King Eric and the Outlaws Volume Iii Part 1

King Eric and the Outlaws.

Vol. 3.

by Bernhard Severin Ingemann.

CHAPTER I.

As soon as they reached the quay, Sir Helmer put his head out of the hatchway, and beheld a man jump on sh.o.r.e in great haste from the forecastle. Helmer had only seen his back; he was clad like a German grocer's apprentice; but he felt pretty certain it was the outlawed Kagge. The mantle of the order of the Holy Ghost lay under the foremost rowing bench. With his drawn sword in his hand. Sir Helmer now sprang upon deck, together with the Drost's squire, whose left hand was wrapped in his mantle. Their attire was somewhat rent and blood-stained, yet they appeared to have found time to bind up each other's wounds, and even to arrange their dress. Without saying a word, they pa.s.sed the armed crew of the vessel, with a salutation of defiance to Henrik Gullandsfar, and a jeering smile at the heavy and wrathful Rostocker, whose broad visage glowed with anger. Helmer and the squire sheathed their swords on the quay, and those who saw them come up from thence, without noticing the spots of blood upon their clothes, took them for fellow-travellers, who, in all peacefulness, had arrived in the Rostock vessel.

"The 'prentice! mark him, Canute!" whispered Sir Helmer to the squire as they both left the quay with hasty steps, and looked around them on all sides. "What hath become of him? There!--no--that is another--ha, there!--no, another again!"

At every turn they fancied they saw the disguised outlaw, but were frequently deceived by a similar dress and figure. The German grocer's apprentices thronged in busy crowds on the quay, and near the vessels in the haven, where they were in constant occupation, and had a number of porters at work.

These foreign mercantile agents were usually elderly single men, most frequently with sour, unpleasant countenances, and maintaining much spruce neatness in their dress, and preciseness in their deportment. As pepper was the chief article sold in their grocers' booths, they were usually called pepper 'prentices[1], not without a design to jeer at their peevishness and irritability. They made themselves conspicuous by large silver b.u.t.tons on their long-skirted coats of German cloth; a woollen cap from Garderige[2], and a long Spanish gold-headed cane, which served them at the same time for an ell measure, formed part of their finery; and they were so remarkable for the sameness of their appearance and deportment, the effect of their living apart from others, and pursuing a uniform occupation, that they were often exposed to the jibes and jeers of the people, especially on account of their celibacy, which was enjoined them by their Hanseatic masters, and was a necessary consequence of their position as traders in a foreign city, where they were not privileged to become residents with families.

Sir Helmer stared attentively at every German grocer's apprentice he met, and became at last so wroth at his frequent mistakes that he was ready to insult those personages, who in their busy vocation frequently jostled him in the crowd, "Those accursed pepper-'prentices, they drive me mad!" he exclaimed at length, and stamped on the ground. "I will break the neck of the first that brushes against my arm!"

"That is just and reasonable, n.o.ble Sir," said the squire; "my fingers itch every time I see such a fellow. If they will be monks, they should not be running here and staring every maiden in the face in broad day light. They are as soon enamoured as any shaven crown--I had well nigh said--St. Antony forgive me my wicked thought! Look! here we have one again I saw ye how he twisted his eyes in his head to goggle at that pretty kitchen maid with the cabbage basket? Shall I buffet him down to the Catsound, n.o.ble Sir?"

"No, surely not, crack-brains!" answered Sir Helmer, sharply; "let us behave reasonably. Do thou stay here in the ale-house near the haven, and keep an eye on the outlaw, that he slinks not back to the vessel; if there is law and justice in the town, he 'scapes us not. Thou dost surely know him well?"

"Yes, a.s.suredly! Kagge with the scar; him from whom they scalded off his knightly honour on the scaffold. I should know him among a thousand scoundrels, and his black horse to boot. 'Tis a sin such a handsome beast----"

"Perhaps it was a G.o.d's Providence we came here against our will,"

interrupted Helmer. "The red hat from Rome wants to negotiate a treaty here betwixt the king and the run-away bishop from Hammershuus; they are now at the castle, and have got the little bishop Johan in their clutches. It will doubtless end in nothing; but comes the king hither where the Roskild bishop rules, he may chance to need both our eyes and our swords. But, what in all the world is the matter here? Look, how the people flock together!"

