CHAPTER VI. IN THE WOLF'S DEN.
There was only one man near it, and he sat on the settle inside, so thathe could see out and in as he wished. Him I knew at once, and was glad,for it was that old warrior who had showed some liking for me at Brent.
He got up slowly as he saw a stranger stand in the gateway and came outtowards me. Then he started a little and frowned.
"Rash--master, rash," he said, but not loudly. "This is no safe placefor you," and he motioned me to fly.
Then I beckoned him out a little further and showed him what I bore inmy hand. And he was fairly amazed and knew not what to say, that I, anoutlaw, should have been sent on this errand, and more, that I shouldhave come.
I told him, speaking quickly and shortly, how it had come about, and heunderstood that the man who gave me the arrow neither knew nor believed me.
"Master," he said, when I had done, "verily I believe that you are true,and wronged by him I have served this past two months. But of this Iknow not for certain, being a stranger here and little knowing of placeor people. But this I know, from the man you sent back, that our thanesought your life against the word of the ealdorman, and, moreover,believes that you are dead. But by the arms you wear I can learn howthat matter really went. Now, give me the arrow, and I will see to this--do you fly."
But I was bent on ending the errand, and said I would carry out thetask, as was my duty, to the end. I would put the arrow with its messageinto Matelgar's hand, and bide what might come.
He tried to dissuade me, but at last said that he would not stand by andsee me harmed, and for that I thanked him.
"Well then," he told me, "you have come in a good hour. Most of the menhave gone out here and there to spy what they may of the Danes and theirplans--if gone or not. Others are in the stables, and but one man sitsat the door of the great hall, and he is of no account."
"Where is Matelgar?" I asked.
"I know not exactly; but do as I say and all will be well."
Then I said that his advice had saved me, I thought, when before theMoot, and I would follow it here.
"Then," he went on, "come you to the hall door and bide there while I goin and call the thane thither. He will stay by his great chair to hearyour message, and I will stand by the man who keeps the door. Then, whenyou have given up the arrow, tarry not, but come out at once, and getout of this gate, lest he should raise some alarm. Then must you take tothe woods quickly."
So he turned and went in before me. There were some twenty yards ofcourtyard to be crossed before we came to the great timber-built hall,round which the other buildings clustered inside the palisades. Butthere were no men about, though I could hear them whistling at theirmorning's work in the stables, for the idle time of the day was yet tocome. Only a boy crossed from one side to the other on some errand,behind us, and paid no attention beyond pausing a little to stare, as Icould judge by his footsteps. At any other time I should not havenoticed even that, but now that I was in the very jaws of the wolf, asit were, I saw and heard everything. And all the while my heart beatfast--but that was not from fear, but for thinking I might by chancesee Alswythe.
Yet I will say it truly, that thought of her had no share in bringing meon this mad errand, which might have ending in such fashion as wouldbreak her heart.
One man, as my guide had said, sat just inside the hall, but I knew himnot. Since he had my hall and his own to tend, Matelgar must have hiredmore and new housecarles. This man was trimming a bow at the hearth, anddid not rise, seeing that, whoever I might be, I was brought in by hiscomrade. The great hall looked wide and empty, for the long tables werecleared away, and only the settle by the hearth in the centre remained,beside the thane's own carved seat on the dais at the far end.
"Bide by the fire till he comes," said my guide, seeing that the man didnot know me, and leaving me there, he went through a door beyond thethane's chair to seek him.
So I stood where the smoke rose between me and that door, waiting andwarming my hands quietly, and as unconcernedly to all seeing as I could.
"Ho, friend," said the man, so suddenly that he made me start; "look atyour sword hilt before the thane comes," and he pointed and grinned.
Sure enough, my sword hilt was not fastened to the sheath as it shouldbe in a peaceful hall, but the thong hung loose, as if ready for me tothrust wrist through before drawing the blade. So I grinned back,without a word, lest Matelgar should hear my voice and know it, andbegan to pretend to knot the thong round the scabbard. All the same, Iwas not going to fasten it so that I could not draw if need were, andonly kept on plaiting and twisting.
Then I heard Matelgar's voice and footstep, and I desisted, and, takingthe arrow from my belt, stood up and ready.
