CHAPTER XV.
HOW THE YELLOW COG SAILED FORTH FROM LEPE.
That night the Company slept at St. Leonard's, in the great
monastic barns and spicarium--ground well known both to Alleyne
and to John, for they were almost within sight of the Abbey of
Beaulieu. A strange thrill it gave to the young squire to see
the well-remembered white dress once more, and to hear the
measured tolling of the deep vespers bell, At early dawn they
passed across the broad, sluggish, reed-girt stream--men, horses,
and baggage in the flat ferry barges--and so journeyed on through
the fresh morning air past Exbury to Lepe. Topping the heathy
down, they came of a sudden full in sight of the old sea-port--a
cluster of houses, a trail of blue smoke, and a bristle of masts.
To right and left the long blue curve of the Solent lapped in a
fringe of foam upon the yellow beach. Some way out from the town
a line of pessoners, creyers, and other small craft were rolling
lazily on the gentle swell. Further out still lay a great
merchant-ship, high ended, deep waisted, painted of a canary
yellow, and towering above the fishing-boats like a swan among
ducklings.
"By St. Paul!" said the knight, "our good merchant of Southampton
hath not played us false, for methinks I can see our ship down
yonder. He said that she would be of great size and of a yellow
shade."
"By my hilt, yes!" muttered Aylward; "she is yellow as a kite's
claw, and would carry as many men as there are pips in a
pomegranate."
"It is as well," remarked Terlake; "for methinks, my fair lord,
that we are not the only ones who are waiting a passage to
Gascony. Mine eye catches at times a flash and sparkle among
yonder houses which assuredly never came from shipman's jacket or
the gaberdine of a burgher."
"I can also see it," said Alleyne, shading his eyes with his
hand. "And I can see men-at-arms in yonder boats which ply
betwixt the vessel and the shore. But methinks that we are very
welcome here, for already they come forth to meet us."
A tumultuous crowd of fishermen, citizens, and women had indeed
swarmed out from the northern gate, and approached them up the
side of the moor, waving their hands and dancing with joy, as
though a great fear had been rolled back from their minds. At
their head rode a very large and solemn man with a long chin and
a drooping lip. He wore a fur tippet round his neck and a heavy
gold chain over it, with a medallion which dangled in front of
him.
"Welcome, most puissant and noble lord," he cried, doffing his
bonnet to Black Simon. "I have heard of your lordship's valiant
deeds, and in sooth they might be expected from your lordship's
face and bearing. Is there any small matter in which I may
oblige you?"
"Since you ask me," said the man-at-arms, "I would take it kindly
if you could spare a link or two of the chain which hangs round
your neck."
"What, the corporation chain!" cried the other in horror. "The
ancient chain of the township of Lepe! This is but a sorry jest,
Sir Nigel."
"What the plague did you ask me for then?" said Simon. "But if
it is Sir Nigel Loring with whom you would speak, that is he upon
the black horse."
The Mayor of Lepe gazed with amazement on the mild face and
slender frame of the famous warrior.
"Your pardon, my gracious lord," he cried. "You see in me the
mayor and chief magistrate of the ancient and powerful town of
Lepe. I bid you very heartily welcome, and the more so as you
are come at a moment when we are sore put to it for means of
defence.'
"Ha!" cried Sir Nigel, pricking up his ears.
"Yes, my lord, for the town being very ancient and the walls as
old as the town, it follows that they are very ancient too. But
there is a certain villainous and bloodthirsty Norman pirate
hight Tete-noire, who, with a Genoan called Tito Caracci,
commonly known as Spade-beard, hath been a mighty scourge upon
these coasts. Indeed, my lord, they are very cruel and
black-hearted men, graceless and ruthless, and if they should
come to the ancient and powerful town of Lepe then--"
"Then good-bye to the ancient and powerful town of Lepe," quoth
Ford, whose lightness of tongue could at times rise above his awe
of Sir Nigel.
