lowered
head, cropping the sweet short grass among the furze and heath, was the
outpost's horse; and this, to Fred's experienced eye, meant the rider
shot down at his post.

Half dreaming a similar fate, he looked sharply round, and then uttered
an angry exclamation, as he touched his horse's flanks, and rode forward
to where the man lay between two great bushes.

But not wounded. The secret of his fall was by his side. By some means
he had contrived to get a large flask of wine up at the Hall, and the
vessel lay by him empty, while he was sound asleep.

"You scoundrel!" cried Fred, closing up and bending down to take hold of
the man's piece, where it stood leaning against a bush.

As he raised it, a distant flash caught his eye, and there, winding
slowly and cautiously along the bottom of the coombe, with advanced
guards, came a strong body of horsemen, whose felt hats and feathers
here and there told only too plainly that they belonged to the
Cavaliers.

To his horror, Fred saw that some of the advance were coming up the side
of the valley not two hundred yards away, and that unless the alarm were
given, the little force so calmly going through their manoeuvres in the
park would be surprised. At the same moment, he saw that he had been
noticed before he caught sight of the approaching enemy, but he did not
hesitate. Raising the heavy piece, he fired, and at the shot the
grazing horse tossed its head and cantered to his side, leaving its
master to take his chance.

"He'll get no wine as a prisoner," said Fred, bitterly, as he spurred
his horse to a gallop, just as shot after shot from the other outposts
carried on his alarm--while, following a shout to him to surrender, came
shots that were not intended to give the alarm, but to bring him down.

Fred glanced back once, and saw that the advance guard of the enemy were
in full pursuit, a sight which made him urge on his steed to its utmost,
while as he glanced back on getting to the top of the next hill, he
could see that the enemy had divided into two bodies, and throwing off
all concealment, they were thundering on, so as to get up with those who
would spread the alarm, intending to spread it themselves, and to a
dangerous extent.

"They'll overtake me," muttered Fred, as he looked back and saw how well
some of the leading men were mounted, and also that some of those in the
main body were better mounted still, and were rapidly diminishing the
distance be