Men of Iron

by Howard Pyle

  CHAPTER 13

  After the first excitement of meeting, discussing, and deciding hadpassed, Myles began to feel the weight of the load he had so boldlytaken upon himself. He began to reckon what a serious thing it was forhim to stand as a single champion against the tyranny that had grownso strong through years of custom. Had he let himself do so, he mightalmost have repented, but it was too late now for repentance. He hadlaid his hand to the plough, and he must drive the furrow.

  Somehow the news of impending battle had leaked out among the rest ofthe body of squires, and a buzz of suppressed excitement hummed throughthe dormitory that evening. The bachelors, to whom, no doubt, vaguerumors had been blown, looked lowering, and talked together in lowvoices, standing apart in a group. Some of them made a rather markedshow of secreting knives in the straw of their beds, and no doubt it hadits effect upon more than one young heart that secretly thrilled at thesight of the shining blades. However, all was undisturbed that evening.The lights were put out, and the lads retired with more than usualquietness, only for the murmur of whispering.

  All night Myles's sleep was more or less disturbed by dreams in which hewas now conquering, now being conquered, and before the day had fairlybroken he was awake. He lay upon his cot, keying himself up for theencounter which he had set upon himself to face, and it would not bethe truth to say that the sight of those knives hidden in the strawthe night before had made no impression upon him. By-and-by he knew theothers were beginning to awake, for he heard them softly stirring, andas the light grew broad and strong, saw them arise, one by one, andbegin dressing in the gray morning. Then he himself arose and put on hisdoublet and hose, strapping his belt tightly about his waist; then hesat down on the side of his cot.

  Presently that happened for which he was waiting; two of the youngersquires started to bring the bachelors' morning supply of water. As theycrossed the room Myles called to them in a loud voice--a little uneven,perhaps: "Stop! We draw no more water for any one in this house, savingonly for ourselves. Set ye down those buckets, and go back to yourplaces!"

  The two lads stopped, half turned, and then stood still, holding thethree buckets undecidedly.

  In a moment all was uproar and confusion, for by this time every oneof the lads had arisen, some sitting on the edge of their beds, somenearly, others quite dressed. A half-dozen of the Knights of the Rosecame over to where Myles stood, gathering in a body behind him and theothers followed, one after another.

  The bachelors were hardly prepared for such prompt and vigorous action.

  "What is to do?" cried one of them, who stood near the two lads with thebuckets. "Why fetch ye not the water?"

  "Falworth says we shall not fetch it," answered one of the lads, a boyby the name of Gosse.

  "What mean ye by that, Falworth?" the young man called to Myles.

  Myles's heart was beating thickly and heavily within him, butnevertheless he spoke up boldly enough. "I mean," said he, "that fromhenceforth ye shall fetch and carry for yourselves."

  "Look'ee, Blunt," called the bachelor; "here is Falworth says theysquires will fetch no more water for us."

  The head bachelor had heard all that had passed, and was even thenhastily slipping on his doublet and hose. "Now, then, Falworth," said heat last, striding forward, "what is to do? Ye will fetch no more water,eh? By 'r Lady, I will know the reason why."

  He was still advancing towards Myles, with two or three of the olderbachelors at his heels, when Gascoyne spoke.

  "Thou hadst best stand back, Blunt," said he, "else thou mayst be hurt.We will not have ye bang Falworth again as ye once did, so stand thouback!"

  Blunt stopped short and looked upon the lads standing behind Myles, someof them with faces a trifle pale perhaps, but all grim and determinedlooking enough. Then he turned upon his heel suddenly, and walked backto the far end of the dormitory, where the bachelors were presentlyclustered together. A few words passed between them, and then thethirteen began at once arming themselves, some with wooden clogs,and some with the knives which they had so openly concealed thenight before. At the sign of imminent battle, all those not activelyinterested scuttled away to right and left, climbing up on the benchesand cots, and leaving a free field to the combatants. The next momentwould have brought bloodshed.

  Now Myles, thanks to the training of the Crosbey-Dale smith, felttolerably sure that in a wrestling bout he was a match--perhaps morethan a match--for any one of the body of squires, and he had determined,if possible, to bring the battle to a single-handed encounter upon thatfooting. Accordingly he suddenly stepped forward before the others.

  "Look'ee, fellow," he called to Blunt, "thou art he who struck me whilstI was down some while since. Wilt thou let this quarrel stand betweenthee and me, and meet me man to man without weapon? See, I throw medown mine own, and will meet thee with bare hands." And as he spoke, hetossed the clog he held in his hand back upon the cot.

  "So be it," said Blunt, with great readiness, tossing down a similarweapon which he himself held.

  "Do not go, Myles," cried Gascoyne, "he is a villain and a traitor, andwould betray thee to thy death. I saw him when he first gat from bedhide a knife in his doublet."

