CHAPTER ELEVEN.
RALPH GETS TIT FOR TAT.
Ralph Darley's first step was to get his right hand beside his left, andhis feet once more upon the ledge, but the ivy gave way a little more atthis movement, and he paused. But not for long. Another danger was athand.
Moved by the boldness of the lad's efforts to escape, and in dread lesthe might be successful, the leader of the four men, after a shortconsultation with the others, who tried to dissuade him, began to wadecautiously forward till the water grew too deep for him, and thencreeping sidewise, he climbed on to the smooth wall, and began toimitate the course taken by Ralph; but before he had gone many yards,one of his companions shouted:
"You'll go down, and be swep' away, and sucked in."
This checked him and made him hesitate, but rousing his courage again,he once more began to edge along the shelf below the surface, and thisspurred the fugitive on to make another effort.
This time he caught at the ivy, which gave way a little more, but stillheld, and by moving cautiously, Ralph managed to get his feet upon theledge. The next minute he had found another prominence below water,raised his foot to it, and caught at a rough bit of the stone above theivy, stood firm, drew himself a little higher, and by a quick scramble,got a foot now on the ivy stem and his hands in the crack above, just asthe growth yielded to his foot, dropped into the stream, and was sweptaway, leaving the lad hanging by his cramped fingers.
But though the ivy was gone, the crevice in which it had grown remained,and in another few seconds Ralph's toes were in it, and the weight offhis hands.
He rested, and looked down-stream, to see that the man was steadilyapproaching, but the lad felt safe now. The ivy was gone, and the enemycould not possibly get farther along the ledge than the spot from whencehe had slipped.
Cheered by this, Ralph began to climb again, finding the task easier,and the next minute he had hold of the tough stem of the hawthorn; andheedless of the thorns, dragged himself up into it, stood upright,reached another good, strong hand-hold, and then stepped right up on toa broad shelf of grass-grown limestone. The men uttered a fierce shout,and their leader, seeing now that his task was hopeless, began to retireand join his companions.
Ralph watched him for a few moments, and then began to climb again,finding this part of the slope easy, for great pieces of stone werepiled up, and made fast by the bushes which grew amongst them, hidingthe fugitive from the sight of those below, and raising his hopes as hefound how easily he could get up. Twice over he heard shouts and theirechoes from the opposite side, but he was too busy to heed them, andsoon felt confident enough to sit down in a niche, half-way up thecliff, and rest for a few minutes.
"Horribly wet," he said to himself; "fishing-rod broken and lost,fish-can gone, and--ah! I did not expect that," for he found thatshoes, hose, and creel were safe. "Glad I shall take the fish homeafter all."
He listened: all was still. Then he peered down, but he could seenothing save the bushes and trees on the other side; even the river wasinvisible from where he sat; and getting his breath now after hisexertions, he turned, and began to look upward.
Ralph was born somewhere about three miles from where he sat, but he hadinadvertently wandered into a part that was perfectly unfamiliar to him,the feud between the two families having resulted in its beingconsidered dangerous for either side to intrude within the portion ofthe rugged mountainous land belonging to the other.
Still, the lad had some notion of the bearings of the cliff hills fromseeing them at a distance, and he rapidly came to a conclusion as towhich would be the best course for him to take to avoid the occupants ofthe Black Tor; but when any one is flurried he is liable to makemistakes, and much more likely when deep in a tangle of pathless wood,and listening for the steps of those who are seeking to make him aprisoner.
According to Ralph's calculations, the narrow gap which led eastward tothe edge of the huge hollow in which the narrow, roughly conical mass oflimestone rose crowned with the Eden Castle, lay away to his left; andas he had in climbing kept on bearing to the right, he was perfectlycertain that he had passed right over the men in the river. He felt,therefore, that he had nothing to do but keep steadily on in the samecourse, always mounting higher at every opportunity of doing so unseen,until close to the top, when he could keep along the edge unseen tillwell on his way homeward, and then take to the open downs above.
