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Updated: May 21, 2025
Commend me to Master Saxon and to Master Lockarby, if he be with you. His father was mad at his going, for he hath a great brewing going forward, and none to mind the mash-tub. Ruth hath baked a cake, but the oven hath played her false, and it is lumpy in the inside. A thousand kisses, dear heart, from your loving mother, M. C."
As we passed some scowled angrily at us, while others whispered together and shook their heads, in evident doubt as to our character and aims. Now and again among the people we marked the tall broad-brimmed hat and Geneva mantle which were the badges of the Puritan clergy. 'We are in Monmouth's country at last, said Saxon to me, for Reuben Lockarby and Sir Gervas Jerome had ridden on ahead.
'We shall be there anon, said Saxon, and turning to the regiment he set himself to explain some of the simpler movements and exercises, teaching his officers as well as his men, for though Sir Gervas knew something of the manual, Lockarby and I brought little but our good-will to the task.
As time passed, however, the old man grew more sober and more thoughtful, until in his latter days he went back to the simple beliefs of his childhood, and learned to fight the devil with the same steady courage with which he had faced the enemies of his country. Old Solomon was a never-failing source of amusement and of interest to my friend Lockarby and myself.
'Welcome, sir, quoth Reuben, with a merry twinkle in his eye. 'You have before you Don Decimo Saxon of the Spanish nobility, together with Sir Micah Clarke and Sir Reuben Lockarby, both of his Majesty's county of Hampshire. 'Proud and glad to meet ye, gentlemen! cried the newcomer, with a flourish. 'But what is this upon the table? Alicant? Fie, fie, it is a drink for boys.
I had just fallen into a dream in which I saw Reuben Lockarby crowned King of England by Mistress Ruth Timewell, while Decimus Saxon endeavoured to shoot him with a bottle of Daffy's elixir, when in an instant, without warning, I was dashed violently from my horse, and left lying half-conscious on the stony track.
'Well, truth to tell, he replied, 'I am neither a king's man nor a duke's man, nor would I give a button which sat upon the throne. I do not suppose that either one or the other would increase the custom of the Wheatsheaf, or want Reuben Lockarby for a councillor.
'Is Micah Clarke there? he said, in a voice which was strangely familiar to my ears. 'I am Micah Clarke, said I. 'And I am Reuben Lockarby, cried our pursuer, in a mock heroic voice. 'Ah, Micah lad, I'd embrace you were it not that I should assuredly fall out of the saddle if I attempted it, and perchance drag you along. That sudden pull up well-nigh landed me on the roadway.
'Leave him alone, cried Saxon. 'The lad hath as much sense as any of ye. He will see which way the cat jumps. Come, friend, let us make our way back to our men. 'I am sorry, indeed, to lose you, he said, as we threaded our way through the throng of peasants and soldiers upon the Castle Green. 'Your company will miss you sorely. Lockarby must see to the two.
So cool a reception ought to deter them from ever invading us again, and confirm my reputation as a daring leader. Reuben Lockarby, my lieutenant, son of old John Lockarby of the Wheatsheaf, marshalled our forces behind the hedgerow, whilst I sawed vigorously at the plank until I had nearly severed it across.
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