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Show y Rafael Sabahni CHAPTER I The Me5wengf?r Peter Blood, bachelor of medlcins and several other things bcslden. smoked a pipe and tended the geraniums geran-iums boxed on the sill of his window above Water I,ano In tho town of Mrldgewator j Mr. Blood's attention was diveded between hla task and the utream of humanity In the narrow street belov.. : pouring for the second time that day In the direction of Castle Field. Where earlier In the afternoon Ferguson, the i Duke's chaplain, had preached a ser- 1 mon that contained more treason than ; ill Inity Bridgewater, like Tauton, had yield-led yield-led gcnerounly of its manhood to the orvlce of the duko. Peter Blood hnd read the absurd I proclamation posted at the Cross ot Bridgewater as. It had been posted also at Tauton and elsewhere setting forth that "upon the decease of our sovereign Lord Charle.s the second, the 1 right of succession to the Crown of I England, Scotland. Franco, and Ireland, Ire-land, with the domlnlonN and territories terri-tories thereunto belonging, did Ibgal-lj Ibgal-lj descend and devolve upon the mo?t Illustrious nnd high born Prince James Duke of Sdonmouth, son and heir apparent ap-parent to the iaid King Charle3 tho second." Mr Blood knocked tho o-thes from his pipe, closed the window and drew the curtains. rle was the son of an Irish medi-cus, medi-cus, by a Somersetshire lady in whose veins ran the rover blood of the Fru-bishers Fru-bishers which may account for a certain cer-tain wlldness that had early nuinl- fcHterJ Itself In hla disposition. A set of curious chances led him to take s.Tvlce with the Dutch, then at war With (Trance; :md u predilection for the sea made him elect that this service ser-vice fhould be upon that element. He had the advantage of a commission MJa IV... nm.llfl An It llt'tfkr find fought in i ho Mediterranean engago-mi engago-mi nt In Which that greut Dutch admiral ad-miral lost his life In January, 1685, be hod come to Bridgewater possessor of fortune I that wan approximately the same aa 'that with which he had originally set lout from Dublin 11 years ago. That Is all his story, or so much of II as matters up to that night, six months later, when Hie battle of Sedfcemoor was fought. The armies came Into collision in j the neighborhood of 2 o'clock in the 1 morning. Mr BlOOd slept undisturbed I through iho distant boom of cannon. Not until 4 o'cloc kwhen the sun won rising to dispel the last wisps of mist over that stricken field of battle, w.xs he awakened from his tranquil slum- I bers. There In the slanting golden light of the new risen sun, stood S breathless, breath-less, wild eyed man and a. steaming I norse In that moment Mr. Blood recognised recog-nised him for the young shipmaster, leremlah Pitt, who had been drawn by tho general enthusiasm Into the vortex of that rebellion. "It Is Lord Gllroy," he panted. "Ho Is sore wounded at Ogle thorpe's farm by the river I bore him thither . . . and . . and he sent me for you. Make haste, In God's name." Mi. Blood went off to dress and lo : ti i a case of Instruments. CHAPTER II Kirke's Dragoons xlethorpo's frrm stood a mile or s.i to the south of Bridgewater on the right bank of the river. In the epaclous. stone-f lagged hall, the doctor found 1ord Gllroy. His cheeks were leaden hued. his eyas closed and from his blue hps came with each labored breath, a faint, moaning noise Mr. Blood stood for a moment, silently si-lently considering his patient Then be culled for water and linen and what else he needed for his work He was still Intent upon It a half I hour later, when the dragoons Invaded the homestead. The clatter of hooves land hoarse shouts that heralded their I approach disturbed hlui not at all. But i his .lordship, who had now recovered consciousness. showed considerable j iurm. and tho battle stained Jeremy Pitt sped to cover in a clothes press. Hayes was ur,oasy. And then they came rattling and i .'IUIIMMK mi" inv oiv... '"kk' . I a round dozen lack booted, lobster-I lobster-I coated troopers of tho Tanglers regiment, regi-ment, led by a sturdy, black brow od fellow with a deal of gold lace about the breast Of his coat. "J urn Captain Hobart. ot Colonel Kirke's dragoons. What rebels do you harbor?" The yeoman took alarm at that fe-! fe-! rodOUfl trueulcnoo. It expressed Itself ! in his trembling voice. "I . . . I am no harborer of n hols, sir This wounded gentleman "I can see for myself," The cap-Jtaln cap-Jtaln stamped forward to tho day-bed. land scowled down upon the gmy faced I sufferer. I i nit with him. my lads," I Mr. Blood got