Forest Days: A Romance of Old Times

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER XXX.

  It was an hour past midnight--the sentries had just been relieved uponthe castle wall--and Hugh de Monthermer sat by the window, looking outinto the depth of sight, and gazing at the far twinkling of the stars.The mind was occupied in the same manner as the body, for it waslooking forth into the dark night of death, and marking the smallbright shining lights from heaven, that tell of other worlds beyond.

  His fate had been announced to him--that he had been judged andcondemned without his presence--and that the first ray of the morningsun was to witness his death. He had solemnly appealed against thesentence, telling Lord Pembroke, who had brought the announcementthereof, that such a deed was mere murder. Neither had he left anythingundone that behoved him to do, to check the base purposes of hisenemies, by apprehensions of after retribution.

  But they scoffed at his threats, and heeded not his remonstrances,justifying the illegal course they pursued by declaring that he hadbeen taken in the act of treason. All communication was denied himwith the world without, and even the materials for writing wererefused--perhaps to guard against the chance of his doom being madeknown to others who might interfere to stay the execution, or, perhaps,to prevent him from recording for after times the iniquity that wasabout to be committed. A priest eras promised him in the morning; butin the meanwhile he remained in solitude. He heard his good yeoman,Blawket, driven back from the door by the guards; and, with nought buthis own thoughts to comfort and console him, he sat preparing himselffor the grave as best he might.

  How often had he met the abhorred enemy, Death, in the battle-field?How often he staked life's bright jewel on the chances of an hour? Howoften had fate seemed near at hand in the burning march through thebarren sands of the east, and in the deadly pestilence? But in allthese shapes had the grim inevitable Lord of the grave seemed lessterrible than when waiting through the livelong night, with thecertainty of being murdered, unresisting, on the morning.

  Active exertion, gallant daring, the exercise of the high powers of thesoul, set at nought the idea of annihilation; and when, with eagerfire, man puts forth all his faculties in the moment of danger, theirvery possession tells him that he is immortal, and makes the open gateof the tomb appear but the portal of a better world. It is the cold,calm, slow approach of the dark hour of passage, when the mind hasnought to work upon but that one idea, which smears the dart with allthe venom that it is capable of bearing. Then rise up all those darkdoubts and apprehensions with which the evil spirit besieges the smallgarrison of faith. Then come the sweet and lingering affections of theworld--the loves, the hopes, the wishes, the prospects, the enjoyments.Then speak the memories of dear things past, never to be again--ofvoices heard for the last time--of looks to be seen no more. Oh! it isa terrible and an awful thing, even for the stoutest heart and bestprepared spirit, to wait in silence and in solitude for the approach ofthe King of Terrors!

  The young knight strove vigorously to repel all weakness; but he couldnot shut out regret. Twelve hours had scarcely passed, since, in thepride of success and the vanity of hope, he had clasped her he loved inhis arms, and fancied that fate itself could scarcely sever them--andnow he was to lose her for ever. Would she forget him when he was gone?Would she give her hand to another? Would the gay wedding train passby, and the minstrel's song sound loud, and the laugh, and the smile,and the jest go round, and all be joyful in the halls of Lindwell, andhe lay mouldering in the cold earth hard by? But love, and trust, andconfidence said, No; and, though it might be selfish, there was a balmin the belief that Lucy would mourn for him when he was gone--ay, thatshe had promised to love him and be his even beyond the grave.

  Of such things were his thoughts, as he gazed forth on that solemnnight; but suddenly something, he knew not what, called his attentionfrom himself; and he looked down from the window of his chamber uponthe top of the wall below. The distance was some thirty feet, the nightwas dark, for the moon had gone early down, but, even in the dimobscurity, he thought he saw something like a man's head appear abovethe battlement.

  In a moment after, with a bound as if it had been thrown over by anengine, a human body sprang upon the top of the wall, ran forward tothe tower in which he was confined, and struck the stonework with itsarm. The next instant, without any apparent footing, he could perceiveone leg stretched upwards, while the hand seemed to have obtained agrasp of the wall itself, and then the rest of the body ascended to theheight of about four feet from the ground, sticking fast, like asquirrel swarming up a large beech tree. A long thin arm was thenextended, far overhead, to a deep window, just beneath that at whichthe young knight stood, and by it the whole body was drawn up into theaperture of the wall, while a sentinel passed by with slow and measuredsteps. As soon as the soldier was gone, the arm was again stretchedforth in the direction of the casement from which Hugh was gazing down,and the hand struck once or twice against the wall, in differentplaces, making a slight grating sound, as if it were armed with somemetal instrument. At length it remained fixed, and then the head andshoulders were protruded from the opening of the window below, the feetresting upon the stonework.