The knight, however, was too much intent upon the matter in hand
to give heed to the flippancy of his squire. "Have you then
cause," he asked, "to think that these men are about to venture
an attempt upon you?"
"They have come in two great galleys," answered the mayor, "with
two bank of oars on either side, and great store of engines of
war and of men-at-arms. At Weymouth and at Portland they have
murdered and ravished. Yesterday morning they were at Cowes, and
we saw the smoke from the burning crofts. To-day they lie at
their ease near Freshwater, and we fear much lest they come upon
us and do us a mischief."
"We cannot tarry," said Sir Nigel, riding towards the town, with
the mayor upon his left side; "the Prince awaits us at Bordeaux,
and we may not be behind the general muster. Yet I will promise
you that on our way we shall find time to pass Freshwater and to
prevail upon these rovers to leave you in peace."
"We are much beholden to you!" cried the mayor "But I cannot see,
my lord, how, without a war-ship, you may venture against these
men. With your archers, however, you might well hold the town
and do them great scath if they attempt to land."
"There is a very proper cog out yonder," said Sir Nigel, "it
would be a very strange thing if any ship were not a war-ship
when it had such men as these upon her decks. Certes, we shall
do as I say, and that no later than this very day."
"My lord," said a rough-haired, dark-faced man, who walked by the
knight's other stirrup, with his head sloped to catch all that he
was saying. "By your leave, I have no doubt that you are skilled
in land fighting and the marshalling of lances, but, by my soul!
you will find it another thing upon the sea. I am the master-shipman
of this yellow cog, and my name is Goodwin Hawtayne. I have
sailed since I was as high as this staff, and I have fought
against these Normans and against the Genoese, as well as the
Scotch, the Bretons, the Spanish, and the Moors. I tell you,
sir, that my ship is over light and over frail for such work, and
it will but end in our having our throats cut, or being sold as
slaves to the Barbary heathen."
"I also have experienced one or two gentle and honorable ventures
upon the sea," quoth Sir Nigel, "and I am right blithe to have so
fair a task before us. I think, good master-shipman, that you
and I may win great honor in this matter, and I can see very
readily that you are a brave and stout man."
"I like it not," said the other sturdily. "In God's name, I like
it not. And yet Goodwin Hawtayne is not the man to stand back
when his fellows are for pressing forward. By my soul! be it
sink or swim, I shall turn her beak into Freshwater Bay, and if
good Master Witherton, of Southampton, like not my handling of
his ship then he may find another master-shipman."
They were close by the old north gate of the little town, and
Alleyne, half turning in his saddle, looked back at the motley
crowd who followed. The bowmen and men-at-arms had broken their
ranks and were intermingled with the fishermen and citizens,
whose laughing faces and hearty gestures bespoke the weight of
care from which this welcome arrival had relieved them. Here and
there among the moving throng of dark jerkins and of white
surcoats were scattered dashes of scarlet and blue, the whimples
or shawls of the women. Aylward, with a fishing lass on either
arm, was vowing constancy alternately to her on the right and her
on the left, while big John towered in the rear with a little
chubby maiden enthroned upon his great shoulder, her soft white
arm curled round his shining headpiece. So the throng moved on,
until at the very gate it was brought to a stand by a wondrously
fat man, who came darting forth from the town with rage in every
feature of his rubicund face.
"How now, Sir Mayor?" he roared, in a voice like a bull. "How
now, Sir Mayor? How of the clams and the scallops?"
"By Our Lady! my sweet Sir Oliver," cried the mayor. "I have had
so much to think of, with these wicked villains so close upon us,
that it had quite gone out of my head."
"Words, words!" shouted the other furiously. "Am I to be put off
with words? I say to you again, how of the clams and scallops?"
"My fair sir, you flatter me," cried the mayor. "I am a peaceful
trader, and I am not wont to be so shouted at upon so small a
matter."
"Small!" shrieked the other. "Small! Clams and scallops! Ask me
to your table to partake of the dainty of the town, and when I
come a barren welcome and a bare board! Where is my spear-bearer?"
