| Show 1 aa ress rosemary by E MANN copyright 16 by LUCAS LINCOLN CS CHAPTER VI cont wed A comely mother held up in her arms her young babe its at fingers clutched frantically a nosegay of wild blossoms and its round face was screwed into wrinkles ot earnestness lest he drop it I 1 tool it from him and put in ts place a gold piece the mother bobbed her thanks while the glen rang with the shou a of good bucl i to the joung lord all were intent upon wishing me honor and prosper it no not at all for I 1 caught words the reverse of honor and betterment 1 I which made me leap aiom my horse as quickly as a stone is shot from a I 1 caught ane fellow as he slunk be hind the women it was jim a jealous fool it a man dance a few twirls upon the green with another man s sweetheart need he mahe an ass of himself because v 1 eyes were black as night and upon the occasion when I 1 singled her out to dance they twinkled like cl a a thousand stars merged 11 one it was no doubt more because she saw her tobe to be lord and master lividly green with jealousy watching her is I 1 think in every worn an than delight at the young lord had conferred upon her you need a lesson i I 1 cried I 1 jeri ed him out into the open the young lod will take time to teach you to p it as it were a bridle to your tongue I 1 said to him A lit ie tie excitement will not be out of the way t t I 1 called to he what do you say to a fisticuff bout siva him to me said john our sturdy farrier a young stripling with arms of ponderous weight settle him jim face went white as a in front of us there gl a light clown s floured face seen at a county fair he was the sneak and bully I 1 was so filled with disgust at his cow that I 1 would have let him alone but the men having begun prep arat lons were not to be balked ol 01 their entertainment one formed a ring by marking out a circle the heel of his bot others forced the crowd back you see the rim tive mode of settling disputes a still en forced at long haut I 1 could as lord of sackett and future lord of long have used drastic measures an I 1 chose but I 1 humored them by stooping to their level in this as well as in their merry making and I 1 think they loved me accordingly the men forcibly off his coat and amid much jocularity helped him with an undesired assiduity they were in their element it was like a pack of well fed hounds worrying one mean hare an upward cut and the fellow lay pione upon the sward so soon was it over had I 1 known he possessed posse sed not as much as the smallest urchin about the place I 1 had left him alone most of our men were good fighters and boxers and they practiced practised daily among themselves to keep their hand in gad zooks there was no fun in so easy a victory he had but floun dered his bulky arms about like a wind mill on a stormy day A man s passions soon blow over when I 1 saw the fellow lying as help less as when his mother bare him I 1 felt sorry tor the mistaken wretch I 1 knelt and felt his pulse the men mut dead and from the huddled group of women there came a faint scream dead I 1 said not so give him air he II 11 ahe to mal e trouble enough in the world with a fling I 1 as in the saddle I 1 set eff at so lively a pace that I 1 0 it ran the approving yells of the men and the admiring glances of the women but not the flash from mee nie s black eyes that flash betokened undying esmits to the man who had bested her 1 feminine logic tor while they rail at and abuse their own they want no one else trespass ing on their preserves they should learn that what they th hold up to ridicule all men like carr on crows will flock to peck at gil joined me after had done some on his own account and possibly more on mine you are a lusty fellow said he nd I 1 rather enjoy seeing a bit of a fight when it comes in a day s run in this case however might have wielded your whip to some purpose a sound hiding would have been more in keeping why the soiling of your hands on such muda since when have you become so solicitous about the soiling of my handsy I 1 asked him it is not so many years if I 1 remember rightly when you were ready to thrash me it I 1 did not thrash a certain lad for his manners A boy reaches maturity made an enem whereas had you wh aped him he wo ild only have con it our r gotful prerogative damme 11 I 1 vill settle my aels as suits myself I 1 said sharply I 1 knew that he was right A man when he reached a man s estate should put away childish things but how few of US doa gils answer was a shrug of his fat shoulders unless he meant the words of tha old song which he began to sing to have bearing upon the case I 1 ley edve ta en young waters an 1 p t fetta s on 11 feet they have ta en oung aters and thrown h m 1 a dungeon deep I 1 could not take exceptions to this for it was an old favorite of his and he oft sang it so we jogged along nth patience toward our horses my elf somewhat quiet but who could be sullen on such a morn cheb the skylarks lift ing their songs to hearns blue as they flew upward from among the grasses in the fallow meadows 9 biot I 1 for one certainly not gil for an other soon I 1 joined him in bis song ana in a day he observed you have we boh chirruped as we rode through the lanes and short cuts like two troubadours