Produced by Patricia L. Ehler, Suzanne L. Shell, CharlesFranks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
"Yield Thee in the King's Name"]
A BOY'S RIDE
BYGULIELMA ZOLLINGER
1909
ILLUSTRATIONS AND COVER DESIGNBY FANNY M. CHAMBERS
ILLUSTRATIONS
"Yield thee in the king's name!"
Hugo seeks shelter within the walls
"Thou art welcome, my lad," said Lady De Aldithely
"It is well thou hast me to lead thee"
Humphrey and Hugo in the oak tree
The little spy and Humphrey
Hugo looked about him with interest
Humphrey started up, snatching a great bunch of long, flaming reeds
None knew which way to turn to escape
Richard Wood finds Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner's horse refused to be controlled
Richard Wood beckoned the Saxons to approach
He rode to the edge of the moat and looked down
Humphrey in priest's garb
Bartlemy bore garments for disguise
Humphrey, half turning in his saddle, saw a priest
A BOY'S RIDE
CHAPTER I
It was the last of May in the north of England, in the year 1209. Avery different England from what any boy of to-day has seen. A chillyeast wind was blowing. The trees of the vast forests were all in leafbut the ash trees, and they were unfolding their buds. And along abridle-path a few miles southwest of York a lad of fourteen was riding,while behind him followed a handsome deerhound. A boy of fourteen, atthat age of the world, was an older and more important personage thanhe is to-day. If he were well-born he had, generally, by this time,served his time as a page and was become an esquire in the train ofsome noble lord. That this lad had not done so was because his uncle, aprior in whose charge he had been reared since the early death of hisparents, had designed him for a priest. Priest, however, he haddeclined to be, and his uncle had now permitted him to go forthunattended to attach himself as page to some lord, if he could.
To-day he seemed very much at home in the great wood as he glancedabout him fearlessly, but so he would have been anywhere. Apparently hewas unprotected from assault save by the bow he carried. In reality hewore a shirt of chain mail beneath his doublet, a precaution which hethe more willingly took because of his good hope one day to be aknight, when not only the shirt of mail, but the helmet, shield, sword,and lance would be his as well.
It was not far from noon when he came to the great open place clearedof all timber and undergrowth which announced the presence of a castle.And looking up, he saw the flag of the De Aldithelys flying from itsturrets.
There was a rustle in the thicket, horse and deerhound pricked up theirears, and then ran pursued by flying arrows. And now ride! ride, mybrave boy, and seek shelter within the walls! For till thou reach them,thy shirt of mail must be thy salvation.
The drawbridge was yet down, for a small party of men-at-arms had justbeen admitted, and across it rushed boy, and horse, and dog before thewarder had time to wind his horn: the horse and rider unharmed, but thedeerhound wounded.
Hugo Seeks Shelter within the Walls]
The warder stared upon the strange boy, and the boy stared back at him.And then the warder crossed himself. "'Tis some witchcraft," hemuttered. "Here cometh the young lord, and all the time I know that theyoung lord is safe within the walls."
The grooms also crossed themselves before they drew up the bridge. Butthe boy, unconcerned, rode on across the outer court and passed intothe inner one followed by the wounded dog. Here the men-at-arms weredismounting, horses were neighing, and grooms running about. The boy,too, dismounted, and bent anxiously over his dog.
Presently a young voice demanded, "Whence comest thou?"
The boy looked up to see his counterpart, the son of the lord of thecastle, standing imperiously before him.
"From York," answered the stranger, briefly. "Hast thou a leech thatcan care for my dog? See how he bleeds."
"Oh, ay," was the answer. "But how came he wounded? He hath beendeer-stealing, perchance, and the ranger hath discovered him."
"Nay," replied the strange lad, in tones the echo of his questioner's."Thou doest Fleetfoot wrong. We were but pursuing our way when fromyonder thicket to the north and adjoining the open, a flight of arrowscame. I had been sped myself but for my shirt of mail."
The leech had now advanced and was caring skilfully for the dog whilethe strange lad looked on, now and then laying a caressing hand on thehound's head.
