Boy's Ride

by Frank V. Webster

  CHAPTER XVIII

  "And now," said the canon, when Herebald and Bernulf had gone, "thoumayest remain no longer here. It is too near the king, and moreover,delay taketh thee not forward toward France. Since thou knowest notwhat to do, Hugo, I will plan for thee. And first, thou must leave herewith me thy dog, Fleetfoot."

  Hugo opened his mouth to object, seeing which the canon at oncecontinued, "Nay, do not speak. It must be done. Thee I can disguise andthy man Humphrey I can disguise, but what disguise availeth for thydog? To take Fleetfoot is to endanger thy life unnecessarily. Shouldstthou take him, even if thou didst win safely through, which is a verydoubtful thing, thou wouldst find him but an unwelcome encumbrance toLord De Aldithely. Leave the dog, therefore, with me, and I will carefor him."

  Hugo reflected. Then he looked up into the canon's face, and he sawthat, though he might have a merry heart, he had also a determinedwill. He yielded, therefore, and consented to leave Fleetfoot behind.At this decision the canon smiled well satisfied, and Humphrey's facealso showed the relief he felt at being rid of the dog's company.

  "And next," continued the canon, "I counsel thee to go no more throughthe fens, for there will they seek for thee. Thou hast gone skulkingand hiding so far on thy course, and they that pursue thee will be toodull to think that thou mayest change. The time is come for thee toproceed boldly and on the highway. I will send thee first to Oundle,which lieth southwest from hence, and with a token I will procure theesafe lodging there. From thence I can do no more for thee till thoucome to St. Albans, twenty miles away from London. But from Oundle thoumust take thy course still southwest till thou come to the WatlingStreet. Then follow that southeast down to St. Albans. And in thisjaunt Humphrey must lead, and thou must follow; for I shall make ofHumphrey a priest, and of thee a novice."

  He ceased, and there was no reply to what he had said. Both Hugo andHumphrey would have preferred to ride clad as they were, and to choosetheir own route and stopping-places. But they were sensible of how muchthey already owed the canon, and dangers were now so thick about themthat they feared to refuse to do as he bade them. Therefore theypermitted themselves to be properly robed, and took meekly theinstructions he gave them as to their speech and manner of behaviour.

  "This I do not for thee only, but for my friend, Roger Aungerville, andfor the brave Lord De Aldithely," he said in parting from them. "Forgetnot to call me to their minds when thou dost meet them, and say that Ibe ever ready to serve them as best I may."

  Hugo promised, and thanked the canon on the part of himself andHumphrey for the cheer and aid they had received at his hands; and,with a heavy heart, rode away behind the serving-man, who was nowturned into a priest. He thought not on the dangers of the way, but onFleetfoot, left at Peterborough.

  "Fret not, dear lad," said Humphrey. "In the king's dungeon there wouldbe no room for Fleetfoot, and mayhap he would be put to death. Now ishe in good hands, even in the merry-hearted canon's hands, and no evilwill befall him. He hath such a care to please thine uncle and my lordthat he will look well to thy dog."

  By nightfall the two were safely lodged at Oundle.

  "Ye be safe," said the priest of the parish when he had received them."Here will no man seek for ye this night, and, on the morrow, ye shallspeed away. I may not suffer ye to tarry longer."

  Meanwhile the unlucky bailiff had proceeded to Clipstone with the newsthat Walter Skinner was fled, and no man knew what had become of him.He had just delivered it and the king was still in his rage when DeSkirlaw and De Kellaw arrived. "Admit them," he gave order. "I willhear what hath come to pass there. Mayhap the castle hath stolen away,even as this prisoner hath done."

  As De Skirlaw and De Kellaw entered, the king, scanning their faces,read that they bore him no welcome news, and his rage broke out afresh."What land is this that I be king of?" he exclaimed. "A land of rebelsand disobedience. A land of dull skies and duller fortunes. What saw yethat ye come before me with glum faces and serious looks? Speak, if yecan. Is the castle gone?"

  "Nay, Your Majesty," said De Skirlaw. "The castle we found, but--"

  "Ye mean that the prisoner spake true," burst out the king, "and thatthe young lord is escaped?"

  "Yea," answered De Skirlaw. "No human being inhabiteth the castle. Andin the moat at the rear kites and eagles have fed."

  "What mean ye? What hath chanced there?"

  "Your Majesty, no man knoweth," was the answer.

  "But there be only bones and armor in the dry moat, and no living thingin the castle."

  For a little the king stared straight before him. Then he said, "Bringthe rascal bailiff before me."

  With haste the unhappy officer was brought.

  "Wretch!" broke out the king. "Go find me the prisoner that thou hastlet escape thee. If thou find him not, thy life shall answer for it."In great fear the bailiff retired from the royal presence, and the kingwent on as if to himself: "Mayhap he knew what hath chanced. Mayhap heknoweth now the whereabouts of the young lord."

  As the bailiff reentered Newark he met again the courtier by the gate."What news, worthy bailiff?" he asked.

  "Why, this," answered the bailiff, in despair. "The prisoner must befound or my life is forfeit. And I know not where to look."

  The courtier kept silence for a few moments. "The prisoner must not befound," he thought, "or mayhap the young lord, Josceline De Aldithely,will be undone; and for the friendship I do bear his father, this maynot be. But neither must the worthy bailiff die." Then he spoke.

  "Worthy bailiff," he said, "what is done cannot be undone. The prisoneris gone, no man knoweth whither. Thy only hope is in flight. And tothat, seeing thou art a worthy man, I will help thee. Go thouapparently to seek for the prisoner, but flee for thy life, and tell menot where. Thou knowest a place of safety, I warrant thee."

