A Gentleman Player; His Adventures on a Secret Mission for Queen Elizabeth
Page 20
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE HORSEMEN ARRIVE.
"'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain ofit!"--_Henry V._
There was a rapid, heavy tread in the passage without. Marryott hastilyrose from his kneeling posture, turned, and took a step toward the door.Kit Bottle entered.
"All's ready for going, sir," said the captain.
"We shall not go," said Marryott, quietly, with as much composure as hecould command. "We shall stay here the rest of the night; I know not howmuch longer."
"Stay here?" muttered Kit, staring at Marryott, with amazed eyes.
"Ay. Let Anthony take the horses back to stable. And--" Marryott feltthat so unaccountable a change of plan required some further orders, asif there were a politic reason behind it; moreover. Kit's astonishedlook seemed to call for them. So, begotten of Hal's embarrassment in thegaze of his lieutenant, came a thought, and in its train a hope. "Andthen we'll make this house ready for a siege," he added. "Go below;send hither the boy Francis, and Tom Cobble, and let all the othersawait my commands in the hall."
Kit disappeared. He saw Marryott's plan as soon as it had taken shape.The word "siege" was key sufficient for the captain. Ten days were to begained for Sir Valentine. Four were past. Four more would be requiredfor a return to Fleetwood house in this weather and over snowboundroads. Two days thus remained to be consumed. If Foxby Hall could beheld for two days against probable attempts of Roger Barnet to enter it,and without his discovering Hal's trick, the mission would beaccomplished.
But after that, what of the lives of Master Marryott and his men? It wasnot yet time to face that question. The immediate problem was, to gainthe two days.
Mistress Hazlehurst, who believed Marryott to be the real Fleetwood, andknew nothing of the matter of the ten days, saw in this prospectivesiege the certainty of the supposed knight's eventual capture; saw, thatis to say, the accomplishment of the vengeful purpose for which she hadbeset his flight. She lay motionless on her improvised couch, herfeelings locked within her.
"And now, mistress," said Marryott, turning to her, and speaking in alow voice, "what may be done for thy comfort? I have no skill to dealwith ailments. It may be that one of the men below--"
"Nay," she answered, drowsily; "there is naught can do me any good butrest. My ailment is, that my body is wearied to the edge of death. Theone cure is sleep."
"Shall I support thee to thy bed?"
"An thou wilt."
When he had borne her into her chamber, and laid her on the bed, sheappeared to sink at once into that repose whence she might renew herwaned vitality. He gazed for a moment upon her face, daring not todisturb her tranquillity with another caress. Hearing steps approachingin the passage beyond the outer room, he went softly from the chamberand met Francis and Tom.
"Your mistress sleeps," said he to the page. "Leave her door ajar, thatyou may hear if she be ailing or in want of aught. Go not for an instantout of hearing of her; and if there be need, let Tom bring word to me inthe hall."
He then hurried down to where the men were assembled with Kit Bottle.The fire had been replenished, and some torches lighted. Marryott,seeing that Anthony and Bunch were still absent with the horses, awaitedtheir return before addressing his company. In this interim, he strodeup and down before the fire, forming in his mind the speech he wouldmake. When the two came in, and had barred the door after them, Marryottsaid:
"My stout fellows, four miles yonder, or maybe less now, are a score ofhorsemen. Most like, they are either Master Rumney and a reinforcedgang, or a pursuivant's troop from London with a warrant to arrest me.An it be Rumney, hounding us for revenge and other purposes, we can bestoffset his odds by fighting him from this house; and he must in the endgive up and depart, lest the tumult bring sheriff's men upon him whenthe weather betters. But if it be the pursuivant, he will persist tillhe take me or starve me out, an I do not some way contrive to give himthe slip. Now if he take you aiding me, 'tis like to bring ropes aboutyour necks forthwith! So I give you, this moment, opportunity of leavingme; knowing well there is not one so vile among you to use this libertyin bearing information of me to shire officers,--which indeed they wouldfind pretext for ignoring, in such weather for staying indoors. Standforth, therefore, ye that wish to go hence; for once we fortify thehouse, none may leave it without my order, on pain of pistol-shot."
