back as if struck. The significance of the tone in which
+the man spoke showed him that these were no random words, but a shaft
+deliberately aimed. In a moment he was cool again.
+
+"If you do not return to the barracks at once," he said, sternly, "I
+will fetch a corporal's guard and put you in the cells."
+
+The man hesitated a moment, and then muttering to himself, reeled off
+towards the barracks. Had the blow come a month before, Ronald Mervyn
+would have felt it more, for absorbed in his active work, on horseback
+the greater portion of his time, the remembrance of the past had become
+blunted, and the present had occupied all his thoughts. It was only
+occasionally that he had looked back to the days when he was Captain
+Mervyn, of the Borderers. But from the hour he had brought Mary
+Armstrong safely back to her father, the past had been constantly in his
+mind because it clashed with the present.
+
+Before, Ronald Mervyn and Harry Blunt had almost seemed to be two
+existences, unconnected with each other; now, the fact of their
+identity had been constantly in his thoughts. The question he had been
+asking himself over and over again was whether there could be a
+permanent separation between them, whether he could hope to get rid of
+his connection with Ronald Mervyn, and to continue to the end of the
+chapter as Harry Blunt. He had told himself long before that he could
+not do so, that sooner or later he should certainly be recognised; and
+although he had tried to believe that he could pass through life without
+meeting any one familiar with his face, he had been obliged to admit
+that this was next to impossible.
+
+Had he been merely a country gentleman, known only to the people within
+a limited range of distance, it would have been different; but an
+officer who has served ten years in the army has innumerable
+acquaintances. Every move he makes brings him in contact with men of
+other regiments, and his circle goes on constantly widening until it
+embraces no small portion of the officers of the army. Then every
+soldier who had passed through his regiment while he had been in it
+would know his face; and, go where he would, he knew that he would be
+running constant risks of detection. More than one of the regiments that
+had now arrived at King Williamstown had been quartered with him at one
+station or another, and there were a score of men who would recognise
+him instantly did he come among them in the dress of an officer. This
+unexpected recognition, therefore, by a trooper in his own corps, did
+not come upon him with so sudden a shock as it would have done a month
+previously.
+
+"I knew it must come," he said to himself bitterly "and that it might
+come at any moment. Still it is a shock. Who is this man, I wonder? It
+seemed to me, when he first came up, that I had some faint remembrance
+of his face, though where, I have not the least idea. It was not in the
+regiment, for he knows nothing of drill or military habits. Of course,
+if he had been a deserter, he would have pretended ignorance, but one
+can always tell by little things whether a man has served, and I am sure
+that this fellow has not. I suppose he comes from somewhere down home.
+
+"Well, it can't be helped. Fortunately, I have won a good name before
+this discovery is made, and am likely to reap the benefit of what doubt
+there may be. When a man shows that he has a fair amount of pluck, his
+comrades are slow to credit him with bad qualities. On the whole,
+perhaps it is well that it should have come on this evening of all when
+I had quite made up my mind as to my course, for it strengthens me in my
+decision as to what I ought to do. It is hard to throw away happiness,
+but this shows how rightly I decided. Nothing will shake me now. Poor
+little girl! it is hard for her, harder by far than for me. However, it
+is best that she should know it now, than learn it when too late."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A PARTING.
+
+
+The sun had already set an hour when Ronald Mervyn reached the hospital,
+but the moon had just risen, and the stars were shining brilliantly.
+
+Mary Armstrong met him at the door.
+
+"I saw you coming," she said, "and father advised me to come out for a
+little turn, it is such a beautiful evening."
+
+"I am glad you have come out, Mary; I wanted to speak to you."
+
+Mary Armstrong's colour heightened a little. It was the first time he
+had called her by her Christian name since that ride through the
+Kaffirs. She thought she knew what he wanted to speak to her about, and
+she well knew what she should say.
+
+"Mary," Ronald went on, "you know the story of the poor wretch who was
+devoured by thirst, and yet could not reach the cup of water that was
+just beyond his grasp?"
+
+"I know," Mary said.
+
+"Well, I am just in that position. I am so placed by an inscrutable
+Fate, that I cannot stretch out my hand to grasp the cup of water."
+
+The girl was silent for a time.
+
+"I will not pretend that I do not understand you, Ronald. Why cannot you
+grasp the cup of water?"
+
+"Because, as I said, dear, there is a fate against me; because I can
+never marry; because I must go through the world alone. I told you that
+the name I bear is not my own. I have been obliged to change it, because
+my own name is disgraced; because, were I to name it, there is not a man
+here of those who just at present are praising and making much of me,
+who would not shrink from my side."
+
+"No, Ronald, no; it cannot be."
+
+"It is true, dear; my name has been associated with the foulest of
+crimes. I have been tried for murdering a woman, and that woman a near
+relative. I was acquitted, it is true: but simply because the evidence
+did not amount to what the law required. But in the sight of the world I
+went out guilty."
+
+"Oh, how could they think so?" Mary said, bursting into tears; "how
+could they have thought, Ronald, those who knew you, that you could do
+this?"
+
+"Many did believe it," Ronald said, "and the evidence was so strong that
+I almost believed it myself. However, thus it is. I am a marked man and
+an outcast, and must remain alone for all my life, unless God in His
+mercy should clear this thing up."
+
+"Not alone, Ronald, not alone," the girl cried "there, you make me say
+it."
+
+"You mean you would stand by my side, Mary? Thank you, my love, but I
+could not accept the sacrifice. I can bear my own lot, but I could not
+see the woman I loved pointed at as the wife of a murderer."
+
+"But no one would know," Mary began.
+
+"They would know, dear. I refused a commission the General offered me
+to-day, because were I to appear as an officer there are a score of men
+in this expedition who would know me at once; but even under my present
+name and my present dress I cannot escape. Only this evening, as I came
+here, I was taunted by a drunken soldier, who must have known me, as a
+murderer of women. Good Heavens! do you think I would let any woman
+share that? Did I go to some out-of-the-way part of the world, I might
+escape for years; but at last the blow would come. Had it not been for
+the time we passed together when death might at any moment have come to
+us both, had it not been that I held you in my arms during that ride, I
+should never have told you this, Mary, for you would have gone away to
+England and lived your life unhurt; but after that I could not but
+speak. You must have felt that I loved you, and had I not spoken, what
+would you have thought of me?"
+
+"I should have thought, Ronald," she said, quietly, "that you had a
+foolish idea that because my father had money, while you were but a
+trooper, you ought not to speak; and I think that I should have summoned
+up courage to speak first, for I knew you loved me, just as certainly as
+I know that I shall love you always."
+
+"I hope not, Mary," Ronald said, gravely; "it would add to the pain of
+my life to know that I had spoilt yours."
+
+"It will not spoil mine, Ronald; it is good to know that one is loved by
+a true man, and that one loves him, even if we can never come together.
+I would rather be single for your sake, dear, than marry any other man
+in the world. Won't you tell me about it all? I should like to know."
+
+"You have a right to know, Mary, if you wish it;" and drawing her to a
+seat, Ronald told her the story of the Curse of the Carnes, of the wild
+blood that flowed in his veins, of his half-engagement to his cousin,
+and of the circumstances of her death. Only once she stopped him.
+
+"Did you love her very much, Ronald?"
+
+"No, dear; I can say so honestly now. No doubt I thought I loved her,
+though I had been involuntarily putting off becoming formally engaged to
+her; but I know now, indeed I knew long ago, that my passion when she
+threw me off was rather an outburst of disappointment, and perhaps of
+jealousy, that another should have stepped in when I thought myself so
+sure, than of real regret. I had cared for Margaret in a way, but now
+that I know what real love is, I know it was but as a cousin that I
+loved her."
+
+Then he went on to tell her the proofs against himself; how that the
+words he had spoken had come up against him; how he had failed
+altogether to account for his doings at the hour at which she was
+murdered; how his glove had borne evidence against him.
+
+"Is that all, Ronald?"
+
+"Not quite all, dear. I saw in an English paper only a few days ago that
+the matter had come up again. Margaret's watch and jewels were found in
+the garden, just hidden in the ground, evidently not by a thief who
+intended to come again and fetch them, but simply concealed by some one
+who had taken them and did not want them. If those things had been
+found before my trial, Mary, I should assuredly have been hung, for they
+disposed of the only alternative that seemed possible, namely, that she
+had been murdered by a midnight burglar for the sake of her valuables."
+
+Mary sat in silence for a few minutes, and then asked one or two
+questions with reference to the story.
+
+"And you have no idea yourself, Ronald, not even the slightest
+suspicion, against any one?"
+
+"Not the slightest," he said; "the whole thing is to me as profound a
+mystery as ever."
+
+"Of course, from what you tell me, Ronald, the evidence against you was
+stronger than against any one else, and yet I cannot think how any one
+who knew you could have believed it."
+
+"I hope that those who knew me best did not believe it, Mary. A few of
+my neighbours and many of my brother officers had faith in my innocence;
+but, you see, those in the county who knew the story of our family were
+naturally set against me. I had the mad blood of the Carnes in my veins;
+the Carnes had committed two murders in their frenzy, and it did not
+seem to them so strange that I should do the same. I may tell you, dear,
+that this trial through which I have passed has not been altogether
+without good. The family history had weighed on my mind from the time I
+was a child, and at times I used to wonder whether I had madness in my
+blood, and the fear grew upon me and embittered my life. Since that
+trial it has gone for ever. I know that if I had had the slightest touch
+of insanity in my veins I must have gone mad in that awful time; and
+much as I have suffered from the cloud that rested on me, I am sure I
+have been a far brighter and happier man since."
+
+A pressure of the hand which he was holding in his expressed the
+sympathy that she did not speak.
+
+"What time do you march to-morrow, Ronald?"
+
+"At eight, dear."
+
+"Could you come round first?"
+
+"I could, Mary; but I would rather say good-bye now."
+
+"You must say good-bye now, Ronald, and again in the morning. Why I ask
+you is because I want to tell my father. You don't mind that, do you? He
+must know there is something, because he spoke to-day as if he would
+wish it to be as I hoped, and I should like him to know how it is with
+us. You do not mind, do you?"
+
+"Not at all," Ronald said. "I would rather that he did know."
+
+"Then I will tell him now," the girl said. "I should like to talk it
+over with him," and she rose. Ronald rose too.
+
+"Good-bye, Mary."
+
+"Not like that, Ronald," and she threw her arms round his neck.
+"Good-bye, my dear, my dear. I will always be true to you to the end of
+my life. And hope always. I cannot believe that you would have saved me
+almost by a miracle, if it had not been meant we should one day be happy
+together. God bless you and keep you."
+
+There was a long kiss, and then Mary Armstrong turned and ran back to
+the hospital.
+
+Father and daughter talked together for hours after Mary's return. The
+disappointment to Mr. Armstrong was almost as keen as to Mary herself.
+He had from the first been greatly taken by Harry Blunt, and had
+encouraged his coming to the house. That he was a gentleman he was sure,
+and he thought he knew enough of character to be convinced that whatever
+scrape had driven him to enlist as a trooper, it was not a disgraceful
+one.
+
+"If Mary fancies this young fellow, she shall have him," he had said to
+himself. "I have money enough for us both, and what good is it to me
+except to see her settled happily in life?"
+
+After the attack upon his house, when he was rescued by the party led by
+Ronald, he thought still more of the matter, for some subtle change in
+his daughter's manner convinced him that her heart had been touched. He
+had fretted over the fact that after this Ronald's duty had kept him
+from seeing them, and when at last he started on his journey down to the
+coast he made up his mind, that if when they reached England he could
+ascertain for certain Mary's wishes on the subject, he would himself
+write a cautious letter to him, putting it that after the service he had
+rendered in saving his life and that of his daughter, he did not like
+the thought of his remaining as a trooper at the Cape, and that if he
+liked to come home he would start him in any sort of business he liked,
+adding, perhaps, that he had special reasons for wishing him to return.
+
+After Ronald's rescue of his daughter, Mr. Armstrong regarded it as a
+certainty that his wish would be realised. He was a little surprised
+that the young sergeant had not spoken out, and it was with a view to
+give him an opportunity that he had suggested that Mary should go out
+for a stroll on the last evening. He had felt assured that they would
+come in hand in hand, and had anticipated with lively pleasure the
+prospect of paying his debt of gratitude to the young man. It was with
+surprise, disappointment, and regret that he listened to Mary's story.
+
+"It is a monstrous thing," he said, when she had finished. "Most
+monstrous; but don't cry, my dear, it will all come right presently.
+These things always work round in time."
+
+"But how is it to come right, father? He says that he himself has not
+the slightest suspicion who did it."
+
+"Whether he has or not makes no difference," Mr. Armstrong said,
+decidedly. "It is quite certain, by what you say, this poor lady did not
+kill herself. In that case, who did it? We must make it our business to
+find out who it was. You don't suppose I am going to have your life
+spoiled in such a fashion as this. Talk about remaining single all your
+life, I won't have it; the thing must be set straight."
+
+"It's very easy to say 'must,' father," Mary said, almost smiling at his
+earnestness, "but how is it to be set straight?"
+
+"Why, by our finding out all about it, of course, Mary. Directly I get
+well enough to move--and the doctor said this morning that in a
+fortnight I can be taken down to the coast--we will follow out our
+original plan of going back to England. Then we will go down to this
+place you speak of--Carnesworth, or whatever it is, and take a place
+there or near there; there are always places to be had. It makes no
+difference to us where we go, for I don't suppose I shall find many
+people alive I knew in England. We will take some little place, and get
+to know the people and talk to them. Don't tell me about not finding
+out; of course we shall be able to find out if it has been done by any
+one down there; and as you say that the burglar or tramp theory is quite
+disproved by the finding of these trinkets, it must be somebody in the
+neighbourhood. I know what these dunderheaded police are. Not one in ten
+of them can put two and two together. The fellows at once jumped to the
+conclusion that Mervyn was guilty, and never inquired further."
+
+"He says he had a detective down, father, for some weeks before the
+trial, and that one has been remaining there until quite lately."
+
+"I don't think much of detectives," Mr. Armstrong said; "but of course,
+Mary, if you throw cold water on the scheme and don't fancy it, there's
+an end of it."
+
+"No, no, father, you know I don't mean that, only I was frightened
+because you seemed to think it so certain we should succeed. There is
+nothing I should like better; it will matter nothing to me if we are
+years about it so that we can but clear him at last."
+
+"I have no notion of spending years, my dear. Before now I have proved
+myself a pretty good hand at tracking the spoor of Kaffirs, and it's
+hard if I can't pick up this trail somehow."
+
+"We will do it between us, father," Mary said, catching his confidence
+and enthusiasm, and kissing him as he sat propped up with pillows. "Oh,
+you have made me so happy. Everything seemed so dark and hopeless
+before, and now we shall be working for him."
+
+"And for yourself too, Miss Mary; don't pretend you have no personal
+interest in the matter."
+
+And so, just as the clock struck twelve, Mary Armstrong lay down on her
+bed in the little ante-room next to her father's, feeling infinitely
+happier and more hopeful than she could have thought possible when she
+parted from Ronald Mervyn three hours before. Ronald himself was
+surprised at the brightness with which she met him, when at six o'clock
+he alighted from his horse at the hospital. "Come in, Ronald," she said,
+"we were talking--father and I--for hours last night, and we have quite
+decided what we are going to do."
+
+"So you have come to say good-bye, Mervyn--for, of course, you are
+Mervyn to us," Mr. Armstrong said, as he entered the room, "Well, my
+lad, it's a bad business that my little girl was telling me about last
+night, and has knocked over my castles very effectually, for I own to
+you that I have been building. I knew you were fond of my girl; you
+never would have done for her what you did unless you had been, and I
+was quite sure that she was fond of you; how could she help it? And I
+had been fancying as soon as this war was over--for, of course, you
+could not leave now--you would be coming home, and I should be having
+you both with me in some snug little place there. However, lad, that's
+over for the present; but not for always, I hope. All this has not
+changed my opinion of the affair. The fact that you have suffered
+horribly and unjustly is nothing against you personally; and, indeed,
+you will make Mary a better husband for having gone through such a trial
+than you would have done had not this come upon you."
+
+"I am sure I should," Ronald said, quietly; "I think I could make her
+happy, but I fear I shall never have a chance. She has told you what I
+said last night. I have been awake all the night thinking it over, and I
+am sure I have decided rightly. My disgrace is hard enough to bear
+alone; I will never share it with her."
+
+"I think you are right, Mervyn--at least for the present. If, say in
+five years hence, you are both of the same mind towards each other, as I
+do not doubt you will be," he added, in reply to the look of perfect
+confidence that passed between his daughter and Ronald, "we will talk
+the matter over again. Five years is a long time, and old stories fade
+out of people's remembrance. In five years, then, one may discuss it
+again; but I don't mean Mary to wait five years if I can help it, and
+she has no inclination to wait five years either, have you, child?" Mary
+shook her head. "So I will tell you what we have resolved upon, for we
+have made up our minds about it. In the first place somebody murdered
+this cousin of yours; that's quite clear, isn't it?"
+
+"That is quite clear," Ronald replied. "It is absolutely certain that it
+was not a suicide."
+
+"In the next place, from what she says, it is quite clear also that this
+was not done by an ordinary burglar. The circumstances of her death, and
+the discovery that her watch and jewels were hastily thrust into the
+ground and left there to spoil, pretty well shows that."
+
+"I think so," Ronald said. "I am convinced that whoever did it, the
+murder was a deliberate one, and not the work of thieves."
+
+"Then it is evident that it was the work of some one in the
+neighbourhood, of some one who either had a personal hatred of your
+cousin, or who wished to injure you."
+
+"To injure me," Ronald repeated in surprise. "I never thought of it in
+that way. Why to injure me?"
+
+"I say to injure you, because it seems to me that there was a deliberate
+attempt to fix the guilt upon you. Some one must have put your glove
+where it was found, for it appears, from what you told Mary, that you
+certainly could not have dropped it there."
+
+"It might seem so," Ronald said, thoughtfully, "and yet I cannot believe
+it; in fact, I had, so far as I know, no quarrel with any one in the
+neighbourhood. I had been away on service for years, and so had nothing
+to do with the working of the estate, indeed I never had an angry word
+with any man upon it."
+
+"Never discharged any grooms, or any one of that sort?"
+
+"Well, I did discharge the groom after I got back," Ronald replied, "and
+the coachman too, for I found, upon looking into the accounts, that they
+had been swindling my mother right and left; but that can surely have
+nothing to do with it. The glove alone would have been nothing, had it
+not been for my previous quarrel with my cousin--which no one outside
+the house can have known of--and that unfortunate ride of mine."
+
+"Well, that may or may not be," Mr. Armstrong said; "anyhow, we have it
+that the murder must have been committed by some one in the
+neighbourhood, who had a grudge against your cousin or against
+yourself. Now, the detective you have had down there, my daughter tells
+me, has altogether failed in finding the clue; but, after all, that
+shows that he is a fool rather than that there is no clue to be found.
+Now, what Mary and I have settled upon is this: directly we get back we
+shall take a pretty little cottage, if we can get one, down at the
+village."
+
+"What, at Carnesford?"
+
+"Yes, Carnesford. We shall be two simple colonists, who have made enough
+money to live upon, and have fixed upon the place accidentally. Then we
+shall both set to work to get to the bottom of this affair. We know it
+is to be done if we can but get hold of the right way, and Mary and I
+flatter ourselves that between us we shall do it. Now that's our plan.
+It's no use your saying yes or no, because that's what we have fixed
+upon."
+
+"It's very good of you, sir----" Mervyn began.
+
+"It's not good at all," Mr. Armstrong interrupted. "Mary wants to get
+married, and I want her to get married, and so we have nothing to do but
+to set about the right way of bringing it about. And now, my boy, I know
+we must not keep you. God bless you, and bring you safely through this
+war, and I tell you it will be a more troublesome one than your people
+think. You will write often, and Mary will let you know regularly how we
+are getting on."
+
+He held out his hand to Mervyn, who grasped it silently, held Mary to
+him in a close embrace for a minute, and then galloped away to take his
+place in the ranks of his corps.
