The Story of Francis Cludde

by Stanley John Weyman

  CHAPTER XIV.

  AT BAY IN THE GATEHOUSE.

  What was to be done? That was the question, and a terrible question itwas. Behind us we had the inhospitable country, dark and dreary, thenight wind sweeping over it. In front, where the lights twinkled andthe smoke of the town went up, we were like to meet with a savagereception. And it was no time for weighing alternatives. The choicehad to be made, made in a moment; I marvel to this day at thequickness with which I made it for good or ill.

  "We must get into the town!" I cried imperatively. "And before thealarm is given. It is hopeless to fly, Master Bertie, and we cannotspend another night in the fields. Quick, madam!" I continued to theDuchess, as she came up. I did not wait to hear his opinion, for I sawhe was stunned by the catastrophe. "We have hurt one of the town-guardthrough a mistake. We must get through the gate before it isdiscovered!"

  I seized her rein and flogged up her horse, and gave her no time toask questions, but urged on the party at a hand gallop until the gatewas reached. The attempt, I knew, was desperate, for the two men whohad escaped had ridden straight for the town; but I saw no otherresource, and it seemed to me to be better to surrender peaceably, ifthat were possible, than to expose the women to another night of suchcold and hunger as the last. And fortune so far favored us that whenwe reached the gate it was open. Probably, the patrol having riddenthrough to get help, no one had thought fit to close it; and, no onewithstanding us, we spurred our sobbing horses under the archway andentered the street.

  It was a curious entry, and a curious scene we came upon. I remembernow how strange it all looked. The houses, leaning forward in a dozenquaint forms, clear cut against the pale evening sky, caused adarkness as of a cavern in the narrow street below. Here and there inthe midst of this darkness hung a lantern, which, making the gloomaway from it seem deeper, lit up the things about it, throwing intoflaring prominence some barred window with a scared face peering fromit, some corner with a puddle, a slinking dog, a broken flight ofsteps. Just within the gate stood a brazier full of glowing coal, andbeside it a halbert rested against the wall. I divined that thewatchman had run into the town with the riders, and I drew rein indoubt, listening and looking. I think if we had ridden straight onthen, all might have been well; or, at least, we might have beenallowed to give ourselves up.

  But we hesitated a moment, and were lost. No doubt, though we saw butone, there were a score of people watching us, who took us for fourmen, Master Bertie and I being in front; and these, judging from theboldness of our entry that there were more behind, concluded that thiswas a foray upon the town. At any rate, they took instant advantage ofour pause. With a swift whir an iron pot came hurtling past me, and,missing the Duchess by a hand's-breadth, went clanking under thegatehouse. That served for a signal. In a moment an alarm of hostilecries rose all round us. An arrow whizzed between my horse's feet.Half a dozen odd missiles, snatched up by hasty hands, came raining inon us out of the gloom. The town seemed to be rising as one man. Abell began to ring, and a hundred yards in front, where the streetbranched off to right and left, the way seemed suddenly alive fromwall to wall with lights and voices and brandished arms, the gleam ofsteel, and the babel of a furious crowd--a crowd making down toward uswith a purpose we needed no German to interpret.

  It was a horrible moment; the more horrible that I had not expectedthis fury, and was unnerved as well as taken aback by it. Rememberingthat I had brought my companions here, and that two were women, onewas a child, I quailed. How could I protect them? There was nomistaking the stern meaning of those cries, of that rage so muchsurpassing anything I had feared. Though I did not know that the manwe had struck down was a bridegroom, and that there were those in thecrowd in whose ears the young wife's piercing scream still rang, I yetquailed before their yells and curses.

  As I glanced round for a place of refuge, my eyes lit on an opendoorway close to me, and close also to the brazier and halbert. It wasa low stone doorway, beetle-browed, with a coat of arms carved overit. I saw in an instant that it must lead to the tower above us--thegatehouse; and I sprang from my horse, a fresh yell from the houseshailing the act. I saw that, if we were to gain a moment forparleying, we must take refuge there. I do not know how I did it, butsomehow I made myself understood by the others and got the women offtheir horses and dragged Mistress Anne inside, where at once we bothfell in the darkness over the lower steps of a spiral staircase. Thishindered the Duchess, who was following, and I heard a scuffle takingplace behind us. But in that confined space--the staircase was verynarrow--I could give no help. I could only stumble upward, draggingthe fainting girl after me, until we emerged through an open doorwayat the top into a room. What kind of room I did not notice then, onlythat it was empty. Notice! It was no time for taking notice. The bellwas clanging louder and louder outside. The mob were yelling likehounds in sight of their quarry. The shouts, the confused cries, andthreats, and questions deafened me. I turned to learn what washappening behind me. The other two had not come up.

