Beau Brocade

od round and sh

n, one or two of them sighed in a desultory fashion, others

ly, then glanced away again, as if afraid to read each other's thoughts, and i

igh impassable. Only a few men-some half-dozen perhaps-out of the lonely homesteads from down Brassington way, had tramped in the wake of the litt

brisk nor'-wester came blustering across the Heath, making

of grey-green gorse and golden bracken and long shoots of purple-stemmed bramble, and here and there patches of vivid mauve, where the heather w

yond it. The roads themselves, the one to Aldwark, the other from Wirksworth, the third little more than a morass, a short cut

ung there where once the bones of Dick Caldwell, the highwayman, had whitened in the bleak air of the Moor: still, at moments like these, when no one spoke, the wind seemed to bring an echo of ghostly sighs a

Inch, the beadle from Brassington, was also there in his gold-laced coat, bob-tailed wig and three-cornered hat: he had lent the dignity of his presence to this solemn occasion, and i

ester, with singular want of respect for King and Parliament, commenced a vigorous attack upon the great document, pulling at it in wa

st-like fluttering in the wind; no doubt t

rdy! to th

the written characters with awe and misgiving. They had had Mr Inch's assurance that it was all writ there, that the King himself had put his name to it; and the young Co

acted that these persons are guilty of high treason and by the laws of the kingdom are therefore condemned to death. It is further enacted that it is unlawful for any loyal subject of the King to shelter or harbour, clothe or feed any such per

oor, aye, and the hamlets and villages of Derbyshire, were ringing with the wild shouts of Prince Charlie's Highland Brigade, but yesterday that his handsome face, h

ld disaster when the Prince's standard broke, just as it was taken into my Lord Exeter's house in

rear-guard of Prince Charlie's army, the hussars with their half-starved horses and bedraggled finery, who had swep

had brought all the way from Derby, and which had been signed by King George himself, this meant silence, hushed footsteps, a hidden figure perhaps, pallid and gaunt, hiding behind the boulders, or amidst the gorse on the Moo

ing to say; no wonder the young men looke

res, a hunter of men. There were twenty guineas to be earned, and out there on the Heath, in the

ere, on Brassing Moor, there existed some k

would peck at it, the rain would dash it down, the last bit of dirty rag would be torn away by an October gale, but in the meanwhile the few inhabitants of Brassington and those o

h, Master Inch," said the Corp

e road, the thatched cottage, with a glimpse o

ne words which had gained for him wide-spread admiration for miles around. "I had not observated that John Stich was f

en! John Stich might have saved me the trouble," he added, gropi

Inch, sententiously. "John Stich is a loyal subject of King George, and by my faith! he would not ha

in a trice. His broad face beneath the bob-tailed wig and three-cornered hat looked like a

o Brassington, others were tramping Aldwark way; one wizened, solitary figure was slowly toiling up

ested. From the shed beyond the cottage there suddenly came the sound of t

he foot-pads and highwaymen that haunt this God-forsaken Moor," h

hn Stich himself. As I live, he would crack your skull for you, Master Beadle, aye, be it ever so full of dictionary words. John St

ier's tone of familiarity. He drew up his fiv

ellow, and I spoke of no ordinary foot-pads. My mind," he added, dwelling upon that myster

Broc

bvious incredulity, which furth

ernicious, damned rascal, who gives us, that represen

sneered th

etorted Mr Inch, spitefully, "you ha

ny corner of the county," laughed the young soldier, "but methought Beau Br

me to observe, does exist in the flesh. 'Twas only last night Sir Humphrey Challoner's coach was stoppe

is Beau Brocade by th

him by the heels forsooth, and

ect His Grace the Duke of Cumberland to

Beau Brocade is a dangero

o the q

nly the rich he is after, and uses but l

camp life round about Derby, the fame of the daring highwayman had ere no

fty guineas, eh?" said Master Inch, whispering in eager confidence. "Well, this morning

el

bout here, the lads from Brassington or Aldwark, or even from Wirksworth, would never willingly lay a

rade is not so shameful after

l prince in disguise-he always wears a mask; some say he is the Pretender, Charles Stuart himself; others declare his face is pitted with smallpox; others that he has the face of a pig, and the ears of a

there no reward for the capture of your pig-faced, hairy, b

whisper that was hardly audible above the murmur of the w

ve a long signi

h to attempt the captu

hook his

handed; the rascal is cunni

arily silenced. The words died in his throat; his bell, the badge of

the lonely Moor. Such a laugh as would make anyone's heart glad to hear, the laugh of

th gazed out upon the Heath; the patient little squad of soldiers too, all fixed thei

d all the soldiers' hearts with envy and covetousness; the rider, a youthful, upright figure, whose every movement betokened strength of limb and elasti

tches of vivid blue as a rich, shimmering dome above it, the gold-tipped bracken, the purple heather all

ouds and had a look at that fine specimen of eighteenth-century English man

ised that the picture was made of flesh and blood, horse and rider had disappeared, there, far out across the He

iry-land, there came, like the echo of a sil

live!" murmured Mr I