Whether from attachment to Marryott, or fear of falling into Rumney'shands, or a sense of present comfort and security in this stout mansion,every man stood motionless.
"Brave hearts, I thank you!" cried Marryott, after sufficient pause."And mayhap I can save you, though I be taken myself. But now for swiftwork! Captain Bottle, an there be any loose timber about, let Olivershow it you, and let the men bear it into the house. If there be nonesuch, take what fire-logs there be, and cut timbers from the outhouseswith what tools ye may come upon. With these, and with chests and such,ye will brace and bar the doors and all windows within reach of men uponthe ground. As soon as Oliver has shown where timber may be found, lethim point out all such openings to Captain Bottle. And meanwhile, tilltimber is here collected, I and the captain will begin the barricadingwith furniture. As the timbers are brought in, we shall use them, andwhen enough be fetched, every man shall join us in the fortifying."
"There be posts and beams, piled 'neath a pentice-roof by the stables;and fire-wood a-plenty," said Oliver Bunch.
"Good! And which door is best to carry it in through?"
"There is an old door from the kitchen wing to the stables; 'tis keptever bolted and barred."
"Unbolt and unbar it, then! And make fast, instead, the outer stabledoors, when ye have brought in the timber. Thus we may secure thehorses,--which may now rest unsaddled; for here we must abide two days,at least. To it now, my staunch knaves! And leave all your weapons onthese settles, and your powder and ball, that I may see how we areprovided for this siege. I thank God for this storm, Kit; it must limitour besiegers to the enemies we wot of. No lazy rustics will poke noseinto the business while such weather endures."
Leaving the wounded to rely solely upon repose, the men set about doingas they were ordered. Marryott and Kit took account of the weapons andammunition. There were, besides the swords and daggers, a number ofpistols, two arquebuses, a musket, and a petronel. Of these firearms,the pistols alone had wheel-locks, which indeed were still so costlythat as yet they were to be found mainly in weapons for use onhorseback, the longer arms, for service afoot, being fitted with theawkward and slow-working match-locks. There was good store ofammunition.[29]
Marryott and the captain thereupon threw off their doublets, and beganbarricading, starting at the main door, and using first the chests,trestles, and like material found in the adjacent rooms. When the longand thin pieces of timber began to come in upon the shoulders of themen, Hal caused them to be pointed at one end, that they might be usedas braces, the blunt ends placed against doors and shutters, the sharpends sunk into notches made in the floor. Pieces of various size andshape were utilized to bar, brace, or block up doors and windows indiverse ways. Narrow openings were left at some windows, through which,upon making corresponding openings in the glass, men might fire out atany one attempting to force entrance.
When the defences in the house were well begun. Hal sent Kit tosuperintend those of the stable, which, as has been shown, communicateddirectly with a wing of the mansion.
These occupations kept Marryott and his men busy for several hours. Whenthey were completed, and Foxby Hall seemed closed tight against theingress of a regiment, Hal, previously drained of strength by his longterms of sleeplessness, was ready to drop. But he dragged himselfup-stairs to see how his prisoner fared.
Francis and Tom were asleep in the outer room. At Anne's half open doorMarryott could hear from within the chamber the regular breathing ofpeaceful slumber. He went down to the hall again, and found the men,with the exception of Anthony, stretched upon the stale rushes. ThePuritan was sitting by the fire.
"Come hither they will, 'tis sure," said Kit Bottle, from his place onthe floor, "if they be indeed Rumney's men or Barnet's. They will haveheard tell of this empty house ere they come to it, and they will stopto examine. Or, if they pass first without stopping, and find no note ofour going further north, they will come back with keen noses. When theyhear horses snorting and pawing in the stables,--horses stabled at anempty house, look you!--they'll make quick work of smelling us out!"
