true to his promise, richard jennifer met me in the cool gray birthlight of the new day at a turn in the river road not above a mile or two from the rendezvous, and thence we jogged on together.
after the greetings, which, as you may like to know, were grateful enough on my part, i would fain inquire how the baronet had taken his second's defection; but of this jennifer would say little. he had broken with his principal, whether in anger or not i could only guess; and one of falconnet's brother officers, that younger of the twain who had cried shame at the baronet's vile boast, was to serve in his stead.
it was such a daydawn as i have sometimes seen in the carpathians; cool and clear, but with that sweet dewy wetness in the lower air which washes the over-night cobwebs from the brain, and is both meat and drink to one who breathes it. on the left the road was overhung by the bordering forest, and where the branches drooped lowest we brushed the fragrance from the wild-grape bloom in passing. on the right the river, late in flood, eddied softly; and sounds other than the murmuring of the waters, the matin songs of the birds, and the dust-muffled hoof-beats of our horses there were none. peace, deep and abiding, was the key-note of nature's morning hymn; and in all this sylvan byway there was naught remindful of the fierce internecine warfare aflame in all the countryside. some rough forging of this thought i hammered out for jennifer as we rode along, and his laugh was not devoid of bitterness.
"old mother nature ruffles her feathers little enough for any teapot tempest of ours," he said. "but speaking of the cruelties, we provincial savages, as my lord cornwallis calls us, have no monopoly. the post-riders from the south bring blood-curdling stories of colonel tarleton's doings. 'tis said he overtook some of mr. lincoln's reinforcements come too late. they gave battle but faint-heartedly, being all unready for an enemy, and presently threw down their arms and begged for quarter—begged, and were cut down as they stood."
"faugh!" said i. "that is but hangman's work. and yet in london i heard that this same colonel tarleton was with lord howe in philadelphia and was made much of by the ladies."
jennifer's laugh was neither mirthful nor pleasant.
"'tis a weakness of the sex," he scoffed. "the women have a fondness for a man with a dash of the brute in him."
i laughed also, but without bitterness.
"you say it feelingly. do you speak by the book?"
"aye, that i do. now here is my lady madge preaching peace and all manner of patience to me in one breath, and upholding in the next this baronet captain who, though i would have seconded him at a pinch, is but a pattern of his brutal colonel."
i put two and two together.
"so falconnet is on terms at appleby hundred, is he?"
"oh, surely. gilbert stair keeps open house for any and all of the winning hand, as i told you."
the thought of this unspoiled young maiden having aught to do with such a thrice-accursed despoiler of women made my blood boil afresh; and in the heat of it i let my secret slip, or rather some small part of it.
"sir francis had ever a sure hand with the women," i said; and then i could have bitten my masterless tongue.
"so?" queried jennifer. "then this is not your first knowing of him?"
"no." so much i said and no more.
we rode on in silence for a little space, and then my youthling must needs break out again in fresh beseechings.
"tell me what you know of him, and what it was he said of madge," he entreated. "you can't deny me now, jack."
"i can and shall. it matters not to you or to any what he is or has been."
"why?"
"because, as god gives me strength and skill, i shall presently run him through, and so his account will be squared once for all with all men—and all women, as well."
"god speed you," quoth my loyal ally. "i knew not your quarrel with him was so bitter."
"it is to the death."
"so it seems. in that case, if by any accident he—"
i divined what he would say and broke in upon him.
"nay, dick; if he thrusts me out, you must not take up my quarrel. i know not where you learned to twirl the steel, or how, but you may be sure he would spit you like a trussed fowl in the first bout. i have seen him kill a man who was reckoned the best short sword in my old regiment of the blues."
"content yourself," said my young hotspur, grandly. "if you spare him he shall answer to me for that thing he said of madge stair; this though i know not what it was he said."
i smiled at his fuming ardor, and glancing at the pair of pistols hanging from his saddle-bow, asked if he could shoot.
"indifferent well."
"then make him challenge you and choose your own weapon. 'tis your only hope, and poor enough at that, i fear. i have heard he can clip a guinea at ten paces."
from that we fell silent again, being but a little way from the rendezvous, and so continued until, at a sudden turn in the road, we came in sight of a rude barricade of felled trees barring the way. jennifer saw it first and pulled up short, loosing his pistols in their cases as he drew rein.
"'ware the wood!" he said sharply, and none too soon, for even as he spoke the glade at our left filled as by magic with a motley troop deploying into the road as to surround us.
"now who are these?" i asked; "friends or foes?"
"foes who will hang you in your own halter strap; jan howart's tories—the same that burned the westcotts in their cabin a fortnight since. will your horse take that barricade, think you?"
"aye,—standing, if need be."
"then at them, in god's name. charge!"
it needed but the word and we were in the thick of it. i remembered my old field-marshal's maxim, von feinden umringt, ist die zeit zu zerschmettern; and truly, being so plentifully outnumbered, we did strike both first and hard.
a line of the ragged horsemen strung itself awkwardly across the road to guard the flimsy barricade, and at this we charged, stirrup to stirrup. in the dash there was a scattering volley from the wood, answered instantly by the bellowings of jennifer's great pistols; and then we came to the steel.
it was my first fleshing of the good old andrea, and a better balanced blade i had never swung in hand-to-hand mellay. as we closed with the half-dozen defenders of the barrier, jennifer reined aside to give me room to play to right and left, and in the midst of it went nigh to death because he held his hand to watch a cut and double thrust of mine.
