The Cloister and the Hearth: A Tale of the Middle Ages

by Charles Reade

  CHAPTER XXVIII

  THINGS good and evil balance themselves in a remarkable manner; andalmost universally. The steel bow attached to the arbalestrier's back,and carried above his head, had sunk him. That very steel bow, owing tothat very position, could not escape Gerard's hands, one of whichgrasped it, and the other went between the bow and the cord; which wasas good. The next moment, Denys, by means of his cross-bow, was hoistedwith so eager a jerk that half his body bobbed up out of water.

  "Now, grip me not! grip me not!" cried Gerard, in mortal terror of thatfatal mistake.

  "Pas si bete," gurgled Denys.

  Seeing the sort of stuff he had to deal with, Gerard was hopeful andcalm directly. "On thy back," said he sharply, and seizing the arbalestand taking a stroke forward he aided the desired movement. "Hand on myshoulder! slap the water with the other hand! No--with a downwardmotion: so. Do nothing more than I bid thee." Gerard had got hold ofDenys's long hair, and twisting it hard, caught the end between his sideteeth, and with the strong muscles of his youthful neck easily kept upthe soldier's head, and struck out lustily across the current. A momenthe had hesitated which side to make for, little knowing the awfulimportance of that simple decision; then, seeing the west bank a triflenearest, he made towards it, instead of swimming to jail like a goodboy, and so furnishing one a novel incident. Owing to the force of thecurrent they slanted considerably, and, when they had covered near ahundred yards, Denys murmured uneasily, "How much more of it?"

  "Courage," mumbled Gerard. "Whatever a duck knows, a Dutchman knows; artsafe as in bed."

  The next moment, to their surprise, they found themselves in shallowwater; and so waded ashore. Once on terra firma, they looked at oneanother from head to foot as if eyes could devour, then by one impulseflung each an arm round the other's neck, and panted there with heartstoo full to speak. And at this sacred moment life was sweet as heaven toboth; sweetest perhaps to the poor exiled lover, who had just saved hisfriend. Oh, joy to whose height what poet has yet soared, or ever triedto soar? To save a human life: and that life a loved one. Such momentsare worth living for, ay threescore years and ten. And then, calmer,they took hands, and so walked along the bank hand-in-hand like a pairof sweethearts, scarce knowing or caring whither they went.

  * * * * *

  The boat people were all safe on the late concave now convex craft, HerrTurnip-face, the "Inverter of things," being in the middle. All thisfracas seemed not to have essentially deranged his habits. At least hewas greeting when he shot our friends into the Rhine, and greeting whenthey got out again.

  "Shall we wait till they right the boat?"

  "No, Denys, our fare is paid; we owe them nought. Let us on, andbriskly."

  Denys assented, observing that they could walk all the way to Cologne onthis bank.

  "I fare not to Cologne," was the calm reply.

  "Why, whither then?"

  "To Burgundy."

  "To Burgundy? Ah, no! that is too good to be sooth."

  "Sooth 'tis; and sense into the bargain. What matters it to me how I goto Rome."

  "Nay, nay; you but say so to pleasure me. The change is too sudden: andthink me not so ill hearted as take you at your word. Also did I not seeyour eyes sparkle at the wonders of Cologne? the churches, the images,the relics--"

  "How dull art thou, Denys; that was when we were to enjoy them together.Churches; I shall see plenty, go Romeward how I will. The bones ofsaints and martyrs; alas! the world is full of them: but a friend likethee, where on earth's face shall I find another? No, I will not turnthee farther from the road that leads to thy dear home, and her thatpines for thee. Neither will I rob myself of thee by leaving thee. SinceI drew thee out of Rhine I love thee better than I did. Thou art mypearl: I fished thee; and must keep thee. So gainsay me not, or thouwilt bring back my fever; but cry courage, and lead on; and hey forBurgundy!"

  Denys gave a joyful caper. "Courage! va pour la Bourgogne. Oh! soyeztranquille! cette fois il est bien decidement mort, ce coquin la." Andthey turned their backs on the Rhine.

  On this decision making itself clear, across the Rhine there was acommotion in the little party that had been watching the discussion, andthe friends had not taken many steps, ere a voice came to them over thewater. "HALT!"

  Gerard turned, and saw one of those four holding out a badge of officeand a parchment slip. His heart sank; for he was a good citizen, andused to obey the voice that now bade him turn again to Dusseldorf--theLaw's.