  "Yea," replied the bailiff, after a little thought, "I know."

  "Proceed, then, with thine helpers to the search for the prisoner;contrive shortly to give them the slip, and thou art saved. I will dowhat I can in baffling pursuit of thee. For this our king is, as thouknowest, a tyrant who, though he greatly feareth death for himself,doth not hesitate to measure it out to us his subjects. Therefore arewe bound to help each other. When thou canst protect another, do so;and so farewell." Speaking in these general terms he not only gainedfrom the bailiff a belief in his own benevolence, but effectuallyconcealed from him the real reason of his helping him, which was toprotect, so far as possible, the young Josceline De Aldithely.

  "It is well for a lad when his father hath many friends," mused thecourtier. "For then, even the malice and hatred of the king may befoiled. I will now away to Clipstone and see what passeth there." And,summoning two attendants, he set out.

  Upon arriving, he found but a gloomy air about the place. The king'srage was not yet spent and no man knew upon whom he would take occasionto visit his displeasure. But the courtier who, in the guise of ascullion, had himself set the prisoner free, moved calmly about, andalone of all seemed to feel no anxiety. Toward nightfall the word waswhispered about that, on the morrow, the king would himself proceedwith a party to De Aldithely castle.

  The morrow came and at an early hour there was everywhere bustle andconfusion, for all that the royal party would need for their briefabsence from Clipstone must be taken with them: food, dishes, bedding,and servants.

  At length all was ready and the train set out. It was a gloomy ride,for the king's temper was not yet recovered and no man ventured to sayaught in his presence.

  Leaving the baggage and servants far in the rear, the impatient kingwith his attendants rode on and on until they came to Cawood castlebeyond Selby and but a few miles distant from De Aldithely castle. Herethe king stopped for the night, and the servants and baggage not havingyet come up, his temper was not improved by the lack of their service.It was a great castle to which he had come, being one of the largestand strongest in the north of England.

  "And Cawood shall have no more for a neighbor the cast
le of DeAldithely," said the king the next morning, when, after a somewhatuncomfortable night owing to the late arrival of the servants, he rodeforth from its gate on his way to the home of the great and popularbaron.

  Artisans from Selby who had been sent by the king's order, were alreadyon their way thither also. And these having risen very early and madegood speed, John found already arrived when he himself appeared. But noone had ventured to set foot within the walls without the royal word.

  As John drew near, he looked upon the castle in scowling silence. Stillin silence he rode to the edge of the moat and looked down. And therehe saw the armor and the bones as De Skirlaw had said. An attendant nowspoke to him, and he nodded his head in assent. At once three of theartisans were hurried across the postern bridge and through the gatewith instructions to hasten to the front entrance and let down thebridge and open the great gate for the king.

  He rode to the edge of the moat and looked down]

  Still speaking no word the monarch rode to the great gate, crossed thebridge, and entered, and once within the outer bailey, looked abouthim. He rode into the inner bailey, and, dismounting, began a personalexamination of the castle; and as he proceeded his frown grew blackerand blacker, for everywhere he saw evidences of premeditated anddeliberate flight. The treasure chests were empty, and everything ofvalue removed.

  At last he spoke. "What hath chanced here I know not," he said. "Butthis I know, these traitor walls shall stand no longer. Bid theartisans in to begin their destruction." Then turning to De Skirlaw headded: "Go thou to the moat and examine the armor. See, if thou canst,to what troop it belongeth."

  But before De Skirlaw could execute this commission there appeared uponthe scene two men-at-arms from Hubert le Falconer, in search of certainof their companions, and they were at once brought before the king. Tohim they related how, for a certain sum, a certain knight in theservice of the king had hired them to assist him in entering thecastle, through the treachery of one Robert Sadler, and in carrying offthe young lord, Josceline De Aldithely, to the direct custody of theking.

  "And this knight was--" interrupted John.

  "Sir Thomas De Lany," said the man-at-arms.

  "Came thy companions to the castle here?" demanded the king.

  "Yea, Your Majesty, some ten days now agone. My master having need ofthem hath sent us to call them to him again."

  "It is a call they will not answer," said John. "Nor will the braveknight, Sir Thomas De Lany, answer to my call. De Kirkham, take thesemen-at-arms to view the moat by the postern. Now know we who sleepthere. Could we but know the whereabouts of the wife of this traitor,De Aldithely, and the whereabouts of his son, we were better satisfied.And now depart we from this place. Raze the walls. Let not one stoneremain upon another.

  "And thou, De Skirlaw, and thou, De Kellaw, haste ye both to Newark andsee if the rascal bailiff hath yet found the prisoner. He can speak ifhe will, and he must be found."

  With feigned zeal the two set out, but, once beyond the view of theking, their fiery pace lagged to a slow one as they rode toward Selby,where they were determined to halt for a night's rest. "I care not ifthe prisoner be not found," said De Kellaw. "I be tired of thistyranny; this imprisoning and slaying of children taken as hostagesfrom their fathers; this razing of castles. John will not be kingforever, and it behooveth us not to make ourselves odious to all men byhelping him to his desires too much. I haste not on this enterprise,and so I tell thee."

  "Nor I neither," declared De Skirlaw.

  The king now set out on his return to Cawood, from whence, on themorrow, he would go on to Clipstone again.

  "Yea, and I will go even to Newark," he said to himself as he rodealong. "I will be at hand to put heart into this search, which seemethto lag. But have the prisoner I will; and when I have found him, I willopen his mouth for him to some purpose."