Meanwhile the men-at-arms conferred together and exchanged wise lookswhile a stout and clumsy Saxon serving-man of about forty shook hishead. "I did dream of an earthquake no longer ago than night beforelast," he said, "which is a dream that doth ever warn the dreamer andall concerned with him to be cautious and careful. Here cometh ridingthe twin of our young lord: and the Evil One only knoweth how thisstranger hath the nose, the eyes, the mouth, the complexion, the gait,the size, and the voice of our young lord, Josceline De Aldithely.Thinkest thou not, William Lorimer, it were cautious and careful to puthim and his hound outside the walls, to say nothing of his horse?"
William Lorimer, the captain of the men-at-arms, smiled in derision. Agreat belief in dreams and omens was abroad in the land: and nowherehad it a more devoted adherent than in Humphrey, the Saxon serving-man,and nowhere a greater scoffer than in William Lorimer.
"I see thou scoffest, William Lorimer," pursued Humphrey. "But were heput out, then might those minions of the king shoot at him once more,and spare to shoot at our young lord. I will away to our lady, and seewhat she ordereth."
There had always been times in England when no man who stood in the wayof another was safe, but these were the times when women and childrenwere not safe. For perhaps the wickedest king who ever sat upon theEnglish throne occupied it now, and his name was John.
This king had tried to snatch the kingdom from his brother, RichardCoeur de Lion, and had failed. When Richard was dead, and John was madeking in his stead, there was still another claimant to the throne,--hisnephew Arthur,--and him the king in 1204 had murdered, so report said,with his own hand. This was the deed that lost him Normandy and all hisother French possessions, and shut him up to rule in England alone. Andthe English soon had enough of him. He was now in a conflict with thePope, who had commanded him to receive Stephen Langton as Archbishop ofCanterbury. This John had refused to do. Now, the kingdom, on accountof the king's disobedience, was under the papal interdict, and the kingwas threatened with excommunication.
England had at this time many, many churches, and their bells, beforethis unfortunate situation, had seemed to be ringing all day long. Theyrang to call the people to the ordinary church services; they rang tocall them to work, and to bid them cease from work. They rang when ababy was born, and when there was a death. And for many other thingsthey rang. Now, under the interdict, no bell rang. There were no usualchurch services, and everywhere was fasting. A strange England itseemed.
The king had never gotten on well with his barons, and they hated him.Nevertheless they would have stood by him if he had been at all just tothem. And surely he needed them to stand by him, for all the world wasagainst him. The French were eager to fight him, and the Church wasarrayed against him. But all these things only made the king harder andmore unjust to the barons because just now they were the only ones inhis power, and his wicked heart was full of rage. He had hit upon onemeans of punishing them which they all could feel,--he struck themthrough their wives and children. Some of the barons were obliged toflee from England for their lives. Many were obliged to give the kingtheir sons as pledges of their loyalty. In every man's knowledge wasthe sad case of one baron who had been oblig
ed to flee with his wifeand son into hiding. The king, through his officers, had pursued them,ferreted them out of their hiding-place, taken the wife and soncaptive, shut them up in prison, and starved them to death. Lord DeAldithely himself had been obliged to flee, but his son would never bedelivered up peaceably to the king's messengers, for De Aldithelycastle was strong and well defended.
This was the meaning of the arrows shot at the strange boy. The king'smessengers, who were constantly spying on the castle from the wood inthe hope of gaining possession of the person of the young lord bystratagem, had taken him for Josceline, the young heir of the DeAldithelys.
And now came a summons for both lads to come to the ladies' bower, forHumphrey had not been idle.
"My change of raiment?" said the strange lad, inquiringly.
"Shall be in thy chamber presently," answered Josceline.
"I would that Fleetfoot also might be conveyed thither," said thestranger, with an engaging smile.
"It shall be done," promised Josceline.
He gave the necessary commands to two grooms, and the lads, each thecounterpart of the other, waited a few moments and then started towardthe tower stairway, followed by the grooms bearing the huge dog betweenthem on a stretcher. The stair was steep, narrow, and winding, andbuilt of stone. Josceline went first, and was followed by the stranger,who every now and then glanced back to speak a reassuring word to hisdog. At the entrance to the ladies' bower Josceline paused. "Thoumayest, if thou like, lay the dog for a while on a skin by my mother'sfire," he said, and looked inquiringly at his guest.
