termost farthing. And so must his pledge of vengeance
be redeemed to-night; and so, riding eastward, with the dying sunlight
behind him and the quiet Chiltern hills before, through air softened by
the gathering coolness of these midsummer eves, beside clover fields,
and hedges of wild roses, and ponds white with closing water-lilies, and
pastures sprinkled with meadow-sweet, like foam,--he muses only of the
clash of sword and the sharp rattle of shot, and all the passionate joys
of the coming charge.

III.

THE FORAY.

The long and picturesque array winds onward, crossing Chiselhampton
Bridge, (not to be re-crossed so easily,) avoiding Thame with its church
and abbey, where Lord-General Essex himself is quartered, unconscious of
their march; and the Cavaliers are soon riding beneath the bases of
the wooded hills towards Postcombe. Near Tetsworth, the enemy's first
outpost, they halt till evening; the horsemen dismount, the flagon and
the foraging-bag are opened, the black-jack and the manchet go round,
healths are drunk to successes past and glories future, to "Queen Mary's
eyes," and to "Prince Rupert's dog." A few hours bring darkness; they
move on eastward through the lanes, avoiding, when possible, the Roman
highways; they are sometimes fired upon by a picket, but make no return,
for they are hurrying past the main quarters of the enemy. In the
silence of the summer night, they stealthily ride miles and miles
through a hostile country, the renegade Urry guiding them. At early
dawn, they see, through the misty air, the low hamlet of Postcombe,
where the "beating up of the enemy's quarters" is to begin. A hurried
word of command; the infantry halt; the cavalry close, and sweep down
like night-hawks upon the sleeping village,--safe, one would have
supposed it, with the whole Parliamentary army lying between it and
Oxford, to protect from danger. Yet the small party of Puritan troopers
awake in their quarters with Rupert at the door; it is well for
them that they happen to be picked men, and have promptness, if not
vigilance; forming hastily, they secure a retreat westward through the
narrow street, leaving but few prisoners behind them. As hastily the
prisoners are swept away with the stealthy troop, who have other work
before them; and before half the startled villagers have opened their
lattices the skirmish is over. Long before they can send a messenger up,
over the hills, to sound the alarm-bells of Stoken C