small time to inquire into petty matters of discipline. For myself, I freely confess, looking back on it, that as a soldier he was entirely in the right, and that from a strict military point of view our conduct was not to be excused. Yet I trust, my dears, even now, when years have weighed me down, that the scream of a woman in distress would be a signal which would draw me to her aid while these old limbs could bear me. For the duty which we owe to the weak overrides all other duties and is superior to all circumstances, and I for one cannot see why the coat of the soldier should harden the heart of the man.
Chapter 31 Of the Maid of the Marsh and the Bubble which rose from the Bog
All Bridgewater was in a ferment as we rode in, for King James’s forces were within four miles, on the Sedgemoor Plain, and it was likely that they would push on at once and storm the town. Some rude Marc Staal Jersey works had been thrown up on the Eastover side, Kevin Shattenkirk Jersey behind which two brigades were drawn up in arms, while the Miehet Nobis BARRY Parka rest of the Michal Neuvirth Jersey army was held in reserve in the market-place and Castle Field. Towards afternoon, however, parties of our horse and peasants from the fen Louis Domingue Jersey country came in with the news that Bobby Ryan Jersey there was no fear of an assault being attempted. The Columbus Blue Jackets Jerseys Royal troops had quartered themselves snugly in the little villages of the neighbourhood, and having levied contributions of cider and of beer from the farmers, they showed no sign of any wish to advance.
The town was full of women, the wives, mothers, and sisters of our peasants, who had come in from far and near to see their loved ones once more. Fleet Street or Cheapside upon a busy day are not more crowded than were the narrow streets and lanes of the Somersetshire town. Jack-booted, buff-coated troopers; scarlet militiamen; Ben Bishop Jersey brown, stern-faced Tauntonians; serge-clad pikemen; wild, ragged miners; smockfrocked yokels; Ryan McDonagh Jersey reckless, weather-tanned Adam Oates Jersey seamen; gaunt cragsmen from the northern coast — all pushed and jostled each other in a thick, many-coloured crowd. Everywhere among them were the country women, straw-bonneted and loud-tongued, weeping, embracing, and exhorting. Here and there amid the motley dresses and gleam of arms moved the dark, sombre figure of a Puritan minister, with sweeping sad-coloured mantle and penthouse hat, scattering abroad short fiery ejaculations and stern pithy texts of the old fighting order, which warmed the men’s blood like liquor. Ever and anon a sharp, fierce shout would rise from the people, Nike Free 3.0 V4 like the yelp of a high-spirited hound which is straining at its leash and hot to be at the throat of its enemy.
Our regiment had Kurtka W Dół been taken off duty whenever it was clear that Feversham did not mean to advance, and they were now busy upon the victuals which our night-foray had furnished. It was a Sunday, fresh and warm, with a clear, unclouded sky, and a gentle breeze, sweet with the smack of the country. All day the bells of the neighbouring villages rang out their alarm, pealing their music over the sunlit countryside. The upper windows and red-tiled roofs of the houlinks:
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