"Nay, Sir Oliver, Sir Oliver!" cried Sir Nigel, laughing.
Let your anger be appeased, since instead of this dish you come
upon an old friend and comrade."
"By St. Martin of Tours!" shouted the fat knight, his wrath all
changed in an instant to joy, "if it is not my dear little game
rooster of the Garonne. Ah, my sweet coz, I am right glad to see
you. What days we have seen together!"
"Aye, by my faith," cried Sir Nigel, with sparkling eyes, "we
have seen some valiant men, and we have shown our pennons in some
noble skirmishes. By St. Paul! we have had great joys in
France."
"And sorrows also," quoth the other. "I have some sad memories
of the land. Can you recall that which befell us at Libourne?"
"Nay, I cannot call to mind that we ever so much as drew sword at
the place."
"Man, man," cried Sir Oliver, "your mind still runs on nought but
blades and bassinets. Hast no space in thy frame for the softer
joys. Ah, even now I can scarce speak of it unmoved. So noble a
pie, such tender pigeons, and sugar in the gravy instead of salt!
You were by my side that day, as were Sir Claude Latour and the
Lord of Pommers."
"I remember it," said Sir Nigel, laughing, "and how you harried
the cook down the street, and spoke of setting fire to the inn.
By St. Paul! most worthy mayor, my old friend is a perilous man,
and I rede you that you compose your difference with him on such
terms as you may."
"The clams and scallops shall be ready within the hour," the
mayor answered. "I had asked Sir Oliver Buttesthorn to do my
humble board the honor to partake at it of the dainty upon which
we take some little pride, but in sooth this alarm of pirates
hath cast such a shadow on my wits that I am like one distrait.
But I trust, Sir Nigel, that you will also partake of none-meat
with me?"
"I have overmuch to do," Sir Nigel answered, "for we must be
aboard, horse and man, as early as we may. How many do you
muster, Sir Oliver?"
"Three and forty. The forty are drunk, and the three are but
indifferent sober. I have them all safe upon the ship."
"They had best find their wits again, for I shall have work for
every man of them ere the sun set. It is my intention, if it
seems good to you, to try a venture against these Norman and
Genoese rovers."
"They carry caviare and certain very noble spices from the Levant
aboard of ships from Genoa," quoth Sir Oliver. "We may come to
great profit through the business. I pray you, master-shipman,
that when you go on board you pour a helmetful of sea-water over
any of my rogues whom you may see there."
Leaving the lusty knight and the Mayor of Lepe, Sir Nigel led the
Company straight down to the water's edge, where long lines of
flat lighters swiftly bore them to their vessel. Horse after
horse was slung by main force up from the barges, and after
kicking and plunging in empty air was dropped into the deep waist
of the yellow cog, where rows of stalls stood ready for their
safe keeping. Englishmen in those days were skilled and prompt
in such matters, for it was so not long before that Edward had
embarked as many as fifty thousand men in the port of Orwell,
with their horses and their baggage, all in the space of
four-and-twenty hours. So urgent was Sir Nigel on the shore,
and so prompt was Goodwin Hawtayne on the cog, that Sir Oliver
Buttesthorn had scarce swallowed his last scallop ere the peal of
the trumpet and clang of nakir announced that all was ready and
the anchor drawn. In the last boat which left the shore the two
commanders sat together in the sheets, a strange contrast to one
another, while under the feet of the rowers was a litter of huge
stones which Sir Nigel had ordered to be carried to the cog.
These once aboard, the ship set her broad mainsail, purple in
color, and with a golden St. Christopher bearing Christ upon his
shoulder in the centre of it. The breeze blew, the sail bellied,
over heeled the portly vessel, and away she plunged through the
smooth blue rollers, amid the clang of the minstrels on her poop
and the shouting of the black crowd who fringed the yellow beach.
To the left lay the green Island of Wight, with its long, low,
curving hills peeping over each other's shoulders to the sky-line;
to the right the wooded Hampshire coast as far as eye could
reach; above a steel-blue heaven, with a wintry sun shimmering
down upon them, and enough of frost to set the breath a-smoking.
