ROCHESTER ***




Produced by Al Haines.




[Illustration: Cover art]




[Illustration: The Fight in the Castle Yard]




                           The Adventures of
                            Harry Rochester

                             A Tale of the
                     Days of Marlborough and Eugene


                                   BY

                             HERBERT STRANG

          AUTHOR OF "TOM BURNABY" "BOYS OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE"
               "KOBO: A STORY OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR"



                  Illustrated by William Rainey, R.I.



                                NEW YORK
                          G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
                       27 AND 29 WEST 230 STREET
                                  1905




"Honour hath three things in it: the vantage-ground to do good; the
approach to kings and principal persons; and the raising of a man's own
fortunes."

--_Bacon_.




_My dear Tom,_

_You received my former books so kindly that I feel assured you will not
object to have this volume inscribed with your name.  I am not the less
convinced of this because you know well the country in which my opening
scenes are laid, and I had the pleasure last year of playing cricket
with you within a few miles of the village here disguised as Winton St.
Mary._

_I hope you will bear with me for one minute while I explain that in
writing this book I had three aims.  First, to tell a good story: that
of course.  Secondly, to give some account of the operations that
resulted in one of the most brilliant victories ever gained by our
British arms.  Thirdly, to throw some light--fitful, it may be, but as
clear as the circumstances of my story admitted--on life and manners two
hundred years ago.  History, as you have no doubt already learnt, is not
merely campaigning; and I shall be well pleased if these pages enlarge
your knowledge, in ever so slight a degree, of an interesting period in
our country's annals.  And if you, or any other Christ's Hospital boy,
should convict me of borrowing a week from the life of a great
personage, or of antedating by a little a development in our national
pastime--well, I shall feel complimented by such evidence of careful
reading, and not be in the least abashed._

_I take the opportunity of this open letter to acknowledge my
indebtedness to the monumental "Memoires militaires relatifs a la
succession d'Espagne" issued by the French General Staff; to Mr. Austin
Dobson for a detail which only his perfect knowledge of the 18th century
could so readily have supplied; and to Lord Wolseley's brilliant life of
Marlborough, which every student of military history must hope so
competent a hand will continue and complete._

_Yours very sincerely,_
       _HERBERT STRANG._

_Michaelmas Day, 1905._




                               *Contents*


_Chapter_ I
       The Queen's Purse-Bearer

_Chapter_ II
       Sherebiah Shouts

_Chapter_ III
       Master and Man

_Chapter_ IV
       Mynheer Jan Grootz and Another

_Chapter_ V
       A Message from the Squire

_Chapter_ VI
       My Lord Marlborough makes a Note

_Chapter_ VII
       Snared

_Chapter_ VIII
       Flotsam

_Chapter_ IX
       Monsieur de Polignac Presses his Suit

_Chapter_ X
       Bluff

_Chapter_ XI
       The Battle of Lindendaal

_Chapter_ XII
       Harry is Discharged

_Chapter_ XIII
       Concerning Sherebiah

_Chapter_ XIV
       Harry Rides for a Life

_Chapter_ XV
       The Water of Affliction

_Chapter_ XVI
       Knaves All Three

_Chapter_ XVII
       In the Dusk

_Chapter_ XVIII
       A Little Plot

_Chapter_ XXI
       Marlborough's March to the Danube

_Chapter_ XX
       The Castle of Rauhstein

_Chapter_ XXI
       Across the Fosse

_Chapter_ XXII
       The Fight in the Keep

_Chapter_ XXIII
       Blenheim

_Chapter_ XXIV
       The Wages of Sin

_Chapter_ XXV
       A Bundle of Letters

_Chapter_ XXVI
       The New Squire

_Chapter_ XXVII
       Visitors at Winton Hall




                        *List of Illustrations*


_Plate_ I
       The Fight in the Castle Yard...... _Frontispiece_

_Plate_ II
       Harry makes a Diversion

_Plate_ III
       My Lord Marlborough

_Plate_ IV
       At the Last Gasp

_Plate_ V
       "Mon Colonel, we are