Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-05-09
CHAPTER XIII.
THE TRYsT WITH THE PRINCESS

fellow of the swashbuckler stamp
came in with great clashing Of his
scabbard.
He reeled against me, and on the in
slant felt something rlucked from the
inside of the open breast of my cloak.
.This is pretty bauble. he grin
ned, holding Princess Barbaras buckle
in his hand. and even as | clutcbed at
him he discovered the great price of
the stones and dashed past toward the
door. With shouts of rage and many
threats we all sped after him. the poets
dropping their verses and running lus-
tily
The street was empty save for the
f1ying figure of the thief With fair
running ground before us, Tom and ]
kept our wind for the chase. but the
rhyme writers and Red Harding con-
tinued believing out and waving their
swords, much to the danger Of each
others head.
Soon we saw that the man with the
buckle, by the manner Of his running,
was much further in wine than any of
our party He stopped frequently to
take breath. He fell over twice. and at
last, with Tom at his heels. dashed
aside in the doorway of tall house.
In we went after him like pack Of
hounds
Then began an awful tripping across
each others legs and overturning OF
tables, for the hall was pitch dark The
door slammed shut after the last yell
ing poet had scrambled in. For awhile
we had a devil of time. and when by
some unseen agency the candles were
lit we had much worse one. for we
found ourselves in trap of robbers and
cutthroats. all garbed and armed like
soldiers and gentlemen And the man
who had led MS here was not go far
gone in drink rs we had at first sup
posed.
There. in the narrow, richly appoint
ed hall occurred woeful fight The in.
mates were two to our one, but hap
pily, owing to broken furniture and
limited space. this gave them little ad'
vantage.
AT the very first of it lunged at the
thief. who still held Barbara g buckle.
and spitted him clean through the side
1t was but the work of moment to
snatch the trinket from his twitching
fingers and fasten it on my own breast,
While engaging hurley. thick leg
ged rascal across a bench | saw with
the corner of my eye one Of the poets
shouting and stabbing at a man OF
twice his size They spun about and
leaped back and on like crazy men and
were both very drunk. But presently
the scribe changed his rapier to his left
hand and brought down cracking
broadsword cut on his antagonist 8
head which ended that little passage of
arms
Red Harding after sorely wounding
his man. went back and kicked the
door until it fell ont into the street
Dragging one of the wounded with as
we retreated, and the enemy forbore
following
After helping our wounded friend to
the nearest inn we then returned to the
palace. thanking the saints for taking
US out of so merry scrape alive
awoke early on the morrow, and
in getting out of bed felt severe pain
in my left knee | put my foot to the
floor and the agony brought an impa.
tient oath to my lips Dropping back
on to the bed | examined the painful
Joint. and. to my disgust found it
puffed and blue. This is what came Of
fighting in the dark
After the doctor had looked at it and
punched the swelling with his lean
finger, he shook his head till the wig
settled over one ear
"You must 60 on crutches for week
or two my good sir, and no more rid
ing nor fencing till the Inflammation
has gone he said
The gentlemen of the guard, who
were clustered about. drew down their
mouths in sorrow. all feeling that
crutches were second only to the coffin.
The doctor stamped toward the door,
but turned on the threshold and deliv-
cred a last remark
"Wine or malt liquors in the system
will add to the inflammation. Cavalier
listens.
He left amid a thunder of groans.
Ten minutes after sat with my foot
en- chair and played game of chance
with Beverley and two of his fellows,
and the decanters stood on the table.
In the evening the big poet-guards-
man came in and found me alone
After exchanging commonplaces he
began to fdget in his chair and look at
me uneasily
pray part with it. my friend, l
said gayly
by the sword of St Peter, how did
YOU know | had anything to say2' he
asked
For answer passed him a tobacco
pipe, knowing that the fashionable
habit was strong upon him.
After blowing out few wreaths of
white smoke he said
Have you heard about the letter
your king wrote to Princess Bar baraf'
shook my head
"Some one told me that a few days
ago he sent her letter accusing her Of
faithlessness.
How did the countess come to hear
of it p l interrupted.
The big guardsman blushed and clap
ped his heels together.