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

by David Ker

  CHAPTER XXIX

  Treachery

  Only for a moment did this weakness master the cool and resoluteEnglishman, whose self-command was instantly restored by therecollection that the least imprudence on his part, before thesewatchful and merciless foes, would be fatal both to himself and to himwhom he came to save.

  But how was he to reveal himself to his brother, without risking anoutburst of emotion that would betray them both?

  A moment's thought told him what to do; and with a well-feigned startof surprise, he cast a fierce look at Hugo, and, lifting his clenchedhand, cried in English, in the tone of one hurling a threat at anenemy--

  "Hugo de Claremont, do you know your brother Alured?"

  That Hugo did so, was clear from the start of amazement, and the suddenpaleness of his sun-browned face. But, mindful of the peril ofbetraying any emotion before these keen and suspicious watchers, hecontrolled himself with a mighty effort, and, retorting Alured's sternlook, said with equally well-assumed defiance--

  "Thank God, my brother, that I see you once more!"

  "What means this, El Katoom?" cried Ali Atar, who had watched thisstrange scene in silent wonder. "Wherefore eyest thou yon infidel sofiercely? and why did he threaten thee but now?"

  "Valiant sheikh," replied Hugo, frowning like one enraged beyond allpatience, "when I last met this man, we stood sword-point tosword-point: and I little thought to meet him here."

  This, though literally true, imposed on the wily Saracen morecompletely than the most artful falsehood. If these two were mortalfoes, and had last met in deadly fight, there could be no risk ofcollusion between them; and his suspicions vanished at once.

  The sheikh now conveyed to Alured his views on the proposed exchange ofprisoners, which Hugo translated sentence by sentence; but under coverof this game of question and answer, the brothers were able to exchangeconfidences unsuspected.

  Alured told Hugo of his identity with the famous "White Knight," hisposition as commandant of Santa Fe, and his resolution to effect hisbrother's escape. Hugo, in turn, told briefly how, awaking from hisswoon after the fatal combat, he found himself on a Spanish privateer,which was taken soon after by a Barbary corsair. In the fight, hereceived a new wound that all but cost him his life; but the admirationof the Moors for his prowess saved him from the doom of his companions,and at the court of Grenada he had been kindly treated, though strictlyguarded, till the Moorish king's plan of using him to entrap thedreaded White Knight caused his removal to Tormas.

  At this point Ali Atar, having said his say, broke up the conferenceand dismissed his interpreter; and as Hugo turned to quit the hall, hisbrother had just time to warn him that any man who should say to him,"Beware of the White Knight!" was the chosen agent of his escape, andto be trusted accordingly.

  But the wily sheikh, though no longer suspecting this Christian envoy,was far too wary to let him spend a whole night at large in the castle,and learn the strength of its defences and its garrison. As soon asAlured had partaken of some food, he was escorted out of the fort bythe commandant's black guards (who were indeed such in a double sense)without being allowed even to see the Spanish prisoner for whoserelease he was treating; and Ali Atar chuckled grimly at his success in"outwitting the unbeliever," little dreaming how signally theunbeliever had just outwitted him.

  A few days later, a small party of Moors from Tormas, and a detachmentof equal number from the garrison of Santa Fe, met midway between thetwo forts, and Don Alvar was formally exchanged for El Zagal--theinvalided sheikh being represented by his second in command, and Aluredby his veteran seneschal.

  Hugo, however, was not with the Moorish party; for as Ali Atar's bodilypowers weakened, his jealous vigilance grew keener than ever. True, thecaptive (though resolute neither to break his knightly vows, norforswear his religion) had skilfully avoided any open gainsaying of thehints thrown out by his jailers as to the service expected of him, andallowed them to think that he would comply when the time came. But thecrafty old Moor meant to be on the safe side, and kept the precioushostage all the more carefully in his sight, the weaker he grew.

  To the free-born, high-spirited Hugo this constant sense of beingwatched and spied upon, and kept in like a chained dog, would have beengalling at any time; for he was not only a prisoner but a slave--theslave of those "heathen dogs" whom every Christian of that age, alas!thought himself bound to hate and curse and slay, in place of trying toenlighten them and do them good. But now that he had learned that hisbrother was alive and near him, and the freedom of which he had begunto despair actually within reach, this degrading bondage becameintolerable. Every hour seemed a day, every day a year, as he waited invain for the promised signal of deliverance; and, worse still, everyday that went fruitlessly by brought the time nearer when the Moorswould attempt their plan of using him to ensnare his own brother. Atany moment he might have to choose between death and treason to hiscountry and his God; and his own choice would doom him to die like afelon and a slave, in place of falling (as he had always hoped)fighting for some good and holy cause in the ranks of his Christianbrethren. Bitterer than all was the thought of perishing just when helpwas at hand, and the last hour of his weary bondage about to strike.

