ur privileges,' said Saxon, drawing
a pistol from his belt and cocking it. 'If you say another word to
seduce these people from their allegiance, I fire.'

'Hope not to benefit Monmouth,' cried the young officer, disregarding
the threat, and still addressing his words to the peasants. 'The whole
royal army is drawing round him and--'

'Have a care!' shouted our leader, in a deep harsh voice.

'His head within a month shall roll upon the scaffold.'

'But you shall never live to see it,' said Saxon, and stooping over
he fired straight at the cornet's head. At the flash of the pistol the
trumpeter wheeled round and galloped for his life, while the roan horse
turned and followed with its master still seated firmly in the saddle.

'Verily you have missed the Midianite!' cried Hope-above Williams.

'He is dead,' said our leader, pouring a fresh charge into his pistol.
'It is the law of war, Clarke,' he added, looking round at me. 'He hath
chosen to break it, and must pay forfeit.'

As he spoke I saw the young officer lean gradually over in his saddle,
until, when about half-way back to his friends, he lost his balance and
fell heavily in the roadway, turning over two or three times with
the force of his fall, and lying at last still and motionless, a
dust-coloured heap. A loud yell of rage broke from the troopers at
the sight, which was answered by a shout of defiance from the Puritan
peasantry.

'Down on your faces!' cried Saxon; 'they are about to fire.'

The crackle of musketry and a storm of bullets, pinging on the hard
ground, or cutting twigs from the hedges on either side of us, lent
emphasis to our leader's order. Many of the peasants crouched behind the
feather beds and tables which had been pulled out of the cart. Some lay
in the waggon itself, and some sheltered themselves behind or underneath
it. Others again lined the ditches on either side or lay flat upon the
roadway, while a few showed their belief in the workings of Providence
by standing upright without flinching from the bullets. Amongst these
latter were Saxon and Sir Gervas, the former to set an example to his
raw troops, and the latter out of pure laziness and indifference.
Reuben and I sat together in the ditch, and I can assure you, my dear
grandchildren, that we felt very much inclined to bob our heads when we
heard the bullets piping all around them. If any soldier ever told you
that he did not the first time that he was under fire, then tha