CHAPTER VII
As Eustace was returning, his attention was caught by repeated groans,which proceeded from a wretched little hovel almost level with theearth. "Hark!" said he to Ingram, a tall stout man-at-arms from theLynwood estate. "Didst thou not hear a groaning?"
"Some of the Castilians, Sir. To think that the brutes should becontent to live in holes not fit for swine!"
"But methought it was an English tongue. Listen, John!"
And in truth English ejaculations mingled with the moans: "To St.Joseph of Glastonbury, a shrine of silver! Blessed Lady of Taunton, asilver candlestick! Oh! St. Dunstan!"
Eustace doubted no longer; and stooping down and entering the hut, hebeheld, as well as the darkness would allow him, Leonard Ashtonhimself, stretched on some mouldy rushes, and so much altered, that hecould scarcely have been recognized as the sturdy, ruddy youth who hadquitted the Lances of Lynwood but five weeks before.
"Eustace! Eustace!" he exclaimed, as the face of his late companionappeared. "Can it be you? Have the saints sent you to my succour?"
"It is I, myself, Leonard," replied Eustace; "and I hope to aid you.How is it--"
"Let me feel your hand, that I may be sure you are flesh and blood,"cried Ashton, raising himself and grasping Eustace's hand between hisown, which burnt like fire; then, lowering his voice to a whisper ofhorror, "She is a witch!"
"Who?" asked Eustace, making the sign of the cross.
Leonard pointed to a kind of partition which crossed the hut, beyondwhich Eustace could perceive an old hag-like woman, bending over acauldron which was placed on the fire. Having made this effort, hesank back, hiding his face with his cloak, and trembling in every limb.A thrill of dismay passed over the Knight, and the giant, John Ingram,stood shaking like an aspen, pale as death, and crossing himselfperpetually. "Oh, take me from this place, Eustace," repeated Leonard,"or I am a dead man, both body and soul!"
"But how came you here, Leonard?"
"I fell sick some three days since, and--and, fearing infection, SirWilliam Felton bade me be carried from his lodgings; the robbers, hismen-at-arms, stripped me of all I possessed, and brought me to thisdog-hole, to the care of this old hag. Oh, Eustace, I have heard hermutter prayers backwards; and last night--oh! last night! at the deadhour, there came in a procession--of that I would take my oath--sevenblack cats, each holding a torch with a blue flame, and danced aroundme, till one laid his paw upon my breast, and grew and grew, with itsflaming eyes fixed on me, till it was as big as an ox, and the weightwas intolerable, the while her spells were over me, and I could notopen my lips to say so much as an Ave Mary. At last, the cold dewbroke out on my brow, and I should have been dead in another instant,when I contrived to make the sign of the Cross, whereat they allwhirled wildly round, and I fell--oh! I fell miles and miles downwards,till at last I found myself, at morning's light, with the hateful oldwitch casting water in my face. Oh, Eustace, take me away!"
Such were the times, that Eustace Lynwood, with all his cool sense andmental cultivation, believed implicitly poor Leonard's deliriousfancy--black cats and all; and the glances he cast at the poor oldSpaniard were scarcely less full of terror and abhorrence, as hepromised Leonard, whom he now regarded only in the light of his oldcomrade, that he should, without loss of time, be conveyed to his owntent.
"But go not--leave me not," implored Leonard, clinging fast to him,almost like a child to its nurse, with a hand which was now cold asmarble.
"No; I will remain," said Eustace; "and you, Ingram, hasten to bringfour of the men with the litter in which Master d'Aubricour came fromBurgos. Hasten I tell you."
Ingram, with his eyes dilated with horror, appeared but too anxious toquit this den, yet lingered. "I leave you not here, Sir Knight."
"Thanks, thanks, John," replied the youth; "but remain I must, andwill. As a Christian man, I defy the foul fiend and all his followers!"
