Bernard Gay Marshall

“ Since his return from Scotland there had been scarce a day when we had not spent a brace of hours with the foils or with broadswords and bucklers. Some men are born for sword-play, as others, like Old Marvin, for the cross-bow; but Lionel of Carleton was not of these. A minute had not passed, as we circled and danced about one another, with our weapons striking fire in the shadow of the wood, before I knew that Carleton, with all his added years and training, was no more than a match for me, if indeed as much. ”

“ My men shall make for me a litter of poles, with robes and garments slung between, and bear me to Mannerley. There will I bide till my wound is healed. Say to thy father, the Lord of Mountjoy, that I renounce all the vengeance that my father and my brother swore against him, and that I extend to him also the hand of friendship. ’Twill please me well if, while I still lie at Mannerley, he and thou and Cedric come riding there and visit me. And so good-by with all my heart. May thou win safely home and Heaven’s blessing follow thee. ”

“ Then, turning to Cedric,
“Any who fights the Carleton wolves is a friend to all true Mountjoys. Come my lad, thy hand! And thy pardon if I did speak a thought rough, not knowing thy deserts. Wert thou sore beset? And did thy bolts make good men and quiet of some of those restless knaves?”
“Some of them, my lord, will ne’er again rob an honest farmer of his stores or burn a woodman’s cottage,” said Cedric with a smile.
“By’r Lady! Thou’rt a man, and shall be a Mountjoy, if guerdon can keep thee,” cried my father. “But hold! Give thy mounts to the grooms, and come to the hall. ”

“ What have we here? By’r Lady! ’tis the Mountjoys!”
In a twinkling, armed and mounted men were all about us; and with a heart like lead I recognized the Carleton livery. We could neither fight nor fly. Half a dozen stout men-at-arms leaped from their horses and rushed upon us. We had not struck a blow ere they overthrew us and wrenched our weapons from our hands. In a moment more my hands and Cedric’s were fast bound with halters like those of scurvy thieves that go to pay their penalty upon the gibbet. ”

“ Look but here!” cried the leader, whom I now saw to be none other than the man who had so sworn against us at the trial at Shrewsbury, “these are young Sir Richard and the forester that slew Sir Lionel but six months gone. And now we come on them again red-handed. See this foul wickedness that they have done! What say you now? Shall we not rope them up to yonder limb in requital?”
“Aye, Aye! Let’s hang them and quickly,” cried another.
“Men of Carleton,” said I from where I lay upon the ground, “we are no murderers. But if slay us ye must, let us at least have the death of men and soldiers. ”

“ More than once had Cedric saved my life in battle and skirmish; and Lord Mountjoy himself had stood forth as his champion when King Henry condemned Cedric to be hanged for the killing in fair fight of young Lionel of Carleton. Of all the Mountjoy retainers, Cedric had the steadiest hand and the clearest head. I had often prophesied that unless I rose in honors and preferment faster than I could rightly expect, I should not long be able to retain such a youth as a simple squire. ”

“ Now Sir Cedric De La Roche and I adventured through the Grimsby woods, afoot, clad as huntsmen and carrying only our cross-bows and poniards. For the most part, those that hunt in greenwood choose the long-bow with its cloth-yard shafts; but from a child Cedric had displayed a wondrous skill with the other weapon; it was ever his favorite; and I followed his humor. Already he had struck a fine moorfowl that ran amongst the gorse and I a hare that sat upright beneath a leafy beech, thinking himself well hidden. ”

“ The Welsh, we knew, fought without defensive armor, save their bull’s hide shields; and almost I pitied them for their nakedness when I thought of the terrible Norman spears and swords in the hands of men long trained in their skillful use and hardened by years of warfare. It seemed scarce fair indeed that knights and gentlemen should fight at such advantage. The arrows and javelins and e’en the sword strokes of their enemies would touch them not, while their own well-aimed blows would cleave through flimsy defenses and scatter wounds and death. ”

“ He lives,” muttered the leader of the men-at-arms, to my utter amaze doffing his headpiece before the stricken youth. Then in answer:
“Master Geoffrey, God be thanked, they have not murdered thee! But these are Sir Richard of Mountjoy and the forester, Cedric, the very same that did to death thy brother, Lionel. Now we shall swing them from yonder oak limb. ’Twill heal thee faster to see thy enemies thus justly served.”
“Hubert, thou shalt not,—on thy life!” ”

