CHAPTER VII.
PHILIP REDGILL’S ENCOUNTER WITH WILDFIRE NED.
It was a lucky moment for some of the servants that old Sir Richard and his party of sailors did so suddenly burst upon the scene, and thus put an end to the bloody ordeal that was then taking place.
They had hung several to the beam, and some of the maid servants had been carried off.
Roger and the coachman lay upon the floor, thoroughly exhausted, bleeding from all parts of the body.
Tim, the groom, like a lively monkey, managed to climb up the rafters unseen, and hid himself behind a great beam.
But the sudden inroad of Wildfire Ned so exasperated the Skeleton Crew, that they gave no heed to the domestics, but turned all their attention to Lieut. Garnet and his sailors.
In the meantime the unfortunate servants stopped the deadly duels among themselves, and crawled out of the way of further harm.
Tim, however, directly Wildfire Ned appeared upon the scene, gave a wild shout, which almost cost him his life.
One of the Skeleton Crew perceived that he had got out of the way among the beams and rafters of the ceiling, and fired at him.
The bullet just grazed his cheek.
An inch more and he would have tumbled down dead.
As it was he merely screened himself safely again.
When he saw a good chance he whipped out his knife, and cut several of the ropes with which some of the servants had been hung.
They fell to the ground heavily.
But the shock seemed to revive the almost extinct life of several.
Tim then slipped down from his lofty perch, picked up a sword, and rushed to the side of Wildfire Ned, and capered about, and was such a thin, wiry young rascal, that the Skeletons always missed their aim.
Tim seemed to them to be made of india-rubber.
They couldn’t touch him, do what they might, for, although his clothes were tattered, he escaped with a whole skin, much to his delight.
Several days after the stirring events we have just narrated, the wounded men were all provided for, and the dead buried.
This strange visit of the Skeleton Crew to Darlington, and the frightful scenes in the old immense servants’ hall was the talk of the country far and wide.
It filled every one with amazement, and people began to think that, perhaps, after all, the mysterious murder of Farmer Bertram might be traced to the same source, particularly since poor Bob, the farmer’s son, protested his innocence so loudly and boldly.
But appearances were strongly against the farmer’s son.
His own thick walking-stick was found beside the murdered man.
The old farmer’s purse, one he had but a week before bought in the village, was found in the pocket of his accused son.
These evidences of guilt were too strong to allow of any doubt but that the unhappy son had, in a moment of anger and revenge, murdered his own father.
There was one, however, whodidbelieve in poor Bob’s innocence.
That was Wildfire Ned.
He visited Bob in prison, and spent several hours with him.
When he came away he told old Sir Richard that the prisoner was an innocent man, and was sure he had been duped by some cunning villain.
“Bob must not suffer,” said Ned; “heshallnot suffer, while I’ve got a hand to help him.”
“Shallnot!” said Sir Richard, in amazement; “Who’s to prevent it, if he’s found guilty?”
“Who? why,Iwill,” said Wildfire Ned, colouring to the temples.
“You?”
“Yes,me, uncle. No rope shall ever go round Bob’s neck while there is a sword in the village to prevent it.”
“Silly boy,” said the knight, with a smile, “I know that you are brave, no one can doubt that; but what couldyoudo against so many?”
“Let them dare attempt to hang him in Darlington, and you would soon see what Wildfire Ned would do.”
“But they will not hang him here in the village. Most likely they will take him to the nearest large town, perhaps to London, for all I know.”
“I wish theywouldtake him to London,” said Ned, with a smile.
“Indeed! And what then, pray?”
“Why, I would arm and lead on a party of gallant youths. We would soon beat back the soldiers.”
While they were speaking thus, a servant announced that a stranger had arrived at the Hall.
“His name?”
“Mr. Phillip Redgill, sir.”
“Show him up;heis no stranger; he is a relation. Show him up.”
The knight seemed pleased at the unexpected coming of his nephew.
Phillip soon entered.
He was most elegantly attired, and carried a sword.
His face was rather handsome, but he had a dark, wicked-looking eye.
There was an uneasy twitch about his mouth, and when he smiled he showed a set of large teeth.
When he entered the room, he cast a quick, vicious look towards Ned.
Immediately after, however, he wore a forced smile, and shook Sir Richard very cordially with his ungloved hand.
He turned towards Wildfire Ned, and extended his hand towards him also, in a cold, formal way.
“It is not necessary,” said Ned, with a proud toss of his head; “your hand is cold and clammy; it gives me the shivers; its feel is fishy, Phillip Redgill.”
Saying this, he left the room with a flashing eye and proud step.
“Queer youth that, Sir Richard,” said Phillip, with a bitter smile.
