by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER IX -- A STOUT DEFENCE
The Duke of Burgundy had left Paris upon the day after he had receivedDame Margaret, and as the king had a lucid interval, the Duke ofAquitaine, his son, was also absent with the army. In Paris there existeda general sense of uneasiness and alarm. The butchers, feeling that theirdoings had excited a strong reaction against them, and that several of theother guilds, notably that of the carpenters, were combining against them,determined to strike terror into their opponents by attacking some oftheir leaders. Several of these were openly murdered in the streets, andthe houses of others were burnt and sacked. One evening when Guy hadreturned at nine o'clock from a supper at Count Charles's lodgings, itbeing the first time he had been out after dark since his first adventure,he had but just gone up to his room, when he heard a loud knocking at thedoor below. Going to the front window he looked out of the casement.
"Who is it that knocks?" he asked.
"It is I--the lad of Notre Dame."
He recognized the voice and ran down and opened the door.
"What is it, signora?"
"My father bids me tell you, sir, that he but learned the instant beforehe despatched me that the butchers are going to attack this house thisevening, under the pretext that there are English spies here, but reallyto slay the provost of the silversmiths, and to gratify their followers bythe sack of his house. I fear that I am too late, for they were to marchfrom the _abattoirs_ at nine, and it is already nearly half-past. Look! Isee torches coming up the street."
"It is too late, indeed, to fly, even if we wished to," Guy said. "DameMargaret and the children retired to bed an hour ago. Will you take thisring," and he took off from his finger one that D'Estournel had given him,"and carry it at once to the lodgings of Count Charles d'Estournel? Theyare in the house on this side of the Hotel of St. Pol. He is still up, andhas some of his friends with him. Tell him from me that this house isbeing attacked, and beg him to gather a party, if he can, and come to ourassistance. Say that we shall defend it until the last."
The girl took the ring and ran off at the top of her speed. The roar ofthe distant crowd could now be distinctly heard. Guy put up the strongbars of the door and then rushed upstairs. First he knocked at the door ofMaitre Leroux.
"The butchers are coming to attack your house!" he shouted. "Call up yourservants; bid them take to their arms." Then he ran up to the room wherehis men slept. Long Tom, who had met him at D'Estournel's door andaccompanied him home, sprang to his feet from his pallet as Guy entered."The butchers are about to attack the house, Tom; up all of you and armyourselves; bring down your bow and arrows. Where do the men-servantssleep?"
"There are five of them in the next room, and the two who serve in theshop are in the chamber beyond," the archer replied, as he hastily buckledon his armour. Guy rushed to the door and awoke the inmates of the rooms,telling them to arm and hasten down to defend the house, which was aboutto be attacked. A moment later Maitre Leroux himself appeared and repeatedthe order.
"Art sure of what you say, Master Guy?" he asked.
"Look from the window and you will see them approaching," Guy replied, andgoing to the casement window which was at the front of the house he threwit open. Some four hundred yards away a dense throng was coming along; ascore of torches lighted up the scene.
"Resistance is vain," the silversmith said. "It is my life they seek; Iwill go down to them."
"Resistance will not be in vain," Guy said firmly. "I have already sentfor aid, and we shall have a body of Burgundian men-at-arms here to ourassistance before long. Your life will not satisfy them; it is the plunderof your shop and house that they long for, and you may be sure that theywill put all to the sword if they once break in. Now let us run down andsee what we can do to strengthen our defences."
"The shutters and doors are all strong," the provost said as they hurrieddownstairs, followed by the four men-at-arms and the servants--for inthose days men removed but few of their garments as they lay down on theirrough pallets.
"In the first place," Guy said, "we must pile everything that we can findbelow against these doors, so that when they yield we can still make adefence here, before we retire. Are there other stairs than these?"
"No."
"So much the better. As soon as we have blocked the door we will barricadethe first landing and defend ourselves there. Jean Bart, do you take thecommand below for the present. Seize everything that you can lay hands on,logs from the wood-store, sacks of charcoal, cases, everything heavy thatyou can find, and pile them up against the door. Tom, do you come with us;an arrow or two will check their ardour, and it is not likely they havebrought bows or cross-bows with them. Try to parley with them as long asyou can, Maitre Leroux, every minute is of value."