He came in, looking round, but not seeing me at first through the bluesmoke, for as I knew he would, he entered by the door through which myguide had gone just now. So I waited till he stood with his hand on hischair, while the old warrior came down towards me.
Then I strode forward boldly up to the foot of the dais, and lookingsteadily a Matelgar, cast the arrow at his feet, saying:
"In the king's name. The levy is at Bridgwater Cross. In all haste."
He threw up his hands as one too terrified to draw sword--who wouldward off some sudden terror--giving back a pace or two, and staring atme with wild eyes. His face grew white as milk, and drawn, and hisbreath went in between his teeth with a long hissing sound. But he spokeno word, and as he stood there, I turned and walked out into thecourtyard and to the gate, going steadily and without looking round,like a man who has nothing either to keep or hurry him.
Three grooms, whom I knew, stood with an unbridled horse on one side,but they were busy and minded me not till I was just at the gate.
Then one said to the other, "Yonder goes Heregar, as I live!"
Then there came a cry like a howl of rage from the hall, but no word ofcommand as yet, nor did either housecarle come out that I could hear.
Then I was at the gate, and as I passed it, turning sharp to the right,for that was the nearest way to the woods, I heard one running acrossthe court.
When I heard that, instead of keeping straight on, I doubled quicklyround the angle of the palisade. By the time I had turned it the man mayhave been at the gate, and would think me vanished. But now I ran andgot to cover in a thicket close to the rear of the house. A bad placeenough, but I must chance it.
I could hear shouts now from the courtyard. I looked round for a way toescape, but to reach the woods I had now a long bit of open ground tocover, and was puzzled. Then overhead I heard a bird rustle, and Ilooked up, and at once a thought came to me. The tree was an old,gnarled ash, and the leaves on it were thick for the time of year.Moreover, the branches were so large that surely in the fork I couldfind a hiding place. And being so close to the hall, search would bewith little, if any, care.
So with a little difficulty I climbed up, and there, sure enough, foundthe tree hollow in the fork, so that if I crouched down none could seeme from below, while, lying flat against a great branch, I could safelysee something of what might be on hand.
I was hardly sure of this when men began to spread here and there aboutthe place, but mostly going in the direction of the woods. I heardMatelgar's voice, harsh and loud, promising reward to him who shouldbring in the outlaw, dead or alive, and presently saw him stand clear ofthe palisading, about a bowshot from me.
He was red enough now, but his hand played nervously with his swordhilt, and once when men shouted in the wood, he clutched it. Clearly Ihad terrified him, and if he deemed me, as it seemed, a ghost at firstsight, the token of the arrow had undeceived him, and little rest wouldhe have now, night or day, while I was yet at large.
So I laughed to myself, and watched him till he went back.
Presently the men straggled in, too. One party, having made a circle,came close by me, and they were laughing and saying that the thane hadseen a ghost.
"Moreover," said another, "we saw him cross th
e court slowly enough, andwhen we got to the gate--lo! he was gone."
Then one said that he had heard the like before, and their voices diedaway as he told the story.
Soon after this the horns were blown to recall all the men, and I knewthat Matelgar must needs, even were it a ghost who brought the wararrow, lead his following to the sheriff's levy.
Aye, and the following that should be mine as well. The message I hadbrought should have been to me as a king's thane, and I myself shouldhave sent one to Matelgar to bid him come to the levy, even as he wouldnow send to the other lesser thanes and the franklins round about, in myplace. The men were running out even now, north and west and east, as Ithought of this in my bitterness, and I watched them, knowing well towhom this one and that must go in each quarter.
This was hard to think of. Yet I had stood in Matelgar's presence, andhad him in my power for a minute, while I might have struck him down,and had not done so. And all that long night in Sedgemoor I had promisedmyself just such a moment, and had pictured him falling at my feet, myrevenge taken.
But how long ago that seemed. Truly I was like another man then. Andsince that night there had been the wise counsel of the hermit, theprattle of the child, the touch and voice of my loved one, the thoughtof a true friend, and now the sore need of the country I loved. And, forthe sake of all those things, I do not wonder that, as I saw Matelgarpale and tremble before me, the thought of slaying him never entered myhead.
