CHAPTER IX
On this, their last day in the Isle of Axholme, Hugo and Humphrey tookup the occupation of the day before, but with more deliberation. Andthey went in a different direction,--southeast, toward the Trent.
"It is this way we journey on the morrow with the horses," remarkedHumphrey. "It is as well to see what the way is like while we gatherour store of reeds and rushes. For I did dream of gold, whichbetokeneth success in our present undertaking, and success ever restethon good care and good judgment. And so let us see where the solidplaces be and where the bogs lie. And do thou note well the course sothat we may run it with safety and speed if need be. And we will notgather the reeds and rushes till we return."
"Meanest thou to walk to the Trent, then, to-day, and back again?"questioned Hugo. And by this time he had so far forgotten thedifference in their stations that there was respect in his tone, whichHumphrey was quick to notice.
"Yea, lad," answered the serving-man, kindly. "It is only a few miles.It is not well to risk miring the horses when I did dream of gold lastnight."
Hugo smiled. He was beginning to see that, while the superstition ofthe age, and particularly of his condition, had, to a certain extent, ahold on Humphrey, his course was really directed by sturdycommon-sense; and he wondered no more at Lady De Aldithely's trust inhim.
The two were well on their way, and Richard Wood and his men-at-armswere scouring the forest near Doncaster, when Walter Skinner walked outto the stables of the Green Dragon to see to his horse. His face wasstill painful, and he desired to vent some of his spleen on the unluckygroom, whoever he might be, who had his horse in charge. He found thehorse tied to a ring in the stable wall, and the groom having a sorrytime of it, since every time the groom touched him with comb or brushthe animal backed, or turned, or laid back his ears and snapped withhis teeth. For the monks at the priory had furnished the king's man, onhis compulsion, with the worst horse in their stables.
"Here be a beast fit for the Evil One and for nobody else," grumbledthe sorely tried groom. "I am like to be killed for my pains in tryingto smooth his coat for him."
The groom was a tall, overgrown fellow of nineteen, with a vacant faceand an ever-running tongue. He now stood stock still upon the approachof Walter Skinner and gazed at him. He would have done the same if anycreature possessed of the power of locomotion had come into his view.But of that Walter Skinner was ignorant. To him the gaze of the groomseemed honor and respect toward himself, and even, perhaps, awe. And hewas at once mollified.
"My horse is a beast of mettle," he observed complacently when thegroom had returned to his work.
"Ay, and I would that his master, the Evil One, had the grooming ofhim," was the retort.
"Why, how now, sirrah! Dost thou slander the horse which is a gift fromMother Church to the king's work? Thou art a knave, and no doubt artbut unfit for thy task this morn through over-late carousing lastnight."
"Thou mayest call it carousing, if thou wilt," said the groom, sulkily."I did come from Gainsborough yesterday. And in the dark, as I didcome, I saw a flaming fire in the Isle of Axholme."
"And what meanest thou to tell me of that?" demanded Walter Skinner,sternly. "Thou wert no doubt so drunk that a will-o'-the-wisp in thatboggy place did seem to thee even as a flaming fire. Why dost thou notstand to my horse and get down with him? He hath already backed andturned a matter of some miles."
The groom stopped and looked at him indignantly. "I may be but agroom," he said, "but the Isle of Axholme I know from a child, everybog in it. And I did go to the fire, which was a bit out of my way,but, being my only pleasure on the journey, I did take it. And there onthe rushes lay a young lord, and his serving-man did feed the fire withreeds."
"Thou didst see that?" cried Walter Skinner, in great excitement. "Makehaste with the beast, sirrah. Here is a coin for thee, good groom. I donow see thou wert never drunken in thy life. Make haste with thehorse."
The groom stared at him foolishly. "Why, who could make haste with sucha beast?" he said at length.
"Then stay not to finish thy work," cried Walter Skinner, impatiently."Bring saddle and bridle. I must away instantly. But do thou firstdescribe to me the place where thou didst see the fire."
