After London; Or, Wild England
Page 25
CHAPTER XIX
FIGHTING
Twice Felix saw the king. Once there was a review of the horse outsidethe camp, and Felix, having to attend with his master's third charger (amere show and affectation, for there was not the least chance of hisneeding it), was now and then very near the monarch. For that day atleast he looked every whit what fame had reported him to be. A man ofunusual size, his bulk rendered him conspicuous in the front of thethrong. His massive head seemed to accord well with the possession ofdespotic power.
The brow was a little bare, for he was no longer young, but the back ofhis head was covered with thick ringlets of brown hair, so thick as topartly conceal the coronet of gold which he wore. A short purple cloak,scarcely reaching to the waist, was thrown back off his shoulders, sothat his steel corselet glistened in the sun. It was the only armour hehad on; a long sword hung at his side. He rode a powerful black horse,full eighteen hands high, by far the finest animal on the ground; herequired it, for his weight must have been great. Felix passed nearenough to note that his eyes were brown, and the expression of his faceopen, frank, and pleasing. The impression left upon the observer wasthat of a strong intellect, but a still stronger physique, which lattertoo often ran away with and controlled the former. No one could lookupon him without admiration, and it was difficult to think that he couldso demean himself as to wallow in the grossest indulgence.
As for the review, though it was a brilliant scene, Felix could notconceal from himself that these gallant knights were extremely irregularin their movements, and not one single evolution was performedcorrectly, because they were constantly quarrelling about precedence,and one would not consent to follow the other. He soon understood,however, that discipline was not the object, nor regularity considered;personal courage and personal dexterity were everything. This review wasthe prelude to active operations, and Felix now hoped to have somepractical lessons in warfare.
He was mistaken. Instead of a grand assault, or a regular approach, thefighting was merely a series of combats between small detachments andbodies of the enemy. Two or three knights with their retainers andslaves would start forth, cross the stream, and riding right past thebesieged city endeavour to sack some small hamlet, or the homestead of anoble. From the city a sortie would ensue; sometimes the two bodies onlythreatened each other at a distance, the first retiring as the secondadvanced. Sometimes only a few arrows were discharged; occasionally theycame to blows, but the casualties were rarely heavy.
One such party, while returning, was followed by a squadron of horsemenfrom the town towards the stream to within three hundred yards of theking's quarters. Incensed at this assurance, several knights mountedtheir horses and rode out to reinforce the returning detachment, whichwas loaded with booty. Finding themselves about to be supported, theythrew down their spoils, faced about, and Felix saw for the first time areal and desperate _melee_. It was over in five minutes. The king'sknights, far better horsed, and filled with desire to exhibit theirvalour to the camp, charged with such fury that they overthrew the enemyand rode over him.
Felix saw the troops meet; there was a crash and cracking as the lancesbroke, four or five rolled from the saddle on the trodden corn, and thenext moment the entangled mass of men and horses unwound itself as theenemy hastened back to the walls. Felix was eager to join in such anaffray, but he had no horse nor weapon. Upon another occasion early onebright morning four knights and their followers, about forty in all,deliberately set out from the camp, and advanced up the sloping groundtowards the city. The camp was soon astir watching their proceedings;and the king, being made acquainted with what was going on, came outfrom his booth. Felix, who now entered the circular entrenchment withoutany difficulty, got up on the mound with scores of others, where,holding to the stakes, they had a good view.
The king stood on a bench and watched the troops advance, shading hiseyes with his hand. As it was but half a mile to the walls they couldsee all that took place. When the knights had got within two hundredyards and arrows began to drop amongst them, they dismounted from theirhorses and left them in charge of the grooms, who walked them up anddown, none remaining still a minute, so as to escape the aim of theenemy's archers. Then drawing their swords, the knights, who were infull armour, put themselves at the head of the band, and advanced at asteady pace to the wall. In their mail with their shields before themthey cared not for such feeble archery, nor even for the darts thatpoured upon them when they came within reach. There was no fosse to thewall, so that, pushing forward, they were soon at the foot. So easilyhad they reached it that Felix almost thought the city already won. Nowhe saw blocks of stone, darts, and beams of wood cast at them from theparapet, which was not more than twelve feet above the ground.