Sir Helmer now, for the first time, remarked a singular stir and disturbance among the inhabitants of the town; there were far greater numbers of persons in the street than were usually to be seen in the most populous towns. He went onward, still looking around in search of the outlawed fugitive; he now heard loud talk among the burghers and mechanics who pa.s.sed him, and expressions of wild wrath against the Lord Bishop Johan and his ecclesiastical guests at Axelhuus. The people a.s.sembled in groups in the streets, and only dispersed, grumbling and murmuring on the appearance of a troop of men-at-arms. "The provost's people! The bishop's men!" they muttered one to another, by way of warning. "Aside! make way, comrades! as yet it is not time. Down to the old strand!"

"What means this?" said Helmer to the squire, who still followed him on the quay, alongside the ships in the harbour, staring around with surprise and curiosity. "It looks like sedition and mutiny."

"Who are ye who bear arms in the bishop's town? Know ye not the rights and town-law of Copenhagen?" said a powerful voice behind them. They turned round and saw a man who from his attire seemed to be a burgher, but who wore a kind of herald's mantle over his long coat, and held a white staff in his hand, on which were painted the arms of the Bishop of Roskild. He was accompanied by a crowd of the bishop's retainers.

"I am the king's knight and halberdier, as you see well enough,"

answered Helmer. "What hath your bishop and his town-law to do with me?"

"Ho! ho, my bold sir!--stick your finger in the ground, and smell where ye are! You surely come from worldly towns and castles where neither order nor discipline are kept. What's your name, Sir Halberdier?"

"Helmer Blaa," answered the knight, laying his hand on the hilt of his sword. "You have perhaps heard that name before?--or shall I teach you to know it?"

"By your favour, n.o.ble sir!" answered the herald in a lowered tone, and looking at him with surprise; "are you the renowned knight, Helmer, who beat all the six brothers at once, and of whom the whole town sings the ballad--

"He rides in the saddle so free."

"That I will never deny," answered Helmer, with a nod of satisfaction; "he that made that ballad about me hath not lied. I will not pride myself on that account," he added, "it concerned but my own life and fortune. You brave Copenhageners have won full as much honour in Marsk Stig's feud, and we shall soon come to an understanding I think."

"I think so too, by my troth, Sir Helmer," said the burgher herald with cheerfulness, frankly giving him his hand at the same time. "I would just as little insult you as your master, our excellent young king. As free as you ride in the saddle by his side, so frank and free for aught I would hinder it, may you walk here; but the service is strict at this time. Here's mutiny as you see against our lord, the bishop. I must in the council's name summon every man bearing arms to the lay court, and to the council in 'Endaboth.' With the king's knights, especially with a man like you, I think, however, the lord bishop would make a difference."

"If the bishop wills to keep his beard, he will doubtless allow the knight to keep his sword," said Helmer. "If he hath appointed you to hinder misdeed and crime then help me rather to seize an outlawed criminal who has been set on sh.o.r.e here from yonder Rostocker. He hath crept into a German pepper-'prentice coat; he seeks after the king's life--he is easy to know, it is Kagge with the scar. If you catch him dead or alive, I will laud you as a true Danish man, and brave subject of the king."

"That are we all here at heart, n.o.ble Sir," answered the herald, lowering his voice, and looking cautiously around him while he made a signal to his armed followers to fall back. "Our loyalty to the king we have, as you say yourself, shewn right honestly in Marsk Stig's feud; the king also hath recompensed us for that; he hath honourably helped us with the fortifications of our good town, and with the new palisade.

Every honest man in Copenhagen would rather obey him than the priestly rulers; but if we would speak out aloud of any other master here than the bishop, we must give all our chattels to his treasury, and wander houseless out of the town. Go in peace, Sir Helmer; but hide your sword under your mantle! If I light upon the evil doer ye seek, I shall a.s.suredly seize him and summon him in your name to the council. Where may you be found yourself?"

"Here, in the inn, close to St. Clement's church--you are an honest man I perceive--tell me frankly, countryman! would it avail were I to speak to the provost, or to your bishop touching yon miscreant? He is one of those impudent regicides. I have my eye also on that braggart Rostocker; he brings false coin into the country, and hath threatened the king. What I know further about him I have promised not to speak of--but wherever I meet him--I am his man!"

"You will surely get no justice here on the king's enemies, Sir Knight!" whispered the herald. "If ye will take my advice ye will keep as far off from our bishop and his provost as possible! The king's friends are not exactly theirs, and must not, either, seem to be ours.

Had I not a good dame and children, you would hardly have seen me with this staff in hand. If you would catch hold of the pepper 'prentices,"

he added, shutting one eye, "you must seek them at the dice boards in the ale-house! What may chance there, none need do penance for--but in the harbour and on the quay none dare touch them. On, fellows! The stranger knight hath given account of himself like an honourable man,"

cried the herald, with a voice of authority, and proceeded onwards with his armed train.

