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1st Outlaw: Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about you; If not, we’ll make you sit, and rifle you. Speed: Sir, we are undone! these are the villains That all the travellers do fear so much. Val: My friends,—— 1st Out: That’s not so, sir, we are your enemies. 2d Out: Peace! we’ll hear him. 3d Out: Ay, by my beard, will we; For he’s a proper man. |
From the village were heard the distant sounds of revelry, mixed occasionally with loud laughter, sometimes broken by screams, and sometimes by wild strains of distant music. All these sounds, intimating the disorderly state of the town, crowded with military nobles and their dissolute attendants, gave Gurth some uneasiness. “The Jewess was right,” he said to himself. “By heaven and St Dunstan, I would I were safe at my journey’s end with all this treasure! Here are such numbers, I will not say of arrant thieves, but of errant knights and errant squires, errant monks and errant minstrels, errant jugglers and errant jesters, that a man with a single merk would be in danger, much more a poor swineherd with a whole bagful of zecchins. Would I were out of the shade of these infernal bushes, that I might at least see any of St Nicholas’s clerks before they spring on my shoulders.”
Gurth accordingly hastened his pace, in order to gain the open common to which the lane led, but was not so fortunate as to accomplish his object. Just as he had attained the upper end of the lane, where the underwood was thickest, four men sprung upon him, even as his fears anticipated, two from each side of the road, and seized him so fast, that resistance, if at first practicable, would have been now too late.—“Surrender your charge,” said one of them; “we are the deliverers of the commonwealth, who ease every man of his burden.”
“You should not ease me of mine so lightly,” muttered Gurth, whose surly honesty could not be tamed even by the pressure of immediate violence,—“had I it but in my power to give three strokes in its defence.”
“We shall see that presently,” said the robber; and, speaking to his companions, he added, “bring along the knave. I see he would have his head broken, as well as his purse cut, and so be let blood in two veins at once.”
Gurth was hurried along agreeably to this mandate, and having been dragged somewhat roughly over the bank, on the left-hand side of the lane, found himself in a straggling thicket, which lay betwixt it and the open common. He was compelled to follow his rough conductors into the very depth of this cover, where they stopt unexpectedly in an irregular open space, free in a great measure from trees, and on which, therefore, the beams of the moon fell without much interruption from boughs and leaves. Here his captors were joined by two other persons, apparently belonging to the gang. They had short swords by their sides, and quarter-staves in their hands, and Gurth could now observe that all six wore visors, which rendered their occupation a matter of no question, even had their former proceedings left it in doubt.
“What money hast thou, churl?” said one of the thieves.
“Thirty zecchins of my own property,” answered Gurth, doggedly.
“A forfeit—a forfeit,” shouted the robbers; “a Saxon hath thirty zecchins, and returns sober from a village! An undeniable and unredeemable forfeit of all he hath about him.”
“I hoarded it to purchase my freedom,” said Gurth.
“Thou art an ass,” replied one of the thieves “three quarts of double ale had rendered thee as free as thy master, ay, and freer too, if he be a Saxon like thyself.”
“A sad truth,” replied Gurth; “but if these same thirty zecchins will buy my freedom from you, unloose my hands, and I will pay them to you.”
“Hold,” said one who seemed to exercise some authority over the others; “this bag which thou bearest, as I can feel through thy cloak, contains more coin than thou hast told us of.”
“It is the good knight my master’s,” answered Gurth, “of which, assuredly, I would not have spoken a word, had you been satisfied with working your will upon mine own property.”
“Thou art an honest fellow,” replied the robber, “I warrant thee; and we worship not St Nicholas so devoutly but what thy thirty zecchins may yet escape, if thou deal uprightly with us. Meantime render up thy trust for a time.” So saying, he took from Gurth’s breast the large leathern pouch, in which the purse given him by Rebecca was enclosed, as well as the rest of the zecchins, and then continued his interrogation.—“Who is thy master?”
“The Disinherited Knight,” said Gurth.
“Whose good lance,” replied the robber, “won the prize in to-day’s tourney? What is his name and lineage?”
“It is his pleasure,” answered Gurth, “that they be concealed; and from me, assuredly, you will learn nought of them.”
“What is thine own name and lineage?”
“To tell that,” said Gurth, “might reveal my master’s.”
“Thou art a saucy groom,” said the robber, “but of that anon. How comes thy master by this gold? is it of his inheritance, or by what means hath it accrued to him?”
“By his good lance,” answered Gurth.—“These bags contain the ransom of four good horses, and four good suits of armour.”
“How much is there?” demanded the robber.
“Two hundred zecchins.”