Quite undismayed, the knights set up their ladders, of which they hadbut four, one each. The men-at-arms held these by main force against thewall, the besiegers trying to throw them away, and chopping at the rungswith their axes. But the ladders were well shod with iron to resist suchblows, and in a moment Felix saw, with intense delight and admiration,the four knights slowly mount to the parapet and cut at the defenderswith their swords. The gleam of steel was distinctly visible as theblades rose and fell. The enemy thrust at them with pikes, but seemed toshrink from closer combat, and a moment afterwards the gallant fourstood on the top of the wall. Their figures, clad in mail and shield inhand, were distinctly seen against the sky. Up swarmed the men-at-armsbehind them, and some seemed to descend on the other side. A shout rosefrom the camp and echoed over the woods. Felix shouted with the rest,wild with excitement.
The next minute, while yet the knights stood on the wall, and scarcelyseemed to know what to do next, there appeared at least a dozen men inarmour running along the wall towards them. Felix afterwards understoodthat the ease with which the four won the wall at first was owing tothere being no men of knightly rank among the defenders at that earlyhour. Those who had collected to repulse the assault were citizens,retainers, slaves, any, in fact who had been near. But now the news hadreached the enemy's leaders, and some of them hastened to the wall. Asthese were seen approaching, the camp was hushed, and every eye strainedon the combatants.
The noble four could not all meet their assailants, the wall was butwide enough for two to fight; but the other two had work enough the nextminute, as eight or ten more men in mail advanced the other way. So theyfought back to back, two facing one way, and two the other. The swordsrose and fell. Felix saw a flash of light fly up into the air, it wasthe point of a sword broken off short. At the foot of the wall the menwho had not had time to mount endeavoured to assist their masters bystabbing upwards with their spears.
All at once two of the knights were hurled from the wall; one seemed tobe caught by his men, the other came heavily to the ground. While theywere fighting their immediate antagonists, others within the wall hadcome with lances; and literally thrust them from the parapet. The othertwo still fought back to back for a moment; then, finding themselvesoverwhelmed, they sprang down among their friends.
The minute the two first fell, the grooms with the horses ran towardsthe wall, and despite the rain of arrows, darts, and stones from theparapet, Felix saw with relief three of the four knights placed on theirchargers. One only could sit upright unassisted, two were supported intheir saddles, and the fourth was carried by his retainers. Thus theyretreated, and apparently without further hurt, for the enemy on thewall crowded so much together as to interfere with the aim of theirdarts, which, too, soon fell short. But there was a dark heap beneaththe wall, where ten or twelve retainers and slaves, who wore no armour,had been slain or disabled. Upon these the loss invariably fell.
None attempted to follow the retreating party, who slowly returnedtowards the camp, and were soon apparently in safety. But suddenly afresh party of the enemy appeared upon the wall, and the instantafterwards three retainers dropped, as if struck by lightning. They hadbeen hit by sling stones, whirled with great force by practisedslingers. These rounded pebbles c
ome with such impetus as to stun a manat two hundred yards. The aim, it is true, is uncertain, but where thereis a body of troops they are sure to strike some one. Hastening on,leaving the three fallen men where they lay, the rest in two minuteswere out of range, and came safely into camp. Everyone, as they crossedthe stream, ran to meet them, the king included, and as he passed in thethrong, Felix heard him remark that they had had a capital main of cocksthat morning.
