CHAPTER VIII.
LORD HEREWARD GOES TO GET HIS OWN.
In no time had there been at the house of Ely so great and glorious afestival of the Nativity as that holden in the year of Grace onethousand and seventy, the day after the return of the Saxon commanderHereward, Lord of Brunn. Learned brothers of the house have writtenupon it, and even to this day the monks of Ely talk about it. On theday next after the feast, several hours before sunrise, the mariners inthe unloaded bark were getting all ready to drop down the Ouse to thegood town of Lynn, and Lord Hereward was communing with the AbbatThurstan, the Abbat of Crowland, and the Prior of Spalding, in my LordAbbat's bedchamber. The rest of the prelates and lay lords weresleeping soundly in their several apartments, having taken their leaveof Hereward in a full carouse the night before. Many things had beensettled touching correspondence or communication, and a generalco-operation and union of all the Saxons in the Camp of Refuge and allthat dwelt in the fen country, whether in the isle of Ely, or in theisle of Thorney, or in Lindsey, or in Holland, or in other parts. Freshassurances were given that the chiefs and fighting men would allacknowledge Hereward as their supreme commander, undertaking nothingbut at his bidding, and looking to none but him for their orders andinstructions. Abbat Thurstan agreed to keep the score of men that hadbeen brought up to Ely in the bark, but he demurred about receiving andentertaining, as the commander of these men, the dark stranger with thehooked nose and sharp eye. Hereward said that the stranger was a manremarkably skilled in the science of war, and in the art of defendingplaces. Thurstan asked whether he were sure that he was not a spy ofthe Normans, or one that would sell himself to the Normans for gold?Then the Lord of Brunn told what he knew, or that which he had beentold, concerning the dark stranger. He was from Italie, from a regionnot very far removed from Rome and the patrimony of Saint Peter; fromthe name of his town he was hight[118] Girolamo of Salerno. His countryhas been all invaded, and devastated, and conquered by Norman tribes,from the same evil hive which had sent these depredators into merryEngland to make it a land of woe. Robert Guiscard, one of twelvebrothers that were all conquerors and spoilers, had driven Girolamofrom his home and had seized upon his houses and lands, and had abusedthe tombs of his ancestors, even as the followers of William theBastard were now doing foul things with the graves of our forefathers.After enduring wounds, and bonds, and chains, Girolamo of Salerno hadfled from his native land for ever, leaving all that was his in thehands of the Normans, and had gone over into Sicilie to seek a new homeand settlement among strangers. But the Normans, who thought they hadnever robbed enough so long as there were more countries before themwhich they could rob and conquer, crossed the sea into Sicilie[119]under Roger Guiscard, the brother of Robert, and made prey of all thatfair island seven years before the son of the harlot of Falaise crossedthe Channel and came into England. Now Girolamo of Salerno had vowedupon the relics of all the saints that were in the mother-church ofSalerno, that he would never live under the Norman tyranny; and sundryof the Norman chiefs that went over with Roger Guiscard to Palermo hadvowed upon the crosses of their swords that they would hang him as adangerous man if they could but catch him. So Girolamo shook the dustof Sicilie and Mongibel[120] from his feet, and, crossing the seasagain, went into Grecia. But go where he would, those incarnate devilsthe Normans would be after him! He had not long lived in Grecia ereRobert Guiscard came over from Otrantum and Brundisium, to spoil theland and occupy it; therefore Girolamo fled again, cursing the Normanlance. He had wandered long and far in the countries of the Orient: hehad visited the land of Egypt, he had been in Palestine, in Jerusalem,in Bethlehem; he had stood and prayed on the spot where our Lord wasborn, and on the spot where He was crucified; but, wearying of hissojourn among Saracens, he had come back to the Christian west to seeif he could find some home where the hated Normans could not penetrate,or where dwelt some brave Christian people that were hopeful offighting against those oppressors. He was roaming over the earth inquest of enemies to the Normans when Hereward met him, two years ago,in Flanders, and took his hand in his as a sworn foe to all men of thatrace. Was, then, Girolamo of Salerno a likely man to be a spy or fautorto the Normans in England? Thurstan acknowledged that he was not."But," said he, "some men are so prone to suspicion that they suspecteverybody and everything that is near to them; and some men, nay, evensome monks and brothers of this very house, are so envious of my stateand such foes to my peace of mind, that whenever they see me more happyand fuller of hope than common, they vamp me up some story or conjuresome spectrum to disquiet me and sadden me! Now, what said our priorand cellarer no later than last night? They said, in the hearing ofmany of this house, inexpert novices as well as cloister-monks, thatthe dark stranger must be either an unbelieving Jew or a necromancer;that when, at grand mass, the host was elevated in the church, he shotglances of fire at it from his sharp eyes; and that when the servicewas over they found him standing behind the high altar muttering whatsounded very like an incantation, in a tongue very like unto the Latin."