The silence below was encouraging, and in spite of being compelled oftento creep beneath the bushes, and here and there descend to avoid someperpendicular piece of rock, he got on, so that he grew more and moresatisfied that he had escaped, and had nothing to do but persevere, andbe well out of what had promised to be a very awkward predicament. Hisclothes clung to his back, and his legs were terribly scratched, whileone of his feet was bleeding; but that was a trifle which he hardlyregarded.
Just before him was a steeper bit than usual, and he hesitated abouttrying to climb it; but the way up or down seemed to promise no better,so taking advantage of the dense cover afforded by the trees, hesteadily attacked the awkward precipice, the dwarf trees helped him withtheir gnarled trunks, and he mastered the ascent, found himself higherup than he had expected, crawled a step or two farther, and arrived thenext minute at the brink of a deep chasm, while to the left, not acouple of hundred yards away, rose the castle-crowned Black Tor.
He shrank back the next instant, and a feeling of confusion came overhim. He could hardly understand how it was, but directly after it wasforced upon his understanding that he had been quite wrong in hisbearings; that when he began to climb, the Black Tor lay to his rightinstead of his left, and that, instead of going into safety, he had beenmaking straight for the most dangerous place.
To go on was impossible, for the cliff beneath him was overhanging; togo to the left was equally vain; and to descend or return was in allprobability to walk right into the arms of his pursuers.
Once more he cautiously advanced his head between the bushes to lookout, but the prospect was not encouraging. There, fifty or sixty feetaway, was the fellow cliff to that upon which he lay, split apart bysome terrible convulsion of nature; and once there he could have madefor home, but there was no way of passing the opening save by descendingright to the river's bank, and he felt pretty certain that he could notdo this without being seen.
Still it was the only course, and his choice was open to him--to lie inhiding till the darkness came, many hours later, or boldly descend.
To lie there in the shadow with his wet clothes clinging to him was nota pleasant prospect, but it seemed the only one feasible under thecircumstances; and he concluded that this was what he would do, wishingthe while that he dared go and lie right out in the sunshine.
He had hardly thought this, when a hot thrill ran through him, for fromsomewhere below there came the sharp bark of a dog, and a voice rosecheering the animal on, and then shouted: "Close in, all of you: he's uphere somewhere. Dog's got his scent."
Then voices answered with hails from different parts, and Ralph's nextmovement was to crawl forward again to the very edge of the precipice,look over, and seek for a place where he might perhaps descend.
But again he saw that it was utterly hopeless, and nerved now by hisdespair, he began to descend through the fringe of scrub oak and beech,close to the chasm, so as to get down to the river, where he meant toplunge in, and cross by wading or swimming to the other side.
But there is no hiding from the scent of a dog. Ralph had not gone downhalf-a-dozen yards before the dog gave tongue again, and kept onbarking, coming nearer and nearer, and more rapidly as the scent grewhotter: while before another dozen yards were passed the lad had toseize the first block of stone he could lift, and turn at bay, for thedog had sighted him and rushed forward, as if to leap at his throat.
There is many a dog, though--perhaps taught by experience--that willface a staff, but shrink in the most timid manner from a stone; and itwas so here. At the first threatening movement made
by Ralph, the dogstopped short, barking furiously, and the lad glanced downward oncemore. But to proceed meant to turn his back upon his four-footed enemy,which would have seized him directly.
There was nothing then to be done but face it, and he prepared to hurlhis missile, but, to the lad's despair, the second dog, which had beensilent, now rushed up, and he had to keep them both off as he stood atbay, the new-comer being more viciously aggressive than the first.
"I can't help it: I must make a dash for freedom," thought Ralph; and,raising his stone higher, he hurled it at the bigger dog, which avoidedit by bounding aside. Then turning, he dashed downward, right into thearms of a man.
There was a sharp struggle, and the latter was getting worsted, beinglower down, and having to bear the shock of Ralph's weight in the bound,but the next moment unexpectedly the lad felt himself seized frombehind, two more men came panting up, and, utterly mastered, he foundhimself upon his back, with one enemy seated upon his chest, anotherholding his arms outspread, and the others his legs, thoroughlyspread-eagled upon the sloping rock.
