Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-03
CHAPTER XIV.
The Green Dock,


So there ensued a great and notable race
along that noble highway, which to this
day stretches from the Ferry of the Stakes
to the gates of Castle Cover At first the
| road was happily mostly level and we flew
| like the wind-Rupert's fiery black stretch
Ing himself out like a greyhound coursing
| He was a noble beast and though spirited.
| exceedingly docile. But that night the de-
| mon was abroad, and Bravo, instead Of set
| ting down to his work threw his head
| high and capered like a still inhibited year.
ling on the spring pastures.
Nor did the behavior Of my brother
| mend matters. He stood up in his stirrups
shouting taunts at me over his shoulders.
| The coarser mood of the first night at
| Drumfern seemed to have returned upon
| him. The quiet irony of the change house
| had passed and he grew loud and bolster
| Gus.
My brother spoke truth I rode not Ill
1t is no source of pride to me this day
| whose thoughts are bent on things so very
| much other, but the accomplishment. such
| as it was, certainly stood me in good stead
| | shall never forget the rushing past of the
| landscape on either side. the hedges and
| dykes going behind as If in a dream of
| flying. / had the feeling, too that | was
riding against vehement tree-bowing tenn
| pest, though I have since been told that
| the wind was still and that sounds such as
that of our tumultuous passage could be
| heard at a great distance.
| Rupert set the spurs freely to the sides
| of Bravo so that the blood ran along the
| rowel to the very boot. Peden, on the other
| hand, was never touched. I carried neither
whip nor spur, but only urged him with my
| unarmed heel and with the loose rein laid
| on his neck. And the poor brute seemed
| to understand what he was to do and,
| though he could never get within hundred
yards of Bravo and his wild rider, he still
| nrly md NO. 4
lose sight of my brother
Almost as soon as we had left the change
| house there leaped up in my mind one spot
| on the Shoreward road that haunted me like
| the actual specter of fear The military
road had been carried over partly the line
| taken by another and an older road made
| In the days when sharp turns and steep de-
| scents were less carefully avoided than
| they are by modern road engineers
1t was a spot called the Green Dock
that Is to say, olive" a place on the out
skirts OF my fathers property where the
| road, instead Of being conveyed upon a
bridge straight across the deep and narrow
valley, bends abruptly downward into what
is an apparent pool of rustling verdure in
| the summer, then turning rapidly, almost
| at right angles to itself, crosses a bridge
| and ascends the opposite bank with more
| gradual slope.
The Green Dock might never have exist
| ed but for piece of obstnacy on nv faith
er's part, whor~ having a little seldom-used
| lodge gate a hundred yards or so on the
| south, had refused either to permit his
| avenue to be shortened or to pull down the
| lodge that the road might pass straight
| across. Moreover, being of great authority
| on the board Of the commissioners of sun
| ply for the county, he had carried his point
| IN the race or engineers and surveyors and
the all-poWerful roads and bridges COM
mittee itself.
But few steps from the bridge at the
bottom of the Dock he had made a wicket
| gate ana from thence a path led through
c
| Great House-a road which in past DAYS
| was often chosen by Rupert and myself
| because in this way We could leave the
grounds OF Castle Cover practically with
| out ever showing ourselves in the open.
| The place, dangerous at the best of times
was simply death trap in the darkness
| or a winters night, and as we flew down
the slope half mile from it called as
loud as [ could to Rupert, For Gods sake
| to take care of the Green Dock"
But he stood up, still going at full speed
| and cursed me by name for an Interfering
| craven dog, telling me to pull up myself
| farther.
| Faster and faster we went and when we
| topped the rise in front Of the Green Dock
L was within twenty yards Of Rupert and
| gaining at every stride.
Now 1 do not know whether the heavier
| hoofs of Pedan the Prophet laundering in
| his wake aroused Bravo to frenzy or
whether it was altogether that which hap
|
| catastrophe 1 am about to relate But GER
| tain it is that the mischief was done not at
| the bottom, but in the middle of the Dock
| just where the private path makes off
| through the woods toward the mansion
| house of Cover
| I was wellnigh at Bravos heels and be-
| ginning to congratulate myself that my
| brother would pass the peril in safety, when
| suddenly I saw before me, Illuminated
| family but distinctly visible through some
! skylight in the trees above, the figure of a
| woman clothed all in white and holding a
| bundle standing in the opening where was
| the little turnstile gate into the woodland
| park.
| Rupert saw or seemed to see the figure
| also, for with wild scream that was al
| most a Shrek he pulled his horses head
| sharp round as 1t were, right into the wall
| of the bridge, and the next moment Bravo
| crashed breast high into the stone and lime
| with a sickening sound and his rider was
| thrown over the parapet.
(To be continued)