Hereward smiled and said, "Assuredly he was but saying a prayer in hisown tongue. My Lord Abbat, this Girolamo of Salerno, hath livedconstantly with me for the term of two years, and I will warrant him astrue a believer as any man in broad England. He is a man of manysorrows, and no doubt of many sins; but as for his faith!--why he is aliving and walking history of all the saints and martyrs of the church,and of every miraculous image of Our Ladie that was ever found uponearth. His troubles and his crosses, and his being unable to speak ourtongue, or to comprehend what is said around him, may make him lookmoody and wild, and very strange: and I am told that in the country ofhis birth most men have coal-black hair and dark flashing eyes; butthat in Salerno there be no Israelites allowed, and no necromancers orwarlocks or witches whatsoever; albeit, the walnut-tree of Beneventum,where the witches are said to hold their sabbat, be not very manyleagues distant. In truth, my good Lord Abbat, it was but to serve youand to serve your friends and retainers, that I proposed he should stayfor a season where he is; for I have seen such good proofs of his skillin the stratagems of war, and have been promised by him so much aid andassistance in the enterprises I am going to commence, that I would fainhave him with me. I only thought that if he stayed a while here inquiet, he might learn to speak our tongue; and that if during myabsence the Normans should make any attempt from the side of Cam-Bridgeupon this blessed shrine of Saint Etheldreda, he might, by hissurpassing skill and knowledge of arms, be of use to your lordship andthe good brothers."
"These are good motives," said Thurstan, "and do honour to thee, myson. It is not in my wont to bid any stranger away from the house....But--but this stranger doth look so very strange and wild, that I wouldrather he were away. Even our sub-sacrist, who hath not the same natureas the prior and cellarer, saith that all our flaxen-headed novices inthe convent are afraid of that thin dark man, and that they saywhenever the stranger's large black eye catches theirs they cannotwithdraw their eyes until he turns away from them. I think, my LordHereward, the stranger may learn our tongue in thy camp. I believe thatthe Normans will not try on this side now that the waters are all out,and our rivers and ditches so deep; and if they do we can give a goodaccount of them--and I really do think that thou wilt more need than wethis knowing man's services:--what say ye, my brother of Crowland?"
The Abbat of Crowland was wholly of the opinion of the Abbat of Ely,and so likewise was the Prior of Spalding. It was therefore agreed thatGirolamo of Salerno should accompany the young Lord of Brunn.
"But" said Hereward, "in proposing to leave you this strange man fromItalie, I thought of taking from you, for yet another while, that Saxonwight Elfric, seeing that he knoweth all this fen country better thanany man in my train; and that, while I am going round by the river andthe Wash, I would fain despatch, by way of the fens, a skilled andtrustful messenger in the direction of Ey...."
"To salute the Ladie Alftrude, and to tell her that thou art
come,"said the Abbat of Crowland.
"Even so," quoth Hereward; "and to tell her moreover to look well toher manor-house, and to let her people know that I am come, and thatthey ought to come and join me at the proper time."
"It is clear," said the Prior of Spalding, "that none can do thismission an it be not Elfric, who knoweth the goings and comings aboutthe house at Ey...."
"Aye, and the maid-servant that dwelleth within the gates," quoth theAbbat of Crowland.
