"Yes," said Philip; "I will call them." And he shouted from the window to the boys playing bowls in the garden.
They came up, and were passed before the scrutinizing eyes of the Roundhead.
"Royalist whelps!" he muttered."Very well," he said at length, " you may go.But mind, no one else leaves the house."Then, giving careful instructions to the three men left in charge, he rode off with the others.
News spreads rapidly in villages at all times, and it was, therefore, not surprising that Matthew Hale should hear that there were Roundheads at Myddelton Hall very soon after they had clattered into the courtyard.
"Roundheads at the Hall, are there?" he said."Then I reckon I'll join them.It won't be the first time I've met a Roundhead--no, nor smashed one, either." So saying, he laid aside his hammer, and, taking instead a bar of iron, he left his boy in charge of the smithy, and set out for the Hall.
Matthew reached the Hall a few minutes after the Captain and two of the Roundheads had ridden off.The first person he saw was Philip, who, with the three boys and little Jack, were plotting together in the shrubbery.
"Hullo, Matt!" cried Philip; "come here.We want you."Matthew turned aside from the carriageway, and joined the little group.
They all looked profoundly grave and important.
"What is it, young master?" said the blacksmith."And where's Mistress Barbara? Don't say she's ill."Then Philip told him the story, omitting all reference to the refugee, whose existence was a secret to the other boys, from the arrival of the Captain to his departure, ending:
"And at this very moment, Matt, there are three Roundhead soldiers on guard in the Hall--two at the doors, and one standing--can you believe it?--standing at my sister's door.I've fought him once," Philip continued, "but he's too strong, and now the others are keeping us out of the house, and we've charged them several times, but without doing any good, and there are a thousand reasons why we shouldn't any of us be hurt.""But where are the grooms and gardeners?" Matthew asked.
"Oh, they all disappeared," said Philip."I suppose they feared an inquiry might be dangerous.It's bad for the health and reputation to fight a Roundhead."Matthew laughed grimly."It's bad for the Roundhead's health if he runs against this," he said, raising the iron bar.
At this moment Jack interrupted."See, Phil," he cried, "Barbara's waving to you at the window."It was so.They all glanced up, and at the window Barbara's pale face was visible.
A sudden thought came to Philip, and, leading Matthew into the open, he pointed to the blacksmith, and threw an inquiring look to his sister.She hesitated a second or two, and then nodded yes with cheery emphasis, so Philip led Matthew away and supplemented the story he had already told him with the startling announcement that all the time there actually was a fugitive Cavalier in the house.
Matthew Hale whistled; he had no words.
"And he must reach Portallan," said Philip, "to catch the midnight tide.
Three of us are going to ride with him, and he takes Rupert's clothes.We should have got him away finely if it hadn't been for these soldiers.""Then we must smash the soldiers," said Matthew simply."How many are they?
Three, and one of them upstairs.And we are five, not counting Master Jack.
Very well.So long as they don't use gunpowder, we can beat them."In a few minutes the old soldier had sketched out a plan of action.
GODFREY FAIRFAX AGAIN PAUSED.
"IT'S GETTING RATHER GOOD," SAID ROBERT.
"HOW SPLENDID IF WE COULD HAVE A CIVIL WAR NOW!
"I LIKE MATTHEW HALE BEST," SAID GREGORY.
"ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO FIGHT? ARE THE BOYS REALLY GOING TO KILL ANYONE?
IT'S SO ROTTEN IN MOST STORIES, BECAUSE THEY ONLY TALK ABOUT IT.""WAIT," SAID THE AUTHOR.
The sentinels were stationed each at one door at the back of the house, twenty or thirty yards apart.The principal entrance they had locked, so that there remained to guard only the two doors into the courtyard.Their instructions were to permit the boys to pass in and out, and to ride off at evening unmolested, but the attacks made upon them prompted the additional precaution to keep the aggressive four out of the house altogether.The two men walked up and down at their posts, and occasionally exchanged a remark together, and occasionally threw a glance at the shrubbery.
They seemed, however, to feel no apprehension.
"Can any one of you climb? the blacksmith asked suddenly.
"I can," said Jack.
"Famous!" said the blacksmith; "then come with me." So saying, he led the way down the shrubbery until the front of the house was in view."Now," he added, "you shall climb that pipe." And he pointed to a pipe by the doorway."The ivy will help you.""And when I am at the top?" Jack asked.
"When you are at the top," said the blacksmith, "you will loosen a stone and drop it on the head of one of your friends yonder"--indicating the courtyard with a jerk of his head."That will settle him.At the same moment I'll overwhelm the other.We must prevent them firing at any costs.
But don't miss him, whatever you do, or we are worse off than before.""No," said Jack, "I shall aim very carefully.I will wait till he is exactly underneath, and then, plob! It will get him on his topknot."The ivy was, of course, out of sight of the two sentries so long as they stayed at their posts; but, as anyone who knows Myddelton Hall, which is little altered since that time, will understand, a very trifling extension of his beat would bring one of them into a position to command the carriagedrive which Jack had to cross to get from the shrubbery to the house.However, the boy sauntered off, looking as aimless as a piece of floating thistledown, and gained the house unperceived.Directly he was past the soldiers' line of vision he became brisker, and in a few minutes the party in the shrubbery, who had by this time returned to their original post, and at the point in the bushes nearest to the sentries, saw him scrambling over the roof.
