em lie.'

'What mercy would they have had upon us?' he cried passionately,
struggling to get his wrist free. 'They have lost, and must pay
forfeit.'

'Not in cold blood,' I said firmly. 'I shall not abide it.'

'Indeed, your lordship,' he sneered, with the devil peeping out through
his eyes. With a violent wrench he freed himself from my grasp, and
springing back, picked up the sword which he had dropped.

'What then?' I asked, standing on my guard astride of the wounded man.

He stood for a minute or more looking at me from under his heavy-hung
brows, with his whole face writhing with passion. Every instant I
expected that he would fly at me, but at last, with a gulp in his
throat, he sheathed his rapier with a sharp clang, and sprang back into
the saddle.

'We part here,' he said coldly. 'I have twice been on the verge of
slaying you, and the third time might be too much for my patience. You
are no fit companion for a cavalier of fortune. Join the clergy, lad; it
is your vocation.'

'Is this Decimus Saxon who speaks, or is it Will Spotterbridge?' I
asked, remembering his jest concerning his ancestry, but no answering
smile came upon his rugged face. Gathering up his bridle in his left
hand, he shot one last malignant glance at the bleeding officer, and
galloped off along one of the tracks which lead to the southward. I
stood gazing after him, but he never sent so much as a hand-wave back,
riding on with a rigid neck until he vanished in a dip in the moor.

'There goes one friend,' thought I sadly, 'and all forsooth because I
will not stand by and see a helpless man's throat cut. Another friend is
dead on the field. A third, the oldest and dearest of all, lies wounded
at Bridgewater, at the mercy of a brutal soldiery. If I return to my
home I do but bring trouble and danger to those whom I love. Whither
shall I turn?' For some minutes I stood irresolute beside the prostrate
guardsmen, while Covenant strolled slowly along cropping the scanty
herbage, and turning his dark full eyes towards me from time to time, as
though to assure me that one friend at least was steadfast. Northward I
looked at the Polden Hills, southwards, at the Blackdowns, westward
at the long blue range of the Quantocks, and eastward at the broad fen
country; but nowhere could I see any hope of safety. Truth to say, I
felt sick at heart and cared little for the time whether I escaped or
no.

A muttered oath followed by a groan roused me fr