“Do you know where they have gone?”
“No, sir, only along the Exeter road. News came, I think, of the enemy being there, and I’m afraid we shall be having more wounded to-night.”
The girl went on to where Samson and the other man lay, and soon afterward the landlord’s red face appeared at the head of the stairs, to cry hastily—
“Here, Polly! Dick has just come in from the top of the hill, and he could see soldiers riding this way to meet the regiment going along the road. There’ll be a fight not far from here, I’ll wager, and— Hark at that!”
“I don’t hear anything, father.”
“But I do. Horses galloping. Now can you hear?”
There was a faint distant sound, gradually increasing—a sound which soon developed into the rapid beat of horses’ hoofs, and the girl climbed to the window to look out again.
“Yes, father, I can see them,” she cried.
“Well, well, what is it? the king’s regiment?”
“Yes, father, coming galloping back along the road, and—yes, I can see them too, a great regiment of the other side galloping after them, and you can see more soldiers off on the moor.”