Part 85 (2/2)
”What?” he exclaimed, rus.h.i.+ng towards him. ”Is it thou, villain?”
The sufferer only replied by a look of intense malignity.
”Eh! what-d'ye ken wha it is?” demanded James. ”By my saul! I fear the puir fellow has maist of his banes broken.”
”No great matter if they be,” replied Nicholas, ”and it may save the application of torture in case your Majesty desires to put any question to him. Chance has most strangely thrown into your hands one of the most heinous offenders in the kingdom, who has long escaped justice, but who will at length meet the punishment of his crimes. The villain is Christopher Demdike, son of the foul hag who perished in the flames on the summit of Pendle Hill, and captain of a band of robbers.”
”What! is the knave a warlock and a riever?” demanded James, regarding Demdike with abhorrence, mingled with alarm.
”Both, sire,” replied Nicholas, ”and an a.s.sa.s.sin to boot. He is a diabolical villain.”
”Let him be taken to Hoghton Tower, and kept in some strong and secure place till we have leisure to examine him,” said James,-”and see that he be visited by some skilful chirurgeon, for we wadna hae him dee, and sae rob the woodie.”
Demdike, who appeared to be in great agony, now forced himself to speak.
”I can make important disclosures to your Majesty,” he said, in hoa.r.s.e and broken tones, ”if you will hear them. I am not the only offender who has escaped from justice,” he added, glancing vindictively at Nicholas-”there is another, a notorious witch and murderess, who is still screened from justice. I can reveal her hiding-place.”
”Your Majesty will not give heed to such a villain's fabrications?” said Nicholas.
”Are they fabrications, sir?” rejoined James, somewhat sharply. ”We maun hear and judge. The snake, though scotched, will still bite, it seems. We hae hangit a Highland cateran without trial afore this, and we may be tempted to tak the law into our ain hands again. Bear the villain hence. See he be disposed of as already directed, and take good care he is strictly guarded. And now gie us a crossbow, Sir Richard Hoghton, and bid the p.r.i.c.kers drive the deer afore us, for we wad try our skill as a marksman.”
And while Demdike was placed on the litter of green boughs which had recently sustained a n.o.bler burthen in the fallen hart, and in this sort was conveyed to Hoghton Tower, James rode with his retinue towards a long glade, where, receiving a crossbow from the huntsman, he took up a favourable position behind a large oak, and several herds of deer being driven before him, he selected his quarries, and deliberately took aim at them, contriving in the course of an hour to bring down four fat bucks, and to maim as many others, which were pulled down by the hounds. And with this slaughter he was content.
Sir Richard Hoghton then informed his Majesty that a huge boar, which, in sporting phrase, had left the sounder five years, had broken into the park the night before, and had been routing amongst the fern. The age and size of the animal were known by the print of the feet, the toes being round and thick, the edge of the hoof worn and blunt, the heel large, and the guards, or dew-claws, great and open, from all which appearances it was adjudged by the baronet to be ”a great old boar, not to be refused.”
James at once agreed to hunt him, and the hounds being taken away, six couples of magnificent mastiffs, of the Lancas.h.i.+re breed, were brought forward, and the monarch, under the guidance of Sir Richard Hoghton and the chief huntsman, repaired to an adjoining thicket, in which the boar fed and couched.
On arriving near his den, a boar-spear was given to the King, and the p.r.i.c.kers advancing into the wood, presently afterwards reared the enormous brute. Sallying forth, and freaming furiously, he was instantly a.s.sailed by the mastiffs; but, notwithstanding the number of his a.s.sailants, he made light of them, shaking them from his bristly hide, crus.h.i.+ng them beneath his h.o.r.n.y feet, thrusting at them with his sharpened tusks, and committing terrible devastation among them.
Repeated charges were made upon the savage animal by James, but it was next to impossible to get a blow at him for some time; and when at length the monarch made the attempt, he struck too low, and hit him on the snout, upon which the infuriated boar, finding himself wounded, sprang towards the horse, and ripped him open with his tusks.
The n.o.ble charger instantly rolled over on his side, exposing the royal huntsman to the fury of his merciless a.s.sailant, whose tusks must have ploughed his flesh, if at this moment a young man had not ridden forward, and at the greatest personal risk approached the boar, and, striking straight downwards, cleft the heart of the fierce brute with his spear.
Meanwhile, the King, having been disengaged by the p.r.i.c.kers from his wounded steed, which was instantly put out of its agony by the sword of the chief huntsman, looked for his deliverer, and, discovering him to be Richard a.s.sheton, was loud in his expressions of grat.i.tude.
”Faith! ye maun claim a boon at our hands,” said James. ”It maun never be said the King is ungrateful. What can we do for you, lad?”
”For myself nothing, sire,” replied Richard.
”But for another meikle-is that what ye wad hae us infer?” cried the King, with a smile. ”Aweel, the la.s.sie shall hae strict justice done her; but for your ain sake we maun inquire into the matter. Meantime, wear this,” he added, taking a magnificent sapphire ring from his finger, ”and, if you should ever need our aid, send it to us as a token.”
Richard took the gift, and knelt to kiss the hand so graciously extended to him.
By this time another horse had been provided for the monarch, and the enormous boar, with his feet upwards and tied together, was suspended upon a pole, and borne on the shoulders of four stout varlets as the grand trophy of the chase.
When the royal company issued from the wood a strike of nine was blown by the chief huntsman, and such of the cavalcade as still remained on the field being collected together, the party crossed the chase, and took the direction of Hoghton Tower.
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