Crown and Sceptre Part 50

But he felt no inclination to speak, but lay listening to the chirping of the sparrows, and moved his head slightly to find that it was resting upon a piece of sacking laid over the straw.

That movement brought on the dizzy sensation again, and his head throbbed painfully for a time.

But the pain grew easier, and he lay perfectly still, watching the beautiful beam of sunshine which came through the open window, above which the roof went into a point, showing him that this was the gable end of the loft where he lay.

This did not surprise him, for he had been accustomed for months past to sleep in shed, stable, or loft, as well as in houses with decent rooms.

At one time for a month a church had been the barracks where he had lain. Rough quarters had become a matter of course, and he lay quite still, for how long he did not know, to be roused once more by a deep groan.

"Do you hear, lad? What's the good of going on like that?" said the familiar voice again.

"My head--my head!" moaned some one.

"Well, and my head, and my ribs, if you come to that; but I don't howl and groan."

"Samson!"

"Master Fred! Captain, I mean. Hey, but it does a man good to hear you speak, again. Don't die this time, dear lad."

"Die? I don't understand you."

"Then the Lord be praised, you are not going to die!"

Fred lay wondering, for there came something like a sob from close at hand, though when he tried to turn towards the sound the horrible dizziness came back.

"Samson!"

"Yes, Master Fred."

"What are you doing there?"

"Blubbering, dear lad, like a great calf as has lost its mother; but it's only because I'm so glad."

"But, Samson, what does it all mean?"

"What, don't you know, my lad?"

"No."

"Not that you are badly wounded--cut down same as I was when we charged?"

"When we charged?"

"Yes, when they took us front and rear in the dark wood."

"Dark--wood?"

"Yes, lad. Some of us killed--I don't mean us--Smithers and Pelldike.

The advance escaped, and so did the rear. All of us with the prisoners got hurt more or less."

"Oh!"

The scene in the gloomy wood came back now clearly enough; and in an excited tone Fred exclaimed--

"And the prisoners, Samson?"

"Oh, they were taken again! They're right enough."

"Scarlett Markham?"

"Yes; he came up here yesterday to see how we were."

"Oh!"

"What's the matter, my lad?"

"My father--my charge. Samson, I'm disgraced for ever."

"What, because about sixty men surprised us in that hollow road, and cut us all down? I don't see no disgrace in fighting like a man, and being beaten by five to one, or more than that."

"But how came we to be surprised so suddenly?"

"Dunno, Master Fred. Some one must have known we were going through that wood, and set a trap for us."

"And I allowed my poor fellows to walk right into it. Oh, Samson, I can never look my father in the face again!"

"Hark at him! Nonsense! It's all ups and downs--sometimes one side wins, sometimes t'other side. We had the best of it, and then they have the best of it, and we're prisoners. Wait till we get well, and it will be our side again. Long as we're not killed, what does it matter?"

"Then you are wounded, Samson?"

"Well, yes, lad; I got a tidy chop aside of the head, and a kick in the ribs from a horse in the scrummage. Leastwise, it wasn't a kick, 'cause it was done with a fore leg, when somebody's horse reared up after I'd cut his master down."

"And there is some one else wounded?"

"Yes, sir--Duggen."

"Badly?"

"Tidy, sir; tidy chop. But we shall soon mend again. Bark 'll grow over, same as it does when we've chopped an apple tree. I was afraid, though, as you was badly, sir?"

"Was I wounded, Samson? I feel so weak."

"Wounded, sir! Well, it was a mercy you wasn't killed!"

"It seems all so confused. I cannot recollect much."

"Of course you can't, sir. All the sense was knocked out of your head.

But it'll soon come back again."