I will not say that I was much conscious of all these things moulding myconduct; but I know that since I took this message on me, and it seemedto me that the prophecy was on its way to fulfilment, I had, as it were,stood by to see another avenger then myself at work in a way that shouldunfold itself presently--so sure was I that all would come out as thehermit foretold. So it was with a sort of confidence, and a boy's loveof adventure, too, that I had run into danger thus, while now that I hadcome off so well, my confidence was yet stronger. However, it would notmake me foolhardy, for my father was wont to tell me that one may onlytrust to luck after all care taken to be well off without it.
Men came trooping in from the nearer houses and farms very soon, armedand excited. Often some passed under me, not ten paces off, and then Ishrank down into the hollow. All spoke of the Danes as gone, but at lastone said he thought he could see them, away by Steepholme Island, halfan hour agone. Though it might be fancy, he added, for their ships werevery low, and hard to see if no sail were spread.
But from all I gathered, the Danes were over on the other coast, and outof our way for the time at least.
Then I grew very stiff in the tree: but so many were about that I darednot come down. They were, however, mostly gathered in the open in frontof the great gate, and only passers by came near me. It was some threehours after noon before they gathered into ranks at last, and the rollwas called over by Matelgar himself, as he rode along the line fully armed.
When that was done, he put himself at the head, and they filed off upthe road towards Bridgwater. I remembered that, when I was quite little,my father once had to call out a levy against the West Welsh, and thenthere was great cheering as the men started. There was none now--onlythe loud voice of the thane as he chided loiterers and those who seemedto straggle.
I began to think of coming down when the last had gone, but a few menfrom far off came running past to catch them up, and I kept still yet.Then a great longing came upon me to join the levy and fight the Danes,if fight there should be, and I began to plan to do it in some way, yetcould not see how to disguise myself, or think to whose company topretend to belong.
The place seemed very quiet after all the loud talk and shouting thathad been going on. My father's levy had had ale in casks, and foodbrought out to them while they waited. But I had seen none of that here.Maybe, however, it was in the courtyard, I thought, and this I mightsee, if I climbed higher, above the palisading.
So I left my sword in the hollow, lest it should hamper me, and went upa big branch until I could see over just enough to look across to thegreat gate, which still stood open. Then I forgot all about that whichhad made me curious, for I saw two figures in the gateway.
Alswythe stood there, talking with my friend, as I will call him ever,the old housecarle, and no one else was near them.
My first thought was to come down and run to her; but I remembered thatI could but see one corner of the court, and that many more housecarlesmight be at hand, and waited, not daring to take my eyes from Alswythelest I should lose her.
They were too far off for me to hear their voices, nor did they makesign or movement that would let me guess that which they spoke of; butpresently the old man saluted, and Alswythe went out of the gate.
Then my heart leaped within me, for I thought, and rightly, that shesought her bower in the wood. And so she passed close by me in goingthere, and I must not speak or move for fear of terrifying her.
But when she had gone up the path, I looked round carefully once ortwice, and came down, and then, buckling on my sword again, lookedwarily out of the thicket, and seeing that none was near, crossed theopen and followed her.
There I found her in her place as she had found me the other day, andsoon once more we were side by side on the old seat; and she was blamingme, tenderly, for my rashness. Yet she knew not that it was I who hadbrought the arrow, and her one fear was that I had joined those Danes.And when I looked at her, I saw that she had been sorely troubled, andthis was the cause, for she said:
"I knew that you, my Heregar, would not fight against your own land, andso they would surely slay you."
So will a woman see the truth of things often more clearly than a man.For that the vikings might call on me to fight my Saxon kin had, tilllast night, never crossed my mind, yet after Charnmouth fight it waslike enough.
Then she asked what brought me here, and I told her that, seeing theburning of Watchet, I had a mind to join the levy, if I could, and sofight both for country and for her. That was true enough as my thoughtsran now--and surely I was not wrong in leaving out the story of theerrand with the war arrow, for that would have told her of her father'slust for my destruction.
Then she wept lest I should fall, but being brave and thoughtful for myhonour, and for my winning back name and lands, bade me do so if Icould, cheering me with many fond and noble words, so that I wonderedthat such a man as I could have won the love of such a woman as she.