+
+The troop to which Ronald belonged was not, he found, intended to start
+at once to the front, but was to serve as an escort to Colonel Somerset,
+who had now been appointed as Brigadier-General in command of a column
+that was to start from Grahamstown. At eight o'clock they started, and
+arrived late in the afternoon at that place, where they found the 74th
+Highlanders, who had just marched up from Port Elizabeth. They had
+prepared for active service by laying aside their bonnets and plaids,
+adopting a short dark canvas blouse and fixing broad leather peaks to
+their forage caps. On the following morning the 74th, a troop of
+Colonial Horse, the Cape Rifles, and some native levies, marched to
+attack the Hottentots on the station of the London Missionary Society.
+Joined by a body of Kaffirs, these pampered converts had in cold blood
+murdered the Fingoes at the station, and were now holding it in force.
+
+After a march of twenty miles across the plain, the troops reached the
+edge of the Kat River, where the main body halted for a couple of hours,
+the advance guard having in the course of the day had a skirmish with
+the natives and captured several waggons. One officer of the native
+levies had been killed, and two others wounded. A further march of five
+miles was made before morning, and then the troops halted in order to
+advance under cover of night against the position of the enemy, twelve
+miles distant. At half-past one in the morning the Infantry advanced,
+the Cavalry following two hours later. The road was a most difficult
+one, full of deep holes and innumerable ant-hills; and after passing
+through a narrow defile, thickly strewn with loose stones and large
+rocks, over which in the darkness men stumbled and fell continually, the
+Cavalry overtook the Infantry at the ford of the Kareiga River, and went
+on ahead. In the darkness several companies of the Infantry lost their
+way, and daylight was breaking before the force was collected and in
+readiness for the assault.
+
+The huts occupied by the enemy stood on one side of a grassy plain,
+three-quarters of a mile in diameter, and surrounded by a deep belt of
+forest. The Fingo levies were sent round through the bush to the rear of
+the huts, and the Cavalry and Infantry then advanced to the attack. The
+enemy skirmished on the plain, but the Cavalry dashed down upon them and
+drove them into a wooded ravine, from which they kept up a fire for some
+time, until silenced by two or three volleys from the Infantry. The main
+body of the rebels was drawn up in front of their huts, and as soon as
+the troops approached, and the Cavalry charged them, they took to
+flight. A volley from the Fingoes in the bush killed several of them;
+the rest, however, succeeded in gaining the forest. The village was then
+burnt, and 650 cattle and some horses and goats, all stolen from
+neighbouring settlers, were recovered.
+
+The column then marched back to their bivouac of the night before, and
+the following day returned to Grahamstown. There was no halt here, for
+the next morning they marched to join the column from King Williamstown.
+The road led through the Ecca Pass, where constant attacks had been made
+by natives upon waggons and convoys going down the road; but without
+opposition they crossed the Koonap River, and at the end of two days'
+march encamped on a ridge where the Amatola range could be seen, and
+finally joined the column composed of the 91st Regiment and the rest of
+the Cape Mounted Rifles, encamped near Fort Hare.
+
+Two days later, the whole force, amounting to 2,000 men, advanced to the
+base of the Amatolas and encamped on the plains at a short distance from
+the hills. The attack was made in two columns; the 74th, a portion of
+the native levies, and of the Mounted Rifles, were to attack a
+formidable position in front, while the 91st were to march round, and,
+driving the enemy before them, to effect a junction at the end of the
+day with the others. The Cavalry could take no part in the attack of the
+strong position held by the Kaffirs, which was a line of perpendicular
+cliffs, the only approach to which was up the smooth grassy incline that
+touched the summit of the cliff at one point only. The 74th moved
+directly to the attack, the native levies skirmishing on both flanks.
+The enemy, who could be seen in large numbers on the height, waited
+until the Highlanders were well within range before they opened fire.
+
+The Cavalry below watched the progress of the troops with anxiety. They
+replied with steady volleys to the incessant firing of the enemy,
+advancing steadily up the slope, but occasionally leaving a wounded man
+behind them. Two companies went ahead in skirmishing order, and climbing
+from rock to rock, exchanged shots with the enemy as they went. They
+succeeded in winning a foothold at the top of the cliff and drove off
+the defenders, who took refuge in a thick forest a few hundred yards in
+the rear.
+
+As soon as the rest of the regiment had got up, they advanced against
+the wood, from which the enemy kept up a constant fire, and pouring in
+steady volleys, entered the forest and drove the enemy before them foot
+by foot, until the Kaffirs retreated into a thick bush absolutely
+impenetrable to the soldiers. On emerging from the forest the troops
+were joined by the other column, which had driven the enemy from their
+position on the Victoria heights, and had burned two of their villages.
+While the fighting was going on between the first division and the
+enemy, the second division had been engaged in another portion of the
+hills, and had penetrated some distance. Skirmishing went on during the
+rest of the day, but at nightfall the troops returned to the camp that
+they had left in the morning. The Kaffirs had suffered considerable loss
+during the day, two of their leading chiefs being amongst the slain, and
+Sandilli himself narrowly escaped being taken prisoner.
+
+The Cape Mounted Rifles attached to the 74th had taken no part in the
+affair, for the ground had been altogether impracticable for cavalry.
+
+The troops, when they returned, were utterly exhausted with the
+fatigues that they had undergone, but were well satisfied with the
+events of the day.
+
+"It is well enough for a beginning," Ronald said to Sergeant Menzies;
+"but what is it? These hills extend twenty or thirty miles either way,
+at the very least--twice as far, for anything I know. They contain
+scores of kraals--I don't suppose I am far out when I say hundreds. We
+have burnt three or four, have marched a mile or two into the woods,
+have killed, perhaps, a hundred Kaffirs at the outside, and have lost in
+killed and wounded about fifty of our own men. I suppose, altogether,
+there are fifteen or twenty thousand Kaffirs there. They have no end of
+places where our fellows can't possibly penetrate. There's no holding a
+position when we have taken it. The columns may toil on through the
+woods, skirmishing all the way, but they only hold the ground they stand
+on. Why, sergeant, it will take a dozen expeditions, each made with a
+force three or four times larger than we have now, before we can produce
+much effect on the Amatolas."
+
+"I am afraid it will, Blunt," the sergeant said, "before we break down
+the rebellion. There is one thing--they say that the Kaffirs have got
+twenty or thirty thousand cattle among the hills. If we can drive them
+off, we shall do more good than by killing Kaffirs. The chiefs care but
+little how much their followers are shot down, but they do care mightily
+for the loss of their wealth. Cattle are the one valuable possession of
+the Kaffirs. Shooting men has very little effect on those who are not
+shot; as for driving them out of one part of the country, it makes no
+difference to them one way or another; they can put up their kraals
+anywhere. The one point on which you can hit them is their cattle. A
+chief's consequence depends on the number of bullocks he owns. A young
+Kaffir cannot marry unless he has cattle to buy a wife with. Putting
+aside their arms and their trumpery necklaces and bracelets, cattle are
+the sole valuables of the Kaffirs. You will see, if we can capture their
+cattle, we shall put an end to the war; but no amount of marching and
+fighting will make any great impression upon them."
+
+The prognostications of the two soldiers proved correct; it was only
+after six invasions of the Amatolas by very much larger forces, after
+hard fighting, in which the troops did not always have the best of it,
+after very heavy losses, and after capturing some 14,000 cattle, that
+the conquest of the Amatolas was finally achieved.
+
+So far, Ronald had heard nothing more as to the discovery of his
+identity by one of the men of his troop. He thought that the man could
+not have mentioned it to any one else, for he felt sure that had it
+become generally known he must have heard of it. He would have noticed
+some change in the manner of the men, and it would certainly have come
+to the ears of Menzies or one of the other non-commissioned officers,
+who would, of course, come to him to inquire whether there was any truth
+in the report; besides, the man must have known him from the time he
+joined the troop, and could have mentioned it before if he had wanted to
+do so. Ronald supposed, then, that he had kept silence either because he
+thought that by originating the report to the disadvantage of a popular
+man in the corps he might, though it proved to be true, be regarded with
+general hostility, or, that the man might intend to keep his secret,
+thinking that some day or other he might make it useful to him. No doubt
+he never would have said what he did had he not been excited by liquor.
+
+Ronald hardly knew whether to be glad or sorry that the secret was still
+kept. It would, he felt sure, come out sooner or later, and in some
+respects he would rather have an end of the suspense, and face it at
+once. His position was a strong one, his officers were all markedly kind
+to him, and his expedition into the Amatolas had rendered him the most
+popular man in the corps among his comrades. The fact, too, as told by
+Colonel Somerset to his officers, and as picked up by the men from their
+talk, that he had refused a commission, added to his popularity; the men
+were glad to think that their comrade preferred being one of them to
+becoming an officer, and that the brave deed they were all proud of had
+not been done to win promotion, but simply to save women in distress.
+
+There had been sly laughter among the men when their comrades told them
+how pretty was the girl Ronald had brought back; and there had been keen
+wagering in the regiment that there would be a wedding before they
+marched, or at any rate that they should hear there would be one on
+their return from the war. The one contingency had not occurred. The
+other it seemed was not to take place, for in answer to a question as to
+how the wounded colonist was going on, Ronald had said carelessly that
+he was mending fast, and would be well enough to be taken down to the
+coast in a fortnight, and that the doctor thought by the time he reached
+England he would be completely set up again. So the bets were paid, but
+the men wondered that their sergeant had not made a better use of his
+opportunities, for all agreed that a girl could hardly refuse a man who
+had done so much for her, even if her father were a wealthy colonist,
+and he only a trooper in the Mounted Rifles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+SEARCHING FOR A CLUE.
+
+
+The landlord of the "Carne's Arms" was somewhat puzzled by a stranger
+who had just been dropped at his door by the coach from Plymouth. He did
+not look like either a fisherman or an artist, or even a wandering
+tourist. His clothes were somewhat rough, and the landlord would have
+taken him for a farmer, but what could any strange farmer be stopping at
+Carnesford for? There were no farms vacant in the neighbourhood, nor any
+likely to be, so far as the landlord knew; besides, the few words his
+guest had spoken as he entered had no touch of the Devonshire dialect.
+While he was standing at the door, turning the matter over in his
+mind--for he rather prided himself upon his ability to decide upon the
+calling and object of his guests, and was annoyed by his failure to do
+so in the present instance--the man he was thinking of came out of the
+coffee-room and placed himself beside him.
+
+"Well, landlord, this is a pretty village of yours; they told me in
+Plymouth it was as pretty a place as any about, and I see they were
+right."
+
+"Yes, most folks think it's pretty," the landlord said, "although I am
+so accustomed to it myself I don't see a great deal in it."
+
+"Yes, custom is everything. I have been accustomed for a great many
+years to see nothing much but plains, with clumps of bush here and
+there, and occasionally a herd of deer walking across it. I have been
+farming down at the Cape, and so, you see, a quiet, pretty place like
+this is very pleasant to me."
+
+"I should think it is quiet enough farming there," the landlord said. "I
+have heard from folk who have been out in some of those parts that you
+often haven't a neighbour nearer than four miles away."
+
+"That's true enough, landlord, but the life is not always quiet for all
+that. It's not quiet, for instance, when you hear the yell of a hundred
+or so savages outside your windows, or see a party driving half your
+cattle away into the bush."
+
+"No, I shouldn't call that quiet; and that is what you have been doing?"
+
+"Yes, I was in the disturbed part when the Kaffirs rose. Most of our
+neighbours were killed, and we had a hard time of it, but some mounted
+police came up just in time. I have had trouble three or four times
+before, and it's no use going on for years rearing cattle if they are to
+be all swept away by the natives, and you are running the risk of
+getting your throat cut in the bargain; so, after this last affair, I
+locked up my farmhouse, drove off what cattle I had got left, and sold
+them for what I could get for them, and here I am."
+
+"Yes, here you are," repeated the landlord; "and what next?"
+
+"The ship touched at Plymouth, and I thought I might as well get out
+there as anywhere else. Well, there is too much noise and bustle at
+Plymouth. I haven't been used to it, and so now I am just looking for a
+little place to suit me. I have been up to Tavistock, and then some one
+said that Carnesford was a pretty village. I said I would look at
+Carnesford, and so you see here I am."
+
+"What sort of a place are you looking for?" the landlord asked, looking
+at his visitor closely, and mentally appraising his worth.
+
+"Oh, quite a little place, I should say about twenty pounds a year. I
+suppose one could get a girl to help from the village, and could live
+for another eighty. That's about what I could afford."
+
+"Oh, yes, I should say you could do that," said the landlord,
+thoughtfully, "but I don't know that there is any such place to let
+anywhere about here. There is a nice cottage at the other end of the
+village just empty. It's got a good garden, and is rather away from the
+rest of the houses; but the rent is only half-a-crown a week. That
+wouldn't do for you."
+
+"Well, I wanted something better than that; but still I might have a
+look at it. Of course if I took it I should want to stay, and I might as
+well spend a little money in doing it up to my fancy as in paying
+higher rent. By the way, my name is Armstrong. Perhaps you wouldn't mind
+putting on your hat and showing me this place you speak of. We have been
+used to roughing it, and don't want anything fine."
+
+The cottage was certainly large and roomy, and stood in a pretty garden.
+But its appearance was not prepossessing, for it differed from most of
+the other little houses in the village inasmuch as it was not, like
+them, half hidden by roses and creepers climbing over it.
+
+"Yes, it's rough, decidedly rough," Mr. Armstrong said, "still there is
+a pretty view down the valley. Now I should save nearly fourteen pounds
+in rent by taking this instead of a twenty pound a year house; and if
+one were to put up a verandah round it, touch up the windows somehow,
+and put pretty paper on the walls, I should say that at the end of two
+years it would stand me in just the same. That and plenty of roses and
+things would make it a pretty little place. Who is the landlord?"
+
+"The landlord is Mr. Carne, up at The Hold; that's the big house on the
+hill. But he is away at present. Mr. Kirkland, a lawyer at Plymouth, is
+his agent, and sees to the letting of his houses and that sort of thing.
+His clerk comes over once a month to collect the rents. I expect you
+would have to go to him even if Mr. Carne was at home. Squire was never
+much down in the village in the best of times, and we have hardly seen
+his face since his sister's death."
+
+"Yes, they were telling us about that affair at Plymouth," the colonist
+said, quietly. "It was a bad business. Well, have you got some pretty
+sociable sort of fellows in the village? I like a chat as well as any
+man, and I should want some one to talk to."
+
+"Well, I don't know that they would be your sort," the landlord said,
+doubtfully. "There's the clergyman--and the doctor----"
+
+"Oh, no. I don't want to have to do with clergymen and doctors--we
+colonists are pretty rough and ready fellows, and it's no odds to us
+what a man is. A man stops at your door, and in he comes, and he is
+welcome--though he is only a shepherd on the look-out for work;
+sometimes one of the Kaffir chiefs with nothing on but a blanket and a
+leather apron, will stalk in and squat down and make himself at home.
+Oh, no. It's tradesmen I mean, and perhaps the small farmers round."
+
+"Well, we are pretty well off for that, Mr. Armstrong. There is Hiram
+Powlett, the miller, and Jacob Carey, the blacksmith--they drop in
+pretty regular every evening and smoke a pipe with me, in what I call my
+snuggery; and there's old Reuben Claphurst--he was the clerk at one
+time, and is a wonderful chap for knowing the history of every family
+for miles round; and there's some of the farmers often come in for a
+glass--if you are not too proud for that sort of company."
+
+"Proud! Bless your heart, what is there to be proud about; ain't I been
+working as a farmer for years and years with no one to talk to but my
+own hands?--I mean my own men. No, that's just the thing to suit me;
+anyhow, I think I will try the experiment. If at the end of a couple of
+years I don't like it, why, there is no harm done."
+
+"Well, I am sure we shall be all glad to have you here, Mr. Armstrong;
+we like getting some one from outside, it freshens our ideas up a bit
+and does us good. We are cheerful enough in summer with the artists that
+come here sketching, and with the gentlemen who sometimes come to fish;
+but the rest of the year I don't often have a stranger at the 'Carne's
+Arms.'"
+
+Two days later Mr. Armstrong returned to Carnesford with a builder from
+Plymouth. The following day, five or six workmen appeared, and in a
+fortnight a considerable transformation had been made in the cottage. A
+verandah was run round the front and two sides. Some rustic woodwork
+appeared round the windows, and the interior of the house was
+transformed with fresh paper and paint. Nothing could be done in the way
+of roses and creepers, as these could not be moved at that time of year,
+for it was now just midsummer.
+
+The day after the workmen went out, a waggon load of furniture, simple
+and substantial, arrived, and on the following day the coach brought
+down the new tenants. A girl had already been engaged in the village to
+act as servant. Miss Armstrong was quietly and plainly dressed, and
+might, by her attire, be taken for the daughter of a small farmer, and
+the opinion in the village, as the newcomers walked through on their way
+to the cottage, was distinctly favourable. In a very short time Mr.
+Armstrong became quite a popular character in Carnesford, and soon was
+on speaking terms with most of the people. He won the mothers' hearts by
+patting the heads of the little girls, and praising their looks. He had
+a habit of carrying sweets in his pockets, and distributing them freely
+among the children, and he would lounge for hours at the smith's door,
+listening to the gossip that went on, for in Carnesford, as elsewhere,
+the forge was the recognised meeting-place of those who had nothing to
+do. He was considered a wonderful acquisition by the frequenters of the
+snuggery at the "Carne's Arms," and his stories of life at the Cape gave
+an added interest to their meetings. Hearing from Hiram Powlett that he
+had a wife and daughter, he asked him to get them, as a matter of
+kindness, to visit his daughter; and within a fortnight of his arrival,
+he and Mary went to tea to the Mill.
+
+Several times the conversation in the snuggery turned upon the murder at
+The Hold. In no case did the new-comer lead up to it, but it cropped up
+as the subject which the people of Carnesford were never weary of
+discussing. He ventured no opinions and asked no questions upon the
+first few occasions when the subject was being discussed, but smoked his
+pipe in silence, listening to the conversation.
+
+"It seems strange to me," he said at last, "that you in this village
+should never have had a suspicion of any one except this Captain Mervyn;
+I understand that you, Mr. Claphurst, and you, Mr. Carey, have never
+thought of any one else; but Mr. Powlett--he always says he is sure it
+isn't him. But if it wasn't him, Mr. Powlett, who do you think it was?"
+
+"Ah, that is more than I can tell," Hiram replied. "I have thought, and
+I have thought, till my head went round, but I can't see who it can have
+been."
+
+"Miss Carne seems to have had no enemies?"
+
+"No, not one--not as I ever heard of. She was wonderful popular in the
+village, she was; and as for the Squire, except about poaching, he never
+quarrelled with any one."
+
+"Had he trouble with poachers, then?"
+
+"Well, not often; but last year, before that affair, there was a bad lot
+about. They were from Dareport--that's two miles away, down at the mouth
+of the river--with one or two chaps from this village, so it was said.
+About a fortnight--it may be three weeks--before Miss Carne was killed,
+there was a fight up in the woods between them and the gamekeepers. One
+of the keepers got stabbed, but he didn't die until some time
+afterwards; but the jury brought it in wilful murder all the same. It
+didn't matter much what verdict they brought in, 'cause the man as the
+evidence went against had left the country--at least, he hadn't been
+seen hereabouts."
+
+"And a good job too, Hiram--a good job too," Jacob Carey put in.
+
+"Yes," Hiram said, "I admit it; it was a good job as he was gone--a good
+job for us all. He would never have done any good here, anyway; and the
+best job as ever he did for himself, as I know of, was when he took
+himself off."
+
+There was a general chorus of assent.
+
+"What was the man's name?" Mr. Armstrong asked, carelessly.
+
+"His name was George Forester," Jacob Carey said.
+
+As they were going out from the snuggery that evening, the landlord made
+a sign to Mr. Armstrong that he wanted to speak to him. He accordingly
+lingered until the other men had left.
