MARTIN HYDE
THE DUKE'S MESSENGER
by John Masefield
CONTENTS
MARTIN HYDE
CHAPTER I. I LEAVE HOME
CHAPTER II. I LEAVE HOME AGAIN
CHAPTER III. I LEAVE HOME A THIRD TIME
CHAPTER IV. I LEAVE HOME FOR THE LAST TIME
CHAPTER V. I GO TO SEA
CHAPTER VI. THE SEA! THE SEA!
CHAPTER VII. LAND RATS AND WATER RATS
CHAPTER VIII. I MEET MY FRIEND
CHAPTER IX. I SEE MORE OF MY FRIEND
CHAPTER X. SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT
CHAPTER XI. AURELIA
CHAPTER XII. BRAVE CAPTAIN BARLOW
CHAPTER XIII. IT BREEZES UP
CHAPTER XIV. A DRINK OF SHERBET
CHAPTER XV. THE ROAD TO LYME
CHAPTER XVI. THE LANDING
CHAPTER XVII. A VOICE AT DAWN
CHAPTER XVIII. I SPEAK WITH AURELIA
CHAPTER XIX. I MEET THE CLUB MEN
CHAPTER XX. THE SQUIRE'S HOUSE
CHAPTER XXI. MY FRIEND AURELIA AND HER UNCLE
CHAPTER XXII. THE PRIEST'S HOLE
CHAPTER XXIII. FREE
CHAPTER XXIV. THE END
MARTIN HYDE
THE DUKE'S MESSENGER
CHAPTER I. I LEAVE HOME
I was born at Oulton, in Suffolk, in the year 1672. I know not the day of my birth, but it was in March, a day or two after the Dutch war began. I know this, because my father, who was the clergyman at Oulton, once told me that in the night of my birth a horseman called upon him, at the rectory, to ask the way to Lowestoft. He was riding from London with letters for the Admiral, he said; but had missed his way somewhere beyond Beccles. He was mud from head to foot (it had been a wet March) but he would not stay to dry himself. He reined in at the door, just as I was born, as though he were some ghost, bringing my life in his saddle bags. Then he shook up his horse, through the mud, towards Lowestoft, so that the splashing of the horse's hoofs must have been the first soun