will have something to fall back on in case of need. We'll put the
rest back where it was before, for it may come handy."

So Steadfast, much gratified, as well he might be, at the confidence
bestowed on him by his father, took the bag with him under his smock
when he went out with the cows, and bestowed it in a cranny not far
from that in which that more precious trust resided.




CHAPTER V.

DESOLATION.



"They shot him dead at the Nine Stonerig,
Beside the headless Cross;
And they left him lying in his blood,
Upon the moor and moss."
SURTEES.


More and more soldiers might be seen coming down the roads towards
the town, not by any means always looking as gay as that first troop.
Some of the feathers were as draggled as the old cock's tail after a
thunderstorm, some reduced even to the quill, the coats looked
threadbare, the scarves stained and frayed, the horses lean and bony.