It pained
him much to perceive that one who had always been considered a frank,
true-hearted young man, and who left the forest to fight in defense of
his king, was now turned a traitor, and had joined the ranks of the
enemy; and Jacob thought how much better it had been for James
Southwold, if he had never quitted the New Forest, and had not been
corrupted by evil company; "he was a good lad," thought Jacob, "and
now he is a traitor and a hypocrite."
"If born and bred in this forest, James Southwold," said the leader of
the troop, "you must fain know all its mazes and paths. Now, call to
mind, are there no secret hiding-places in which people may remain
concealed; no thickets which may cover both man and horse?
Peradventure thou mayest point out the very spot where this man
Charles may be hidden?"
"I do know one dell, within a mile of Arnwood," replied James
Southwold, "which might cover double our troop from the eyes of the
most wary."
"We will ride there, then," replied the leader. "Arnwood, sayest thou?
is not that the property of the Malignant Cavalier Beverley, who was
shot down at Naseby?"
"Even so," replied Southwold; "and many is the time--that is, in the
olden time, before I was regenerated--many is the day of revelry that
I have passed there; many the cup of good ale that I have quaffed.
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