but ne er ride stirling town wl on my feet 3 p CHAPTER VII jt we overtake the magenta colored ti coach I 1 am not going to tell of our journey along that road of sloughs and mires except as it has to do with this tale I 1 plight fill page upon page reading interesting enough to some for we had a few adventures in which we did not come off second best we had gone abo t fifty miles or so whan it began to tain a soaking ram which came down as straight as a hanging curtain and soon made our camlet cloaks heavy with the wet the water dripped from off us with an incessant drip drip and even our boots became soggy 11 our last stopping place had been the king s head that most hospitable of roadside inns the memory of its cheer st II 11 lingered with me in spite of the concern I 1 hid in keeping my skin dry I 1 was so filled with this delicate occupation that I 1 no longer pondered over what I 1 had learned from its host it seemed that a ma genta colored coach and four with a had stopped at the tavern the night before and tal en on fresh horses which had kiev cisly oisly been ar ranged for the lady or ladies had not alighted but had been served in their coach with ci stains down he affirmed that there was but one lad as far as he knew for the youth riding with them and tending to their needs had spoken ot but one A hostler declared however that peeping under the curtain be had seep two this i reduced a laugh among the stable men to whom he had gossiped they said that he had not recovered from his spree of the night before since he saw double being a vinous had taken their joke in a huff and offered to fight any one who doubted his word or sight he said that they were any thing but doubles their masks being off he needed no spectacles to see that one as bold and black while the other here words failed him for a space then he added with a watering mouth an angel from the gates of heaven all this the landlord told me with a great deal of gusto I 1 assure you it left a vague unrest in my mind that perhaps the old dame of castle drout had not tried to deceive G 1 that mis tress rosemary allyn s maid had gone by the river load and that we were pursuing the wrong coach it was pitch alaci about though it was yet morning it was no unusual thing for people traveling from one shire to another to be lost in the bog such an occurrence would not pleas ure us for we might wander about for days until discovered our only safety therefore tor it was next to impossible between the darkness and the slough to keep our way was in giving the horses their heads trust ing to their instinct now they swam now their feet touched bottom and so on we went but with slow progress we entered a space where the for est abounded upon both sides of us and the top branches of the trees meet over our heads while the low ones swept the ground in places it was a narrow path way and secretive enough tor lovers trysts beautiful too no doubt on a summer s day but riding through it in the dark was quite an other thing if 4 my ha WAS swept off by one of th si reading branches and I 1 might have been left hanging there a second ab solom had I 1 not quickly ducked my head we t old not even look to the prim ing 01 ur pistols damp no doubt in their the powder however was tor the s were in the saddle bags hanging at the sides ol 01 the horses whet a place for gentlemen who take be the road and havo neither re for time or person sr dortu artely they HI e ras r as weather no better than the rest of js and on euch day unless in a deucedly leuc edly tight box vere mostly likely to be found engg ind warm drinking and carousing and gambi ng in some hant of their own gil s head careened first to one bide and then to the other he gave a sigh of relief I 1 looked up to sk chy he pointed ahead I 1 saw nth ng but ao we had come out into the open I 1 supposed that that was the reason we had traveled at least a quarter of an hour ere I 1 read that sigh rightly it meant that the flesh pots of eget were beai to hand in front of us there glimmered a light it was 1 e a lone star half way down the ho zon As we drew nearer it proved to be a candle burn ing a clumsy lanthorn set at the end of a long pole curving over the road ah Us the white swan ex claimed gil I 1 had not thought it was so near another sigh escaped him the white swan it proved to be and the heavens lightening ight ening a trifle showed us many things one was jock swan the landlord coming as quick ly as his fourteen stone would permit him to welcome Us another was the magenta colored coach standing in the court yard and the rain restoring it to its former pristine freshness here Is the coah I 1 said pointing to it as we entered the inn yard and jumped off our horses and as they say in hunt the slipper we are getting hotter shall we ever reach that stage in the game known as the burning up one I 1 wonder with a laugh I 1 was about to push open the inn door and enter aher words uttered by mine host stopped me not the old comfort sir he was saying your fairier wa used to that you 11 find with the house filled with those damnable hordes of jef frey s jeffrey s I 1 exclaimed my mind harping to one tune only did jt frey s men come in thata I 1 pointed to the coach to be continued |
