Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-10

AT nightfall. the sound OF the hoofs
behind me gradually died away. My
own beast was foaming and painting.
80 1 rcined in to a walk. Near Lou
dun. 1 passed an inn whose look of
comfort. l thought. would surely
Tempt my tired pursuers to tarry, If,
indeed, they should come so far. Some
hours later. coming to another and
smaller inn. and hearing no sound of
pursuit behind ME, / decided to stop
Tor few hours. or until the tramp of
horses feet should disturb the silence
of the night.
The inn kitchen, as / entered, was
noisy with shouts and curses. One
might have expected TO find a whole
company of soldiers there, but to my
surprise. / saw only one man. This
was a robust young fellow. with big
round face. piercing gray eyes. fiercely
np-sprouting red mustache, and a
double pointed reddish beard. There
was something irresistibly pugnacious.
and yet good-natured, in the fiorid
lace of this person. He sat on bench
beside "A table, forcibly OBTAINING an
inn maid With his left arm. and hold
ing "A mug of wine in his right hand.
Beside him, on the bench, lay sword,
and In his belt was n pistol. lie wore
brown cloth doublet, brown breeeh-
ss. and green hose.
"A thousand devils," he roared, as !
entered. Must a fighting man stand
and beg kiss from tavern wench?
1 don't believe in any of your painted
saints. wooden or ivory, but l swear
by all OF them. good-looking girls are
made TO be hugged. and l was made
To hug them, Here, you ten times
damned dog of n landlord, bring me
another bottle of your filthy wine, or
. III make hole in your barrel of a
body BE quick, or III roast you on
your own spit, and burn down your
shrinking old inn" At this moment he
saw me. as j stood in the doorway.
Come monsieur" he cried, I'm not
fastidious, curse me. and you might
drink with me II you We're the poxy
old Pope himself! Here, weuch. go
and welcome the gentleman with n
kiss!" And he showed the girl towards
me and began to pound, in sheer
drunken turbulence. on the table with
his mug.
left the kitchen to this noisy
guest, and took a room upstairs,
where the landlord presently brought
me light and supper.
I paid in advance for my night 5
lodging, and arranged TO have ac-
cess. at any time during the night. to
the shed in which was my horse, so
that at the least alarm / might make
hasty flight. l opened my window.
that the sound of horses on the road
might be audible to me from a dis
h~x ter Il
my light and lay down. in my clothes,
ready on occasion to rise and drop
from the window. take horse. and
lss OF
From the kitchen. below. came fire.
quont sounds emitted or caused by
the tipsy young Hercules in the brown
soublet. Now he beloved for wine,
new he ihundered forth profanity, now
he filled the place with the noise OF
gargantuan laughter; now he sang
az the top or the depth of his big,
rnl voice: then could be heard the
crash Of furniture in collision. These
sounds continued until far into the
night.
/ had not intended TO sleep, but to
uc with ears alert. i could not yet
hiang myself 10 feel that ] was safe
from pursuit. So used had | become
20 condition OF fight, that l could
not throw of the feeling of being stiil
pursised. And yet, 1 had hoped that
Barbemouche would tire OF the chase.
Nv plan had not been to confuse
him as TO my track, by taking by
roads or skirting the towns, but mere
~ To outrun him. Because wished to
Ycach Nerac at the earliest possible
moment. and because the country was
new 10 me and / desired not to lose my