Produced by Charles Keller and David Widger
MEN OF IRON
by Howard Pyle
INTRODUCTION
The year 1400 opened with more than usual peacefulness in England. Onlya few months before, Richard II--weak, wicked, and treacherous--had beendethroned, and Henry IV declared King in his stead. But it was only aseeming peacefulness, lasting but for a little while; for though KingHenry proved himself a just and a merciful man--as justice and mercywent with the men of iron of those days--and though he did not careto shed blood needlessly, there were many noble families who had beenbenefited by King Richard during his reign, and who had lost somewhat oftheir power and prestige from the coming in of the new King.
Among these were a number of great lords--the Dukes of Albemarle,Surrey, and Exeter, the Marquis of Dorset, the Earl of Gloucester, andothers--who had been degraded to their former titles and estates, fromwhich King Richard had lifted them. These and others brewed a secretplot to take King Henry's life, which plot might have succeeded had notone of their own number betrayed them.
Their plan had been to fall upon the King and his adherents, and tomassacre them during a great tournament, to be held at Oxford. But Henrydid not appear at the lists; whereupon, knowing that he had been lodgingat Windsor with only a few attendants, the conspirators marched thitheragainst him. In the mean time the King had been warned of the plot,so that, instead of finding him in the royal castle, they discoveredthrough their scouts that he had hurried to London, whence he waseven then marching against them at the head of a considerable army. Sonothing was left them but flight. Some betook themselves one way, someanother; some sought sanctuary here, some there; but one and another,they were all of them caught and killed.
The Earl of Kent--one time Duke of Surrey--and the Earl ofSalisbury were beheaded in the market-place at Cirencester; Lord LeDespencer--once the Earl of Gloucester--and Lord Lumley met the samefate at Bristol; the Earl of Huntingdon was taken in the Essex fens,carried to the castle of the Duke of Gloucester, whom he had betrayedto his death in King Richard's time, and was there killed by the castlepeople. Those few who found friends faithful and bold enough to affordthem shelter, dragged those friends down in their own ruin.
Just such a case was that of the father of the boy hero of thisstory, the blind Lord Gilbert Reginald Falworth, Baron of Falworth andEasterbridge, who, though having no part in the plot, suffered throughit ruin, utter and complete.
He had been a faithful counsellor and adviser to King Richard, andperhaps it was this, as much and more than his roundabout connectionwith the plot, that brought upon him the punishment he suffered.
CHAPTER 1
Myles Falworth was but eight years of age at that time, and it was onlyafterwards, and when he grew old enough to know more of the ins and outsof the matter, that he could remember by bits and pieces the things thatafterwards happened; how one evening a knight came clattering into thecourt-yard upon a horse, red-nostrilled and smeared with the sweat andfoam of a desperate ride--Sir John Dale, a dear friend of the blindLord.
Even though so young, Myles knew that something very serious hadhappened to make Sir John so pale and haggard, and he dimly rememberedleaning against the knight's iron-covered knees, looking up into hisgloomy face, and asking him if he was sick to look so strange. Thereuponthose who had been too troubled before to notice him, bethoughtthemselves of him, and sent him to bed, rebellious at having to go soearly.
He remembered how the next morning, looking out of a window high upunder the eaves, he saw a great troop of horsemen come riding into thecourtyard beneath, where a powdering of snow had whitened everything,and of how the leader, a knight clad in black armor, dismounted andentered the great hall door-way below, followed by several of the band.
He remembered how some of the castle women were standing in a frightenedgroup upon the landing of the stairs, talking together in low voicesabout a matter he did not understand, excepting that the armed men whohad ridden into the courtyard had come for Sir John Dale. None of thewomen paid any attention to him; so, shunning their notice, he ran offdown the winding stairs, expecting every moment to be called back againby some one of them.
A crowd of castle people, all very serious and quiet, were gatheredin the hall, where a number of strange men-at-arms lounged upon thebenches, while two billmen in steel caps and leathern jacks stoodguarding the great door, the butts of their weapons resting upon theground, and the staves crossed, barring the door-way.