"The place," said the groom, deliberately, while he examined the coinWalter Skinner had given him. "Thou dost go till thou comest to it. Aturn here and a turn there mayhap thou must make, and thou wilt find ita little solid place with three scrub trees upon it. It is a matter ofa short distance from the south end of the Isle, and thou wilt not failto know it when thou seest it."
With this not over-clear direction Walter Skinner was obliged to becontent. Bidding the groom to bring the horse to the door of the inn atonce, he hurried away, paid his reckoning, examined carefully thestring of his bow, and looked over his store of arrows. "And now,Josceline, son of Lord De Aldithely," he said, "my arrow will bid theehalt this time, and not my voice. And thou, Richard Wood, who didstsay, 'We hunt no more in company,' what wouldst thou give to know ofthis place in the Isle of Axholme? And thou mayst have thy men-at-armsto bear thee company, and to pay for when thou art done with them. Theycost thee more than a bow and some arrows cost me, nor will they dothee one half the good."
So thinking he bestrode the vicious beast which backed and plungedabout the inn yard, and from which the grooms and the watching maidsfled in all directions. Walter Skinner, however, was not to beunseated, and, the horse being headed in the right direction, his nextplunge carried him out of the yard and fairly started him on his way,the spur of his rider giving him no permission to halt for a moment.
"And now," thought Walter Skinner, when he had crossed the Don and wasfree of the town, "what said the knave groom? I must go till I come toit. Ay, and who knoweth when that shall be, and who knoweth the way inthis pitfall of bogs? Three scrub trees, saith he, and all together onone little solid place. I would I might see three little scrub trees."
His horse had been over the Isle before and, being given his head,began to pick his way so cleverly that Walter Skinner was still furtherelated. He sat up pompously and pictured himself a courtier at thepalace as a reward for this day's work. "For I lean not to goldenrewards alone," he said. "No doubt it can be managed that from this dayI begin to rise. The king hath advanced baser men than I, let RichardWood think as he will in the matter."
And now he descried the three little scrub trees; but he saw not thehorses, they having been taken to another islet for pasture; norFleetfoot, who had gone with Hugo and Humphrey.
"The knave groom spake true," said Walter Skinner, with satisfaction."There be the rushes on which they lie, and there the ashes of thefire. I will seek out a convenient hiding-place in the reeds, andto-night, when the fire blazeth bright, then shall my arrows sing."
So saying he sought a place of concealment for himself and his horse,and, having found it, and tied the horse securely, he lay down wellsatisfied.
Hugo and Humphrey did not return till toward evening. They had caughtsome fish in the Trent and roasted them on the coals for their dinner,and afterward had come leisurely back, enjoying the scenes and sightsof the marsh.
From his covert Walter Skinner saw them come, each leading a horsewhich he had stopped to get from the islet pasture, while Fleetfootlagged behind on a little hunting expedition of his own. The spy drewhis bow and sighted. "Yea," he said to himself, "no doubt I can do it.And what is an arrow wound more or less when one would win the favor ofthe king? The lad or his servant may die of it. But what is death? Itis e'en what every man sooner or later must meet. And it is the king'sfavor I will have, come what may to these runaways." Then he laid downthe bow and arrow and took a long drink from his horn. "When the flamesshoot high and they be in the strong light of the blaze, then will Ishoot," he said. "And it is their own fault if they be hit. They shouldhave remained in the castle where Robert Sadler arriveth this samenight."
Hugo and Humphrey had not before been on such thoroughly amicable termsas they were to-night.
The boy, so much like his young master, had,unconsciously to Humphrey, won his way into the heart of theserving-man; while Hugo had learned in their few days' companionship tofeel toward Humphrey as his faithfulness deserved. So, while the fireblazed up and all remained in darkness outside of its circle, Humphreyentertained Hugo with tales of his early life, to which the boylistened with appreciation. "Ay, lad," said Humphrey, when half an hourhad gone by and he paused in his story to look at him with approval,"thou hast the ears of my lady herself, who is ever ready to listen towhat I would say."
And then came a whistling arrow, shot by an unsteady, drunken hand, andanother, and another, none of which wounded either boy or man, sinceHugo was still defended by his shirt of mail, and Humphrey wore a stoutgambeson.
