Part 15 (1/2)
And now it seemed that Fortune who with the sun had smiled upon us all day long, withdrew her favor also, for we had traversed scarce a league of the rocky track along which Rhys and his army had fled when thick clouds obscured the narrow sky above us; thunder roared and rumbled in the mountain pa.s.ses, and torrents of rain began to fall. The darkness swiftly enclosed us, and we had perforce to halt lest we should lose our way amongst the woods and rocks. There, drenched and chilled and worn with a day of riding and battle, we made bivouac and ate of the food in our pouches. Mindful of the skill and daring of the Welsh in night attacks, the Lord Constable posted double lines of sentinels; and we seized such sleep as we might, wrapped in our dripping cloaks and lying upon the gra.s.s and leaves.
At last, I for one, slumbered heavily; and it seemed but an hour ere our leaders roused us and we saw the black shadows of the mists around us turning gray with morning light. While we ate again of the bread and meat we carried, the Constable despatched two riders with a message to Sir Guy Baldiston at the pa.s.s, with commands to send back word to Wallingham of our whereabouts and our intent to pursue the ravagers still farther.
In half an hour we were again in saddle, and De Lacey was giving directions for our better ordering to guard against surprise upon the march, when one descried our messengers returning at full gallop and lying low upon their horses' necks as if in fear of arrows that might come from wayside rocks and trees. They rode indeed not like the soldiers of a victor's army but like men who are hunted and flee for their lives.
In a moment more they had attained our lines, their horses loudly panting with the labor of such galloping over rough and stony paths; and the foremost rider cried out to the Commander:
”Oh, my lord! Sir Guy and all his men are slain, and the Welsh have the pa.s.s again. We but narrowly escaped being taken ourselves.”
The Constable sat on his great war-horse, gazing and frowning at the messenger for a length of time that an arrow, shot strongly upward, might have needed to come again to earth. Then he said, sternly:
”And how closely didst thou see all this?”
”My lord, we rode within a bowshot. 'Twas something dark and misty; and we knew not what was toward. The pa.s.s is filled with Welshmen; and they raise the skull-bone banner. 'Tis an army such as we encountered yesterday.”
De Lacey glanced about him at his leaders.
”My lords and gentlemen: you hear what has chanced. Shall we attack again from this side or fare onward?”
”We must ride onward, my lord, and that quickly,” answered Lord Mountjoy, ”we cannot force that narrow pa.s.s 'gainst such an army as our messenger describes. Doubtless they hold also the crags above; and from thence they can roll down rocks that would fell and crush any force that attempted it.”
”We saw many hundreds of them on the crags above,” put in the messenger.
”And what if we ride forward?” demanded the Constable. ”Have we a clearer road on that side?”
”Aye, my lord,” returned my father, ”once, years agone, I rode through this valley a hawking. There is another gateway, called the Pa.s.s of the Eagles, three leagues farther west. It is much broader than the other, and if we hasten, Rhys can scarcely gather a force that can hold it against us. Then beyond is the good wide valley of Owain, adown which, in ten hours hard riding we may gain the Marches once more.”
The Lord Constable gazed at the ground before him for a moment. Then he lifted his head and spake so that all around might hear.
”My lords: this Welsh freebooter hath shown himself a better general than I. He hath enticed us into this valley, and then hath closed the gate behind us, as one entraps a bear or wolf. The storm, it seems, hath given him respite; he fights in his own land, and doubtless the night hath brought many recruits to his banner. Now ride we on to force this other gateway ere he gather an army that can close that also. Forward, for Saint George.”
At the full trot we rode away, and for an hour and more we slackened not our speed. By the sides of the pathway, or crouching under crags on the hillside, we saw at intervals the huts of stones and turf of the Welsh mountain folk; but all stood silent and deserted with never a wisp of smoke from chimney or sight of woman or child.