In the anteroom was the knight in black armor whom Myles had seen fromthe window. He was sitting at the table, his great helmet lying uponthe bench beside him, and a quart beaker of spiced wine at his elbow. Aclerk sat at the other end of the same table, with inkhorn in one handand pen in the other, and a parchment spread in front of him.
Master Robert, the castle steward, stood before the knight, who everynow and then put to him a question, which the other would answer, andthe clerk write the answer down upon the parchment.
His father stood with his back to the fireplace, looking down upon thefloor with his blind eyes, his brows drawn moodily together, and thescar of the great wound that he had received at the tournament atYork--the wound that had made him blind--showing red across hisforehead, as it always did when he was angered or troubled.
There was something about it all that frightened Myles, who crept to hisfather's side, and slid his little hand into the palm that hung limp andinert. In answer to the touch, his father grasped the hand tightly,but did not seem otherwise to notice that he was there. Neither didthe black knight pay any attention to him, but continued putting hisquestions to Master Robert.
Then, suddenly, there was a commotion in the hall without, loud voices,and a hurrying here and there. The black knight half arose, grasping aheavy iron mace that lay upon the bench beside him, and the next momentSir John Dale himself, as pale as death, walked into the antechamber. Hestopped in the very middle of the room. "I yield me to my Lord's graceand mercy," said he to the black knight, and they were the last words heever uttered in this world.
The black knight shouted out some words of command, and swinging up theiron mace in his hand, strode forward clanking towards Sir John, whoraised his arm as though to shield himself from the blow. Two or threeof those who stood in the hall without came running into the room withdrawn swords and bills, and little Myles, crying out with terror, hidhis face in his father's long gown.
The next instant came the sound of a heavy blow and of a groan, thenanother blow and the sound of one falling upon the ground. Then theclashing of steel, and in the midst Lord Falworth crying, in a dreadfulvoice, "Thou traitor! thou coward! thou murderer!"
Master Robert snatched Myles away from his father, and bore him out ofthe room in spite of his screams and struggles, and he remembered justone instant's sight of Sir John lying still and silent upon his face,and of the black knight standing above him, with the terrible mace inhis hand stained a dreadful red.
It was the next day that Lord and Lady Falworth and little Myles,together with three of the more faithful of their people, left thecastle.
His memory of past things held a picture for Myles of old Diccon Bowmanstanding over him in the silence of midnight with a lighted lamp in hishand, and with it a recollection of being bidden to hush when he wouldhave spoken, and of being dressed by Diccon and one of the women,bewildered with sleep, shuddering and chattering with cold.
He remembered being wrapped in the sheepskin that lay at the foot ofhis bed, and of being carried in Diccon Bowman's arms down the silentdarkness of the winding stair-way, with the great black giant shadowsswaying and flickering upon the stone wall as the dull flame of the lampswayed and flickered in the cold breathing of the night air.
Below were his father and mother and
two or three others. A strangerstood warming his hands at a newly-made fire, and little Myles, as hepeeped from out the warm sheepskin, saw that he was in riding-boots andwas covered with mud. He did not know till long years afterwards thatthe stranger was a messenger sent by a friend at the King's court,bidding his father fly for safety.
They who stood there by the red blaze of the fire were all very still,talking in whispers and walking on tiptoes, and Myles's mother huggedhim in her arms, sheepskin and all, kissing him, with the tearsstreaming down her cheeks, and whispering to him, as though he couldunderstand their trouble, that they were about to leave their homeforever.
Then Diccon Bowman carried him out into the strangeness of the wintermidnight.
Outside, beyond the frozen moat, where the osiers, stood stark and stiffin their winter nakedness, was a group of dark figures waiting for themwith horses. In the pallid moonlight Myles recognized the well-knownface of Father Edward, the Prior of St. Mary's.
After that came a long ride through that silent night upon thesaddle-bow in front of Diccon Bowman; then a deep, heavy sleep, thatfell upon him in spite of the galloping of the horses.
When next he woke the sun was shining, and his home and his whole lifewere changed.