The Prior of Spalding laughed, and eke my Lord Abbat of Ely; and whenhe had done his laugh, Thurstan said "This is well said, and wellminded; and as we seem to be all agreed that, upon variousconsiderations, it would be better to unfrock the young man at once,let us call up Elfric, and release him from his slight obligations, andgive him to Lord Hereward to do with him what he list. What say ye mybrothers?"
The two dignified monks said "yea;" and Elfric being summoned was toldthat henceforth he was Lord Hereward's man, and that he might doff hiscucullis,[121] and let his brown locks grow on his tonsure as fast asthey could grow.
The monk that sleeps in his horse-hair camise,[122] and that hasnothing to put on when he rises but his hose and his cloak, is not longa-dressing; yet in less time than ever monk attired himself, Elfric puton the soldier garb that he had worn while abroad. And then, havingreceived from Hereward a signet-ring and other tokens, and a longmessage for the Ladie Alftrude, together with instructions how he wasto proceed after he had seen her; and having bidden a dutiful farewelland given his thanks to the Prior of Spalding and to the two abbats,and having gotten the blessing of all three, Elfric girded a good swordto his loins, took his fen-staff in his hand, and went down to thewater-gate to get a light skerry, for the country was now like onegreat lake, and the journey to Ey must be mostly made by boat.
It was now nigh upon day-dawn. The Lord Abbat and a few othersaccompanied the Lord of Brunn to the pier, and saw him on board: thenthe mariners let go their last mooring, and the bark began to glidedown the river.
Before the light of this winter day ended, Hereward was well up theWelland, and the whole of his flotilla was anchored in that river notfar from Spalding, behind a thick wood of willows and alders, whichsufficed even in the leafless season to screen the barks from the viewof the Norman monks in the succursal cell.
As soon as it was dark, Hereward the liberator took one score and tenarmed men into the lightest of the barks, and silently and cautiouslyascended the river until he came close to the walls of the convent. Thecaution was scarcely needed, for the Normans, albeit they were everreproaching the Saxons with gluttony and drunkenness, were feasting anddrinking at an immoderate rate, and had taken no care to set a watch.Brightly the light of a great wood fire and of many torches shonethrough the windows of the hall as Hereward landed with his brave menand surrounded the house, while the mariners were taken good care ofthe ferry-boat.
"If these men were in their own house," said Hereward, "it is not Ithat would disturb their mirth on such a night; but as they are in thehouse of other men, we must even pull them forth by the ears. So! wherebe the ladders?"
A strong ladder brought from the bark was laid across the moat, and tenarmed men passed one by one over this ladder to the opposite side ofthe moat. The well-armed men were led by the brother of Wybert thewright, and by another of the men who had fled from Spalding town onthat wicked night when Ivo Taille-Bois broke into the house. Now thesetwo men of Spalding well knew the strong parts and the weak parts ofthe cell--as well they might, for they had ofttimes helped to repairthe woodwork and the roof of the building. Having drawn the strongladder after them to the narrow ledge of masonry on which they hadlanded, they raised it against the wall, and while some steadied it,first one armed man and then another climbed up by the ladder to thetop of the stone and brick part of the walls. Then the brother ofWybert climbing still higher, by clutching the beams and the roughtimber got to the house-top, and presently told those below in awhisper that all was right, that the door at the head of the spiralstaircase was unfastened and wide open.
In a very short time ten armed men and the two hinds from Spalding townwere safe on the roof; and the brother of Wybert said, "Now Saxons!"and as he heard the signal, Lord Hereward said, "Now Saxons, yourhorns!" And three stout Saxons, well skilled in the art ofnoise-making, put each his horn to his mouth and sounded a challenge,as loud as they could blow. Startled and wrathful, but not muchalarmed, was the intrusive prior from Angers when he heard this noise,and bade his Angevin sacrist go to the window, and see what the Saxonslaves wanted at this time of night with their rascaille cow-horns! Butwhen the sacrist reported that he saw a great bark lying in the river,and many armed men standing at the edge of the moat (in the darknessthe sacrist took sundry stumps of willow-trees for warriors), the manof Angers became alarmed, and all Ivo Taille-Bois' kindred becamealarmed, and quitting the blazing fire and their good wine, they allran to the windows of the hall to see what was toward. As they were aruleless, lawless, unconsecrated rabble, who knew not what was meant bymonastic discipline, and respect, and obedience, they all talked andshouted together, and shouted and talked so loud and so fast that itwas impossible for any Christian man to be heard in answer to them. Butat length the pseudo-prior silenced the gabble for a minute, and said,"Saxons, who are you, and what do you want at this hour, disturbing therepose of holy men at a holy season?"