  Then came one of those extraordinary efforts of agility and pliabilityof limb which Hugh had never witnessed but in one being on the earth.By that single hold which the fingers seemed to have of the wall, thebody was again swung up till the knee and the hand met, and the leftarm was stretched out towards the sill of the casement above.

  Although the figure appeared to be humpbacked and, consequently, inthat respect unlike the dwarf, Tangel, Hugh de Monthermer could notdoubt that it was he, and, reaching down as far as possible, hewhispered, "Take my hand, Tangel!"

  In an instant the long, thin, monkey-like fingers of the dwarf claspedround his, as if they had been an iron vice, and with a bound thatnearly threw the stout young soldier off his balance, Tangel sprangthrough the window into the room.

  "Ha, ha!" said he, in a low tone, "who can keep out Tangel?"

  "No one, it seems, my good boy," answered Hugh, "but what come you herefor? I fear I cannot descend as you have mounted."

  "Here, help me off with my burden," rejoined the boy, "and thou wiltsoon see what I come for. But we must whisper like mice, for tyrantshave sharper ears than hares, and keener eyes than cats. Here's apriest's gown and a hood for thee, and a chorister's cope for Tangel.Thou art just the height of the king's confessor, and I shalt pass forhis pouncet-bearer. Here's a ladder, too, not much thicker than aspider's web, but strong enough to bear up the fat friar ofBarnesdale."

  The feelings of Hugh de Monthermer, at that moment, must be conceivedby the reader, for I will not attempt to describe them. Life, liberty,hope, were before him; and the transition was as great from despair tojoy as it had lately been from happiness to grief. He caught the poordwarf in his arms, saying, "If I live, boy, I will reward thee. If Idie, thy heart must do it."

  "No thanks to me," replied Tangel, in a somewhat trembling voice, "nothanks to me, good knight. It is all Robin's doing, though I was gladenough to have finger in the pie, and he, great cart horse, could nomore climb up that wall than he could leap over Lincoln Church. But,come, come, fix these hooks to the window--get the gown over thee, andthen let us look out for the sentinel--he will pass again before wehave all ready."

  "But there are sentries in the outer court, too," said Hugh deMonthermer. "How shall we manage, if we meet with any of them?"

  "Give them the word," said Tangel. "I waited, clinging as close to thewall as ivy to an old tower, till I heard the round pass, and the wordgiven. It was 'The three leopards.' But there he goes now--let usaway--quick!--he will soon be back again!"

  Letting the ladder, made of silken rope, gently down from the window,Hugh bade the dwarf go first, but Tangel replied, "No, no, I will comeafter, and bring the ladder with me. I have got my own staircase on thefour daggers that I fixed into the crevices. Go down, holy father, godown, and if that book be a breviary take it with you."

  "It
may serve as such," said Hugh; "but, ere I go, let me leave them amessage;" and, taking a piece of half-charred wood from the fire, hewrote a few words with it upon the wall. Then approaching the window heissued forth, and descended easily and rapidly to the battlements.

  The dwarf seemed to have some difficulty in unfastening the hooks ofthe ladder, however, for he did not follow so quickly as Hugh expected;and, whether the sentinel had turned before he got fully to the end ofhis beat, or his pace was more rapid than before, I know not, but, erethe boy began to descend, the soldier's steps were heard coming roundfrom the other angle of the wall. Hugh gave a quick glance up to thewindow in the tower, and saw that the dwarf was aware of the sentry'sapproach, and also that the ladder hung so close to the building as notto be perceptible without near examination. His mind was made up in aninstant; and, folding his arms upon his chest, he drew the hood fartherover his face, and walked on to meet the sentinel, with a slow pace,and his eyes bent upon the ground.

  The moment the soldier turned the angle, and saw him, he exclaimed,"Who goes there? Stand! Give the word!"

  "The three leopards," replied Hugh, in a calm tone.

  "Pass," cried the sentinel. "Your blessing, holy father! This is a darknight."

  "Dominus vobiscum," replied Hugh; "it is dark, indeed, my son. But nonights are dark to the eye of God;" and turning with the sentinel onhis round, he added, in a loud tone, as they passed immediately underthe window, "You did not see my boy upon your round, did you! He was tocome hither with the books; but, marry, he is a truant knave, and isdoubtless loitering with the pages in the King's ante-room."

  "I saw him not, holy father," said the soldier. "Is the King still up?"

  "Ay, is he," answered Hugh, "and will be for this hour to come." And onhe walked by the side of the man till they were out of sight of thewindow.

  "The boy is marvellous long in coming," observed the pretended priest.

  "Shall we turn back and see, good father?" asked the soldier.

