After London; Or, Wild England

by Richard Jefferies

  CHAPTER III

  THE STOCKADE

  When Oliver and Felix started, they left Philip, the third and youngestof the three brothers, still at breakfast. They turned to the left, ongetting out of doors, and again to the left, through the covered passagebetween the steward's store and the kitchen. Then crossing the waggonyard, they paused a moment to glance in at the forge, where two men wererepairing part of a plough.

  Oliver must also look for a moment at his mare, after which theydirected their steps to the South Gate. The massive oaken door was open,the bolts having been drawn back at hornblow. There was a guard-room onone side of the gate under the platform in the corner, where there wasalways supposed to be a watch.

  But in times of peace, and when there were no apprehensions of attack,the men whose turn it was to watch there were often called away for atime to assist in some labour going forward, and at that moment werehelping to move the woolpacks farther into the warehouse. Still theywere close at hand, and had the day watchman or warder, who was now onthe roof, blown his horn, would have rushed direct to the gate. Felixdid not like this relaxation of discipline. His precise ideas were upsetat the absence of the guard; method, organization, and precision, werethe characteristics of his mind, and this kind of uncertainty irritatedhim.

  "I wish Sir Constans would insist on the guard being kept," he remarked.Children, in speaking of their parents, invariably gave them theirtitles. Now their father's title was properly "my lord," as he was abaron, and one of the most ancient. But he had so long abnegated theexercise of his rights and privileges, sinking the noble in themechanician, that men had forgotten the proper style in which theyshould address him. "Sir" was applied to all nobles, whether theypossessed estates or not. The brothers were invariably addressed as SirFelix or Sir Oliver. It marked, therefore, the low estimation in whichthe Baron was held when even his own sons spoke of him by that title.

  Oliver, though a military man by profession, laughed at Felix's strictview of the guards' duties. Familiarity with danger, and naturalcarelessness, had rendered him contemptuous of it.

  "There's no risk," said he, "that I can see. Who could attack us? TheBushmen would never dream of it; the Romany would be seen coming daysbeforehand; we are too far from the Lake for the pirates; and as we arenot great people, as we might have been, we need dread no privateenmity. Besides which, any assailants must pass the stockades first."

  "Quite true. Still I don't like it; it is a loose way of doing things."

  Outside the gate they followed the waggon track, or South Road, forabout half a mile. It crossed meadows parted by low hedges, and theyremarked, as they went, on the shortness of the grass, which, for wantof rain, was not nearly fit for mowing. Last year there had been a badwheat crop; this year there was at present scarcely any grass. Thesematters were of the highest importance; peace or war, famine or plenty,might depend upon the weather of the next few months.

  The meadows, besides being divided by the hedges, kept purposely croppedlow, were surrounded, like all the cultivated lands, by high and strongstockades. Half a mile down the South Road they left the track, andfollowing a footpath some few hundred yards, came to the pool whereOliver had bathed that morning. The river, which ran through theenclosed grounds, was very shallow, for they were near its source in thehills, but just there it widened, and filled a depression fifty or sixtyyards across, which was deep enough for swimming. Beyond the pool thestream curved and left the enclosure; the stockade, or at least an openwork of poles, was continued across it. This work permitted the streamto flow freely, but was sufficiently close to exclude any one who mightattempt to enter by creeping up the bed of the river.

  They crossed the river just above the pool by some stepping-stones,large blocks rolled in for the purpose, and approached the stockade. Itwas formed of small but entire trees, young elms, firs, or very thickash-poles, driven in a double row into the earth, the first or inner rowside by side, the outer row filling the interstices, and the whole boundtogether at the bottom by split willow woven in and out. Thisinterweaving extended only about three feet up, and was intended firstto bind the structure together, and secondly to exclude small animalswhich might creep in between the stakes. The reason it was not carriedall up was that it should not afford a footing to human thieves desirousof climbing over.

  The smooth poles by themselves afforded no notch or foothold for aBushman's naked foot. They rose nine or ten feet above the willow, sothat the total height of the palisade was about twelve feet, and thetops of the stakes were sharpened. The construction of such palisadesrequired great labour, and could be carried out only by those who couldcommand the services of numbers of men, so that a small proprietor wasimpossible, unless within the walls of a town. This particular stockadewas by no means an extensive one, in comparison with the estates of moreprominent nobles.

  The enclosure immediately surrounding the Old House was of an irregularoval shape, perhaps a mile long, and not quite three-quarters of a milewide, the house being situated towards the northern and higher end ofthe oval. The river crossed it, entering on the west and leaving on theeastern side. The enclosure was for the greater part meadow and pasture,for here the cattle were kept, which supplied the house with milk,cheese, and butter, while others intended for slaughter were driven inhere for the last months of fattening.

  The horses in actual use for riding, or for the waggons, were alsoturned out here temporarily. There were two pens and rickyards withinit, one beside the river, one farther down. The South Road ran almostdown the centre, passing both rickyards, and leaving the stockade at thesouthern end by a gate, called the barrier. At the northern extremity ofthe oval the palisade passed within three hundred yards of the house,and there was another barrier, to which the road led from the MapleGate, which has been mentioned. From thence it went across the hills tothe town of Ponze. Thus, anyone approaching the Old House had first topass the barrier and get inside the palisade.

  At each barrier there was a cottage and a guard-room, though, as amatter of fact, the watch was kept in peaceful times even morecarelessly than at the inner gates of the wall about the House itself.Much the same plan, with local variations, was pursued on the otherestates of the province, though the stockade at the Old House wasremarkable for the care and skill with which it had been constructed.Part of the duty of the watchman on the roof was to keep an eye on thebarriers, which he could see from his elevated position.

