Part 40 (2/2)
Then the host drew close to the great city of Antioch, the first Moslem stronghold to resist since the fall of Nicaea. And n.o.ble adventure awaited when the Norman Duke led the van to force the ”Iron Bridge” which spanned the Orontes, key to the northern approach of the city. Long and stoutly did Yaghi-Sian's horse-archers and infantry dispute the pa.s.sage, but Robert's mad knights swept all before them.
”With an hundred and thirty knights Roger won all Sicily at Ceramis!”
cried the valorous Duke. ”Shall we fail now with St. Michael and Our Lady to aid?”
So forward it was; and the Saracens heard the great ”_G.o.d wills it!_”
rolling down the Christian line,--that battle-cry which made the fight blaze tenfold fiercer, and which infidels so learned to dread. A great victory, but something better for Richard. In the press he and De Valmont fought side by side; and when a sling-stone laid Louis p.r.o.ne, Longsword had stood above him, covering with his s.h.i.+eld, and saved the Auvergner from the tramplings of friend or foe. Then when they cried ”Victory!” and the scared infidels raced for their lives to get behind the walls, Richard bore Louis to his own tent; for the Auvergner's was far to the rear.
”Ah, Richard,” said De Valmont, when they had pitched after the battle, ”you would not have stood above me thus in Sicily.”
”No, fair knight,” answered Richard, frankly; ”but G.o.d has seen the sins of us both, and we are rewarded.”
”Come,” cried the Provencal, firing, for he had a good heart under a haughty sh.e.l.l; ”we swore forgiveness at Clermont; let us swear brotherhood, for we know each other now. We both are valiant men; we two fought with honor at least, though to my cost,--shall we not be as strong in friends.h.i.+p as in hate?”
So Richard took the Auvergner's hand, and gave him the kiss, not of peace, but of brotherhood. And when Sebastian, coming by, saw them, he smiled:--
”You do well, dear sons, for two friends have the strength of four apart, and true affection is of G.o.d!”
As soon as Louis was well enough to ride once more, the twain were ever together. And the companions.h.i.+p of Louis was an unspeakable boon; for to one whom he held his equal, De Valmont was a frank, open-hearted, merry-tongued fellow, the very comrade to chase off the imps of gloom that had of late encamped round Longsword's soul. But as they scoured the country, bringing in forage and seeking news of the enemy, Richard always had the same question for any prisoners:--
”Do you know aught of the Emir Iftikhar Eddauleh?” And when they told him no, he was most likely to give a nod to Herbert, which meant that the captives' heads were forfeit. Louis pitied him from the bottom of his soul.
”Dear friend,” said the Provencal once, when they waited without Duke G.o.dfrey's tent to report a skirmish, ”you let this loss of Mary Kurkuas eat your heart away. Believe me, I loved her once as much as you, and yet--” here he laughed at memory of his own discomfiture--”I am still a very merry man. Are you angry?” Richard shook his head.
”Then hear me out. Your Greek beauty was a very _fee_, as Roland's Aude. But hers are not the only bright eyes and red cheeks in the world. Cannot the Lord of St. Julien have the best and the fairest?--in Sicily, in France, in Syria? Mark what I have done,--my heiress in Toulouse could hold her head beside the Greek, and no shame to either. Say to yourself, 'The saints are unkind; I will not let them make me pout forever. Another cast of the dice, and better fortune--'” But here he stopped, for on the face of Richard was, not indeed rage, but a darkening of pa.s.sion that Louis knew he had scarce dreamed of. And Richard answered very gently:--
”Sweet knight, we have sworn brotherhood; I know you speak out of the goodness of your heart. When you say, 'Once I loved Mary Kurkuas as much as you,' and then boast your happiness, and add that she is not alone fair, you show but this,--you loved her eyes and her hair, but not her true self, as do I. As for what more you say, I only answer thus: I have sworn that henceforth I will look in love on no woman, if not on her, but will fight as best I can for G.o.d and Holy Church, and trust that after the sacred city is taken Our Lord will admit me into His peace. Till then let me be a good friend, and as merry as I may.”
While he spoke, the tent doors flapped aside, and Duke G.o.dfrey himself strode forth. There was strength and joy by merely glancing into the eyes of that n.o.ble man. He put his hand on the shoulder of Richard, and said as a father to his son: ”Richard de St. Julien, fear not that G.o.d is unmindful of your sorrow and prayers. We all, who love and honor you, have shared your grief, and He who loves you more than we, must share the most. Be strong, and either He will give you the desire of your heart, or you shall enter into the peace no mortal man may know.” There was a ring and sweetness in the words of the mighty Duke which no priest could fuse into his speech, for Richard knew that G.o.dfrey himself had walked through the moil and toil of life, and was crowned already victor.
”I will trust in G.o.d!” he said, when he left the Duke.
At his tent he sat a long time with Louis over some rare wine they had taken that day; called for a backgammon board, and played against Louis, winning seven games running. Herbert, who was standing by, was glad when he heard his lord give a hearty, unforced laugh--not of the fearful kind which had been his custom before. When Richard prayed that night, he put forth a new pet.i.tion: ”Master, if I have been chastened sufficiently, and it is Thy will, grant that I may see Musa once more, for next to one whom clearly Thou willest I should not possess, I desire him beyond all the world.”
And this prayer he repeated night after night. Louis de Valmont was grown a dear friend,--but the Spaniard! Richard never dreamed of making the Auvergner a rival. ”Musa! Musa!” The longing to see him was too deep for words.
CHAPTER XXVIII
HOW RICHARD REGAINED HIS BROTHER
When the Christians sat down before Antioch in the autumn time, the delights of the country--the abundance of provisions and drink, the dark eyes of the sinful Syrian maids who swarmed to the camp--made the Franks intent on everything save warfare. The ma.s.sy walls mocked all storming; and though Bohemond blockaded from the east by the Gate of St. Paul, Count Hugh on the north, and G.o.dfrey and Raymond on the northeast, the south was open to every wind, and provisions entered the city freely. Much ado had Richard to keep discipline amongst his own men. ”My merry masters,” said he once, when even De Carnac clamored for a carouse over some skins of heady Laodicean, ”whether we see the heavenly or the earthly Jerusalem, let us see it with pure hearts and pure bodies.” And with Trenchefer he slit all the wine-skins. So that night, at least, the St. Julieners kept sober.
But the tide soon turned. A miserable winter it was; chill rains; the ill-placed camps swimming in water. Swords rusted in a night. There was hardly an hour when the heavens did not pour down their floods, until scarce a dry back was in the army. And as the floods continued, the provisions, once squandered so recklessly, began to fail.
Longsword rode forth with Bohemond and Robert the Norman to sweep the country, and too often met only roving Saracen horse, who gave them hard blows and little booty. Then at last came the inevitable pursuer,--pestilence! and men began to die by scores; their faith all gone, cursing G.o.d and the saints, and the folly that drove them from lovely France on a fool's own errand. Evil tidings came in daily.
Sweno the Dane, it was told, who was leading fifteen hundred hors.e.m.e.n across Cappadocia, had been overwhelmed by the Seljouks. And other ill news flowed fast as the rain torrents. Even the stoutest began to think more for their own lives than for ever seeing the Holy City.
Some fled to Baldwin at Edessa; others to Cilicia. Duke Robert went to Laodicea, and only returned when admonished thrice in the name of Our Lord. William de Melun, the mightiest battle-axe in the whole army, fled away,--the infidels he did not fear, but who was proof against famine?
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