A Young Hero | Page 3

pretty well done up."
The Doctor made no reply, but hurried out of the room, leaving father
and son together, when the Captain laid his hands upon his son's
shoulders.

"That was all very brave and well done, my boy," he said. "Now I am
going away quite at rest about you, for I know that you will do as you
have promised."
"Yes, father. But--"
"But what, Phil?"
"Oh, do, pray--pray, take me with you!"
Captain Carleton winced, and his hands tightened upon the boy's
shoulders, while his voice sounded husky as he spoke.
"Phil," he said, "do you know what I am?"
"Yes, a soldier; one of the King's captains, father."
"Right, boy; and didn't I tell you that a soldier must always do his
duty?"
"Yes, father."
"And that boys must always do theirs? Well, sir, the King says I must
march with the army at once, and I say you must do your duty too."
"Yes, father," said Phil, in a choking voice, "and I will."
"Spoken like a man."
At that moment the door was re-opened hurriedly.
"Ah, Martin," cried the Captain, sharply, "you have bad news?"
"Yes--that lad Pierre has gone across the fields towards the town."
"Where the French soldiers are stationed?"
"Yes."

"Then I have no time to lose. The bread--the meat!"
"I--I--" faltered the old man.
"Thought only of my safety," said the Captain. "Here, stop! Phil!
Where are you going?"
But the boy dashed through the open door, which swung to behind him.
"Call him back," cried the Captain, excitedly. "I must say good-bye, for
we may never meet again. Stop; I am weak enough without that. I ought
not to have come. Martin, old friend, remember. I trust you, and if fate
makes him an orphan--"
"You have known me all these years, Carleton, and I have grown to
love him as if he was my own. Trust me still, and--"
There was a quick footstep, the door was kicked open, and Phil rushed
in, panting and flushed, with a large loaf under one arm and a basket
in his hand, out of which the crisp brown legs of a roast chicken were
sticking.
"Here, father!" he cried.
"Bravo! Good forager," cried the Captain, snatching the provisions
from the boy to throw on the table before clasping Phil to his breast in
one quick, tight embrace.
The next minute he had thrust the little fellow into the Doctor's arms.
"Remember!" he cried aloud, and catching up basket and loaf, he
bounded out of the open window and ran across the garden to the yard,
where he had left his horse tethered to a post.
It seemed directly after that Phil was standing on the window-sill
waving his hand and shouting, "Good-bye--good-bye, father!"
But his words were not heard by the Captain, who was urging his tired
horse into a gallop.

It was none too soon, for a body of soldiers were coming at the double
from the direction of the town, and with a cry of rage the boy
whispered through his teeth:
"Look, there's Pierre running to show them the way!"
"Hush! Quick, Phil; we must go."
"After father?" cried the boy, joyously.
"No; we must make for the woods."
The old man hurried out by the back door, and then keeping under the
shelter of fence and hedge, they made for a patch of woodland, which
hid them from the Captain's pursuers.
"Let's wait here for a few moments to get breath," panted the old man.
As he spoke there was the report of a musket, followed by a scattered
series of shots.
"What's that?" whispered Phil, excitedly. "I know; but they can't hit
father, he's riding away too fast. Do you think they'll shoot after us? I
wish I had a gun."
"Why?" said the Doctor, smiling.
"Because I feel as if I should like to shoot at Pierre."
CHAPTER TWO.
The patch of woodland in which Dr Martin and his pupil were hiding
was not large, and before long they had reached the farther side and
stopped short to crouch down among the bushes, fearing to go out in
the open country.
"They'd see us directly," said Phil. "There's another shot. I say, doesn't
that show the soldiers haven't been able to hit my father?"

"Of course," said the Doctor, cheerfully; and then after listening while
the firing kept on, sounding more and more distant till it stopped
altogether, he held his breath in dread lest the boy should notice this
and ask him whether the silence might mean that the French soldiers
had at last hit either man or horse. But to the old man's great relief Phil
took the silence to mean that the Captain had escaped, and was in a
high state of excitement and showed