“Only two hundred zecchins!” said the bandit; “your master hath dealt liberally by the vanquished, and put them to a cheap ransom. Name those who paid the gold.”
Gurth did so.
“The armour and horse of the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert, at what ransom were they held?—Thou seest thou canst not deceive me.”
“My master,” replied Gurth, “will take nought from the Templar save his life’s-blood. They are on terms of mortal defiance, and cannot hold courteous intercourse together.”
“Indeed!”—repeated the robber, and paused after he had said the word. “And what wert thou now doing at Ashby with such a charge in thy custody?”
“I went thither to render to Isaac the Jew of York,” replied Gurth, “the price of a suit of armour with which he fitted my master for this tournament.”
“And how much didst thou pay to Isaac?—Methinks, to judge by weight, there is still two hundred zecchins in this pouch.”
“I paid to Isaac,” said the Saxon, “eighty zecchins, and he restored me a hundred in lieu thereof.”
“How! what!” exclaimed all the robbers at once; “darest thou trifle with us, that thou tellest such improbable lies?”
“What I tell you,” said Gurth, “is as true as the moon is in heaven. You will find the just sum in a silken purse within the leathern pouch, and separate from the rest of the gold.”
“Bethink thee, man,” said the Captain, “thou speakest of a Jew—of an Israelite,—as unapt to restore gold, as the dry sand of his deserts to return the cup of water which the pilgrim spills upon them.”
“There is no more mercy in them,” said another of the banditti, “than in an unbribed sheriffs officer.”
“It is, however, as I say,” said Gurth.
“Strike a light instantly,” said the Captain; “I will examine this said purse; and if it be as this fellow says, the Jew’s bounty is little less miraculous than the stream which relieved his fathers in the wilderness.”
A light was procured accordingly, and the robber proceeded to examine the purse. The others crowded around him, and even two who had hold of Gurth relaxed their grasp while they stretched their necks to see the issue of the search. Availing himself of their negligence, by a sudden exertion of strength and activity, Gurth shook himself free of their hold, and might have escaped, could he have resolved to leave his master’s property behind him. But such was no part of his intention. He wrenched a quarter-staff from one of the fellows, struck down the Captain, who was altogether unaware of his purpose, and had well-nigh repossessed himself of the pouch and treasure. The thieves, however, were too nimble for him, and again secured both the bag and the trusty Gurth.
“Knave!” said the Captain, getting up, “thou hast broken my head; and with other men of our sort thou wouldst fare the worse for thy insolence. But thou shalt know thy fate instantly. First let us speak of thy master; the knight’s matters must go before the squire’s, according to the due order of chivalry. Stand thou fast in the meantime—if thou stir again, thou shalt have that will make thee quiet for thy life—Comrades!” he then said, addressing his gang, “this purse is embroidered with Hebrew characters, and I well believe the yeoman’s tale is true. The errant knight, his master, must needs pass us toll-free. He is too like ourselves for us to make booty of him, since dogs should not worry dogs where wolves and foxes are to be found in abundance.”
“Like us?” answered one of the gang; “I should like to hear how that is made good.”
“Why, thou fool,” answered the Captain, “is he not poor and disinherited as we are?—Doth he not win his substance at the sword’s point as we do?—Hath he not beaten Front-de-Bœuf and Malvoisin, even as we would beat them if we could? Is he not the enemy to life and death of Brian de Bois-Guilbert, whom we have so much reason to fear? And were all this otherwise, wouldst thou have us show a worse conscience than an unbeliever, a Hebrew Jew?”
“Nay, that were a shame,” muttered the other fellow; “and yet, when I served in the band of stout old Gandelyn, we had no such scruples of conscience. And this insolent peasant,—he too, I warrant me, is to be dismissed scatheless?”
“Not if thou canst scathe him,” replied the Captain.—“Here, fellow,” continued he, addressing Gurth, “canst thou use the staff, that thou starts to it so readily?”
“I think,” said Gurth, “thou shouldst be best able to reply to that question.”
“Nay, by my troth, thou gavest me a round knock,” replied the Captain; “do as much for this fellow, and thou shalt pass scot-free; and if thou dost not—why, by my faith, as thou art such a sturdy knave, I think I must pay thy ransom myself.—Take thy staff, Miller,” he added, “and keep thy head; and do you others let the fellow go, and give him a staff—there is light enough to lay on load by.”
The two champions being alike armed with quarter-staves, stepped forward into the centre of the open space, in order to have the full benefit of the moonlight; the thieves in the meantime laughing, and crying to their comrade, “Miller! beware thy toll-dish.” The Miller, on the other hand, holding his quarter-staff by the middle, and making it flourish round his head after the fashion which the French call faire le moulinet, exclaimed boastfully, “Come on, churl, an thou darest: thou shalt feel the strength of a miller’s thumb!”
