Part 25 (1/2)
Cuthbert was very pale, and he waved his hand to restrain the fury which animated the outlaws.
”This man,” he said to them, ”is a herald, and, as such, is protected by all the laws of chivalry. Whatsoever his message, it is none of his. He is merely the mouthpiece of him who sent him.” Then, turning to the herald, he said, ”Tell the false knight, your master, on my part, that he is a foul ruffian, perjured to all the vows of knighthood; that this act of visiting upon a woman the enmity he bears her son, will bring upon him the execration of all men; and that the offer which he makes me is as foul and villainous as himself. Nevertheless, knowing his character, and believing that he is capable of keeping his word, tell him that by to-morrow at noon I will be there; that the lady, my mother, is to leave the castle gates as I enter them; and that though by his foul device he may encompa.s.s my death, yet that the curse of every good man will light upon him, that he will be shunned as the dog he is, and that a.s.suredly heaven will not suffer that deeds so foul should bring with them the prize he seeks to gain.”
The herald bowed, and, escorted by two archers to the edge of the forest, returned to Evesham Castle.
After his departure, an animated council took place. c.n.u.t and the outlaws, burning with indignation, were ready to attempt anything. They would, had Cuthbert given the word, have attacked the castle that very night. But Cuthbert pointed out the absolute impossibility of their carrying so strong a place by such an a.s.sault, unprovided with engines for battering down the gates. He said that surprise would be impossible, as the knight would be sure to take every precaution against it; and that in the event of such an attack being attempted, he would possibly carry his threat into execution, and murder Dame Editha before their eyes. c.n.u.t was like a madman, so transported with fury was he; and the archers were also beside themselves. Cuthbert alone retained his calmness. Retiring apart from the others, he paced slowly backwards and forwards among the trees, deliberating upon the best course to be pursued. The archers gathered round the fire and pa.s.sed the night in long and angry talk, each man agreeing that in the event of their beloved leader being sacrificed by Sir Rudolph, they would one and all give their lives to avenge him by slaying the oppressor whensoever he ventured beyond the castle gates.
After a time, Cuthbert called c.n.u.t to him, and the two talked long and earnestly. c.n.u.t returned to his comrades with a face less despairing than that he had before worn, and sent off at once a messenger with all speed to a franklin near the forest to borrow a stout rope some fifty feet in length, and without telling his comrades what the plans of Sir Cuthbert were, bade them cheer up, for that desperate as the position was, all hope was not yet lost.
”Sir Cuthbert,” he said, ”has been in grievous straits before now, and has gone through them. Sir Rudolph does not know the nature of the man with whom he has to deal, and we may trick him yet.”
At eleven o'clock the next day, from the walls of Evesham Castle a body of archers 150 strong were seen advancing in solid array.
”Think you, Sir Rudolph,” one of his friends, Sir Hubert of Gloucester, said to him, ”that these varlets think of attacking the castle?”
”They might as well think of scaling heaven,” Sir Rudolph said. ”Evesham could resist a month's siege by a force well equipped for the purpose; and were it not that good men are wanted for the king's service, and that these villains shoot straight and hard, I would open the gates of the castle and launch our force against them. We are two to one as strong as they, and our knights and mounted men-at-arms could alone scatter that rabble.”
Conspicuous upon the battlements a gallows had been erected.
The archers stopped at a distance of a few hundred yards from the castle, and Sir Cuthbert advanced alone to the edge of the moat.
”Sir Rudolph of Eresby, false knight and perjured gentleman,” he shouted in a loud voice, ”I, Sir Cuthbert of Evesham, do denounce you as foresworn and dishonoured, and do challenge you to meet me here before the castle in sight of your men and mine, and decide our quarrel as heaven may judge with sword and battle-axe.”
Sir Rudolph leant over the battlements, and said,--
”It is too late, varlet. I condescended to challenge you before, and you refused. You cannot now claim what you then feared to accept. The sun on the dial approaches noon, and unless you surrender yourself before it reaches the mark, I will keep my word, and the traitress, your mother, shall swing from that beam.”
Making a sign to two men-at-arms, these brought forward Dame Editha and so placed her on the battlements that she could be seen from below. Dame Editha was still a very fair woman, although nigh forty years had rolled over her head. No sign of fear appeared upon her face, and in a firm voice she cried to her son,--
”Cuthbert, I beg--nay, I order you to retire. If this unknightly lord venture to carry out his foul threats against me, let him do so.
England will ring with the dastardly deed, and he will never dare show his face again where Englishmen congregate. Let him do his worst. I am prepared to die.”
A murmur rose from the knights and men-at-arms standing round Sir Rudolph.
Several of his companions had from the first, wild and reckless as they were, protested against Sir Rudolph's course, and it was only upon his solemn a.s.surance that he intended but to frighten Sir Cuthbert into surrender, and had no intention of carrying his threats against the lady into effect, that they had consented to take part in the transaction.
Even now, at the fearless words of the Saxon lady several of them hesitated, and Sir Hubert of Gloucester stepped forward to Sir Rudolph.
”Sir knight,” he said, ”you know that I am your true comrade and the faithful servant of Prince John. Yet in faith would I not that my name should be mixed up in so foul a deed. I repent me that I have for a moment consented to it. But the shame shall not hang upon the escutcheon of Hubert of Gloucester that he stood still when such foul means were tried. I pray you, by our long friends.h.i.+p, and for the sake of your own honour as a knight, to desist from this endeavour. If this lady be guilty, as she well may be, of aiding her son in his a.s.saults upon the soldiers of Prince John, then let her be tried, and doubtless the court will confiscate her estates. But let her son be told that her life is in no danger, and that he is free to go, being a.s.sured that harm will not come to her.”
”And if I refuse to consent to allow my enemy, who is now almost within my hand, to escape,” Sir Rudolph said, ”what then?”
”Then,” said the knight, ”I and my following will at once leave your walls, and will clear ourselves to the brave young knight yonder of all hand in this foul business.”
A murmur of agreement from several of those standing round showed that their sentiments were in accordance with those of Sir Hubert.
”I refuse,” said Rudolph pa.s.sionately. ”Go, if you will. I am master of my actions, and of this castle.”