+
+"Oh, I thought I would just tell you, Mr. Armstrong, seeing that your
+daughter and you have been to the Mill, it's just as well not to talk
+about the poaching and George Forester before Ruth Powlett. You see,
+it's rather a sore subject with her. She was engaged to that George
+Forester, and a lot of trouble it gave her father and mother. Well, I
+expect she must have seen now that she had a lucky escape. Still, a girl
+don't like a man as she has liked being spoken against, so I thought
+that I would say a word to you."
+
+"Thank you; that's very friendly of you. Yes, you may be sure that I
+won't introduce the subject. I am very glad you told me, or I might have
+blundered upon it and hurt the girl's feelings. She doesn't look very
+strong, either. She has a nervous look about her, I think."
+
+"She used to be very different, but she had a great shock. She was the
+first, you know, to go into Miss Carne's room and find her dead. She was
+her maid before that, and she was ill for weeks after. It came on the
+top of an illness, too. She fell down on the hill coming home from
+church, and they found her lying insensible there, and she was very
+bad--had the doctor there every day. Then came this other affair, and I
+dare say this business of George Forester's helped too. Anyhow, she was
+very bad, and the doctor thought at one time that she wouldn't get over
+it."
+
+Mr. Armstrong walked home thoughtfully.
+
+"Well, father, what is your news?" Mary Armstrong said, as he entered.
+"I can see you have heard something more than usual."
+
+"Well, my dear, I don't know that it's anything, but at the same time it
+certainly is new, and gives us something to follow up. It seems that
+there was a fellow named George Forester living somewhere about here,
+and he was engaged to your friend, Ruth Powlett, but her father and
+mother disapproved of it highly. They say he was a bad lot; he got mixed
+up with a gang of poachers, and some little time before this murder,
+about three weeks before, they had a fight with Mr. Carne's keepers; one
+of the keepers was mortally wounded, it was said by this George
+Forester. The man lived for some time, but at last died of the wound,
+and the jury brought in a verdict of wilful murder against George
+Forester, who had been missing from the time of the fight."
+
+"Yes, father, but that seems no great clue."
+
+"Perhaps not, Mary, but it shows at least that there was one fellow
+about here who may be considered to have had a quarrel with the Carnes,
+and who was a thoroughly bad character, and who--and this is of
+importance--was engaged, with or without her parents' consent, to Miss
+Carne's own maid."
+
+Mary gave a little gasp of excitement.
+
+"Now it seems, further," her father went on, "that some time between
+this poaching affray and the murder--I could not inquire closely into
+dates--Ruth Powlett was found insensible on the road going up the hill,
+and was very ill for some days; she said she had had a fall, and of
+course she may have had, although it is not often young women fall down
+so heavily as to stun themselves. But it may of course have been
+something else."
+
+"What else, father?"
+
+"Well, it is possible she may have met this lover of hers, and that they
+may have had a quarrel. Probably she knew he had been engaged in this
+poaching affair, and may have told him that she would have nothing more
+to do with him, and he may have knocked her down. Of course, this is all
+mere supposition, but it is only by supposition that we can grope our
+way along. It seems she was well enough anyhow to go up to her place
+again at The Hold, for she was the first to discover the murder, and the
+shock was so great that she was ill for weeks, in fact in great danger;
+they say she has been greatly changed ever since. I don't know whether
+anything can be made of that, my dear."
+
+"I don't know. I don't see what, father," Mary said, after thinking for
+some time, "unless she is fancying since that it was this man who did
+it. Of course, anyhow, it would be a fearful shock for a girl to find
+her mistress lying murdered, and perhaps it may be nothing more than
+that."
+
+"No doubt, it may be nothing more than that, Mary; but it's the other
+side of the case we have to look at. Let us piece the things together.
+Here we have four or five facts, all of which may tell. Here is a bad
+character in the village; that is one point. This man had a poaching
+affray with Mr. Carne's keepers; he killed, or at any rate the coroner's
+jury found that he killed, one of the keepers. He is engaged to Miss
+Carne's own maid. This maid is just after this poaching business found
+insensible in the wood, and tells rather an improbable story as to how
+it came about. She is the first to enter her mistress's room, and then
+she has a serious illness. Of course, any girl would be shocked and
+frightened and upset, but it is not so often that a serious illness
+would be the result. And lastly, she has been changed ever since. She
+has, as you remarked to me the other day, an absent, preoccupied sort of
+way about her. Taken altogether, these things certainly do amount to
+something."
+
+"I think so too, father; I think so too," Mary Armstrong said, walking
+up and down the little room in her excitement. "I do think there may be
+something in it; and you see, father, after this poaching business, the
+man wanted to get away, and he may have been in want of money, and so
+have thought of taking Miss Carne's watch and jewels to raise money to
+take him abroad."
+
+"So he might, my dear. That is certainly a feasible explanation, but
+unfortunately, instead of taking them away, you see he buried them."
+
+"Yes, father, but he only just pushed them into the ground, the report
+said; because on reading through the old files of the newspapers the
+other day I particularly noticed that. Well, father, you see, perhaps
+just as he was leaving the house a dog may have barked, or something may
+have given him a scare, and he may just have hidden them in the ground,
+intending to come for them next day; and then, what with the excitement
+and the police here, and the search that was being made, he could get no
+opportunity of getting them up again, and being afraid of being arrested
+himself for his share in the poaching affray, he dared not hang about
+here any longer, but probably went down to Plymouth and got on board
+ship there. Of course, all this is nothing more than supposition, still
+it really does not seem improbable, father. There is only one difficulty
+that I can see. Why should he have killed Miss Carne, because the
+doctors say that she was certainly asleep?"
+
+"We cannot tell, dear. She may have moved a little. He may have thought
+that she would wake, and that he had better make sure. He was a
+desperate man, and there is no saying what a desperate man will do.
+Anyhow, Mary, this is a clue, and a distinct one, and we must follow it
+up. It may lead us wrong in the end, but we shall not be losing time by
+following it, for I shall keep my ears open, and may find some other and
+altogether different track."
+
+"How had we better follow it?" Mary asked, after having sat silent for
+some minutes. "This Forester is gone, and we have no idea where. I think
+the only person likely to be able to help us is Ruth Powlett."
+
+"Exactly so, my dear."
+
+"And she would not be likely to speak. If she knows anything she would
+have said it at the trial had she not wished to shield this man, whom
+she may love in spite of his wickedness."
+
+"Quite so, my dear; and besides," and he smiled, "young women in love
+are not disposed to believe in their lovers' guilt."
+
+"How can you say so, father?" Mary said, indignantly; "you would not
+compare----"
+
+"No, no, Mary; I would not compare the two men; but I think you will
+admit that even had the evidence against Ronald Mervyn been ten times as
+conclusive as it was, you would still have maintained his innocence
+against all the world."
+
+"Of course I should, father."
+
+"Quite so, my dear; that is what I am saying; however, if our
+supposition is correct in this case, the girl does believe him to be
+guilty, but she wishes to shield him, either because she loves him still
+or has loved him. It is astonishing how women will cling to men even
+when they know them to be villains. I think, dear, that the best way of
+proceeding will be for you to endeavour to find out from Ruth Powlett
+what she knows. Of course it will be a gradual matter, and you can only
+do it when she has got to know and like you thoroughly."
+
+"But, father," Mary said, hesitating, "will it not be a treacherous
+thing for me to become friends with her for the purpose of gaining her
+secret?"
+
+"It depends how you gain it, Mary. Certainly it would be so were you to
+get it surreptitiously. That is not the way I should propose. If this
+girl has really any proof or anything like strong evidence that the
+murder was committed by this man Forester, she is acting wrongly and
+cruelly to another to allow the guilt to fall upon him. In time, when
+you get intimate with her, intimate enough to introduce the subject,
+your course would be to impress this upon her so strongly as to induce
+her to make an open confession. Of course you would point out to her
+that this could now in no way injure the man who is her lover, as he has
+gone no one knows where, and will certainly never return to this
+country, as upon his appearance he would at once be arrested and tried
+on the charge of killing the gamekeeper. All this would be perfectly
+open and above-board. Then, Mary, you could, if you deemed it expedient,
+own your own strong interest in the matter. There would be nothing
+treacherous in this, dear. You simply urge her to do an act of justice.
+Of course it will be painful for her to do so, after concealing it so
+long. Still, I should think from the little I have seen of her that she
+is a conscientious girl, and is, I doubt not, already sorely troubled in
+her mind over the matter."
+
+"Yes, father, I agree with you. There would be nothing treacherous in
+that. I have simply to try to get her to make a confession of anything
+she may know in the matter. I quite agree with you in all you have said
+about the man, but I do not see how Ruth Powlett can know anything for
+certain, whatever she may suspect; for if she was, as you say,
+dangerously ill for a long time after the murder, she cannot very well
+have seen the man, who would be sure to have quitted the country at
+once."
+
+"I am afraid that that is so, Mary. Still, we must hope for the best,
+and if she cannot give us absolute evidence herself, what she says may
+at least put us in the right track for obtaining it. Even if no legal
+evidence can be obtained, we might get enough clues, with what we have
+already, to convince the world that whereas hitherto there seemed no
+alternative open as to Mervyn's guilt, there was in fact another against
+whom there is at any rate a certain amount of proof, and whose character
+is as bad as that of Captain Mervyn is good. This would in itself be a
+great step. Mervyn has been acquitted, but as no one else is shown to
+have been connected with it in any way, people are compelled, in spite
+of his previous character, in spite of his acquittal, in spite in fact
+even of probability, to consider him guilty. Once shown that there is at
+least reasonable ground for suspicion against another, and the opinion,
+at any rate of all who know Mervyn, would at once veer round."
+
+"Very well, father; now you have done your part of the work by finding
+out the clue, I will do mine by following it up. Fortunately, Ruth
+Powlett is a very superior sort of girl to any one in the village, and I
+can make friends with her heartily and without pretence. I should have
+found it very hard if she had been a rough sort of girl, but she
+expresses herself just as well as I do, and seems very gentle and nice.
+One can see that even that sharp-voiced stepmother of hers is very fond
+of her, and she is the apple of the miller's eye. But you must not be
+impatient, father; two girls can't become great friends all at once."
+
+"I think, on the whole, Miss Armstrong," her father said, "you are quite
+as likely to become impatient as I am, seeing that it is your business
+much more than mine."
+
+"Well, you may be sure I shall not lose more time than I can help,
+father." Mary Armstrong laughed. "You don't know how joyous I feel
+to-night, I have always been hopeful, but it did seem so vague before.
+Now that we have got what we think to be a clue, and can set to work at
+once, I feel ever so much nearer to seeing Ronald again."
+
+The consequence of this conversation was that Mary Armstrong went very
+frequently down to the mill, and induced Ruth Powlett, sometimes, to
+come up and sit with her.
+
+"I am very glad, Mr. Armstrong," Hiram Powlett said, one evening, when
+they happened to be the first two to arrive in the snuggery, "that my
+Ruth seems to take to your daughter. It's a real comfort to Hesba and
+me. You would have thought that she would have taken to some of the
+girls she went to school with, but she hasn't. I suppose she is too
+quiet for them, and they are too noisy for her. Anyhow, until now, she
+has never had a friend, and I think it will do her a world of good. It's
+bad for a girl to be alone, and especially a girl like Ruth. I don't
+mind telling you, Mr. Armstrong, that Hesba and I have an idea that she
+has got something on her mind, she has been so changed altogether since
+Miss Carne's murder. I might have thought that she had fretted about
+that scamp Forester going away, for at one time the girl was very fond
+of him, but before it happened she told me that she had found out he
+would never make her a good husband, and would break it off altogether
+with him; so you see I don't think his going away had anything to do
+with it. Once or twice I thought she was going to say something
+particular to me, but she has never said it, and she sits there and
+broods and broods till it makes my heart ache to see her. Now she has
+got your daughter to be friends with, perhaps she may shake it off."
+
+"I hope she may, Mr. Powlett. It's a bad thing for a girl to mope. I
+know Mary likes your daughter very much; perhaps, if she has anything on
+her mind, she will tell Mary one of these days. You see, when girls get
+to be friends, they open their hearts to each other as they won't do to
+any one else."
+
+"I don't see what she can have on her mind," the miller said, shaking
+his head. "It may only be a fancy of mine. Hesba and I have talked it
+over a score of times."
+
+"Very likely it's nothing, after all," Mr. Armstrong said. "Girls get
+strange fancies into their heads, and make mountains out of molehills.
+It may be nothing, after all; still, perhaps she would be all the better
+for the telling of it."
+
+Hiram Powlett shook his head decidedly. "Ruth isn't a girl to have
+fancies. If she is fretting, she is fretting over something serious. I
+don't know why I am talking so to you, Mr. Armstrong, for I have never
+spoken to any one else about it; but your daughter seems to have taken
+so kindly to Ruth that it seems natural for me to speak to you."
+
+"I am glad you have done so, Mr. Powlett, and I hope that good may come
+from our talk."
+
+It was not until a fortnight after this chat that Mary had anything to
+communicate to her father, for she found that whenever she turned the
+conversation upon the topic of the murder of Miss Carne, Ruth evidently
+shrank so much from it that she was obliged to change the subject.
+
+"To-day, father, I took the bull by the horns. Ruth had been sitting
+there for some time working without saying a word, when I asked her
+suddenly, as if it was what I had been thinking over while we were
+silent: 'What is your opinion, Ruth? Do you think that Captain Mervyn
+really murdered his cousin?' She turned pale. She has never much colour,
+you know, but she went as white as a sheet, and then said, 'I am quite
+sure that he did not do it, but I don't like talking about it.' 'No, of
+course not,' I said. 'I can quite understand that after the terrible
+shock you had. Still, it is awful to think that this Captain Mervyn
+should have been driven away from his home and made an outcast of if he
+is innocent.' 'It serves him right,' Ruth said, passionately. 'How dare
+he insult and threaten my dear Miss Margaret? Nothing is too bad for
+him.' 'I can't quite agree with you there,' I said. 'No doubt he
+deserved to be punished, and he must have been punished by being tried
+for his cousin's murder; but to think of a man spending all his life,
+branded unjustly with the crime of murder, is something too terrible to
+think of.' 'I dare say he is doing very well,' she said, after a pause.
+'Doing well,' I said, 'doing well! What can you be thinking of, Ruth?
+What sort of doing well can there be for a man who knows that at any
+moment he may be recognised, that his story may be whispered about, and
+that his neighbours may shrink away from him; that his wife, if he ever
+marries, may come to believe that her husband is a murderer, that his
+children may bear the curse of Cain upon them? It is too terrible to
+think of. If Captain Mervyn is guilty, he ought to have been hung; if he
+is innocent, he is one of the most unfortunate men in the world.' Ruth
+didn't say anything, but she was so terribly white that I thought she
+was going to faint. She tried to get up, but I could see she couldn't,
+and I ran and got her a glass of water. Her hand shook so that she could
+hardly hold it to her lips. After she drank some she sat for a minute or
+two quiet, then she murmured something about a sudden faintness, and
+that she would go home. I persuaded her to stay a few minutes longer. At
+last she got up. 'I am subject to fainting fits,' she said; 'it is very
+silly, but I cannot help it. Yes, perhaps what you say about Captain
+Mervyn is right, but I never quite saw it so before. Good-bye,' and then
+she went off, though I could see she was scarcely able to walk
+steadily. Oh, father, I feel quite sure that she knows something; that
+she can prove that Ronald is innocent if she chooses; and I think that
+sooner or later she will choose. First of all she was so decided in her
+assertion that Ronald was innocent; she did not say 'I think,' or 'I
+believe,' she said 'I am quite sure.' She would never have said that
+unless she knew something quite positive. Then the way that she burst
+out that it served him right, seems to me, and I have been thinking
+about it ever since she went away an hour ago, as if she had been trying
+to convince herself that it was right that he should suffer, and to
+soothe her own conscience for not saying what would prove him innocent."
+
+"It looks like it, Mary; it certainly looks like it. We are on the right
+trail, my girl, I am sure. That was a very heavy blow you struck her
+to-day, and she evidently felt it so. Two or three more such blows, and
+the victory will be won. I have no doubt now that Ruth Powlett somehow
+holds the key of this strange mystery in her hand, and I think that what
+you have said to her to-day will go a long way towards inducing her to
+unlock it. Forester was the murderer of Miss Carne, I have not a shadow
+of doubt, though how she knows it for certain is more than I can even
+guess."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+RUTH POWLETT CONFESSES.
+
+
+Upon the morning after the conversation with his daughter, Mr. Armstrong
+had just started on his way up the village when he met Hiram Powlett.
+
+"I was just coming to see you, Mr. Armstrong, if you can spare a
+minute."
+
+"I can spare an hour--I can spare the whole morning, Mr. Powlett. I have
+ceased to be a working bee, and my time is at your disposal."
+
+"Well, I thought I would just step over and speak to you," Hiram began,
+in a slow, puzzled sort of a way. "You know what I was telling you the
+other day about my girl?"
+
+"Yes; I remember very well."
+
+"You don't know, Mr. Armstrong, whether she has said anything to your
+daughter?"
+
+"No; at least not so far as I have heard of. Mary said that they were
+talking together, and something was said about Miss Carne's murder; that
+your daughter turned very pale, and that she thought she was going to
+faint."
+
+"That's it; that's it," Hiram said, stroking his chin, thoughtfully,
+"that murder is at the bottom of it. Hesba thinks it must be that any
+talk about it brings the scene back to her; but it does not seem to me
+that that accounts for it at all, and I would give a lot to know what is
+on the girl's mind. She came in yesterday afternoon as white as a sheet,
+and fainted right off at the door. I shouldn't think so much of that,
+because she has often fainted since her illness, but that wasn't all.
+When her mother got her round she went upstairs to her room, and didn't
+come down again. There is not much in that, you would say; after a girl
+has fainted she likes to lie quiet a bit; but she didn't lie quiet. We
+could hear her walking up and down the room for hours, and Hesba stole
+up several times to her door and said she was sobbing enough to break
+her heart. She is going about the house again this morning, but that
+white and still that it is cruel to look at her. So I thought after
+breakfast that I would put on my hat and come and have a talk with you,
+seeing that you were good enough to be interested in her. You will say
+it's a rum thing for a father to come and talk about his daughter to a
+man he hasn't known more than two months. I feel that myself, but there
+is no one in the village I should like to open my mind to about Ruth,
+and seeing that you are father of a girl about the same age, and that I
+feel you are a true sort of a man, I come to you. It isn't as if I
+thought that my Ruth could have done anything wrong. If I did, I would
+cut my tongue out before I would speak a word. But I know my Ruth. She
+has always been a good girl: not one of your light sort, but earnest and
+steady. Whatever is wrong, it's not wrong with her. I believe she has
+got some secret or other that is just wearing her out, and if we can't
+get to the bottom of it I don't believe Ruth will see Christmas," and
+Hiram Powlett wiped his eyes violently.
+
+"Believe me, I will do my best to find it out if there is such a secret,
+Mr. Powlett. I feel sure from what I have seen of your daughter, that if
+a wrong has been done of any kind it is not by her. I agree with you
+that she has a secret, and that that secret is wearing her out. I may
+say that my daughter is of the same opinion. I believe that there is a
+struggle going on in her mind on the subject, and that if she is to have
+peace, and as you say health, she must unburden her mind. However, Mr.
+Powlett, my advice in the matter is, leave her alone. Do not press her
+in any way. I think that what you said to me before is likely to be
+verified, and that if she unburdens herself it will be to Mary; and you
+may be sure whatever is the nature of the secret, my daughter will keep
+it inviolate, unless it is Ruth's own wish that it should be told to
+others."
+
+"Thankee, Mr. Armstrong, thankee kindly; I feel more hopeful now. I have
+been worrying and fretting over this for months, till I can scarce look
+after my work, and often catch myself going on drawing at my pipe when
+it's gone out and got cold. But I think it's coming on; I think that
+crying last night meant something, one way or the other. Well, we shall
+see; we shall see. I will be off back again to my work now; I feel all
+the better for having had this talk with you. Hesba's a good woman, and
+she is fond of the child; but she is what she calls practical--she looks
+at things hard, and straight, and sensible, and naturally she don't
+quite enter into my feelings about Ruth, though she is fond of her too.