  I felt my way down again, one hand on the central pillar, my shoulderagainst the outside wall. The stair-foot was faintly lit by the glowfrom outside, and on the bottom step I came on some one, hurt or dead,just a dark mass at my feet. It was Master Bertie. I gave a cry andleaped over his body. The Duchess, brave wife, was standing beforehim, the halbert which she had snatched up presented at the doorwayand the howling mob outside.

  Fortunately the crowd had not yet learned how few we were; nor saw, Ithink, that it was but a woman who confronted them. To rush into thelow doorway and storm the narrow winding staircase in the face ofunknown numbers was a task from which the bravest veterans might haveflinched, and the townsfolk, furious as they were, hung back. I tookadvantage of the pause. I grasped the halbert myself and pushed theDuchess back. "Drag him up!" I muttered. "If you cannot manage it,call Anne!"

  But grief and hard necessity gave her strength, and, despite the noisein front of me, I heard her toil panting up with her burden. When Ijudged she had reached the room above, I too turned and ran up afterher, posting myself in the last angle just below the room. There I wassheltered from missiles by the turn in the staircase, and was furtherprotected by the darkness. Now I could hold the way with little risk,for only one could come up at a time, and he would be a brave man whoshould storm the stairs in my teeth.

  All this, I remember, was done in a kind of desperate frenzy, in hasteand confusion, with no plan or final purpose, but simply out of theinstinct of self-preservation, which led me to do, from moment tomoment, what I could to save our lives. I did not know whether therewas another staircase to the tower, nor whether there were enemiesabove us; whether, indeed, enemies might not swarm in on us from adozen entrances. I had no time to think of more than just this; thatmy staircase, of which I did know, must be held.

  I think I had stood there about a minute, breathing hard and listeningto the din outside, which came to my ears a little softened by thethick walls round me--so much softened, at least, that I could hear myheart beating in the midst of it--when the Duchess came back to thedoor above. I could see her, there being a certain amount of light inthe room behind her, but she could not see me. "What can I do?" sheasked softly.

  I answered by a question. "Is he alive?" I muttered.

  "Yes; but hurt," she answered, struggling with a sob, with afluttering of the woman's heart she had repressed so bravely. "Muchhurt, I fear! Oh, why, why did we come here?"

  She did not mean it as a reproach, but I took it as one, and bracedmyself more firmly to meet this crisis--to save her at least if itshould be any way possible. When she asked again "Can I do anything?"I bade her take my pike and stand where I was for a moment. Since noenemy had yet made his appearance above, the strength of our positionseemed to hold out some hope, and it was the more essential that Ishould understand it and know exactly what our chances were.

  I sprang up the stairs into the room and looked round, my eyes seemingto tak
e in everything at once. It was a big bare room, with signs ofhabitation only in one corner. On the side toward the town was a long,low window, through which--a score of the diamond panes were brokenalready--the flare of the besiegers' torches fell luridly on the wallsand vaulted roof. By the dull embers of a wood fire, over which hung ahuge black pot, Master Bertie was lying on the boards, breathingloudly and painfully, his head pillowed on the Duchess's kerchief.Beside him sat Mistress Anne, her face hidden, the child wailing inher lap. A glance round assured me that there was no other staircase,and that on the side toward the country, the wall was pierced with nowindow bigger than a loophole or an arrow-slit; with no opening whicheven a boy could enter. For the present, therefore, unless the top ofthe tower should be escaladed from the adjacent houses--and I could donothing to provide against that--we had nothing to fear except fromthe staircase and the window I have mentioned. Every moment, however,a missile or a shot crashed through the latter, adding the shiver offalling glass to the general din. No wonder the child wailed and thegirl sank over it in abject terror. Those savage yells might well makea woman blench. They carried more fear and dread to my heart than didthe real danger of our position, desperate as it was.

