II
Indeed they had few of them much joy in that Castle where at first theyhad thought to have had great mirth. Only three days before AdamSwinburn, that had sworn to stand their friend, had ridden to a knollnear at hand and had asked to have speech with Sir Symonde Vesey, whowas more his friend than the others. So Sir Symonde had gone to alittle window that was near the ground in the tower called Constance,and from there had spoken with him. And Adam Swinburn had said that inno way could he any longer promise to aid them, for it was grown toodangerous. He preferred to rob upon the roads. And he counselled themvery strongly to make a peace with the Young Lovell who was gatheringmany men, all the countryside being his friends, and had sworn to hangevery man of them that was a leader from the White Tower, and to put hissisters into nunneries. And he said that John of Rokehope and JamesCra'ster the younger, as well as Haggerston and Lame Cresswell, whodesired to make their peace with King Henry, were all of like mind withhim.
It was upon his homeward journey from saying this that Adam Swinburn hadcome upon the Princess Rohtraut and Bertram of Lyonesse.
All these people, Cra'ster, Haggerston, Lame Cresswell, Adam Swinburn,and others had, in the earlier days of their being at Castle Lovell,held high revel there with them. They were mostly rude and boisterousgentry of very good family who, having been ruined fighting for oragainst King Edward IV, King Richard or King Henry, were outlawed andlived by robbery, which was also the case with Sir Henry Vesey, ofWallhouses. And when those of the Castle had at first seemed to betriumphing these raiders had made great cause with them. They hopedthat thus they might get their lands again of the King. So they hadfeasted there and drunk and slept in one tower or another along thewalls, and had sworn to hold those towers if ever Castle Lovell wasattacked.
But, by little and little, all of these gentry had wanted money, and ofthat those of that Castle had very little or none at all to give them.All the old Lord Lovell's money was in the White Tower, and the bondsmenand other feudal debtors of Castle Lovell refused them their dues.
These things were very sore blows to those of the Castle. They hadhoped that Richard Bek, the captain of the White Tower, would surrenderthat money to them so that they would have been able to give some of itto those boon companions. But Richard Bek would not even answer theirsummonses; and when they had begged the outlaws to aid them to take theWhite Tower, James Cra'ster had answered courteously for the rest thatthey would very willingly have done it had they had wings, but they werenot gannets nor yet the angels of God, and so they could not. It wasthe same thing when those of the Castle asked the outlaws to ride downamong the bondsmen that would not pay their rent-hens. None of themwould do it.
For the truth of the matter was that Adam Swinburn and the rest were toogood friends of Hugh Raket, Barty of the Comb, Corbit Jock, the WidowTaylor with her seven able sons, and the rest. They were the mostcapable rievers that they could find to ride under their leadership intoScotland or elsewhere. Even Sir Henry Vesey, of Wallhouses, had theiraid and company at times.
For the matter of that, Sir Henry Vesey, of Wallhouses, was not so veryeager to aid them of the Castle; as the time went on he grew less keenabout it. For what they got out of it beyond the shelter of the stonewalls he could not tell.
At the first his brother and Sir Walter Limousin had promised him hisshare of the plunder in the Castle and the money in the White Tower.But the plunder in the Castle had been a small matter. It was not muchthey had got for the armour sold to Morpeth, though he had taken some ofthe best pieces and sent them for safety to Wallhouses; they had gotvery little for such furnishings and carpets as they had sold to theGerman at Sunderland, and the jewels, as has been told, they could notsell at all.
They had the Castle, but in it not much more than two hundred men, whichwas little to hold so so great a place with. Thus they could not holdit, as castles are held, as a place from which to ride out and rob inthe Borders; they could not spare the men.
So, when Adam Swinburn and the others understood how that case reallywas, they went, one after the other, away from the towers in the wallwhere they had slept with their men. They went with courtesy, sayingthat they would come again and defend those towers if there were need ofit. But the truth of the matter was that all of the fresh meat waseaten, which is a thing very unbearable in summer; the best wine was alldrunk, for they had pressed heavily on the liquors in the early days;they had tired of all the serving maids that there were in the Castle;the Lady Douce was occupied with Sir Henry Vesey; the Lady Isopel wasugly and a shrew. So they had neither desirable wine nor women; notmuch prospect of meat nor gold, and what else should keep them?Therefore they rode away.