"What is all this, Guy?" Dame Margaret asked as she entered the apartment.Having been aroused by the noise she had hastily attired herself, and hadjust come into the front room.
"The butchers are about to attack the house, lady; we are going to defendit. I have sent to D'Estournel, and we may hope for aid before long."
At this moment there was a loud knocking at the door and a hoarse roar ofvoices from the street. The silversmith went to the casement and openedit, and he and Guy looked out. A shout of fury arose from the street, withcries of "Death to the English spies!" "Death to the Armagnac provost!"
Leroux in vain endeavoured to make his voice heard, and so tell the crowdthat his guests were not spies, but had been lodged at his house by theDuke of Burgundy himself. A tall man on horseback, one of several who wereevidently leaders of the mob, pressed his way through the crowd to thedoor and evidently gave some orders, and a din of heavy sledge-hammers andaxes beating against it at once mingled with the shouts of the crowd. Thehorseman crossed again to the other side of the street and shook his fistthreateningly at Leroux.
"That is Jacques Legoix," the silversmith said, as he retired from thewindow; "one of the great leaders of the butchers; his family, and the St.Yons and Taiberts rule the market."
"Tom," Guy said to the archer, who was standing behind him. "Begin bypicking off that fellow on horseback opposite."
Tom had already bent his bow and had an arrow in readiness, a moment laterthe shaft flew and struck the butcher between the eyes, and he fell deadfrom his horse. A yell of consternation and rage rose from the crowd.
"Now you can distribute a few arrows among those fellows at the door," Guysaid.
The archer leant far out of the low casement. "It is awkward shooting,Master Guy," he said quietly, "but I daresay I can make a shift to manageit." Disregarding the furious yells of the crowd, he sent arrow afterarrow among the men using the sledges and axes. Many of them had steelcaps with projecting rims which sheltered the neck, but as they raisedtheir weapons with both hands over their heads they exposed their cheststo the marksman above, and not an arrow that was shot failed to bring downa man. When six had fallen no fresh volunteers came forward to take theirplaces, although another horseman made his way up to them and endeavouredby persuasions and threats to induce them to continue the work. This manwas clad in armour, and wore a steel cap in the place of the knightlyhelmet.
"Who is that fellow?" Guy asked the merchant.
"He is the son of Caboche, the head of the flayers, one of the mostpestilent villains in the city."
"Keep your eye on him, Tom, and when you see a chance send an arrow home."
"That armour of his is but common stuff, Master Guy; as soon as I get achance I will send a shaft through it."
The man with a gesture of anger turned and gave instructions to a numberof men, who pushed their way through the crowd, first picking up some ofthe fallen hammers and axes. The fate of his associate had evidentlytaught the horseman prudence, for as he moved away he kept his head bentdown so as not to expose his face to the aim of the terrible marksman atthe window. He halted a short distance away and was evidently haranguingthe crowd round him, and in his vehemence raised his arm. The moment hedid so Tom's bow twanged
. The arrow struck him at the unprotected partunder the arm-pit, and he fell headlong from his horse. Maddened with ragethe crowd no longer hesitated, and again attacked the door. Just as theydid so there was a roar of exultation down the street as twelve menbrought up a solid gate that they had beaten in and wrenched from itshinges from a house beyond.
"TOM'S BOW TWANGED, AND THE ARROW STRUCK THE HORSEMAN UNDERTHE ARM-PIT."]
"You can shoot as you like now, Tom. I will go down and see how the menare getting on below; the mob will have the door in sooner or later."
Guy found that the men below had not wasted their time. A great pile oflogs, sacks, and other materials was piled against the door, and a shortdistance behind stood a number of barrels of wine and heavy cases ready tobe placed in position.
"Get them upstairs, Jean," Guy said; "they will make a better barricadethan the furniture, which we may as well save if possible."
The nine men set to work, and in a very short time a strong barricade wasformed across the top of the wide staircase.
"Have you all the cases out of the shop?"
"Yes, we have not left one there, Master Guy. If they are all full ofsilver there must be enough for a royal banqueting-table."
Some, indeed, of the massive chests were so heavy that it required theefforts of six men to carry them upstairs.
"How do matters go, Guy?" Dame Margaret asked quietly as he re-entered theapartment.
