The Cornet of Horse Part 40

"No."

"Then we have a good half-hour's start.

"Which is the way to the west gate?"

"Straight on, till you reach the wall; follow that to the right, it will bring you to the gate."

Rupert vaulted into his saddle, and the party rode out into the street; and then briskly, but without any appearance of extraordinary haste, until they reached the gate.

The guardian of the gate was sitting on a low block of wood at the door of the guardroom. There was, Rupert saw, no soldier about.

Indeed, the place was quiet, for the evening was falling, and but few people cared to be about in those times after nightfall.

An idea flashed across Rupert's mind, and he rode up to the marquis:

"Please lead my horse," he said. "Wait for me a hundred yards on. I will be with you in three minutes."

Without waiting for an answer, he leapt from his horse, threw the reins to the marquis, and ran back to the gate, which was but thirty yards back.

"A word with you, good man," he said, going straight into the guardroom.

"Hullo!" the man said, getting up and following him in. "And who may you be, I should like to know, who makes so free?"

Rupert, without a word, sprang upon the man and bore him to the ground. Then, seeing that there was an inner room, he lifted him, and ran him in there, the man being too astonished to offer the slightest resistance. Then Rupert locked him in, and taking down the great key of the gate, which hung over the fireplace, went out, closed the great gate of the town, locked it on the outside, and threw the key into the moat. Then he went off at a run and joined the marquis, who with Adele was waiting anxiously at the distance he had asked him.

"What have you been doing, Rupert?"

"I have just locked the great gate and thrown the key into the moat," Rupert said. "The gate is a solid one, and they will not get it open tonight. If they are to pursue us, they must go round to one of the other gates, and then make a circuit to get into this road again. I have locked the porter up, and I don't suppose they will find it out till they ride up, half an hour hence. They will try for another quarter of an hour to open the gate, and it will be another good half-hour's ride to get round by the road, so we have over one hour's start."

"Capital, indeed," the marquis said, as they galloped forward. "The dangers you have gone through have made you quick witted indeed, Rupert.

"I see you have changed saddles."

"Yes, your horse had been carrying double all day, so I thought it better to give a turn to the other. It is fortunate that we have been making short journeys each day, and that our horses are comparatively fresh."

"Why did you come out by the west gate, Rupert? The north was our way."

"Yes, our direct way," Rupert said; "but I was thinking it over while waiting for you. You see with the start we have got and good horses, we might have kept ahead of them for a day; but with one horse carrying double, there is no chance of us doing so for eighty miles. We must hide up somewhere to let the horses rest. They would make sure that we were going to take ship, and would be certain to send on straight to Nantes, so that we should be arrested when we arrive there.

"As it is we can follow this road for thirty miles, as if going to La Roch.e.l.le, and then strike up for a forty miles ride across to Nantes."

"Well thought of, indeed," Monsieur de Pignerolles said.

"Adele, this future lord and master of yours is as long headed as he is long limbed."

Adele laughed happily. The excitement, and the fresh air and the brisk pace, had raised her spirits; and with her father and lover to protect her, she had no fear of the danger that threatened them.

"With a ten miles start they ought not to overtake us till morning, Rupert."

"No," Rupert said, "supposing that we could keep on, but we cannot.

The horses have done twenty-five miles today. They have had an hour and a half's rest, but we must not do more than as much farther, or we shall run the risk of knocking them up."

So they rode on at a fast trot for three hours.

"Here is a little road to the right," Rupert said. "Let us ride up there, and stop at the first house we come to."

It was a mere byroad, and as once out of the main road they were for the present safe from pursuit, they now suffered the horses to break into a walk. It was not until two miles had been pa.s.sed that they came to a small farmhouse. Rupert dismounted and knocked at the door.

"Who is there?" a voice shouted within.

"Travellers, who want shelter and are ready to pay well for it."

"No, no," the voice said. "No travellers come along here, much less at this time of night. Keep away. We are armed, I and my son, and it will be worse for you if you do not leave us alone."

"Look here, good man, we are what I say," Rupert said. "Open an upstairs cas.e.m.e.nt and show a light, and you will see that we have a lady with us. We are but two men. Look out, I say. We will pay you well. We need shelter for the lady."

There was more talking within, and then a heavy step was heard ascending the stairs. Then a light appeared in an upper room. The cas.e.m.e.nt opened and a long gun was first thrust out, then a face appeared.

The night was not a very dark one, and he was able to see the form of the horse, and of a rider with a female figure behind him. So far a.s.sured, he brought a light and again looked out. The inspection was satisfactory, for he said:

"I will open the door directly."

Soon Adele was sitting before a fire bright with logs freshly thrown on. The horses, still saddled, were placed in a shed with an ample allowance of food. One of the sons, upon the promise of a handsome reward, started to go a mile down the road, with instructions to discharge his gun if he heard hors.e.m.e.n coming up it.

In a quarter of an hour Adele, thoroughly fatigued with her day's exertions, went to lie down on the bed ordinarily used by the farmer's daughter. The marquis wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down in front of the fire, while Rupert took the first watch outside.

The night pa.s.sed quietly, and at daybreak the next morning the party were again in their saddles. Their intention was to ride by cross lanes parallel to the main road, and to come into that road again when they felt sure they were ahead of their pursuers, who, with riding nearly all night, would be certain to come to the conclusion that they were ahead of the fugitives, and would begin to search for some signs of where they had left the road.

They instructed their hosts to make no secret of their having been there, but to tell the exact truth as to their time of arrival and departure, and to say that from their conversation they were going south to La Roch.e.l.le.

The windings of the country roads that they traversed added greatly to the length of the journey, and the marquis proposed that they should strike at once across it for Nantes. Rupert, however, begged him to continue the line that they had chosen and to show at least once on the La Roch.e.l.le road, so as to lead their pursuers to the conclusion that it was to that town that they were bound.

In the middle of the day they halted for two hours at a farmhouse, and allowed their horses to rest and feed, and then shifted the saddles again, for Rupert had, since starting in the morning, run the greater part of the way with his hand on the horse's saddle, so that the animal was quite fresh when they reached their first halting place.

They then rode on and came down into the La Roch.e.l.le road, at a spot near which they had heard that a wayside inn stood at which they could obtain refreshments. The instant they drew rein at the door, they saw from the face of the landlord that inquiries had been made for them.

"You had better not dismount, sir. These fellows may play you some trick or other. I will bring some refreshments out, and learn the news."

So saying, Rupert leapt from his horse, took his pistols from their holsters, placed one in his belt, and having c.o.c.ked the other, went up to the landlord.

"Bring out five manchettes of bread," he said, "and a few bottles of your best wine; and tell me how long is it since men came here asking if you had seen us?"

"This morning, about noon," the man said. "Two gendarmes came along, and a troop of soldiers pa.s.sed an hour since; they came from Parthenay."

"Did they say anything besides asking for us? Come, here is a louis to quicken your recollection."

"They said to each other, as they drank their wine, that you could not have pa.s.sed here yet, since you could not get fresh horses, as they had done. Moreover, they said that troops from every place on the road were out in search of you."

"Call your man, and bid him bring out quickly the things I have named," Rupert said.