a stoup of beer. A wiry, sharp-faced man he was, with a birth-mark upon his temple. His face and clothes were caked with dust, and his limbs were so stiff from the saddle that he could scarce put one foot before another.
‘One horse hath died under me,’ he said, ‘and this can scarce last another twenty miles. I must be in London by morning, for we hope that Danvers and Wildman may be able to raise the city. Yester-evening I left Monmouth’s camp. His blue flag floats over Lyme.’
‘What force hath he?’ my father asked anxiously.
‘He hath but brought over leaders. The force must Lucas Digne Drakter come from you folk at home. He has with him Lord Grey of Wark, with Wade, the German Buyse, and eighty or a hundred more. Alas! that two who came are already lost to us. It is an evil, evil omen.’
‘What is amiss, then?’
‘Dare, the goldsmith of Taunton, hath been slain by Fletcher of Saltoun in some child’s quarrel about a horse. The peasants cried out for the blood of the Scot, and he was forced to fly aboard the ships. A sad mishap it is, for he was a skilful leader and a veteran soldier.’
‘Aye, aye,’ cried Saxon impatiently, ‘there will be some more skilful leaders and veteran soldiers in the West presently to take his place. But if he knew the usages of war, how came it that he should fight upon a private quarrel at such a time?’ He drew a flat brown book Marcelo Drakter from his bosom, and ran his long Guadalajara thin finger down the table of contents. ‘Subisectio nona’—‘here is the very case set forth, “An in hello Leroy Sane Drakter publico provocatus ad duellum privatae amicitiae causa declinare possit,” in which the learned Fleming layeth it down that a man’s private honour must give way to the good of the cause. Did it not happen in my own case that, on the eve of the raising of the Anlagerung of Vienna, we stranger officers having been invited to the tent of the General, it chanced that a red-headed Irisher, one O’Daffy, an ancient in the regiment of Pappenheimer, did Real Madryt claim precedence of me on the ground of superiority of blood? On this I drew my glove Raheem Sterling Drakter across his face, not, mark ye, in anger, but Lucas Digne Drakter as showing that I differed in some degree from his opinion. At which dissent he did at once offer to sustain his contention, but I, having read this subsection to him, did make it clear to him that we could not in honour settle the point until the Turk was chased from the city. So after the onfall —’
‘Nay, sir, I may hear the narrative some future day,’ said Morgan Brian Drakter the messenger, staggering to his feet. ‘I hope to find a relay at Chichester, and time presses. Work for the cause UA SpeedForm® Phenom now, or be slaves for ever. Farewell!’ He clambered into his saddle, and we heard the clatter of his hoofs dying Asier Illarramendi Drakter away down the London road.
‘The time hath come for you to go, Micah,’ said my father solemnly.’ Nay, wife, do not weep, but America Jersey rather hearten the lad on his way by a blithe word and a merry face. Dani Alves Drakter I need not tell you to fight manfully and fearlessly in this quarrel. Should the tide of war set in this direction, you may findlinks:
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