"Very well," he replied. "I don't think the door will hold out muchlonger; but there is a strong barricade behind it which it will take themsome time to force, and another on the landing here that we ought to beable to hold for an hour at least, and before that yields we will haveanother ready on the landing above."
"I will see to that," she said. "I will take Agnes and Charlie up with me,and then, with the women, I will move out the clothes' and linen chestsand build them up there."
"Thank you, madame; I trust long before the barricade here is carried weshall have D'Estournel and his friends to our assistance. Indeed, I doubtwhether they will be able to carry it at all; it is as solid and almost asstrong as a stone wall, and as there are thirteen or fourteen of us todefend it, it seems to me that nothing short of battering the cases topieces will enable them to force a way."
"I wish I could do something," Agnes broke in; "it is hard not to be ableto help while you are all fighting for us. I wish I had brought my bowwith me, you know I can shoot fairly."
"I think that it is just as well that you have not," Guy said with asmile. "I do not doubt your courage for a moment, but if you were placingyourself in danger we should all be anxious about you, and I would muchrather know that you were safe with your mother upstairs."
Guy now went to the window. Maitre Leroux had been directing his servantsin the formation of the barricades.
"I can do nothing to protect the door," the archer said; "they have proppedup that gate so as to cover the men who are hammering at it. I have beendistributing my arrows among the crowd, and in faith there will be a goodmany vacancies among the butchers and flayers in the market tomorrowmorning. I am just going up to fill my quiver again and bring down a sparearmful of arrows."
"Leave those on the landing here, Tom, and bring your full quiver downbelow. The door will not hold many minutes longer: I could see that it wasyielding when I was down there just now. I don't think that we shall beable to make a long defence below, for with their hooked halberts theywill be able to pull out the logs, do what we will."
One of the servants now ran in.
"They have broken the door down, sir. It is only kept in place by thethings behind it."
Guy ran out, climbed the barricade--which on the landing was four feethigh, but as it was built on the edge of the top stair it was nine incheshigher on that face--let himself drop on to the stairs, and ran down intothe passage.
"I think, Maitre Leroux," he said, "that you and your men had better go upat once and station yourselves at the barricade. There is no room here formore than five of us to use our arms, and when we retire we shall have todo so quickly. Will you please fasten a chair on the top step in such away that we can use it to climb over the barricade without delay? We arelike to be hard pressed, and it is no easy matter to get over a five-footwall speedily with a crowd of armed men pressing hotly on your heels."
The provost told two of his men to pick out a square block of firewood, asnearly as possible the thickness of the height of one of the steps. Aftertrying several they found one that would do, and on placing it on thestair next to the top it formed with the step above it a level platform.On this the chair was placed, a strong rope being attached to it so thatit could be pulled up over the barricade when the last of the defendershad entered. By the time this was finished the battle below began inearnest. The infuriated assailants had pulled the doors outwards and weremaking desperate efforts to climb the pile of logs. This they soon foundto be impossible, and began with their halberts to pull them down, and itwas not long before they had dislodged sufficient to make a slope up whichthey could climb. Their work had not been carried on with impunity, forthe archer had stationed himself on the top and sent his arrows thick andfast among them.
"In faith, master," he said to Guy, who stood close behind, "methinks thatI am doing almost as much harm as good, for I am aiding them mightily inmaking their slope, which will presently contain as many dead men aslogs."
As soon as they deemed the slope climbable the furious assailants chargedup. They were met by Guy and the four men-at-arms. Tom had now slung hisbow behind him and had betaken himself to his heavy axe, which crashedthrough the iron caps of the assailants as though they had been eggshells.But in such numbers did they press on that Guy saw that this barricadecould not be much longer held.
"Get ready to retire when I give the word!" he shouted to his companions."Tom, you and Jules Varoy and Robert Picard run first upstairs. When youhave climbed the barricade, do you, Tom, take your place on the top. JeanBart and I will come up last, and you can cover us with your arrows. TellMaitre Leroux to remove the light into the room, so that they will not beable to see what there is to encounter, while these torches here and thoseheld by the crowd will enable you to see well enough to take aim. Now!" heshouted, "fall back!"
Tom and the two men-at-arms sprang up the stairs, Guy and Jean Bartfollowed more slowly, and halted a few steps from the top.
