Climate speedily did its work with the lady, warfare with two of her sons, and there only remained of the family a youth of seventeen, Walter, and his sister Mabel, fourteen, who was already betrothed to the young Baron of Courtwood, then about to return to England. The treaty with Stephen and the success of young Henry of Anjou gave Sir William hopes of restitution; but just as he was about to conduct her to Jerusalem for the wedding, before going back to England, he fell sick of one of the recurring fevers of the country; and almost at the same time the castle was beleaguered by a troop of Arabs, under the command of a much-dreaded Sheik.
His constitution was already much shaken, and Sir William, after a few days of alternate torpor and delirium, passed away, without having been conscious enough to leave any counsel to his children, or any directions to Father Philip, the chaplain, or Sigbert, his English squire.
At the moment, sorrow was not disturbed by any great alarm, for the castle was well victualled, and had a good well, supplied by springs from the mountains; and Father Philip, after performing the funeral rites for his lord, undertook to make his way to Tiberias, or to Jerusalem, with tidings of their need; and it was fully anticipated that succour would arrive long before the stores in the castle had been exhausted.
But time went on, and, though food was not absolutely lacking, the spring of water which had hitherto supplied the garrison began to fail. Whether through summer heats, or whether the wily enemy had succeeded in cutting off the source, where once there had been a clear crystal pool in the rock, cold as the snow from which it came, there only dribbled a few scanty drops, caught with difficulty, and only imbibed from utter necessity, so great was the suspicion of their being poisoned by the enemy.
The wine was entirely gone, and the salted provision, which alone remained, made the misery of thirst almost unbearable.
On the cushions, richly embroidered in dainty Eastern colouring, lay Mabel de Hundberg, with dry lips half opened and panting, too weary to move, yet listening all intent.
Another moment, and in chamois leather coat, his helmet in hand, entered her brother from the turret stair, and threw himself down hopelessly, answering her gesture.
"No, no, of course no. The dust was only from another swarm of those hateful Saracens. I knew it would be so. Pah! it has made my tongue more like old boot leather than ever. Have no more drops been squeezed from the well? It's time the cup was filled!"
"It was Roger's turn. Sigbert said he should have the next," said Mabel.
Walter uttered an imprecation upon Roger, and a still stronger one on Sigbert's meddling. But instantly the cry was, "Where is Sigbert?"
Walter even took the trouble to shout up and down the stair for Sigbert, and to demand hotly of the weary, dejected men-at-arms where Sigbert was; but no one could tell.
"Gone over to the enemy, the old traitor," said Walter, again dropping on the divan.
"Never! Sigbert is no traitor," returned his sister.
"He is an English churl, and all churls are traitors," responded Walter.
The old nurse, who was fitfully fanning Mabel with a dried palm-leaf, made a growl of utter dissent, and Mabel exclaimed, "None was ever so faithful as good old Sigbert."
It was a promising quarrel, but their lips were too dry to keep it up for more than a snarl or two. Walter cast himself down, and bade old Tata fan him; why should Mabel have it all to herself?
Then sounds of wrangling were heard below, and Walter roused himself to go down and interfere. The men were disputing over some miserable dregs of wine at the bottom of a skin. Walter shouted to call them to order, but they paid little heed.
"Do not meddle and make, young sir," said a low-browed, swarthy fellow. "There's plenty of cool drink of the right sort out there."
"Traitor!" cried Walter; "better die than yield."
"If one have no mind for dying like an old crab in a rock," said the man.
"They would think nought of making an end of us out there," said another.
"I'd as lief be choked at once by a cord as by thirst," was the answer.
"That you are like to be, if you talk such treason," threatened Walter. "Seize him, Richard-Martin."
Richard and Martin, however, hung back, one muttering that Gil had done nothing, and the other that he might be in the right of it; and when Walter burst out in angry threats he was answered in a gruff voice that he had better take care what he said, "There was no standing not only wasting with thirst and hunger, but besides being blustered at by a hot-headed lad, that scarce knew a hauberk from a helmet."