"Got you now," said the leader of the little party. "You, Tom, we canmanage him.--Get out, will you, dogs!--Here, take them with you. Run tothe mine hut, and get some rope to tie him. Be as smart as you can.The master'll give us something decent for a job like this."
The man addressed called the dogs to him, and was unwillingly obeyed,but a few stones thrown by the rest overcame the animals' objections,and they trotted off, leaving the prisoner relapsed into a sulkysilence; his captors chatted pleasantly together about his fate,banteringly telling him that for certain he would be hung over thecastle wall.
Ralph paid no heed to what was said, and after a time the men grew tiredof their banter, and began to wonder among themselves whether theircompanion would say anything to those whom he might meet.
"He'll like enough be doing it," said the leader. "I tilled him tofetch a rope, and if he does anything else, he'll hear of it from me.What we wants is to take our prisoner up proper to the master, and getour reward."
Then they began muttering in a low voice among themselves, taking carethat their prisoner should not hear, as he lay upon his back, staringstraight up at the blue sky, and thinking of how soon it had come uponhim to be suffering Mark Eden's reverse.
At last a hail came from below, and the man panted breathlessly up tothem, throwing down a coil of thin rope, with which, after turning himover upon his face, the men, in spite of his struggles, tightly andcruelly tied their prisoner's arms behind him, and then his ankles andknees. They were about to lift him up, when there was a sharp barkingheard again.
"Here, you, Tom," cried the leader, who had been most savage in draggingthe knots as tightly as possible, "I told you to take those dogs back."
"Well, so I did. I didn't bring 'em."
"They've come all the same," cried the other. "Well, it don't matternow. Perhaps Buzz wants a taste of these here naked legs."
The dog barked close at hand now.
"Here, you, jump up, before he has you," cried the leader brutally; andthen he stared wonderingly, for there was a sharp rustling amongst thebushes, and the dog sprang out to them, closely followed by Mark Eden,who cried in wonder:
"Why, hallo: then this is what Buzz meant! Whom have you got there?"
The men drew back, and Mark stooped, as the dog barked violently, turnedthe prisoner over, and once more the two enemies were gazing curiouslyin each other's eyes.
Ralph did not flinch, but a dull feeling of despair ran through him ashe saw Mark Eden's face light up, his eyes flashing, and a smile oftriumph playing about his lips.
Mark did not speak for a time. Then he turned his back upon theprisoner.
"Do you know who this is?" he said to the men.
"Oh yes, Master Mark, we know him. Don't you? It's young Darley, frombelow there. We was having a bit of a ramble 'fore going down in themine, and we'd got the dogs, to see if there was any chance of a rabbitpie for supper; but they didn't find one; they found his nabbs hereinstead. We had to hold the dogs' muzzles to keep 'em quiet till he'dgot by."
"What was he doing?"
"Wading, and ketching our trout. We let him go right up to the deepwater, down below where the narrows are, and we thought we'd trappedhim; but somehow he managed to scramble up the side and get up here, sowe set the dogs on, and they run him down. Look here, Master Mark; he'dgot all these trout. Fine 'uns too."
The man opened Ralph's creel, and held it out for Mark to see, the ladnodding at the sight.
"Know'd where the good uns was."
"And what were you going to do with him?" said Mark quietly.
"We had to ketch him first," said the man, with a savagely stupid grin."And he give us a lot o' trouble, and we thought best thing to do was totie a stone to his neck and pitch him in one of the holes. But Tom,here, said the master wouldn't like it, and seeing he was a Darley,might like to make a sample of him, or keep him down in the mine towork. So we tied him tight, and was going to swing him between us, andcarry him up to the gateway for the master to see. Then you come."
Mark made no sign of either satisfaction or anger, but stood thinkingfor a minute or so, before turning again to where Ralph lay gazingstraight up to the sky, waiting for whatever fate might be his, andsetting his teeth hard in the firm determination to die sooner than askfor mercy from the cruel young savage who stood before him with whatseemed to be a malicious grin upon his face.
And as he lay, Ralph thought of his school life, and all that had passedthere, and how strange it was that in the wild part of Midland Englandthere, amongst the mountains of the Peak, people could still be sosavage as to be able to follow their own wills to as great an extent asdid the barons and feudal chiefs of a couple of hundred years before.