  Denys did not share his scruples. He was a Frenchman, and despised everyother nation, laws, inmates and customs included. He was a soldier, andtook a military view of the situation. Superior force opposed; riverbetween; rear open; why, 'twas retreat made easy. He saw at a glancethat the boat still drifted in mid stream, and there was no ferry nearerthan Dusseldorf. "I shall beat a retreat to that hill," said he, "andthen, being out of sight, quick step."

  They sauntered off.

  "Halt, in the bailiff's name!" cried a voice from the shore.

  Denys turned round and ostentatiously snapped his fingers at thebailiff, and proceeded.

  "Halt! in the archbishop's name."

  Denys snapped his fingers at his grace, and proceeded.

  "Halt! in the emperor's name."

  Denys snapped his fingers at his majesty, and proceeded.

  Gerard saw this needless pantomime with regret, and as soon as they hadpassed the brow of the hill said, "There is now but one course, we mustrun to Burgundy instead of walking;" and he set off, and ran the bestpart of a league without stopping.

  Denys was fairly blown, and inquired what on earth had become ofGerard's fever. "I begin to miss it sadly," said he drily.

  "I dropped it in Rhine, I trow," was the reply.

  Presently they came to a little village, and here Denys purchased a loafand a huge bottle of Rhenish wine. For he said "we must sleep in somehole or corner. If we lie at an inn we shall be taken in our beds." Thiswas no more than common prudence on the old soldier's part.

  * * * * *

  The official network for catching law-breakers, especially plebeianones, was very close in that age; though the co-operation of the publicwas almost null, at all events upon the Continent. The innkeepers wereeverywhere under close surveillance as to their travellers, for whoseacts they were even in some degree responsible, more so it would seemthan for their sufferings.

  The friends were both glad when the sun set: and delighted, when after along trudge under the stars (for the moon, if I remember right, did notrise till about 3 in the morning) they came to a large barn belonging toa house at some distance. A quantity of barley had been lately thrashed:for the heap of straw on one side the thrashing floor was almost as highas the unthrashed corn on the other.

  "Here be two royal beds," said Denys, "which shall we lie on, the mow,or the straw?"

  "The straw for me," said Gerard.

  They sat on the heap, and ate their brown bread, and drank their wine,and then Denys covered his friend up in straw, and heaped it high abovehim, leaving him only a breathing-hole: "Water they say is death tofevered men; I'll make warm water on't any how."

  Gerard bade him make his mind easy. "These few drops from Rhine cannotchill me. I feel heat enough in my body now to parch a kennel, or boil acloud if I was in one." And with this epigram his consciousness went sorapidly he might really be said to "fall asleep."

  Denys, who lay awake awhile, heard that which made him nestle closer.Horses' hoofs came ringing up from Dusseldorf, and the wooden barnvibrated as they rattled past howling in a manner too well known andunderstood in the 15th century, but as unfamiliar in Europe now as a redIndian's war-whoop.

  Denys shook where he lay.

  Gerard slept like a top.

  It all swept by, and troop and howls died away.

  The stout soldier drew a long breath; whistled in a whisper; closed hiseyes; and slept like top 2.

  In the morning he sat up an
d put out his hand to wake Gerard. It lightedon the young man's forehead, and found it quite wet. Denys then in hisquality of nurse forbore to wake him. "It is ill to check sleep or sweatin a sick man," said he. "I know that far, though I ne'er minced ape norgallows-bird."

  After waiting a good hour, he felt desperately hungry: so he turned andin self-defense went to sleep again.

  Poor fellow, in his hard life he had been often driven to thismanoeuvre. At high noon he was waked by Gerard moving, and found himsitting up with the straw smoking round him like a dunghill. Animal heatversus moisture. Gerard called him "a lazy loon." He quietly grinned.

  They set out, and the first thing Denys did was to give Gerard hisarbalest, etc., and mount a high tree on the road. "Coast clear to thenext village," said he, and on they went.

  On drawing near the village Denys halted and suddenly inquired of Gerardhow he felt.

  "What! can you not see? I feel as if Rome was no further than yonhamlet."

  "But thy body, lad; thy skin?"

  "Neither hot nor cold: and yesterday t'was hot one while and coldanother. But what I cannot get rid of is this tiresome leg."

  "Le grand malheur! Many of my comrades have found no such difficulty."

  "Ah! there it goes again; itches consumedly."

  "Unhappy youth," said Denys solemnly, "the sum of thy troubles is this:thy fever is gone, and thy wound is--healing. Sith so it is," added heindulgently, "I shall tell thee a little piece of news I had otherwisewithheld."

  "What is't?" asked Gerard sparkling with curiosity.

  "THE HUE AND CRY IS OUT AFTER US: AND ON FLEET HORSES."

  "Oh!"