The Master of Appleby

ill not wonder that I went aghast and would have fled for very shame had not a sudden weakness seiz

ather-beaten; a seasoned soldier by his look and garb. Though his frayed shoulder-knot was on

aptain Ireton? Who may he be?

be filling his glass again. He could always dri

f him-'twas some half-score years ago, though, com

But afterward he cut the servic

o a muse; then he laugh

, after he had been in Austria a while they told this on him; that his field-marshal had him listed for a majority, and so he was presented to the empress. But when

r her soldiers. But yet it stung, and stung the more because I had and have the Ireton face, and that is unbeloved of women, and glum and curst and

?" 'Twas not the grizzled jester who ask

nows a thing and will not tel

, Mr. Stair?" he said,

the Stairs of Ballantrae without its simple Scottish ruggedness; a sort of weasel face it was, with pale-gray eyes that had a trick of shifty dodging, and deep-furrowed about the mouth and chin with lines that spoke of indecision. It was not o

w?" he quavered. "Appleby Hundred is mine-mine, I tell you! His

rs greeted his petulant outburst; after

reton, and Mr. Stair here holds but a confiscator's title. 'Tis likely the son

bottle afresh. And then: "Of course he promptly 'listed wit

assentingly to this; then

sion. He is on De Kalb's staff

jester. "And yet you

ad a little disagreement years agone across the water; 'twas about a woman-oh, she was no mistress of his, I do assure you!"-this to quench my jester's l

sly. "But you will hang him, Sir Fra

he turned a shoulder to this little blood

ape, we brought him here, and as soon as he is fit to ride I'll send him to the colonel. Tarleton will give him a short

tain roared again and smote th

penned capon before you wring his neck. Ah! ha! ha! But 'tis to be hoped you have his legs well tied. If he be

uarded from the first, and to-night he is behind a barred door with Mr. Stair's oversee

the graver business of the moment, with a toast to lay

nd their king-How do you call h

usiness, this. Allow me, Mr. Stair; and you, Mr.-er-ah-Pengarden. This same old heathen is the king's friend now, but, gentlemen all

drown the names in the wine and we'll drink them

ed the frontier fort against the savages twenty years before; knew him and wondered I had not sooner placed him. When I was but a boy, as I could well remember, he had been kin

And then he stopped and held up a warning finger. "This business wil

connet who

. You passed my se

es

that reaches round the house.

to a man fierce enough to dig the hatchet up. But I did have the devil's own teapot tempest with my Lord Charles. He

llis had met with some new change of heart. He was not over

the thing

ver-mountain settlements. And that fetches us to your part in it, Sir Frank; and to yours, Mr. Stair. Your troo

might wink, and then Gilbert S

l ruin me outright! The place is stripped,-you know it well, Sir Francis,-stripped bare an

ain put him

royalist at best-nay, that for some years back you have been as rebel as the rest in this nesting-place of traitors. As a frien

en jerked a thought too violently, and his weasel face was moist and clammy. I know not what double-dealing he

paper, reckoning ways and means, as I took it, wh

ota will furnish carriers, a Cherokee escort, and guides. The rend

old on all and wa

wait for the India

oath was o

ike men with halters round their nec

the partizans off the scent. I listened, eager for every word, but when the horses stirred behind me I was set back upon the oft-rec

subsistence for the convoy troop. At the table-end, with the bottle gurgling now at one right hand and now at another, the three king's men drank confusion to the rebels, and in the intervals discussed t

rrors of an Indian massacre; and this these men were planning was treacherous murder on an unwarned people. All was to be done in midnight secrecy. Supplied with ammunition, the Cherokees, led by this Captain Stuart or some ot

y man who knew the cruel temper of these savages; and when I thought upon t

be warned in tim

em balked me. Lacking the strength to mount and ride in my own proper person, there was nothing for it but to find a messe

ull sure he'd find a way if I could reach him; and when I had it simmered down to this, the problem simplified itself. I must have

errand a sober second thought delayed me. If my simple counterplot should fail, some knowledge of the powder-convoy's route would be of prime importance. Lacking the time to warn the over-mountain men, the next best thing would be to set some band of

little space that gaped between my itching fingers and the bit of parchment passed fr

sat fair across from me, but they were still intent upon their figurings. Of the trio at the table's end, the baronet and the captain had their backs to m

sweep the two candlesticks from the table, there was a chance that I might

on, I slipped and lost my grip upon the casement; lost that and got another on the wooden shutter opened back against t

ed with crowding figures. I marvel that I had the wit to lie quiet as I had fallen, but I had; and those above, lookin

across the window seat to clamber out. 'Twas in the very act, while I was watchi

I sprang afoot and cut a whizzing circle by my doughty captain's ear that made him cringe and gas

an his opportunity, and I had little stomach for a fight with three unwounded men. Hence it was narrowed now

horse from the dead hand that held it tethered, and was making shift to climb into the saddle, they

s a chase soon ended. As I remember, I was reeling in the saddle what time the foremost of them overtook me. I held on grimly till the horse pursuing lappe

ed the blade aside with his bare hand. Then, pressing closer, he struck me with his fist, and thereupo