The man stood staring for a few minutes, while the horse pawed impatiently, as if asking to be admitted to its stable. Then he opened the door, the weary beast went in, and the man stood staring with true Devon stolidity before he bethought him of the necessity for removing the saddle from its awkward position.
This seen to, it suddenly occurred to him that something ought to be done about the captain, and he roused up the coachman to spread the alarm in the house.
"Nay, we'll only scare the poor ladies to death," said the Jehu of the establishment, grey hairs having brought him wisdom. "Let's zee virst, lad, if there be anything really bad. If he be droonk and valled off, he won't thank us for telling his wife. Zaddle the dwo coach-horses, Ridgard, and we'll ride to town and zee."
The horses were quickly saddled, and the two men-servants trotted along the Dartmouth road till about half-way, where, in one of the gloomiest parts, their horses began to snort and exhibit signs of fear, and as they drew up a voice shouted--
"Here! Who's that! Help!"
"Why, it be Mr Humphrey," said the old coachman; and dismounting he gave his rein to his companion, and ran forward. "What be wrong, zir?"
"The captain. Much hurt," was the reply.
"I thought zo, zir. His horse comed home without him. He's been throwed--or pulled off," he added to himself.
"It's something worse, I'm afraid. Here, help me, and let's get him home."
The old coachman lent his aid, and with some difficulty the captain was placed across one of the horses, the lieutenant mounting to hold him on and support him, while the two servants followed slowly behind.
"Pulled off?" whispered the groom.
"Mebbe," said the old coachman; and then to himself, "Looks bad for Mr Humphrey; and if he died, what should I zay to them as asked how I found 'em?"
The old man walked slowly on for half an hour before he answered his mental question, and his answer was--
"They'd make me tell 'em the truth, and it might bring Mr Humphrey to the gallows; and if it did, it would be all through me."
CHAPTER FIVE.
A KEEN ENCOUNTER.
The prognostications of his fellow-officer did not prove true, for Captain Armstrong, instead of being sobered by the ride up the hill, grew more drunken. The fresh air blown straight from the ocean seemed to dizzy his muddled brain, and when he rode down the hill he was more drunken than ever, and rolled about in his saddle like his ship in a storm.
This seemed to amuse the captain, and he talked and chuckled to himself, sang snatches of songs, and woke the echoes of the little village street at the top of the next hill, where the tall, square church tower stood up wind-swept and dreary to show mariners the way to Dartmouth harbour.
Then came a long ride along a very shelf of a road, where it seemed as if a false step on the part of his horse would send both rolling down the declivity to the edge of the sheer rocks, where they would fall headlong to the fine shingle below.
But drunken men seem favourites with their horses, for when Captain Armstrong lurched to starboard his nag gave a hitch to keep him in the saddle, and when he gave another lurch to larboard the horse was ready for him again--all of which amused the captain more and more, and he chuckled aloud, and sang, and swore at his cousin for a cold, fishy, sneaking hound.
"He'd like to see me die, and get the estate," he said; "but I'll live to a hundred, and leave half a score of boys to inherit, and he sha'n't get a groat, a miserable, sanctified dog-fish. Steady, mare, steady!
Bah, how thirsty I am! Wish I'd had another drop."
He kicked his horse's ribs, and the docile creature broke into a gentle amble, but only to be checked sharply.
"Wo-ho, mare!" cried the captain, shaking his head, for he was dizzy now, and the dimly-seen trees sailed slowly round. "Wind's changing,"
he said; "steady, old lass! Walk."
The mare walked, and the captain grew more confused in his intellect; while the night became darker, soft clouds rolling slowly over the star-spangled sky.
The ride was certainly not sobering James Armstrong, and he knew it, for he suddenly burst into a chuckling laugh.
"I know what she'll say," he said. "Ladyship will ride the high horse.
Let her. I can ride the high horse, too--steady, mare! What's the matter with you?"
He had been descending into a narrow pass where the road had been cut down in the hill side, leaving a high, well-wooded bank on either hand, and here it was far more dark than out in the open, and the mare, after walking steadily on for some distance with her well-shod hoofs clinking upon the loose stones, suddenly shied, stopped short, and snorted.
"What's the matter with you, stupid? Can't you stand straight?" cried the captain, striking the beast angrily with his heels. "Go on."
The horse, however, backed and swerved from side to side, making as if to turn sharply and gallop back to Dartmouth; but just at that moment there was a rustling sound heard overhead, where the rough bushes fringed the bank, and directly after a rush and the sound of someone leaping down into the lane between the captain and the town.
This had the effect of startling the horse more and more, but instead of making now for the way by which they had come, it willingly obeyed the touch of the rider's spur, and continued its journey for half a dozen yards. Then it stopped short once again, for a dark figure leaped down into the lane just in front, and the captain found himself hemmed in.
And now, for the first time; he began to feel sobered as he took in the position. He had been attacked by highwaymen without a doubt, and unless he chose to do battle for his watch and money his only chance of escape was to force his horse to mount the precipitous side of the lane.
Without a moment's hesitation he dragged at the off rein, drove the spurs into the beast's flanks, and forced her to the leap; but it was poorly responded to. The half leap resulted in the mare gaining a footing a few feet up, and then scrambling back into the lane as the captain's two assailants closed in.
"Stand back, you scoundrels!" roared the captain. "Curse you! I'll blow your brains out."
A mocking laugh was the response, and as he dragged at the holster a smart blow from a cudgel fell upon his hand, making him utter a yell of pain. The next moment one of the men had leaped up behind him and clasped his arms to his side, and in the struggle which ensued both came down off the horse, which uttered a loud snort of fear and dashed off at a gallop down the hill for home, while, nerved to action now by his position and stung by the blows he had received from his assailant, the captain wrested himself free and dragged his sword from its sheath.
He had hardly raised it in the air when a tremendous blow fell upon the blade close to the hilt, the sword snapped in two, and the captain was defenceless.
This mishap took all the spirit-born courage out of him, and he threw down the broken weapon.
"I give in," he cried, backing away to the side of the lane and facing the two dimly-seen figures in the darkness; "what do you want?"
One of the men burst into a hoarse laugh.
"I've hardly any money," cried the captain; "a guinea or two. If I give you that will you go?"
"Curse your money, you cowardly hound!" cried the second man.
"How dare you, dog!" cried the captain. "Do you know who I am?"
"James Armstrong," said the same speaker. "Now, lad, quick!"
"You shall--"
The captain's words turned into a yell of agony as he received a violent blow from a stick across one arm, numbing it, and before its echo rose from the steep slope of the hill a second and a third blow fell, which were followed by a shower, the unfortunate man yelling, beseeching, and shrieking with agony and fear. He dropped upon his knees and begged piteously for mercy; but his tormentors laughed, and seized the opportunity he offered to apply their blows more satisfactorily. Back, arms, legs, all in turn, were belaboured as two men beat a carpet, till the victim's cries grew hoarse, then faint, and finally ceased, and he lay in the trampled road, crushed almost to a mummy, and unable to stir hand or foot; and then, and then only, did his assailants cease.
"Ain't killed him, have we, Abel, lad?" said the bigger of the two men.
"Killed? No. We never touched his head. It would take a deal to kill a thing like him. Captain!" he said, mockingly. "What a cowardly whelp to command men!"
"What shall we do now?" whispered the bigger man.