n resolved itself into man and horse. The rider was
well-nigh abreast of us before he was aware of our presence, when he
pulled up his steed in a strange, awkward fashion, and faced round in
our direction.

'Is Micah Clarke there?' he said, in a voice which was strangely
familiar to my ears.

'I am Micah Clarke,' said I.

'And I am Reuben Lockarby,' cried our pursuer, in a mock heroic voice.
'Ah, Micah lad, I'd embrace you were it not that I should assuredly fall
out of the saddle if I attempted it, and perchance drag you along. That
sudden pull up well-nigh landed me on the roadway. I have been sliding
off and clambering on ever since I bade goodbye to Havant. Sure, such a
horse for slipping from under one was never bestridden by man.'

'Good Heavens, Reuben!' I cried in amazement, 'what brings you all this
way from home?'

'The very same cause which brings you, Micah, and also Don Decimo Saxon,
late of the Solent, whom methinks I see in the shadow behind you. How
fares it, oh illustrious one?'

'It is you, then, young cock of the woods!' growled Saxon, in no very
overjoyed voice.

'No less a person,' said Reuben. 'And now, my gay cavalieros, round with
your horses and trot on your way, for there is no time to be lost. We
ought all to be at Taunton to-morrow.'

'But, my dear Reuben,' said I, 'it cannot be that you are coming with us
to join Monmouth. What would your father say? This is no holiday jaunt,
but one that may have a sad and stern ending. At the best, victory can
only come through much bloodshed and danger. At the worst, we are as
like to wind up upon a scaffold as not.'

'Forwards, lads, forwards!' cried he, spurring on his horse, 'it is all
arranged and settled. I am about to offer my august person, together
with a sword which I borrowed and a horse which I stole, to his most
Protestant highness, James, Duke of Monmouth.'

'But how comes it all?' I asked, as we rode on together. 'It warms my
very heart to see you, but you were never concerned either in religion
or in politics. Whence, then, this sudden resolution?'

'Well, truth to tell,' he replied, 'I am neither a king's man nor a
duke's man, nor would I give a button which sat upon the throne. I do
not suppose that either one or the other would increase the custom of
the Wheatsheaf, or want Reuben Lockarby for a councillor. I am a Micah
Clarke man, though, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet;
and if he rides to the wars, may t