CHAPTER XIV.
HOW SIR NIGEL SOUGHT FOR A WAYSIDE VENTURE.
For a time Sir Nigel was very moody and downcast, with bent brows
and eyes upon the pommel of his saddle. Edricson and Terlake
rode behind him in little better case, while Ford, a careless and
light-hearted youth, grinned at the melancholy of his companions,
and flourished his lord's heavy spear, making a point to right
and a point to left, as though he were a paladin contending
against a host of assailants. Sir Nigel happened, however, to
turn himself in his saddle-Ford instantly became as stiff and as
rigid as though he had been struck with a palsy. The four rode
alone, for the archers had passed a curve in the road, though
Alleyne could still hear the heavy clump, clump of their
marching, or catch a glimpse of the sparkle of steel through the
tangle of leafless branches.
"Ride by my side, friends, I entreat of you," said the knight,
reining in his steed that they might come abreast of him. "For,
since it hath pleased you to follow me to the wars, it were well
that you should know how you may best serve me. I doubt not,
Terlake, that you will show yourself a worthy son of a valiant
father; and you, Ford, of yours; and you, Edricson, that you are
mindful of the old-time house from which all men know that you
are sprung. And first I would have you bear very steadfastly in
mind that our setting forth is by no means for the purpose of
gaining spoil or exacting ransom, though it may well happen that
such may come to us also. We go to France, and from thence I
trust to Spain, in humble search of a field in which we may win
advancement and perchance some small share of glory. For this
purpose I would have you know that it is not my wont to let any
occasion pass where it is in any way possible that honor may be
gained. I would have you bear this in mind, and give great heed
to it that you may bring me word of all cartels, challenges,
wrongs, tyrannies, infamies, and wronging of damsels. Nor is any
occasion too small to take note of, for I have known such trifles
as the dropping of a gauntlet, or the flicking of a breadcrumb,
when well and properly followed up, lead to a most noble
spear-running. But, Edricson, do I not see a cavalier who rides
down yonder road amongst the nether shaw? It would be well,
perchance, that you should give him greeting from me. And,
should he be of gentle blood it may be that he would care to
exchange thrusts with me."
"Why, my lord," quoth Ford, standing in his stirrups and shading
his eyes, "it is old Hob Davidson, the fat miller of Milton!"
"Ah, so it is, indeed," said Sir Nigel, puckering his cheeks;
"but wayside ventures are not to be scorned, for I have seen no
finer passages than are to be had from such chance meetings, when
cavaliers are willing to advance themselves. I can well remember
that two leagues from the town of Rheims I met a very valiant and
courteous cavalier of France, with whom I had gentle and most
honorable contention for upwards of an hour. It hath ever
grieved me that I had not his name, for he smote upon me with a
mace and went upon his way ere I was in condition to have much
speech with him; but his arms were an allurion in chief above a
fess azure. I was also on such an occasion thrust through the
shoulder by Lyon de Montcourt, whom I met on the high road
betwixt Libourne and Bordeaux. I met him but the once, but I
have never seen a man for whom I bear a greater love and esteem.
And so also with the squire Le Bourg Capillet, who would have
been a very valiant captain had he lived."
"He is dead then?" asked Alleyne Edricson.
"Alas! it was my ill fate to slay him in a bickering which broke
out in a field near the township of Tarbes. I cannot call to
mind how the thing came about, for it was in the year of the
Prince's ride through Languedoc, when there was much fine
skirmishing to be had at barriers. By St. Paul! I do not think
that any honorable cavalier could ask for better chance of
advancement than might be had by spurring forth before the army
and riding to the gateways of Narbonne, or Bergerac or Mont
Giscar, where some courteous gentleman would ever be at wait to
do what he might to meet your wish or ease you of your vow. Such
a one at Ventadour ran three courses with me betwixt daybreak and
sunrise, to the great exaltation of his lady."
"And did you slay him also, my lord?" asked Ford with reverence.
"I could never learn, for he was carried within the barrier, and
as I had chanced to break the bone of my leg it was a great
unease for me to ride or even to stand. Yet, by the goodness of
heaven and the pious intercession of the valiant St. George, I
was able to sit my charger in the ruffle of Poictiers, which was
no very long time afterwards. But what have we here? A very
fair and courtly maiden, or I mistake."
It was indeed a tall and buxom country lass, with a basket of
spinach-leaves upon her head, and a great slab of bacon tucked
under one arm. She bobbed a frightened curtsey as Sir Nigel
swept his velvet hat from his head and reined up his great
charger.
"God be with thee, fair maiden!" said he.
"God guard thee, my lord!" she answered, speaking in the broadest
West Saxon speech, and balancing herself first on one foot and
then on the other in her bashfulness.
"Fear not, my fair damsel," said Sir Nigel, "but tell me if
perchance a poor and most unworthy knight can in any wise be of
service to you. Should it chance that you have been used
despitefully, it may be that I may obtain justice for you."