Such thoughts as these had never come to him till after he had left homefor school, to find his level. Earlier in his boyhood his father hadappeared to him to be chief or king of the district, with a neighbourwho was a rival chief or king. He knew that King James ruled the land;but that was England, away from the Peak. There, Sir Morton Darley,knight, was head of all, and the laws of England did not seem to applyanywhere there. Then he had gradually grown more enlightened, and nevermore so than at the present moment, as he lay bound on the mossy stones,feeling that unless his father came with a strong enough force to rescuehim, his fate might even be death. And the result? Would the lawpunish the Edens for the deed? He felt that they would go free. Theywere to a pretty good extent outlaws, and the deed would never be knownbeyond their district. The moors and mountains shut them in. But SirMorton, Ralph felt, would never sit down quietly. He would for certainattack and try to punish the Edens, and the feud would grow more deadlythan ever.
Thoughts like these ran through his brain as he lay there, till thesilence was broken by Mark Eden, whose face plainly told of the supremepleasure he felt in seeing his young enemy humbled thus before him.
"Well," he said at last, "are you not going to beg to be set atliberty?"
Ralph looked at him defiantly.
"No," he said.
"Want to be taken up to the Tor, and hung from the tower as a scarecrowto keep away all the other thieves?"
"What is it to you?" replied Ralph bitterly.
"You came and took our trout," said Mark, with a sneer; and he raisedhis foot as if tempted to plant it upon the prisoner's chest.
"Yes, I came and caught some trout: but I looked upon the river as freeto me, as you thought our cliff was free to you."
"Hah!" cried Mark triumphantly; "I knew you would begin to beg for yourlife."
"I have not begged," said Ralph coldly. "You spoke to me and Ianswered."
"Ropes hurt?" said Mark, after a pause, during which he could findnothing else to say.
Ralph smiled.
"Look for yourself," he said. "They don't quite cut to the bone."
"Our mine lads are strong," said Mark proudly. "Strong enough to beatyour wretched
set of servants if ever they dare come up here."
"So brave and strong that you are glad to hire a gang of ruffianlysoldiers to help you," said Ralph scornfully.
"What? Those fellows in rags and rust? Pooh! We would not have them."
Ralph opened his eyes a little wider.
"The Edens want no paid help of that kind. We're strong enough to comeand take your place whenever we like; but as you won't be there, it willnot matter to you."
"No," said Ralph, who was sick with pain, and faint from the throbbingcaused by his bonds.
"But it would be a pity for my father to have you hung as a scarecrow,"said Mark mockingly. "I don't like to see such things about. What doyou say to going down to work always in our lead-mine?"
"Nothing," said Ralph coldly.
"Better to live in the dark there, on bread and water, than to bekilled."
Ralph made no reply, but gazed fixedly in the speaker's eyes.
"Better beg for your life, boy," said Mark, placing his foot now on theprisoner's chest.
"What! of you?" cried Ralph.
"Yes: I might make you my lackey, to wait upon me. That is what theDarleys should do for the Edens."
"You coward!" said Ralph, with his pale face flushing now.
"What!" cried Mark. "Oh yes, call names like a girl. Come: beg foryour life."
Ralph's answer was a fierce and scornful look, which told of what hewould do if his hands were free. Then for a few moments he struggled,and Mark laughed.
"No good," he said; "our men can tie knots fast enough to hold aDarley."
The men, who stood at a little distance, laughed together in theirsatisfaction as they eagerly waited to see what was to come. Mark didnot keep them long in suspense, for his hand went to the hilt of hissword, which he half drew.
"Now," he said, "beg for your life, Darley."
"Coward!" cried Ralph, in a hoarse whisper.
"Very well," said Mark. "I gave you the chance. You were caught by ourmen stealing on our land, and you ought to have begged. The Darleysalways were beggars and thieves; but you will not. I gave you theopportunity."
He thrust the sword back in its sheath, and let his right hand fall tohis side, where a strong knife-like dagger hung by a short chain fromhis belt, and whipped it out of its case.
"Does for a hunting-knife," he said, with a curious laugh. "My fatherhas killed many a stag with it. Now, are you going to beg for yourlife?"