“ Geoffrey, Lord of Carleton and Teramore, leader of a hundred lances and half a thousand bowmen, rose from his seat amid a clamor of disputing voices and saluted the Marshal and the assembled company.
“I propose, my lords and gentlemen,” he said in that high, sweet voice of his which yet is far-heard and commanding, “the name of Sir Cedric De La Roche, Knight of Grimsby and bold defender of our Western Marches, for the fifth and final member of this group. He is a brave man and true; and hath, as we often say in the West, a head as well as an arm. ”

“ Carleton was gazing fiercely at me as he came forward; and as his horse came opposite, pulled him up with a wrench on the bridle rein so violent that the mettlesome steed all but cast himself on his haunches.
“Ha! Well met, young Dickon of Mountjoy!” he snarled. “By my troth, my good fairy must have guided my bridle to-day to give me this chance to say my say to this young whelp of a race of dogs! Now shalt thou learn what it is to have the Carleton for an enemy.” ”

“ I am the heir of a noble house that yields no jot to any Carleton; and my comrade here is a freeman of England with no smirch on his name. ’Tis not fitting that ye visit on us the punishment of thieves.”
“Ho!” jeered the leader, “hear the young hound of Mountjoy, now caught in the sheepfold. ’Tis like if we listen to him that he and this Pelham varlet will yet concoct some plan to ’scape us. Quick, men! the halters! For we have other and sadder work to do.” ”

“ Mountjoy struck the outlaws on one flank just as Lionel of Montmorency came down upon the other. In the time a man would need to run a furlong’s length, a score or more of the varlets were slain by shafts and cross-bow quarrels or by the swords of our men-at-arms, fifty more had clasped their hands above their heads in token of surrender, and the Monkslayer and the remainder of his crew had taken flight toward the center of the forest. ”

“ Then my mother, aided by old Dame Franklin, her nurse as a child and ever her faithful servitor, and by me as the Heir of Mountjoy and the representative of my father here, carried to the sentinels on the ramparts and at the arrow slits bounteous refreshments of bread and cheese and ale, encouraging them the while by friendly, confident words and by her dauntless demeanor in readiness for the attack which we all well knew was to come.
“Marvin,” she said, as we came near my old friend and worthy teacher of the arts of war, “shall we give them as good or better than they can send?” ”

“ For an hour we feasted sumptuously, and many a tale was told of archery and of the deer hunting of olden days, when, as I learned from the talk of my elders, men were taller and stronger and of keener eye than now, and such craft of the bow as Elbert and Old Marvin had that day displayed was the boast of many archers in any goodly company. ”

“ I was firing as fast as might be from one of the arrow-slits; but, like the others, could not tell whether any of my bolts were finding victims. Each moment the numbers of our enemies increased. The pile of planks and brush now reached nearly to the inner wall of the moat. My mother ran back and forth behind the archers, carrying new supplies of missiles, and shouting heartening words. Old Marvin was hurling bolts as fast as he could load, and roundly cursing the hounds of Carleton and the blackness of the night that sheltered them. ”

“ The King sprang to his feet, and his right hand went to his sword hilt.
“Mountjoy,” he shouted, “thou forget’st thyself. Beware lest thou bring down on thy head a wrath more terrible than that of any Carleton.”
“By Heaven, my lord!” returned the Lord of Mountjoy in tones that matched the King’s, “that brave youth shall never hang for having done a deed that should bring him praise instead. I stand on my rights as a freeman of England, and demand the trial by battle. ”

“ Mayhap Old Marvin knoweth a many things anent the placing of his bolt that have not yet come to me. My father, Elbert of Pelham Wood, who taught me what I know, hath often told me that with the long-bow one man and one only in all of England could best him,—and that one no other than Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest; but with the cross-bow, Marvin of Mountjoy could ever lesson him. And did not thou tell me that ’twas Old Marvin who laid low the Gray Wolf of Carleton, at the siege? ”

“ Cedric turned to me and whispered:
“Save him we must, or we are no true men.”
“Surely we must save him,” I echoed, “but how shall we compass it? If he have not rest full soon and the dressing of his hurt, he will surely die.”
“One chance there still remains,” he answered softy, “though in the essay we give o’er our own near sight of safety. What say’st thou? Shall we attempt it?”
“With all my heart,” I cried. “Shall we make stand in some rock cranny hereabouts?”
To this the forester made no reply. We were riding down a slope toward a wide but shallow stream which we must ford. ”