Even this was said in Norman-French, which no man understood or couldspeak, except Hereward and the dark stranger who had attended himhither. But the Lord of Brunn gave out in good round French, "We areSaxons true, and true men to King Harold, and we be come to pull youout of this good nest which ye have defiled too long!"
"Get ye gone, traitors and slaves!" cried the false prior from Angers;"ye cannot cross our moat nor force our gates, and fifty Norman lancesare lying hard by."
"False monk, we will see," quoth the Lord of Brunn. "Now, Saxons, yourblast-horns again; blow ye our second signal!"
The hornmen blew might and main; and before their last blast had ceasedechoing from an angle of the walls, another horn was heard blowinginside the house, and then was heard a rushing and stamping of heavyfeet, and a clanging of swords in the hall, and a voice roaring, "Letme cleave the skull of two of these shavelings for the sake of Wybertthe wright!"
"Thou art cold and shivering, Girolamo," said Hereward; "but step outof that quagmire where thou art standing, and follow me. We willpresently warm ourselves at the fireside of these Frenchmen." Girolamofollowed the Lord of Brunn to the front of the house; and they werescarcely there ere the drawbridge was down, and the gate thrown open.
"Well done, Ralph of Spalding," said Hereward, who rushed into thehouse followed by the score of armed men. But those who had descendedfrom above by the spiral staircase had left nothing to be done by thosewho ascended from below. The false prior and all his false fraternityhad been seized, and had been bound with their own girdles, and had allbeen thrown in a corner, where they all lay sprawling the one on thetop of the other, and screaming and begging for Misericorde. Thebrother of Wybert the wright had given a bloody coxcomb to the prior,and one of Hereward's soldiers had slit the nose of a French monk thathad aimed at him with a pike; but otherwise little blood had been shed,and no great harm done, save that all the stoups of wine and all thewine-cups had been upset in the scuffle. The brother of Wybert beggedas a favour that he might be allowed to cut the throats of two of thefalse monks; but the Lord of Brunn, so fierce in battle, was ayemerciful in the hour of victory, and never would allow the slaying ofprisoners, and so he told the good man of Spalding town that the monksmust not be slain; but that, before he had done with them, they shouldbe made to pay the price of his brother's blood; nay, three times theprice that the Saxon laws put upon the life of a man of Wybert's degree.
"I would give up that bot for a little of their blood!" said Wybert'sbrother. But, nevertheless, he was obliged to rest satisfied; for whoshould dare gainsay the young Lord of Brunn?
Girolamo
of Salerno, who understood nought of the debate betweenHereward and the brother of Wybert, thought that the intrusive monksought to be put into sacks and thrown into the river, inasmuch as thatthe Normans, when they conquered Salerno, threw a score of good monksof that town and vicinity into the sea; but when he delivered thisthought unto the Lord Hereward, that bold-hearted and kind-heartedSaxon said that it was not the right way to correct cruelties bycommitting cruelties, and that it was not in the true English nature tobe prone to revenge. All this while, and a little longer, the falsealien monks, with their hands tied behind them, lay sprawling andcrying Misericorde: howbeit, when they saw and understood that deathwas not intended, they plucked up their courage and began to complainand reprove.
"This is a foul deed," said one of them, "a very foul deed, to disturband break in upon, and smite with the edge of the sword, the servantsof the Lord."
"Not half so foul a deed," quoth Hereward, "as that done by IvoTaille-Bois, the cousin of ye all, and the man who put ye here, andthrust out the Saxon brotherhood at the dead of night, slaying theircook. Ye may or may not have been servants of the Lord in the countriesfrom which ye came, but here are ye nought but intruders and usurpers,and the devourers of better men's goods."