  "Oh, no!" replied Hugh; "this is the way he should come; for he has topass round by the court, you know; unless, indeed, he goes up the stepsat the other side." Just as he spoke, the sound of quick feet followingwas heard, and the sentry turned sharply once more, exclaiming, "Whogoes there?"

  "The three leopards," said a childish voice, very unlike that ofTangel, but Tangel it proved to be, dressed in his white cope and hood,and bearing a small bundle beneath his arm.

  "Thou hast been playing truant," cried the knight, "and shalt dopenance for this."

  But he did not venture to carry far his pretended reprimand, lest somemistake between him and Tangel might discover the deceit; and walkingon by the side of the sentinel to the top of the flight of steps whichled down into the great court close by another of the towers; he therewished him good night, giving him a blessing in a solemn tone.

  The guard at the bottom of the stone stairs heard the conversationbetween his comrade and the seeming priest above, and without evenasking the word walked on beside the young knight and the dwarf, andpassed them to the sentry at the gate.

  The large wooden door under the archway was ajar, while several of thesoldiery were loitering without, telling rude tales of love to some ofthe fair girls of Nottingham, who had ventured upon the drawbridge,even at that late hour, to lose their time and reputation (if they hadany) with the men-at-arms; for human nature and its follies were thesame, or very nearly the same then as now. At the end of thedrawbridge, however, was a sentinel with his partizan in his hand,taking sufficient part in the merriment of the others, notwithstandinghis being on duty, to make him start forward in alarm at the sound of astep, and show his alertness by lowering his weapon and fiercelydemanding the word. Hugh gave it at once; adding, in a quiet tone.

  "Ought you not to be more upon your guard, my son, against those whocome in than those who go out?"

  "Pass on, and mind your own business, Sir Priest!" replied the sentry,who was not a very reverent son of the church. "These knaves in theirblack gowns," he murmured, "would have no one speak to a pretty lassbut themselves."

  Hugh had continued to advance, and he certainly did not now pause todiscuss the question of duty with the soldier, but hastened into thetown through a great part of which it was absolutely necessary to pass,and then through the dark streets of Nottingham, descending the hillrapidly, and breathing lighter at every step.

  "Hark!" he said at length, speaking to the boy in a low tone. "Do younot hear people following!"

  "It is likely," replied the dwarf; "I am not alone in Nottingham. Wemay have some difficulty at the gates, however; for the warder at thetower is as surly as a bear, and though we all know him well, yet it isa robe of cendal to a kersey jerkin he refuses to get up and turn thekey."

  In another minute the question was put to the proof the boy runningforward to the town gate, and knocking at the low door under the arch.At first there was no answer whatsoever, and the dwarf, after knockingagain, shouted loudly. "Ho, Matthew Pole! Matthew Pole! open the doorfor a reverend father, who is going forth to shrive a sick man."

  "To shrive a harlot, or a barrel of sack!" grumbled an angry voice fromwithin. "I will get up for none of ye; and if I did, I could not openthe gate wide enough at this hour of the night for the fat friar ofBarnesdale to roll his belly out."

  "'Tis neither he of Barnesdale nor Tuck either," cried the boy, "but aholy priest come from the castle."

  "Then he had better go back whence he came," replied the warder. "Getyou gone, or I will throw that over thee which will soil thy garmentsfor many a day. Get thee gone, I say, and let me sleep, till these foulrevelling lords come down from the castle, who go out every night tolie at Lamley."

  A noise of prancing horses, and of eager voices, was heard the momentafter coming rapidly down the hill; and Hugh de Monthermer, putting hishand under his black robe, seized the hilt of the anelace, or sharpknife, which had been accidentally left with him when his sword wastaken away.

  "I will sell my life dearly," he said, speaking to the dwarf.

  "Stand in the dark," whispered Tangel, "and they will not seeyou;--these are the Lords who sleep out of the town."

  Hugh de Monthermer had scarcely time to draw back when a troop ofhorsemen, who had in fact left the castle before him, came down to thegate having followed the highway, while he had taken a shorter cut bysome of the many flights of steps of which the good town of Nottinghamwas full.

  "What ho!" cried a voice, which the young lord recognised right well."Open the gate. Are you the warder's boy?"

  "No, please you, noble lord," replied Tangel. "And I cannot make oldsurly Matthew Pole draw a bolt or turn a key, although he knows we arein haste."

  "What ho! open the gate," repeated the voice in a loud tone. "How knowyou that I am a noble lord, my man?"

  "Because you sit your horse like the Earl of Mortimer," answered theboy.

  "You may say so, indeed," said the other, laughing. "But who is thatunder the arch?"