There was no reply, and the men took a step or two forward.
"Go back!" cried Mark fiercely; and the men obeyed.
Mark bent over the prisoner, with the mocking laugh intensifying.
"Too much of a coward to beg for your life," he said: "well, I'm toomuch of a coward to make you see it taken. There!"
With a quick movement, he turned Ralph over upon his face, thrust thepoint of the dagger beneath the line where the cut would tell best, andthe prisoner's wrists were free; another quick cut divided the ropewhich drew his elbows together, and then the knees and ankles followed,the strained hemp easily parting at the touch of the keen blade, andRalph Darley was free.
"Why, Master Mark," cried the chief man of the party in astonishment,"what you doing of?"
"Can't you see, idiot?" cried Mark, with a fierce snap.
"But what's the good of our ketching and tying on him?" cried the manaddressed as Tom, in an ill-used tone.
"Say another word, you brute, and I'll have you tied as you tied him,"cried Mark fiercely.
"Well, I dunno what Sir Eddard'll say when he knows."
"What he says he'll say to me," cried Mark. "You fellows ought to be inthe mine by now. Go back to your work."
The youth stood pointing down the steep slope, and an angry murmur ofopposition arose; but the men began to move off, only to be called backjust as Ralph rose painfully to his feet.
"Come here," cried Mark. "Pick up those pieces of rope."
"Who's going to take them back to the mine?" said the leader, in anill-used tone. "What's Dan Rugg going to say? Noo rope too."
"Tell him I cut it," said Mark imperiously. "You take it back."
The man picked up the pieces, and Tom quietly took up the creel fromwhere it lay, half hidden by a tuft of fern fronds, to begin moving offwith the trout. But Mark let him get a few steps away before followingwith a rush and a kick which sent the man on his face. Then, as hestruggled up, angry and threatening, the lad snatched the creel from hishands.
"The Edens are not thieves," he said fiercely--"only when they want afew young ravens," he added, turning with a mocking laugh to Ralph; andonce more the two lads stood gazing in each other's eyes for a fewmoments, the rustling made by the departing men and the murmur of theirvoices rising from below.
Then, imitating Ralph's action of the last time they met, he pointeddown to the river, and said, with a mocking laugh:
"It's my turn now. The Darleys are not the only ones who know how totreat a fallen enemy. Your creel, sir; and you are welcome to ourtrout."
Ralph took the basket without a word, and without taking his eyes fromMark's, while it seemed as if each lad was fighting hard not to be thefirst to let his glance sink before the other's.
Then Ralph raised the lid of the creel, and began to take out the fish,but hesitated, and laid them back. To have thrown them on the groundseemed to him contemptible and mean.
"Now go," said Mark. "You and I are straight, sir. Next time we meet Ihope you will wear your sword."
Ralph hesitated, and remained standing in the same place; his eyeslooking as if he wanted to speak, but no words would come; and at lasthe turned and took a step to go, but his numbed feet and ankles gave waybeneath him, and he tottered, and would have fallen, had not Markinvoluntarily sprung forward and caught him in his arms.
Ralph laughed painfully.
"Let me sit down on the enemy's ground for a few minutes," he said."Your men have left me no use in my limbs."
Mark gently let him down; and, faint with pain, the cold sweat breakingout in great drops all over his brow, Ralph said feebly, smiling thewhile:
"Not straight yet, Master Eden. I am in your debt now."
Then a deathly feeling of sickness came over him; trees, rocks, andsunny sky were dim, and glided before his eyes till all was darkness,for how long he could not tell.
When he opened his eyes again the sickly feeling still troubled him, buthe could not understand why. It was like awakening from some troubleddream, and full consciousness came back slowly. Then, by degrees, hegrasped the fact that his head was resting on a tuft of heath, andbracken fronds shaded him from the sun. His wrists throbbed withsharp-shooting pains, which ran right up beyond his elbows. There werepains, too, about his knees and ankles, and there was something elsewhich he could not make out, till he looked towards his feet, to seethat some one was seated a little below him on the sharp slope, withback half-turned to him, and his bare legs across his lap, chafing theankles gently, first one and then the other, over and over again.