"That would I be glad to do," was the grateful reply. "See how heshivers from the loss of blood and the chill air."
For answer Josceline waved his hand toward his mother's parlor, and thegrooms, conveying the dog, obediently entered. For all but Humphrey,the Saxon serving-man, were accustomed to obey the young heirunquestioningly. But Humphrey obeyed no one without question. It wasoften necessary to convince his rather slow reason and his active andmany superstitions before his obedience could be secured. No one elsein the castle would have dared to take his course, but Humphrey wasthus favored and trusted because he was born a servant in Lord DeAldithely's father's house, and was ten years older than the mistressof the castle, whose master was now gone. He had already told Lady DeAldithely all that he knew of the strange lad, and had advised her,with his accustomed frankness, to put lad, horse, and hound at oncewithout the castle walls. Lady De Aldithely had listened, and when hehad finished, without any comment, she had commanded him to send thetwo lads to her.
For a moment Humphrey had seemed disappointed. Then recovering himselfhe had made answer, "Oh, ay. It will no doubt be best to see foryourself first, and there is no denying that the three can then be putoutside the walls."
Receiving no reply, he had withdrawn and delivered his message.
Lady De Aldithely was standing evidently in deep thought when thelittle group entered. The strange lad looked at her curiously. He saw aslight figure clad in a green robe, and as she turned he caught thegleam of a jewel in the golden fillet that bound her wimple on theforehead. Her eyes were blue, and her look one of high courage shadowedsomewhat by an expression of anxiety. One could well believe that,however anxious and worried she might be, she would still dare to dowhat seemed to her best. She now diligently and eagerly compared thetwo lads, glancing quickly from one to the other, and their exceedinggreat likeness to each other seemed to strike her with astonishment. Atlast she smiled and spoke to the stranger. "Thou art welcome, my lad,"she said kindly. "But whence comest thou? and what is thy name?"
"Thou Art Welcome My Lad" Said Lady De Aldithely]
"I am to-day from York, and I am called Hugo Aungerville," was thefrank reply with an answering smile.
"To-day," repeated Lady De Aldithely. "That argueth that thy residenceis not there, as doth also thy name, which is strange to me."
"Thou art right," replied Hugo. "I come from beyond Durham, from thepriory of St. Wilfrid, the prior whereof is my uncle, I having no otherkin so near as he."
"And whither dost thou journey?" asked Lady De Aldithely.
"South," was the answer. "My uncle, the prior, would have had me bred apriest, but I would be a knight. Therefore he hath at last given me hisblessing and bid me fare forth to attach myself to the train of somenobleman."
"Why did he not secure thee a place himself?" asked Lady De Aldithelyin surprise.
"Because he hath too great caution," was the answer. "These betroublous times. Few be true to the king, and no man knoweth who thosefew be. Should he choose for me a place and use his influence to secureit, perchance the next week the noble lord might be fleeing, and all inhis service, under the hatred of the king. And there might be those whowould say, 'Here is Hugo Aungerville, the page to my lord, and thenephew of the prior of St. Wilfrid.' And then might the king pull downthe priory about my uncle's ears,--that is, I mean he would set myuncle packing. For the priory is fat, and with the prior gone--why, theking is so much the richer. Thou knowest the king."
"Too well," rejoined Lady De Aldithely, with a sigh. "The Archbishop ofYork is 'gone packing,' as thou sayest, and the king is all the richertherefor. And this is thy dog that hath the arrow wound," shecontinued, as she advanced a few steps and laid her hand on the hound'shead. "I have here a medicament of wonderful power." She turned to alittle casket on a table and unlocked it. Then taking out a smallflask, she opened it and, stooping over the dog, poured a few drops onthe bandage of his wound. "He is now as good as well," she saidsmilingly. "That is, with our good leech's care, which he shall have.Nay, thou needst not speak thy thanks. They are written in thy face. Isee thou lovest thy dog."
"Yea, my lady, right well. I have naught else to love."
"Except thine uncle, the prior," said Lady De Aldithely.
"Except my uncle," agreed Hugo.
All this time Josceline had waited with impatience and he now spoke."He is not to be put outside the walls, mother, is he?"
"Nay, my son. That were poor hospitality. He may bide here so long ashe likes."