  "That is my uncle," replied Tangel, "the good priest of Pierrepont. Heis going to shrive the man that fell over the rock, as your lordshipknows, just at sun-down."

  "I know nothing about him," exclaimed Mortimer; "but I do know, that ifthis warder come not forth, his thrift shall be a short one. Go in,Jenkin, and slit me his ears with thy knife till they be the shape of acur's,--Ha! here he comes at length. How now, warder! How dare you keepme waiting here? By the Lord, I am minded to hang thee over the gate."

  The burly old man grumbled forth something about his lanthorn havinggone out; and then added, in a louder tone, "I did not expect you, mylord, so soon, to-night. You are wont to be an hour later."

  "Ay, but we have some sharp business at daybreak to-morrow," criedMortimer; "so we must be a-bed by times."

  Slowly, and as if unwillingly, the warder drew down the large oak bar,saying, "You must give the word, my lord."

  "The three leopards," replied Mortimer. "Come, quick, open the gate,or, by my halidome, it shall be
worse for you."

  With provoking slowness, however, the old man undid bolt after bolt,and then threw wide the heavy wooden valves; and, without furtherquestion, the train of Mortimer rode out, his very robes brushingagainst Hugh de Monthermer as he passed. The young knight and the boyfollowed slowly; and before the gates could be closed again, comingrapidly from the neighbouring streets, several other men on foot issuedforth in silence, without giving any word to the warder.

  "Ah, you thieves!" said good Matthew Pole to the last of them, "if Ichose to shut you in, there would be fine hanging to-morrow."

  "No, no," replied the man, "there would be one hung to-night, goodMatthew, and he would serve for all. You don't think we let the hangingbegin without having the first hand in it?"

  A straggling house or two on the outside of the gate were passed in afew minutes; a lane amongst trees lay to the right and left, and alittle stile presented itself in the hedge, formed of two broad stoneslaid perpendicularly, and two horizontal ones for steps. Over these theboy sprang at a leap before Hugh de Monthermer, who followed quickly,though somewhat more deliberately.

  The moment he was past, a hand seized his arm, and a voice cried,"Free, free, may good lord! By my fay, we shall have all the honestpart of the Court under the green boughs of Sherwood ere long. Takingthe king's venison will become the only lawful resource of honest men;for if they don't strike at his deer, he will strike at their heads."

  "Ah! Robin, is that you?" said Hugh. "This is all thy doing, I know;and I owe thee life."

  "Faith, not mine," replied Robin Hood, "'tis the boy's--'tis the boy's!My best contrivance was to get into the castle court to-morrow, by onedevice or another; secure the gate, send an arrow into Mortimer'sheart, and another into the headsman's eye; make a general fight of it,while you were set free, and then run away as best we could. 'Twas abad scheme; but yet at that early hour we could have carried itthrough, while one half the world was asleep, and the other unarmed.But Tangel declared that he could run up the wall like a cat, so we lethim try, taking care to have men and ladders ready to bring him offsafe if he were caught. So 'tis his doing, my lord; for you contrivedto get the elf's love while he was with you."

  "And he has mine for ever," answered Hugh. "But alas! my love can be oflittle benefit to any one now."

  "Nay, nay, never think so," replied the Outlaw; "as much benefit asever, my good lord. Cast off your courtly garments, take to theforest-green, with your own strong right hand defend yourself and yourfriends, set courts and kings at nought and defiance, and you willnever want the means of doing a kind act to those who serve you. Iought not, perhaps, to boast, but Robin Hood, the king of Sherwood, hasnot less power within his own domain than the Third Harry on the throneof England--but, by my faith, I hoped the blessed Virgin has holpenScathelock and the Miller with their band to get out of the gates, forthey are long a coming, and there will be fine hunting in every hole ofNottingham to-morrow morning--I came over the wall with Hardy andPell."

  "They are safe enough--they are safe enough, reckless Robin," criedTangel, "I heard the Miller's long tongue, bandying words with surlyold Matthew Pole, as if ever one bell stopped another. But hark! thereare their steps, and we had better get on, for I have a call to sleepjust now."

  "Well, thou shalt sleep as long as thou wilt to-morrow," said Robin,"for thy good service to-night; but by your leave, my lord, you and Imust ride far, for it were as well to leave no trace of you in theneighbourhood of Nottingham. Here are strong horses nigh at hand, andif you follow my counsel, you will be five-and-twenty miles from theplace where they expect to find you by daybreak. It will be better forus all to disperse, and to quit this part of the county; my men havetheir orders, and I am ready."

  The counsel was one that Hugh de Monthermer was very willing to follow,and ere many minutes more had passed, he and Robin Hood were ridingthrough the dark shady roads of Sherwood, as fast as the obscurity ofthe night would permit.