The Quest of the 'Golden Hope': A Seventeenth Century Story of Adventure

in the Lo

asterly direction, towards Black Down, the densest part of the forest. He had a start of at least six hours, but, even had he not already swooned from loss of blood, t

ction remained the same. At this I wondered not a little, for from my forest experience I knew that a man crossing an open space in the dark would, without a light or other means to guide him, inevitably make

being a large dark stain upon the damp soil, showing that much blood had been spilled. Another thing I conjectured: he had discovered that the chart was not, as evidently he had imag

oll, I slipped it into my

p lookout in case of a surprise and a careful watch on the dull brow

d southwards between gravelly banks lined with bushes and dwarfed trees.

ked both up and down stream for nearly a quarter of a mile, carefully examining the soft clay, which would assuredly reveal any trace of footprints after the

and set my face homewards. Bruno, who had followed the trail as keenly as I had done, seemed to share my deject

out two hundred yards to the right of it; yet with the smoke of the

ound gave way beneath me; the bracken and the gorse seemed to

but without avail; then a thousand lights seemed

f a natural cave or hollow, into which the light filtered through an

s bound with a wet rag. As I moved my arm Bruno thrust his muzzle against my hand wi

ure, but the exertion was too great, and wi

aimed a gruff though kindly voic

er," said another. "He'l

d propped against the wall of the

ms regarding me intently. Two or three had pistols stuck in their belts, while a pair of heavy cutlasses and a bundle of stout staves, some with iro

nches had been lopped off sufficiently close to the stem to allow of the stumps being used as a rough ladder. Two small casks, an

Foul-weather Dick?" asked

the name by which my father was frequently ca

g down that hole we thought 'twas the sogers, and Bill '

head would allow, then at his companions. Like

e the men who went with C

ll we know it. Look 'ee, young ma?ster, can we t

n my mind now," I replied. "Y

ey went down in the fight; young Garge Pitman the red-coated devils took near Bridgwater. They strung him up on a gallows at the roadside. Poor fellow, he didn't half give 'em a rough time afore they did the dirty job, an' I was up to my neck in a ditch an' saw it all, yet co

soning that as these men had confided in me, there was little ha

" asked sever

ell; I saw him sca

softly, for they durst not shout

d, had no other name. "'Enery" he answered to, and 'Enery he remains till the clo

y; then, remembering my father's

u cannot go home without aid, and none can we give t

new of the Captain's adventures, t

ped up like rats in a hold, we durst not show our faces in Lymington, much less try for a

est stag for its mate broke upon

ation, and the next instant the bushes overhead were t

his wits, killing adders that infested the forest glades, hawking the skins of animals he caught, and, no doubt, poaching, though he had as yet managed to escape being branded as a felon. Some would have it that he was dullwitted, yet those who thus avowed had often cause to fear his tongue,

my fowling-piece), I was slung up the shaft by means of the rope, Bruno being carried up on the shoulders of one of the men. O

d just as I gained the door Captain Jeremy met me. By

er Clifford," said he; "but thanks be you are

ead?" I aske

Blackwood says he'll not last the night. If so,