  And yet it was so desperate that, for a moment, I leant against thewall dazed and hopeless, listening to the infernal tumult without andwithin. Had Bertie been by my side to share the responsibility andjoin in the risk, I could have borne it better. I might have felt thensome of the joy of battle, and the stern pleasure of the one matchedagainst the many. But I was alone. How was I to save these women andthat poor child from the yelling crew outside? How indeed? I did notknow the enemy's language; I could not communicate with him, could notexplain, could not even cry for quarter for the women.

  A stone which glanced from one of the mullions and grazed my shoulderroused me from this fit of cowardice, which, I trust and believe, hadlasted for a few seconds only. At the same moment an unusual volley ofmissiles tore through the window as if discharged at a given signal.We were under cover, and they did us no harm, rolling for the mostpart noisily about the floor. But when the storm ceased and a calm assudden followed, I heard a dull, regular sound close to the window--athud! thud! thud!--and on the instant divined the plan and the danger.My courage came back and with it my wits. I remembered an old taleI had heard, and, dropping my sword where I stood, I flew to thehearth, and unhooked the great pot. It was heavy; half full ofsomething--broth, most likely; but I recked nothing of that, I bore itswiftly to the window, and just as the foremost man on the ladder haddriven in the lead work before him with his ax, flung the whole of thecontents--they were not scalding, but they were very hot--in his face.The fellow shrieked loudly, and, blinded and taken by surprise, losthis hold and fell against his supporter, and both tumbled down againmore quickly than they had come up.

  Sternly triumphant, I poised the great pot itself in my hands,thinking to fling it down upon the sea of savage upturned faces, ofwhich I had a brief view, as the torches flared now on one, now onanother. But prudence prevailed. If no more blood were shed it mightstill be possible to get some terms. I laid the pot down by the sideof the window as a weapon to be used only in the last resort.

  Meanwhile the Duchess, posted in the dark, had heard the noise of thewindow being driven in, and cried out pitifully to know what it was."Stand firm!" I shouted loudly. "Stand firm. We are safe as yet."

  Even the uproar without seemed to abate a little as the first fury ofthe mob died down. Probably their leaders were concerting freshaction. I went and knelt beside Master Bertie and made a roughexamination of his wound. He had received a nasty blow on the back ofthe head, from which the blood was still oozing, and he wasinsensible. His face looked very long and thin and deathlike. But, sofar as I could ascertain, the bones were uninjured, and he was nowbreathing more quietly. "I think he will recover," I said, easing hisclothes.

  Anne was crouching on the other side of him. As she did not answer Ilooked up at her. Her lips were moving, but the only word I caught was"Clarence!" I did not wonder she was distraught; I had work enough tokeep my own wits. But I wanted her help, and I repeated loudly, "Anne!Anne!" trying to rouse her.

  She looked past me shuddering. "Heaven forgive you!" she muttered."You have brought me to this! And now I must die! I must die here. Inthe net they have set for others is their own foot taken!"

  She was quite beside herself with terror. I saw that she was notaddressing me; and I had not time to make sense of her wanderings. Ileft her and went out to speak to the Duchess. Poor woman! even herbrave spirit was giving way. I felt her cold hands tremble as I tookthe halbert from her. "Go into the room a while," I said softly. "Heis not seriously hurt, I am sure. I will guard this. If any oneappears at the window, scream."

  She went gladly, and I took her place, having now to do double duty. Ihad been there a few minutes only, listening, with my soul in my ears,to detect the first signs of attack, either below me or in the roombehind, when I distinguished a strange rustling sound on thestaircase. It appeared to come from a point a good deal below me, andprobably, whoever made it was just within the doorway. I peered intothe gloom, but could see no one as yet. "Stand!" I cried in a tone ofwarning. "Who is that?"

  The sound ceased abruptly, but it left me uneasy. Could they be goingto blow us up with gunpowder? No! I did not think so. They would notcare to ruin the gateway for the sake of capturing so small a party.And the tower was strong. It would not be easy to blow it up.

