dragged them away,
and, propping them against the parapet opposite, called for water to
bathe their wounds, I became unpleasantly sensible of my own hurts.
The stab in my upper arm, though it bled little, kept burning as
though the pitchfork had been dipped in poison; and from the less
painful scratch on the ribs I was losing blood; I could feel it
welling under my shirt, and running warm down the hollow of my groin.
Loss of blood, they say, will often clarify a man's eyesight and
quicken his other faculties; or it may be that, as the morning sun
ate up what remained of the fog, all around me--the bridge and the
persons upon it, the trees up the valley, the river tumbling
between--on a sudden grew distinct to the view. At any rate, in my
memory, as out of a blurred print, springs the apparition of my lady
as she came riding back from her parley with the patrol, with the
sunlight on her flaming feather and habit of red velvet, and her
horse's shadow moving clear-cut along the granite parapet. Nay, it
seemed that her voice, too, had a sharper edge as she spoke to me.

'I have explained to the captain, yonder, that you are my prisoner.
Which is your horse?--the dark bay, I think.' For they had captured
mine as well as poor Hutson's, and a servant held the pair by the
bridge-end.

'It is, madam.'

She motioned to the man to lead him forward. 'Now mount,' she said;
'and follow me, if you please. You may keep your sword.'

Mounting, to a man in my plight, was no such easy matter; but she had
walked forward to give some directions about the wounded men, and did
not perceive the pain it cost me. Yet (I told myself) she must have
seen me take my wound; and her indifference angered me.
Having mounted and found my stirrups, I shut my teeth hard.

'Are you ready?' she asked, glancing back over her shoulder.

'At your service, madam.'

Without another word or look she started at a brisk trot, which I
forced my horse to copy, though it gave me the most discomfort of any
she could have chosen; and at my heels rode three of her servants on
great clattering cart-horses. The highway beyond the bridge rose
with a gentle slope, much obscured by trees. Between them, a short
distance up the hill, I caught sight of a lodge-gate, with a park and
a fair avenue beyond it; but of these I had no more than a glimpse,
for almost at once my lady led us off to the right and along a rutted
cart-track, black with the mould of rotted le