"All up, master!" Tom shouted, and Jean and Guy were able to cross thebarricade before the foremost of their pursuers reached them. There hadindeed been confusion below, for several of those who had first climbedthe barricade had, instead of pressing hotly in pursuit, run along thehall and through the door into the shop, in their eagerness to be thefirst to seize upon the plunder. They expected the others to follow theirexample, but one of their leaders placed himself in their way andthreatened to cut them down if they did not first assault the stairs.
"Fools!" he shouted, "do you think that the old fox has wasted the time wehave given him? You may be sure that the richest prizes have been carriedabove."
There was an angry altercation, which was continued until those who hadfirst run into the shop returned with the news that it had been completelystripped of its contents. There was now no longer any hesitation inobeying their leader, and the men poured up the stairs in a mass. Suddenlysome torches appeared above, and those in front saw with consternation theobstacle that stood between them and their prey. They had little time forconsideration, however, for the arrows from the archer now smote them, andthat with a force and rapidity that bewildered them. Five or six of thosein front fell shot through the brain.
"Heads down!" a voice shouted. There was no retreat for those in front,for the mass behind pressed them forward, and, instinctively obeying theorder, they ran up. But neither helm nor breast-plate availed to keep outthe terrible English arrows, which clove their way through the iron as ifit had been pasteboard. Stumbling over the bodies of those who had fallen,the front rank of the assailants at last reached the bar
ricade, but heretheir progress was arrested. A line of men stood behind the smooth wall ofmassive cases, and those who strove to climb it were smitten with axe orsword, while they themselves could not reach the defenders above them.They could but thrust blindly with pike or halbert, for if a face wasraised to direct the aim one of the deadly arrows struck it instantly. Invain they strove by the aid of the halberts to haul down a case from itsposition, the weight was too great for one man's strength to move, andbefore several could grasp the handle of the halbert to aid them, theshaft was cut in two by the blow of an axe.
Hopeless as the attempt seemed, it was persevered in, for the crowd below,ignorant of the nature of the obstacle, maddened with fury and with thewine which had been freely served out before starting, still pressedforward, each fearing that the silversmith's treasures would beappropriated before he could obtain his share. For half an hour the fightcontinued, then there was a roar in the street, and Dame Margaret, who,after seeing the barricade above completed, had come down to her room andwas gazing along the street, ran out on to the landing.
"Help is at hand!" she cried, "the knights are coming!"
Then came the loud tramp of horses, mingled with shouts of "Burgundy!" Thecrowd at the entrance at once turned and ran out, and as the alarm reachedthose within, they too rushed down, until the stairs were untenanted saveby the dead. Bidding the others hold their places lest the assailantsshould return, Guy ran in and joined Lady Margaret at the window. A fierceconflict was going on in the street, with shouts of "Burgundy!" "Arescue!" "A rescue!"
The knights, who were followed by some fifty men-at-arms, rode into themob, hewing them down with their swords. The humiliations that they hadreceived from the arrogance and insolence of the butchers had long rankledin their minds, and they now took a heavy vengeance. The windows of allthe houses opposite, from which men and women had been peering timidlyout, were now crowded; women waving their handkerchiefs to the knights,and men loudly shouting greetings and encouragements. The whole of thetraders of Paris were bitterly opposed to the domination of the marketguilds, and while they cared but little for the quarrel between the rivaldukes, the alliance between Burgundy and the butchers naturally drove themto sympathize with the opposite party. The proof afforded by the charge ofthe knights upon the mob delighted them, as showing that, allied with themthough they might be, the Burgundians were determined no longer to allowthe rioting and excesses of the men of the market guilds to continue.
In two or three minutes all was over. The resistance, though fierce, wasshort, and the mob was driven down the side streets and chased until thetrading quarter was cleared of them. As the knights returned Guy went downto the door, to which Maitre Leroux had already descended to thank hisrescuers for their timely aid.
"I thank you, my lords and knights," the silversmith said, "for the timelysuccour you have rendered me. I would pray you to enter and to allow me tothank you in more worthy fashion, but indeed the stairs and passage areencumbered with dead."
"Dame Margaret of Villeroy prays me to say that she also desires greatlyto thank you," Guy said.
"I feared that we should have been too late," Count Charles replied. "Welost no time when your messenger came, Guy, but it took some time to rousethe men-at-arms and to saddle our horses. You must have made a stoutdefence indeed, judging by the pile of dead that encumber your passage."