  Had this grinding torment lasted longer, the captive must have beencrushed by it; but a change was at hand.

  On the seventh day after the exchange of prisoners, as Hugo sat moodilyby the sick sheikh (who would hardly let him out of his sight now), asoldier came to report the arrival of a deserter from Santa Fe.

  "A deserter!" cried Ali Atar, regaining for a moment all his lostenergy. "Bring him to me at once, that I may learn what these Spanishdogs be about."

  Hugo's heart beat quicker, guessing that this pretended deserter wasthe promised agent of his escape. The curtain fell back, and thesoldier ushered in a small, meagre, yellow-faced half-breed, ragged,dusty, and travel-stained.

  "May thy prosperity increase, noble sheikh!" said the supposedrenegade, prostrating himself with cringing Eastern servility. "Permitthy humblest slave to anoint his eyelids with the dust of thythreshold, his refuge from Christian dogs!"

  "Art thou a true believer?" asked the sheikh, eyeing him as a lionmight eye a monkey.

  "Praise be to Allah, I am! There is but one God, and Mohammed is HisProphet."

  "Thou wert a captive of the infidels, then?" said Ali Atar, looking athim with a new interest.

  "The great sheikh hath said it. I was a slave in the castle of DonAlvar de Perez (may evil overtake him!), which, as your highness knows,lieth not far hence; and when the infidel was exchanged for the nobleEmir El Zagal, I, Yakoob (Jacob), the son of Selim, and certain of hisother slaves, were sent to Santa Fe to attend on him; and thence, bythe blessing of Allah, I escaped hither."

  "And what do the dogs of Spain? Methinks the White Knight is not one tokeep his men long idle."

  "He lieth sore sick, but he and De Perez (ill-luck attend them both!)take counsel daily how to harm the Faithful; and they speak much ofthis fort of Tormas, and of one El Katoom, who is therein."

  "Hearest thou this, El Katoom?" said the sheikh to Hugo.

  "What! is this he?" cried the half-breed, with well-feigned surprise."I counsel him, then, to _beware of the White Knight_, who meaneth himno good."

  All Hugo's self-command could not repress a start at this long-expectedsignal word; but to Ali Atar such emotion seemed quite natural in a manthus marked for vengeance by the terrible White Knight.

  "But why," asked he, "should he mean ill to El Katoom, who is aChristian like himself?"

  "The infidel hath heard that El Katoom is minded to turn to the truefaith, and ride in the ranks of the Prophet's servants (happy be theday that seeth him thus enlightened). Therefore are the Christiancaptains wroth, and have sent forth men to watch for him, vowing to puthim to a cruel death if they take him."

  This tale, though as gross a lie as even Yakoob had ever told, did itswork ad
mirably. It confirmed Ali Atar's belief that, when the timecame, Hugo would be found compliant; it strengthened his trust in theman who had brought such news, and it told Hugo himself all he wishedto know.

  "Saidst thou not," cried the sheikh, with a sudden gleam of the oldwarrior-fire in his sunken eyes, "that these dogs have sent men towatch for El Katoom? If thou canst tell me where those men may befound, rich shall be thy reward."

  "I will do more, mighty sheikh," said the renegade, whose rat-like eyesglittered greedily at the word 'reward.' "I will myself guide yourhighness's warriors to the spot where, if I heard aright, the Spanishdogs are to lie in ambush."

  Sure enough, at dawn next morning, Hugo, looking down from his lonelychamber in the highest tower, saw a band of Moors ride off toward SantaFe, with Yakoob as their guide.

  Somewhat to Hugo's surprise, he was not summoned to the commandant'spresence as usual; and when he wished to leave his room, he found thedoor fastened outside!

  What could this mean? Had his intended escape been betrayed? Thethought was maddening, and never had the captive strained his eyes morelongingly towards the distant hilltop that hid his brother'sstronghold, beyond which lay outspread, in the brief, bright, wintersunshine, the dry, dusty plains and bare uplands of La Mancha, dottedwith the quaint little hamlets and old-fashioned windmills known to DonQuixote two centuries later.

  Presently a stir and bustle arose below, increasing as the day wore on;but what it meant he could not guess. It was late in the morning when asoldier brought him food; but the man looked sullen and gloomy, and,without a word of reply to his eager questions, went hastily out, andmade fast the door.

