Several mounted men
were there, trying to pass. Among them, in one sudden glare, I
saw Aurelia on her Arab, reined in beside Sir Travers, whose
horse was kicking out behind him. I passed them by so close that
I touched Aurelia's riding habit as I crept out of the press.
They were talking together, just behind me, as I crept from the
town over the bridge above which the summer mists clung, almost
hiding the stream. Aurelia was saying "I only hope we may be in
time." "Yes, poor boy," said Sir Travers. "It will be terrible if
we are too late." It gave me a pang to hear them, for I knew that
they were talking about me.
I crept into the shelter of the bridge parapet while they rode on
past me. The mist hid them from me. The town was dark above the
mist like a city in the clouds. The stars were dim now with the
coming of day. A sheep-bell on the moor made a noise like a
nightbird. A few ponies pastured on the moor trotted away,
lightly padding, scared, I suppose, by the two riders. Then, far
away, but sounding very near at hand, for sound travels very
strangely in mist, so strangely that often a very distant noise
will strike loudly, while it is scarcely heard close to, there
came a shot. Almost instantly, the air seemed full of the roar of
battle. The gun-fire broke out into a long irregular roar, a fury
of noise which roused up the city behind me, as though all the
citizens were slamming their doors to get away from it. I hurried
along the road towards the battle, praying, as I went, that my
master might conquer, that the King's troops had been caught
asleep, that when I got there, in the glory of dawn, I might find
the Duke's army returning thanks in their enemy's camp.
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