Humphrey started up, snatching a great bunch of longflaming reeds]
Instantly Humphrey started up and, snatching a great bunch of long,flaming reeds to serve him for a light, ran in the direction whence thearrows had come. Hugo, catching up an armful of reeds yet unlighted toserve when those Humphrey carried should burn out, hurried after him.Soon they had found the covert and the spy, and, tossing his torch toHugo, the serving-man rushed at him.
"And wouldst thou slay my dear lad?" he cried. "Thou snipe!"
"Stand back!" sputtered the spy. "Lay not thy hands upon me. I servethe king."
"Ay, and thou shalt find what it is to serve the king," cried Humphrey,seizing him by the shoulders and dragging him along. "Yon is hishorse," he said, turning to Hugo. "Cut him loose."
The boy obeyed and, with a snort, the animal was off.
"Thou shalt be well punished for this deed," threatened the spy. "Thesteed was the gift of the prior of St. Edmund's."
"Talk not of punishment," cried the enraged Humphrey; "thou who wouldstslay my dear lad. Lead to the right, lad!" he cried. "I do know a mirypool. It will not suck him down, but it will cause him some labor toget out of it."
Hugo, bearing the torch, obeyed, and shortly they had reached the poolwhich Humphrey had discovered the day before. Grasping his shouldersyet more firmly, and fairly lifting the little spy from his feet, thestalwart Humphrey set him down with a thud in the sticky mud. "Therethou mayest stand like a reed or a rush," he said. "I would thou wertas worthy as either."
A moment the spy stood there in water up to his knees while Hugo andHumphrey, by the light of the ever-renewed torch of reeds, watched him.Then he began to try to extricate himself. But when he pulled one footloose, it was only to set the other more securely in the mud.
"Ay, lad," observed Humphrey, with satisfaction. "He danceth very well,but somewhat slowly. Leave we him to his pleasure while we go seek forhis bow and arrows. It were not well that he should shoot at us again."
"Thou villain!" cried the half-drunken Walter Skinner; "when I am alord in His Majesty's service thou shalt hear of this night's work."
"Ay, Sir Stick-in-the-Mud," responded Humphrey, indifferently. "Whenthat day cometh I am content to hear of it." Then he led the way backto Walter Skinner's hiding-place, while Hugo followed. And there theyfound the bow, which was of yew with a silken string. And with it was agoodly store of ash arrows tipped with steel and winged with goosefeathers.
"We be not thieves, lad," said Humphrey, "else might we add these toour store." So saying, he broke the arrows and flung them away, cut thebow-string in pieces, and flung the bow far from him into the water."Had these been in a steady hand," he said, "it might now be ill withus. Perchance the spy doth not now cry out, 'Aha, Fortune! thou artwith me.' And now let us back to our couch of rushes, there to waittill the moon rise, which will be some three hours. And rest we indarkness. We may not have more fire to make us targets, perchance, forthe other spy."
In silence the two lay down on the rushes, Hugo full of excitement andnervously listening for the whistle of another arrow. And, much to theboy's astonishment, in five minutes the faithful Humphrey was soundasleep.
He continued to sleep until the beams of the rising moon struck himfull in the face, when he awoke. "Hast slept, lad?" he asked.
"Nay," replied Hugo.
"Thou shouldst have done so. Perchance the time cometh shortly when wedare not sleep; for I did dream of being taken by the constable, whichsignifieth want of wit, and so I know not what to do. But we may notbide here. On we must go, and make the best of what wit we have." Herose from the rushes and, followed by Hugo, went to the horses and putFleetfoot once more in leash. Then, each having mounted, he led the waytoward the track they had marked out the day before.
"If the spy be not too lazy, he will doubtless be free of the miry poolin the morning," observed Humphrey. "And he might as well have dreamedof being taken by the constable, for if he lacketh not the wit to keephim from a worse case, I know not the measure of a man's mind. And thatshould I know, having observed not only my lord, but the valiantWilliam Lorimer also."