CHAPTER XV
THE NIGHT ALARM
At parting with his father, the young captain received many wise andgrave instructions, all of which he resolved to remember and profitby--a resolution which he did not fail to keep for full five minutes.
"Be douce in deportment," said his father, speaking quietly and yetwith a certain sternness of demeanour. "Think three times before yougive an order, but let no man think even once before obeying it. Sethim astraddle the wooden horse with a spear shaft at either foot toteach him that a soldier's first duty is not to think. Keep your eyesmore on the alert for the approach of an enemy than for the ankles ofthe women-folk at the turnings of the turret stairs."
To these and many other maxims out of the incorporate wisdom of theelders, Sholto promised most faithful attendance, and, for the timebeing, he fully intended to keep his word. But no sooner was hisfather gone, and he introduced to his new quarters and duties by DavidDouglas, the Earl's younger brother, than he began to wonder which wasthe window of Maud Lindesay's chamber and speculate on how soon hewould see her thereat.
In the castle of Thrieve that night there was little sleeping room tospare. The Earl and his brother lay wrapped in their plaids in one ofthe round towers of the outer defences. In the castle hall theretainers of the French ambassador slept side by side, or heads andtails with the archers of the house-guard. Lights flickered on theturnpike stair which led to the upper floors. The servitors hadcleared the great hall, and here on a dais, raised above the "marsh"and sheltered by an arras curtain hastily arranged, James the Grossslept on a soft French bed, which he had caused to be brought all theway from his castle of Strathavon on the moors of Lanarkshire.
In the Earl's chamber on the third floor was lodged the Marshal deRetz. Next him ranged the apartment of the countess. Here also was theLady Sybilla at the end of the passage in the guest chamber whichlooked to the north, and from the windows of which she could see thebroad river dividing itself about the castle island, and flowing ascalmly on as if the stern feudal pile had been a peaceful monasteryand the waving war banners no more than so many signs of holy cross.
Above, in the low-roofed chambers, which gave upon the wooden balcony,were the apartments of Maud Lindesay and her charge, little MargaretDouglas, the Fair Maid of Galloway.
Now the single postern stair of the castle was shut at the foot, whereit opened out upon the hall of the guard by a sparred iron gate, thekey of which was put into Sholto's charge. The night closed early uponthe castle-ful of wearied folk. The marshals of the camps caused thelights to be put out at nine-of-the-clock in all the tents andpavilions, but the lamps and candles burned longer in the castleitself, where the Earl had been giving a banquet to his guests, ofthe best that his estates could afford. Nevertheless, it was yet longbefore midnight when the cheep of the mouse in the wainscot, therestless stir or muffled snore of a crowded sleeper in the guardroom,was the only sound to be heard from dungeon to banner-staff of thegreat castle.
Sholto's heart throbbed tumultuous and insurgent within him. And smallis the wonder. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined such a fateas this, to be actual captain of the Earl's own body-guard, eventhough neither title nor emolument was yet wholly his; better still,that he should dwell night and day within arm's reach almost of thedesire of his heart, flinty-bosomed and mischievous as she was--thesewere heights of good fortune to which his imagination had neverclimbed in its most daring ascents.
No longer did he envy his brother's good fortune, as he had beensomewhat inclined to do earlier in the day, when he thought ofreturning to wield the forehammer all alone in his father's smithy.
The first night of Captain Sholto's responsibility in the castle ofThrieve was destined to be a memorable one. To the youth himself itwould have appeared so in any case. Only a panelled door divided himfrom the girl who, wayward and scornful as she had ever been to him,yet kept his heart dangling at her waist-belt as truly as if it hadbeen the golden key of her armoire.
The ancient Sir John of Abernethy, dubbed Landless Jock, would not beseparated from his masters, and slept with two sergeants of the guardin the turret adjacent to that in which the brothers of Douglas,William and David, lay in the first sleep of youth and an easy mind.
Sholto therefore found himself left with the undivided responsibilityfor the safety of the castle and all who dwelt within it. He was alsothe only man who, by reason of his charge and in virtue of hismaster-key, was permitted to circulate freely through all the floorsand passages of the vast feudal pile.
Sholto went out to the barred gate of the castle, where in a littlecubbyhole dark even at noonday, and black as Egypt now, the warderslept with his hand upon his keys, and his head touching the lever ofthe gear wherewith he drew the creaking portcullis up and rolled backthe iron doors which shut the keep off from the world of the wideouter courtyard and the garrison which manned the turrets.
The porter, Hugh MacCalmont, sat up on his elbow at Sholto'ssalutation, only enough to see his visitor by the glint of the littleiron "cruisie" lamp hanging upon the wall. He knew him by the goldenchain of office which the Earl had given Sholto.