  Yet in a short time the noise began again; and my fears returned withit. "Stand!" I cried savagely, "or take care of yourself."

  The answer was a flash of bright light--which for a second showed therough stone walls winding away at my feet--a stunning report, and thepattering down of half a dozen slugs from the roof. I laughed, myfirst start over. "You will have to come a little higher up!" I criedtauntingly, as I smelt the fumes. My eyes had become so accustomed tothe darkness that I felt sure I should detect an assailant, howeverwarily he might make his approach. And my halbert was seven feet long,so that I could reach as far as I could see. I had had time, too, togrow cool.

  After this there was comparative quiet for another space. Every nowand then a stone or, more rarely, the ball of an arquebuse would comewhizzing into the room above. But I did not fear this. It was easy tokeep under cover. And their shouting no longer startled me. I began tosee a glimpse of hope. It was plain that the townsfolk were puzzledhow to come at us without suffering great loss. They were unaware ofour numbers, and, as it proved, believed that we had three uninjuredmen at least. The staircase was impracticable as a point of assault,and the window, being only three feet in height and twenty from theground, was not much better, if defended, as they expected it wouldbe, by a couple of desperate swordsmen.

  I was not much astonished, therefore, when the rustling sound,beginning again at the foot of the staircase, came this time to nomore formidable issue than a hail in Spanish. "Will you surrender?"the envoy cried.

  "No!" I said roundly.

  "Who are you?" was the next question.

  "We are English!" I answered.

  He went then; and there for the time the negotiations ended. But,seeing the dawn of hope, I was the more afraid of any trap orsurprise, and I cried to the Duchess to be on her guard. For thisreason, too, the suspense of the next few minutes was almost moretrying than anything which had gone before. But the minutes came atlast to an end. A voice below cried loudly in English, "Holloa! areyou friends?"

  "Yes, yes," I replied joyfully, before the words had well ceased torebound from the walls. For the voice and accent were MasterLindstrom's. A cry of relief from the room behind me showed thatthere, too, the speaker was recognized. The Duchess came running tothe door, but I begged her to go back and keep a good lookout. And sheobeyed.

  "How come you here? How has it happened?" Master Lindstrom asked, hisvoice, though he still remained below, betraying his perplexity andunhappiness. "Can I not do something? This is terrible, indeed."
r />   "You can come up, if you like," I answered, after a moment's thought."But you must come alone. And I cannot let even you, friend as youare, see our defenses."

  As he came up I stepped back and drew the door of the room toward me,so that, though a little light reached the head of the stairs, hecould not, standing there, see into the room or discern our realweakness. I did not distrust him--Heaven forbid! but he might have totell all he saw to his friends below, and I thought it well, for hissake as well as our own, that he should be able to do this freely, andwithout hurting us. As he joined me I held up a finger for silence andlistened keenly. But all was quiet below. No one had followed him.Then I turned and warmly grasped his hands, and we peered into oneanother's faces. I saw he was deeply moved; that he was thinking ofDymphna, and how I had saved her. He held my hands as though he wouldnever loose them.

  "Well!" I said, as cheerfully as I could, "have you brought us anoffer of terms? But let me tell you first," I continued, "how ithappened." And I briefly explained that we had mistaken the captain ofthe guard and his two followers for Clarence and the two Spaniards."Is he dead?" I continued.

  "No, he is still alive," Master Lindstrom answered gravely. "But thetownsfolk are furious, and the seizure of the tower has still furtherexasperated them. Why did you do it?"

  "Because we should have been torn to pieces if we had not done it," Ianswered dryly. "You think we are in a strait place?"

  "Do you not think so yourself?" he said, somewhat astonished.

  I laughed. "That is as may be," I answered with an affectation ofrecklessness. "The staircase is narrow and the window low. We shallsell our lives dearly, my friend. Yet, for the sake of the women whoare with us, we are willing to surrender if the citizens offer usterms. After all, it was an accident. Cannot you impress this onthem?" I added eagerly.

  He shook his head. "They will not hear reason," he said.

  "Then," I replied, "impress the other thing upon them. Tell them thatour swords are sharp and we are desperate."