  Deeper and darker grew Hugo's secret fears, which suddenly received anunlooked-for and terrible confirmation; for from his lofty tower he allat once caught a passing glimpse, far away among the wooded hills, of asmall band of riders in Christian dress flying as if for their livesfrom the pursuit of the turbaned horsemen!

  Hugo turned pale, and his heart grew heavy as lead. Was this, then, therout of the detachment sent to aid his escape, and the ruin of his lasthope?

  But a moment's thought reassured him. So small a band was plainlyunequal to coping with the superior numbers of the Moors, and might,after all, be only a scouting party, which would naturally fall backwhen menaced by such odds. Still, the sight did not tend to raise hisdrooping spirits, and he eagerly awaited an explanation.

  But his second warder was as obstinately silent as the first, and hisanxiety remained unallayed.

  Afternoon was waning into evening, when he heard a tramp of hoofs and aclamour of voices, and looking down saw the Moorish band returning,plainly in high glee. From their loud and boastful replies to theircomrades' eager queries, Hugo gathered that their guide had led them byvarious by-paths to a wooded hollow some miles away; that he had theremade them halt, while he plunged into the thickets alone; that hesuddenly came flying back, chased by several Spanish horsemen, who fellback at sight of the Moors; and the latter, charging in turn, brokeright into the midst of a band of ambushed foes. In the ensuingskirmish, several were wounded on either side, though none actuallyslain; but the Christians were put to flight, and the Moors broughthome as trophies the cloaks and weapons let fall by the fugitives.

  This affair--their first brush with the enemy since their fatal defeatat the Guarama Pass--highly elated the Moors, who held it as quite avictory; but Hugo himself thought otherwise.

  He had heard enough of the defenders of Santa Fe to be sure that theywere not the men to turn their backs on any Moorish force without goodreason. What if this were but a feint of his brother to throw the Moorsoff their guard, and confirm their trust in the guide who had led themso successfully? What if that guide, while pretending to beat thethicket in quest of foes, had found a moment to make his report toAlured or one of his officers, and then come bursting forth as ifpursued?

  The more he thought of this, the more likely did it seem; and his heartwas lighter when the door opened to admit his evening meal, brought bytwo men, one of whom was Yakoob the guide!

  While pretending to arrange the table, Yakoob passed close to him andwhispered--

  "Be ready to-morrow at nightfall."

  There was little sleep that night for Hugo de Claremont.

  Next morning he was roused from a brief snatch of feverish slumber by acry, or rather wail, echoing through the whole castle; and springing tothe window, he heard a Moor below call out to a comrade--

  "Is it so in very deed, friend Ibrahim?" (Abraham).

  "It is even so, brother Yoosoof (Joseph). To God we belong, and to Himmust we return. Our father, Ali Atar, has gone home to the mercy ofGod!"

  Hugo felt his bold heart stand still. Ali Atar dead! Who could tellwhat might come of it? But the results were to be such as even he couldnot have foreseen.

  The dead sheikh's successor was a fiery young Moor, full of confidencein himself and scorn of his Spanish foes. The moment he heard from theuntiring Yakoob (who had been out on the watch since dawn) that aSpanish band of raiders had been seen not far away, young Suleimaun,without a thought of the important fortress under his care, sallied outwith all his best men to fall on "the infidel dogs."

  Slowly the weary hours of that endless day crept by, and at nightfallrose to the captive's ear the hoarse challenge of a sentry at the gateto some one outside.

  Hugo could not hear the reply, but the soldier rejoined at once--

  "It is good; enter, friend."

  The heavy gate swung slowly open, and the torch lighted by the othersentry showed Hugo two men in Moorish dress riding into the courtyard,the foremost calling out as he entered--

  "Good news, brother! our captain Suleimaun is victorious, and he andhis men will be here ere long, with the heads of the Christian dogs ontheir spears."

  Hugo's heart leaped, for though the speaker was dressed as a Moor, andspoke fluent Arabic, the voice was that of his brother! The hour ofescape had come!

  Even with the overwhelming joy of that moment, however, mingled athrill of terror at the thought of what must happen, were the famousWhite Knight, the Moors' most dreaded foe, detected within their walls.But he had no time to think of it, for just then his door swungnoiselessly back, and in the doorway stood a shadowy form, as if shapedfrom the gathering darkness.

  "Come!" said a ghostly whisper; and Yakoob, taking him by the arm, ledhim cautiously forth.

