Under the Storm

he cast up

is eye the ga

e high bred c

says his fi

anis

OT

that his brother was tossing about a good deal, but soon losing all perception, an

w that he was lying on Master Blane's kitchen floor. He picked himself

e said, "I

d poor Stead

barbarous German princes and the rest of the villains. My

e boy, bewildered, but conscious of somethi

the sword and hew down the wicked, and slay the ungodly and

ry preachers than he himself knew, and th

girls, and the little one! You are the

bber like you to help! No, Goody Grace or some one will take in the girls for what's left of the stock, and you can soon fi

t J

not. Is it

written," broke in Stead, "I know

trive to daunt my spirit in the holy work of vengeance on the bloodthirsty, and I can't abide tears and whining. See here, I found this in the corn bin. I'm poor father's heir. You won't want money, and I shall; so I shall take it, but I'll come back and make all your fortunes when I am a captain or a colonel. I w

g milk for the little ones' breakfast pressed upon him. He took up a pail of Mrs. Blane's which he thought he might borrow and went off in search of the cows. So, murmuring the Lord's Prayer as he walked, and making the resolution not to be dragged away from his trust in the cavern, nor to forsake his little sister-he heard the lowing of the cows as he wen

ere still standing and the pigs were grunting about the place. However, Steadfast did not stop to see what was left within, as he knew Ben would be crying for food, but he c

rom the door of Goody Grace's hovel,

was gone for a soldier, to have h

Patience, looking pale. "

e selfish fellow," said Goody Grace. "That'

at they did to poor f

ined the old woman. "I wish I had met him, I'd have given him a bit of my mind about going off to hi

t that I shall), and that some one wo

le were coming about them by this time, one after another emerging from the cottages that stood around the village green.

one, "always running after the so

do for himself or the

by your leave to his poor little sister before his good fath

ongues there would be, and would fain be

help her, but there was no chance of her taking Rusha or the baby as well as Patience. Goody Grace could not undertake the care of Ben unless she could have Patience, because she was so often called away from home, nor could she support them without the cows. Smith Blane might have taken Stead, but his wife would not hear of being troub

, if you will stand by me," he whisper

l on her and vowed that the poor orphans would be starved and overworked; till she turned on the foremost with "And hadn't your poor prentice lad to go before the justices t

y gone away together into the copsewood that led to the little glen where the brook ran, and where was the cave that Steadfast looked on as his special cha

sitting down on the stump of a tree, and taking

estly. "If I have done the house work all this time, and we have the fields, and all the beasts. W

s are about. Besides-" and there he checked himself and added, "I'll tel

mit lived in the b

No soldiers will ever fi

id Patience. "We shall lik

nst the rock down there, where we could harbour the b

it at once," cried

to the ruins of their home; before, as he said, anyo

the soldiers would be there, and beginning to cry. At that moment, h

ring Whitefoot and the geese for your fee; and Goodman Bold will have the big wench

eadfast, sturdily, with his hands in his pockets. "We m

elp us," Patien

back to the village green, and roared out, "Here they be! And they say

mselves a laughing matter; and the village folk, who had been just before so unwilling

when a kindness which has cost them a

od housewife of you, you ungrateful hussy, and now you may thank

t after the sheep with your hands in your pockets in summer weather, but you'll sing

as sure as 'tis bor

ad Prince's troopers up in that pl

declared that after all it might be the best thing they could do to keep their land and beasts together. Ten to one that foolish lad Jephthah would come back with his tail between his leg

is protection made Patience much less afraid to go near the place, and his strong arm would be a great help to them, but because he was parish constable and

climb up and throw poor pussy down among them when Master Blane's angry shout and flourished s

e. The roof had fallen in, and the walls and chimney stood up blackened and dismal, but there was a good deal of stone about the house, the roof was of shingle, and the heavy fall, together with the pouring ra

rth. Then the great chest, or ark as Patience called it, where all the Sunday clothes were kept, had been crushed in and the upper things singed, but all below was

es and some spoons were extracted from the ashes. Furniture was much more scanty everywhere

tience joyfully holding up a l

re turned up, a little warped by the heat, and some of the cor

'twas the money

t the bag,"

iend. Steadfast did not think it neces

the stable to last for some little time. There were some eggs likewise in the nests, and altogether Goodman Blane allowed that, if the young Kentons could take care of themselves, and keep things together, they had decided for the best; if they c

he open space where they drank, and where stood the hermit's hut, a dreary looking den built of big stones, and with rough slates covering it. There was a kind of hole

it better,"

e, who felt anything better than

ed Stead, "and when it is

will never find it

e. "But at any rate, though it be summe

id Stead, "but I shall

e them feel at home. There was a hollow under the rock where he hoped to keep the pigs, but neither they nor the sheep could be brought in at present. They must take their chance, the sheep on the moor, the pigs grubb

en watching from the height, which accounted perhaps for the m

ike a wall, overhung with ivy and traveller's joy. Only one who knew the place could have found the shed among the thicket where the cows were fastened, far less the cavern half-way up the side of the rock where lay the treasures for which Steadfast was a watchman. He thought for a moment of seeing if all were safe, but then decided, like a wise boy, that to disturb the creepers, and wear a path to the place, was the worst thing he could do if he wished for concealment. He had had his supper at the village, and had no more to do, and after the long day of going to and fro, even Toby was too much tired to worry the rabbits, though he had had no heavy weights to carry. Perhaps, indeed, the poor dog

all alone in the darkening wood, the words "Father of t