Cedric, the Forester Part 4

We could hear shouts and curses behind us; but these momently grew fainter, and then could be heard no more.

Soon we came to the bank of a shallow brook. Into this, without stop or parley, plunged Cedric, but instead of riding straight across as I had thought, he turned his horse's head up-stream and urged him at a trot along its bed. For a quarter of a mile we rode thus, then coming to a ford and a half-blind pathway, turned aside in the direction away from Teramore, and again laying our heads on the necks of our mounts, sped through the woods at a ringing gallop. When we had covered a mile in this way, the path merged into a wider one; and I recognized a little vale to which my father and I had once come a-hunting, and which was scarce five miles from Mountjoy.

Here for a moment we paused, and Cedric threw himself down and placed his ear to the ground. Then he rose with a glad smile and shook his head.

"Dost hear nothing of hoof-beats?" I questioned.

"Not a stroke," he answered. "I had bethought me of a cave hard by here where we might be hidden if the hounds were close upon us. There, with the cross-bow, we could have stood off a hundred if need be, but we must have turned the horses loose, with the chance of their being taken."

"Nay," said I, "we've shaken them off full well. In half an hour or less we can be crossing the drawbridge at Mountjoy. That n.o.ble steed thou ridest is too fine a prize to be left to the Carleton wolves."

Just then something whirred viciously through the air between us, and a steel cross-bow bolt half buried itself in a tree-trunk close at hand.

Wheeling about toward the place whence came the arrow, I saw the steel cap and the ugly face of a Carleton man-at-arms over the top of a rock a hundred yards away which concealed and sheltered the rest of him.

Cedric, with a twist of the bridle rein and some vicious blows with his heels, urged his horse behind the tree which had received the bolt; and I mayhap would have shown more wisdom had I done likewise. But I saw but the single enemy before me; and for the instant his arrow groove was empty. Cedric had already taken toll of two of our enemies, while I, the heir of our house whose quarrel he had espoused, had done naught but fly before their pursuit. With a yell, "A Mountjoy, A Mountjoy," which is the battle cry of our people, I set spurs to my horse, and, sword in hand, charged straight toward the rock.

The Carleton man was striving sore to draw his bow and place another bolt; and had he been but half so deft with that goodly weapon as Cedric had twice shown himself that day, he might have stopped me in full career with an arrow in the breast or face. But he fumbled sadly with the string, and ere he could reach another bolt from his pouch I was almost upon him. In this strait he dropped the bow and, standing erect, whisked a broadsword from his belt. The scoundrel was tall and long of arm; and now I saw that he wore a quilted and steel-braced jacket which none but the heaviest blow might pierce. I had already repented me of my folly in rushing, for the second time that day, into combat so unequal, and was bethinking me what trick of fence might serve my turn with this brawny and ill-visaged swordsman, when once again the skilled and ready hand of my friend of the Lincoln green saved me from dire peril. Even as our blades clashed, and I felt in his sword-play the firm, sure wrist of my enemy, a bolt whizzed past me and pierced his neck, just where the quilted jacket lay open at the throat. Without a cry, he fell forward on his face.

I looked wildly about, in effort to espy more of the men-at-arms, if so be they were awaiting us in ambush. But I could see no one; and no more arrows came from hidden foes. The woods were as quiet and serene, and the westering sun sent its beams as sweetly into the bonny glade as though men had never killed one another for gain or vengeance. Cedric, on the Carleton war-horse, came forward at a canter, with his bow made ready for another shot if need were.

"Are there more of the hounds?" he called, "if so be, we must take shelter."

"I see none," I answered, "though yonder, midst the little birches, is the horse which this one rode. Mayhap his comrades have ridden by other roads to cut us off."