"Lawk no, kind sir," she answered, clutching her bacon the
tighter, as though some design upon it might be hid under this
knightly offer. "I be the milking wench o' fairmer Arnold, and
he be as kind a maister as heart could wish."
"It is well," said he, and with a shake of the bridle rode on
down the woodland path. "I would have you bear in mind," he
continued to his squires, "that gentle courtesy is not, as is the
base use of so many false knights, to be shown only to maidens of
high degree, for there is no woman so humble that a true knight
may not listen to her tale of wrong. But here comes a cavalier
who is indeed in haste. Perchance it would be well that we
should ask him whither he rides, for it may be that he is one who
desires to advance himself in chivalry."
The bleak, hard, wind-swept road dipped down in front of them
into a little valley, and then, writhing up the heathy slope upon
the other side, lost itself among the gaunt pine-trees. Far away
between the black lines of trunks the quick glitter of steel
marked where the Company pursued its way. To the north stretched
the tree country, but to the south, between two swelling downs, a
glimpse might be caught of the cold gray shimmer of the sea, with
the white fleck of a galley sail upon the distant sky-line. Just
in front of the travellers a horseman was urging his steed up the
slope, driving it on with whip and spur as one who rides for a
set purpose. As he clattered up, Alleyne could see that the roan
horse was gray with dust and flecked with foam, as though it had
left many a mile behind it. The rider was a stern-faced man,
hard of mouth and dry of eye, with a heavy sword clanking at his
side, and a stiff white bundle swathed in linen balanced across
the pommel of his saddle.
"The king's messenger," he bawled as he came up to them. "The
messenger of the king. Clear the causeway for the king's own
man."
"Not so loudly, friend," quoth the little knight, reining his
horse half round to bar the path. "I have myself been the king's
man for thirty years or more, but I have not been wont to halloo
about it on a peaceful highway."
"I ride in his service," cried the other, "and I carry that which
belongs to him. You bar my path at your peril."
"Yet I have known the king's enemies claim to ride in his same,"
said Sir Nigel. "The foul fiend may lurk beneath a garment of
light. We must have some sign or warrant of your mission."
"Then must I hew a passage," cried the stranger, with his
shoulder braced round and his hand upon his hilt. "I am not to
be stopped on the king's service by every gadabout."
"Should you be a gentleman of quarterings and coat-armor," lisped
Sir Nigel, "I shall be very blithe to go further into the matter
with you. If not, I have three very worthy squires, any one of
whom would take the thing upon himself, and debate it with you in
a very honorable way."
The man scowled from one to the other, and his hand stole away
from his sword.
"You ask me for a sign," he said. "Here is a sign for you, since
you must have one." As he spoke he whirled the covering from the
object in front of him and showed to their horror that it was a
newly-severed human leg. "By God's tooth!" he continued, with a
brutal laugh, "you ask me if I am a man of quarterings, and it is
even so, for I am officer to the verderer's court at Lyndhurst.
This thievish leg is to hang at Milton, and the other is already
at Brockenhurst, as a sign to all men of what comes of being
over-fond of venison pasty."
"Faugh!" cried Sir Nigel. "Pass on the other side of the road,
fellow, and let us have the wind of you. We shall trot our
horses, my friends, across this pleasant valley, for, by Our
Lady! a breath of God's fresh air is right welcome after such a
sight."
"We hoped to snare a falcon," said he presently, "but we netted a
carrion-crow. Ma foi! but there are men whose hearts are tougher
than a boar's hide. For me, I have played the old game of war
since ever I had hair on my chin, and I have seen ten thousand
brave men in one day with their faces to the sky, but I swear by
Him who made me that I cannot abide the work of the butcher."
"And yet, my fair lord," said Edricson, "there has, from what I
hear, been much of such devil's work in France."
"Too much, too much," he answered. "But I have ever observed
that the foremost in the field are they who would scorn to
mishandle a prisoner. By St. Paul! it is not they who carry the
breach who are wont to sack the town, but the laggard knaves who
come crowding in when a way has been cleared for them. But what
is this among the trees?"
"It is a shrine of Our Lady," said Terlake, "and a blind beggar
who lives by the alms of those who worship there."
"A shrine!" cried the knight. "Then let us put up an orison."
Pulling off his cap, and clasping his hands, he chanted in a
shrill voice: "Benedictus dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus
meas ad proelium, et digitos meos ad bellum." A strange figure
he seemed to his three squires, perched on his huge horse, with
his eyes upturned and the wintry sun shimmering upon his bald
head. "It is a noble prayer," he remarked, putting on his hat
again, "and it was taught to me by the noble Chandos himself.