+Well, good morning, Mr. Armstrong; you have done me good, and I do hope
+it will turn out as you say, and that we shall get to know what is
+Ruth's trouble."
+
+An hour later, Mary Armstrong went down to the mill to inquire after
+Ruth. She found her quiet and pale.
+
+"I am glad you have come in, Miss Armstrong," Hesba said, "our Ruth
+wants cheering up a bit. She had a faint yesterday when she got back
+from your place, and she is never fit for anything after that except
+just to sit in her chair and look in the fire. I tell her she would be
+better if she would rouse herself."
+
+"But one cannot always rouse oneself, Mrs. Powlett," Mary said; "and I
+am sure Ruth does not look equal to talking now. However, she shall sit
+still, and I will tell her a story. I have never told you yet that I was
+once carried off by the Kaffirs, and that worse than death would have
+befallen me, and that I should have been afterwards tortured and killed,
+if I had not been rescued by a brave man."
+
+"Lawk-a-mussy, Miss Armstrong, why you make my flesh creep at the
+thought of such a thing? And you say it all happened to you? Why, now,
+to look at you, I should have thought you could hardly have known what
+trouble meant, you always seem so bright and happy; that's what Ruth has
+said, again and again."
+
+"You shall judge for yourself, Mrs. Powlett, if you can find time to
+sit down and listen, as well as Ruth."
+
+"I can find time for that," Hesba said, "though it isn't often as I sits
+down till the tea is cleared away and Hiram has lit his pipe."
+
+Mary sat down facing the fire, with Ruth in an arm-chair on one side of
+her, and Mrs. Powlett stiff and upright on a hard settle on the other.
+Then she began to tell the story, first saying a few words to let her
+hearers know of the fate of women who fell into the hands of the
+Kaffirs. Then she began with the story of her journey down from King
+Williamstown, the sudden attack by natives, and how after seeing her
+father fall she was carried off. Then she told, what she had never told
+before, of the hideous tortures of the other two women, part of which
+she was compelled to witness, and how she was told that she was to be
+preserved as a present to Macomo. Then she described the dreary journey.
+"I had only one hope," she said, "and it was so faint that it could not
+be called a hope; but there was one man in the colony who somehow I felt
+sure would, if he knew of my danger, try to rescue me. He had once
+before come to our aid when our house was attacked by Kaffirs, and in a
+few minutes our fate would have been sealed had he not arrived. But for
+aught I knew he was a hundred miles away, and what could he do against
+the three hundred natives who were with me? Still, I had a little ray of
+hope, the faintest, tiniest ray, until we entered the Amatolas----they
+are strong steep hills covered with forest and bush, and are the
+stronghold of the Kaffirs, and I knew that there were about twenty
+thousand natives gathered there. Then I hoped no longer. I felt that my
+fate was sealed, and my only wish and my only longing was to obtain a
+knife or a spear, and to kill myself."
+
+Then Mary described the journey through the forest to the kraal, the
+long hours she had sat waiting for her fate with every movement watched
+by the Kaffir women, and her sensations when she heard the message in
+English. Then she described her rescue from the kraal, her flight
+through the woods, her concealment in the cave, her escape from the
+Amatolas, the ride with the trooper holding her on his saddle, and the
+final dash through the Kaffirs.
+
+Her hearers had thrown in many interjections of horror and pity, loud on
+the part of Hesba, mere murmurs on that of Ruth, who had taken Mary's
+hand in hers, but the sympathetic pressure told more than words.
+
+"And you shot four of them, Miss Armstrong!" Hesba ejaculated, in
+wide-eyed astonishment. "To think that a young girl like you should have
+the death of four men on her hands! I don't say as it's unchristian,
+because Christians are not forbidden to fight for their lives, but it
+does seem downright awful!"
+
+"It has never troubled me for a single moment," Mary said. "They tried
+to kill me, and I killed them. That is the light I saw it in, and so
+would you if you had been living in the colony."
+
+"But you have not finished your story," Ruth said, earnestly. "Surely
+that is not the end of it!"
+
+"No; my father recovered from his wound, and so did the soldier who
+saved me, and as soon as my father was able to travel, he and I went
+down to the coast and came home."
+
+"That cannot be all," Ruth whispered; "there must be something more to
+tell, Mary."
+
+"I will tell you another time, Ruth," Mary said, in equally low tones,
+and then rising, put on her hat again, said good-bye, and went out.
+
+"Did you ever, Ruth?" Hesba Powlett exclaimed as the door closed. "I
+never did hear such a story in all my life. And to think of her shooting
+four men! It quite made my flesh creep; didn't it yours?"
+
+"There were other parts of the story that made my flesh creep a great
+deal more, mother."
+
+"Yes, it was terrible! And she didn't say a single word in praise of
+what the soldier had done for her. Now that seems to me downright
+ungrateful, and not at all what I should have thought of Miss
+Armstrong."
+
+"I suppose she thought, mother, that there was no occasion to express
+her opinion of his bravery or to mention her gratitude. The whole story
+seemed to me a cry of praise and a hymn of gratitude."
+
+"Lord, Ruth, what fancies you do take in your head, to be sure! I never
+did hear such expressions!"
+
+Two days passed without Ruth going up to the Armstrongs'; on the third
+day Mary again went down.
+
+"Well, Ruth, as you have not been to see me, I have come to see you
+again."
+
+"I was coming up this afternoon. If you don't mind, I will go back with
+you now, instead of your staying here. We are quieter there, you know.
+Somehow, one cannot think or talk when people come in and out of the
+room every two or three minutes."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Ruth, and, if you don't mind my saying so, I
+would very much rather have you all to myself."
+
+The two girls accordingly went back to the cottage. Mary, who was rather
+an industrious needlewoman, brought out a basket of work. Ruth, who for
+a long time had scarcely taken up a needle, sat with her hands before
+her.
+
+When two people intend to have a serious conversation with each other,
+they generally steer wide of the subject at first, and the present was
+no exception.
+
+"I think it would be better for you, Ruth, to occupy yourself with work
+a little, as I do."
+
+"I used to be fond of work," Ruth replied, "but I don't seem to be able
+to give my attention to it now. I begin, and before I have done twenty
+stitches, somehow or other my thoughts seem to go away, and by the end
+of the morning the first twenty stitches are all I have done."
+
+"But you oughtn't to think so much, Ruth. It is bad for any one to be
+always thinking."
+
+"Yes, but I can't help it. I have so much to think about, and it gets
+worse instead of better. Now, after what you said to me the other night,
+I don't know what to do. It seemed right before. I did not think I was
+doing much harm in keeping silence; now I see I have been, oh, so
+wrong!" and she twined her fingers in and out as if suffering bodily
+pain.
+
+"My poor Ruth!" Mary said, coming over to her and kneeling down by her
+side. "I think I know what is troubling you."
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"Yes, dear, I am almost sure you have known something all along that
+would have proved Captain Mervyn was innocent, and you have not said
+it."
+
+Ruth Powlett did not speak for a minute or two, then she said, slowly:
+
+"I do not know how you have guessed it, Mary. No one else even seems to
+have thought of it. But, yes, that is it, and I do so want some one to
+advise me what to do. I see now I have been very wicked. For a long time
+I have been fighting against myself. I have tried so hard to persuade
+myself that I had not done much harm, because Captain Mervyn was
+acquitted. I have really known that I was wrong, but I never thought how
+wrong until you spoke to me."
+
+"Wait, Ruth," Mary said; "before you tell me your secret I must tell you
+mine. It would not be fair for you to tell me without knowing that. You
+remember the story I was telling you about my being carried off?"
+
+A fresh interest came into Ruth's face.
+
+"Yes," she said, "and you promised you would tell me the rest another
+time. I thought you meant, of course, you would tell me that when this
+war out there is over, you would some day marry the soldier who has done
+so much for you."
+
+"I was going to tell you, Ruth, why I am not going to marry him."
+
+"Oh, I thought you would be sure to," Ruth said in a tone of deep
+disappointment. "It seemed to me that it was sure to be so. I thought a
+man would never have risked so much for a woman unless he loved her."
+
+"He did love me, Ruth, and I loved him. I don't think I made any secret
+of it. Somehow it seemed to me that he had a right to me, and I was
+surprised when the time went on and he didn't ask me. When the last day
+came before he was to march away to fight again, I think that if he had
+not spoken I should have done so. Do not think me unmaidenly, Ruth, but
+he was only a sergeant and I was a rich girl, for my father is a great
+deal better off than he seems to be, and I thought that perhaps some
+foolish sort of pride held him back, for I was quite sure that he loved
+me. But he spoke first. He told me that he loved me, but could never ask
+me to be his wife; that he could never marry, but he must go through the
+world alone to the end of his life."
+
+"Oh, Mary, how terrible!" Ruth said, pitifully, "how terrible! Was he
+married before, then?"
+
+"No, Ruth, it was worse than that; there was a great shadow over his
+life; he had been tried for murder, and though he had been acquitted,
+the stigma was still upon him. Go where he would he might be recognised
+and pointed out as a murderer; therefore, unless the truth was some day
+known and his name cleared, no woman could ever be his wife."
+
+Ruth had given a little gasp as Mary Armstrong began, then she sat rigid
+and immovable.
+
+"It was Captain Mervyn," she said, at last, in a low whisper.
+
+"Yes, Ruth. Sergeant Blunt was Captain Mervyn; he had changed his name,
+and gone out there to hide himself, but even there he had already been
+recognised; and, as he said--for I pleaded hard, Ruth, to be allowed to
+share his exile--go where he would, bury himself in what out-of-the-way
+corner he might, sooner or later some one would know him, and this story
+would rise up against him, and, much as he loved me--all the more,
+perhaps, because he loved me so much--he would never suffer me to be
+pointed at as the wife of a murderer."
+
+"You shall not be," Ruth said, more firmly than she had before spoken.
+"You shall not be, Mary. I can clear him, and I will."
+
+It was Mary Armstrong's turn to break down now. The goal had been
+reached, Ronald Mervyn would be cleared; and she threw her arms round
+Ruth and burst into a passion of tears. It was some time before the
+girls were sufficiently composed to renew the conversation.
+
+"First of all, I must tell you, Mary," Ruth began, "that you may not
+think me more wicked than I am, that I would never have let Captain
+Mervyn suffer the penalty of another's crime. Against the wish, almost
+in the face of the orders of the doctor, I remained in court all through
+the trial, holding in my hand the proof of Captain Mervyn's innocence,
+and had the verdict been 'guilty' I was ready to rush forward and prove
+that he was innocent. I do not think that all that you suffered when you
+were in the hands of the Kaffirs was worse than I suffered then. I saw
+before me the uproar in court: the eyes that would be all fixed upon me;
+the way that the judge and the counsel would blame me for having so long
+kept silence; the reproach that I should meet with when I returned
+home; the shame of my dear old father; the way in which every soul in
+the village would turn against me; but I would have dared it all rather
+than that one man should suffer for the sin of another. And now, having
+told you this first, so that you should not think too hardly of me, I
+will tell you all."
+
+Then Ruth told her of her girlish love for George Forester; how she had
+clung to him through evil report, and in spite of the wishes of her
+father and mother, but how at last the incident of the affray with the
+gamekeepers had opened her eyes to the fact that he was altogether
+reckless and wild, and that she could never trust her happiness to him.
+She told how Margaret Carne had spoken to her about it, and how she had
+promised she would give him up; then she told of that meeting on the
+road on the way to church; his passionate anger against herself; the
+threats he had uttered against Miss Carne for her interference, and the
+way in which he had assaulted her.
+
+"I firmly believe," Ruth said, "he would have murdered me had he not
+heard people coming along the road." Then she told how she found the
+open knife stained with blood at Margaret Carne's bedside, and how she
+had hidden it. "I did not do it because I loved him still, Mary," she
+said. "My love seemed to have been killed. I had given him up before,
+and the attack he made upon me had shown me clearly how violent he was,
+and what an escape I had had; but I had loved him as a boy, and it was
+the remembrance of my girlish love, and not any love I then had, that
+sealed my lips; but even this would not have silenced me, I think, had
+it not been for the sake of his father. The old man had always been
+very, very kind to me, and the disgrace of his son being found guilty of
+this crime would have killed him. I can say, honestly, it was this that
+chiefly influenced me in deciding to shield him. As to Captain Mervyn,
+I was, as I told you, determined that though I would keep silent if he
+were acquitted, I would save him if he were found guilty. I never
+thought for a moment that acquittal would not clear him. It seemed to me
+that the trouble that had fallen on him was thoroughly deserved for the
+way in which he had spoken to Miss Carne; but I thought when he was
+acquitted he would take his place in his regiment again, and be none the
+worse for what had happened. It was only when I found that he had left
+the regiment, and when Mrs. Mervyn and her daughters shut up the house
+and went to live far away, that I began to trouble much. I saw now how
+wicked I had been, though I would never quite own it even to myself. I
+would have told then, but I did not know who to tell it to, or what good
+it could do if told. Mr. Forester was dead now, and the truth could not
+hurt him. George Forester had gone away, and would never come back; you
+know they found a verdict of wilful murder against him for killing the
+keeper. Somehow it seemed too late either to do good or harm. Every one
+had gone. Why should I say anything, and bring grief and trouble on my
+father and mother, and make the whole valley despise me? It has been
+dreadful," she said, wanly. "You cannot tell how dreadful. Ever since
+you came here and tried to make a friend of me, I have been fighting a
+battle with myself. It was not right that you should like me--it was not
+right that any one should like me--and I felt at last that I must tell
+you; you first, and then every one. Now after what you have told me it
+will not be so hard. Of course I shall suffer, and my father will
+suffer; but it will do good and make you and Captain Mervyn happy for
+the truth to be known, and so I shall be able to brave it all much
+better than I should otherwise have done. Who shall I go to first?"
+
+"I cannot tell you, Ruth. I must speak to my father, and he will think
+it over, and perhaps he will write and ask Ronald how he would like it
+done. There is no great hurry, for he cannot come home anyhow till the
+war is finished, and it may last for months yet."
+
+"Well, I am ready to go anywhere and to tell every one when you like,"
+Ruth said. "Do not look so pitiful, Mary. I am sure I shall be much
+happier, whatever happens, even if they put me in prison, now that I
+have made up my mind to do what is right."
+
+"There is no fear of that, I think, Ruth. They never asked you whether
+you had found anything; and though you certainly hid the truth, you did
+not absolutely give false evidence."
+
+"It was all wrong and wicked," Ruth said, "and it will be quite right if
+they punish me; but that would be nothing to what I have suffered
+lately. I should feel happier in prison with this weight off my mind.
+But can you forgive me, Mary? Can you forgive me causing such misery to
+Captain Mervyn, and such unhappiness to you?"
+
+"You need not be afraid about that," Mary said, laying her hand
+assuringly on Ruth's shoulder. "Why, child, you have been a benefactor
+to us both! If you had told all about it at first, Ronald would never
+have gone out to the Cape; father and I would have been killed in the
+first attack; and if we had not been, I should have been tortured to
+death in the Amatolas; and, last of all, we should never have seen and
+loved each other. Whatever troubles you may have to bear, do not reckon
+Ronald's displeasure and mine among them. I shall have cause to thank
+you all the days of my life, and I hope Ronald will have cause to do so
+too. Kiss me, Ruth; you have made me the happiest woman in the world,
+and I would give a great deal to be able to set this right without your
+having to put yourself forward in it."
+
+Ruth was crying now, but they were not tears of unhappiness. They talked
+for some time longer, sitting hand in hand; and then, as Mr. Armstrong's
+step was heard coming up to the cottage, Ruth seized her hat and shawl.
+
+"I dare not see him," she said; "he may not look at it as you do."
+
+"Yes, he will," Mary said. "You don't know my father; he is one of the
+tenderest hearted of men." But Ruth darted out just as the door opened.
+
+"What is it?" Mr. Armstrong asked in surprise. "Ruth Powlett nearly
+knocked me down in the passage, and rushed off without even the ordinary
+decency of apologising."
+
+"Ruth has told me everything, father. We can clear Ronald Mervyn as soon
+as we like." And Mary Armstrong threw her arms round her father's neck.
+
+"I thank God for that, Mary. I felt it would come sooner or later, but I
+had hardly hoped that it would come so soon. I am thankful, indeed, my
+child; how did it all come about?"
+
+Mary repeated the story Ruth Powlett told her.
+
+"Yes, there's no doubt about it this time," her father said. "As you
+say, there could be no mistake about the knife, because she had given it
+to him herself, and had had his initials engraved upon it at Plymouth. I
+don't think any reasonable man could have a doubt that the scoundrel did
+it; and now, my dear, what is to be done next?"
+
+"Ah, that is for you to decide. I think Ronald ought to be consulted."
+
+"Oh, you think that?" Mr. Armstrong said, quickly. "You think he knows a
+great deal better what ought to be done than I do?"
+
+"No, I don't exactly mean that, father; but I think one would like to
+know how he would wish it to be done before we do anything. There is no
+particular hurry, you know, when he once knows that it is all going to
+be set right."
+
+"No, beyond the fact that he would naturally like to get rid of this
+thing hanging over him as soon as he can. Now, my idea is that the girl
+ought to go at once to a magistrate and make an affidavit, and hand over
+this knife to him. I don't know how the matter is to be re-opened,
+because Ronald Mervyn has been acquitted, and the other man is goodness
+knows where."
+
+"Well, father, there will be time enough to think over it, but I do
+think we had better tell Ronald first."
+
+"Very well, my dear, as you generally have your own way, I suppose we
+shall finally settle on that, whether we agree now or three days hence.
+By the way, I have got a letter in my pocket for you from him. The Cape
+mail touched at Plymouth yesterday."
+
+"Why did you not tell me of it before, father?" the girl said,
+reproachfully.
+
+"Well, my dear, your news is so infinitely more important, that I own I
+forgot all about the letter. Besides, as this is the fourth that you
+have had since you have been here, it is not of such extreme
+importance."
+
+But Mary was reading the letter and paid no attention to what her father
+was saying. Presently she gave a sudden exclamation.
+
+"What is it, my dear; has he changed his mind and married a Kaffir
+woman? If so, we need not trouble any more about the affair."
+
+"No, papa; it is serious--quite serious."
+
+"Well, my dear, that would be serious; at least I should have thought
+you would consider it so."
+
+"No, father; but really this is extraordinary. What do you think he
+says?"
+
+"It is of no use my thinking about it, Mary," Mr. Armstrong said,
+resignedly, "especially as I suppose you are going to tell me. I have
+made one suggestion, and it seems that it is incorrect."
+
+"This is what he says, father: 'You know that I told you a trooper in my
+company recognised me. I fancied I knew the man's face, but could not
+recall where I had seen it. The other day it suddenly flashed upon me;
+he is the son of a little farmer upon my cousin's estate, a man by the
+name of Forester. I often saw him when he was a young fellow, for I was
+fond of fishing, and I can remember him as a boy who was generally
+fishing down in the mill-stream. I fancy he rather went to grief
+afterwards, and have some idea he was mixed up in a poaching business in
+the Carne woods. So I think he must have left the country about that
+time. Curious, isn't it, his running against me here? However, it cannot
+be helped. I suppose it will all come out, sooner or later, for he has
+been in the guardroom several times for drunkenness, and one of these
+times he will be sure to blurt it out.'"
+
+"Isn't that extraordinary, father?"
+
+"It is certainly an extraordinary coincidence, Mary, that these two
+men--the murderer of Miss Carne and the man who has suffered for that
+murder should be out there together. This complicates matters a good
+deal."
+
+"It does, father. There can be no doubt of what is to be done now."
+
+"Well, now I quite come round on your side, Mary; nothing should be done
+until Mervyn knows all about it, and can let us know what his views are.
+I should not think that he could have this man arrested out there merely
+on his unsupported accusation, and I should imagine that he will want an
+official copy of Ruth Powlett's affidavit, and perhaps a warrant sent
+out from England, before he can get him arrested. Anyhow, we must go
+cautiously to work. When Ruth Powlett speaks, it will make a great stir
+here, and this Forester may have some correspondent here who would write
+and tell him what has happened, and then he might make a bolt of it
+before Ronald can get the law at work and lay hold of him."
+
+"I should rather hope, for Ruth's sake, that he would do so, father.
