The Adventures of Gerard Chapter 8 - How the Brigadier Slew the Fox, Part 2

**Arthur Conan Doyle** (0:00)
Section 8 of The Adventures of Gerard This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
How the Brigadier Slew the Fox Continued It was soon evident that I had not been mistaken when I had thought that this might be the quarters of some person of importance.
Shortly after daybreak, an English light dragoon arrived with a dispatch, and from then onward the place was in a turmoil, officers continually riding up and away. Always the same name was upon their lips, Sir Stapleton, Sir Stapleton.
It was hard for me to lie there with a dry mustache, and watch the great flagons which were brought out by the landlord to these English officers. But it amused me to look at their fresh-coloured, clean-shaven, careless faces, and to wonder what they would think if they knew that so celebrated a person was lying so near to them. And then, as I lay and watched, I saw a sight which filled me with surprise. It is incredible the insolence of these English. What do you suppose Milord Wellington had done when he found that Messina had blockaded him, and that he could not move his army? I might give you many guesses. You might say that he had raged, that he had despaired, that he had bought his troops together and spoken to them about glory and the fatherland before leading them to one last battle.
No, Milord did none of these things. But he sent a fleet ship to England to bring him a number of fox dogs. And he, with his officers, settled himself down to chase the fox. It is true what I tell you. Behind the lines of Torre Vagrus, these mad Englishmen made the fox chase three days in the week. We had heard of it in the camp, and now I was myself to see that it was true. For along the road which I've described, there came these very dogs, thirty or forty of them, white and brown, each with its tail at the same angle, like the bayonets of the old guard. My faith, but it was a pretty sight. And behind and amidst them there rode three men with peaks caps and red coats, whom I understood to be the hunters. After them came many horsemen with uniforms of various kinds, stringing along the road in twos and threes, talking together and laughing. They did not seem to be going above a trot, and it appeared to me that it must indeed be a slow fox which they hoped to catch. However, it was their affair not mine, and soon they had all passed my window and were out of sight. I waited and I watched, ready for any chance which might offer. Presently an officer in a blue uniform, not unlike that of our flying artillery, came cantering down the road. An elderly stout man he was with grey side whiskers. He stopped and began to talk with an orderly officer of dragoons, who waited outside the inn. And it was then that I learned the advantage of the English, which had been taught me.
I could hear and understand all that was said. Where is the meat? said the officer. And I thought that he was hungering for his beefsteak. But the other answered him that it was near Altara. So I saw that it was a place of which he spoke. You are late, Sir George, said the orderly. Yes, I had a court-martial. Has Sir Stapleton Cotton gone?
At this moment a window opened, and a handsome young man, in a very splendid uniform, looked out of it. Hello, Armoury, said he. These cursed papers keep me, but I'll be at your heels.
Very good, Cotton. I am late already, so I will ride on.
You might order my groom to bring round my horse, said the young general at the window to the orderly below, while the other went on down the road.
The orderly rode away to some outlying stable, and then in a few minutes there came a smart English groom with a cockade in his hat, leading by the bridle a horse. And oh, my friends, you have never known the perfection to which a horse can attain until you have seen a first-class English hunter. He was superb, tall, broad, strong, and yet as graceful and agile as a deer. Cold black he was in colour, and his neck and his shoulders and his quarters and his fetlocks. How can I describe him all to you? The sun shone upon him as on a polished ebony, and he raised his hooves in a little playful dance, so lightly and prettily, while he tossed his mane and whinnied with impatience.