Walter, in his rage, threw himself with drawn sword on the mutineer, but was seized and dragged back by half a dozen stalwart arms, such as he had no power to resist, and he was held fast amid rude laughs and brutal questions whether he should thus be carried to the Saracens, and his sister with him.
"The old Sheik would give a round sum for a fair young damsel like her!" were the words that maddened her brother into a desperate struggle, baffled with a hoarse laugh by the men-at-arms, who were keeping him down, hand and foot, when a new voice sounded: "How now, fellows! What's this?"
In one moment Walter was released and on his feet, and the men fell back, ashamed and gloomy, as a sturdy figure, with sun-browned face, light locks worn away by the helmet, and slightly grizzled, stood among them, in a much-rubbed and soiled chamois leather garment.
Walter broke out into passionate exclamations; the men, evidently ashamed, met them with murmurs and growls. "Bad enough, bad enough!" broke in Sigbert; "but there's no need to make it worse. Better to waste with hunger and thirst than be a nidering fellow-rising against your lord in his distress."
"We would never have done it if he would have kept a civil tongue."
"Civility's hard to a tongue dried up," returned Sigbert. "But look you here, comrades, leave me a word with my young lord here, and I plight my faith that you shall have enow to quench your thirst within six hours at the least."
There was an attempt at a cheer, broken by the murmur, "We have heard enough of that! It is always six hours and six hours."
"And the Saracen hounds outside would at least give us a draught of water ere they made away with us," said another.
"Saracens, forsooth!" said Sigbert. "You shall leave the Saracens far behind you. A few words first with my lord, and you shall hear. Meanwhile, you, John Cook, take all the beef remaining; make it in small fardels, such as a man may easily carry."
"That's soon done," muttered the cook. "The entire weight would scarce bow a lad's shoulders."
"The rest of you put together what you would save from the enemy, and is not too heavy to carry." One man made some attempt at growling at a mere lad being consulted, while the stout warriors were kept in ignorance; but the spirit of discipline and confidence had returned with Sigbert, and no one heeded the murmur. Meantime, Sigbert followed the young Lord Walter up the rough winding stairs to the chamber where Mabel lay on her cushions. "What! what!" demanded the boy, pausing to enter. Sigbert, by way of answer, quietly produced from some hidden pouch two figs. Walter snatched at one with a cry of joy. Mabel held out her hand, then, with a gasp, drew it back. "Has Roger had one?"
Sigbert signed in the affirmative, and Mabel took a bite of the luscious fruit with a gasp of pleasure, yet paused once more to hold the remainder to her nurse.
"The Saints bless you, my sweet lamb!" exclaimed the old woman; "finish it yourself. I could not."
"If you don't want it, give it to me," put in Walter.
"For shame, my lord," Sigbert did not scruple to say, nor could the thirsty girl help finishing the refreshing morsel, while Walter, with some scanty murmur of excuse, demanded where it came from, and what Sigbert had meant by promises of safety.
"Sir," said Sigbert, "you may remember how some time back your honoured father threw one of the fellaheen into the dungeon for maiming old Leo."
"The villain! I remember. I thought he was hanged."
"No, sir. He escaped. I went to ta
ke him food, and he was gone! I then found an opening in the vault, of which I spoke to none, save your father, for fear of mischief; but I built it up with stones. Now, in our extremity, I bethought me of it, and resolved to try whether the prisoner had truly escaped, for where he went, we might go. Long and darksome is the way underground, but it opens at last through one of the old burial-places of the Jews into the thickets upon the bank of the Jordan."
"The Jordan! Little short of a league!" exclaimed Walter.
"A league, underground, and in the dark," sighed Mabel.
"Better than starving here like a rat in a trap," returned her brother.
"Ah yes; oh yes! I will think of the cool river and the trees at the end."
"You will find chill enough, lady, long ere you reach the river," said Sigbert. "You must wrap yourself well. 'Tis an ugsome passage; but your heart must not fail you, for it is the only hope left us."