"There are many more inside," Guy said, "and methinks that we could haveheld out for another hour yet if it had been needed. Indeed, the onlything that I feared was that they might set fire to the lower part of thehouse."
"I should like to see your defences, Maitre Leroux," Count Walter deVesoul said, "What say you, my friends, shall we mount and see the sceneof this battle? Methinks we might well gain something by it, for 'tis noslight thing that an unfortified house should for over an hour defenditself against a mob full a couple of thousand strong. I doubt not, too,that Master Leroux will serve us with a flagon of wine; and, moreover, weshould surely pay our respects to this English lady,--who while a hostageof the duke has been thus sorely ill-treated by the scum of Paris,--if shewill please receive us at this hour of the evening."
The other knights, of whom there were ten in number, at once dismounted.The silversmith's servants brought torches, and after ordering two of themto broach a cask of wine and to regale the men-at-arms, the provost ledthe way upstairs.
"Wait a moment, good provost," the Count de Vesoul said, "let usunderstand the thing from the beginning. I see that the knaves lying hereand many of those in the road are pierced by arrows, which, as I note,have in some cases gone through iron cap or breast-piece; how comes that?"
"That is the work of one of my lady's retainers. He is an English archer,and one of the most skilful. He comes from her English estate, and whenshe chose him as one of the four men-at-arms to accompany her, he beggedleave to bring his bow and arrows, and has in truth, as you see, made gooduse of them."
"That is the same tall fellow who, as I told you, Walter, did me such goodservice in that fray," said D'Estournel.
"By Saint Anne, Guy, I would that I had a dozen such men among my varlets.Why, there are a round dozen lying outside the door."
"There would have been more," Guy said, "had they not brought up thatgreat gate and used it as a screen while they battered in the door here."
"Then you built the barricade behind it?" Count Walter said as he climbedover the heap of logs.
"Yes, Count, it was built against the door, but when that gave way theypulled it down with halberts until they could climb over it. But, as yousee, no small portion of slope on the outside is composed of their bodies.The archer's arrows did good execution as they worked at it, and when theymade the assault we--that is to say, Dame Margaret's four retainers andI--held it for some time, then we retired up the stairs and defended thatbarricade we had built across the top."
The knights picked their way among the bodies that encumbered the stairs.
"By Saint Denis, Charles, this is a strong work indeed!" the count said toD'Estournel, as they reached the top; "no wonder the knaves found it toomuch for them. What are all these massive cases?"
"They contain the goods from my shop," Maitre Leroux said. "Master Aylmerhad them carried here while the archer was defending the door, and by sodoing not only made, as you see, a stout breast-work, but saved them frombeing plundered."
"They were well fitted for it," Guy said, "for they are very weighty; andthough the fellows tried hard they could not move them with their hooks,and as fast as they strove to do so the provost's men and ours struck offthe heads of the halberts with axes; and the work was all the moredifficult as our archer had always a shaft fitted to let fly whenever theylifted their heads."
"But how did you manage to get over safely when they won the barricadebelow?" D'Estournel asked; "it was not an easy feat to climb this wallwith a crowd of foemen behind."
Guy explained how they had arranged a chair to form a step. "There was,however," he went on, "no great need for haste. The archer and two otherswent first, and he took his stand on the top of the chests in readiness tocover the retreat of the fourth man-at-arms and myself. But happily manyof the knaves wanted to sack the shop more than to follow us, and therewas such confusion below, that we had time to climb over and pull up thechair before they had mustered to the attack."
While they were talking Long Tom and the others had removed one of thechests and made a passage by which they could pass through, and MaitreLeroux led them into his private apartments, which were similar to,although larger than, Dame Margaret's. A number of candles had alreadybeen lighted, and in a minute Mistress Leroux entered, followed by two ofher maids carrying trays with great beakers of wine and a number of silvergoblets, and she and the provost then poured out the wine and offered itwith further expressions of thanks to the knights.
