“I cannot pardon where there is no offence, Captain Macpherson,” said Gervase. “It was my good fortune to fight on the side that can afford protection, and had it been otherwise I am certain that M. de Laprade would have rendered me the like service.”
The Vicomte bowing low, raised his hat with a grand air. Then he said, addressing Macpherson, “Monsieur le Capitaine appears to regret that he did not shoot me. It is not yet too late to try his skill. By the kindness of this gentleman I have still my sword, and if you, sir, do not think it beneath your dignity to try a pass with a poor soldier and gentleman like myself, I shall be happy to give you the opportunity you desire. Here is a pretty piece of heath--how say you, sir?”
“I say that I fight only in the way of my duty, but at another time when public necessity may give way to private entertainment I shall have no objection to oblige you either with sword or pistol, on foot or horseback. No man that knows him will say that Ninian Macpherson declined a duello because he feared the thrust of a rapier or the shot of a pistol. When our journey is ended and the business now on hand completed----”
“Be assured I shall afford you what you are pleased to call your entertainment. And now may I ask whither you purpose to carry me?”
“We shall carry you, sir, as far as Enniskillen, and, mayhap, if you so desire it back to Londonderry.”
“I have no desires; I have learnt the uses of adversity.”
“Then you have learnt the last lesson a man can learn,” answered Macpherson, abruptly turning on his heel, and joining Hackett who was looking after one of the men who had been wounded.
The skirmish had in every sense been a complete success. Only one man had been slightly, and another severely wounded, and these raw and undisciplined yeomen had shown a wonderful steadiness and gallantry. When the horses of the dragoons had been collected, for Macpherson believed in gathering the fruits of victory, they were ready to start on the march.
“The prisoner is in your charge, Sergeant Hackett,” he said. “Shoot him through the head if he tries to run away.”
De Laprade shrugged his shoulders. “Bah!” he said, “your Captain eats fire. Whither would he have me run?”