"'Tis truth," said Cedric, "yon Jackboots, that lieth now so still, did come about by Wareham Road at breakneck pace while we made but slow riding through the tangle. 'Twas well he had not the skill of a yeoman with the cross-bow, else one or both of us would ne'er again have seen Mountjoy. But come! Can thy little mare hold full stride through the glen and over yonder hill? An if she can, we may soon be where no Carletons will dare pursue."

For answer I set spurs to the mare's sides and led the way down the path to the brook at the bottom of the valley. In a cloud of spray we forded the stream, then drove on without mercy up the long slope of Rowan Hill.

Soon we were in sight of the towers of Mountjoy, and while the sun had yet an hour's height, went safely o'er the drawbridge.

CHAPTER IV-THE CHAMPION OF MOUNTJOY

As Cedric of Pelham Wood rode with me into the courtyard, we met my father, the Lord of Mountjoy, coming from the stables. His favorite steed, a fine black stallion, Caesar by name, did suffer from a sprain he had come by at the tournament at Winchester; and my father was much in fear would never again be fit to bear him in the lists or to the wars.

We came forward but slowly; and Lord Mountjoy had ample time to note the mud-stained and foam-flecked sides of our mounts, the rents in my garments and the b.l.o.o.d.y scratches which the forest boughs had made on our faces. Truly, I fear I made but a sorry picture; and 'tis little wonder that a frown was on my father's brow and a roughness in his voice as he called to me:

"How now, Sir d.i.c.kon! Hast thou ridden thy little mare through the Devil's Brake and foundered her once for all? And who is this fellow in rags and shreds of Lincoln green that rides at thy side like a comrade?

Methinks 'twere better if he kept his place, an ell or two behind."

Cedric's face grew red with wrath at these words; but I hastened to answer before he could make utterance.

"Hold, Father. This is Cedric, a forester of Pelham Wood, and our good and true friend. Twice or thrice this day hath he with his good cross-bow (of which he hath a skill like that of Old Marvin himself) saved me from death at the hands of the Carletons."

"By my faith! Say'st thou so, my boy?" exclaimed Father, with a wondrous change of countenance. Then, turning to Cedric,

"Any who fights the Carleton wolves is a friend to all true Mountjoys.

Come my lad, thy hand! And thy pardon if I did speak a thought rough, not knowing thy deserts. Wert thou sore beset? And did thy bolts make good men and quiet of some of those restless knaves?"

"Some of them, my lord, will ne'er again rob an honest farmer of his stores or burn a woodman's cottage," said Cedric with a smile.

"By'r Lady! Thou'rt a man, and shall be a Mountjoy, if guerdon can keep thee," cried my father. "But hold! Give thy mounts to the grooms, and come to the hall. 'Tis ill talking with an empty stomach and a dry throttle. And I'll warrant you're famished, both. There's a hot pasty and somewhat else to be found, I'll be bound. You shall tell me of this day's work by the board and the fire."

In the hall we were greeted by my lady mother, who had heard somewhat of that which pa.s.sed in the courtyard. Cedric doffed his cap when I presented him to her ladyship, and bowed with a grace I looked not for.

And she did ask most eagerly if aught of harm had come to either of us.

Being a.s.sured that we were yet whole of skin save for the woodland boughs, she brought with her own hands a bench before the fire, and bade Cedric sit as she might have bidden any knight or courtier who visited the hall of Mountjoy. Then she hurried out and bade the maids bring meat and drink of the best for our refreshment.

My father and mother sat down by either side of us as we ate; and when our hunger had been something dulled, and the maid had been despatched for a jar of the Mountjoy honey which my mother so closely guards against the coming of n.o.ble guests, I began the tale of the fortunes of the day.

"Thou knowest, Father, that young Lionel of Carleton hath often sworn to have the lives of you and me for the check the Carletons had in their foray on Mountjoy in the spring and for the bolt which came from Marvin's bow which laid low his father, the Old Wolf of Carleton."

"Full well I know it," growled my father, "an if he were aught but a beardless youth, I would long ago have challenged him to the combat.