  "Thou liest!" said Blunt. "I swear, by my faith, I be barehanded as yesee me! Thy friend accuses me, Myles Falworth, because he knoweth thouart afraid of me."

  "There thou liest most vilely!" exclaimed Myles. "Swear that thou hastno knife, and I will meet thee."

  "Hast thou not heard me say that I have no knife?" said Blunt. "Whatmore wouldst thou have?"

  "Then I will meet thee halfway," said Myles.

  Gascoyne caught him by the sleeve, and would have withheld him, assuringhim that he had seen the bachelor conceal a knife. But Myles, hot forthe fight, broke away from his friend without listening to him.

  As the two advanced steadily towards one another a breathless silencefell upon the dormitory in sharp contrast to the uproar and confusionthat had filled it a moment before. The lads, standing some uponbenches, some upon beds, all watched with breathless interest themeeting of the two champions.

  As they approached one another they stopped and stood for a moment alittle apart, glaring the one upon the other. They seemed ill enoughmatched; Blunt was fully half a head taller than Myles, and wasthick-set and close-knit in young manhood. Nothing but Myles's undauntedpluck could have led him to dare to face an enemy so much older andstouter than himself.

  The pause was only for a moment. They who looked saw Blunt slide hishand furtively towards his bosom. Myles saw too, and in the flash of aninstant knew what the gesture meant, and sprang upon the other beforethe hand could grasp what it sought. As he clutched his enemy he feltwhat he had in that instant expected to feel--the handle of a dagger.The next moment he cried, in a loud voice: "Oh, thou villain! Help,Gascoyne! He hath a knife under his doublet!"

  In answer to his cry for help, Myles's friends started to his aid. Butthe bachelors shouted, "Stand back and let them fight it out alone, elsewe will knife ye too." And as they spoke, some of them leaped from thebenches whereon they stood, drawing their knives and flourishing them.

  For just a few seconds Myles's friends stood cowed, and in those fewseconds the fight came to an end with a suddenness unexpected to all.

  A struggle fierce and silent followed between the two; Blunt strivingto draw his knife, and Myles, with the energy of despair, holding himtightly by the wrist. It was in vain the elder lad writhed and twisted;he was strong enough to overbear Myles, but still was not able to clutchthe haft of his knife.

  "Thou shalt not draw it!" gasped Myles at last. "Thou shalt not stabme!"

  Then again some of his friends started forward to his aid, but they werenot needed, for before they came, the fight was over.

  Blunt, finding that he was not able to draw the weapon, suddenly ceasedhis endeavors, and flung his arms around Myles, trying to bear him downupon the ground, and in that moment his battle was lost.

  In an instant--so quick, so sudden, so
unexpected that no one could seehow it happened--his feet were whirled away from under him, he spun withflying arms across Myles's loins, and pitched with a thud upon the stonepavement, where he lay still, motionless, while Myles, his face whitewith passion and his eyes gleaming, stood glaring around like a youngwild-boar beset by the dogs.

  The next moment the silence was broken, and the uproar broke forthwith redoubled violence. The bachelors, leaping from the benches, camehurrying forward on one side, and Myles's friends from the other.

  "Thou shalt smart for this, Falworth," said one of the older lads."Belike thou hast slain him!"

  Myles turned upon the speaker like a flash, and with such a passion offury in his face that the other, a fellow nearly a head taller than he,shrank back, cowed in spite of himself. Then Gascoyne came and laid hishand on his friend's shoulder.

  "Who touches me?" cried Myles, hoarsely, turning sharply upon him; andthen, seeing who it was, "Oh, Francis, they would ha' killed me!"

  "Come away, Myles," said Gascoyne; "thou knowest not what thou doest;thou art mad; come away. What if thou hadst killed him?"

  The words called Myles somewhat to himself. "I care not!" said he, butsullenly and not passionately, and then he suffered Gascoyne and Wilkesto lead him away.

  Meantime Blunt's friends had turned him over, and, after feeling histemples, his wrist, and his heart, bore him away to a bench at the farend of the room. There they fell to chafing his hands and sprinklingwater in his face, a crowd of the others gathering about. Blunt washidden from Myles by those who stood around, and the lad listened to thebroken talk that filled the room with its confusion, his anxiety growingkeener as he became cooler. But at last, with a heartfelt joy, hegathered from the confused buzz of words that the other lad had openedhis eyes and, after a while, he saw him sit up, leaning his head uponthe shoulder of one of his fellow-bachelors, white and faint and sick asdeath.

  "Thank Heaven that thou didst not kill him!" said Edmund Wilkes, whohad been standing with the crowd looking on at the efforts of Blunt'sfriends to revive him, and who had now come and sat down upon the bednot far from Myles.

  "Aye," said Myles, gruffly, "I do thank Heaven for that."