But how fares it with you, father? Methinks that I should have
ruth upon you, seeing that I am myself like one who looks through
a horn window while his neighbors have the clear crystal. Yet,
by St. Paul! there is a long stride between the man who hath a
horn casement and him who is walled in on every hand."
"Alas! fair sir," cried the blind old man, "I have not seen the
blessed blue of heaven this two-score years, since a levin flash
burned the sight out of my head."
"You have been blind to much that is goodly and fair," quoth Sir
Nigel, "but you have also been spared much that is sorry and
foul. This very hour our eyes have been shocked with that which
would have left you unmoved. But, by St. Paul! we must on, or
our Company will think that they have lost their captain somewhat
early in the venture. Throw the man my purse, Edricson, and let
us go."
Alleyne, lingering behind, bethought him of the Lady Loring's
counsel, and reduced the noble gift which the knight had so
freely bestowed to a single penny, which the beggar with many
mumbled blessings thrust away into his wallet. Then, spurring
his steed, the young squire rode at the top of his speed after
his companions, and overtook them just at the spot where the
trees fringe off into the moor and the straggling hamlet of
Hordle lies scattered on either side of the winding and
deeply-rutted track. The Company was already well-nigh through
the village; but, as the knight and his squires closed up upon
them, they heard the clamor of a strident voice, followed by a
roar of deep-chested laughter from the ranks of the archers.
Another minute brought them up with the rear-guard, where every
man marched with his beard on his shoulder and a face which was
agrin with merriment. By the side of the column walked a huge
red-headed bowman, with his hands thrown out in argument and
expostulation, while close at his heels followed a little
wrinkled woman who poured forth a shrill volley of abuse, varied
by an occasional thwack from her stick, given with all the force
of her body, though she might have been beating one of the forest
trees for all the effect that she seemed likely to produce.
"I trust, Aylward," said Sir Nigel gravely, as he rode up, "that
this doth not mean that any violence hath been offered to women.
If such a thing happened, I tell you that the man shall hang,
though he were the best archer that ever wore brassart."
"Nay, my fair lord," Aylward answered with a grin, "it is
violence which is offered to a man. He comes from Hordle, and
this is his mother who hath come forth to welcome him."
"You rammucky lurden," she was howling, with a blow between each
catch of her breath, "you shammocking, yaping, over-long
good-for-nought. I will teach thee! I will baste thee! Aye, by my
faith!"
"Whist, mother," said John, looking back at her from the tail of
his eye, "I go to France as an archer to give blows and to take
them."
"To France, quotha?" cried the old dame. "Bide here with me, and
I shall warrant you more blows than you are like to get in
France. If blows be what you seek, you need not go further than
Hordle."
"By my hilt! the good dame speaks truth," said Aylward. "It
seems to be the very home of them."
"What have you to say, you clean-shaved galley-beggar?" cried the
fiery dame, turning upon the archer. "Can I not speak with my
own son but you must let your tongue clack? A soldier, quotha,
and never a hair on his face. I have seen a better soldier with
pap for food and swaddling clothes for harness."
"Stand to it, Aylward," cried the archers, amid a fresh burst of
laughter.
"Do not thwart her, comrade," said big John. "She hath a proper
spirit for her years and cannot abide to be thwarted. It is
kindly and homely to me to hear her voice and to feel that she is
behind me. But I must leave you now, mother, for the way is
over-rough for your feet; but I will bring you back a silken
gown, if there be one in France or Spain, and I will bring Jinny
a silver penny; so good-bye to you, and God have you in His
keeping!" Whipping up the little woman, he lifted her lightly to
his lips, and then, taking his place in the ranks again, marched
on with the laughing Company.
"That was ever his way," she cried, appealing to Sir Nigel, who
reined up his horse and listened with the greatest courtesy. "He
would jog on his own road for all that I could do to change him.
First he must be a monk forsooth, and all because a wench was
wise enough to turn her back on him. Then he joins a rascally
crew and must needs trapse off to the wars, and me with no one to
bait the fire if I be out, or tend the cow if I be home. Yet I
have been a good mother to him. Three hazel switches a day have
I broke across his shoulders, and he takes no more notice than
you have seen him to-day."
"Doubt not that he will come back to you both safe and
prosperous, my fair dame," quoth Sir Nigel. "Meanwhile it
grieves me that as I have already given my purse to a beggar up
the road I----"
"Nay, my lord," said Alleyne, "I still have some moneys
remaining."
"Then I pray you to give them to this very worthy woman." He
cantered on as he spoke, while Alleyne, having dispensed two more
pence, left the old dame standing by the furthest cottage of
Hordle, with her shrill voice raised in blessings instead of
revilings.
There were two cross-roads before they reached the Lymington
Ford, and at each of then Sir Nigel pulled up his horse, and
waited with many a curvet and gambade, craning his neck this way
and that to see if fortune would send him a venture. Crossroads
had, as he explained, been rare places for knightly spear-runnings,
and in his youth it was no uncommon thing for a cavalier to
abide for weeks at such a point, holding gentle debate with all
comers, to his own advancement and the great honor of his lady.