"By St. Paul!" said Sir Nigel gayly, as he stood upon the poop
and looked on either side of him, "it is a land which is very
well worth fighting for, and it were pity to go to France for
what may be had at home. Did you not spy a crooked man upon the
beach?"
"Nay, I spied nothing," grumbled Sir Oliver, "for I was hurried
down with a clam stuck in my gizzard and an untasted goblet of
Cyprus on the board behind me."
"I saw him, my fair lord," said Terlake, "an old man with one
shoulder higher than the other."
"'Tis a sign of good fortune," quoth Sir Nigel. "Our path was
also crossed by a woman and by a priest, so all should be well
with us. What say you, Edricson?"
"I cannot tell, my fair lord. The Romans of old were a very wise
people, yet, certes, they placed their faith in such matters.
So, too, did the Greeks, and divers other ancient peoples who
were famed for their learning. Yet of the moderns there are many
who scoff at all omens."
"There can be no manner of doubt about it," said Sir Oliver
Buttesthorn, "I can well remember that in Navarre one day it
thundered on the left out of a cloudless sky. We knew that ill
would come of it, nor had we long to wait. Only thirteen days
after, a haunch of prime venison was carried from my very tent
door by the wolves, and on the same day two flasks of old vernage
turned sour and muddy."
"You may bring my harness from below," said Sir Nigel to his
squires, "and also, I pray you, bring up Sir Oliver's and we
shall don it here. Ye may then see to your own gear; for this
day you will, I hope, make a very honorable entrance into the
field of chivalry, and prove yourselves to be very worthy and
valiant squires. And now, Sir Oliver, as to our dispositions:
would it please you that I should order them or will you?"
"You, my cockerel, you. By Our Lady! I am no chicken, but I
cannot claim to know as much of war as the squire of Sir Walter
Manny. Settle the matter to your own liking."
"You shall fly your pennon upon the fore part, then, and I upon
the poop. For foreguard I shall give you your own forty men,
with two-score archers. Two-score men, with my own men-at-arms
and squires, will serve as a poop-guard. Ten archers, with
thirty shipmen, under the master, may hold the waist while ten
lie aloft with stones and arbalests. How like you that?"
"Good, by my faith, good! But here comes my harness, and I must
to work, for I cannot slip into it as I was wont when first I set
my face to the wars."
Meanwhile there had been bustle and preparation in all parts of
the great vessel. The archers stood in groups about the decks,
new-stringing their bows, and testing that they were firm at the
nocks. Among them moved Aylward and other of the older soldiers,
with a few whispered words of precept here and of warning there.
"Stand to it, my hearts of gold," said the old bowman as he
passed from knot to knot. "By my hilt! we are in luck this
journey. Bear in mind the old saying of the Company."
"What is that, Aylward?" cried several, leaning on their bows and
laughing at him.
"'Tis the master-bowyer's rede: `Every bow well bent. Every
shaft well sent. Every stave well nocked. Every string well
locked.' There, with that jingle in his head, a bracer on his
left hand, a shooting glove on his right, and a farthing's-worth
of wax in his girdle, what more doth a bowman need?"
"It would not be amiss," said Hordle John, "if under his girdle
he had tour farthings'-worth of wine."
"Work first, wine afterwards, mon camarade. But it is time that
we took our order, for methinks that between the Needle rocks and
the Alum cliffs yonder I can catch a glimpse of the topmasts of
the galleys. Hewett, Cook, Johnson, Cunningham, your men are of
the poop-guard. Thornbury, Walters, Hackett, Baddlesmere, you
are with Sir Oliver on the forecastle. Simon, you bide with your
lord's banner; but ten men must go forward."