+She is ready to make her confession and to bear all the talk it will
+make and the blame that will fall upon her; but it would be a great
+trial to her to have the man she once loved brought over and hung upon
+her evidence."
+
+"So it would, Mary, so it would; but, on the other hand, it can be only
+by his trial and execution that Mervyn's innocence can be absolutely
+proved to the satisfaction of every one. It is a grave question
+altogether, Mary, and at any rate we will wait. Tell Mervyn he has all
+the facts before him, and must decide what is to be done. Besides, my
+dear, I think it will be only fair that Ruth should know that we are in
+a position to lay hands on this Forester before she makes the
+confession."
+
+"I think so too, father. Yes, she certainly ought to be told; but I am
+sure that now she has made up her mind to confess she will not draw
+back. Still, of course, it would be very painful for her. We need not
+tell her at present; I will write a long letter to Ronald and tell him
+all the ins and outs of it, and then we can wait quietly until we hear
+from him."
+
+"You need not have said that you will write a long letter, Mary," Mr.
+Armstrong said, drily, "considering that each time the mail has gone out
+I have seen nothing of you for twenty-four hours previously, and that I
+have reason to believe that an extra mail cart has had each time to be
+put on to carry the correspondence."
+
+"It's all very well to laugh, father," Mary said, a little indignantly,
+"but you know that he is having fights almost every day with the
+Kaffirs, and only has our letters to look forward to, telling him how we
+are getting on and----and----"
+
+"And how we love him, Mary, and how we dream of him, etc., etc."
+
+Mary laughed.
+
+"Never mind what I put in my letters, father, as long as he is satisfied
+with them."
+
+"I don't, my dear. My only fear is that he will come back wearing
+spectacles, for I should say that it would ruin any human eyes to have
+to wade through the reams of feminine handwriting you send to him. If he
+is the sensible fellow I give him credit for, he only reads the first
+three words, which are, I suppose, 'my darling Ronald' and the last
+four, which I also suppose are 'your ever loving Mary.'"
+
+The colour flooded Mary Armstrong's cheeks.
+
+"You have no right even to guess at my letters, father, and I have no
+doubt that whether they are long or short, he reads them through a dozen
+times."
+
+"Poor fellow, poor fellow!" Mr. Armstrong said, pityingly.
+"Nevertheless, my dear, important as all these matters are, I do not
+know why I should be compelled to fast. I came in an hour ago, expecting
+to find tea ready, and there are no signs of it visible. I shall have to
+follow the example of the villagers when their wives fail to get their
+meals ready, and go down to the 'Carne's Arms' for it."
+
+"You shall have it in five minutes, father," Mary Armstrong said,
+running out. "Men are so dreadfully material that whatever happens their
+appetite must be attended to just as usual."
+
+And so three days afterwards a full account of all that Ruth Powlett had
+said, and of the circumstances of the case, was despatched to "Sergeant
+Blunt, Cape Mounted Rifles, Kaffirland."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+GEORGE FORESTER'S DEATH.
+
+
+Ronald Mervyn led so active a life for some months after the departure
+of Mr. Armstrong and his daughter, that he had little time to spend in
+thought, and it was only by seizing odd minutes between intervals of
+work that he could manage to send home a budget at all proportionate in
+size to that which he regularly received. When the courier came up with
+the English mails there had been stern fighting, for although the
+British force was raised by the arrival of reinforcements from India and
+England to over 5,000 men, with several batteries of artillery, it was
+with the greatest difficulty that it gradually won its way into the
+Kaffir stronghold. Several times the troops were so hardly pressed by
+the enemy that they could scarcely claim a victory, and a large number
+of officers and men fell. The Cape Mounted Rifles formed part of every
+expedition into the Amatolas, and had their full share of fighting.
+Ronald had several times distinguished himself, especially in the fight
+in the Water Kloof Valley, when Colonel Fordyce, of the 74th, and Carey
+and Gordon, two officers of the same regiment, were killed, together
+with several of their men, while attacking the enemy in the bush. He was
+aware now that his secret was known to the men. He had fancied that
+searching and inquisitive glances were directed towards him, and that
+there was a change in the demeanour of certain men of his troop, these
+being without exception the idlest and worst soldiers. It was Sergeant
+Menzies who first spoke to him on the subject. It was after a hard day's
+march when, having picketed their horses and eaten their hastily cooked
+rations, the two non-commissioned officers lit their pipes and sat down
+together at a short distance from the fire.
+
+"I have been wanting to speak to you, lad, for the last day or two.
+There is a story gaining ground through the troop that, whether it is
+true or whether it is false, you ought to know."
+
+"I guessed as much, Menzies," Ronald said. "I think I know what the
+story is, and who is the man who has spread it. It is that I bore
+another name in England."
+
+"Yes, that's partly it, lad. I hear that you are rightly Captain
+Mervyn."
+
+"Yes, that's it, Menzies, and that I was tried and acquitted for murder
+in England."
+
+"That's the story, my lad. Of course, it makes no difference to us who
+you are, or what they say you have done. We who know you would not
+believe you to have committed a murder, much less the murder of a woman,
+if all the juries in the world had said you had. Still I thought I would
+let you know that the story is going about, so that you might not be
+taken aback if you heard it suddenly. Of course, it's no disgrace to be
+tried for murder if you are found innocent; it only shows that some
+fools have made a mistake, and been proved to be wrong. Still, as it has
+been talked about, you ought to know it. There is a lot of feeling in
+the regiment about it now, and the fellow who told the story has had a
+rough time of it, and there's many a one would put a bullet into him if
+he had the chance. What they say is, whether you are Captain Mervyn or
+not is nothing to anybody but yourself. If you were tried and acquitted
+for this affair it ought to have dropped and nothing more been said
+about it, and they hold that anyhow a man belonging to the corps ought
+to have held his tongue about anything he knew against another who is
+such a credit to us."
+
+"The man might have held his tongue, perhaps," Ronald said, quietly;
+"but I never expected that he would do so. The fellow comes from my
+neighbourhood, and bore a bad character. A man who has shot a gamekeeper
+would be pretty sure to tell anything he knew to the disadvantage of any
+one of superior rank to himself. Well, sergeant, you can only tell any
+one who asks you about it that you have questioned me, and that I
+admitted at once that the story was true--that I was Captain Mervyn, and
+that I was tried for murder and acquitted. Some day I hope my innocence
+may be more thoroughly proved than it was on the day I was acquitted. I
+daresay he has told the whole of the facts, and I admit them freely."
+
+"Well, lad, I am glad you have spoken. Of course it will make no
+difference, except perhaps to a few men who would be better out of the
+corps than in it; and they know too well what the temper of the men is
+to venture to show it. I can understand now why you didn't take a
+commission. I have often wondered over it, for it seemed to me that it
+was just the thing you would have liked. But I see that till this thing
+was cleared up you naturally wouldn't like it. Well, I am heartily sorry
+for the business, if you don't mind my saying so. I have always been
+sure you were an officer before you joined us, and wondered how it was
+that you left the army. You must have had a sore time of it. I am sorry
+for you from my heart."
+
+Ronald sat quiet for some time thinking after Sergeant Menzies left him,
+then rose and walked towards the fire where the officers were sitting.
+
+"Can I speak with you a few minutes, Captain Twentyman?" he said. The
+officer at once rose.
+
+"Anything wrong in the troop, sergeant?"
+
+"No, sir; there is nothing the matter with the troop, it is some
+business of my own. May I ask if you have heard anything about me,
+Captain Twentyman?"
+
+"Heard anything! In what way do you mean, sergeant?"
+
+"Well, sir, as to my private history."
+
+"No," the officer said, somewhat puzzled.
+
+"Well, sir, the thing has got about among the men. There is one of them
+knew me at home, and he has told the others. Now that it is known to the
+men, sooner or later it will be known to the officers, and therefore I
+thought it better to come and tell you myself, as captain of my troop."
+
+"It can be nothing discreditable, I am quite sure, sergeant," the
+officer said, kindly.
+
+"Well, sir, it is discreditable; that is to say, I lie under a heavy
+charge, from which I am unable to clear myself. I have been tried for it
+and found not guilty, but I am sure that if I had been before a Scotch
+jury the verdict would have been not proven, and I left the court
+acquitted indeed, but a disgraced and ruined man."
+
+"What was the charge?"
+
+"The charge was murder," Ronald said, quietly. Captain Twentyman
+started, but replied:
+
+"Ridiculous. No one who knew you could have thought you guilty for a
+moment."
+
+"I think that none who knew me intimately believed in my guilt, but I am
+sure that most people who did not so know me believed me guilty. I
+daresay you saw the case in the papers. My real name, Captain Twentyman,
+is Ronald Mervyn, and I was captain in the Borderers. I was tried for
+the murder of my cousin, Margaret Carne."
+
+"Good Heavens! Is it possible?" Captain Twentyman exclaimed. "Of course
+I remember the case perfectly. We saw it in the English papers somewhere
+about a year ago, and it was a general matter of conversation, owing, of
+course, to your being in the army. I didn't know what to think of it
+then, but now I know you, the idea of your murdering a woman seems
+perfectly ridiculous. Well, is there anything you would wish me to do!"
+
+"No, sir; I only thought you ought to be told. I leave it with you to
+mention it to others or not. Perhaps you will think it best to say
+nothing until the story gets about. Then you can say you are aware of
+it."
+
+"Yes, I think that would be the best," Captain Twentyman said, after
+thinking it over. "I remember that I thought when I read the account of
+that trial that you were either one of the most lucky or one of the most
+unfortunate men in the world. I see now that it was the latter."
+
+A few days later, an hour or two before the column was about to march,
+a flag hoisted at the post-office tent told the camp that the mail had
+arrived, and orderlies from each corps at once hurried there. As they
+brought the bags out they were emptied on the ground. Some of the
+sergeants set to work to sort the letters, while the officers stood
+round and picked out their own as they lay on the grass.
+
+"Here, Blunt, here's one for you," Sergeant Menzies said, when Ronald
+came up.
+
+Ronald took the letter, and sauntering away a short distance, threw
+himself on the ground and opened it. After reading the first line or two
+he leaped to his feet again, and took a few steps up and down, with his
+breath coming fast, and his hands twitching. Then he stood suddenly
+still, took off his cap, bent his head, put his hand over his eyes, and
+stood for a few minutes without moving. When he put his cap on again his
+face was wet with tears, his hands were trembling so that when he took
+the letter again he could scarce read it. A sudden exclamation broke
+from him as he came upon the name of Forester. The letter was so long
+that the trumpets were sounding by the time he had finished. He folded
+it and put it in his tunic, and then strode back with head erect to the
+spot where the men of his troop were saddling their horses. As he passed
+on among them a sudden impulse seized him, and he stopped before one of
+the men and touched him on the shoulder.
+
+"You villain," he said, "you have been accusing me of murder. You are a
+murderer yourself."
+
+The man's face paled suddenly.
+
+"I know you, George Forester," Ronald went on, "and I know that you are
+guilty. You have to thank the woman who once loved you that I do not at
+once hand you over to the provost-marshal to be sent to England for
+trial, but for her sake I will let you escape. Make a confession and
+sign it, and then go your way where you will, and no search shall be
+made for you; if you do not, to-morrow you shall be in the hands of the
+police."
+
+"There is no evidence against me more than against another," the man
+said, sullenly.
+
+"No evidence, you villain?" Ronald said. "Your knife--the knife with
+your initials on it--covered with blood, was found by the body."
+
+The man staggered as if struck.
+
+"I knew I had lost it," he said, as if to himself, "but I didn't know I
+dropped it there."
+
+At this moment the bugle sounded.
+
+"I will give you until to-morrow morning to think about it," and Ronald
+ran off to mount his horse, which he had saddled before going for his
+letter.
+
+Sergeant Menzies caught sight of his comrade's face as he sprang into
+the saddle.
+
+"Eh, man," he said, "what's come to you? You have good news, haven't
+you, of some kind? Your face is transfigured, man!"
+
+"The best," Ronald said, holding out his hand to his comrade. "I am
+proved to be innocent."
+
+Menzies gave him a firm grip of the hand, and then each took his place
+in the ranks. There was desperate fighting that day with the Kaffirs.
+The Cape Mounted Rifles, while scouting ahead of the infantry in the
+bush, were suddenly attacked by an immense body of Kaffirs. Muskets
+cracked, and assegais flew in showers. Several of the men dropped, and
+discharging their rifles, the troopers fell back towards the infantry.
+As they retreated, Ronald looked back. One of the men of his troop,
+whose horse had been shot under him, had been overtaken by the enemy,
+and was surrounded by a score of Kaffirs. His cap was off, and Ronald
+caught sight of his face. He gave a shout, and in an instant had turned
+his horse and dashed towards the group.
+
+"Come back, man, come back!" Captain Twentyman shouted. "It's madness!"
+
+But Ronald did not hear him. The man whose confession could alone
+absolutely clear him was in the hands of the Kaffirs, and must be saved
+at any cost. A moment later he was in the midst of the natives, emptying
+his revolvers among them. Forester had sunk on one knee as Ronald,
+having emptied one of his revolvers, hurled it in the face of a Kaffir;
+leaning over, he caught Forester by the collar, and, with a mighty
+effort, lifted and threw him across the saddle in front of him, then
+bending over him, he spurred his horse through the natives. Just at this
+moment Captain Twentyman and a score of the men rode up at full speed,
+drove the Kaffirs back for an instant, and enabled Ronald to rejoin his
+lines. Three assegais had struck him, and he reeled in the saddle as,
+amidst the cheers of his companions, he rode up.
+
+"One of you take the wounded man in front of you," Lieutenant Daniels
+said, "and carry him to the rear. Thompson, do you jump up behind
+Sergeant Blunt, and support him. There is no time to be lost. Quick,
+man, these fellows are coming on like furies."
+
+The exchange was made in half a minute; one of the men took George
+Forester before him, another sprang up behind Ronald and held him in his
+saddle with one hand, while he took the reins in the other. Then they
+rode fast to the rear, just as the leading battalion of infantry came up
+at a run and opened fire on the Kaffirs, who, with wild yells, were
+pressing on the rear of the cavalry.
+
+When Ronald recovered his senses he was lying in the ambulance waggon,
+and the surgeon was dressing his wounds.
+
+"That's right, sergeant," he said, cheeringly, "I think you will do. You
+have three nasty wounds, but by good luck I don't think any of them are
+vital."
+
+"How is Forester?" Ronald asked.
+
+"Forester?" the surgeon repeated in surprise, "Whom do you mean,
+Blunt?"
+
+"I mean Jim Smith, sir; his real name was Forester."
+
+"There is nothing to be done for him," the surgeon said. "Nothing can
+save him; he is riddled with spears."
+
+"Is he conscious?" Ronald asked.
+
+"No, not at present."
+
+"Will he become conscious before he dies, sir?"
+
+"I don't know," the surgeon replied, somewhat puzzled at Ronald's
+question. "He may be, but I cannot say."
+
+"It is everything to me, sir," Ronald said. "I have been accused of a
+great crime of which he is the author. He can clear me if he will. All
+my future life depends upon his speaking."
+
+"Then I hope he may be able to speak, Blunt, but at present I can't say
+whether he will recover consciousness or not. He is in the waggon here,
+and I will let you know directly if there is any change."
+
+Ronald lay quiet, listening to the firing that gradually became more
+distant, showing that the infantry were driving the Kaffirs back into
+the bush. Wounded men were brought in fast, and the surgeon and his
+assistant were fully occupied. The waggon was halted now, and at
+Ronald's request the stretchers upon which he and Forester were lying
+were taken out and laid on the grass under the shade of a tree.
+
+Towards evening, the surgeon, having finished his pressing work, came to
+them. He felt George Forester's pulse.
+
+"He is sinking fast," he said, in reply to Ronald's anxious look. "But I
+will see what I can do."
+
+He poured some brandy between George Forester's lips, and held a bottle
+of ammonia to his nose. Presently there was a deep sigh, and then
+Forester opened his eyes. For a minute he looked round vaguely, and then
+his eye fell upon Ronald.
+
+"So you got me out of the hands of the Kaffirs, Captain Mervyn," he
+said, in a faint voice. "I caught sight of you among them as I went
+down. I know they have done for me, but I would rather be buried whole
+than hacked into pieces."
+
+"I did my best for you, Forester," Mervyn said. "I am sorry I was not up
+a minute sooner. Now, Forester, you see I have been hit pretty hard,
+too; will you do one thing for me? I want you to confess about what I
+was speaking to you: it will make all the difference to other people."
+
+"I may as well tell the truth as not," Forester said; "though I don't
+see how it makes much difference."
+
+"Doctor," Ronald said, "could you kindly send and ask Captain Twentyman
+and Lieutenant Daniels to come here at once? I want them to hear."
+
+George Forester's eyes were closed, and he was breathing faintly when
+the two officers, who had ridden up a few minutes before with their
+corps, came up to the spot.
+
+The surgeon again gave the wounded man some strong cordial.
+
+"Will you write down what he says?" Ronald asked Captain Twentyman.
+
+The latter took out a note-book and pencil.
+
+"I make this confession," Forester said, faintly, "at the request of
+Captain Mervyn, who risked his life in getting me out from among the
+Kaffirs. My real name is George Forester, and at home I live near
+Carnesford, in Devonshire. I was one night poaching in Mr. Carne's
+woods, with some men from Dareport, when we came upon the keepers. There
+was a fight. One of the keepers knocked my gun out of my hand, and as he
+raised his stick to knock me on the head, I whipped out my knife, opened
+it, and stuck it into him. I didn't mean to kill him, it was just done
+in a moment; but he died from it. We ran away. Afterwards I found
+that I had lost my knife. I suppose I dropped it. That's all I have to
+say."
+
+"Not all, Forester, not all," said Ronald, who had listened with
+impatience to the slowly-uttered words of the wounded man; "not all. It
+isn't that, but about the murder of Miss Carne I want you to tell."
+
+"The murder of Miss Carne," George Forester repeated, slowly. "I know
+nothing about that. She made Ruth break it off with me, and I nearly
+killed Ruth, and would have killed her if I had had the chance, but I
+never had. I was glad when I heard she was killed, but I don't know who
+did it."
+
+"But your knife was found by her body," Ronald said. "You must have done
+it, Forester."
+
+"Murdered Miss Carne!" the man said, half raising himself on his elbow
+in surprise. "Never. I swear I had nothing to do with it."
+
+A rush of blood poured from his mouth, for one of the spears had pierced
+his lung, and a moment later George Forester fell back dead. The
+disappointment and revulsion of feeling were too great for Ronald
+Mervyn, and he fainted. When he recovered, the surgeon was leaning over
+him.
+
+[Illustration: _George Forester's death._]
+
+"You mustn't talk, lad; you must keep yourself quite quiet, or we shall
+have fever setting in, and all sorts of trouble."
+
+Ronald closed his eyes, and lay back quietly. How could this be? He
+thought of Mary Armstrong's letter, of the chain of proofs that had
+accumulated against George Forester. They seemed absolutely convincing,
+and yet there was no doubting the ring of truth in the last words of the
+dying man. His surprise at the accusation was genuine; his assertion of
+his innocence absolutely convincing; he had no motive for lying; he was
+dying, and he knew it. Besides, the thing had come so suddenly upon him
+there could have been no time for him to frame a lie, even if he had
+been in a mental condition to do so. Whoever killed Margaret Carne,
+Ronald Mervyn was at once convinced that it was not George Forester.
+There he lay, thinking for hours over the disappointment that the news
+would be to Mary Armstrong, and how it seemed more unlikely than ever
+that the mystery would ever be cleared up now. Gradually his thoughts
+became more vague, until at last he fell asleep.
+
+Upon the following day the wounded were sent down under an escort to
+King Williamstown, and there for a month Ronald Mervyn lay in hospital.
+He had written a few lines to Mary Armstrong, saying that he had been
+wounded, but not dangerously, and that she need not be anxious about him
+any more, for the Kaffirs were now almost driven from their last
+stronghold, and that the fighting would almost certainly be over before
+he was fit to mount his horse again. "George Forester is dead," he said.
