a grizzly-bearded,
harsh-faced man dressed in black buckram who stood at his elbow.

'If you are really Micah Clarke of Havant,' quoth he, 'you will be able
to tell us the name of an old soldier, skilled in the German wars, who
was to have come with ye to the camp of the faithful.'

'Why, this is he,' I answered; 'Decimus Saxon is his name.'

'Aye, aye, Master Pettigrue,' cried the old man. 'The very name given by
Dicky Rumbold. He said that either the old Roundhead Clarke or his son
would go with him. But who are these?'

'This is Master Reuben Lockarby, also of Havant, and Sir Gervas Jerome
of Surrey,' I replied. 'They are both here as volunteers desiring to
serve under the Duke of Monmouth.'

'Right glad I am to see ye, then,' said the stalwart minister heartily.
'Friends, I can answer for these gentlemen that they favour the honest
folk and the old cause.'

At these words the rage of the mob turned in an instant into the most
extravagant adulation and delight. They crowded round us, patting our
riding-boots, pulling at the skirts of our dress, pressing our hands and
calling down blessings upon our heads, until their pastor succeeded
at last in rescuing us from their attentions and in persuading them to
resume their journey. We walked our horses in the midst of them whilst
the clergyman strode along betwixt Saxon and myself. He was, as Reuben
remarked, well fitted to be an intermediary between us, for he was
taller though not so broad as I was, and broader though not so tall as
the adventurer. His face was long, thin, and hollow-cheeked, with a pair
of great thatched eyebrows and deep sunken melancholy eyes, which lit up
upon occasion with a sudden quick flash of fiery enthusiasm.

'Joshua Pettigrue is my name, gentlemen,' said he; 'I am an unworthy
worker in the Lord's vineyard, testifying with voice and with arm to His
holy covenant. These are my faithful flock, whom I am bringing westward
that they may be ready for the reaping when it pleases the Almighty to
gather them in.'

'And why have you not brought them into some show of order or
formation?' asked Saxon. 'They are straggling along the road like a line
of geese upon a common when Michaelmas is nigh. Have you no fears? Is
it not written that your calamity cometh suddenly--suddenly shall you be
broken down without remedy?'

'Aye, friend, but is it not also written, "Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding!" M