With Marlborough to Malplaquet: A Story of the Reign of Queen Anne

e lads, a moment never afterwards to be forgotten by either of them. The time of suspense was but seconds; it seemed years. But George, his knees firmly pressed against

arm with a strong grip; the next he h

most breathless with his exertions

om the window from which rescuer and rescued had but no

to the mansion recently made by the Squire, and devoted to his books and the extensive and valuable collection of antiquities and curiosi

et, he drew the girl, by this time conscious once more, but dazed with fright, to the outlying portion of t

eans, however risky or even desperate, by which escape might be made. He saw nothing but the slender branches of a magnificent yew that grew in the retired garden behind and close to the library. These boughs overtopped even the tall b

hew rapidly climbing the yew. The same thought had struck him also! Up the climber swarmed, higher and higher. Then he began without hesitation to crawl along some of

pieces!" Mary cried

pe anywhere?" Geo

e yard," was the breathless reply, "and the m

f the greenery was within George's grasp. Matthew lay at full length on his collection of boughs in order that his weight mig

" he said hurriedly; "give the rope half a dozen good turns abo

d in a couple of minutes he had bound the child to the branches in a way to s

anches you've got, Fairburn, till I go down to

y, light beginning to dawn upon

derable upward pull. But the weight of the boy and the girl held down the ends, and th

with the light of one of the windows of the library. Matthew was sitting astride, his legs firmly gripping the branch. "Now drop yourselves over," he went

h," George replied, "bu

ught the library roof behind you! It will be upon

pped over the parapet, Mary closing her eyes in her mortal fright. With a huge swing the branches bent, and in an instant

!" And reaching up, he got a grip of Georg

your legs, Fairburn! a

erch. But he held desperately, and in another moment had Mary on the branch beside him. Then George, throwing his legs apart, suddenly loosed his hold of the branches and dropped also astr

lower her from limb to limb of the old yew was mere play to the two boys. The three dropped the last four

re Blackett, who had arrived just in time to

s nowhere to be seen. Seeing a great crowd of the Blackett pitmen arrive with a run, George had felt that he could be of no more use, and slipping

rge has gone!"

Blackett. "We must go on to see him a

for it, and all they could do was to overwhelm the father and mother with words of gratitude and praise. They informed the Fairburns that by the exertions of the men the library and its conten

he open sea he was full of spirits again. The sea voyage, even in a dirty collier, was a delight. Then there was London

five years before, and soon the stupendous dome, which was beginning to tower high above the city, would be finished. Sir Thomas Gresham's Exchange, the centre of the business life of the city, had been replaced by another and not less noble edifice. The great capital contained a population of well over half a million souls, a number that seemed incredible to those who knew only Bristol, and York, and Norwich, the English cities next in size. The houses stretched continuously from the city boundary to Westminster, and soon the two would be but one vast town. George had heard much of Lon

ed to see the mighty capital. Once fairly at sea, the skipper br

captain," he remarke

eave us alone," the old fellow replied, "leastway

isible through the haze, when suddenly the crew of the Ou

look through the glass; and all was excitement on board the brig. Anxiously a

'un at that,"

receive her, though the captain shoo

small guns, but what's the good? We've nobody to man 'em; on

l the same," George put in eagerly

er brig, and signals were made to pull down

and a round shot whizzed close

!" George urged in

ad," and the skip

and a couple of eight-pound bal

as a shower of splinters was seen

mettle in us," growled the old ca

ment there came another flash, and with a

er. "We shall see the inside

ouis Treize, and an officer and half a dozen men left in charge of the prize. The Frenchman at once set a course for Dunkirk, and, with a spanking

kipper grumbled, "but we shal

two indifferent princes, Philip of France and Charles of Austria, should have the Spanish crown. Lord

came th

lborough as commander-in-chief of both the English and the Dutch forces abroad. The General's first aim was to take back from Louis XIV all th

in gallant style, and then the important city of Liége, on the Meuse. The result of the campaign was that the French had been chased from the Lower Rhine, and Holland, much to its relief, made far

from the French. In Italy, too, the allies triumphed, the gallant Prince Eugene, presently to be the warm and life-long friend of Marlborough,

Sir George Rooke, following the Spanish galleons and the French war vessels into the harbour of Vigo, destroyed t

chance, and meanwhile, partly to avoid being suspected, and partly to while away the hours he made friends with the soldiers on guard. He already knew a little French, and with his natural quickness he soon made rapid progress. At the end of a month he could get along capitally in the language; at the end of three months he c

rs who had been brought in from the Netherlands border. The way to the town lay at no great distance from the shore, and he observed how a boat lay close in on the low sa

hind. Now or never! Instantly the lad started off

grazing the lobe of his right ear. The race was furious, but the lusty English lad was far and away the superior of the heavy Frenchmen. He gained the boat, the enemy still a hundred paces behind. The painter was l