Then those of the Castle sat down there to wait until Richard Bek, thecaptain of the White Tower, should surrender, so that they might takethe gold. But that was a long matter. For Richard Bek and his men hadat their command a great store of the best commodities that had belongedto the late lord. He had stored them in that strong place that was madefor it. Sugar even they had and pepper and pippins, and the best wineand figs in honey. They of the Castle had not even fish for Fridays ornone but salted cod. But they could see Richard Bek and his mencatching fish from the sea with long lines. The water did not come upfar enough to let those in the Castle catch fish even at high tides; butto the foot of the White Tower which was further out it came at alltimes, and the Lord Lovell, under the directions of the Frenchcastle-builder, had had the rocks there hollowed away so that a boatcould ride there very comfortably when the weather was not too rough.Nevertheless, over that sort of boat-house a machicolation jutted out,so that the boats of any enemy could be swamped with great stones or setburning by means of Greek fire.
Thus those in the Castle could perceive those of the Tower receivingfrom the sea the carcases of sheep, goats, and small bullocks, so thatthose men lived very well and comfortably, and there seemed littlereason for their ever rendering up that place which the Lord Lovell hadbuilt very cunningly for just such an occasion. Of wheat in the Castlethey had a sufficient store, and also of salt meat and stock fish.
For two of the towers in the outer wall, that called Constance and thatcalled de Insula, after the Bishop of that name, were nothing less thanthe one a wheat pit and the other a brine cistern. Those towerscontained a chamber each, in the upper story, but all beneath it, to theground, was windowless space. In the brine that filled thus the towerConstance there floated the carcases of two thousand sheep, one thousandswine, five hundred goats, and five hundred oxen.
Thus they had enough of that sort of food, and in addition they had agreat quantity of peas in a barn. But of fresh meat they had none atall. When they wished for it they must send for beasts to Cullerford orHaltwhistle, and on the second occasion that they did this they lostfourteen steers and a quantity of sheep and goats. For, as their mendrove these beasts along by the Roman Wall, in a very lonely spot, therecame springing down upon them a great number of men well armed, but withtheir faces blacked. These killed two of the Castle Lovell men anddrove away all their cattle through a gap in the Wall towards the North.Those in the Castle thought that this had been done by Haggerston andLame Cresswell, who were fast friends, and by Barty of the Comb and hisfellows. But they had no proof of this, so they could not even fyle abill against them in the Warden's Court. Moreover, three weeks beforethey had heard that a vessel was come to Hartlepool that had a number ofcannon on board and more than she needed for her defence. These theydesired to buy so as to try conclusions with the White Tower. They hadwith them at that season a Ridley of Willimoteswick as a guest. He wasgoing by sea into Holland, and to this Ridley they confided the buyingof such cannon as he could get for them from that ship as well as agreat store of gunpowder, for this Ridley was a very honourable man andthey could well trust him. So they gave him a hundred and fifty pounds.One or other of those knights might have gone on this errand, but bythis time they were all grown very irritable and su
spicious, andbelieved each of them that the others would work him some mischief if hewent away even for a little time. For there they were kicking theirheels in that fine summer weather, without comfort or occupation. Theyhardly dared to ride hunting without such a troop of men-at-arms asscared all the deer out of the woods, and at that season of the yearthey should have been riding into Scotland for their profit and to dofeats of arms. Yet there they sat.
A week after that they had a letter from that Ridley of Willimoteswickto say that he had not bought their cannon and should not. For he hadheard from his cousin Ridley, that was the monk Francis of Belford, howthe Young Lovell was alive that they had sworn to him to be dead.Moreover, that lord had done no sorcery at all, but all that was falsewitnessing. Therefore Ridley of Willimoteswick counselled them veryearnestly to give up that Castle to its rightful lord or he would neverbe their friend again. Moreover, he said that the monk Francis advisedhim that the hundred and fifty pounds they had given him for thepurchase of cannon was no money of theirs but belonged of right to theYoung Lovell. How that might be he did not know, but he was determinedto buy them no cannon and to hold that money in his own hands until therightful ownership should be determined.