Here the prior from Angers spoke from the heap in the corner, and said,"For this night's work thou wilt be answerable unto the king."
"That will I," quoth the Lord of Brunn, "when bold King Harold returns."
"I will excommunicate thee and thy fautors," said the intrusive prior.
"Thou hadst better not attempt it," said Hereward, "for among my merrymen be some that know enough of church Latin to make out the differencebetween a Maledicite and a Benedicite; and I might find it difficult toprevent their cutting your weazens."[123]
"Yet would I do it by bell, book and candle, if I could get the belland candle, and read the book," said the intrusive prior.
"Thou hadst better not attempt it," said two or three voices from theheap; but another voice, which seemed buried under stout bodies andhabits and hoods, said, "There is no danger, for our prior cannot read,and never had memory enough to say by heart more Latin than lies in aCredo. Beshrew you, brothers all, bespeak these Saxons gently, so thatthey may give us leave to go back into Normandie. If I had bethought methat I was to play the monk in this fashion, Ivo Taille-Bois shouldnever have brought me from the plough-tail!"
When the Lord of Brunn and Girolamo of Salerno had done laughing, theLord Hereward said, "Let this goodly hall be cleared of this foulrubbish. Girolamo, see these intruders carried on board the bark andthrown into the hold. We will send them to my Lord Abbat at Ely, thatthey may be kept as hostages. But tell the shipmen not to hurt a hairof their heads."
When the alien monks understood that they must go, they clamoured abouttheir goods and properties. This made Hereward wroth, and he said,"When ye thrust out the good English monks, ye gave them nought!Nevertheless I will give ye all that ye brought with ye."
Here the voice that had spoken before from under the heap said, "We allknow we brought nothing with us--no, not so much as the gear we wear!Therefore let us claim nothing, but hasten to be gone, and so hope toget back the sooner into Normandie."
But the prior and the sacrist and divers others continued to make agreat outcry about their goods, their holy-books, their altar vases,their beds and their bed-clothes; and as this moved Lord Hereward'sire, he said to his merry men that they must turn them out; and themerry men all did turn them out by pulling them before and kicking thembehind: and in this manner the unlettered and unholy crew that IvoTaille-Bois had thrust into the succursal cell of Spalding were luggedand driven on shipboard, and there they were made fast under thehatches. As soon as they were all cleared out of the convent, LordHereward bade his Saxons put more fuel on the fire, and bring up morewine, and likewise see what might be in the buttery. The brother ofWybert the wright knew the way well both to cellar and buttery; andfinding both well filled, he soon re-appeared with wine and viandsenough. And so Hereward and his men warmed themselves by the blazingfire, and ate and drank most merrily and abundantly: and when all hadtheir fill, and all had drunk a deep health to Hereward the liberator,they went into the monk's snug cells, and so fast to sleep.