+"He was mortally wounded when fighting bravely against the Kaffirs. I
+fear, dear, that your ideas about him were mistaken, and that he, like
+myself, has been the victim of circumstantial evidence; but I will tell
+you more about this when I write to you next."
+
+While lying there, Ronald thought over the evidence that had been
+collected against George Forester, and debated with himself whether it
+should be published, as Mary had proposed. It would, doubtless, be
+accepted by the world as proof of Forester's guilt and of his own
+innocence; and even the fact that the man, when dying, had denied it,
+would weigh for very little with the public, for men proved indisputably
+to be guilty often go to the scaffold asserting their innocence to the
+last. But would it be right to throw this crime upon the dead man when
+he was sure that he was innocent? For Ronald did not doubt for a moment
+the truth of the denial. Had he a right, even for the sake of Mary's
+happiness and his own, to charge the memory of the dead man with the
+burden of this foul crime? Ronald felt that it could not be. The
+temptation was strong, but he fought long against it, and at last his
+mind was made up.
+
+"No," he said at last, "I will not do it. George Forester was no doubt a
+bad man, but he was not so bad as this. It would be worse to charge his
+memory with it than to accuse him if he were alive. In the one case he
+might clear himself; in the other he cannot. I cannot clear my name by
+fouling that of a dead man."
+
+And so Ronald at last sat down to write a long letter to Mary Armstrong,
+telling her the whole circumstances; the joy with which he received her
+news; his conversation with George Forester, which seemed wholly to
+confirm her views; the pang of agony he had felt when he saw the man who
+he believed could alone clear him, in the hands of the Kaffirs, and his
+desperate charge to rescue him; and then he gave the words of the
+confession, and expressed his absolute conviction that the dying man had
+spoken the truth, and that he was really innocent of Margaret Carne's
+murder.
+
+He then discussed the question of still publishing Ruth Powlett's
+statement, giving first the cause of George Forester's enmity against
+Margaret Carne, and the threat he had uttered, and then the discovery of
+the knife.
+
+"I fear you will be ashamed of me, Mary, when I tell you that, for a
+time, I almost yielded to the temptation of clearing myself at his
+expense. But you must make allowance for the strength of the temptation:
+on the one side was the thought of my honour restored, and of you won;
+on the other, the thought that, now George Forester was dead, this could
+not harm him. But, of course, I finally put the temptation aside; honour
+purchased at the expense of a dead man's reputation would be dishonour
+indeed. Now I can face disgrace, because I know I am innocent. I could
+not bear honour when I knew that I had done a dishonourable action; and
+I know that I should utterly forfeit your love and esteem did I do so. I
+can look you straight in the face now; I could never look you straight
+in the face then. Do not grieve too much over the disappointment. We are
+now only as we were when I said good-bye to you. I had no hope then that
+you would ever succeed in clearing me, and I have no hope now. I have
+not got up my strength again yet, and am therefore perhaps just at
+present a little more disposed to repine over the disappointment than I
+ought to do; but this will wear off when I get in the saddle again.
+There will, I think, be no more fighting--at any rate with the Sandilli
+Kaffirs--for we hear this morning that they have sent in to beg for
+peace, and I am certain we shall be glad enough to grant it, for we have
+not much to boast about in the campaign. Of course they will have to pay
+a very heavy fine in cattle, and will have to move across to the other
+side of the Kei. Equally of course there will be trouble again with them
+after a time, when the memory of their losses has somewhat abated. I
+fancy a portion of our force will march against the Basutos, whose
+attitude has lately been very hostile; but now that the Gaikas have
+given in, and we are free to use our whole force against them, it is
+scarcely probable they will venture to try conclusions with us. If they
+settle down peaceably I shall probably apply for my discharge, and
+perhaps go in for farming, or carry out my first idea of joining a party
+of traders going up the country, and getting some shooting among the big
+game.
+
+"I know that, disappointed as you will be with the news contained in
+this letter, it will be a pleasure to you to tell the girl you have made
+your friend, that after all the man she once loved is innocent of this
+terrible crime. She must have suffered horribly while she was hiding
+what she thought was the most important part of the evidence; now she
+will see that she has really done no harm; and as you seem to be really
+fond of her, it will, I am sure, be a great pleasure to you to be able
+to restore her peace of mind in both these respects. I should think now
+that you and your father will not remain any longer at Carnesford, where
+neither of you has any fitting society of any sort, but will go and
+settle somewhere in your proper position. I would much rather that you
+did, for now it seems absolutely certain that nothing further is to be
+learned, it would trouble me to think of you wasting your lives at
+Carnesford.
+
+"You said in your last letter that the discovery you had made had
+brought you four years nearer to happiness, but I have never said a word
+to admit that I should change my mind at the end of the five years that
+your father spoke of. Still, I don't know, Mary. I think my position is
+stronger by a great deal than it was six months ago. I told my captain
+who I was, and all the other officers now know. Most of them came up and
+spoke very kindly to me before I started on my way down here, and I am
+sure that when I leave the corps they will give me a testimonial, saying
+that they are convinced by my behaviour while in the corps that I could
+not have been guilty of this crime. I own that I myself am less
+sensitive on the subject than I was. One has no time to be morbid while
+leading such a life as I have been for the last nine months.
+Perhaps----but I will not say any more now. But I think somehow, that,
+at the end of the five years, I shall leave the decision in your hands.
+It has taken me two or three days to write this letter, for I am not
+strong enough to stick to it for more than half an hour at a time; but
+as the post goes out this afternoon I must close it now. We have been
+expecting a mail from England for some days. It is considerably
+overdue, and I need not say how I am longing for another letter from
+you. I hear the regiment will be back from the front to-night; men and
+horses want a few days' rest before starting on this long march to
+Basutoland. I shall be very glad to see them back again. Of course, the
+invalids who, like myself, are somewhat pulled down by their wounds, are
+disgusted at being kept here. The weather is frightfully hot, and even
+in our shirt sleeves we shall be hardly able to enjoy Christmas day."
+
+The Cape Rifles arrived at King Williamstown an hour after the post had
+left, and in the evening the colonel and several of the officers paid a
+visit to the hospital to see how their wounded were getting on. Ronald,
+who was sitting reading by his bedside, and the other invalids who were
+strong enough to be on their feet, at once got up and stood at
+attention. Stopping and speaking a few words to each of the men of his
+own corps, the colonel came on. "Mervyn," he said, as he and the
+officers came up to Ronald, "I want to shake your hand. I have heard
+your story from Captain Twentyman, and I wish to tell you, in my own
+name and in that of the other officers of the regiment, that we are sure
+you have been the victim of some horrible mistake. All of us are
+absolutely convinced that a man who has shown such extreme gallantry as
+you have, and whose conduct has been so excellent from the day he
+joined, is wholly incapable of such a crime as that with which you were
+charged. You were, of course, acquitted, but at the same time I think
+that it cannot but be a satisfaction for you to know that you have won
+the esteem of your officers and your comrades, and that in their eyes
+you are free from the slightest taint of that black business. Give me
+your hand."
+
+Ronald was unable to speak; the colonel and all the officers shook him
+by the hand, and the former said: "I must have another long talk with
+you when we get back from the Basuto business. I have mentioned you very
+strongly in regimental orders upon two occasions for extreme gallantry,
+and I cannot but think that it would do you some good in the eyes of the
+public were a letter signed by me to appear in the English papers,
+saying that the Sergeant Blunt of my regiment, who has so signally
+distinguished himself, is really Captain Mervyn, who in my opinion and
+that of my officers is a cruelly injured man. But we can talk over that
+when I see you again."
+
+After the officer left the room, Ronald Mervyn sat for some time with
+his face buried in his hands. The colonel's words had greatly moved him.
+Surely such a letter as that which Colonel Somerset had proposed to
+write would do much to clear him. He should never think of taking his
+own name again or re-entering any society in which he would be likely to
+be recognised, but with such a testimonial as that in his favour he
+might hope in some quiet place to live down the past, and should he
+again be recognised, could still hold up his head with such an
+honourable record as this to produce in his favour. Then his thoughts
+went back to England. What would Mary and her father say when they read
+such a letter in the paper? It would be no proof of his innocence, yet
+he felt sure that Mary would insist upon regarding it as such, and would
+hold that he had no right to keep her waiting for another four years.
+Indeed he acknowledged to himself that if she did so he would have no
+right to refuse any longer to permit her to be mistress of her own
+fate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE FIRE AT CARNE'S HOLD.
+
+
+Things went on quietly with Mr. Armstrong and his daughter after the
+latter had despatched her letter, saying that Ruth Powlett was ready to
+confess the truth respecting George Forester. The excitement of
+following up the clue was over, and there was nothing to do until they
+heard from Ronald as to how he wished them to proceed. So one morning
+Mr. Armstrong came down and told Mary to pack up at once and start with
+him at twelve o'clock for London. "We are getting like two owls, and
+must wake ourselves up a bit." Mary ran down to the mill to say good-bye
+to Ruth, and tell her that she and her father had to go to London for a
+short time. They were ready by the time named, for there was little
+packing to do, and at twelve o'clock the trap from the "Carne's Arms"
+came up to the door, and took them to the station. A month was spent in
+London, sight-seeing. By the end of that time both had had enough of
+theatres and exhibitions, and returned to Carnesford.
+
+"Well, what is the news, neighbours?" Mr. Armstrong asked, as he entered
+the snuggery on the evening of his return.
+
+"There is not much news here," Jacob Carey said; "there never is much
+news to speak of in Carnesford; but they say things are not going on
+well up at The Hold."
+
+"In what way, Mr. Carey?"
+
+"Well, for some time there has been a talk that the Squire was getting
+strange in his ways. He was never bright and cheerful like Miss
+Margaret, but always seemed to be a-thinking, and as often as not when
+he rode through here, would take no more notice of you when he passed
+than if you hadn't been there. He was always wonderful fond of books
+they say, and when a man takes to books, I don't think he is much good
+for anything else; but ever since Miss Margaret's death, he has been
+queerer than before, and they said he had a way of walking about the
+house all hours of the night. So it went on until just lately. Now it
+seems he is worse than ever. They can hear him talking to himself, and
+laughing in a way as would make you creep. Folks say as the curse of the
+Carnes has fallen on him bad, and that he is as mad as his grandfather
+was. The women have all left except the old cook, who has got a girl to
+stay with her. They lock the door at night, and they have got the men
+from the stable to sleep in the house unknown to the master. One day
+last week, when Mr. Carne was out for the day, old Hester came down and
+saw the parson, and he sent for Dr. Arrowsmith, and they had a quiet
+talk over it. You see it is a mighty awkward thing to meddle with. Mr.
+Carne has got no relations so far as is known, except Mrs. Mervyn's
+daughters, who are away living, I hear, at Hastings, and Captain Mervyn,
+who is God knows where. Of course, he is the heir, if the Squire doesn't
+marry and have children, and if he were here it would be his business to
+interfere and have the Squire looked after or shut up if needs be; but
+there don't seem any one to take the matter up now. The doctor told
+Hester that he could do nothing without being called in and seeing for
+himself that Mr. Carne was out of his mind. The parson said the only
+thing she could do was to go to Mr. Volkes, the magistrate, and tell him
+she thought there was danger of murder if something wasn't done. Hester
+has got plenty of courage, and said she didn't think there was any
+danger to her, 'cause the Squire had known her from the time he had
+known anything."
+
+"I don't know," Mr. Armstrong said. "Mad people are often more dangerous
+to those they care for than to strangers. Really, this is very serious,
+for from what you have told me, the madness of the Carnes is always of a
+dangerous kind. One thing is quite evident--Captain Mervyn ought to come
+back at once. There have been tragedies enough at Carne's Hold without
+another."
+
+"Ay, and there will be," put in Reuben Claphurst, "as long as Carne's
+Hold stands; the curse of the Spanish woman rests upon it."
+
+"What you say is right enough, Mr. Armstrong," Hiram Powlett agreed. "No
+doubt the Miss Mervyns know where their brother is, and could let him
+know; but would he come back again? I have always said as how we should
+never see Captain Mervyn back again in these parts until the matter of
+Miss Carne's death was cleared up."
+
+Mr. Armstrong sat looking at the fire. "He must be got back," he said.
+"If what you say is true, and Mr. Carne's going off his head, he must be
+got back."
+
+Hiram Powlett shook his head.
+
+"He must come back," Mr. Armstrong repeated; "it's his duty, pleasant or
+unpleasant. It may be that he is on his way home now; but if not, it
+would hasten him. You look surprised, and no wonder; but I may now tell
+you, what I haven't thought it necessary to mention to you before--mind,
+you must promise to keep it to yourselves--I met Captain Mervyn out at
+the Cape, and made his acquaintance there. He was passing under another
+name, but we got to be friends, and he told me his story. I have written
+to him once or twice since, and I will write to him now and tell him
+that if he hasn't already started for home, it's his duty to do so. I
+suppose it was partly his talking to me about this place that made me
+come here to see it at first, and then I took to it."
+
+The surprise of the others at finding that Mr. Armstrong knew Ronald
+was very great. "I wonder you didn't mention it before," Jacob Carey
+said, giving voice to the common feeling. "We have talked about him so
+often, and you never said a word to let us know you had met him."
+
+"No, and never should have said a word but for this. You will understand
+that Captain Mervyn wouldn't want where he was living made a matter of
+talk; and though when he told me the story he did not know I was coming
+to Carnesford, and so didn't ask me not to mention it, I consider I was
+bound to him to say nothing about it. But now that I know he is urgently
+required here, I don't see there's occasion any longer to make a secret
+of the fact that he is out in South Africa."
+
+"Yes, I understand, Mr. Armstrong," Hiram Powlett agreed. "Naturally,
+when he told you about himself, he did not ask it to be kept a secret,
+because he did not know you would meet any one that knowed him. But when
+you did meet such, you thought that it was right to say nothing about
+it, and I agree with you; but of course this matter of the Squire going
+queer in his mind makes all the difference, and I think, as you says,
+Captain Mervyn ought to be fetched home. When he has seen the Squire is
+properly taken care of, he can go away where he likes."
+
+"That is so," Jacob Carey agreed. "Mervyn ought to know what is doing
+here, and if you can write and tell him that he is wanted you will be
+doing a good turn for the Squire as well as for him. And how was the
+captain looking, Mr. Armstrong?"
+
+"He was looking very well when I first knew him," Mr. Armstrong replied;
+"but when I saw him last he had got hurt in a brush with the natives but
+it was nothing serious, and he was getting over it."
+
+"The same set as attacked your farm, Mr. Armstrong, as you was telling
+us about?"
+
+"I don't suppose it was the same party, because there were thousands of
+them scattered all over the colony, burning and plundering. Captain
+Mervyn had a narrow escape from them, and was lucky in getting out of it
+as well as he did."
+
+"They said he was a good fighter," Jacob Carey put in. "The papers said
+as he had done some hard fighting with them Afghans, and got praised by
+his general."
+
+"Yes, he's a fine fellow," Mr. Armstrong said, "and, I should say, as
+brave as a lion."
+
+"No signs of the curse working in him?" Hiram Powlett asked, touching
+his forehead. "They made a lot of it at the trial about his being
+related to the Carnes, and about his being low in spirits sometimes; but
+I have seen him scores of times ride through the village when he was a
+young chap, and he always looked merry and good-tempered."
+
+"No," Mr. Armstrong said, emphatically, "Ronald Mervyn's brain is as
+healthy and clear as that of any man in England. I am quite sure there
+is not the slightest touch of the family malady in him."
+
+"Maybe not, maybe not," Reuben Claphurst said; "the curse is on The
+Hold, and he has nothing to do with The Hold yet. If anything happens to
+the Squire, and he comes to be its master, you will see it begin to
+work, if not in him, in his children."
+
+"God forbid!" Mr. Armstrong said, so earnestly that his hearers were
+almost startled. "I don't much believe in curses, Mr. Claphurst, though,
+of course, I believe in insanity being in some instances hereditary;
+but, at the same time, if I were Ronald Mervyn and I inherited Carne's
+Hold, I would pull the place down stone by stone, and not leave a
+vestige of it standing. Why, to live in a house like that, in which so
+many tragedies have taken place, is enough in itself to turn a sane man
+into madness."
+
+"That's just how I should feel," Hiram Powlett said. "Now a stranger who
+looked at The Hold would say what a pleasant, open-looking house it was;
+but when you took him inside, and told him what had happened there, it
+would be enough to give him the creeps. I believe it was being up there
+that was the beginning of my daughter's changing so. I never made a
+worse job of a thing than I did when I got her up there as Miss Carne's
+maid, and yet it was all for her good. And now, neighbours, it's my time
+to be off. It's a quarter to nine and that is five minutes later than
+usual."
+
+Mr. Armstrong and Mary sat talking until nearly eleven about what he had
+heard about Mr. Carne. She had not been gone upstairs a minute when she
+ran down again from her bedroom, which was at the back of the house.
+
+"Father, there is a light in the sky up at the top of the hill, just
+where Carne's Hold lies. I went to the window to draw down the blinds
+and it caught my eye at once."
+
+Mr. Armstrong ran out into the road.
+
+As Mary had said, there was a glare of light over the trees on the hill,
+rising and falling. "Sure enough it's a fire at The Hold," he said, as
+he ran in and caught up his hat. Then he hurried down the village,
+knocking at each door and shouting, "There is a fire at The Hold!"
+
+Just as he reached the other end a man on horseback dashed down the
+hill, shouting "Fire!" It was one of the grooms at The Hold.
+
+"Is it at the house?" Mr. Armstrong asked, as he drew up for a moment at
+the inn.
+
+"Yes, it's bursting out from the lower windows; it has got a big hold. I
+am going to the station, to telegraph to Plymouth and Exeter for
+engines."
+
+"How about those in the house?" Mr. Armstrong asked.
+
+"Some of them got out by the back way, and we got some of them out by
+ladders. The others are seeing to that. They sent me off at once."
+
+A minute or two later, men came clattering down the quiet street at a
+run, and some of them overtook Mr. Armstrong as he hurried up the hill.
+
+"Is that you, Mr. Armstrong?" a voice asked behind him.
+
+"Yes, it's me, Carey."
+
+"I thought it was," the smith said. "I caught sight of your figure
+against the light up there in front. I couldn't help thinking, when you
+shouted at my door that there was a fire at The Hold, what we were
+talking about this evening, and your saying that if the place was yours
+you would pull it down stone by stone. But perhaps we may save it yet.
+We shall have a couple of score of men there in a few minutes."
+
+"I fancy there is not much chance of that, Carey. I spoke to the groom
+as he rode through, and he tells me that the fire when he came away was
+bursting from several of the lower windows; so it has got a good hold,
+and they are not likely to have much water handy."
+
+"No, that's true enough. There's a big well a hundred feet deep in the
+stable-yard, and a force pump, which takes two men to work. It supplied
+the house as well as the stables. That's the only water there will be,
+and that won't be much good," he added, as, on emerging from the wood,
+they suddenly caught sight of the house.
+
+From the whole of the lower windows in front the flames were bursting
+out.
+
+"It's travelled fast," the smith said. "The dining-room and drawing-room
+and library are all on fire."
+
+"Yes, that's curious, too," Mr. Armstrong remarked. "One would have
+thought it would have mounted up to the next floor long before it
+travelled so far along on a level. Ah, it's going up to the floor above
+now."
+
+As he spoke a spout of light flame suddenly appeared through the window
+over the front door.
+
+"That's the staircase window, I suppose."
+
+Two or three minutes' running took them up on to the lawn.
+
+"I will go and lend a hand at those pumps," Jacob Carey said.
+
+"It's not the slightest use," Mr. Armstrong replied. "You might as well
+try to blow out that fire with your breath as to put it out by throwing
+a few pails of water on it. Let us see that every one is out first;
+that's the main matter."
+
+They joined a group of men and women, who were standing looking at the
+flames: they were the two women, the groom and gardener, and four or
+five men who had already come up from the village.
+
+The gardener was speaking.
+
+"It's no use to work at the pumps; there are only four or five pails. If
+it was only at one end we might prevent its spreading, but it's got hold
+all over."