When the sun was an hour high, the valley narrowed again around us; and we came in sight of the Pa.s.s of the Eagles. Then indeed we knew that if any of us returned alive from this adventure, 'twould be by the favor of all the Saints and by the utmost might of our arms. For the army of Rhys stood before us, drawn up in twenty ranks across the defile which was there of a furlong's width. In the front rank stood the spearmen with the b.u.t.ts of their weapons firmly planted in the ground and the points held at the height of a horse's breast; in the next the King and his sons, the leaders of tribes and all of those who bore the heaviest arms and iron s.h.i.+elds; behind them, rank after rank of swordsmen and javelin throwers, and, rearmost, their archers with bows in hand and arrows ready notched.
The flanks of the Welsh array were protected by high and rocky slopes where scrubby oaks and thorns found scant foothold amidst the crags and where no horse could tread. On both sides of the valley where it narrowed to the pa.s.s were broken cliffs that not a mountain goat could scale. Beyond these lay the heather-covered mountainsides and faraway rocky peaks where already snow had come.
At the word our men wheeled into line of battle, the armored knights in the van, in two open ranks, then the men-at-arms in three more of closer array. The archers were not to charge with us, but, with a dozen knights and a hundred men-at-arms under Lord Mountjoy, were to form a rearguard lest other bodies of the Welsh close in upon us. Both Sir Geoffrey and I had won favor in the Lord Constable's eyes by somewhat we had accomplished in the fighting at the ford; and now I led the forces of Mountjoy at his right and Geoffrey those of Carleton and Teramore on his left hand.
In a moment came the furious shock of battle and all the frightful scenes of the struggle by the river's edge-with the vantage now on the side of our enemies. Many of the steeds of our gallant knights transfixed themselves upon the Welsh lances; and their riders, brought to the ground, fell victims to swords or javelins or were crushed beneath the hoofs of our own oncoming ranks. But the line of spears was utterly broken; and the other knights and men-at-arms drove furiously into the ma.s.s before them. Swords and lances did their terrible work, and in the briefest time hundreds of our enemies had fallen. The Constable fought that day with a huge mace, and, swinging it about his head as it were a willow wand, he seemed like the great G.o.d Thor of the heathen wors.h.i.+p of old.
But now for every two or three of the Welsh one of our knights or men-at-arms perished also. Some of the tribesmen, struck down by the swords of the riders, thrust upwards at our horses with swords and knives as we pa.s.sed over them, and so cast down many a rider into the melee of das.h.i.+ng hoofs and glancing blades; and many times furious warriors, laying hold upon the riders, brought them to the earth and to speedy death. Their archers and javelin throwers aimed at our necks and faces; and though many of their shafts flew wide or even struck down their own, others found their marks indeed and added to our fatal losses.
From one desperate moment to another, for a length of time ever unknown to me, the struggle and the slaying went on unchecked. Our numbers grew ever fewer, and we were gaining scarce a yard of ground. For all the heaps of fallen, the Welsh fought on with undiminished fury; and 'twas evident that they would slay the last of us ere we could force the pa.s.s.
Lionel of Montmorency had fallen with half his men, as also Dunwoodie and Sir William, his brother and heir. The Lord Constable himself was wounded, and, panting with fatigue and loss of blood, had dropped his mace to fight again with broadsword. Sir Geoffrey of Carleton had once saved him from the hands of a huge Welsh warrior who sought to drag him from his saddle; and now the two fought almost back to back in an ever narrowing circle of enemies.
Suddenly I saw and felt the tribesmen wavering and giving ground before us, and became aware of a shower of cross-bow bolts that was falling among them and striking them down by hundreds. Looking up to see whence they came, I beheld Cedric of Mountjoy and half a thousand of his cross-bow men among the rocks in the promontory to the right, discharging their bolts as fast as they could lay them in groove and pouring a most deadly hail into the thick ranks of our enemies. 'Twas evident that Cedric had dismounted all his men and found some means to scale the cliffs and strike the Welsh in flank.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _THE LEADER HAD HIS GREAT SWORD THRUST ASIDE BY CEDRIC'S BOW, THEN WAS SEIZED ABOUT THE WAIST AND HURLED TO THE ROCKS BELOW_]