"Well, 'faith, we are ready for them," said Hal, and sank to a recliningattitude near the fire.
"Ay, in good sooth," said Kit; "fortified, armed, and vict--No, by thedevil's horns, victualled we are not!"
And the worthy soldier sprang to his feet, the picture of dismay.
"Go to!" cried Hal, rising almost as quickly. "Where are the provisionsAnthony brought yestreen?"
"In those bellies and mine, and a murrain on such appetites!" was Kit'sself-reproachful answer. "God's death, we're like to make up for a dealof Lent-breaking, these next two days!"
Hal became at once hungry, at the very prospect of a two days' completefast. He wondered how his men would endure it; and he thought of thelady up-stairs. Already languishing from sheer fatigue, must she nowfamish also?
"We must get a supply of food!" said Marryott, decidedly.
"Where?" queried the captain.
"Where we got yesterday's. Some one must go, at once!"
"I will go," said Anthony. "I know the way."
"Rouse the innkeeper, at any cost," replied Hal, handing out a goldpiece from the pocket of his hose.
"'Tis near dawn," returned the Puritan. "He will be up when I arrivethere."
"Keep an eye open for our enemies."
"If I find them surrounding you, when I return," replied the Puritan,calmly, "I will make a dash for one of the doors. By watching from anupper window, you may know when to open it for me."
"And when you are within, it can be barred again," said Hal. "Best makefor the same door by which you now go forth; 'twill save undoing morethan one of our barricades."
"Let it be the lesser stable door, then," suggested Captain Bottle, "ashe will go by horse. Moreover, if the enemy should force a way into thestables, there's yet the door betwixt the stables and the house, that wecould close against them."
The world was paling into a snowy dawn, as Anthony rode forth from thestable a few minutes later. Meanwhile, having aroused the useful Bunch,Hal had caused vessels to be filled with water from a well, and placedin a room off the hall. Kit then barred the stable door, but did notreplace the braces and obstructions that had been removed to allowegress. He then volunteered to watch, in an up-stairs chamber of thekitchen wing, for Anthony's return. Assenting to this offer, Marryottreturned to the hall, and lay down near Oliver, who was already asleep.
An hour later Hal was awakened by a call from Captain Bottle, who stoodat the head of the stairs.
"Is Anthony coming back?" Marryott asked, scrambling to his feet.
"He is not in sight yet," was the reply. "And you'd best send Oliver towatch in my place. I can be of better use otherwise, now."
"What mean'st thou?"
"The horsemen are without. From yon room I saw them riding around thehouse and staring up at the windows."
"Which party is it?" said Hal, quickly, repressing his excitement.
"Rumney's."
Hal's brow darkened a little. He would rather it had been Barnet's, forthen he should have been free of all doubt whether the pursuivant hadindeed clung to the false chase.
At that instant a loud thud was heard on the front door, as if a pieceof timber were being used as a battering-ram.
"You are right; I will send Oliver to watch," said Marryott.
He did so, with full instructions; and then roused all the able-bodiedmen. He distributed the firearms and ammunition; assigned each man tothe guardianship of some particular door and its neighboring windows;gave orders for an alarm, and a concentration of force, at any pointwhere the enemy might win entrance; left Kit in charge of the hall, atwhose door there was present threat of attack, and hastened up-stairs toa gallery where an oriel window projected over that door. He looked downinto the quadrangle. It was now broad daylight; snow was still falling.
Whether from a desire to avail himself of the bad weather for an attemptto plunder this deserted house, or from a suspicion that Oliver Bunchmight have been both able and willing to open the mansion to thetravellers, or from other reasons for thinking that they might be here,Captain Rumney had indeed led his troop into the grounds, made apreliminary circuit of the mansion, heard the horses in the stables,found all doors fast, detected signs of barricades in the windows,dismounted his company in the court, and caused a number of his men toassault the door with the fallen bough of a tree.