John departed. Never was Leonard so inclined to rejoice in hisfriend's clerkly education, or in his knighthood, which was then somuch regarded as a holy thing, that the presence of one whose entranceinto the order was so recent was deemed a protection. The old woman, akind-hearted creature in the main, though, certainly forbidding-lookingin her poverty and ugliness, was rejoiced to see her patient visited bya friend. She came towards them, addressing Eustace with what he tookfor a spell, though, had he understood Spanish he would have found it afine flowing compliment. Leonard shrank closer to him, pressed hishand faster, and he, again crossing himself, gave utterance to a charm.Spanish, especially old Castilian, had likeness enough to Latin for thepoor old woman to recognize its purport; she poured out a volublevindication, which the two young men believed to be an attempt atfurther bewitching them. Eustace, finding his Latin rather the worsefor wear, had recourse to all the strange rhymes, or exorcisms,English, French, or Latin, with which his memory supplied him. Thanksto these, the sorceress was kept at bay, and the spirits of histerrified companion were sustained till the arrival of all the Lancesof Lynwood, headed by Gaston himself, upon his mule, in the utmostanxiety for his Knight, looking as gaunt and spectral as the phantomsthey dreaded. He blessed the saints when Eustace came forth safe andsound, and smiled and shook his head with an arch look when Leonard wascarried out; but his never-failing good-nature prevented him fromsaying a word which might savour of reproach when he saw to what acondition the poor youth was reduced. As four stout men-at-arms tookup the litter, the old woman, coming forth to her threshold, utteredsomething which his knowledge of the Romanesque tongues of SouthernFrance enabled him to interpret into a vindication of her character,and a request for a reward for her care of the sick Englishman.
"Throw her a gold piece, Sir Eustace, or she may cast at you an evileye. There, you old hag," he added in the Provencal patois, "takethat, and thank your stars that 'tis not with a fire that your tendercare, as you call it, is requited."
The men-at-arms meditated ducking the witch after their own Englishfashion, but it was growing late and dark, and the Knight gave strictorders that they should keep together in their progress to their owntents. Here Leonard was deposited on the couch which Gaston insistedon giving up to him; but his change of residence appeared to be oflittle advantage, for the camp was scarce quiet for the night, beforehe shrieked out that the black cats were there. Neither Eustace norGaston could see them, but that was only a proof that they were notunder the power of the enchantment, and John Ingram was quite sure thathe had not only seen the sparkle of their fiery eyes, but felt thescratch of their talons, which struck him to the ground, with his footcaught in the rope of the tent, while he was walking about with hiseyes shut.
The scratch was actually on his face the next morning, and he set outat the head of half the Lances of Lynwood to find the poor old woman,and visit her with condign punishment; but she was not forthcoming, andthey were obliged to content themselves with burning her house,assisted by a host of idlers. In the meantime, Sir Eustace had calledin the aid of the clergy: the chaplains of the camp came in procession,sprinkled the patient's bed with holy water, and uttered an exorcism,but without availing to prevent a third visit from the enemy. Afterthis, however, Leonard's fever began to abate, and he ceased to behaunted.
He had been very ill; and, thoroughly alarmed, he thought himselfdying, and bitterly did he repent of the headstrong insubordination andjealously which had lead him to quit his best and only friend. He hadnot, indeed, the refinement of feeling which would have made Eustace'sgenerosity his greatest reproach; he clung to him as his support, andreceived his attentions almost as a right; but still he was sensiblethat he had acted like a fool, and that such friendship was not to bethrown away; and when he began to recover he showed himself subdued, toa certain degree grateful, and decidedly less sullen and more amenableto authority.
In the meantime, the Prince of Wales found himself sufficientlyrecovered to undertake to return to Aquitaine, and, weary of thetreacherous delays and flagrant crimes of his ally, he resol
ved to quitthis fatal land of Castile.
There was a general cry of joy throughout the camp when orders weregiven that the tents should be struck and the army begin its march inthe early coolness of the next morning; and, without further adventure,the Black Prince led his weakened and reduced forces over the Pyreneesback into France. Here they were again dispersed, as the war was at anend; and the young Sir Eustace Lynwood received high commendation fromthe Prince, and even from Chandos himself, for being able to show hisbrother's band as complete in numbers and discipline as on the day whenit was given into his charge.