"Captain of the guard," he muttered, "Lord, here's advancement indeed.My lord might have remembered me that have served him faithfully thesethirty years, opening and shutting without mistake. He might havenamed me captain of the guard, and not this limber Jack. But the younglove the young, and in truth 'tis natural. But what Landless Jock willsay when he comes to have this sprat set over him, I know not but Ican guess!"
Satisfied that all was safe there, Sholto stepped gingerly over thereclining forms of the first relief guard, who lay wrapped in theircloaks, every man grasping his arms. Most of these were lying in thedead sleep of tired men, whilst others restlessly moved about thisway and that, as if seeking an easier adaptation of their bones to thecorners of the blue whinstones and rough shell lime than had beenprovided for when the castle was built by Archibald the Grim, Lord ofThrieve and Galloway.
Close by the last turn of the turret staircase yawned the iron-sparredmouth of the dungeon, in which in its time many a notable prisoner hadbeen immured. It was closed with a huge grid of curved iron bars, eachas thick as a man's arm, cunningly held together by a giganticpadlock, the key of which was nightly taken to the sleeping-room ofthe Earl--whether, as was now the case, the cell stood empty, orwhether it contained an English lord waiting ransom or a rebelliousbaron expectant of his morning summons to the dule tree of the BlackDouglas.
Then taking the master-key from his belt, Sholto unlocked the sparredgate leading from the _salle de garde_ into the turret stair which wasthe sole communication with the upper floors of the castle.
Slowly, and with a step no louder than the beating of his own heart,he went upwards, glancing in midway upon the banquet hall, where thedim light from the postern without revealed a number of dark formswrapped in slumber lying on the dining-table and on the floor;ascending yet higher he came to the floor where slept the Countess ofDouglas, the Lady Sybilla, and in the Earl's own chamber the Marshalde Retz, ambassador of the King of France.
Sholto stood a moment with his hand raised in a listening attitude,before he ventured to ascend those narrower stairs which led to theuppermost floor of all, on which were the chambers occupied by thelittle Maid Margaret and her companion and gossip Mistress MaudLindesay.
He told himself that it was his duty to see to the safety of the wholecastle; that he had special instructions to visit three times, duringthe course of each night of duty, all the passages and corridors ofthe fortress. But nevertheless it needed all his courage to enableSholto to perform the task which had been laid upon him. As he draggedone foot after the other up the turret stairs, it seemed as if aleaden clog had been attached to each pointed shoe.
He had also a vague sense of being watched by presences invisible tohim, but malign in their nature. Again and again he caught himselflistening for footsteps which seemed to dog his own. He heardmysterious whisperings that flouted h
is utmost vigilance, and mockinglaughter that lurked in unseen crevices and broke out so soon as hehad passed.
Sholto set his hand firmly upon his sword handle and bit his lips,lest even to himself he should own his uneasiness. It was not seemlythat the captain of the Douglas guard should be frightened by shadows.
Passing the corridor which led towards the sleeping rooms of the maidand her companion, he ascended to the roof of the castle, thrustingaside the turret door and issuing upon the wide, open spaces with anassured step. The cool breeze from the west restored him to himself ina moment. The waning moon cast a pale light across the landscape, andhe could see the tents on the castle island glimmer greyish whitebeneath him. Beyond that again was the shining confluence of thesluggish river about the isle, and the dark line of the woods ofBalmaghie opposite. He had begun to meditate on the rapid changes ofcircumstance which had overtaken him, when suddenly a shrill andpiercing shriek rang out, coming up through the castle beneath, againand again repeated. It was like the cry of a child in the grip ofinstant and deadly terror.
Sholto's heart gave a great bound. That something untoward shouldhappen on this the first night of his charge was too disastrous. Hedrew his sword and set in his lips the silver call which depended fromthe chain of office the Earl had thrown about his neck when he madehim captain of his guard.
His feet hardly touched the stone stairs as he flew downwards, andwings were added to his haste by the sounds of fear which continued toincrease. In another moment he was upon the last step of the turnpikeand at the entrance of the corridor which led to the rooms of thelittle Lady Margaret and Maud Lindesay.
As Sholto came rushing down the steep descent from the roof he caughtsight of a dark and shaggy beast running on all fours just turning outof the corridor, and taking the first step of the descent towards thefloor beneath. Without pausing to consider, Sholto lunged forward withall his might, and his sword struck the fugitive quadruped behind theshoulder. He had time to see in the pale bluish flicker of the_cruisie_ lamp that the beast he had wounded was of a dark colour, andthat its head seemed immensely too large for its body.
Nevertheless, the thing did not fall, but ran on and vanished out ofSholto's sight. The young man again set the silver call to his lipsand blew. The next moment he could hear the soldiers of the guardclattering upward from their hall, and he himself ran along thecorridor towards the place whence the screams of terror seemed toproceed.