Boy's Ride

by Frank V. Webster

  CHAPTER XIX

  To the great joy of Richard Wood, the way seemed to lead across thewide, flat, marshy country straight in the direction of Yarmouth. "Ifthe young lord and his serving-man be as weary of the marsh as I and mycompanions be," he said, "they have gone directly out of it toYarmouth, and there shall we catch them."

  But though the way seemed not to deviate in direction, that of the daybefore was easy in comparison with it.

  "Were I but journeying through this vile stretch of country I couldpick a better course," grumbled Richard Wood as he went forward. "Butbeing on chase of these two, I must even be content to follow. Beholdme now when the day is but half gone, slopped with water and besplashedwith mud till no man may know the color of my garments. It must be thatthe young lord hath small wit to take such a course. Or mayhap helooketh more behind him than before as he rideth, fearing pursuit."

  And now they were come to the Yare; and it seemed that they would beobliged to swim across it. "Never swam I in my life," declared RichardWood, "and I will not now begin."

  "Canst thou not swim on thy horse's back?" demanded one of themen-at-arms, impatiently.

  "Ay; but how if the beast goeth down in the stream?" said Richard Wood."I tell thee, I fear water."

  Then came one of the Saxons to the rescue. "Near here dwelleth a fen-man,"he said, "and he hath a boat. I will e'en call him to take theeover, and thou canst let thy horse swim."

  Upon hearing this all three of the weary men-at-arms clamored forplaces in the boat which Herebald, after a conference with Bernulf,promised them.

  "Hearest thou not, Herebald," said Bernulf, "that the king's manfeareth the water? We must put him and his men across softly andbolster up their valor, else shall we fail to entice them aboard thefishing-vessel, and so fail to ship them off to France; and thusEngland is so much the worse off by having still here the vile knaves."

  "Yea, Bernulf, thou art right," was the answer. "And surely we have ledthem through toils enough, for they be weary to fainting. This it isfor a vile spy to go round the country with some lumbering men-at-arms,seeking to entrap a poor young lad to his destruction."

  "Yea," replied Bernulf; "but thou hast left out one thing. Thoushouldst have said, 'This it is when two Saxons get him and them in thetoils.' They had not been one-half so weary without us. Do but rememberthat."

  "Ay," agreed Herebald. "I do think we have some blame for their achingbones; but they can rest when they be tossing on that good old NorthSea, for I promise them it will take more than a load of herring tohold the ship steady."

  All this time Richard Wood and his men were impatiently waiting. "Whytarry ye so long?" called the spy in a loud voice, as he looked intheir direction.

  "We did but talk of what 'twere best to do and a few other matters,"replied Herebald, advancing. "And we think we may promise places to yeall in the boat. Run, Bernulf; make speed and bring the man and hisboat."

  Away went Bernulf, leaping lightly across a pool here, picking his wayskilfully over long grass and among reeds there, to the amazement ofRichard Wood, who watched. "I would my horse had but the nimbleness andspeed of the knave's legs," he said. "But our toils be almost over, andso I complain not. I make no doubt we lay hold of the young lord andthe serving-man in Yarmouth."

  At this Herebald looked sceptical.

  "What meanest thou by that look?" asked Richard Wood.

  "Why, nothing," returned Herebald. "Only I did call to mind that therebe many fishing-vessels in the harbor."

  "And what hath that to do with it?" asked Richard Wood.

  "And through the North Sea one may go to France."

  "Why, thou didst say that long ago when we were toiling through themarsh. Thinkest thou I shall forget to search the ships when I havesearched the town? I forget not so easily, I promise thee."

  The fen-man seemed not to be readily persuaded to bring his boat, foran hour elapsed before he was seen rowing toward them with Bernulflolling lazily in the stern.

  At last he reached the little party, and Richard Wood and his men weresafely embarked. Then the two Saxons, mounting their ponies, directedthem into the stream, and they were off, the fen-man glancing curiouslyevery now and then at his passengers. He made no remarks, however, butmanaged his boat so skilfully that Richard Wood hardly realized that hewas on the water, and, in due time, found himself set ashore with hismen on the other side.

  "And yonder be Yarmouth," said Herebald, cheerfully. "We come to itsurely by set of sun."

  There was no more marks of passage before them, and Richard Wood,picking his own path, travelled more easily than he had before, and hadalso to help him an enlarged appreciation of his own powers, to whichhe speedily added a large increase of hope that now the end of histroubles had come. He therefore went forward with renewed animation,and when, at set of sun, he stopped before a little Yarmouth inn, hewas well satisfied with himself.

  "Do ye also lodge here?" he asked the Saxons.

  Herebald affected to be uncertain.

  "Surely it were better that ye do so," urged Richard Wood, "that we maysearch the town and the ships together on the morrow."

  "Nay," put in Bernulf. "We lodge not here. I do know a cheaper place;and we be not Normans that we have money to waste."