"This," as Chandos said, "was a service which really showed him worthyof his spurs, if he would but continue the good course."
The peace with France, however, prevented the Prince from beingdesirous of keeping up the Lances of Lynwood, and he therefore offeredto take their young leader into his own troop of Knights, who weremaintained at his own table, and formed a part of his state; and sodistinguished was this body, that no higher favour could have beenoffered. Edward likewise paid to Sir Eustace a considerable sum as thepurchase of his illustrious captive, and this, together with theransoms of the two other prisoners, enabled him to reward the faithfulmen-at-arms, some of whom took service with other Knights, and othersreturned to England. Leonard Ashton having no pleasant reminiscencesof his first campaign, and having been stripped of all his property byhis chosen associates, was desirous of returning to his father; andEustace, after restoring his equipments to something befitting anEsquire of property, and liberally supplying him with the expenses ofhis journey, bade him an affectionate farewell, and saw him depart, notwithout satisfaction at no longer feeling himself accountable for hisconduct.
"There he goes," said Gaston, "and I should like to hear the tales hewill amaze the good Somersetshire folk with. I trow he will make thembelieve that he took Du Guesclin himself, and that the Prince knightedyou by mistake."
"His tale of the witches will be something monstrous," said Eustace;"but still, methinks he is much the better for his expedition: far lesscrabbed in temper, and less clownish in manners."
"Ay," said Gaston, "if he were never to be under any other guidancethan yours, I think the tough ash-bough might be moulded into somethingless unshapely. You have a calmness and a temper such as he cannotwithstand, nor I understand. 'Tis not want of spirit, but it is thatyou never seem to take or see what is meant for affront. I should thinkit tameness in any other."
"Well, poor fellow, I wish he may prosper," said Eustace. "But now,Gaston, to our own affairs. Let us see what remains of the gold."
"Ah! your bounty to our friend there has drawn deeply on our purse,"said Gaston.
"It shall not be the worse for you, Gaston, for I had set aside thesethirty golden crowns for you before I broke upon my own store. It isnot such a recompense as Reginald or I myself would have wished aftersuch loving and faithful service; but gold may never recompense truth."
"As for recompense," said Gaston, "I should be by a long score thedebtor if we came to that. If it had not been for Sir Reginald, Ishould be by this time a reckless freebooter, without a hope in thisworld or the next; if it had not been for you, these bones of minewould long since have been picked by my cousins, the Spanish wolves.But let the gold tarry in your keeping: it were better King Edward'sgood crowns should not be, after all else that has been, in my hands."
"But, Gaston, you will need fitting out for the service of Sir WilliamBeauchamp."
"What! What mean you, Sir Eustace?" cried Gaston. "What have I donethat you should dismiss me from your followers?"
"Nay, kind Gaston, it were shame that so finished a Squire should bebound down by my poverty to be the sole follower of a banner which willnever again be displayed at the head of such a band as the Lances ofLynwood."
"No, Sir Eustace, I leave you not. Recall your brother's words, 'Gonot back to old ways and comrades,' quoth he; and if you cast me off,what else is left for me? for having once served a banneret, no othershall have my service. Where else should I find one who would care afeather whether I am dead or alive? So there it ends--put up yourpieces, or rather, give me one wherewith to purvey a new bridle forBrigliador, for the present is far from worthy of his name."
Accordingly, the Gascon Squire still remained attached to Eustace'sservice, while the trusty Englishman, John Ingram, performed the moremenial offices. Time sped away at the court of Bordeaux; the gallantDu Guesclin was restored to liberty, after twice paying away his ransomfor the deliverance of his less renowned brethren in captivity, andEnrique of Trastamare, returning to Castile, was once more crowned bythe inhabitants. His brother Pedro, attempting to assassinate him,fell by his hand, and all the consequences of the English expeditionwere undone--all, save the wasting disease that preyed on England'sheir, and the desolation at the orphaned hearth of Lynwood Keep.