When he hath won his spurs, if he be still of the same mind, I'll meet him with whatever weapons he chooses, and trust to put an end to his mouthings."

"That thou'lt never do, Father," I cried, "for Cedric here hath come before thee. This day, but half a league from Teramore, young Lionel did meet me as I went my way alone through the forest; and did curse and revile me and all my house, saying that we of Mountjoy were a race of dogs. This being more than e'en a Mountjoy could bear, I did challenge him to mortal fight, and we did meet with swords, on foot there in the path. I quickly found that he wore, beneath his garment, a coat of linked mail which shielded him from all my thrusts. All his strokes I made shift to parry, and at last, when he found he could not reach me with his sword, he rushed within my guard, seized me with a wrestling hold and flung me on my back. Then, kneeling on my chest, he placed a poniard at my throat and sought to make me swear allegiance to the Carleton, acknowledging him as lord and suzerain. This I would never do; and truly I thought my last hour had come, for he had drawn back his dagger for the thrust, when this brave youth, coming through the woods with cross-bow drawn, did see the Carleton's murderous aim, and let fly a bolt which struck him through the forehead."

While I spoke my mother had grown pale as death and my father red, with blazing eyes and angry clinching hands. When I paused my mother cried:

"Oh, d.i.c.kon! And had'st thou no wound at all?"

"Not a nick," I answered, "though 'twas close enough, in faith. But we had more to do in no time at all, for no sooner had the Carleton breathed his last than there came a-riding towards us six stout men-at-arms of the Carleton livery. We took horse and rode for our lives, Cedric here on the Carleton's great war-horse. But my little Clothilde being no match for their long-limbed steeds, we should have been overhauled and slain had not Cedric twice turned on them with his cross-bow, each time landing a bolt that sent one of the robber hounds to earth. With that, and with hard riding through the woods where no paths were, we at last got safe away."

"Ah!" cried my father, joyfully, rising and offering his hand again to Cedric, "'twas sweetly done, i'faith. Three of the Carleton hounds in one brief day! Whose son art thou, my friend? And where did'st thou learn such deadly handling of thy weapon?"

"Elbert's son am I," answered Cedric, steadily, "he is forester to my lord of Pelham; and last year did carry away the prize for archery at the Shrewsbury tourney. Since I could carry bow, I have shot as he did teach me."

"What years hast thou?"

"Sixteen, come Candlemas."

"The very age of d.i.c.kon here," cried my mother. "Cedric, lad, does thy mother live?"

"Nay, my lady," quoth he, sadly, "two years agone we buried her."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _WHILE I SPOKE MY MOTHER HAD GROWN PALE AS DEATH_]

"Then thou shalt come to live at Mountjoy," she went on with bonny, flushing cheeks and bright and eager eyes. "Hast thou learned thy letters? Canst thou read prayer book or ballad?"

"Nay, my lady," he said again, with a blush. "We of the forest know little of letters."

"Then I will teach thee. Thou'rt a mannered lad and well spoken for one who knows not court or town. Thou shalt be a clerk an thou wishest."

"No clerk shall he be," I cried. "Saving thy pardon, good Mother, he shall be my squire-at-arms. A man that fights as he shall be no shaven-pate. He shall teach me his craft with the bow, and of him I will make a bonny swordsman. What say'st thou, Father? Have I not the right of it?"

My father did smile somewhat to see me so hot and eager in my plans. And truly, I bethought me then that this lad whom I was choosing for my comrade-in-arms was one whom but three hours gone I had never seen, and that now I knew naught of him save that he fought well and truly and with a wondrous skill of his weapon. Yet, looking at his clear, blue eyes and his way of holding up his head as a freeman of England, I repented me not of my words.

Cedric was gazing at Lord Mountjoy, and quietly awaiting his word, while my lady mother glanced quickly from one to another of us. When my father began to speak it was slowly and soberly enough.