My present position was by no means so secure as I could have wished it to be. Here was I isolated from all assistance in this out-of-the-way village, with but a dozen troopers at my back, in the midst of a people notoriously hostile to us, and, for all I knew, a whole regiment of Jacobites in the vessel I had seen in the bay. The prospect was not encouraging.
“He leaned against its knotted trunk, while the blood dripped steadily upon the grass”
And upon reaching the village I had an example of the effect that the presence of so small a number of my men remaining there produced, in the altered demeanour of the villagers themselves; for whereas before they had scarcely dared to show themselves in the street, now upon every doorstep and in the open space before the inn excited groups were gathered, above which sounded the shrill voices of the women and the low muttering of the men.
This clamour, indeed, fell to silence as I passed, but was renewed with double vehemence when my back was turned. To this, however, I paid no heed, but looking neither to the right nor left, I strode down the street, the excited groups making way for me readily enough at the sight of my grim visage and clanking sword.
I found that the sergeant had faithfully carried out my orders by withdrawing with his party to the inn, for I deemed that this latter building was the most capable of being held by a dozen resolute men in the event of their being besieged, though that fate should play them so scurvy a trick I did not anticipate.
Still, I determined that I would give my lady no single loophole by which she might contrive to outwit me. So true is it that a fool will pride himself on his acuteness even in the midst of his folly, though this lesson was more fully inculcated on my mind by subsequent events.
Conformable to the plan that I had conceived in my own brain, I took the sergeant aside and warned him to be strictly on his guard against surprise, arranging that two pistol shots in rapid succession should be the mutual signal of danger between us. But so comfortable was the aspect of the inn parlour, of which the troopers had already taken possession, and the welcome sight of the familiar uniforms with their reassuring air of security, that again I was sorely tempted to remove my quarters thither also. Surely it was my pride only that prevented me.
Glancing through the open window, I saw a trooper bringing my horse from the stable, and again I cautioned the sergeant to look well to the safety of their own animals and to make certain that the liquor with which the troopers were served had not been previously tampered with.
“No fear of that,” he said with a grin, pointing to two unopened casks of ale which they had already rolled into the room. “He will be a clever man who touches that whilst we are present.”