The two young people were far too glad to hear of any prospect of release, to think much of the dangers or discomforts of the mode. Walter danced for joy up and down the room like a young colt, as he thought of being in a few hours more in the free open air, with the sound of water rippling below, and the shade of trees above him. Mabel threw herself on her knees before her rude crucifix, partly in thankfulness, partly in dread of the passage that was to come first.
"Like going through the grave to life," she murmured to her nurse.
And when the scanty garrison was gathered together, as many as possible provided with brands that might serve as torches, and Sigbert led them, lower and lower, down rugged steps hewn in the rock, through vaults where only a gleam came from above, and then through deeper cavernous places, intensely dark, there was a shudder perceptible by the clank and rattle of the armour which each had donned. In the midst, Walter paused and exclaimed-
"Our banner! How leave it to the Paynim dogs?"
"It's here, sir," said Sigbert, showing a bundle on his back.
"Warning to the foe to break in and seek us," grumbled Gilbert.
"Not so," replied Sigbert. "I borrowed an old wrapper of nurse's that will cheat their eyes till we shall be far beyond their ken."
In the last dungeon a black opening lay before them, just seen by the light of the lamp Sigbert carried, but so low that there was no entrance save on hands and knees.
"That den!" exclaimed Walter. "'Tis a rat-hole. Never can we go that way."
"I have tried it, sir," quoth Sigbert. "Where I can go, you can go. Your sister quails not."
"It is fearful," said Mabel, unable to repress a shiver; "but, Walter, think what is before us if we stay here! The Saints will guard us."
"The worst and lowest part only lasts for a few rods," explained Sigbert. "Now, sir, give your orders. Torches and lanterns, save Hubert's and nurse's, to be extinguished. We cannot waste them too soon, but beware of loosing hold on them."
Walter repeated the orders thus dictated to him, and Sigbert arranged the file. It was absolutely needful that Sigbert should go first to lead the way. Mabel was to follow him for the sake of his help, then her brother, next nurse, happily the only other female. Between two stout and trustworthy men the wounded Roger came. Then one after another the rest of the men-at-arms and servants, five-and-twenty in number. The last of the file was Hubert, with a lamp; the others had to move in darkness. There had been no horse of any value in the castle, for the knight's charger had been mortally hurt in his last expedition, and there had been no opportunity of procuring another. A deerhound, however, pushed and scrambled to the front, and Sigbert observed that he might be of great use in running before them. Before entering, however, Sigbert gave the caution that no word nor cry must be uttered aloud, hap what might, until permission was given, for they would pass under the Saracen camp, and there was no knowing whether the sounds would reach the ears above ground.
A strange plunge it was into the utter darkness, crawling on hands and knees, with the chill cavernous gloom and rock seeming to press in upon those who slowly crept along, the dim light of Sigbert's lamp barely showing as he slowly moved on before. One of the two in the rear was dropped and extinguished in the dismal passage, a loss proclaimed by a suppressed groan passing along the line, and a louder exclamation from Walter, causing Sigbert to utter a sharp 'Hush!' enforced by a thud and tramp above, as if the rock were coming down on them, but which probably was the trampling of horses in the camp above.
The smoke of the lamp in front drifted back, and the air was more and more oppressive. Mabel, with set teeth and compressed lips, struggled on, clinging tight to the end of the cord which Sigbert had tied to his body for her to hold by, while in like manner Walter's hand was upon her dress. It became more and more difficult to breathe, or crawl on, till at last, just as there was a sense that it was unbearable, and that it would be easier to lie still and die than be dragged an inch farther, the air became freer, the roof seemed to be farther away, the cavern wider, and the motion freer.
Sigbert helped his young lady to stand upright, and one by one all the train regained their feet. The lamp was passed along to be rekindled, speech was permitted, crevices above sometimes admitted air, sometimes dripped with water. The worst was over-probably the first part had been excavated, the farther portion was one of the many natural 'dens and caves of the earth,' in which Palestine abounds. There was still a considerable distance to be traversed, the lamps burnt out, and had to be succeeded by torches carefully husbanded, for the way was rough and rocky, and a stumble might end in a fall into an abyss. In time, however, openings of side galleries were seen, niches in the wall, and tokens that the outer portion of the cavern had been once a burial-place of the ancient Israelites-'the dog Jews,' as the Crusaders called them, with a shudder of loathing and contempt.