“At the same time,” he thought, “I’d give a thousand pounds to know he was dead; he seems thrown in my path to thwart me.”
“But he is a brave youth,” said Sir Richard, in flattering tones.
“Is he,” laughed Redgill; “I have often thought he was a very rash one.”
“His best friends say the same; but it will all wear off with age and experience.”
“Perhaps so, Sir Richard; but it strikes me very forcibly he will never live to be any very great age,” said Redgill, very slowly and with great emphasis.
“Why not?” said the old knight, quickly.
“He is too passionate. Had it not been for my own good temper, and the respect I have for you, I should have publicly horsewhipped him for his rudeness to me on more than one occasion.”
“But you are older than he is, Phillip,” sternly said Sir Richard; “you must remember that.”
“True; but no more of that. I have come from London expressly to inform you that my father, through his influence with the king’s government, has managed to get a midshipman’s commission for Ned, this great favourite of yours. If you like to consent, he can join his ship at once; it lies at Portsmouth, ready to sail.”
“It was very kind of your father, truly; but I have not made up my mind about it.”
“Not made up your mind? Why, when last I was down here, you said it would be the very best thing that could be done for him.”
“True; but I have altered my mind since then. I should be very sorry to part with young Ned, and if any harm were to happen to him, I think it would kill me, for the more I see of him the more I like the lad.”
“Ha, ha!” laughed Phillip; “there is no fear of that; the ship he would join will never sail more than ten miles out of port, so there’s no fear that your intended heir to the Darlington estates will come to harm.”
“The intended heir to my estates, Phillip Redgill!” said the old man. “Ned and his brother are poor orphans, and have no real claim on me.”
At this moment Ned entered the room quietly and heard all that had been said.
“I was only joking,” Phillip replied, with a dry laugh.
When his eye caught sight of Ned he changed countenance on the instant.
Ned gazed at him fixedly with a look of proud contempt.
“Phillip Redgill,” said Ned, defiantly, “I have by mere accident overheard all you have said.”
“What! an eavesdropper in the hall!” said Redgill, with a sneer.
“If you say so, you lie!” said Ned, fiercely; “and, to show you how little I think of you, how much I despise you, take that!” he said, slapping Redgill in the face, “and, if you dare, resent it.”
In an instant the colour rose to Redgill’s face.
He drew his sword and darted towards Wildfire Ned.
“Come on,” said Ned, whipping up the old knight’s sword that lay on the table.
“Put down your swords,” the old man cried, getting between them. “What is the meaning of all this?”
Redgill looked for a second at the firm, handsome features of Wildfire Ned, and the eagle-like glance of the brave lad cowed his own craven heart.
He could not look him in the face.
“Come on,” said Ned. “Nay, turn not so deadly pale, coward.”
“Put up your weapons, I say,” the old man said, sternly.
Redgill did so, and bit his lips until they became bloodless and white.
“Why carry a sword if afraid to use it?” said Ned, scornfully turning on his heel.
After a pause Wildfire Ned said, calmly and slowly—
“Redgill, you are not a man; you are a coward, a snake in the grass; you leave a poisonous slime wherever you go. Bloody deeds follow in your wake wherever you tread! There is no love lost between us, ’tis true; but you are a mischief-maker; a deceiver; I could say more perhaps.”
“Say on,” said Redgill, turning pale.
“Murderer is marked on your face, Phillip Redgill,” said Ned, sternly. “Nay, do not tremble, for I know nought of what you have done; but I suspect and despise you, leaving it in the hands of heaven one day to disclose what you are. You need not fear thatIshall stand in your path to wealth or fame. Trust me, I have too much heart and spirit to eat the bread of charity longer at Sir Richard’s table; but, ere I leave, remember these my words, Redgill,” he said, after a solemn pause, “you will one day grace a gibbet; rogue, vagabond, and murderer is deeply written on your countenance. You cannot, you dare not look an honest lad openly in the face. Your own cowardly heart tells you I speak the truth; and, were it not for the disgrace to good Sir Richard, I could slay you as you sit, and think, aye, know that I had done right in the sight of man and heaven. Sir Richard, I now leave the Hall, my everlasting love is yours. Upon the wide world I go to seek my fortune; but beware of that man’s evil eye. Sir Richard, shun him like a snake. Phillip Redgill, we shall meet again.”
“We will,” was the bitter answer.
In an instant Wildfire Ned left the room.
The village clock tolled the hour of midnight.
He left Darlington Hall, and perhaps for ever!
FOOTNOTES:[1]See Illustration in No. 2.
[1]See Illustration in No. 2.
[1]See Illustration in No. 2.