The New Forest Spy | Page 7

had been like you. I should have liked it, and had rather a jolly time," and he gazed hard at the delicate-looking lad, whose very aspect, in spite of his disorder, suggested that he had led a gentle life, possibly mingling with the followers of the Court.
The gaze was returned--a gaze full of wonderment.
"What would you have done?" said the stranger. "Eaten the bitter acorns and the leaves?"
"No," cried Waller, laughing, "I should just think not! Why, I should have done as Bunny Wrigg would--scraped myself out a good hole in the side of one of the sandpits, half-filled it with dry bracken for my bed, made a corner for my fire somewhere outside, and then had a good go in at the rabbits and the fish; and there are plenty of pig-nuts and truffles, if you know how to hunt for them. There are several places where you can get mushrooms out in the open part among the furze where the grass grows short; and then there's that kind that grows on the oak-trees. You can trap birds, too, or knock over ducks that come down the stream if you are lucky. I have several times got one with a bow and arrow. Oh, there are lots of ways to keep from starving out in the woods."
"Ah," said the lad feebly, "you are a country boy. I come from French cities, and know nothing of these things."
"Oh!" said Waller thoughtfully. "What have you had to eat this morning?"
The boy laughed sadly. "I have picked some leaves," he said.
"Picked some leaves!" cried Waller contemptuously. "Why didn't you hunt for some of the hens' eggs? There are lots about here, half-wild, that have strayed away from the farms and taken to the woods. Of course a raw egg is not so good as one nicely cooked, but it would keep a fellow from looking as bad as you do. Here, I say, I am sorry that I knocked you about so. I didn't know that you were so bad as this."
"It doesn't matter now," was the reply. "You had better give me up to the soldiers at once. I suppose they will give me something to eat. My pride's all gone now, and I only want to get it over and bring it to an end. It's very contemptible, I know, but it is very horrible, all the same."
"What is?" said Waller quickly.
"To feel that you are starving to death."
"There, now you are talking nonsense," said Waller warmly. "Why, of course it is. Who's going to starve to death? Here, I suppose I oughtn't to help you?"
"No; I am an enemy. Give me up to the soldiers as quickly as you can."
"Bother the soldiers!" cried Waller hotly. "Let them do their work themselves. I don't know anything about enemies. You are half-starved and ill, and if you stop till I come back I'll run off and get you something to eat. I could take you home with me at once, but if I did the servants would see you, and begin to talk, and then it might get to the ears of the soldiers, if there are any about. Don't run away till I come back with them," continued Waller, with a mocking laugh. "You don't want any more water, do you?"
The lad shook his head.
"Then creep in there under those ferns. Nobody could see you even if he came by, and Bunny Wrigg is the only one likely to be about here. Clever as he is, I don't suppose he would spy you out. Why, I shouldn't have seen you if you hadn't started up as you did. That's right. I shan't be long."
Waller snatched up the two joints of his rod, and the creel which he had thrown down, and started off at a smart trot in and out amongst the great beeches, not traversing the way by which he had come, but striking a bee-line for home.
CHAPTER FOUR.
A RAID ON THE LARDER.
Brackendene was the very model of an Elizabethan country house, with clusters of twisted chimneys, and ivy clinging to the red bricks everywhere that it could find a hold.
There was an attractive porch opening out upon the well-kept pleasaunce, but, instead of going straight to it, Waller looked sharply to right and left, saw nobody and heard nothing but a dull, distant thump, thump, and the barking of a dog from somewhere at the back.
The next minute he was through one of the dining-room casements, and crossed into the hall, where he stood listening for a moment or two to the thump, thump, which now sounded nearer.
"That's Martha at her churn," he muttered. "How stupid it seems! Anyone would think I was a thief."
He felt like one as he crossed the hall, opened a big oak door