between the day-bed and the troopers. "In the name of humanity, sir!" I said be, on a note of anger. "This is CtiKland, not Tanglers. The gnhtle-i gnhtle-i tuun is in eoro case. He may not bo moved w ithout peril to his life " Captain Hobart was am "Who the hell may you be"' he exploded. ex-ploded. j ' My name is Blood, sir Peter I Blood, at your service." "What brings you here, sir?" "This wounded gentleman. i was fetched to attend him. 1 am S physician phy-sician practicing my calling In the town of Bridgewater." The captain sneered "Which you reached by way of Lyme Regis In tho following of your bastard duko." "It was Mr Blood's turn to sneer. "If y our Wit were as big a your volco my dear. It'o the great man you'd be by this." For a moment the dragoon was I peeohless. The color deepened In his i face "You may find me great enough to hang you." And then his lordship spoke for himself. In a weak voice "I make no concealmelt of my association asso-ciation with tho Iuke of Monmouth, I'll take tho consequences But, If you j please. I'll take them after trial by my peers " "Take up the day-bed,'' .uld Captain Cap-tain Hobart "and convey him on that to Bridgewater. Lodge him in the gaol until 1 take order about him ' Gllrov made a feeble effort tO i 1 1 forth a hand toward Mr. Blood. "Sir. he said, "you leave me in your debL If I live I shall Study how to discharge It " As his lordship was carried out the t-iln became li-lK. He turned upon 1 1. 5 eoinn n. "What other cursed rein' (Jo uu harbor ?'' "None other, sir His lord.slip But tho captain did not h-d him He wefl stooping to pick up it soiled and dusty hat in which there was pinned ii little, bunch Of oak leaves. It nad been tying near the QjottpM lm-i-s m which the unfortunate Pitt had taken tak-en rpfuge. Tjhs captain mmied malevolently "It is I Orel Gllroy." be panted llv 1 w.rc wounded nt Oglethorpe's farm by the river " Then the captain stepped to th press and pulled open one of tho wing of Its massive oaken door. He took the huddled inmate hy thr collar o' his doublet, -md lugged birr, out Into the open . The soldiers trailed out bv the door, leading to tho Interior. Mr. Blood was thrust hy his guards Into the courtyard. court-yard. From the thr' .'hold of the hall, he looked back at Captain Hobart. .m l hi sapphire eyes were blazing. CHAPTER IH The Lord Chief Justice. II was not until two months lati i on the 19th of September that Peter Pe-ter Blood was brought to trial upon a charge of high treason. Two month of Inhuman, unspeakable imprisonment imprison-ment had moved his mind to a cold and deadly hatred of King James and hl3 representatives His chain companion, on that march to prison had lien the same Jevemj Pitt who had been the agent of Mi-present Mi-present misfortunes. The young shipmaster ship-master had remained hla close companion com-panion attor their common arrest. The hall, even to the galleries-thronged galleries-thronged with spectators, most of whom were ladles was hung In scar- j At the upper end. on a raised dall sat tho Lords Commissioners, the f lv judges in their scarlet robes and hea dark periwigs. Baron Jeffreys of Wem enthroned in the middle place The prisoners" filed in under guard Mr. Blood considered with Interest rh- H twelve good men and true that composed com-posed the Jury- Neither good nor true did they look From them Mr. Blood's calm, deliberate delib-erate glance parsed on to consider the Iords Commissioners, and particularly particular-ly the presiding Judge, whese terrlbie fame had como ahead of him from Dorchester. The clerk called upon Andrew F.avc to hold up his hand and p'rad. From Bayea, who piesvded not guilty the clerk jessed on to Pitt, who boldly bold-ly owned his guilt. The ojily witness, called foi the King I was Captain Hobart. He, testified briskly to the manner In which be had found and taken the thro pris- ' oners, together with Lord Gilroy. i .Ys the Captain s evidence concluded. conclud-ed. Lord Jeffreys looked across at Peter Blood. Blood stood boldly forward. erecL self possessed and saturnine "Captain Hobart hs testified to What he knows that he found me at Oglethorpe's farm on the Monday morning after tne battle of Weston. But he has not told you what I did The Judge broke in. "Why. what should you have been doing there in the eompanv with rebels"' "I was there, my lord in my quality as a physician, to dress Lord Gilroy's wounds. "How came you. who represent yourself your-self as a phyBlclan peacefully following follow-ing your calling In the town of Bridge, water, to be with the army of the Duke of Monmouth"" (Continued In Our Next Issue) |