The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-12

tain them both"-Anne comforted him.
 And though no letter came from Lady Lorna, John Ridd could not forget her,
 and would not believe her false. The robber Doones became more and
 more outrageous after the death of Sir
 Ensor and Jeremy Stickles gathered to- gether a few troopers and in the name of the king summoned the militia of De-
 von and Somerset to attack the strong hold of Glen Doone.
 John now that he knew that Lorna was none of the outlaw race, entered into the
 enterprise with spirit; but at once quar- rel arose between the. men of the two shires, each body of militia declaring that
 they ought to fight only in their own shire. So 1t was arranged that as the boundary between the shires ran directly
 through the Doone valley, the Devonshire
 men should attack from the cliffs on their side and the Somerset men from the op- posing cliffs, while q combined force Of farmers and the troopers should make d
 demonstration at the Doone gate. Unhappily, it fell out that the Somerset
 men, pointing their cannon carelessly fired across the valley into the ranks of the men of Devon, and the Devon men
 replied in kind, forgetting the common
 enemy in the valley entirely. So the
 Doones, driving off the small party at the
 gate saillied forth in force, took the
 Somerset men in the rear and drove them off with slaughter. Whereupon the men of Devon marched home dragging their
 cannon after them and poasting of their victory.
 The troopers stayed on at Flowers Bar rows This fact and the real fear with
 which John had inspired the Doones, pre-
 vented the outlaws from taking revenge
 by assaulting the farm. The other farm
 CTS of the neighborhood all offered to pay
 4.fn, tta .af nd
 and for a time the outlaws rode forth no
 more to forays.
 But now a mightier storm than any the
 Doones could raise broke on the west
 of England; for King Charles died, James
 reigned in his stead and the Duke of
 Monmouth landed and summoned the
 shires to arms for his alleged rights.
 Many cities opened their gates to king
 Monmouth" and many thousands of peas
 ants and yeomen gathered to his stand
 ard, making a large but rabble army,
 against which came the troops of King James-"Kirke's Lambs" veterans fresh from Tangier, and disciplined household
 troops under Handsome Jack" Churchill.
 When the army of King Monmouth has passed by, Annie came to P1oyer Barrows in great distress. Tom faggus had been unable to withstand the tempta-
 tion of danger and excitement and had gone off with the rebels. Eagerly Annie
 
 Tom would listen to john and to none other, she was sure.
 So off rode Great John" Ridd, and reached the fatal field of Sedgmoor just as the rebel army was flying in a dis
 ordered rout. Poor Tom Faggus he
 found lying badly wounded, but setting
 him upon his faithful horse, the noble
 animal galloped off with him and brought him safe home.
 John, however. did not so easily es- cape. A party of "Kirke's Lambs cap tured him on the field. swore that he was a rebel and were just about to string him up when he was rescued by the timely arrival of Jeremy Stickles, now a captain in the royal service. Jack Church. i'll heard his case and sent him up to London in Jeremy's custody where, upon the testimony of the captain and upon the reports of the commander of the troopers stationed at Plovers Barrows, John had no difficulty in establishing his innocence. But. being now In London, | John determined he would see Lorna. He had by this time been heard of at