  "I will see what I can do," he answered slowly. "The Duke of Cleves isexpected here to-morrow, and the townsfolk feel they would bedisgraced forever if he should find their gate held by a party ofmarauders, as they consider you."

  "The Duke of Cleves?" I repeated. "Perhaps he may be better affectedtoward us."

  "They will overpower you before he comes," Master Lindstrom answereddespondently. "I would put no trust in him if I were you. But I willgo to them, and, believe me, I will do all that man can do."

  "Of that I am sure," I said warmly. And then, cautioning me to remainstrictly on the defensive, he left me.

  Before his footsteps had ceased to echo on the stairs the door besideme opened, and Mistress Anne appeared at it. I saw at once that hisfamiliar voice had roused her from the stupor of fear in which I hadlast seen her. Her eyes were bright, her whole frame was thrillingwith excitement, hope, suspense. I began to understand her; to discernbeneath the disguise thrown over it in ordinary times by a strongwill, the nervous nature which was always confident or despairing,which felt everything so keenly--everything, that is, which toucheditself. "Well?" she cried, "well?"

  "Patience! patience!" I replied rather sharply. I could not helpcomparing her conduct with that of the Duchess, and blaming her, notfor her timidity, but for the selfishness which she had betrayed inher fear. I could fancy Petronilla trembling and a coward, but notdespairing nor utterly cast down, nor useless when others needed her,nor wrapped in her own terrors to the very exclusion of reason."Patience!" I said; "he is coming back. He and his friends will do allthey can for us. We must wait a while and hope, and keep a goodlookout."

  She had her hand on the door, and by an abrupt movement, she slippedout to me and closed it behind her. This made the staircase so darkthat I could no longer distinguish her face, but I judged from hertone that her fears were regaining possession of her. "Clarence," shemuttered, her voice low and trembling. "Have you thought of him? Couldnot he help us? He may have followed us here, and may be here now.Now! And perhaps he does not know in what danger we are."

  "Clarence!" I said, astonished and almost angry. "Clarence help us? Goback, girl, go back. You are mad. He would be more likely to completeour ruin. Go in and nurse the baby!" I added bitterly.

  What could she mean, I asked myself, when she had gone in. Was thereanything in her suggestion? Would Clarence follow us hither? If so,and if he should come in time, would he have power to help us, usingsuch mysterious influence, Spanish or English, as he seemed topossess? And if he could help us, would it be better to fall into hishands than into those of the exasperated Santonese? I thought theDuchess would say "No!"

  So it mattered not what I answered myself. I hoped, now MasterLindstrom had appeared, that the women would be allowed to go free;and it seemed to me that to surrender to Clarence would be to handover the Duchess to her enemy simply that the rest of us might escape.

  Master Lindstrom returned while I was still considering this, and,observing the same precautions as before, I bade him join me. "Well?"I said, not so impetuously, I hope, as Mistress Anne, yet I dare saywith a good deal of eagerness. "Well, what do they say?" For he wasslow to speak.

  "I have bad news," he answered gently.

  "Ah!" I ejaculated, a lump which was due as much to rage as to anyother emotion rising in my throat. "So they will give us no terms?Then so be it! Let them come and take us."

  "Nay," he hastened to answer. "It is not so bad as that, lad. They arefathers and husbands themselves, and not lanzknechts. They will sufferthe women to go free, and will even let me take charge of them ifnecessary."

  "They will!" I exclaimed, overjoyed. I wondered why on earth he hadhesitated to tell me this. "Why, that is the main point, friend."

  "Yes," he said gravely, "perhaps so. More, the men may go too, if thetower be surrendered within an hour. With one exception, that is. Theman who struck the blow must be given up."

  "The man who struck the blow!" I repeated slowly. "Do you mean--youmean the man who cut the patrol down?"

  "Yes," he said. He was peering very closely at me, as though he wouldlearn from my face who it was. And I stood thinking. This was as muchas we could expect. I divined, and most truly, that but for the honestDutchman's influence, promises, perhaps bribes, such terms would neverhave been offered to us by the men who hours before had driven us tohold as if we had been vermin. Yet give up Master Bertie? "What," Isaid, "will be done to him? The man who must be given up, I mean?"Master Lindstrom shook his head. "It was an accident," I urged, myeyes on his.