Ralph was quite conscious now, but he did not speak. He lay back there,making no movement, no sign; but a curiously dark look came into hiseyes, and his lips quivered a little, grew firm again, and were softenedby a smile, while a strange glowing sensation set in about his heart.
Five minutes must have elapsed before Mark Eden turned his head, startedas he saw that Ralph's eyes were watching him, and his quiet intent gazegave place to a frown; his face became scarlet, and he hastily placedhis patient's legs upon the ground.
"How long have you been watching me?" he said hotly.
"Only a minute or so. Did I faint?"
"I suppose so," said Mark roughly. "Just like a great girl."
"Yes: very weak of me," said Ralph quietly.
"Yes, very," said Mark. "The brutes tied you too tightly. Try if youcan walk now. Get down by the river, and bathe them a bit."
He stood up and thrust his hands behind him, looking at his young enemyscornfully; b
ut the scarlet flush was in his face still, and would makehim look as if he were ashamed of what he had been caught doing.
Ralph sat up, and struggled painfully to his feet, turning hot and faintagain; but he made a brave effort to be firm, and took a step or two andthen stopped, Mark making no effort to assist him. Then stifling a cryof pain, he took another step or two and tottered, when Mark caught hisarm.
"You're shamming," he cried angrily.
Ralph's brow wrinkled, and he looked down at his bare legs and feet,raising one a little, painfully, to draw attention to the terriblyswollen state of his ankles and knees.
"Shamming!" he said quietly. "Am I? Well, they are not."
Ralph held out first one leg, and then the other, before seating himselfagain, drawing his hose from his belt, and trying to draw them on; butat the end of a minute the pain from his swollen wrists forced him togive up the task, and he slowly replaced the hose in his belt.
Twice over, unseen by Ralph, his companion made a gesture as if toadvance and help him, but he mastered the inclination; and after awhile, Ralph sat perfectly still, waiting for the giddy feeling fromwhich he suffered to go off. And at last, feeling a little better, herose to his feet, bowed distantly, and began to descend the steep slope;but in a few minutes he was clinging to a tree, helpless once more, andhe started, as Mark suddenly said, roughly:
"Here; you don't know our cliff: let me show you--"
Ralph was under the impression that he had left Mark Eden quite behind,and his surprise was the greater when he found that his enemy wasoffering him his arm, and ended by helping him down the remainder of theway to the river, where the injured lad gladly seated himself at theedge upon a stone, which enabled him to lave both feet at once in theclear cool current, to the great comfort and relief of his swollenankles.
After a time he was able to use his feet, resume his hose and shoes, andrise to start back; but it was awkward to part without some word ofthanks, and these were very difficult to say to one who stood by all thetime, watching every action, with a mocking smile upon his lips.
But the words had to be said, and making an effort Ralph turned tospeak. But before a sound had left his lips, Mark burst out with:
"Going now? Very well. Wait till we meet again. That way, sir. Idare say you know that you can cross the river there?"
Ralph bowed coldly, and took a few steps toward the shallows, beforestopping short.
"I must go and thank him for what he has done," he said to himself; andhe turned to walk back, but Mark was not visible.
"Master Mark Eden," he cried; but there was no reply, and he criedagain, shouting as loud as he could, but there was still no response.And, sick at heart with pain and vexation, Ralph once more stumbledawkwardly along by the river, amongst stone, bramble, and fern, tryingto make out where the deep chasm was down into which he had looked, butit was completely hidden by the trees; and, reaching the shallows, heslowly crossed to go homeward on the more open side, which was a farless difficult task, though it necessitated crossing the river again.
But as the lad disappeared among the trees, Mark Eden rose from where hehad been hidden behind a pile of fallen blocks, to make his way into thechasm, and then upward to the castle on the Black Tor, frowning veryfiercely, and feeling a good deal dissatisfied with himself, thoughbrightening up a little as he began thinking of what was to happen thenext time he and Ralph Darley met.
"One couldn't do anything," he said roughly, "till that old business hadbeen put straight."
Black Tor: A Tale of the Reign of James the First Page 11