  Richard Wood frowned. "Speak not against the Normans," he said. "Theking is a Norman."

  "Oh, ay," answered Bernulf, indifferently. And then he added withdetermination in his tone, "We lodge not here."

  Herebald now drew Richard Wood aside.

  "Heed him not," he said, "lest he turn surly on our hands and get usinto trouble. I will go with him elsewhere to lodge, and to-morrow mornwill I bring him back to help thee on thy search."

  "Thou art not so sad a knave as he," returned Richard Wood, "and Ithank thee. See that ye both come, and that right early."

  Herebald reiterated his promise to do so, and then went away withBernulf, while Richard Wood followed his men into the bar, where theywere already drinking.

  "What meanest thou, Bernulf? Why wouldst thou not lodge here?" askedHerebald as they rode along.

  "Why, this, Herebald," was the answer. "We have much to do ere we go torest. We must find the ship that is loaded and ready to weigh anchorto-morrow toward noon when the wind and tide will serve. And we mustbespeak the help of the captain to get these knaves aboard."

  "True, Bernulf," responded Herebald. "Thou hast a wit that would matchwith the canon's."

  "Yea, I be not so dull as some Normans, though I be counted but aslow-witted Saxon," returned Bernulf, with complacency. "And now let usfirst to our supper and the putting away of the ponies, and then do wetake boat and visit the ships."

  They found an inn suited to their tastes in one of the Rows, and beforethe dark had really come down over the harbor they were out on a tourof the ships. The tour, however, was destined to be a short one, sincethe second ship they visited proved to have among her sailors two menthat they knew. And, moreover, they discovered the captain to be oneEric, whose mother was cousin to Bernulf's father.

  "Here have we luck," said Bernulf. "To Eric may I speak freely."

  "Yea, verily," answered Herebald. "And she is loaded with herring alsoand saileth on the morrow toward noon. Go, then, and speak freely, asthou sayest."

  Bernulf did so; and the Captain Eric entered heartily into his plans asBernulf laid them before him. "The loons!" he exclaimed with a heartylaugh, as he heard of the journey through the fens. "The witless geese!And thou hast not once told them that the young lord and his serving-mancame in this direction?"

  "Nay, not once. We did but break branches, and make tracks on the edgesof the pools, and ruffle the long grass, and they did read forthemselves that those they sought were just ahead of them. We have hopethat the young lord be, by this time, well and safely sped on hisjourney."

  "Ay, and by to-morrow at this time will his pursuers be upon theirjourney," said Eric. "I am to refuse to let them come aboard, sayestthou, until they demand permission in the kin
g's name? And then themoment they be down the companionway I am to hoist the anchor and beoff?"

  "Yea," answered Bernulf, "that is it."

  "So be it," returned Eric. "And it is a small thing to do for a kinsmanalso moreover."

  "And now go we ashore," said Bernulf. "To-morrow morn we aid the king'sspy to search the town. He will have a merry run up and down the Rows,he and his men." And, with a hearty farewell to the skipper, Herebaldand Bernulf climbed down the side of the vessel to their little boatgently rocking alongside.

  "The business in hand hath an early end when luck goeth with a man,"observed Bernulf, with satisfaction.

  "Yea," responded Herebald. "And luck most often goeth with the man thathath good wit of his own."

  Their strong arms made light of the short distance they had to row, andthey were soon back at the little inn and at rest.

  As for Richard Wood, weary as he was, he was long in finding sleep. Forever he would be wondering in which part of the little town it werebest to begin the search. And how it were best to conduct it so that nooutsider could manage to claim part of the reward when the runawayswere captured. At last, undecided, he fell asleep, and Herebald andBernulf were awaiting him when he awoke rather late in the morning. Inhaste he and his men ate their breakfast, and in still greater hastethey set off on the search, only to be brought to a standstill beforeit was well begun; for there fronting the sea were one hundred andforty-five little narrow streets called the Rows, and their combinedlength made a distance of seven miles.

  "This be a foolish way to build a town," grumbled Richard Wood, "andnone but Saxons would have done it. Why, here be a street only two feetwide at one end of it. And up and down one hundred and forty-fivestreets we must chase, to say nothing of looking in the better parts ofthe town."

  "Thou hast well said," observed Herebald, gravely. "It is not an easything, this search. But where dost thou begin? And how wilt thou goabout it?"

  "Why, why," stammered Richard Wood, "I did never search a town before,and that is but the truth."

  "Were it not best to proceed boldly?" asked Herebald, slyly.

  "Boldly, sayest thou? And what meanest thou by boldly?"

  "Why, by boldly, I mean boldly. Surely thou knowest what boldly is?Walk into the house with a 'by your leave,' which is, after all, noleave, since it is done without leave; there look through all, and thenout and away again into the next house, or the next but one, as itpleaseth thee."

  Richard Wood looked at him in displeasure. "It is easy to see thou artbut a Saxon churl," he said. "And moreover, where is thy sense of time?This day were gone; ay, and the next before we had entered every housein one hundred and forty-five little streets."