“ Then Cedric smiled again, now broadly as of old.
“No such price as that shall you pay, my lord, for somewhat which shall be granted without price whatsoever. I have two deep wounds, forsooth, but little thought of dying. The good leech here knows not of the strength that a plain-living forester can muster when his friends come all these leagues to bid him be of good cheer. I will ride again beneath the Mountjoy banner, my lord, and that before the spring.” ”

“ Now came Marvin, bonnet in hand, before Lord Mountjoy; and began to speak with a quickness and a shortness of breath that I had ne’er before noted.
“My lord, methinks ’twould better the match for those that come to see our archery if we had, besides yonder target, a moving mark. What think’st thou of the rolling ball such as I used a score of years agone, and with which thyself did have much good sport?”
“Marry! Well bethought, good Marvin!” cried Father. “Have the lads bring planks from the courtyard and set up the trough as thou bid’st them. We have bowling balls enough. ”

“ Our leader well knew the tactics fit for such a juncture. He halted his main force, and sent forward the archers,—the long-bow men under Simon of Montmorency, and those with cross-bows under Cedric of Mountjoy. Soon the defenders of the pass were whelmed with a cloud of arrows and quarrels. They sheltered themselves as best they might ’mongst rocks and trees; but the arrows came like rain, searching every cranny of the pass. In scarce half an hour the last of the Welsh rear-guard was slain or had fled, and the way was open before us. ”

“ I cried. “Saving thy pardon, good Mother, he shall be my squire-at-arms. A man that fights as he shall be no shaven-pate. He shall teach me his craft with the bow, and of him I will make a bonny swordsman. What say’st thou, Father? Have I not the right of it?”
My father did smile somewhat to see me so hot and eager in my plans. And truly, I bethought me then that this lad whom I was choosing for my comrade-in-arms was one whom but three hours gone I had never seen, and that now I knew naught of him save that he fought well and truly and with a wondrous skill of his weapon. ”

“ Hast thou forgotten the two sentries in the lower pathway?”
Cedric smiled broadly.
“And hast thou forgotten, Sir Dickon, the oak tree from which we spied them but now? Old Marvin and I together shall care for the sentries.”
I drew a deep breath as I caught the full working of his plan. “Cedric,” I said, “thou wilt never remain a simple squire. Thou hast a head as well as an arm. The King hath need for such in many places of trust.”
“Let us first make this plan succeed,” replied Cedric evenly, though I could see that my words had warmed him to the heart. “Now shall we tell Lord Mountjoy?” ”

“ Else I’ll fairly send a quarrel through thee.”
There came a low groan from the darkness, and words that seemed made with labor:
“Strike then. I care not.”
“What say’st thou?” called Cedric, “seest thou not I can strike thee with bolt fairly in face?”
“Strike then. ’Tis better so.”
Cedric turned to me with blank amaze upon his face.
“Heard thou ever the like? The man defies us to the death.” Then, quickly thrusting his bow into my hands:
“Hold this against mischance. There’s more to this than we know. I will fetch this fellow forth.”
“Hold Cedric,” I cried, “beware lest he stab thee.” ”

“ The young eagle tries his wings,” laughed my father. “Spoken like a true Mountjoy, Dickon. Thou’lt do. Give thee but a few more years and thou’lt serve the King like all thy line.”
“And like a true Montmorency, my lord,” put in my mother. “Forget not that.”
“’Pon my soul, ’tis true,” he laughed, “Dickon hath as good blood on the distaff side as any his father can boast.—But to the matter of the castle’s defense in need. Will-o’-the-Wallfield shall stay behind also to see that stores of grain and beef are ample. He’s ever a good hand with the farmers and as sound as an oak staff.” ”

“ It is this very business, well and faithfully done, that shall put an end to Carleton’s insolence. The Wolf shall snap his jaws in vain. The fat goose of Mountjoy for which he hungers shall show itself an eagle with beak and talons.”
“I hope it may be as thou sayest, my lord. Still, leave with us Old Alan, the armorer. He too is past the days of hard campaigns; and thou wilt have the young smith, Dickon, for thy work in the camp. Alan shall make for us such a store of cross-bow bolts as will make Old Marvin and his men seem a score in case of need.” ”