A Lad of Grit: A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea in Restoration Times

en I saw the flashing of the light of a log fire lightening the dark oak beams of a room. I lay still, my temples throbbing like to burs

uded lane burst upon me in all its horror, and I raised myself on

sbury, the chirurgeon, said: "The lad will surely recover. No more letting of blood or cupping is needful.

een summoned as a Justice of the Peace to take down such evidence as could be obtained. "And as for you

rs of State. By ten of the clock I must deliver a sealed packet

voice seemed but too familiar to my ears;

hen why, may I ask, were y

ummon the Squire

d, seeing that the turning at Milland is the ri

and, hearing shots, I suspected so

urderer, Increase Joyce, and with what strength yet rem

ang to his feet and whipped out his sword. "Arrest him," he ordered. Two men,

istake--a grave mistake. Would ye pay hee

d raised myself on my elbow, and in reply I repudiated the Roundhead's taunt. "I am not light-he

ad is still wandering. Why, when I came upon them, the boy was stretched senseless on the road

o him. "Were ye told to unhand him, dolts?" he shouted. "A messenger of the Commonwealth o

anders could interfere, a knife flashed in the firelight and was buried in his body. Then the two henchmen grappled with the Roundhead, and all three rolled in a hea

ightly bent, while a deadly pallor overspread his fa

George?" asked

your hands this time, thanks to

r Whitehe

lawyer, and even this once it was not as a deliberate act of kindness." And, drawing from his pocket

ed, pulling his forelock as a mark of respect to Sir George,

d'ree paces from t' road where

emoved in a cart to the jail at Midhurst. Most of those presen

reful nursing of Mistress Heatherington my bodily hurts were healed, though th

I progressed, and to tell me that he was taking me to the courthouse at Midhurs

cutpurse; yet, though we have him safe by the heels, manacled and leg-ironed, and threaten him with

ain in the moonlit lane. Sir George listened attentively, and, proud of being privileged to talk to so exalted a

ke his beard and play a tattoo with his fingers on the table,

f Monk's Regiment of Horse!

hoofs, and a man suddenly burst in through the door a

, sir

only stammer out

t stand there babbling like a drunken mummer at Martinmas fai

The murderer Jo

his two servants and the messenger of ill-tidings, rode furiously down the road to Midhurst, the nois

means obtained a file, cut through his fetters, and, after a murderous attack on his jailer, h

ill was discovered. The reading of this will, though of little interest to me (on account, I now suppose, of my youth), was the occasion of an assembly o

had come over from Chichester for the occasion; Arthur Lewis, a gentleman of Bramshott; Percy Young, an officer of the navy, who in his earlier days had lost a leg in the action of La Rochelle; Herbert Collings, a master mariner of Gosport, who used to be a frequent visitor at

arance, adjusted his horn spectacles, and, unfoldin

nd my bodie to be buried in the churchyarde at Trotton. Item, I give to the poor of the parish of Rake ten pounds to be divided amongst them by the discretion of my Executors. Item, I give to Sir George Lee, knight, in token of friendship, my horse, alsoe a box and contents now deposited with Master Whitehead, Lawyer of Midhurst. Item, to my sister Margaret,

t and many besides], "provided that they pay me the last respects due to me, I give XX*s*. Item, t

y estate, to be held in trust by the aforesaid George Anderson t

tal box that I do always carry attached to my belt, suffering not the same to go out

thout heires or before he come to the age of XXI years, the residue

l. Clearly my father was a far richer man than most people had wot of; moreover, there was a cloud of mys

ling yet another sealed missive and a sheet of vellum written in my father's hand. The missive was addressed: "In trust for my sonne Aubrey Wentworth. To Master Geo

f what I should be, at the same time exhorting me to serve faithfully His Majesty King Charles II or his lawful successor, an

his satisfaction at the prospect before me--a s

ring where was the small metal b

s existence, and, at the request of Lawyer Whitehead, the clothes my father wore at the time of his death were produced. There was the belt--a highly ornamented broad band of Spanish leather. The la

ting to a series of minute holes round a patch of le

been forced away from the leathern belt. Then arose the question, how c

llain Joyce must have annexed it for some particular motive, though 'twas e

disclosing a lace handkerchief marked with a deep brown stain, to which was fastened a piece of parchment inscribed:

proceeded to peruse the various papers. The first he looked at i

keeping from y^e 11J feete come to of m

vain attempts to produce a proper sentence, turned it over in his hand. Something was written on the back; but without saying a word he return

ith himself for having read the paper aloud. Hastily thrusting it back

and, with an arm aching with the result of vigorous ha

of kind Sir George Lee