On the morrow morning they rose betimes. So featly had the thing beendone over night, that none knew it but those who had been present. Thegood folk that yet remained in Spalding town, though so close at hand,had heard nothing of the matter. Hereward now summoned them to thehouse; but having his reasons for wishing not to be known at thispresent, he deputed one of his men to hold a conference with them, andto tell the few good men of Spalding that the hour of deliverance wasat hand, that their false monks had been driven away, and that FatherAdhelm and their true monks would soon return: whereat the Spaldingfolk heartily rejoiced. In the present state of the road, or rather ofthe waters, there was no fear of any Norman force approaching thesuccursal cell. Therefore Lord Hereward ordered that much of hismunition of war should be landed and deposited in the convent: andleaving therein all his armed men with Girolamo of Salerno, he embarkedalone in the lightest of his barks, and went up the river as far as thepoint that was nearest to Brunn. There, leaving the bark and all thesailors, and taking with him nought but his sword and his fen-staff,and covering himself with an old and tattered seaman's coat, he landedand struck across the fens, and walked, waded, leaped, and swam, untilhe came within sight of his own old manor-house and the little townshipof Brunn.[124] It was eventide, and the blue smoke was rising from themanor-house and from the town, as peacefully as in the most peacefuldays. Hereward stopped and looked upon the tranquil scene, as he haddone so many times before at the same hour in the days of his youth,when returning homeward from some visit, or from some fowling in thefens; and as he looked, all that had since passed became as a dream;and then he whistled and stepped gaily forward, as if his father'shouse was still his own house,[125] and his father there to meet andbless him. But, alack! his father was six feet under the sod of thechurchyard, and a fierce Norman was in the house, with manymen-at-arms. Awakening from his evening dream, and feeling that theinvasion of England was no dream--the bloody battle of Hastings nodream--the death of his father no dream--and that it was a sad realitythat he was a dispossessed man, barred out by force and by fraud fromhis own, the young Lord of Brunn avoided the direct path to themanor-house, and struck into a narrow sloppy lane which led into thetownship. As he came among the low houses, or huts, the good peoplewhere beginning to bar their doors for the night. "They will open,"said Hereward, "when they know who is come among them!" He madestraight for the abode of one who had been his foster brother; and hesaid as he entered it, "Be there true Saxon folk in the house?"
"Yea," said the man of the house.
"Then wilt thou not be sorry to see Hereward the Saxon and thyfoster-brother;" and so saying he unmuffled himself and threw off hisdirty ship cloak; and his foster brother fell at his feet, and kissedhis hand, and hugged his knee, and said, "Is it even my young LordHereward?" and so wept for joy.
"It is even I," said the young Lord of Brunn; "it is even I come backto get mine own, and to get back for every honest man his own. Buthonest men must up and help. Will the honest folk of Brunn strike ablow for Hereward and for themselves? Will the town-people, and my kithand kindred and friends in the old days, receive and acknowledge me?"
It was the wife of the foster-brother that was now kneeling andclasping Hereward's knee, and that said, "The women of Brunn wouldbrand every catiff in the township that did not throw up his cap andrejoice, and take his bill-hook and bow in his hand for the young Lordof Brunn!"
Every one of the notables was summoned presently; and they allrecognised Hereward as their true lord and leader, vowing at the sametime that they would follow him into battle against the Normans, and dohis bidding whatever it might be. Many were the times that Hereward wasforced to put his finger upon his lip to recommend silence; for theyall wanted to hail his return with hearty Saxon shouts,
and he wantedto avoid rousing the Normans in the manor-house for the present. Thewelcome he received left him no room to doubt of the entire affectionand devotion of the town-folk; and the intelligence he gleaned was moresatisfactory than he had anticipated. Raoul, a Norman knight, and, nextto Ivo Taille-Bois, the most powerful and diabolical of all the Normansin or near to the fen-country, held the manor-house, and levied duesand fees in the township; but many of those who dwelt in theneighbourhood, and who had held their lands under the last quiet oldLord of Brunn, had never submitted to the intruder, nor had Raoul andhis men-at-arms been able to get at them in their islands among thefens and deep waters. There was John of the Bogs, who had kept hishouse and gear untouched, and who could muster a score or twain oflusty hinds, well armed with pikes and bill-hooks and bows; there wasRalph of the Dyke, the chamberlain of the last Lord of Brunn, who hadbeaten off Raoul and his men-at-arms in a dozen encounters; there wereother men, little less powerful than these two, who would be up anddoing if Lord Hereward would only show himself, or only raise hislittle finger. The manor-house was well fortified and garrisoned; butwhat of that? For Lord Hereward it should be stormed and taken, thoughit should cost a score or twain of lives. Here the young Lord of Brunntold them that he hoped to get back his house without wasting a singledrop of the blood of any of them, inasmuch as he had practised men ofwar not far from hand, together with engines of war proper for sieges.He bade them spread far and near the news of his return: he begged themto do this cautiously, and to remain quiet until he should come backamong them; in the meanwhile they might be making such preparations forwar as their means allowed. To-morrow night it would be the full ofmoon; and as soon as the good town-folk should see the moon rising overElsey Wood[126] they might expect him and his force. And now he musttake a short repast and a little sleep, so as to be able to commencehis return to the Welland river before midnight.
