Shortly after the arrival of my uncle I had an attack of smallpox, which, Heaven be praised! left me unmarked. Master Blackwood, the chirurgeon, tended me with the utmost care, though at the time I feared his remedies more than I did the disorder.
August had run its course, and September was well advanced ere I could get abroad once more, and during that time much had happened relating to the ill-fortuned rising in the West.
Monmouth's head had rolled on the scaffold on Tower Hill, and Jeffreys had completed his circuit of the West, leaving behind him a never-to-be-forgotten record of cruelty, infamy, and shame, while his brutal actions in condemning Lady Alice Lisle to the stake sickened even the most loyal supporters of King James.
Then, and only then, did I realize the risk we had run in harbouring Captain Jeremy; yet I had learnt to look upon him as the one stanch friend in my solitude, and as such I would right willingly take all chances could I but render him further aid.
At the first opportunity, directly I felt strong enough, I crossed the heath and stealthily approached his place of concealment. In vain I gave the call of the red deer, for no welcome reply came from the yawning pit; and when at length I descended by the rude ladder I found the place dank and deserted. Captain Miles and his men had gone--whither?--to bondage, or to freedom?
Neither did I from that day set eyes on Black Lewis; he, too, had vanished, and thus all chance of communicating with the honest Captain seemed to be hopelessly lost.
One afternoon towards the close of September I was sent by my uncle into Lymington to procure some books that an acquaintance had promised him.
It was a blustering day, cold for the time of year, and on the journey I encountered several heavy showers that, for want of shelter, soaked me to the skin. However, I accomplished my errand, and laden with a heavy burden I trudged homewards, having also taken the opportunity of obtaining from a cutler's the blade of the dagger with which my father had been slain, I having left it some weeks before for the purpose of having a hilt fitted to it.
At the outskirts of the village I almost ran into the arms of Captain Jeremy, who was leading a heavy cob by the bridle.