Then those of the Castle cried out on the evil that there was in theirworld and time, and that there was neither faith nor truth in man. Theheat blazed down upon them; the Castle stank, and now terror began tocome into their souls so that the women wakening in the night or walkinground the corners of the stony corridors would scream out suddenly. Foron all hands they heard how the Young Lovell's men resorted to him andhow Richard Bek had sent him basketsful of gold from the White Tower,lowering them to boats that came on his behalf in the dawn. And knowinghim as well as they did, they knew that he was a very fierce and cruelman to evil-doers and destroyers of order in his lands.
Then there came those letters from the Bishop and spread dismay amongstthem, for the Lady Isopel had a great dread of priests and raisedperpetual outcry in the Castle, asking that it should be given up to theBishop. So they answered those letters as best they could. Then cameother letters from the Earl of Northumberland in which he reded themvery strongly to give up that Castle and sue for mercy. For, said theEarl, he must now withdraw from them all his countenance and he hadwritten a broad letter to the King in his Council praying him to reversethe judgment that that Earl had given, on false witness brought beforehim, against the Young Lovell.
So, upon that, they sent for all the armed men they had from Cullerfordand Haltwhistle and Wallhouses, and kept men continually on the walls inarms, for they could not tell at what moment the Young Lovell might notbreak in upon them like a raging wolf. And at last Sir Henry Vesey saidthat the moment was come for them to make the best terms that they couldwith their kinsman, and that if they would not he would get him gonefrom that Castle with all his men, for who could tell at what momentthat lord might not burn down Wallhouses itself? Therefore they sent aletter to the Young Lovell at Cramlin Castle where they heard that hewas, saying that if he would surrender to them half his mother's landsand ten thousand pounds in gold they would give up to him that hisCastle and go to live in their own houses and towers, and as for theDecies the Young Lovell might deal with him how he would.
To that letter no answer came and their messenger that bore it nevercame back. Fear fell still more upon them because of this silence, inwhich they seemed to read better than in any letter the menacing natureof their kinsman's fell spirit. And at that time they began to talk ofrunning each to his own home, and this they would have done but thatthey feared that in that way the Young Lovell would fall upon them themore easily, each one in his little tower. Moreover, their own menwould by no means suffer this.
These men were of several minds. Some had been promised great sums ofmoney to come into that Castle, and they would by no means let theKnights of Cullerford and Haltwhistle go unless they had their pay, butproposed to hold them prisoners there in the hope of receiving pay fromthe Young Lovell. Others thought that they could very well hold thatstrong Castle, beat off the Young Lovell and take the White Tower, ifone of their number were elected their captain instead of theseirresolute knights. Others desired to murder those knights and theirladies, and to take the jewels that they had and so to scatter about thecountry each to his own intent.
The men of Sir Henry Vesey were, however, faithful enough to him. Hemade the others pay them at least, though they could not pay their own,and even without it they would have been his very good servants, for hewas always a fortunate commander in raids, being as cunning as a fox andvery brave. So he knew himself to be very safe, and he assured the LadyDouce that she need have no fear, for his men would protect her as wellas him. Of late he had thought much of the Lady Margaret Glororem inthe way of love--more particularly when he had considered the YoungLovell to be dead. And indeed that lady had no hatred for him, sinceshe considered him to be cunning and humorous and brave. And possiblyshe would have married him, for marry somebody a rich young maiden must,be her heart never so broken, in the North.
So, in that time, Sir Henry Vesey and the Lady Douce had quarrelledbitterly, for she was most jealous. But since the Young Lovell had comeagain they were once more friends.
So there they all sat and waited, the Knights of Cullerford andHaltwhistle riding out daily a little way to see what news they mightget. They heard that there was a great gathering of Eures, Ridleys,Widdringtons and others at Glororem, and at the neighbouring Castle ofBamborough where the King's captain gave them shelter. But of where theYoung Lovell might be they could get no news; only they heard that hehad left Cramlin, having with him nearly a hundred men.
Of when he would come against them they could not tell at all; theycould not even tell whether their own men would fight for them. Onlythey thought they might; for the men of the North parts of those dayswere great fighters and would seldom miss an opportunity of a tulzie,unless there was a great football match to go to, and even for thatgenerally they would contrive to leave off a fight for the time being,to resume it after the game was over. And they would do as much for ahorse-race, though they preferred football, as being the more dangerous.