Part 5 (1/2)

”He is a good fellow, Beorn, and I could wish for no better to hold a s.h.i.+eld over me in the day of battle or to stand back to back with me in a hand-to-hand fight.”

”You should get him to stand in front of you,” Beorn laughed. ”He would be a rare screen against arrows and javelins.”

The friends were well pleased when they heard they were both to accompany Harold to Bosham, which was one of the favourite abodes of the Earls of Wess.e.x. It had originally been built as a hunting-seat, but G.o.dwin had grown to love the place, with its woods extending for miles back and its quiet landlocked harbour, and additions had been made until it had grown to be, in point of size at least, a residence worthy of the great earls, and Harold preferred it to any of the many mansions belonging to him. It was a large and gay party that rode down the road through the quiet woods of Surrey and Suss.e.x.

They put up each night at the houses of thanes, where, as notice had been sent of their coming, they were royally entertained, and those selected were proud to afford hospitality to the earl.

For a week they stayed at Bosham, hunting in the forests, going off in parties under the guidance of the foresters, some who cared not for hard labour, hunting in the woods between Bosham and the hills, while others went far inland into the weald, which was for the most part covered by a great forest, with but a few scattered hamlets here and there. Smoke rising among the trees showed where the charcoal-burners were at work, or where the furnaces were glowing, converting the ore into the tough iron that furnished arms and armour for the greater portion of the men of the south. At the end of the week the earl announced to his guests that he had provided a new diversion for them.

”You see those three s.h.i.+ps in the harbour,” he said. ”They were brought here last night, and three hundred men have been at work all day preparing them for our reception. I propose that we all embark with our dogs and servants, and sail along the coast, landing where we please and taking our sport. As we sail eastward there are abundant forests, and the game is far more plentiful than here, and our trip will partake of the character of an adventure in thus dropping upon unknown places. Tents have been stored on board the vessels, with abundance of good cheer of all kinds, so that we can establish ourselves where we will, and sleep on sh.o.r.e instead of rocking uneasily on the waves.”

The proposal was received with acclamation, and the following morning the whole party embarked upon the three s.h.i.+ps. The largest was occupied by Harold himself, his brother and nephew, and six or seven of his princ.i.p.al thanes. In this craft too went Wulf and Beorn with their men. On issuing from the harbour the s.h.i.+ps' heads were turned to the east. The wind was light and fitful, the sails therefore were not loosed, and they proceeded under oars. There was but little tide until they reached the extremity of the long point of Selsea, past which they were hurried at great speed by the rapid current.

Rowing closer insh.o.r.e they got into quieter water, and continued their way until tide turned, when they anch.o.r.ed, and landing with their dogs hunted in the woods for some hours.

On their return to the sea-sh.o.r.e they found the tents erected and supper prepared, and the sport having been good they remained another day. The tide took them the next day past the sh.o.r.e of Wulf's estate, and he begged the earl to land there and to pa.s.s a day or two with his company at Steyning; but all were bent upon the chase, and they kept on until they reached the point where the white cliffs began to rise from the edge of the water. Here they landed again, and spent two or three days in hunting. Neither Wulf nor Beorn had been to sea before, and the quiet motion of the s.h.i.+ps with their bellying sails and banks of st.u.r.dy oarsmen delighted them. There had been scarcely any motion, and neither had felt the qualms which they had been warned were generally experienced for a while by those who went upon the sea for the first time.

When the journey was resumed Wulf was struck with surprise and almost awe by the mighty cliffs that rose up from the water's edge.

Neither he nor Beorn had seen anything like this, for although both their estates bordered the sea, the sh.o.r.es were flat, and vessels, if needs be, could be hauled up on sh.o.r.e.

”What would happen if a gale were to burst upon us here?” Wulf said to his companion. ”If the waves were to dash us against those white rocks the s.h.i.+ps would be broken up like egg-sh.e.l.ls.”

”Your question is answered,” Beorn said, as a bay suddenly opened to their sight. ”You see we are going in here, and shall anchor snugly somewhere up this river in front of us, which is truly the best haven we have seen since we left Bosham.” Half an hour later the vessels were moored to the bank, close to a wooden bridge which spanned the little river.

CHAPTER IV.

A STORM.