Long before midnight Hereward was on his way; but he travelled withmuch more ease than he had done in coming to Brunn, for hisfoster-brother and two other trusty men carried him in a boat thegreater part of the way.
Being again at Spalding, the approaches to which had been curiouslystrengthened, during his short absence, by Girolamo of Salerno,Hereward sent off one of the barks for Ely to convey the news of hisfirst success and the prisoners he had made to the Lord Abbat, and tobring back the good prior of Spalding to his own cell; he left one barkmoored below Spalding to watch the lower part of the river, and preventany but friendly boats from ascending (there was little danger of anyNorman coming this way; but a good commander like the Lord of Brunnleaves nothing to chance, and neglects no precaution); and with thethree other barks and Girolamo and twenty of his armed men he began tomove up the river on the following morning. Ten men were left to holdthe succursal cell, and protect the township of Spalding; and all suchwar-stores as were not immediately required were left in the convent.The three barks were to be moored near to the point of debarkation, soas to prevent any communication between Crowland and Spalding, it beingvery expedient to keep the intrusive monks at Crowland ignorant of whathad passed and what was passing. True, these unholy Norman friars werefeasting and keeping their Christmas, and were little likely to moveout at such a season, or to take heed of anything that was happeningbeyond the walls of their own house: but Hereward, as we have said,neglected no precaution; and therefore it was that the Lord of Brunnwas ever successful in war. When he and his troops landed at the bendof the river that was nearest to Brunn, it was made visible to all, andnot without manifest astonishment, that Girolamo of Salerno could domany wondrous things. Under his direction light and shallow skerries,and boats made of wicker-work, and lined with skins, had been prepared;and while these were capable of carrying men and stores across thedeeper streams that lay between the bend of the Welland and the town ofBrunn, they were so light that they could easily be carried on themen's shoulders. A catapult and another engine which Hereward hadpurchased in Flanders were taken to pieces in order to be carried inthese boats and skerries; the more precious parts of the munition ofwar which Girolamo had made with his own hands before embarking forEngland were most carefully wrapped up in many cloths and skins, sothat even in that wettest of countries they could not be wetted. Therewas one small package, a very small package was it, of which the darkstranger took especial care, carrying it himself, and telling Herewardthat with its contents he could open the gates of the strongest ofhouses.
Notwithstanding the weight of their arms, and of the other burdens theyhad to bear from one stream or mere to another, the whole party pushedsteadily forward across the more than half-inundated fens; and althoughsome of the men, not being native fen-men, were not practised in suchtravelling, and although some of them could not swim, they all reachedin safety a broad dry dyke[127] near to the back of the township ofBrunn a good hour before the full moon began to rise over Elsey-Wood.Having seen everything safely landed, Hereward walked alone into thetown, going straight to the house of his foster-brother. But before hegot into the rambling street he was accosted by three tall Saxons, whosaid, "Is it our Lord Hereward?"
"Yea; and are ye ready to be stirring? Have ye collected a few true menthat will strike a blow for the houseless Lord of Brunn?"
"Thou shalt see, my Lord," said one of the three, who was no less a manthan John of the Bogs, and clapping his hands thrice, three score andmore Saxons armed with bows and bills, and some of them with swords andbattle-axes, started forth from behind so many alders and willow-trees;and at that moment the broad full moon showed her bright, full faceover the bare trees of Elsey-Wood. The men had been well taught, and sothey did not rend the air with a shout which might have startled theNormans in the manor-house; but every man of them, whether freeman orserf, knelt at Lord Hereward's feet, and kissed his hand.
The score of armed men and all that had been brought with them fromSpalding were soon carried into town. A supper was all ready, andsmoking on the table of Lord Hereward's foster-brother. Every man waswelcomed as one amongst brethren, albeit these simple-minded men ofBrunn started and looked askance when they saw the dark stranger withthe hooked nose and fiery eyes; and much they marvelled all when theyheard the young Lord of Brunn talking with this stranger in an unknowntongue.
