Under the Flag of France: A Tale of Bertrand du Guesclin

by David Ker

  CHAPTER XXVIII

  Plot and Counter-plot

  By a superhuman effort, Alured repressed his bitter sorrow at thissudden overthrow of his hopes. But the keen-eyed emir could not fail tosee that he was sorely grieved; and, eager to lighten the trouble ofone who had shown him such kindness, he called in the envoy, andquestioned him closely, in the hope of learning something that mightmake the case less desperate.

  But the envoy had little to add to what the letter itself contained. Hecould only tell that the Moorish king had seemed much disturbed by thenews of El Zagal's capture--had shown great emotion at the suggestionthat the prophecy which he had hitherto applied to El Katoom mightrefer to the White Knight instead--and had then had a long conferencewith some of his wisest counsellors, after which he had sent off ElKatoom, with a strong guard, to the hill-fort of Tormas, on thesouthern slope of the Sierra Morena.

  At the last words, Alured passed his hand over his eyes to hide thesudden gleam that lit them up; for this news had a meaning for him, ofwhich neither the speaker nor even the shrewd emir had any idea.

  That night, in his own chamber, the knight pondered this new andstrange hope, and the plan that he had formed for his brother'sliberation.

  In fact, the whole situation was now completely altered. What all hisskill and courage could never have achieved, his foes had unconsciouslydone for him; and Hugo, no longer immured in the guarded walls of theAlhambra, was less than thirty miles from where he stood!

  Nor was it hard for one so versed in all the wiles of Saracen war toguess why the king had taken a step so strangely at variance with hisformer jealous care of his valued slave. This sudden change hadfollowed too close on the discovery of the marvellous likeness of thatslave to the dreaded White Knight, not to suggest to the waryEnglishman the existence of a plot for the using of this likeness toentrap himself, the Moors' most redoubted foe!

  Now came the question, how best to profit by this strange turn offortune.

  Most captains of that iron age would have gone straight to the idea ofcapturing the fort and Hugo himself by a sudden dash; but not so thewary Alured. He knew that Tormas was strong both by nature and art,well garrisoned, and commanded by a veteran second only to El Zagalhimself in border warfare. Stratagem, not force, was needed here; andhe at once set himself to devise a counter-plot.

  In this attempt, the very next day brought him aid from an unlooked-forquarter. A second Moorish courier arrived with the king's offer toexchange El Zagal for a brave Spanish knight named Don Alvar de Perez,who had been his prisoner for some time, being too poor to pay the highransom demanded.

  Here was a chance which Alured was not one to let slip. Don Alvar, ofwhose courage and sagacity he had often heard, and who had been longenough among the Moors to know them well, was the very helper he neededto countermine the king's subtle device. He at once agreed to theproposal, and then, to throw his enemies off their guard, spread areport that he was unable to undertake any military operations atpresent, confirming it by keeping his men carefully within thefortress. This he could do with a clear conscience, the Moors being socowed by their recent defeat, the fall of so many of their bestwarriors, and El Zagal's capture, that they made not a single forayduring the whole of that month.

  This inaction was a sore trial to De Claremont's fierce and restlessfollowers; but he himself felt it more keenly than any of them.

  The shock of this sudden discovery that the remorse which had blastedhis life was groundless, and the brother he thought he had slain stillalive, and within reach, had shaken his strong nerves fairly off theirbalance; and he was ceaselessly tortured with nervous and almostchildish fears, which (however ashamed of them) he tried in vain tothrow off. Hugo would die ere they met--the Moors would drag him backto slavery--he himself would be struck down by war or sickness just ashis plans were ripe--his foes would surprise the fortress entrusted tohis care, and carry him off to the same bondage as his ill-fatedbrother.

  Day after day, the troubled man paced the ramparts with the fierceunrest of a caged beast of prey, straining his eyes southward in thevain hope of seeing another Moorish courier appear over the darkhilltop. Night after night, he started from feverish dreams ofstruggling in the grasp of the victorious Moors, or, worse still,finding himself arrayed in turban and caftan, and ranked among thesworn foes of the Cross. El Zagal naturally supposed the terrible WhiteKnight to be pining for fresh battles, and wondered what secret causedoomed him to this galling inaction; and Alured's rough soldiers,knowing nothing of the truth, began to mutter that he must be bewitched!

  At last, just as he began to despair of any further answer, and to fearsome new and darker plot of his foes, he saw one evening a single Moorriding swiftly over the hills from the direction of his brother'sprison at Tormas.

  This man bore a letter to De Claremont from the commandant of Tormas,Ali Atar, who invited the "great Christian chief," with many floridEastern compliments, to visit him there as an honoured guest, andsettle the proposed exchange of prisoners, Don Alvar having just beensent from Grenada to Tormas to be exchanged for the emir.

  This, coupled with what he already knew or guessed, seemed to Alured apolite invitation to come and be killed or made prisoner. But he wasnot to be so easily caught; nor did he take long to devise a plan forfoiling his wily foes with their own weapons.

  "Effendi (master), here is a Christian knight from Santa Fe, who wouldspeak with thee."

  "Is it the White Knight?" eagerly asked Ali Atar, who, thoughprostrated by severe illness, still directed from his sick-bed themovements of his wild followers.

  "Not so, O my father; it is but one of his knights, with a letter thathe is bidden to give into thine own hand. Thou knowest that when I borethy message to the White Knight, I found him laid on his couch, andbowed down by sickness; and all his men were sorely out of heart."

  The grim old sheikh muttered a curse under his breath; but, furious ashe was at finding his plans thus foiled, the commandant of Tormas wasfar too good a general to lose a chance of seeing into those of hisenemies.

  "Admit the Christian dog; perchance we may learn somewhat from him."

  In came a tall knight in black armour, with a dark plume in his helmet,the open visor of which showed the swarthy face and black hair of aSpaniard. He handed a sealed letter to Ali Atar, who, as he took it,little guessed that he had got his wish after all, and that thisseeming Spaniard was the White Knight himself.

  "Peace be with thee," said Alured, purposely making his Arabic so badthat a lurking grin flitted over the grave faces of the attendants.

  "With thee be peace," replied the sheikh, as he opened the letter, andfound the knight recommended to him as having full powers to negotiatethe exchange of prisoners. Having read it, he addressed the envoy inArabic; but the latter shook his head, and replied in Spanish.

  But Ali Atar, a Moor of the old school, hated the "dogs of Spain" tooutterly to have learned their tongue, and shook his head in turn.

  "We shall need an interpreter," said he, "in conferring with thisinfidel who knows not our speech. Call hither quickly the unbeliever ElKatoom!"

  At the sound of his brother's Moorish name, Alured (though he hadforeseen this order, and done his best to bring it about) felt hisstrong nerves tingle; and as the crimson curtain of the doorway fellback, the brave man's heart bounded as if it would burst from itsplace; for there before him stood--thinner and darker than of old, inMoorish dress, but still plainly recognizable--his lost brother Hugo.