Of the knights only one was much injured; he had fallen upon a stone,and two ribs were broken; the rest suffered from severe bruises, but hadno wound. Six men-at-arms were missing, probably prisoners, for, ascourageous as their masters, they had leapt down from the wall into thetown. Eleven other retainers or slaves were slain, or had deserted, orwere prisoners, and no trouble was taken about them. As for the threewho were knocked over by the sling stones, there they lay until theyrecovered their senses, when they crawled into camp. This incidentcooled Felix's ardour for the fray, for he reflected that, if injuredthus, he too, as a mere groom, would be left. The devotion of theretainers to save and succour their masters was almost heroic. Themailed knights thought no more of their men, unless it was someparticular favourite, than of a hound slashed by a boar's tusk in thechase.
When the first flush of his excitement had passed, Felix, thinking overthe scene of the morning as he took his horses down to water at thestream, became filled at first with contempt, and then with indignation.That the first commander of the age should thus look on while the wallwas won before his eyes, and yet never send a strong detachment, or movehimself with his whole army to follow up the advantage, seemed pastunderstanding. If he did not intend to follow it up, why permit suchdesperate ventures, which must be overwhelmed by mere numbers, and couldresult only in the loss of brave men? And if he did permit it, why didhe not, when he saw they were overthrown, send a squadron to cover theirretreat? To call such an exhibition of courage "a main of cocks", tolook on it as a mere display for his amusement, was barbarous and cruelin the extreme. He worked himself up into a state of anger whichrendered him less cautious than usual in expressing his opinions.
The king was not nearly so much at fault as Felix, arguing on abstractprinciples, imagined. He had long experience of war, and he knew itsextreme uncertainty. The issue of the greatest battle often hung on theconduct of a single leader, or even a single man-at-arms. He had seenwalls won and lost before. To follow up such a venture with a strongdetachment must result in one of two things, either the detachment inits turn must be supported by the entire army, or it must eventuallyretreat. If it retreated, the loss of prestige would be serious, andmight encourage the enemy to attack the camp, for it was only hisprestige which prevented them. If supported by the entire army, then thefate of the whole expedition depended upon that single day.
The enemy had the advantage of the wall, of the narrow streets andenclosures within, of the houses, each of which would become a fortress,and thus in the winding streets a repulse might easily happen. To risksuch an event would be folly in the last degree, before the town hadbeen dispirited and discouraged by the continuance of the siege, thefailure of their provisions, or the fall of their chief leaders in thedaily combats that took place.
The army had no discipline whatever, beyond that of the attachment ofthe retainer to his lord, and the dread of punishment on the part of theslave. There were no distinct ranks, no organized corps. The knightsfollowed the greater barons, the retainers the knights; the greaterbarons followed the king. Such an army could not be risked in an assaultof this kind. The venture was not ordered, nor was it discouraged; todiscourage, indeed, all attempts would have been bad policy; it was uponthe courage and bravery of his knights that the king depended, and uponthat alone rested his hopes of victory.
The great baron whose standard they followed would have sent themassistance if he had deemed it necessary. The king, unless on the day ofbattle, would not trouble about such a detail. As for the remark, thatthey had had "a good main of cocks that morning," he simply expressedthe feeling of the whole camp. The spectacle Felix had seen was, infact, merely an instance of the strength and of the weakness of the armyand the monarch himself.
Felix afterwards acknowledged these things to himself, but at themoment, full of admiration for the bravery of the four knights and theirfollowers, he was full of indignation, and uttered his views too freely.His fellow-grooms cautioned him; but his spirit was up, and he gave wayto his feelings without restraint. Now, to laugh at the king'sweaknesses, his gluttony or follies, was one thing; to criticise hismilitary conduct was another. The one was merely badinage, and the kinghimself might have laughed had he heard it; the other was treason, and,moreover, likely to touch the monarch on the delicate matter of militaryreputation.
Of this Felix quickly became aware. His mates, indeed, tried to shieldhim; but possibly the citizen, his master, had enemies in the camp,barons, perhaps, to whom he had lent money, and who watched for a chanceof securing his downfall. At all events, early the next day Felix wasrudely arrested by the provost in person, bound with cords, and placedin the provost's booth. At the same time, his master was ordered toremain within, and a guard was put over him.