"Wouldst thou have possession of thine house to-night or to-morrowmorning?" said Girolamo. "At the hazard of burning a part of it I couldgain thee admittance in less then half an hour by means of my Greekfire."
"I would not have a plank of the dear old place burned," said Hereward."I would rather delay my entrance till the morning."
"Then this must be a busy night," replied the dark man.
And a busy night it was; for lo! in the morning, when Raoul the Normanknight awoke from the deep sleep which had followed his heavyovernight's carouse, and looked forth from his chamber in the towerover the gateway of the manor-house, he saw what seemed another and ataller tower on the opposite side of the moat; and what seemed a bridgeof boats laid across the moat; and in the tower were archers with theirbows bent, and men-at-arms with swords and battle-axes. Raoul rubbedhis eyes, and still seeing the same sight, thought it all magic or adream. But there was more magic than this, for when he called up hissleepy household, and his careless and over-confident men-at-arms, andwent round the house, he saw another bridge of boats leading to thepostern-gate at the back of the house, and beyond that bridge he saw acatapult with a score of armed men standing by it. But look where hewould, there were armed men; the manor-house was surrounded, andsurrounded in such fashion that there could be no egress from it, andsmall hope of defending it. The despairing Norman knight, therefore,went back to his tower over the gateway, and called a parley.
"What would ye, O Saxons?" said Raoul; "know ye not that ye arebreaking the king's peace? Who is your leader, and what wants he?"
"I am their leader and lord," quoth Hereward, speaking from thatmarvellous wooden tower which Girolamo had caused to be raised; "I amtheir leader and the Lord of Brunn, and all that I want is to get
possession of my house and lands. So come forth, Norman, and fear not!Thou and thy men shall have quarter and kindly treatment. But if yeseek to resist, or let fly so much as one arrow upon these my goodpeople, by all the saints of old England I will hang ye all on onegibbet."
"What shall we do in this strait?" said Raoul to his seneschal.
"Take terms and surrender," quoth the seneschal; "for the house cannotbe defended against the host that is come against it, and against theengines of war that are raised against it. Three butts of that catapultwould shiver the postern gate; that tower in front commands thebattlements; the bridges of boats will give access to every part of thewalls. This could not be done in one short night, except by magic; butmagic is not to be withstood by sinful men-at-arms, and our chaplain isgone to feast with the monks of Crowland. Moreover, oh Raoul, we haveconsumed nearly all our provisions in our own feastings, and so shouldstarve in a day or two if we could hold out so long--but that isimpossible."
"But," said Raoul, "be there not some twenty or thirty Norman lances nofarther off than in the town of Stamford?"[128]
"But they cannot cross the wide watery fens; and if they were here theycould not charge among these accursed bogs."
"'Tis all too true," quoth Raoul, "and therefore must we surrender."
The Norman knight spoke again to Hereward, who stood on the tower,looking like the good soldier and great lord that he was; and Raoulbargained to give immediate admittance to the Saxons, if the Saxonswould only grant life and liberty to him and his garrison, withpermission to carry off such arms and property as were their own.
"Life and security of limb ye shall have," said Hereward, "and libertyye shall have likewise when good King Harold comes back and peace isrestored; but, in the meantime, I must have ye kept as hostages, andsent to Ely to do penance for your sins: your arms must remain with uswho want them; but an ye brought any other property with ye beyond theclothes on your backs, it shall be restored upon your solemn oaths thatye did not get it by robbery here in England!"
"These are harsh terms," muttered Raoul; "but, Saxon, thou art noknight."
"I soon shall be one," quoth Hereward; "but that is nought to thee. Socome out of mine house, and save me the trouble of hanging thee. Comeout, I say, ye Norman thieves, and give me up mine own!"
And Raoul, seeing nothing better for it, pulled down a flag which sometoo confident wight had raised over the battlements; and the drawbridgebeing let down, and the front gate opened, he and all his Normans cameforth and laid down their armour and their arms at the feet of Herewardthe Saxon.
Even thus did the young Lord of Brunn get his own again.
The Camp of Refuge: A Tale of the Conquest of the Isle of Ely Page 10