  "The doors below are locked and guarded, but I will bring thee out by abetter way, and with this thou may'st climb up out of the ditch."

  He thrust into Hugo's hand a long pole with an iron hook, used fortaking down the lamps in the great hall. Hugo clutched it (with apassing thought that it might serve as a weapon), and followed hisguide round the angle of the wall.

  This inner wall was but twelve feet high, and the ditch below, thoughdeep, was narrow, and almost dry in places. Neither seemed formidableto the active Englishman, who was about to let himself drop, whenYakoob laid a restraining hand on his arm, and uttered a skilfulimitation of the cry of a night-bird.

  The cry was at once echoed below, and from behind a huge heap of dryforage glided two dim forms, whom Hugo (though he could barely seethem) easily guessed to be Alured and his assistant.

  Yakoob let down a silken cord, to which Alured made fast a heavy purse.

  The rascal drew up his ill-got gains with greedy haste, and thenproduced a strong rope, which he knotted round a jutting pinnacle.

  Hugo shot down it like an arrow, but hardly had he touched the earth,when Yakoob shouted from above, with all his might--

  "Hither, hither, true believers! here is a Christian dog escaping!"

  In fact, this double-dyed traitor, who really was a follower of DonAlvar, and had been well paid by him and Alured to aid Hugo's escape,had all along intended to earn a twofold reward by helping him up to acertain point and then betraying him.

  Even Alured and his veteran helper were paralyzed for a moment by thisnew and fearful dilemma; but Hugo was as prompt as ever
. Clutching hispole by the end, he darted it upward, and just caught with his hook thetraitor's skirt as it hung over the parapet. The sudden tug flungYakoob headlong into the muddy ditch, and Hugo, in turn, shoutedlustily--

  "Help, brothers, or the infidel will escape!"

  "Where is he?" cried several Moorish soldiers, rushing up.

  "Yonder he lies," said Hugo, pointing to the half-seen form of thestunned Yakoob, now almost buried in the mud. "I cannot drag him forthunaided. Seize and hold him fast!"

  "We will!" cried they; and, leaping into the ditch, they pounced uponthe wrong man, and dragged him off, he being so smeared with mud as todefy recognition.

  Just then Alured, now his own cool and daring self again, fired thepile of forage beside him, which, dry as tinder, at once sent up abroad jet of flame far into the air.

  "Fire!" he roared, as the rising wind whirled a shower of fiery flakesagainst the towers above. "Help, brothers! The castle burns!"

  The soldiers at the outer gate flew at once to quench the flames, andthe three Englishmen, hidden by the smoke, darted to the now unguardedgate, and began to unbar it.

  But just as they thought themselves already safe, one of the Moorshappened to look round, and, seeing what they were about, came hastilyback, saying--

  "What do ye? No man opens these gates after dark, save at our captain'sbidding."

  One moment more and all would have been discovered; but just then atrampling of hoofs was heard outside, mingled with the Moslem war-cry,"Allah Ackbar!" (God is victorious), and the Moor, supposing thatSuleimaun and his band had returned, opened the gate himself.

  In poured a long line of riders in Moorish garb, whose white dresses,emerging from the gloom into the glare of the fire, gave them the lookof rising ghosts. But hardly had they entered, when they flung offtheir disguise and appeared in Spanish armour, while a shout of "St.James for Spain!" made the air ring.

  Alured's plan had succeeded beyond his hopes. Warned by the traitorYakoob of Ali Atar's death and Suleimaun's intended sally, he and DonAlvar had fallen on the rash young leader unawares, cut off him and allhis men, and entered Tormas in the clothes of the slain!

  The garrison fought fiercely, but they had not a chance of success; andere the moon rose, the Christians were masters of Tormas. Yakoob waspaid for his villainy as he deserved, being murdered by the enragedMoors in mistake for their prisoner; and Hugo was free at last.

  "Now I know that God has forgiven me," said Alured, solemnly, as he andhis brother stood hand in hand on the captured fort at daybreak, withthe banner of Spain waving over them. "Canst thou forgive me too, Hugo?"

  "I have nought to forgive, brother," cried Hugo, laying his handlovingly on the other's shoulder. "Let all the past be as an ill dream,and let us thank God that He hath given us a chance to do some littlegood."

  "And that we may lose no time in doing it," cried Alured, "let us nowhie home to England; for it fits us not to forget, while upholdingGod's cause abroad, the true vassals whom He hath given into our careat home. Our noble master, the Black Prince, hath cared for our landsin our absence, and we shall doubtless find all in good order."

  And early next day the long-parted twins set off homeward together.