  He grasped my hand firmly, and, turning away his face, seemed for awhile unable to speak. At last he whispered, "He must suffer for theothers, lad. I fear so. It is a hard fate, a cruel fate. But I can dono more. They will not hear me on this. It is true he will be firsttried by the magistrate, but there is no hope. They are very hard."

  My heart sank. I stood irresolute, pondering on what we ought to do,pondering on what I should say to the wife who so loved the man whomust die. What could I say? Yet, somehow I must break the news. Iasked Master Lindstrom to wait where he was while I consulted theothers, adding, "You will answer for it that there will be no attackwhile you are here, I suppose?"

  "I will," he said. I knew I could trust him, and I went in to theDuchess, closing the door behind me. A change had come over the roomsince I had left it. The moon had risen and was flinging its coldwhite light through the twisted and shattered framework of the window,to fall in three bright panels on the floor. The torches in the streethad for the most part burned out, or been extinguished. In place ofthe red glare, the shouts and the crash of glass, the atmosphere ofbattle and strife I had left, I found this silvery light and astillness made more apparent by the distant hum of many voices.

  Mistress Anne was standing just within the threshold, her face showingpale against the gloom, her hands clasped. The Duchess was kneeling byher husband, but she looked up as I entered.

  "They will let us all go," I said bluntly; it w
as best to tell thetale at once--"except the one who hurt the patrol, that is."

  It was strange how differently the two women received the news; whileMistress Anne flung her hands to her face with a sobbing cry ofthankfulness, and leaned against the wall crying and shaking, my ladystood up straight and still, breathing hard but saying nothing. I sawthat she did not need to ask what would be done to the one who wasexcepted. She knew. "No," she murmured at last, her hands pressed toher bosom, "we cannot do it! Oh, no, no!"

  "I fear we must," I said gently--calmly, too, I think. Yet in sayingit I was not quite myself. An odd sensation was growing upon me in thestillness of the room. I began on a sudden, I did not know why, tothrill with excitement, to tremble with nervousness, such as wouldrather have become one of the women than a man. My head grew hot, myheart began to beat quickly. I caught myself looking out, listening,waiting for something to happen, something to be said. It wassomething more terrible, as it seemed to me, than the din and crash ofthe worst moments of the assault. What was it? What was it that wasthreatening my being? An instant and I knew.

  "Oh, no, never!" cried the Duchess again, her voice quivering, herface full of keenest pain. "We will not give you up. We will stand orfall together, friend."

  Give _you_ up! Give _you_ up! Ha! The veil was lifted now, and I sawwhat the something with the cold breath going before it was. I lookedquietly from her to her husband; and I asked--I fancy she thought myquestion strangely irrelevant at that moment, "How is he? Is hebetter?"

  "Much better. He knew me for a moment," she answered. "Then he seemedto sink away again. But his eyes were quite clear."

  I stood gazing down at his thin face, which had ever looked so kindlyinto mine. My fingers played idly with the knot of my sword. "He willlive?" I asked abruptly, harshly.

  She started at the sudden question. But, brutal as it must havesounded, she was looking at me in pity so great and generous that itdid not wound her. "Oh, yes," she said, her eyes still clinging to me."I think he will live, thank Heaven!"

  Thank Heaven! Ah, yes, thank Heaven!

  I turned and went slowly toward the door. But before I reached it shewas at my side, nay, was on her knees by me, clasping my hand, lookingup to me with streaming eyes. "What are you going to do?" she cried,reading, I suppose, something in my face.

  "I will see if Master Lindstrom cannot get better terms for us," Ianswered.

  She rose, still detaining me. "You are sure?" she said, still eying mejealously.

  "Quite sure," I answered, forcing a smile. "I will come back andreport to you."

  She let me go then, and I went out and joined Lindstrom on thestaircase.

  "Are you certain," I asked, speaking in a whisper, "that theywill--that the town will keep its word and let the others go?"

  "I am quite sure of it," he replied nodding. "They are Germans, andhard and pitiless, but you may trust them. So far I will answer forthem."

  "Then we accept," I said gravely. "I give myself up. Let them takeme."