Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 1 — page 21: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE PROGRESS from the lips of Trooper John Bunyan in the battle. trumpet voice, by way of encouraging his fellow Ironsides, that he himself was Gog, Magog, and the Archangel Gabriel, Cap- tain Giles cried out in protest: , ‘ Silence, blasphemer!”’ he shouted, even as he split a cavalier to the teeth. ‘ Afore Heaven, ye imperil victory!” But possibly Heaven looked into the heart of Jack Bunyan and saw that his shocking language was as meaningless as the excited babbling of a boy at his game. At the risk of modesty I repeat that I did not acquit myself ill, and I was privi- leged to do Hobgoblin a small service that day. I cut down a cavalier just as he was about to cleave Bunyan from behind. Hobgoblin was otherwise engaged at the moment, and does not know to this day how near he came to the solution of all his earthly and spiritual problems. edly he would have given me only a share of the credit as a divinely appointed in- gtrument to save him from that cavalier, who, of course, must have been a minion on the devil’s side of his affairs. To dispose briefly of the battle of Nase- by field—we won! The royalist cause was left foundering. Charles escaped us that day, and was supposed to be making all speed toward the Welsh border. Not remembering in the excitement that our forces had split between Rupert and the king, and not having seen or heard Hobgoblin since early in the fight, I began to fear for my odd friend as we rode back, tired but victorious, toward Naseby. None of my comrades knew what had become of him, and the dread that he had fallen grew upon me. Depression, resulting also from, mental reaction and physical exhaustion, was not a whit lifted when over the moor ahead sounded the bells of Naseby church, peal- ing joyously for our triumph. Not until afterward did I think it in the least un- usual for us Puritans to be celebrating thus merrily, almost secularly. — But I remembered the bells when, ar- rived in Naseby and encountering our own Sergeant Okey, I inquired concerning my friend, Trooper Bunyan. When Hobgoblin declared in Undoubt- - OF J. BUNYAN. 11 “ Be he friend Then I fear ye “Friend?” quoth Okey. o’ thine, my bantam? chose ill company.” ‘““ How so, sergeant? How has Bunyan offended that ye speak thus slighting?” ‘““Bunyan—if that be the blasphemer’s name—Bunyan is in jail!” In jail! What now? Had Okey in- formed me that Hobgoblin was dead, cut to pieces, and each piece buried separately, I could not have been more astonished. In jail? For what? Then I heard a strange fale, one which had me laughing again, as all things con- cerning Hobgoblin somehow inclined me—- at this time. It appeared that Trooper Bunyan, hav- ing fought more like a demon from the pit than a Puritan soldier, had wound up his day with his carnal devil still rampant. Forgetting his resolve about bells and righteous self-denial, he had dashed from the Sign of the Three Blue Angels after the capture of Rupert’s officers, climbed the belfry of Naseby church, and rung peal after peal upon the bells until their tongues — nigh cracked their bronze cheeks! At the order of Cromwell the offender was taken, not so much for celebrating vic- tory in this unrestrained manner as doing it without order. It was before Captain Bombard that Bunyan was marched, 2 prisoner in his own ranks, but still .ram- pantly impenitent. The God-fearing Giles, recognizing the red-haired trooper who had endangered victory with language displeas- ing to Heaven, fined him twelvepence. on the spot—Cromwell’s decreed penalty - for profanity. Alas! sides, had received no pay in a twelve- month, so in default he was marched to the Naseby lock-up, which had temporarily been converted into a military guardhouse. “‘ And there he is now, this saintly friend o’ thine,” concluded Sergeant Okey, “ and our captain, who hath a right concern for our souls, is even with him at this moment, seeking to convince him of the error of his ways by prayer and supplication.” _ Even while I felt inclined to laugh at this mishap to my friend Hobgoblin, I was disturbed. It seemed a poor reward for so CO DOO AMG SS Bunyan, like the rest of the Iron- | ©