The Master of Appleby

ing joints and minister cordials to the victim; the other to give the straining winch a crueller twist. It was not the gentler way my captors took, as

e manor house, I could not tell. It must have been an hour or more, for now a gibbous moon hung pale above the tree-

d shako of him; and when the two trooper bailiffs thrust me in, and I had winked and blinked my eyes accustomed to the candle-light, I saw the table had been

rt, square-bodied man, younger by some years than myself, and yet with an old campaigner's head well set upon aggressive shoulders. His eyes were black and ferrety; and his face, well seasoned by the Carolina sun, wa

uarter to surrendered men; and when I looked into the

efore him. "You're the spying rebel cap

s give place to wrath and answer sharply that there wa

ck again as heartily as any fishwif

bly. I am loath to hang a man who has worn the colors. Would

would, m

ould know: the strength of the Continentals, the general's designs and dispositions, and I know no

ne!" he swore. "You rebels are all of a

Tarleton. If, for the mere swapping of a rope for a bullet, I could be

d-But stay; I'll give you

e Continental army-which I do not-I'd see you hanged in your own stirrup-

" he cut

me straight from General Washington's headquarters while he

sing me afresh, and would be sending

ruggle, yet seeing not how any less inglorious end should offer. The eye-search went for little of encouragement; there was no chance either to figh

and height, and at the farther end there was a flight of some few steps to reach the older portion of the house beyond. The upper

jealous wrath to be the baronet-a reasonless suspicion, since the volunteer captain would certainly have made his presence known when his colonel had c

y challenged. Some confab followed, and I overheard enough to tell me that a scouting party had come in, bringing a prisoner. The colonel bade me

nel plied him with questions I had a chance to look him up and down. Though his arm was still in its sling, he was seemingly the better of his wound. There was a g

it had gone, lacking a word in season from an enemy. When Tarleton would have made him choose between the taking of t

. He is a prave yoong schalavags, and he is not gone

eeth. Having one man to hang he coul

Lauswoulter? By the look of him he'd

Gott! Ve did had some liddle troubles mit der cards, and ven mine foot was sl

yourself and twenty men upon him at Jennifer House. You have your parole, Mr. Jennifer; but by the

he had given no parole, but at the word the colonel roared him down

had not seen me. For I knew well his steel-true loyalty, and that at sight of me in trouble he would have lost his slender chance of gua

, and that without the baronet. I caught but here and there a word of his report; en

bly as an enemy wounded, and so had left me to the tender mercies of his colonel, well assured that

hat you rode here from the baron's camp with your commission in your pocket, and came and went within our lines lik

of our Southland, this tyrant colonel gave me time to consider; and while he waited, grim and silent, the candles on the table gu

dows, as a dream might fade. Nevertheless, I would be glad that I had seen her thus, si

igned to those who guarded me. A hand was laid upon my shoulder, but when I would have turned to go with them a woman's cry cut sharp into the stillness. Then, before an

and take a wounded guest and hang him? You say he is a spy, but that he can not b

her sweet face. And through it all, the while my heart went near to bursting at this fresh proof of her most fearless loyalty, I ground my tee

d me sharpest; his smile and what he said; and ye

ouse for the king's enemies? That spells treason, my d

sir," she countered, bravely. "Surely I may plead for ju

a spy, and sp

s no

made but a mock

captured red-handed in the act at yonder window, listening to that which he may never know and live to prate about

ls as King George's butcher. Then in a sudden gust of rage he turned upon the priest, curs

throw herself upon her knees at Colonel Tarleton's feet-to kneel and plead for me as I would gladly have died a thousand death

g low over it with courtly deference. "For your sake, Mistress Margery, it shall be put off till morning," he said; then gave the order: At dawn th

g word. "Were it not for Mistress Margery and my promis