Quietly and promptly the men took their places, lying flat upon
their faces on the deck, for such was Sir Nigel's order. Near
the prow was planted Sir Oliver's spear, with his arms--a boar's
head gules upon a field of gold. Close by the stern stood Black
Simon with the pennon of the house of Loring. In the waist
gathered the Southampton mariners, hairy and burly men, with
their jerkins thrown off, their waists braced tight, swords,
mallets, and pole-axes in their hands. Their leader, Goodwin
Hawtayne, stood upon the poop and talked with Sir Nigel, casting
his eye up sometimes at the swelling sail, and then glancing
back at the two seamen who held the tiller.
"Pass the word," said Sir Nigel, "that no man shall stand to arms
or draw his bow-string until my trumpeter shall sound. It would
be well that we should seem to be a merchant-ship from
Southampton and appear to flee from them."
"We shall see them anon," said the master-shipman. "Ha, said I
not so? There they lie, the water-snakes, in Freshwater Bay; and
mark the reek of smoke from yonder point, where they have been at
their devil's work. See how their shallops pull from the land!
They have seen us and called their men aboard. Now they draw
upon the anchor. See them like ants upon the forecastle! They
stoop and heave like handy ship men. But, my fair lord, these
are no niefs. I doubt but we have taken in hand more than we can
do. Each of these ships is a galeasse, and of the largest and
swiftest make."
"I would I had your eyes," said Sir Nigel, blinking at the pirate
galleys. "They seem very gallant ships, and I trust that we
shall have much pleasance from our meeting with them. It would
be well to pass the word that we should neither give nor take
quarter this day. Have you perchance a priest or friar aboard
this ship, Master Hawtayne?"
"No, my fair lord."
"Well, well, it is no great matter for my Company, for they were
all houseled and shriven ere we left Twynham Castle; and Father
Christopher of the Priory gave me his word that they were as fit
to march to heaven as to Gascony. But my mind misdoubts me as to
these Winchester men who have come with Sir Oliver, for they
appear to be a very ungodly crew. Pass the word that the men
kneel, and that the under-officers repeat to them the pater, the
ave, and the credo."
With a clank of arms, the rough archers and seamen took to their
knees, with bent heads and crossed hands, listening to the hoarse
mutter from the file-leaders. It was strange to mark the hush;
so that the lapping of the water, the straining of the sail, and
the creaking of the timbers grew louder of a sudden upon the ear.
Many of the bowmen had drawn amulets and relics from their
bosoms, while he who possessed some more than usually sanctified
treasure passed it down the line of his comrades, that all might
kiss and reap the virtue.
The yellow cog had now shot out from the narrow waters of the
Solent, and was plunging and rolling on the long heave of the
open channel. The wind blew freshly from the east, with a very
keen edge to it; and the great sail bellied roundly out, laying
the vessel over until the water hissed beneath her lee bulwarks.
Broad and ungainly, she floundered from wave to wave, dipping her
round bows deeply into the blue rollers, and sending the white
flakes of foam in a spatter over her decks. On her larboard
quarter lay the two dark galleys, which had already hoisted sail,
and were shooting out from Freshwater Bay in swift pursuit, their
double line of oars giving them a vantage which could not fail to
bring them up with any vessel which trusted to sails alone. High
and bluff the English cog; long, black and swift the pirate
galleys, like two fierce lean wolves which have seen a lordly
and unsuspecting stag walk past their forest lair.
"Shall we turn, my fair lord, or shall we carry on?" asked the
master-shipman, looking behind him with anxious eyes.
"Nay, we must carry on and play the part of the helpless
merchant."
"But your pennons? They will see that we have two knights with
us."
"Yet it would not be to a knight's honor or good name to lower
his pennon. Let them be, and they will think that we are a
wine-ship for Gascony, or that we bear the wool-bales of some
mercer of the Staple. Ma foi, but they are very swift! They
swoop upon us like two goshawks on a heron. Is there not some
symbol or device upon their sails?"
"That on the right," said Edricson, "appears to have the head of
an Ethiop upon it."
"'Tis the badge of Tete-noire, the Norman," cried a seaman-mariner.