+
+"I can't make it out," the groom said. "One of the horses was sick, and
+I was down there giving him hot fomentations with my mate. I had been
+there perhaps an hour when I saw a light coming out of the drawing-room
+window, and I ran up shouting; and then I saw there was a light in the
+dining-room and library too. Then I ran round to the back of the house,
+and the housekeeper's room there was alight, too. I run in at the
+kitchen door and upstairs, and woke the gardeners and got them out. The
+place was so full of smoke, it was as much as we could do to get
+downstairs. Then we got a long ladder, and put it against Mrs. Wilson's
+window, and got her and the girl down. Then we came round this side, and
+I got up and broke a pane in Mr. Carne's window and shouted. I could not
+make him hear, so I broke another pane and unfastened the window and
+lifted it, and went in. I thought he must have been stifled in bed, for
+the smoke was as thick as possible, and I had to crawl to the bed. Well,
+master wasn't there. I felt about to see if he was on the floor, but I
+could find nothing of him; the door was open, and I expect he must have
+been woke up by the smoke, and went out to see what was the matter, and
+perhaps got choked by it. I know I was nearly choked myself by the time
+I got my head out of the window again."
+
+"He may have got to the upper storey," Jacob Carey said. "We had best
+keep a look-out round the house, so as to be ready to put the ladder up
+at once if we see him. There is nothing else to do, is there, Mr.
+Armstrong? You are accustomed to all sorts of troubles, and may know
+best what we ought to do."
+
+"I can't think of anything," Mr. Armstrong replied. "No, if he's not in
+his own room it seems hopeless to search for him. You see the flames
+have broken out from several windows of the first floor. My own idea is,
+from what you say as to the fire having spread into all the rooms on the
+ground floor when you discovered it, that the poor gentleman must have
+set fire to the house himself in half-a-dozen places, and as likely as
+not may have been suffocated almost at once."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if that was it," the smith said. "It's not natural
+that the fire should have spread all over the lower part of the house in
+such a short time. You know what we were saying this evening. It's just
+the sort of trick for a madman to play."
+
+The smith was interrupted by a sudden exclamation from those standing
+round, followed by a shout of "There he is!" A dormer window on the roof
+of the oldest part of the house opened, and a figure stepped out on to a
+low parapet that ran round the house.
+
+"All right, sir, all right," Jacob Carey shouted out at the top of his
+voice; "we will have a ladder for you in no time," and he and a score of
+men ran to fetch the long ladder that was leaning against the side of
+the house.
+
+It was soon lowered, brought round, and placed against the parapet close
+to where Reginald Carne was standing.
+
+"Now then, sir," Jacob Carey shouted again, "it's all right. You can
+come down safe enough."
+
+But Mr. Carne paid no attention to the shout; he was pacing up and down
+along the parapet and was tossing his arms about in a strange manner.
+Suddenly he turned, seized the ladder, and pushed it violently sideways
+along the parapet. Those below vainly tried to keep it steady.
+
+"Look out!" the smith shouted, "leave go and clear out, or he will have
+it down on you."
+
+The men holding the ladder dashed away from the foot, and the ladder
+fell with a crash upon the ground, while a peal of wild laughter broke
+out from above.
+
+"The Squire has gone clean mad," Jacob Carey said to Mr. Armstrong, as
+he joined him; "either the fire has driven him mad, or, what is more
+likely, he went mad first and then lit the fire. However, we must save
+him if we can."
+
+"Look there, Carey, if we lifted the ladder and put it up between that
+chimney and the window next to it, he can't slide it either one way or
+another, as he did before; and he certainly could not throw it
+backwards, if we plant the foot well away from the house."
+
+"That's right enough," the smith agreed, "but if he won't come down, he
+won't."
+
+"We must go up and make him, Carey. If you and I and a couple of strong
+men go up together, we ought to be able to master him. Of course, we
+must take up rope with us, and bind him and then lower him down the
+ladder."
+
+"We might do that," the smith said; "but supposing the ladder catches
+fire?"
+
+"The fire won't touch it at that point, Carey. You see, it will go up
+just between the rows of windows."
+
+"So it will; anyhow, we might take up a long rope, if they have got one,
+so as to lower ourselves down if the ladder does catch fire."
+
+He spoke to one of the grooms. "Have you got plenty of rope?"
+
+"Plenty," the man said. "I will fetch you a couple of long coils from
+the stables. Here, one of you, come along with me."
+
+"Now we will get the ladder up," Mr. Armstrong said.
+
+With the aid of a dozen men--for the whole village was now upon the
+spot--the ladder was again lifted, and dropped so that the upper end
+fell between a chimney and a dormer window. Reginald Carne again
+attempted to cast it down, but a number of men hung on to the lower part
+of the ladder, and he was unable to lift it far enough to get it out of
+the niche into which it had fallen. Then he turned round and shook his
+fist at the crowd. Something flashed in the light of the flames, and
+half-a-dozen voices exclaimed: "He has got a knife." At this moment the
+clergyman and doctor arrived together on the scene.
+
+"What is to be done, doctor?" Jacob Carey asked. "I don't mind going up,
+with some others to back me, to have a tussle with him on the roof; but
+he would knife us one by one as we got up to the parapet, and, though I
+don't think as I am a coward, I don't care about chucking away my life,
+which is of use to my wife and children, to save that of a madman whose
+life ain't of no use to hisself or any one else."
+
+"No, I don't see why you should, Carey," the doctor said; "the best plan
+will be to keep away from the ladder for the present. Perhaps, when he
+thinks you are not going to make the attempt, he will move away, and
+then we can get up there before he sees us. I will go first because he
+knows me, and my influence may quiet him, but we had better arm
+ourselves with sticks so as to knock that knife out of his hand."
+
+Reginald Carne stood guarding the ladder for a few minutes. By this time
+the whole of the first floor was in a blaze, the flames rushing out with
+fury from every window. Seeing that he did not move, the doctor said at
+last:
+
+"Well, we must risk it. Give me a stick, Carey, and we will make a try,
+anyhow."
+
+"You can't go now," Mr. Armstrong said, suddenly; "look, the ladder is
+alight."
+
+This was indeed the case. The flames had not absolutely touched it, but
+the heat was so great that it had been slowly charring, and a light
+flame had now suddenly appeared, and in a moment ten or twelve feet of
+the ladder were on fire.
+
+"It is of no use," the doctor said, dropping the stick that Jacob Carey
+had just cut for him in the shrubbery; "we can do nothing for him now."
+
+There was scarcely a word spoken among the little crowd of spectators on
+the lawn. Every moment was adding to their number as Mr. Volkes, the
+magistrate, and several other gentlemen rode up on horseback, and men
+came up from all the farmhouses and cottages within a circle of a couple
+of miles. All sorts of suggestions were made, but only to be rejected.
+
+"It is one thing to save a man who wants to be saved," the doctor said,
+"but quite another thing to save one who is determined not to be saved."
+This was in answer to a proposal to fasten a stone on to a light line
+and throw it up on to the roof. "The man is evidently as mad as a March
+hare."
+
+There could be no doubt of that. Reginald Carne, seeing that his
+assailants, as he considered them, could not get at him, was making
+gestures of triumph and derision at them. Now from the second floor
+windows, the flames began to spurt out, the glass clattering down on to
+the gravel below.
+
+"Oh, father, what a pitiful sight!"
+
+Mr. Armstrong turned. "What on earth brings you here, Mary? Run away,
+child. This is a dreadful business, and it will be haunting you."
+
+"I have seen more shocking things, father," she said, quietly. "Why did
+you not bring me up with you at first? I ran upstairs to get my hat and
+shawl, and when I came back you were gone. Of course, I came up at once,
+just as every one else in the village has done, only I would not come
+and bother you when I thought you were going to do something. But
+there's nothing to be done now but wait. This must surely be the end of
+the curse of Carne's Hold, father?"
+
+"It ought to be, my dear. Yes, let us earnestly hope that it all
+terminates here, for your sake and every one else's. Mervyn will be
+master of Carne's Hold now."
+
+"Not of Carne's Hold, thank God!" the girl said with a shudder. "There
+will be nothing left of Carne's Hold to-morrow but a heap of ruins. The
+place will be destroyed before he becomes its master. It all ends
+together, The Hold and the direct line of the Carnes."
+
+"Let us turn and walk away, Mary. This is too dreadful."
+
+"I can't," and Mary shook her head. "I wish I could, father, but it has
+a sort of horrible fascination. Look at all these upturned faces; it is
+the same with them all. You can see that there is not one who would not
+go if he could."
+
+The doctor again went forward towards the house.
+
+"Carne, my dear fellow," he shouted, "jump off at the end of the house
+into the shrubs on the beds there, it's your only chance."
+
+Again the mocking laugh was heard above the roar of the fire. The flames
+were breaking out through the roof now in several places.
+
+"It will not be long before the roof falls through," Mr. Armstrong said.
+"Come away, Mary. I will not let you stay here any longer." Putting his
+arms round his daughter, he led her away. She had not gone ten steps
+when there was a tremendous crash. She looked back; the roof was gone
+and a volcano of flame and sparks was rising from the shell of the
+house. Against these the figure of the madman stood out black and clear.
+Then a sudden puff of wind whirled the flames round him. He staggered,
+made a half step backwards, and fell, while a cry went up from the
+crowd.
+
+"It's all over, dear," Mr. Armstrong said, releasing his hold of his
+daughter; and then with Jacob Carey and three or four other men, he ran
+forward to the house, lifted the body of Reginald Carne and carried it
+beyond danger of a falling wall.
+
+Dr. Arrowsmith, the clergyman, and several of the neighbours at once
+hurried to the spot.
+
+"He is not dead," Jacob Carey said, as they came up, "he groaned when we
+lifted him; he fell on to one of the little flower beds between the
+windows."
+
+"No, his heart is beating," the doctor said, as he knelt beside him and
+felt his pulse, "but I fear he must have sustained fatal injuries." He
+took out a flask that he had, thinking that a cordial might be required,
+slipped into his pocket just before starting for the scene of the fire,
+and poured a few drops of spirit between Reginald Carne's lips.
+
+There was a faint groan, and a minute later he opened his eyes. He
+looked round in a bewildered way, but when his eyes fell on the burning
+house, a look of satisfaction passed over his face.
+
+"I have done it," he said. "I have broken the curse of Carne's Hold."
+
+The doctor stood up for a moment and said to one of the grooms standing
+close by: "Get a stable door off its hinges and bring it here; we will
+carry him into the gardener's cottage."
+
+As soon as Reginald Carne was taken away, Mr. Armstrong and his daughter
+returned to the village. A few of the villagers followed their example;
+but for most of them the fascination of watching the flames that were
+leaping far above the shell of the house was too great to be resisted,
+and it was not until the day dawned and the flames smouldered to a deep,
+quiet glow, that the crowd began to disperse.
+
+"It has been a terrible scene," Mary said, as she walked with her father
+down the hill.
+
+"A terrible scene, child, and it would have been just as well if you had
+stayed at home and slept comfortably. If I had thought that you were
+going to be so foolish, I would not have gone myself."
+
+"You know very well, father, you could not have helped yourself. You
+could not have sat quietly in our cottage with the flames dancing up
+above the tree tops there, if you had tried ever so much. Well, somehow
+I am glad that The Hold is destroyed; but of course I am sorry for Mr.
+Carne's death, for I suppose he will die."
+
+"I don't think you need be sorry, Mary. Far better to die even like that
+than to live till old age within the walls of a madhouse."
+
+"Yes; but it was not the death, it was the horror of it."
+
+"There was no horror in his case, my dear. He felt nothing but a wild
+joy in the mischief he had done. I do not suppose that he had a shadow
+of fear of death. He exulted both in the destruction of his house and in
+our inability to get at him. I really do not think he is to be pitied,
+although it was a terrible sight to see him. No doubt he was carrying
+out a long-cherished idea. A thing of this sort does not develop all at
+once. He may for years have been brooding over this unhappy taint of
+insanity in his blood, and have persuaded himself that with the
+destruction of the house, what the people here foolishly call the curse
+of the Carnes would be at an end."
+
+"But surely you don't believe anything about the curse, father?"
+
+"Not much, Mary; the curse was not upon the house, but in the insanity
+that the Spanish ancestors of the Carnes introduced into the family.
+Still I don't know, although you may think me weak-minded, that I can
+assert conscientiously that I do not believe there is anything in the
+curse itself. One has heard of such things, and certainly the history of
+the Carnes would almost seem to justify the belief. Ronald and his two
+sisters are, it seems, the last of those who have the Carnes' blood in
+their veins, and his misfortunes and their unhappiness do not seem to
+have anything whatever to do with the question of insanity. At any rate,
+dear, I, like you, am glad that The Hold is destroyed. I must own I
+should not have liked the thought of your ever becoming its mistress,
+and indeed I have more than once thought that before I handed you over
+to Ronald, whenever that event might take place, I should insist on his
+making me a promise that should he survive his cousin and come into the
+Carnes' estates, he would never take you to live there. Well, this will
+be a new incident for you to write to him about. You ought to feel
+thankful for that; for you would otherwise have found it very difficult
+to fill your letters till you hear from him what course he is going to
+adopt regarding this business of Ruth Powlett and Forester."
+
+Mary smiled quietly to herself under cover of the darkness, for indeed
+she found by no means the difficulty her father supposed in filling her
+letters. "It is nearly four o'clock," she said, as she entered the house
+and struck a light. "It is hardly worth while going to bed, father."
+
+"All right, my dear, you can please yourself. Now it is all over I
+acknowledge I feel both cold and sleepy, and you will see nothing more
+of me until between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning."
+
+"Oh, if you go to bed of course I shall not stop up by myself," Mary
+said; "but I am convinced that I shall not close an eye."
+
+"And I am equally convinced, Mary, that in a little over half an hour
+you will be sound asleep;" and in the morning Mary acknowledged that his
+anticipation had been verified.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+CLEARED AT LAST.
+
+
+Reginald Carne was laid down on the table in the gardener's cottage. The
+doctor could now examine him, and whispered to the clergyman that both
+his legs were broken, and that he had no doubt whatever he had received
+terrible internal injuries. "I don't think he will live till morning."
+
+Presently there was a knock at the door. "Can I come in?" Mr. Volkes
+asked, when the doctor opened it. "I have known the poor fellow from the
+time he was a child. Is he sensible?"
+
+"He is sensible in a way," the doctor said. "That is, I believe he knows
+perfectly well what we are saying, but he has several times laughed that
+strange, cunning laugh that is almost peculiar to the insane."
+
+"Well, at any rate, I will speak to him," said Mr. Volkes.
+
+"Do you know me, Reginald?" he went on in a clear voice as he came up to
+the side of the table.
+
+Reginald Carne nodded, and again a low mocking laugh came from his lips.
+"You thought you were very clever, Volkes, mighty clever; but I tricked
+you."
+
+"You tricked me, did you?" the magistrate said, cheerfully. "How did you
+trick me?"
+
+"You thought, and they all thought, the dull-headed fools, that Ronald
+Mervyn killed Margaret. Ho! ho! I cheated you all nicely."
+
+A glance of surprise passed between his listeners. Mr. Volkes signed to
+the others not to speak, and then went on:
+
+"So he did, Reginald, so he did--though we couldn't prove it; you did
+not trick us there."
+
+"I did," Reginald Carne said, angrily. "I killed her myself."
+
+[Illustration: "'_I did,' Reginald Carne said, angrily--'I killed her
+myself._'"]
+
+An exclamation of horror broke from the three listeners. Mr. Volkes was
+the first to recover himself.
+
+"Nonsense, Reginald, you are dreaming."
+
+"I am not," he said, vehemently. "I had thought it all out over and over
+again. I was always thinking of it. I wanted to put an end to this
+curse. It's been going on too long, and it troubled me. I had made up my
+mind to kill her long before; but I might not have done it when I did if
+I had not heard Ronald threatening her, and another man heard it too.
+This was a grand opportunity, you see. It was as much as I could do to
+sit quietly at dinner with that naval fellow, and to know that it was
+all right. It was glorious, for it would be killing two birds with one
+stone. I wanted to get rid of Ronald as much as I did of her, so that
+the curse might come to an end, and now it was all so easy. I had only
+to drop the glove he had left behind him on the grass close below her
+window, and after that quarrel he would be suspected and hung. Nothing
+could have worked better for me; and then, too, I thought it would
+puzzle them to give them another scent to work on. There was another man
+had a grudge against Margaret; that was Forester, the poacher. I had
+picked up his knife in the wood just where he had killed my keeper, and
+afterwards I heard him telling his sweetheart, who was Margaret's maid,
+that he would kill Margaret for persuading her to give him up; so I
+dropped the knife by the side of the bed, and I thought that one or
+other of them would be sure to be hung; but somehow that didn't come
+right. I believe the girl hid the knife, only I didn't dare question her
+about it. But that didn't matter; the fellow would be hung one way or
+the other for killing my keeper. But the other was a glorious thing, and
+I chuckled over it. It was hard to look calm and grave when I was giving
+evidence against Ronald, and when all the fools were thinking that he
+did it, when it was me all the time. Didn't I do it cleverly, Volkes? I
+hid her things where the gardener was sure to find them the first time
+he dug up the bed. They let Ronald off, but he will not come back again,
+and I don't suppose he will ever marry; so there is an end of the curse
+as far as he's concerned. Then I waited a bit, but the devil was always
+at my elbow, telling me to finish the good work, and last night I did
+it. I put the candle to the curtains in all the rooms downstairs, and
+stood and watched them blaze up until it got too hot to stay any longer.
+It was a grand sight, and I could hear the Spanish woman laughing and
+shouting. She has had her way with us for a long time, but now it's all
+over; the curse of the Carnes is played out. There, didn't I cheat you
+nicely, Volkes, you and all the others? You never suspected me, not one
+of you. I used to keep grave all day, but at night when I was in my
+room alone I laughed for hours to think of all the dogs on the wrong
+scent."
+
+His three listeners looked at each other silently.
+
+"It was a grand thing to put an end to the curse," Reginald Carne
+rambled on. "It was no pain to her; and if she had lived, the trouble
+would have come upon her children."
+
+"You know that you are hurt beyond chance of recovery, Carne," the
+magistrate said, gravely. "It is a terrible story that you have told us.
+I think that you ought to put it down on paper, so that other people may
+know how it was done; because, you see, at present, an innocent man is
+suspected."
+
+"What do I care? That is nothing to me one way or the other. I am glad I
+have succeeded in frightening Ronald Mervyn away, and I hope he will
+never come back again. You don't suppose I am going to help to bring him
+home!"
+
+Mr. Volkes saw that he had made a mistake. "Yes, I quite understand you
+don't want him back," he said, soothingly. "I thought, perhaps, that you
+would like people to know how you had sacrificed yourself to put an end
+to the curse, and how cleverly you had managed to deceive every one.
+People would never believe us if we were to tell them. They would say
+either that you did not know what you were talking about, or that it was
+empty boasting on your part."
+
+"They may think what they like," he said, sullenly; "it is nothing to me
+what they think."
+
+There was a change in the tone of his voice that caused the doctor to
+put his hand on his wrist again.
+
+"Let me give you a few drops more of brandy, Carne."
+
+"No, I will not," the dying man said. "I suppose you want to keep me
+alive to get some more out of me, but you won't. I won't speak again."
+
+The others held a whispered conversation in the corner.
+
+"He is going fast," the doctor said. "It is a marvel that his voice is
+as strong as it is. He certainly won't live till morning. It is likely
+he may die within an hour."
+
+"I will ask him another question or two," Mr. Volkes said. "If we could
+but get something to corroborate his story, it would be invaluable."
+
+But Reginald Carne spoke no more.
+
+He heard what was said to him, for he laughed the same malicious laugh
+that had thrilled the crowd as he stood on the parapet, but it was low
+and feeble now. In hopes that he might yet change his mind, Mr. Volkes
+and the clergyman remained with Dr. Arrowsmith for another hour. At the
+end of that time Reginald Carne startled them by speaking again, clearly
+and distinctly:
+
+"I tell you it's all over, you witch; you have done us harm enough, but
+I have beaten you. It was you against me, and I have won. There is
+nothing more for you to do here, and you can go to your place. Carne's
+Hold is down, and the curse is broken."