And joy infinite-clear daylight and a waving tree were perceptible beyond. It was daylight, was it? but the sun was low. Five hours at least had been spent in that dismal transit, before the exhausted, soiled, and chilled company stepped forth into a green thicket with the Jordan rushing far below. Five weeks' siege in a narrow fortress, then the two miles of subterranean struggle-these might well make the grass beneath the wild sycamore, the cork-tree, the long reeds, the willows, above all, the sound of the flowing water, absolute ecstasy. There was an instant rush for the river, impeded by many a thorn-bush and creeper; but almost anything green was welcome at the moment, and the only disappointment was at the height and steepness of the banks of rock. However, at last one happy man found a place where it was possible to climb down to the shingly bed of the river, close to a great mass of the branching headed papyrus reed. Into the muddy but eminently sweet water most of them waded; helmets became cups, hands scooped up the water, there were gasps of joy and refreshment and blessing on the cool wave so long needed.
Sigbert and Walter between them helped down Mabel and her nurse, and found a secure spot for them, where weary faces, feet, and hands might be laved in the pool beneath a rock.
Then, taking up a bow and arrows laid down by one of the men, Sigbert applied himself to the endeavour to shoot some of the water-fowl which were flying wildly about over the reeds in the unwonted disturbance caused by the bathers. He brought down two or three of the duck kind, and another of the party had bethought him of angling with a string and one of the only too numerous insects, and had caught sundry of the unsuspecting and excellent fish. He had also carefully preserved a little fire, and, setting his boy to collect fuel, he produced embers enough to cook both fish and birds sufficiently to form an appetising meal for those who had been reduced to scraps of salt food for full a fortnight.
"All is well so far," said Walter, with his little lordly air. "We have arranged our retreat with great skill. The only regret is that I have been forced to leave the castle to the enemy! the castle we were bound to defend."
"Nay, sir, if it be your will," said Sigbert, "the tables might yet be turned on the Saracen."
With great eagerness Walter asked how this could be, and
Sigbert reminded him that many a time it had been observed from the tower that, though the Saracens kept careful watch on the gates of the besieged so as to prevent a sally, they left the rear of their camp absolutely undefended, after the ordinary Eastern fashion, and Sigbert, with some dim recollection of rhymed chronicles of Gideon and of Jonathan, believed that these enemies might be surprised after the same fashion as theirs. Walter leapt up for joy, but Sigbert had to remind him that the sun was scarcely set, and that time must be given for the Saracens to fall asleep before the attack; besides that, his own men needed repose.
"There is all the distance to be traversed," said Walter.
"Barely a league, sir."
It was hard to believe that the space, so endless underground, was so short above, and Walter was utterly incredulous, till, climbing the side of the ravine so high as to be above the trees, Sigbert showed him the familiar landmarks known in hunting excursions with his father. He was all eagerness; but Sigbert insisted on waiting till past midnight before moving, that the men might have time to regain their vigour by sleep, and also that there might be time for the Saracens to fall into the deepest of all slumbers in full security.
The moon was low in the West when Sigbert roused the party, having calculated that it would light them on the way, but would be set by the time the attack was to be made.
For Mabel's security it was arranged that a small and most unwilling guard should remain with her, near enough to be able to perceive how matters went; and if there appeared to be defeat and danger for her brother, there would probably be full time to reach Tiberias even on foot.
However, the men of the party had little fear that flight would be needed, for, though perhaps no one would have thought of the scheme for himself, there was a general sense that what Sigbert devised was prudent, and that he would not imperil his young lord and lady upon a desperate venture.
Keeping well and compactly together, the little band moved on, along arid, rocky paths, starting now and then at the howls of the jackals which gradually gathered into a pack, and began to follow, as if-some one whispered-they scented prey, "On whom?" was the question.
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