"I have seen it before, when he harried us at Winchelsea. He is
a wondrous large and strong man, with no ruth for man, woman, or
beast. They say that he hath the strength of six; and, certes,
he hath the crimes of six upon his soul. See, now, to the poor
souls who swing at either end of his yard-arm!"
At each end of the yard there did indeed hang the dark figure of
a man, jolting and lurching with hideous jerkings of its limbs at
every plunge and swoop of the galley.
"By St. Paul!" said Sir Nigel, "and by the help of St. George and
Our Lady, it will be a very strange thing if our black-headed
friend does not himself swing thence ere he be many hours older.
But what is that upon the other galley?"
"It is the red cross of Genoa. This Spade-beard is a very noted
captain, and it is his boast that there are no seamen and no
archers in the world who can compare with those who serve the
Doge Boccanegra."
"That we shall prove," said Goodwin Hawtayne; "but it would be
well, ere they close with us, to raise up the mantlets and
pavises as a screen against their bolts." He shouted a hoarse
order, and his seamen worked swiftly and silently, heightening
the bulwarks and strengthening them. The three ship's anchors
were at Sir Nigel's command carried into the waist, and tied to
the mast, with twenty feet of cable between, each under the care
of four seamen. Eight others were stationed with leather
water-bags to quench any fire-arrows which might come aboard,
while others were sent up the mast, to lie along the yard and
drop stones or shoot arrows as the occasion served.
"Let them be supplied with all that is heavy and weighty in the
ship," said Sir Nigel.
"Then we must send them up Sir Oliver Buttesthorn," quoth Ford.
The knight looked at him with a face which struck the smile from
his lips. "No squire of mine," he said, "shall ever make jest of
a belted knight. And yet," he added, his eyes softening, "I know
that it is but a boy's mirth, with no sting in it. Yet I should
ill do my part towards your father if I did not teach you to curb
your tongue-play."
"They will lay us aboard on either quarter, my lord," cried the
master. "See how they stretch out from each other! The Norman
hath a mangonel or a trabuch upon the forecastle. See, they bend
to the levers! They are about to loose it."
"Aylward," cried the knight, "pick your three trustiest archers,
and see if you cannot do something to hinder their aim. Methinks
they are within long arrow flight."
"Seventeen score paces," said the archer, running his eye
backwards and forwards. "By my ten finger-bones! it would be a
strange thing if we could not notch a mark at that distance.
Here, Watkin of Sowley, Arnold, Long Williams, let us show the
rogues that they have English bowmen to deal with."
The three archers named stood at the further end of the poop,
balancing themselves with feet widely spread and bows drawn,
until the heads of the cloth-yard arrows were level with the
centre of the stave. "You are the surer, Watkin," said Aylward,
standing by them with shaft upon string. "Do you take the rogue
with the red coif. You two bring down the man with the head-piece,
and I will hold myself ready if you miss. Ma foi! they are about
to loose her. Shoot, mes garcons, or you will be too late."
The throng of pirates had cleared away from the great wooden
catapult, leaving two of their number to discharge it. One in a
scarlet cap bent over it, steadying the jagged rock which was
balanced on the spoon-shaped end of the long wooden lever. The
other held the loop of the rope which would release the catch and
send the unwieldy missile hurtling through the air. So for an
instant they stood, showing hard and clear against the white sail
behind them. The next, redcap had fallen across the stone with
an arrow between his ribs; and the other, struck in the leg and
in the throat, was writhing and spluttering upon the ground. As
he toppled backwards he had loosed the spring, and the huge beam
of wood, swinging round with tremendous force, cast the corpse of
his comrade so close to the English ship that its mangled and
distorted limbs grazed their very stern. As to the stone, it
glanced off obliquely and fell midway between the vessels. A
roar of cheering and of laughter broke from the rough archers and
seamen at the sight, answered by a yell of rage from their
pursuers.
"Lie low, mes enfants," cried Aylward, motioning with his left
hand. "They will learn wisdom. They are bringing forward shield
and mantlet. We shall have some pebbles about our ears ere
long."