Now the time was all too short for me to tarry long: but before I went,Alswythe would bring me out food and drink that I might go wellstrengthened and provided. And as I let her go back to the hall, I askedher the name of that old warrior to whom she spoke, for it was he, Itold her, who had tried to help me before the Moot.
And then I was sorry I had told her that, for she might ask him of thematter and hear more than was good for her peace of mind; but it wasdone, and nothing could recall it.
Yet she did not notice it then, but said his name was Wulfhere, and thathe was a stranger from Glastonbury, as she thought, lately come into herfather's service. She was going then, and I asked her to let me havespeech with him, as I thought it safe, if he were to be trusted, for Ineeded his advice in some things.
She said she would sound him first, not knowing how he had seen mealready, of course, and so went quickly away towards the hall.
What I needed the old man for was but to try to repair my slip of thetongue, and warn him of my love's ignorance of her father's unfaith tome; but as it fell out, it was well I asked to see him.
Presently he came to me. I had to slip into the bushes and lie quiettill I knew who it was, and when I came out he smiled gravely at me,shaking his head, yet as one not displeased altogether.
"Well managed, master," he said, still smiling, "but I knew not that youhad so strong a rope to draw you hither."
Then I told him the trouble I was like to bring on Alswythe if he toldher all that passed at Brent; letting him have his own thoughts about myreason for coming to Matelgar's hall, which were wrong
enough, thoughnatural at first sight, maybe.
He promised to be most wary, and I was content. Then I asked him how Ishould join the levy.
"Master," he said, very gravely, "this is like to be a matter of whichwe have not seen the end. Yon Danes are up channel, and, as I believe,lying at anchor by the Holms. It will not be their way, if, having goneso far up, they sack not every town on their way back-unless they arebeaten off on their first landing. Now the country is raised againstthem, sure enough; but our levy is a weak crowd when it is first raised,and they are tried warriors, every one. Now they may go on up tide tothe higher towns, or else they will be back here, like a kite on achicken, before men think, and Bridgwater town will see a great fight,and maybe a burning, before tomorrow."
Then I said that the levy would beat them off easily enough; but the oldwarrior shook his head.
"I was at Charnmouth," he said, "when King Ethelwulf himself led thecharge. And our men fought well; but it was like charging a wallbristling with spears. Again and again our men charged, but the Danesstood in a great ring which never broke, although it wavered once ortwice, until we were wearied out, and then they swung into line andswept us off the field. Until we learn to fight as they fight, we areweaker."
Then I began to fear for Alswythe, and asked him what guard was left forthe hall, and again he shook his head.
"Myself, and five others--not the strongest--and a dozen women, andthree boys, thralls."
I knew not what to say to this; but the wise old man had already thoughtof a plan in case of danger. And in this, he said, I could advise him,for he was a stranger.
"Horses enough are left," he told me, "and if the Danes come toBridgwater, and are not beaten off, I shall mount the Lady Alswythe andthe women, and take them to a safer place. But whither?"
I told him at once of the house of a great thane beyond the Quantocks,easily reached by safe roads through the forest land, where Danes wouldnot care to follow, and he thanked me.
Then he said that I might well try to join the levy; but that it waspossible that it would be hard for me. And I told him that if I couldnot manage it I would join in the fight when no man would question me,and that seemed possible to both of us. But if the Danes yet kept away Iknew I could wait in hiding, having money now, safely enough till theyhad gone and the levy dispersed.
Then came Alswythe back, bearing with her the things I needed. AndWulfhere begged her not to bide alone in the wood now, since robbersmight be overbold now that the men were drawn off to the levy. That wasgood advice in itself; but I knew that he would have her near the hall,lest there should be sudden need for fleeing. She promised him, thankinghim for the warning, and he left us.
Then she tended me as I ate, carefully, and never had there been for meso sweet a meal as that, outlawed and homeless though I was to theworld. For her word was my law now, and my home was all in her love for me.
I think no man can rightly be held an outlaw who has kept law and hashome such as that. For while he has, and loves those, wrong will he doto none.
It was Alswythe who bade me go at last, not for her own sake, but formine, that I might go on my way to win my fair name back again.
A Thane of Wessex Page 6