The New Forest Spy | Page 6

taken at last."
"I say," cried Waller, gazing at the poor fellow anxiously, "why are you
here? What have you done?" And then slowly, and in almost a whisper,
as he glanced sharply round for the pistol, "You haven't killed anybody,
have you?"
"Killed! No! What have I done? Nothing that should disgrace a
gentleman. Nothing but fight for the cause of my lawful king."
Waller looked at the lad curiously, for his words and the wildness of his
looks again brought up the idea that he was a little off his head.
"But I say," he said, "if you were fighting, as you call it, for your lawful
king, why should the soldiers be after you?"
"Because I am an enemy--a follower of the Stuarts."
"Oh," said Waller, in a puzzled tone, as the lad slowly and painfully
rose and then snatched at something to save himself, for he reeled.
"Here, I say, you are weak," cried Waller, saving him from falling,
"lean on me. The stream is just over there," and he led his feeble
adversary down the slope to the nearest opening where he could lie
down and reach over the bank to drink from the clear water in the most
ancient and natural way--that is, by lowering his lips till they touched
the surface.
The lad drank deeply, and then rose to a sitting position, making no
effort to stand.
"Ah," he said faintly, "I feel better now. There," he went on, "I suppose
you didn't know the soldiers were here?"
Waller shook his head, content to listen.
"They are; and you know all about the trouble--about the Stuarts

making another stand for their rights?"
"Oh, not much," said Waller. "I have read, of course, about the Old
Pretender and the Young Pretender."
"Pretenders!" said the lad bitterly. "Those who fought for their rights as
heirs to the British Crown. They are at rest, but an heir still lives, and it
is his fortunes we follow."
"Oh," said Waller thoughtfully. "Yes, I have heard of him--in France,"
and he looked more curiously in the other's eyes as he asked his next
question, thinking the while of the slight accent in the lad's speech.
"But you have not come from there?"
"Yes," said the lad quietly, and with a bitter tone of sadness in his
words; "we crossed over from Cherbourg--oh, it must be a month ago."
"We?" said Waller inquiringly.
"Yes; I came with my father and four other gentlemen to Lymington."
"And are they here in the forest?"
The lad looked at him wonderingly.
"No," he said; "they were all hunted down like wild beasts--treated as
spies."
"And where are they now?" said Waller eagerly.
"Who knows?" replied the lad sadly. "Lingering in prison, if they have
not already been shot. Quick! Tell me," he continued, catching Waller
by the arm. "My father! Have you heard anything about him?"
"I? No," said Waller. "Oh, surely not shot! But in this quiet country
place at the Manor we hear so little of what is going on. I can't help
being so ignorant about all these things."

"You are all the happier, perhaps," said the lad sadly.
"Oh, I don't know," said Waller. "I am afraid I don't know much about
what's going on. I am fond of being out here in the woods. It is
holiday-time now my father's out. But I say," he continued, with a frank
laugh, "isn't it rather funny that you and I should be talking together
like this, after--you know--such a little while ago?"
"Yes, I suppose so; but I thought you were one of the enemy coming to
take me."
"Yes," said Waller; "and I don't know what I thought about you when I
was looking down the barrel of that pistol."
"I--I beg your pardon," faltered the lad. "I was half-mad."
"Quite mad, I think," said Waller to himself. Then aloud, "But, I say,
why were you here?"
"I was hiding; trying to get down to the coast and make my way back to
France. The soldiers have been hunting me for days, but I have escaped
so far."
"To get back to France?" said Waller. "But are you not English?"
"Yes, of course. Don't I speak like an Englishman?"
"Well, there is a little something queer about it," said Waller--"a sort of
accent."
"I said English," continued the other, "but my family, the Boynes, are
of Irish descent, and staunch followers of the Stuarts."
"Yes; but that's all over now, you know," said Waller. "Don't you think
you had better give all that up and go back?"
"I was trying to go back," said the lad despairingly.
"Or stop here."

"You talk like a follower of the Pretender," said the lad bitterly.
"That I don't!" cried Waller indignantly. "My father is