Edgar the Ready 1

Edgar the Ready 1

Edgar the Ready

A Tale of the Third Edward’s Reign

Author: W. P. Shervill

*Contents*

 

CHAP.

 

I. A Gallant Sacrifice

II. An Ordeal of the Night

III. The Castle of Wolsingham

IV. The Winning of Peter

V. The Fracas

VI. Sir John’s Esquire

VII. To Guienne

VIII. The Lists of Bordeaux

IX. The Encounter with Sir Gervaise

X. News of Sir John

XI. In Pursuit

XII. Castle Ruthènes

XIII. Prisoners

XIV. A Desperate Venture

XV. Ill News at Bordeaux

XVI. A New Quest

XVII. The Opening of the Attack

XVIII. The Plight of Beatrice

XIX. The Assault

XX. The Last Hope

XXI. Through the Darkness

XXII. The Last of Ruthènes

XXIII. Sir John’s Choice

 

 

 

 

*Illustrations*

 

"Roland was savagely attacking him in his turn" (missing from book) . .

. _Frontispiece_

 

"Sir Gervaise sprang towards his adversary, thirsting to retrieve his

fallen fortunes"

 

"A torch was thrust close to Edgar’s face"

 

"The torch fell upon the bottom steps, revealing the three crouching

figures" (missing from book)

 

"’Bah! These walls laugh thee and thy rabble to scorn!’"

 

"’Come, Beatrice, I will strive yet to save thee’" (missing from book)

 

 

 

 

*EDGAR THE READY*

 

 

 

*CHAPTER I*

 

*A Gallant Sacrifice*

 

 

"Now, lad, I will tell thee how it cometh that Sir John Chartris hath

sent me down into Devon to seek thee and to bring thee back to his

castle of Wolsingham. The road seemeth less rough and wild, and I can

tell thee all that befell with the more comfort. I would, though, that

I could have brought a spare horse. To have thee riding behind my

saddle smacks of a farmer and his dame rather than of man-at-arms and

fledgeling warrior."

 

"No matter, Matthew," replied the soldier’s companion, a lad of some

fourteen or fifteen summers, "our road will take us along the borders of

Exmoor, and I have hopes that we may be able to snare or capture one of

the ponies that run wild thereabouts."

 

"Perchance. Now, as thou hast already heard, ’twas at Sluys that thy

father met his death--and a right gallant one it was--but of the fashion

of it only rumours have reached thee.

 

"I must start at the beginning, and thou wilt then understand the more

thoroughly. Know, then, that the French fleet mustered two hundred sail

and more, many of their ships being of a size unheard of before, while

we could gather little more than half their number. Our ships were

scraped together from the Five Ports and anywhere along the coast where

a stray trader could be found. But I’ll warrant thee the sailors of the

Five Ports were little loath to lend their ships for the venture, for

their rivalry with the mariners of the Norman coast is most exceeding

bitter. When all that could be collected had been mustered in array,

our good King Edward III filled them with his men-at-arms and archers,

and we set sail.

 

"Not a man of the whole company was more eager to get to grips with the

enemy than Edward; and when we spied, over an intervening neck of land,

a forest of masts clustering in the harbour of Sluys, he was overjoyed.

However, for all his eagerness, he decided to anchor at sea for the

night, and ’twas in the afternoon of the following day--the anniversary

of Bannockburn, mark ye--that we stood in to fight the foe.

 

"When they sighted us, the French sailed out a mile or so to meet us,

and then anchored in four great lines across the bay and lashed their

ships firmly together. We found it was a fourfold floating rampart that

we had to assault, but--bah!--little enough shipman or soldier recked of

that!

 

"Full speed we bore down on the foremost line of ships and ground into

them, our archers sending a storm of shafts in advance that raked them

through and through. Many of their big ships had platforms high up

filled with Genoese crossbowmen, and loaded with stones to fling down

upon us; but our archers poured in a fire so fierce and fast that those

who survived were glad to escape to deck as best they could. Then came

the turn of knights and men-at-arms, and like a mountain torrent we

poured upon the decks of the Frenchmen’s ships. The fighting was hard

and fierce--the struggle of men who had long ached to spring at one

another’s throats.

 

"But our martial King’s gallant example, and the knightly zest of his

nobles, gave an eagerness to our men that soon forced the French, though

they fought right well, to give back, and presently we had mastered the

first line and began to burst through upon the next. ’Twas then

that---- Ah! What have we here?"

 

At the sudden exclamation, and the equally sudden reining in of the

steed, the boy, who had been entirely absorbed in his companion’s

narrative, glanced quickly ahead to see the cause of the interruption.

 

Two men, followed more leisurely by three others, had sprung into the

roadway from behind a pile of rocks where they had been in hiding. They

were men of wild and savage appearance, and bore weapons, which added

not a little to their threatening looks. One man, whose head seemed a

sheer mass of bristling red hair and beard, out of which his eyes

gleamed like live coals, carried a heavy club studded with iron spikes,

and this he swung to and fro as he awaited the coming of the wayfarers.

 

"’Tis Red of Ordish!" whispered the lad. "He is known and dreaded for

leagues around. Fly for thy life, Matthew--delay not!"

 

The soldier glanced eagerly to right and left. His face fell: rocks

piled in rough confusion, half-hidden by bushes, lined every inch of the

way on either side. It was difficult country to traverse on foot, but

for horsemen it was quite impossible. There was still, however, the way

they had come, and half-turning his horse, the man-at-arms glanced back

along the road. Alas, for his hopes! Another group of men had emerged

into the roadway a few hundred yards behind, and were moving forward to

take the travellers as in a trap!

 

"Ha, ha, soldier," cried Red, with a hideous laugh, "thou seest thou art

outwitted! Fling down thy purse and we harm thee not. ’Tis the lord of

the manor, Red of Ordish to wit, who bids thee pay his toll."

 

"Give me thy purse, Matthew," cried the boy aloud. He then went on in

an urgent whisper: "Be quick, and I will jump down and hand it to the

robbers whilst thou dost ride slowly past them. They may seek more than

thy purse an they find little in it. I like not their looks or the

tales I have heard of them."

 

Slowly and unwillingly the soldier complied, and the lad flung his leg

over the saddle to dismount. As he did so, however, with a quick

movement he slid the contents of the purse into his hand. His movements

were half-hidden by the soldier’s back, and that there should be no

chink of money to betray him, he held the purse closely while he secured

the contents. Then he transferred the coins to his wallet, dropped to

the ground, and advanced towards the red robber, purse in hand.

 

"We are poor wayfarers," he said in a pleading tone, as he fumbled in

the purse; "will ye not take toll of two silver pennies and let us hie

on our journey?"

 

"I will take four silver pennies, my young springald," cried Red of

Ordish, striding forward and reaching out his great hand for the purse.

 

The lad retreated as though frightened, and again fumbled as though

unable to find the coins he sought.

 

"Yield me the purse," cried the robber, snatching savagely at it.

"Yield it me, boy, or I will clash out thy brains with this club."

 

Springing lightly out of the angry ruffian’s reach, the boy pretended to be quite scared, dropping the purse and running after the soldier as though in a sudden access of terror.