Crown and Sceptre Part 38

"I--am--really--going, Nat, and I want to settle which horse I shall ride. So please say no more about it."

Nat took off his hat and scratched his head, his face wrinkling up all over as he followed his young master to the stables, just like one of his own pippins which had been lying in the apple loft all through the winter.

Then, as they reached the door, and Scarlett entered, Nat put on his cap, gave his knee a slap, and with one set of wrinkles disappearing from his countenance to make room for another, like a human dissolving view, he burst out into a low chuckle.

"That'll knock the wind out of old Samson's sails! A miserable, cowardly, fat-headed old pudd.i.c.k. He wouldn't have the courage to do that."

"Nat!"

"Coming, Master Scar;" and Nat hurried into the stables to find his young master standing beside the light cob his father often rode.

"Hullo, Master Scar, sir, thinking about having Moorc.o.c.k?"

"Yes, Nat. My father is sure not to take him for his charger, and he would suit me exactly."

"Well, yes, sir, I dare say he would. But why not have Black Adder?"

"Because I thought my father would like him."

"Nay, sir; master'll choose Thunder, as sure as can be, and--Hush! Here he is."

"Well, my boy, have you made your selection?" said Sir G.o.dfrey, as he entered the stables, where eight horses raised their heads to look round and utter a low whinny.

"Yes, father; I have been hesitating between Moorc.o.c.k and Black Adder, but I thought you would like the black."

"No, my boy, I have made up my mind to have Thunder."

"I think I'll take Moorc.o.c.k all the same," said Scarlett, thoughtfully.

"He will suit you better now. Two years hence, I should have said take Black Adder."

"Why not take 'em both, Master Scarlett?" said Nat, respectfully.

"Black Adder knows me by heart, and I could ride him and take care of him when you didn't want him, or he'd do for master if Thunder was out o' sorts."

"Why, Nat, my good fellow," said Sir G.o.dfrey, smiling, "you will be here at the Hall, helping to protect her ladyship and cutting cabbages."

"No, I shan't, Sir G.o.dfrey," replied the gardener, with a stubborn look in his bluff English face. "I shan't be here, but along o' you and Master Scarlett, and 'stead of cutting cabbages, I shall be cutting off heads."

"Nonsense, man!" said Sir G.o.dfrey, but with far less conviction in his tone.

"Beg your pardon, sir, but I don't see no nonsense in it. I've sharpened scythes till they cut like razors, and if you don't believe it, look at our lawn. Think, then, if I take my best rubber with me, I can't sharpen a sword?"

"Oh, n.o.body doubts that, my man; but--"

"Why, look here, Sir G.o.dfrey, I'll keep yours and Master Scar's swords with such an edge on 'em as shall frighten your enemies into fits.

You'll let me go, won't you, dear master? I can't stay behind." Sir G.o.dfrey shook his head. "Master Scarlett, sir, put in a word for me.

Don't go and leave me behind. I'll be that faithful and true as never was."

"n.o.body doubts that, my man."

"Then let me go, Sir G.o.dfrey. Why, see how useful I can be. I can wash for you, and cook for you--anything, and cut a few armfuls of heath of a night to make your beds. And, look here, gen'lemen, soldiers on the march never gets a bit o' vegetable; but if there's any within a dozen miles of where you are, you shall always have it. So there!"

"You do not know the hardships of a soldier's life, my good fellow,"

said Sir G.o.dfrey, as he patted the neck of the n.o.ble-looking, dark-dappled grey in one of the stalls. Nat laughed.

"Well, master," he said, "if you gen'lemen as never gets yourselves wet can bear 'em, I should think I can. Let me go, sir, please." Sir G.o.dfrey hesitated.

"Well, my lad," he said, "I must warn you of the risks of what you ask.

We both go with our lives and liberties in our hands."

"All right, sir; and I'll take my life and liberty in my hand, though I don't zackly know what you mean."

"I mean that any day you may be cut down or shot."

"Oh, that, Sir G.o.dfrey! Well, so's our flowers and fruits every day.

That's their chance, I suppose, and I'll take mine same as you take yours. Maybe I might help to keep off a bit o' danger from both on you, and I don't suppose Master Scarlett would let any man give me a chop, if he could stop it."

Sir G.o.dfrey gave his horse a final pat on his fine arching neck, and walked back out of the stall, to stand gazing full at his man, who slipped off his hat, and drew himself up awkwardly in soldierly fashion.

Then, without a word, and to Nat's dismay, he turned to his son.

"Yes," he said; "take Moorc.o.c.k, my boy, and the stoutest saddle and bridle you can find."

Then he walked straight out of the stables, leaving Nat gazing after him in dismay.

"And me with such arms, Master Scar!" he cried, in a protesting tone.

"Look here, sir."

He stripped off his jerkin and rolled his shirt up over his knotted limbs, right to the shoulder, displaying thew and sinew of which a gladiator might have been proud.

"Well, Master Scar, sir, as I'm not to go, I wish I could chop off them two arms, and give 'em to you, for you'd find 'em very useful when you came to fight."

Just then the stable door was darkened by the figure of Sir G.o.dfrey, who looked in, and said sharply--

"Scarlett, my boy, I have been thinking that over. It would be wise to take Black Adder too, in case one of our steeds breaks down."

Nat's ears gave a visible twitch, and seemed to c.o.c.k towards the speaker, as he continued--

"I'll leave it in your hands to settle about Nat. You can take him if you wish."

He walked away, and in an instant Nat was squatting down, and going through what is known to boys as the cobbler's hornpipe for a few moments, a triumphal terpsich.o.r.ean performance, which he ended directly, and ran to the wall, ducked down head and hands, till he planted them on the stone floor, and, throwing up his heels, stood upon his head, and tapped the wall with the backs of his boots.

"Nat, come down," cried Scarlett, laughing. "Why, what does that mean?"

"Mean, sir? Why, I feel as if I could jump out o' my skin."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a-going along o' you, and to show my brother Samson as we've got some stuff in our family."

"But I didn't say that you were to go."