“If thou be’st a miller,” answered Gurth, undauntedly, making his weapon play around his head with equal dexterity, “thou art doubly a thief, and I, as a true man, bid thee defiance.”
So saying, the two champions closed together, and for a few minutes they displayed great equality in strength, courage, and skill, intercepting and returning the blows of their adversary with the most rapid dexterity, while, from the continued clatter of their weapons, a person at a distance might have supposed that there were at least six persons engaged on each side. Less obstinate, and even less dangerous combats, have been described in good heroic verse; but that of Gurth and the Miller must remain unsung, for want of a sacred poet to do justice to its eventful progress. Yet, though quarter-staff play be out of date, what we can in prose we will do for these bold champions.
Long they fought equally, until the Miller began to lose temper at finding himself so stoutly opposed, and at hearing the laughter of his companions, who, as usual in such cases, enjoyed his vexation. This was not a state of mind favourable to the noble game of quarter-staff, in which, as in ordinary cudgel-playing, the utmost coolness is requisite; and it gave Gurth, whose temper was steady, though surly, the opportunity of acquiring a decided advantage, in availing himself of which he displayed great mastery.
The Miller pressed furiously forward, dealing blows with either end of his weapon alternately, and striving to come to half-staff distance, while Gurth defended himself against the attack, keeping his hands about a yard asunder, and covering himself by shifting his weapon with great celerity, so as to protect his head and body. Thus did he maintain the defensive, making his eye, foot, and hand keep true time, until, observing his antagonist to lose wind, he darted the staff at his face with his left hand; and, as the Miller endeavoured to parry the thrust, he slid his right hand down to his left, and with the full swing of the weapon struck his opponent on the left side of the head, who instantly measured his length upon the green sward.
“Well and yeomanly done!” shouted the robbers; “fair play and Old England for ever! The Saxon hath saved both his purse and his hide, and the Miller has met his match.”
“Thou mayst go thy ways, my friend,” said the Captain, addressing Gurth, in special confirmation of the general voice, “and I will cause two of my comrades to guide thee by the best way to thy master’s pavilion, and to guard thee from night-walkers that might have less tender consciences than ours; for there is many one of them upon the amble in such a night as this. Take heed, however,” he added sternly; “remember thou hast refused to tell thy name—ask not after ours, nor endeavour to discover who or what we are; for, if thou makest such an attempt, thou wilt come by worse fortune than has yet befallen thee.”
Gurth thanked the Captain for his courtesy, and promised to attend to his recommendation. Two of the outlaws, taking up their quarter-staves, and desiring Gurth to follow close in the rear, walked roundly forward along a by-path, which traversed the thicket and the broken ground adjacent to it. On the very verge of the thicket two men spoke to his conductors, and receiving an answer in a whisper, withdrew into the wood, and suffered them to pass unmolested. This circumstance induced Gurth to believe both that the gang was strong in numbers, and that they kept regular guards around their place of rendezvous.
When they arrived on the open heath, where Gurth might have had some trouble in finding his road, the thieves guided him straight forward to the top of a little eminence, whence he could see, spread beneath him in the moonlight, the palisades of the lists, the glimmering pavilions pitched at either end, with the pennons which adorned them fluttering in the moonbeams, and from which could be heard the hum of the song with which the sentinels were beguiling their night-watch.
Here the thieves stopt.
“We go with you no farther,” said they; “it were not safe that we should do so.—Remember the warning you have received—keep secret what has this night befallen you, and you will have no room to repent it—neglect what is now told you, and the Tower of London shall not protect you against our revenge.”
“Good night to you, kind sirs,” said Gurth; “I shall remember your orders, and trust that there is no offence in wishing you a safer and an honester trade.”
Thus they parted, the outlaws returning in the direction from whence they had come, and Gurth proceeding to the tent of his master, to whom, notwithstanding the injunction he had received, he communicated the whole adventures of the evening.
The Disinherited Knight was filled with astonishment, no less at the generosity of Rebecca, by which, however, he resolved he would not profit, than that of the robbers, to whose profession such a quality seemed totally foreign. His course of reflections upon these singular circumstances was, however, interrupted by the necessity for taking repose, which the fatigue of the preceding day, and the propriety of refreshing himself for the morrow’s encounter, rendered alike indispensable.
The knight, therefore, stretched himself for repose upon a rich couch with which the tent was provided; and the faithful Gurth, extending his hardy limbs upon a bear-skin which formed a sort of carpet to the pavilion, laid himself across the opening of the tent, so that no one could enter without awakening him.