Helmer looked after him, and nodded to the squire. "Brisk fellows, these Copenhageners!" said he. "It is shameful they are forced to be under the bishop's thumb! That counsel about the taverns and draught-boards suits not my humour either. We will seek the foe in the straight path. First, however, let us thank St. George and St. Clement for our deliverance, and then we can with a good conscience despatch the rascals wherever we light on them." He approached St. Clement's church, but found the church door locked, and marked with a large black cross. "What means this?" he exclaimed. "Is there pestilence in G.o.d's house?"

"Prohibition, interdict, son! according to the enactment 'c.u.m ecclesia Daciana,'" answered an old Dominican monk, who was kneeling before a stone crucifix without the closed church door, and now arose slowly.

"The sins of the high-born are about to be visited upon those of low degree; our most pious bishop hath no longer dared to withhold the great national punishment which the holy Father hath commanded on account of the presumptuous imprisonment of the archbishop, contrary to the const.i.tution of all holy laws. Virgo amata! ora pro n.o.bis!" he muttered, and folded his hands.

"The devil take those Latin laws, with reverence be it spoken, venerable father!" answered the knight. "The archbishop is at liberty; and is it now the time to punish a nation and country for that old sin of the king's, if it really was a sin?"

"a.s.suredly it was a heavy sin and injustice," answered the monk; "but the chastis.e.m.e.nt is too hard--that is the truth--and it falls on the souls of the innocent--the people are only made unG.o.dly and uproarious by it; as we have proofs daily. If the king is not come hither to bethink himself, and do penance, the prospect may be a drear one for us all."

"Is he come?" asked Helmer hastily.

"Not here to the town--but to the royal castle at Sorretslov; his plenipotentiaries are already at Axelhuus. Alas! yes! it is high time he should give in, ere the interdict drives the whole nation to rebellion and destruction.--Ora pro n.o.bis!" he muttered again, and turned towards the crucifix.

"Believe ye he hath come hither to humble himself, and crouch at the bishop's feet? venerable father?" answered the knight; "then you will find your belief to fail you in this matter, as I observe this tumult concerns not the king, but your own little bishop and his overbearing guests. Against this stupid church-shutting, a remedy will surely be found at home. The nation is pitiful indeed which would let itself be shut out from G.o.d's house while there are st.u.r.dy axes and iron crows in the country."

"Alas, ye children of the world! ye worldly lords! ye will ever forward with might and violence,--ye would at last storm heaven's gates if ye were able," groaned the monk; "from the great and mighty doth all that defiance and scandal proceed; and the poor, deluded people! _they_ listen but too willingly to such wild and unG.o.dly counsel. Look! yonder comes another flock of erring sheep, who have turned into wolves! There they come, with spears and staves, like those who followed Judas, that child of wrath. Hear how they bl.u.s.ter and storm. G.o.d be merciful! They are surely rushing hither; they will a.s.suredly open the church by force."

The dismayed Dominican was preparing to fly, but the insurgents placed themselves in his way. "Tarry a little, pious father!" shouted the ringleader of the troop, a tall carpenter, with a large axe in his hand. "Thou shalt read us the Holy Scripture before St. Clement's altar; we have heard neither vespers nor ma.s.s for three days. Force the church door, comrades!"

"Are ye distraught?" cried the monk; "will ye do violence to the house of G.o.d!"

"No chattering! Force the door, countrymen!" shouted the leader.

"Neither St. Peter nor our Lady have taken it amiss of us. Ma.s.s goes on cheerily in all the churches. We will hear our vespers at St. Nicholas.

Well done my lads! Look! now is the interdict ended! The church door gave way before the ponderous strokes; the insurgents poured into the church with a wild shout of victory, dragging the Dominican along with them.

"That will be but a disturbed worship, n.o.ble sir," said the squire; "we had better reserve our piety for another time. Look, yonder comes a fresh troop! Nay, look! They have balista and cross-bows with them; they will now surely a.s.sault Axelhuus."

"That hits my fancy!" exclaimed Sir Helmer, joyfully. "This prelatical tyranny should not be tolerated by any Danish man. I come at the right time; there may be something to take a hand in here. If they will besiege the bishop's nest, I Will teach them at least to do it briskly.

Stay thou on the quay, and watch the pepper 'prentices, Canute! I must set the honest burghers a little to rights with the balista." So saying Sir Helmer hastened with rapid strides down to the old strand, where the restless crowds of insurgents flocked together in wild tumult.

CHAP. II.

The inmates of Axelhuus appeared to feel sufficiently secure to despise these disturbances which had commenced, though in a less degree, some days before.