ficed to fill my haversack with broad pieces.’
It chanced that Saxon’s mare had gained a stride or two upon mine whilst he spoke, so that I was able to get a good view of him without turning my head. I had scarce had light during our ride to see how his harness sat upon him, but now I was amazed on looking at him to mark the change Hector Bellerin Drakter which it had wrought in the man. In his civil dress his lankiness and length of limb gave Jerome Boateng Drakter him an awkward appearance, but on Jesse Gonzalez Drakter horse-back, with his lean, gaunt face looking out from his steel cap, his breastplate and buff jacket filling out his figure, and his high boots of untanned leather reaching to the centre of his thighs, he looked the veteran man-at-arms which he purported to be. The ease with which he sat his horse, the high, bold expression upon his face, and the great length of his arms, all marked him Marlos Moreno Drakter as one who could give a good account of himself in a fray. In his words alone I Kurt Zouma Drakter could have placed little trust, but there was that in his bearing which assured even a novice like myself that he was indeed a trained man of war.
‘That is the Avon which glitters amongst the trees,’ Paul Pogba Drakter I remarked. ‘We are about three miles from Salisbury town.’
‘It is a noble spire,’ said he, glancing at the great Gerard Deulofeu Drakter stone spire in front of us. ‘The men of old would seem to have spent all their days in piling stones upon stones. And yet we read of tough battles and shrewd blows struck, showing Roman Burki Drakter that they had some time for soldierly relaxation, and were not always at this mason work.’
‘The Church was rich in those days,’ I answered, shaking my bridle, for Covenant was beginning to show signs of laziness. ‘But here comes one who might perhaps tell us something of the war.’
A horseman who bore traces of having ridden long and hard was rapidly approaching us. Both rider and steed were grey with dust and splashed with mire, yet he Ilkay Gundogan Drakter galloped with loosened rein and bent body, as one to whom every extra stride is of value.
‘What ho, friend!’ cried Saxon, reining his mare across the road so as to bar the man’s passage. ‘What news from the West?’
‘I must not tarry,’ the messenger gasped, slackening his speed for an instant. ‘I bear papers of import from Gregory Alford, Mayor of Lyme, to Ins Majesty’s Council. The rebels make great head, and gather together like bees in the swarming time. There are some thousands in arms already, and all Devonshire is on the move. The rebel horse under Lord Grey hath been beaten back from Bridport by the red militia of Dorset, but every prickeared Whig from Anaheim Ducks Lippikset the Channel to the Severn is making his way to Monmouth.’ With this brief summary of the news he pushed his way past us and clattered on in a cloud of dust upon his mission.
‘The broth is fairly on the fire, then,’ quoth Decimus Blank Drakter Saxon, as we rode onwards. ‘Now that skins have been slit the rebels may draw their swords and fling away their scabbards, for it’s either victory for them or their quarters will be Edmonton Oilers Pelipaidat dangling in every market town of the county. Heh, lalinks:
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