The times were changed, however, and the forest tracks wound away
from them deserted and silent, with no trample of war-horse or
clang of armor which might herald the approach of an
adversary--so that Sir Nigel rode on his way disconsolate. At
the Lymington River they splashed through the ford, and lay in
the meadows on the further side to eat the bread and salt meat
which they carried upon the sumpter horses. Then, ere the sun
was on the slope of the heavens, they had deftly trussed up
again, and were swinging merrily upon their way, two hundred feet
moving like two.
There is a third cross-road where the track from Boldre runs down
to the old fishing village of Pitt's Deep. Down this, as they
came abreast of it, there walked two men, the one a pace or two
behind the other. The cavaliers could not but pull up their
horses to look at them, for a stranger pair were never seen
journeying together. The first was a misshapen, squalid man with
cruel, cunning eyes and a shock of tangled red hair, bearing in
his hands a small unpainted cross, which he held high so that all
men might see it. He seemed to be in the last extremity of
fright, with a face the color of clay and his limbs all ashake as
one who hath an ague. Behind him, with his toe ever rasping upon
the other's heels, there walked a very stern, black-bearded man
with a hard eye and a set mouth. He bore over his shoulder a
great knotted stick with three jagged nails stuck in the head of
it, and from time to time he whirled it up in the air with a
quivering arm, as though he could scarce hold back from dashing
his companion's brains out. So in silence they walked under the
spread of the branches on the grass-grown path from Boldre.
"By St. Paul!" quoth the knight, "but this is a passing strange
sight, and perchance some very perilous and honorable venture may
arise from it. I pray you, Edricson, to ride up to them and to
ask them the cause of it."
There was no need, however, for him to move, for the twain came
swiftly towards them until they were within a spear's length,
when the man with the cross sat himself down sullenly upon a
tussock of grass by the wayside, while the other stood beside him
with his great cudgel still hanging over his head. So intent was
he that he raised his eyes neither to knight nor squires, but
kept them ever fixed with a savage glare upon his comrade.
"I pray you, friend," said Sir Nigel, "to tell us truthfully who
you are, and why you follow this man with such bitter enmity?
"So long as I am within the pale of the king's law," the stranger
answered, "I cannot see why I should render account to every
passing wayfarer."
"You are no very shrewd reasoner, fellow," quoth the knight; "for
if it be within the law for you to threaten him with your club,
then it is also lawful for me to threaten you with my sword."
The man with the cross was down in an instant on his knees upon
the ground, with hands clasped above him and his face shining
with hope. "For dear Christ's sake, my fair lord," he cried in a
crackling voice, "I have at my belt a bag with a hundred rose
nobles, and I will give it to you freely if you will but pass
your sword through this man's body."
"How, you foul knave?" exclaimed Sir Nigel hotly. "Do you think
that a cavalier's arm is to be bought like a packman's ware. By
St. Paul! I have little doubt that this fellow hath some very
good cause to hold you in hatred."
"Indeed, my fair sir, you speak sooth," quoth he with the club,
while the other seated himself once more by the wayside. "For
this man is Peter Peterson, a very noted rieve, draw-latch, and
murtherer, who has wrought much evil for many years in the parts
about Winchester. It was but the other day, upon the feasts of
the blessed Simon and Jude, that he slew my younger brother
William in Bere Forest--for which, by the black thorn of
Glastonbury! I shall have his heart's blood, though I walk behind
him to the further end of earth."
"But if this be indeed so," asked Sir Nigel, "why is it that you
have come with him so far through the forest?"
"Because I am an honest Englishman, and will take no more than
the law allows. For when the deed was done this foul and base
wretch fled to sanctuary at St. Cross, and I, as you may think,
after him with all the posse. The prior, however, hath so
ordered that while he holds this cross no man may lay hand upon
him without the ban of church, which heaven forfend from me or
mine. Yet, if for an instant he lay the cross aside, or if he
fail to journey to Pitt's Deep, where it is ordered that he shall
take ship to outland parts, or if he take not the first ship, or
if until the ship be ready he walk not every day into the sea as
far as his loins, then he becomes outlaw, and I shall forthwith
dash out his brains."
At this the man on the ground snarled up at him like a rat, while
the other clenched his teeth, and shook his club, and looked down
at him with murder in his eyes. Knight and squire gazed from
rogue to avenger, but as it was a matter which none could mend
they tarried no longer, but rode upon their way. Alleyne,
looking back, saw that the murderer had drawn bread and cheese
from his scrip, and was silently munching it, with the protecting
cross still hugged to his breast, while the other, black and
grim, stood in the sunlit road and threw his dark shadow athwart
him.