"over with you!" i shouted, pricking the man who would have mowed him down with a great scythe handled as a sword.
our horses took the barrier in a flying leap, straining themselves for the race beyond. when we had pulled them down to a foot pace we were safely out of rifle shot and there was space to count the cost.
there was no cost worth counting. a saddle horn bullet-shattered for me, and the back of jennifer's sword hand scored lightly across by another of the random missiles summed up our woundings. dick whipped out his kerchief to twist about the scored hand, while i glanced back to see if any tory cared to follow.
"lord, jack! i owe you one to keep and one to pay back," quoth my youngster, warmly. "i never saw a swordsman till this day!"
"mere tricks, dick, my lad; i have had fifteen years in which to learn them. and these were but country yokels armed with farming tools. the two with swords had little wit to use them."
"oh, come!" said he. "i know a pretty bit of sword play when i see it. if we come whole out of this adventure with the baronet you shall teach me some of these 'mere tricks' of yours."
i promised, glancing back toward the dust-veiled barrier in the distance.
"dick, you passed this way an hour ago; was that breastwork in the road then?"
"not a stick of it."
"then we may dare say our volunteer captain fights unwillingly."
"how so?" he demanded, being much too straightforward himself to suspect duplicity in others.
"'tis plain enough. this was a trap, meant to stop or delay us, and i'll wager high it was the baronet who set and baited it. it would please him well to be able to say what our failure to come would give him warrant for. let us gallop a bit, lest we be late and so play into his hand."
jennifer smiled grimly and gave his horse the rein. "i think you'd charge the fall of man to him if that would give you better leave to kill him. i'd hate to own you for my enemy, john ireton."
for all our swift speeding we were yet a little late at the rendezvous under the tall oaks. when we came on the ground the baronet was walking up and down arm in arm with his second, a broad-shouldered young briton, fair of skin and ruddy of face.
if falconnet had set the tory trap for us he veiled his disappointment at its failure. his face, dark and inscrutable as it always was, was made more sinister by the plasters knitting up his broken cheek, but i was right glad to make sure that my blow had spared his eyes. richly as he deserved his fate, i thought it would be ill to think on afterward that i had had him at a disadvantage of my own making.
there was little time wasted in the preliminaries. when falconnet saw us he dropped his second's arm and began to make ready. i gave my sword to jennifer, and the seconds went apart together. there was some measuring and balancing of weapons, and then richard came back.
"the baronet's sword is a good inch longer than yours in the blade, and is somewhat heavier. tybee has brought a pair of french short-swords which he offers. will you change your terms?"
"no; i am content to fight with my own weapon."
jennifer nodded. "so i told him." and then: "there was no surgeon to be had in town, dr. carew having gone with the minute men to join mr. rutherford. tybee says 'tis scarce in accordance with the later rulings to fight without one."
"to the devil with their hairsplittings!" said i. "let us have done with them and be at it."
falconnet was removing his coat, and i stripped mine. the seconds chose the ground where the turf was short and firm, and yet yielding enough to give good footing. we faced each other, my antagonist baring an arm which, despite the bejeweled hand, was to the full as big-muscled as my own. my glance went from his weapon, a rather heavy german blade, straight and slender-pointed, to his face. he was smiling as one who strives to make the outer man a mask to cover all emotion, and the plasters on his cheek drew the smile into a grimace that was all but devilish.
the seconds fell back, but when jennifer would have given the signal i stopped him.
"one moment, if you please. sir francis falconnet, you know me?"
the thin-lidded eyes were veiled for an instant, and then he lied smoothly.
"your pardon, captain ireton; i have not that honor."
"'tis a small matter, but you do lie this morning as basely as you lied to richard coverdale nine years agone," said i; and then i signed jennifer to give the word.
"attention, gentlemen! on guard!"
my enemy's sword leaped to meet mine, and at the same instant i heard another click of steel betokening that the seconds had fallen to in a bit of by-play between themselves, as was then the fashion. after that i heard nothing for a time save the sibilant whisperings of the ferara and the german long-sword, and saw nothing save the fierce eyes glaring at me out of the midst of the plaster-marred smile.
recreant though he was, i must do my adversary the justice to say that he was a skilful master of fence, agile as a french dancer, and withal well-breathed and persevering. twice, nay, thrice, before i found my advantage he had pricked me lightly with that extra inch of slender point. but when i had fairly felt his wrist i knew that his heavier weapon would shortly prove his undoing; knew that the quick parry and lightning-like thrust would presently lag a little, and then i should have him.
something of this prophecy of triumph he must have read in my eyes, for on the instant he was up and at me like a madman, and i had my work well cut out to hold him at the blade's length. i was so holding him; was, in my turn, beginning to press him slowly, when there came a drumming of hoofbeats on the soft turf, and then a woman's cry.
i looked aside, and to my dying day i shall swear that my antagonist did likewise. what i saw was mistress margery stair riding down upon us at a hand-gallop, and i lowered my point, as any gentleman would.
in the very act—'twas while jennifer was clutching at her bridle rein to stay her from riding fair between us—i felt the hot-wire prick of the steel in my shoulder and knew that my enemy had run me through as i stood.
of what befell afterward i have but dim memories. there were more hoof-tramplings, and then i felt the dewy turf under my hands and soft fingers tremblingly busy at my neckerchief. then i saw swimmingly, as through a veil of mist, a woman's face just above my own, and it was full of horror; and i heard my enemy say: "'twas most unfortunate and i do heartily regret it, mr. jennifer. i saw not why he had lowered his point. can i say more?"
how richard jennifer made answer to this lie i know not; nor do i know aught else, save by hear-say, of any further happening in that grassy glade beneath my father's oaks. for the big german blade was a shrewd blood-letter, and i fell asleep what time my lady was trying to stanch with her kerchief the ebbing tide of life.