After hunting for two days in the forests lying behind Newhaven, and in the valley in which Lewes lies, they again embarked. The master of Harold's s.h.i.+p had expressed some doubts as to the weather, but as he stated that it was but some eight miles round the great cliff that they saw to the east, and that beyond this the rocks ceased and there was a bay in which they could ride at anchor, or if necessary beach their vessels, it was determined to proceed, as Harold had the day before been visited by a thane whose house lay but two miles from the sh.o.r.e, and had accepted his invitation for the party to take up their abode there for a few days, as he promised them good sport in the forest. The cliffs rose higher as they proceeded. They kept closer insh.o.r.e, and although they could see that the clouds were flying rapidly overhead they felt no breeze whatever, being protected from the wind by the lofty cliffs. The master was evidently uneasy, for he urged the rowers to exert themselves to the utmost. Wulf and Beorn stood looking with amazement at the cliffs towering up beside them.

”Is it not strange that they should rise like this--like a wall from the water?” Wulf said. ”Had they been built up by human hands they could scarcely have been more erect and regular. I have never seen anything at all like it on land.”

”Then it must be something formed by the sea, Wulf. Do you see those caverns at the foot of the cliff, and in some places you see there is a mound of rocks as if newly formed? It may be that this white stone is soft, and that the sea beating against the foot wears it away in time, and then the rock overhead gives way by its weight and so leaves an upright wall. Perhaps, long back, these hills were like other hills, sloping gradually down into the sea; but in time, perhaps many, many years before the Romans landed here, the sea began to eat them away, and has continued to do so ever since, until they are as we see them.”

”That may be so, Beorn. My father has told me that he could remember when our estates stretched a good half-mile farther seaward, but had since been eaten away by the waves, and he says that his father had told him the same thing; therefore, as you say, in many hundreds of years even hills, if the stone were soft, might also be worn away. There we are rounding the point, and beyond there are no more cliffs; doubtless it is in this bay that the s.h.i.+pmaster Edred thinks to anchor.”

At that moment their conversation was cut short by a tremendous gust of wind rus.h.i.+ng down the sloping hill into the bay striking them with such terrible force that the s.h.i.+p heeled over until the water rushed above the bulwark. The men were thrown against each other, and several fell down to leeward. The confusion was heightened by the fact that the great sail, which was but loosely furled to its yard, burst the ropes, and the wind catching it buried the craft still further, and she would have filled and sunk had not the s.h.i.+p-master seized the tiller, and aided by the two sailors there pushed it up, and so the boat's head payed off from the wind and ran before it.

The master shouted to the men to lower the sail, which was bellying and flapping violently, but before his orders could be obeyed there was a crash. The mast snapped off at the slings of the yard, and the wreck fell over the bow of the boat. All hands were employed for some minutes in getting the sail on board and furling it to its yard, which was laid lengthways along the thwarts. It was found that three men standing in the bows had been killed, and several others badly hurt. The vessel was by this time some distance from sh.o.r.e. Nothing could be done until she was freed of the water, with which she was nigh half-full, and all hands were employed in bailing it out.

The squall had increased rather than lessened in fury, and by the time the water was cleared out they were two miles from the headland.

Orders were then given to man the oars again but it was found that several of these had been lost, having been washed away when the men leapt up, believing that the boat would capsize, or had slipped from the rowlocks unnoticed while they were engaged in getting in the sail. This was a serious misfortune, for every oar was needed to force her through the water in the teeth of the wind, which was blowing directly off sh.o.r.e. The remaining oars were all double-banked, Harold himself and his thanes taking their places among the rowers.

For an hour they laboured their hardest, but at the end of that time they were farther from sh.o.r.e than when they began, the force of the wind acting on the p.o.o.p and broad hull driving her seaward faster than the rowers could force her sh.o.r.eward. The sea, too, was now getting up, and the motion of the vessel rendered it increasingly difficult to row. Edred left his place at the tiller and went forward to Harold.

”My lord,” he said, ”it is useless. In spite of your efforts we are drifting farther and farther out, and from the look of the sky I fear that we are going to have a great gale, and there is nothing to do but to set a little sail and to run before it. Maybe there will presently be a s.h.i.+ft of wind, which may enable us to make for sh.o.r.e. At present you are but exhausting yourselves in vain, and the sea will soon get up so much that it will be impossible to use the oars.”

”So be it,” Harold replied; and at the master's orders the oars were laid in, and the men prepared to get sail upon her. A sailor climbed up the mast and fastened the stays close to the point which was broken off. Then another joined him, and a block was lashed to the mast just below the stays, and the halliards were rove through it; then Edred brought out a small sail, and this was hoisted, and the vessel, which had before been rolling heavily, began to glide swiftly through the water. They had had the satisfaction of seeing that their consorts, although like themselves nearly capsized by the squall, had suffered no damage, but after lowering their sails and yards to the deck, had succeeded in rowing into the bay, their lighter hull and draught enabling the oars to drive them through the water in the teeth of the wind.