  "Ay, thou art right. Perchance it were better not to take so much time,for there be the ships, and some of them do sail to-day."

  "To-day!" exclaimed Richard Wood, in alarm. "And when?"

  "Toward noon," was the reply; "for then wind and tide will serve."

  A look of resolution came over the face of Richard Wood. He turned tohis men-at-arms.

  "Take each of thee a street," he said, "and I will take another. Searchas well and thoroughly as ye can for one hour, and then come to thispoint to go with me to the ships. We have had many toils to catch them.They must not escape us now."

  "And what do we?" asked Herebald.

  Now Richard Wood was quite determined that the Saxons should not sharein the reward, so he answered: "Stand ye here, and watch all who pass.Let none escape ye."

  "That were an easy task," growled Bernulf. "But why may we not alsotake each man his street, and knock and 'by-your-leave' with the restof ye? It is because we be Saxons that ye put this slight upon us." Andhe affected to be greatly displeased.

  "Peace, man!" said Richard Wood, more pacifically. "It is true ye beSaxons, but that is by the will of heaven. And ye be in nowise to blametherefor. So should ye bear with patience the lot of Saxons."

  "Which is to wait on Normans, as ye would say," retorted Bernulf,scornfully. "But we bide here, as thou hast said."

  "The hinds be jealous," said Richard Wood, as he hastened up the littlestreet he had chosen, looking narrowly about him for the house, in hisjudgment, most likely to be the hiding-place of the runaways. Abouthalf-way up the street he espied it, but when, in the king's name, heentered, he found nothing to reward him for his pains. Wherever hestopped he fared no better, and he was fain to believe, at last, theasseverations of the inhabitants that there were not only no runawaysin that street, but that none were to be found in all Yarmouth,--a townwhich, according to them, was a most proper place, where those whocould not give a good account of themselves never ventured. Unless,indeed, it might be a few Frenchmen now and then, and, as they told himwith much garrulity, every Englishman knew what to expect from theFrench. And then they asked him if those he sought were French. Andwhen he said that they were not, they began at the beginning and wentall over the subject again, telling him what a discreet and properplace Yarmouth was, and how none such as he was seeking ever venturedthere, until he was like to go distracted, and had not completed thesearch of even that one little Row when the hour was up, and hehastened to the place appointed to meet his men-at-arms. He found thathis experience had been theirs, and, in his disappointment and disgust,he said some harsh things about Yarmouth tongues, which he estimated asentirely too nimble.

  The two Saxons heard his comments with covert smiles, and followedalong toward the ships.

  That morning the ship of Eric had slightly changed her position, andBernulf so managed that, when the small row-boat he was bidden to hirewas about to put off from land, Eric's ship would naturally be thefirst one boarded.

  "Do we go with thee?" asked Herebald.

  "Nay," answered Richard Wood. "Here be two men who will row for us. Doye stay where ye be and watch."

  Then they all climbed into the small row-boat and were pulled awaytoward Eric's ship.

  "Ay, we will watch," said Herebald to Bernulf.

  A little later the boat went alongside, and the spy and his men-at-armsclimbed heavily and clumsily aboard, after a brief parley with skipperEric, in which he had at first refused them permission to do so.

  "They be here!" exulted Richard Wood in his thought, "else why shouldwe be forbidden to come aboard?"

  "What seek ye?" demanded the skipper, in a gruff tone when they weresafely on deck.

  "Two runaways," answered Richard Wood, loudly, for already the anchorwas being lifted.

  "There be no runaways here," returned the skipper, positively.

  "We will see, we will see," returned Richard Wood. And laying firm holdof the rail he lunged down the steep companionway, followed by hismen-at-arms and one of the seamen, whom the captain by a nod of his headbade to follow them. Once down, they gazed about them and knew notwhich way to turn.

  "Where is the captain?" said Richard Wood, sternly. "Bid him come downand show us all parts of the ship at once."

  "Skipper may not come. He is busy," answered the seaman. "But I canshow thee. Thou wilt see all?"

  "Yea, all."

  Then the seaman very obligingly began to do as he was bid. There wasvery little to see in the close quarters; but he, being loquacious, wasa long time in showing it, and more than half an hour had elapsedbefore Richard Wood was thoroughly persuaded that there was nobodysecreted on board. And all this time, in his eagerness, he had notnoticed that the ship was moving. He now turned to the companionway.

  "What motion is this?" he asked, turning pale. "Hath the ship goneadrift from her moorings?"

  "Nay," answered the seaman; "the ship is not gone adrift."

  Laying fast hold on the rail, the spy managed to climb up to the deck.He looked about him, but no row-boat was alongside. He then turned tothe skipper.

  "Surely we be gone adrift from our moorings," he said.

  "Nay," answered the skipper, calmly. "I did forbid thee to come aboard,but thou wouldst come. Now are we under sail."