"Say naught about it, madame," Count Walter said; "it was high time that acheck was put on these rough fellows who lord it over Paris and deemthemselves its mast
ers. I doubt not that they will raise some outcry andlay their complaint before the duke; but you, I trust, and other worthycitizens, will be beforehand with them, and send off a messenger to himlaying complaints against these fellows for attacking, plundering, andburning at their will the houses of those of better repute thanthemselves. We have come to your help not as officers of the duke, but asknights and gentlemen who feel it a foul wrong that such things should bedone. Moreover, as Dame Margaret of Villeroy, a hostage of the duke, waslodged here at his request, it was a matter that nearly touched his honourthat her life should be placed in danger by these scurvy knaves, and weshall so represent the matter to the duke."
Just as the knights had drunk their wine, Guy, who had left them on thelanding, entered, escorting Dame Margaret and her two children. CountCharles d'Estournel, after saluting her, presented his companions to her,and she thanked each very heartily for the succour they had brought soopportunely.
"In truth, lady," the Count de Vesoul said, "methinks from what we sawthat you might even have managed without us, so stoutly were you defendedby your esquire and your retainers, aided as they were by those of theprovost, though in the end it may be that these must have succumbed tonumbers; for I can well imagine that your assailants, after the loss thatthey have suffered, would have spared no effort to avenge themselves, andmight indeed, as a last resource, have fired the house. This they would nodoubt have done long before had it not been that by so doing they wouldhave lost all the plunder that they counted on. This stout defence will nodoubt teach these fellows some moderation, for they will see thatcitizens' houses are not to be plundered without hard fighting and muchloss. As for ourselves, we shall see the Duke of Burgundy's lieutenant to-morrow morning and lay the matter before him, praying him to issue aproclamation saying that in order to suppress the shameful disorders thathave taken place, he gives notice that all who attack the houses ofpeaceful citizens will henceforth be treated as evildoers and punishedaccordingly."
After some further conversation the knights prepared to leave.
"I shall do myself the honour, sirs," Maitre Leroux said, "of sending toyour lodgings to-morrow the cups that you have used, as a small testimonyof my gratitude to you, and as a memorial of the events of this evening."
While they were upstairs the men-at-arms and servants had been employed inclearing the stairs, throwing the bodies that had encumbered it out intothe street. The men-at-arms of the knights had, after drinking the winethat had been sent out to them, aided in clearing the passage; buckets ofwater had been thrown down on the stairs, and the servitors by a vigoroususe of brooms had removed most of the traces of the fray. The work hadjust been finished, and Dame Margaret's men had, by Guy's orders,stationed themselves on the landing to do honour to the knights as theyset out.
"Ah, my tall friend," D'Estournel said to the archer, "so you have been atwork again, and I can see that you are even more doughty with the bow thanwith that long staff of yours. Well, this time there must have been enoughfighting to please even you."
"It has been an indifferent good fight, my lord," Tom said; "but in truth,save for the stand on that pile of logs below, when things were for a timebrisk, it has been altogether too one-sided to please me."
"Most people would think that the one-sidedness was all the other way,"D'Estournel laughed. "Well, men, you have all done your duty to your ladyright well this night, and there is not one of us here who would notgladly have such brave fellows in his service. I see that you are all fourwounded."
"They are scarce to be called wounds, Sir Count, seeing that they are butflesh cuts from their halberts which we got in the fray below. Theseslaughterers can doubtless strike a good blow with a pole-axe, but theyare but clumsy varlets with other weapons. But to give them their due,they fought stoutly if with but little skill or discretion."
Several of the others also said a few words of commendation to the men.The provost and Guy escorted the knights to the door below. The latter hadordered twenty of their men-at-arms to remain in the house until morning,after which ten were to stay there until the doors had been repaired andrefixed. As soon as the knights had ridden off the silversmith orderedseveral bundles of rushes to be strewn in the shop for the guard, and ameal of cold meat to be set for their supper. Two of them were posted assentinels at the door.
"I shall not open the shop to-morrow," he said as he ascended the stairswith Guy, "nor indeed shall I do so until things have settled down. Therewill be for some time a mighty animosity on the part of these butchers andskinners against me, and it is only reasonable that after such an attack Ishould close my shop. Those who have dealings with me will know that theycan do their business with me in private. And now methinks we will retireto bed; 'tis past midnight, and there is no fear of our being disturbedagain. If they send anyone to spy out whether we are on the watch, thesight of the Burgundian soldiers below will suffice to tell them thatthere is nothing to be done. The first thing tomorrow I will set thecarpenters to work to make me an even stronger pair of doors than thosethat have been spoilt."