+
+As he ceased speaking the doctor moved quietly up to the side of the
+stretcher, put his finger on his wrist, and stood there for a minute,
+then he bent down and listened.
+
+"He is gone," he said, "the poor fellow is dead." The three gentlemen
+went outside the cottage; some of the people were standing near waiting
+for news of Reginald Carne's state. "Mr. Carne has just died," the
+doctor said, as he went up to them. "Will one of you find Mrs. Wilson
+and tell her to bring another woman with her and see to him? In the
+morning I will make arrangements to have him taken down to the village."
+
+"What do you think we had better do about this, Dr. Arrowsmith?" Mr.
+Volkes asked as he rejoined them. "Do you believe this story?"
+
+"Unquestionably I do," the doctor replied. "I believe every word of it."
+
+"But the man was mad, doctor."
+
+"Yes, he was mad and has been so for a long time in my opinion, but that
+makes no difference whatever in my confidence that he was speaking
+truly. Confessions of this kind from a madman are generally true; their
+cunning is prodigious, and as long as they wish to conceal a fact it is
+next to impossible to get it from them; but when, as in the present
+case, they are proud of their cleverness and of the success with which
+they have fooled other people, they will tell everything. You see their
+ideas of right and wrong are entirely upset; the real lunatic is
+unconscious of having committed a crime, and is inclined even to glory
+in it."
+
+"I wish we could have got him to sign," the magistrate said.
+
+"I am sure he could not have held the pen," Dr. Arrowsmith replied. "I
+will certify to that effect, and as we three all heard the confession, I
+think that if you draw it out and we sign it as witnesses, it will have
+just as good an effect as if he had written it himself."
+
+"There was one part, doctor, that surprised me even more than the
+rest--that was the part relating to the man Forester. I don't believe a
+soul suspected him of being in any way connected with the crime. At
+least we heard nothing of a knife being found, nor, of course, of the
+quarrel between Forester and the girl; Ruth Powlett, was it not?"
+
+"No; that is all new to us," the doctor said.
+
+"I think the best way would be to see her in the morning. She may not
+like to confess that she concealed the knife, if she did so. Of course,
+if she does, it will be an invaluable confirmation of his story, and
+will show conclusively that his confession was not a mere delusion of a
+madman's brain."
+
+"Yes, indeed," the doctor agreed, "that would clench the matter
+altogether, and I am almost certain you will find that what he has said
+is true. The girl was in my hands a short time before Miss Carne's
+death. They said she had had a fall, but to my mind it seemed more like
+a severe mental shock. Then after Miss Carne's death she was very ill
+again, and there was something about her that puzzled me a good deal.
+For instance, she insisted upon remaining in court until the verdict was
+given, and that at a time when she was so ill she could scarcely stand.
+She was so obstinate over the matter that it completely puzzled me; but
+if what Carne said was true, and she had the knowledge of something that
+would have gone very far to prove Ronald Mervyn's innocence, the matter
+is explained. The only difficulty before us is to get her to speak,
+because, of course, she cannot do so without laying herself open to a
+charge--I don't mean a criminal charge, but a moral one--of having
+suppressed evidence in a manner that concerned a man's life. I think the
+best plan will be for us to meet at your house, Mr. Volkes, at eleven
+o'clock to-morrow. I will go into the village before that, and will
+bring Ruth Powlett up in my gig, and if you will allow me I will do the
+talking to her. I have had her a good deal in my hands for the last
+year, and I think she has confidence in me, and will perhaps answer me
+more freely than she would you as a magistrate."
+
+"Very likely she would, doctor. Let the arrangement stand as you
+propose."
+
+The next morning, at half-past ten, Dr. Arrowsmith drove up in his gig
+to the mill. Ruth came to the door.
+
+"Ruth," he said, "I want you to put on your bonnet and shawl and let me
+drive you a short distance. I have something particular that I want to
+talk to you about, and want to have you to myself for a bit."
+
+A good deal surprised, Ruth went into the house and reappeared in two or
+three minutes warmly wrapped up.
+
+"That's right," the doctor said; "jump in."
+
+Ruth Powlett was the first to speak.
+
+"I suppose it is true, sir, that poor Mr. Carne is dead?"
+
+"Yes, he died at two o'clock. Ruth, I have a curious thing to tell you
+about him; but I will wait until we get through the village; I have no
+doubt that it will surprise you as much as it surprised me."
+
+Ruth said nothing until they had crossed the bridge over the Dare.
+
+"What is it?" she asked at last.
+
+"Well, Ruth, at present it is only known to Mr. Vickery, Mr. Volkes, and
+myself, and, whatever happens, I want you to say nothing about it until
+I give you leave. Now, Ruth, I have some sort of idea that what I am
+going to tell you will relieve your mind of a burden."
+
+Ruth turned pale.
+
+"Relieve my mind, sir!" she repeated.
+
+"Yes, Ruth; I may be wrong, and if I am I can only say beforehand that I
+am sorry; but I have an idea that you suspect, and have for a long time
+suspected, that George Forester murdered Miss Carne."
+
+Ruth did not speak, but looking down, the doctor saw by the pallor of
+her cheeks and the expression of her face that his supposition was
+correct.
+
+"I think, Ruth, that has been your idea. If so, I can relieve your mind.
+Mr. Carne before his death confessed that he murdered his sister." Ruth
+gave a start and a cry. She reeled in her seat, and would have fallen
+had not the doctor thrown his arm round her. "Steady, my child, steady,"
+he said; "this is a surprise to you, I have no doubt, and, whatever it
+is to others, probably a joyful one."
+
+Ruth broke into a violent fit of sobbing. The doctor did not attempt to
+check her, but when she gradually recovered he said, "That is strange
+news, is it not, Ruth?"
+
+"But did he mean it, sir?" she asked. "Did he know what he was saying
+when he said so?"
+
+"He knew perfectly well, Ruth; he told us a long story, but I will not
+tell you what it is now. We shall be at Mr. Volkes's in a minute, and we
+shall find Mr. Vickery there, and I want you to tell us what you know
+about it before you hear what Mr. Carne's story was. I do hope that you
+will tell us everything you know. Only in that way can we clear Captain
+Mervyn."
+
+"I will tell you everything I know, sir," Ruth said, quietly; "I told
+Miss Armstrong five weeks ago, and was only waiting till she heard from
+some one she has written to before telling it to every one."
+
+The gig now drew up at the door of the magistrate's house, and Dr.
+Arrowsmith led Ruth into the sitting-room, where Mr. Volkes and the
+clergyman were awaiting her.
+
+"Sit down here, Ruth," the doctor said, handing her a chair. "Now,
+gentlemen, I may tell you first that I have told Miss Powlett that Mr.
+Carne has confessed that he killed his sister. I have not told her a
+single word more. It was, of course, of the highest importance that she
+should not know the nature of his story before telling you her own. She
+has expressed her willingness to tell you all she knows. Now, Miss
+Powlett, will you please begin in your own way."
+
+Quietly and steadily Ruth Powlett told her story, beginning with the
+conversation that she had had with Margaret Carne relative to her
+breaking off the engagement; she described her interview with George
+Forester, his threats against Miss Carne and his attack on herself; and
+then told how she had found his knife by the bedside on the morning of
+the murder. She said she knew now that she had done very wrong to
+conceal it, but that she had done it for the sake of George Forester's
+father. Lastly, she told how she had gone to the trial taking the knife
+with her, firmly resolved that in case a verdict of guilty should be
+returned against Captain Mervyn, she would come forward, produce the
+knife, and tell all that she knew.
+
+Her three hearers exchanged many looks of satisfaction as she went on.
+
+When she had finished, Mr. Volkes said: "We are very much obliged to you
+for your story, Miss Powlett. Happily it agrees precisely with that told
+us by Mr. Carne. It seems that he was in the wood and overheard your
+quarrel with Forester, and the threats against Miss Carne suggested to
+him the idea of throwing the blame upon Forester, and to do this he
+placed the knife that he had found on the scene of the poaching affray a
+short time before, in his sister's room. After this confirmation given
+by your story, there can be no doubt at all that Mr. Carne's confession
+was genuine, and that it will completely clear Captain Mervyn of the
+suspicion of having caused his cousin's death. We shall be obliged, I am
+afraid, to make your story public also, in order to confirm his
+statement. This will naturally cause you much pain and some
+unpleasantness, and I hope you will accept that as the inevitable
+consequence of the course--which you yourself see has been a very
+mistaken one--you pursued in this affair."
+
+"I am prepared for that, sir," Ruth said, quietly; "I had already told
+Miss Armstrong about it, and was ready to come here to tell you the
+story even when I thought that by so doing I should have to denounce
+George Forester as a murderer. I am so rejoiced that he is now proved to
+be innocent, I can very well bear what may be said about me."
+
+"But why not have come and told me at once when you made up your mind to
+do so?" Mr. Volkes asked. "Why delay it?"
+
+"I was waiting, sir; I was waiting--but----" and she paused, "that
+secret is not my own; but I think, sir, that if you will go to Mr.
+Armstrong, he will be able to tell you something you will be glad to
+know."
+
+"Who is Mr. Armstrong?" Mr. Volkes asked, in some surprise.
+
+"He is a gentleman who has been living in the village for the last four
+or five months, sir. I do not think there can be any harm in my telling
+you that he knows where Captain Mervyn is to be found."
+
+"That is the very information we want at present. We must get Ronald
+Mervyn back among us as soon as we can; he has indeed been very hardly
+treated in the matter. I think, Miss Powlett, we will get you to put
+your story into the form of a sworn information. We may as well draw it
+up at once, and that will save you the trouble of coming up here again."
+
+This was accordingly done, and Ruth Powlett walked back to the village,
+leaving Mr. Volkes and the two other gentlemen to draw up a formal
+report of the confession made by Reginald Carne.
+
+Ruth Powlett went straight to the cottage occupied by the Armstrongs.
+
+"What is your news, Ruth?" Mary said, as she entered. "I can see by your
+face that you have something important to tell us."
+
+"I have, indeed," Ruth replied. "I have just been up to Mr. Volkes, the
+magistrate, and have told him all I knew."
+
+"What induced you to do that, Ruth?" Mary asked, in surprise. "I thought
+you had quite settled to say nothing about it until we heard from
+Captain Mervyn."
+
+"They knew all about it before I told them, and only sent for me to
+confirm the story. Mr. Carne, before he died last night, made a full
+confession before Mr. Volkes, Dr. Arrowsmith, and Mr. Vickery. It was he
+who in his madness killed his sister, and who placed George Forester's
+knife by the bedside, and Captain Mervyn's glove on the grass, to throw
+suspicion on them. Captain Mervyn and George Forester are both
+innocent."
+
+The news was so sudden and unexpected that it was some time before Mary
+Armstrong could sufficiently recover herself to ask questions. The news
+that Ronald was proved to be innocent was not so startling as it would
+have been had she not previously believed that they were already in a
+position to clear him; but the knowledge that his innocence would now be
+publicly proclaimed in a day or two, filled her with happiness. She was
+glad, too, for Ruth's sake that George Forester had not committed this
+terrible crime; and yet there was a slight feeling of disappointment
+that she herself had had no hand in clearing her lover, and that this
+had come about in an entirely different way to what she had expected.
+
+Mr. Volkes and the clergyman called that afternoon, and had a long talk
+with Mr. Armstrong, and the following day a thrill of excitement was
+caused throughout the country by the publication in the papers of the
+confession of Reginald Carne. Dr. Arrowsmith certified that, although
+Reginald Carne was unquestionably insane, and probably had been so for
+some years, he had no hesitation in saying that he was perfectly
+conscious at the time he made the confession, and that the statement
+might be believed as implicitly as if made by a wholly sane man. In
+addition to this certificate and the confession, the three gentlemen
+signed a joint declaration to the effect that the narrative was
+absolutely confirmed by other facts, especially by the statement made by
+Miss Powlett, without her being in any way aware of the confession of
+Reginald Carne. This, they pointed out, fully confirmed his story on all
+points, and could leave no shadow of doubt in the minds of any one that
+Reginald Carne had, under the influence of madness, taken his sister's
+life, and had then, with the cunning so commonly present in insanity,
+thrown suspicion upon two wholly innocent persons.
+
+The newspapers, commenting on the story, remarked strongly upon the
+cruel injustice that had been inflicted upon Captain Mervyn, and
+expressed the hope that he would soon return to take his place again in
+the county, uniting in his person the estate of the Mervyns and the
+Carnes. There were some expressions of strong reprobation at the
+concealment by Ruth Powlett of the knife she had found in Miss Carne's
+room. One of the papers, however, admitted that "Perhaps altogether it
+is fortunate now that the girl concealed them. Had the facts now
+published in her statement been given, they would at once have convinced
+every one that Captain Mervyn did not commit the crime with which he was
+charged, but at the same time they might have brought another innocent
+man to the scaffold. Upon the whole, then, although her conduct in
+concealing this important news is most reprehensible, it must be
+admitted that, in the interests of justice, it is fortunate she kept
+silent."
+
+The sensation caused in Carnesford by the publication of this news was
+tremendous. Fortunately, Ruth Powlett was not there to become the centre
+of talk, for she had that morning been carried off by Mr. Armstrong and
+Mary to stay with them for a while in London. The cottage was shut up,
+and upon the following day a cart arrived from Plymouth to carry off the
+furniture, which had been only hired by the month. The evening before
+leaving, Mr. Armstrong had intercepted Hiram Powlett on his way to the
+snuggery, and taking him up to the cottage, where Ruth was spending the
+evening with Mary, informed him on the way of the strange discovery that
+had been made, and Ruth's share in it.
+
+"I trust, Mr. Powlett," he said, "that you will not be angry with your
+daughter. She was placed in a terrible position, having the option of
+either denouncing as a murderer a man she had loved, or permitting
+another to lie under the imputation of guilt. And you must remember that
+she was prepared to come forward at the trial and tell the truth about
+the matter had Captain Mervyn been found guilty. No doubt she acted
+wrongly; but she has suffered terribly, and I think that as my daughter
+has forgiven her for allowing Captain Mervyn to suffer for her silence,
+you may also do so."
+
+Hiram Powlett had uttered many expressions of surprise and concern as he
+listened to the story. It seemed to him very terrible that his girl
+should have all the time been keeping a secret of such vital importance.
+He now said in a tone of surprise:
+
+"I don't understand you, Mr. Armstrong, about your daughter. What has
+Miss Mary to do with forgiving? How has she been injured?"
+
+"I don't know that upon the whole she has been injured," Mr. Armstrong
+said. "At least, I am sure she does not consider so. Still, I think she
+has something to forgive, for the fact is she is engaged to be married
+to Captain Mervyn, and would have been his wife a year ago had he not
+been resolved never to marry so long as this cloud remained over him."
+
+Hiram Powlett was so greatly surprised at this news that his thoughts
+were for a moment diverted from Ruth's misdemeanours. Captain Mervyn,
+the owner of the Hall, and now of the Carne estate also, was a very
+great man in the eyes of the people of Carnesford, and the news that he
+was engaged to be married to the girl who was a friend of his
+daughter's, and who had several times taken tea at the mill, was almost
+bewildering to him.
+
+"I dare say you are surprised," Mr. Armstrong said, quietly, "but you
+see we are not exactly what we appear. We came here somewhat under false
+colours, to try and find out about this murder, and in the hope we might
+discover some proofs of Captain Mervyn's innocence. Now we have been
+successful we shall go up to London and there await Captain Mervyn's
+return. I have been talking it over with my daughter, and if you and
+Mrs. Powlett offer no opposition, we propose to take Ruth away to stay
+with us for two or three months. It will be pleasant for all parties.
+Your girl and mine are fond of each other, and Ruth will be a nice
+companion for Mary. The change will do your daughter good. She has for a
+long time been suffering greatly, and fresh scenes and objects of
+interest will take her mind off the past, and lastly, by the time she
+returns here, the gossip and talk that will arise when all this is
+known, will have died away."
+
+"It is very good of you to think of it, Mr. Armstrong," Hiram Powlett
+said, "and it will be a fine thing for Ruth. Of course, she has been
+wrong, very wrong; but she must have suffered very much all these
+months. I told you I thought she had something on her mind, but I never
+thought it was like this. Well, well, I shan't say anything to her. I
+never was good at scolding her when she was a child, and I think she has
+been severely punished for this already."
+
+"I think so too," Mr. Armstrong agreed; "and now let us go in. I told
+her that I should speak to you this evening, and she must be waiting
+anxiously for you."
+
+When they entered, Ruth rose timidly.
+
+"Oh! father"--she began.
+
+"There, don't say any more about it, Ruth," Hiram interrupted, taking
+her tenderly in his arms. "My poor girl, you have had a hard time of it.
+Why didn't you tell me all at first?"
+
+"I could not, father," she sobbed. "You know--you know--how you were set
+against him."
+
+"Well, that is so, Ruth, and I should have been still more set against
+him if I had known the rights of that fall of yours upon the hill; but
+there, we won't say anything more about it. You have been punished for
+your fault, child, and I hope that when you come back again to us from
+the jaunt that Mr. Armstrong is going to be good enough to take you,
+you will be just as you were before all this trouble came upon you."
+
+And so the next morning Mr. Armstrong, his daughter, and Ruth went up to
+London.
+
+Two months later, Mary received Ronald's letter, telling of George
+Forester's death, and of his own disappointment at finding his hopes of
+clearing himself dashed to the ground. Mary broke the news of Forester's
+death to Ruth; she received it quietly.
+
+"I am sorry," she said, "but he has been nothing to me for a long time
+now, and he could never have been anything to me again. I am sorry," she
+repeated, wiping her eyes, "that the boy I played with is gone, but for
+the man, I think it is, perhaps, better so. He died fighting bravely,
+and as a soldier should. I fear he would never have made a good man had
+he lived."
+
+A month later, Ronald himself returned. The war was virtually over when
+he received the letters from Mary Armstrong and Mr. Volkes, telling him
+that he was cleared at last, and he had no trouble in obtaining his
+discharge at once. He received the heartiest congratulations from his
+former officers, and a perfect ovation from the men, as he said good-bye
+to them. At Plymouth he received letters telling him where Mary and her
+father were staying in London, and on landing he at once proceeded to
+town by train, after telegraphing to his sisters to meet him there.
+
+A fortnight later a quiet wedding took place, Ronald's sisters and Ruth
+Powlett acting as bridesmaids, an honour that, when Ruth returned home
+immediately after the ceremony, effectually silenced the tongues of the
+village gossips. Ronald Mervyn and his wife went for a month's tour on
+the Continent, Mr. Armstrong joining them in Paris a few days after the
+marriage; while the Miss Mervyns went down to Devonshire to prepare the
+Hall for the reception of its owner. Colonel Somerset had not forgotten
+his promise, and two or three days after Ronald's return, the letter
+stating how Captain Mervyn had distinguished himself during the Kaffir
+War under the name of Sergeant Blunt went the round of the papers.
+
+The skeleton walls of Carne's Hold were at once pulled down, the garden
+was rooted up, and the whole site planted with trees, and this was by
+Ronald's orders carried out so expeditiously that when he returned with
+his bride all trace of The Hold had vanished.
+
+Never in the memory of South Devonshire had there been such rejoicings
+as those that greeted Ronald Mervyn and his wife on their return home.
+The tenantry of his two estates, now joined, all assembled at the
+station, and scarce a man from Carnesford was absent. Triumphal arches
+had been erected, and the gentry for many miles round drove in to
+receive them, as an expression at once of their satisfaction that Ronald
+Mervyn had been cleared from the cloud that hung over him, and, to some
+extent, of their regret that they should ever for a moment have believed
+him guilty.
+
+Reuben Claphurst's prediction was verified. With the destruction of
+Carne's Hold the curse of the Spanish lady ceased to work, and no trace
+of the family scourge has ever shown itself in the blood of the somewhat
+numerous family of Ronald Mervyn. The tragic story is now almost
+forgotten, and it is only among the inhabitants of the village at the
+foot of the hill that the story of the curse of Carne's Hold is
+sometimes related.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Curse of Carne's Hold, by G. A. Henty
+
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