  In case of an incursion of gipsies, or any danger, the guard at thebarrier was supposed to at once close the gate, blow a horn, and exhibita flag. Upon hearing the horn or observing the flag, the warder on theroof raised the alarm, and assistance was sent. Such was the system, butas no attack had taken place for some years the discipline had grownlax.

  After crossing on the stepping-stones Oliver and Felix were soon underthe stockade which ran high above them, and was apparently as difficultto get out of as to get into. By the strict law of the estate, anyperson who left the stockade except by the public barrier renderedhimself liable to the lash or imprisonment. Any person, even a retainer,endeavouring to enter from without by pole, ladder, or rope, might bekilled with an arrow or dart, putting himself into the position of anoutlaw. In practice, of course, this law was frequently evaded. It didnot apply to the family of the owner.

  Under some bushes by the palisade was a ladder of rope, the rungs,however, of wood. Putting his fishing-tackle and boar spear down, Olivertook the ladder and threw the end over the stockade. He then picked up apole with a fork at the end from the bushes, left there, of course, forthe purpose, and with the fork pushed the rungs over till the ladder wasadjusted, half within and half without the palisade. It hung by thewooden rungs which caught the tops of the stakes. He then went up, andwhen at the top, leant over and drew up the outer part of the ladder onerung, which he put the inner side of the palisade, so that ontransferring his weight to the outer side it might uphold him. Otherwisethe ladder, when he got over the points of the stakes, must have slipped
the distance between one rung and a second.

  Having adjusted this, he got over, and Felix carrying up the spears andtackle handed them to him. Felix followed, and thus in three minutesthey were on the outer side of the stockade. Originally the ground fortwenty yards, all round outside the stockade, had been cleared of treesand bushes that they might not harbour vermin, or thorn-hogs, orfacilitate the approach of human enemies. Part of the weekly work of thebailiffs was to walk round the entire circumference of the stockade tosee that it was in order, and to have any bushes removed that began togrow up. As with other matters, however, in the lapse of time thebailiffs became remiss, and under the easy, and perhaps too mercifulrule of Sir Constans, were not recalled to their duties with sufficientsharpness.

  Brambles and thorns and other underwood had begun to cover the spacethat should have been open, and young sapling oaks had risen fromdropped acorns. Felix pointed this out to Oliver, who seldom accompaniedhim; he was indeed rather glad of the opportunity to do so, as Oliverhad more interest with Sir Constans than himself. Oliver admitted itshowed great negligence, but added that after all it really did notmatter. "What I wish," said he, "is that Sir Constans would go to Court,and take his proper position."

  Upon this they were well agreed; it was, in fact, almost the only pointupon which all three brothers did agree. They sometimes talked about ittill they separated in a furious temper, not with each other but withhim. There was a distinct track of footsteps through the narrow band oflow brambles and underwood between the stockade and the forest. This hadbeen made by Felix in his daily visits to his canoe.

  The forest there consisted principally of hawthorn-trees and thornthickets, with some scattered oaks and ashes; the timber was sparse, butthe fern was now fast rising up so thick, that in the height of summerit would be difficult to walk through it. The tips of the frondsunrolling were now not up to the knee; then the brake would reach to theshoulder. The path wound round the thickets (the blackthorn being quiteimpenetrable except with the axe) and came again to the river some fouror five hundred yards from the stockade. The stream, which ran from westto east through the enclosure, here turned and went due south.

  On the bank Felix had found a fine black poplar, the largest andstraightest and best grown of that sort for some distance round, andthis he had selected for his canoe. Stones broke the current here intoeddies, below which there were deep holes and gullies where alders hungover, and an ever-rustling aspen spread the shadow of its boughs acrossthe water. The light-coloured mud, formed of disintegrated chalk, on thefarther and shallower side was only partly hidden by flags and sedges,which like a richer and more alluvial earth. Nor did the bushes growvery densely on this soil over the chalk, so that there was more roomfor casting the fly than is usually the case where a stream runs througha forest. Oliver, after getting his tackle in order, at once began tocast, while Felix, hanging his doublet on an oft-used branch, andleaning his spear against a tree, took his chisels and gouge from theflag basket.

  He had chosen the black poplar for the canoe because it was the lightestwood, and would float best. To fell so large a tree had been a greatlabour, for the axes were of poor quality, cut badly, and often requiredsharpening. He could easily have ordered half-a-dozen men to throw thetree, and they would have obeyed immediately; but then the individualityand interest of the work would have been lost. Unless he did it himselfits importance and value to him would have been diminished. It had nowbeen down some weeks, had been hewn into outward shape, and the largerpart of the interior slowly dug away with chisel and gouge.

  He had commenced while the hawthorn was just putting forth its firstspray, when the thickets and the trees were yet bare. Now the May bloomscented the air, the forest was green, and his work approachedcompletion. There remained, indeed, but some final shaping and roundingoff, and the construction, or rather cutting out, of a secret locker inthe stern. This locker was nothing more than a square aperture chiselledout like a mortice, entering not from above but parallel with thebottom, and was to be closed with a tight-fitting piece of wood drivenin by force of mallet.

  A little paint would then conceal the slight chinks, and the boat mightbe examined in every possible way without any trace of this hiding-placebeing observed. The canoe was some eleven feet long, and nearly threefeet in the beam; it tapered at either end, so that it might bepropelled backwards or forwards without turning, and stem and stern(interchangeable definitions in this case) each rose a few inches higherthan the general gunwale. The sides were about two inches thick, thebottom three, so that although dug out from light wood the canoe wasrather heavy.

  At first Felix constructed a light shed of fir poles roofed withspruce-fir branches over the log, so that he might work sheltered fromthe bitter winds of the early spring. As the warmth increased he hadtaken the shed down, and now as the sun rose higher was glad of theshade of an adjacent beech.