CHAPTER IX.
IN THE WELSH VALLEYS.
Wulf and Beorn did not form part of the expedition which was to embark withHarold from Bristol, and to enter Wales by one of its southern valleys. Itwas necessary that the gathering of the levies at Gloucester should bestrengthened by having as a nucleus three hundred trained soldiers. Thelevies were lightly armed, and accustomed to fight in the same irregularmanner as their Welsh adversaries, whom they held in considerable dread,for the fierce hillmen had again and again proved themselves more than amatch for the peaceable natives on the English side of the border. Theaddition then of three hundred housecarls was required to give themconfidence. These had indeed abandoned for the time their armour, heavyweapons, and solid formation, but they could still were it necessary gatherin a line, behind which the levies could rally, and which would beimpregnable to the undisciplined attacks of the Welsh.
The young thanes were somewhat disappointed at finding that they were notto accompany the earl, but, as he told them, it was a mark of hisconfidence that he should post them with the force where the fighting waslikely to be more severe and the risk greater than with that he himselfled.
"I shall penetrate into the heart of Wales," he said. "I shall havehorsemen with me, a strong force of trained soldiers and the levies, andthe enemy will, I feel sure, be unable to oppose us successfully; but it islikely enough that when the Welsh find that my force from the south andTostig's from the north cannot be withstood, they will pour out on theireastern frontier, and try to light such a flame in Worcester, Hereford, andGloucester, that we should be obliged to abandon our work, and hurry backto stem the tide of their invasion. It is necessary therefore that fromthis side also there should be a forward movement. My brother, Gurth, willcommand here. I have strongly recommended you to him. Your experience inthe Breton war will be of assistance to you, and I have told him that youcan be far better trusted than many older than yourselves in carrying outexpeditions among their hills and valleys.
"I do not anticipate there will be any pitched battles; the Welsh know thatthey cannot withstand our trained soldiers. It will be a war ofskirmishes, of detached fighting, of surprises, long marches, and greatfatigues. Every valley in the country is to be harried with fire and sword.They are to be made to feel that even in their mountains they are not safefrom us, and as they never take prisoners nor give quarter in the forays onour side of the border, so we will hunt them down like wolves in their ownforests. The work must be done so thoroughly that for a hundred years atleast the lesson will not be forgotten."
In the last week of May Gurth moved forward, marching first to Hereford asa more central point of attack, and then crossing the border and enteringWales. The troops carried no heavy baggage. Meat they expected to find;flour was carried on two hundred pack-horses. The force was about 4000strong. The housecarls marched in a body, keeping solid order. Behind themcame the pack animals, each led separately, so that they could the moreeasily make their way through forests or over broken ground. They marchedin lines, forty abreast. The light-armed levies, led by their respectivethanes, moved as they chose on the flanks of the trained troops or followedin the rear.
When they halted on the first evening after crossing the frontier theylighted their fires and bivouacked. Wulf and Beorn walked together throughthe camp.
"In spite of the fact that they are all dressed somewhat alike in leatherjerkins, it is easy to see which are the trained soldiers," Wulf said. "Thehousecarls are as merry over the food they have brought with them as ifthey were going upon a march of pleasure through the hills, while theborder levies evidently regard the business as a serious one."
"That is no wonder," Beorn replied, "seeing how for years they havesuffered at the hands of the Welsh. Look at those hills, Wulf, I can counta dozen beacons alight. Of course, they have heard of the preparations forattack, and they are flashing the news from hill to hill of the advance ofour force. It will not be long before they gather to oppose us."
"It is like enough they may attack us to-night, Beorn. They may have hadspies at Hereford, and will have known two days ago of our coming. They mayreckon that we should anticipate no attack until farther among their hills,and that we shall in consequence be careless, as in truth we seem to be. Ithink it would be well to offer Gurth our housecarls to stand sentryto-night."
"He might laugh at us," Beorn said doubtfully.
"Well, let him laugh; he will laugh good-humouredly anyhow, for he is of akindly and light-hearted disposition. At any rate there cannot be any harmin proposing it, and after the surprise we got from the Bretons we cannotbe too cautious."
They walked to the fire where Gurth was sitting with four or five of hisfriends, all of whom had furnished bodies of housecarls. The border thaneshad by his orders each remained with his own following, so that at alltimes they should be in readiness to give orders and lead them in case ofsurprise.
"Where have you been, young thanes?" Gurth asked. "You slipped away as soonas our meal was finished, as if you were afraid of the wine-cup."
"We care not much for drinking," Beorn said, "and have been going throughthe force to see how it was disposed. We have come to offer that our menshall to-night furnish guards for the camp."
"There is no occasion for it," Gurth said, "the Welshmen will not attack usuntil we are entangled among their hills."
"It depends upon how well they are led, my Lord Gurth," Wulf said. "If theyare well led they may attack us to-night, for they must know of ourapproach, and will think it probable that we shall, being so near our ownborder, be at first careless. The Bretons gave us just such a lesson, andinflicted heavy loss upon the Norman army."
"Well, post your men as you like," Gurth said; "though it seems to me thatit would be better for them to husband their strength for to-morrow'smarch."
"They shall have half a night's sleep each," Wulf said.
"If I had not known how stoutly you fought, and how your courage saved theNorman camp, I should have said you were over-cautious," Gurth laughed."However I will not refuse your offer, young thanes, though methinks thereis no chance whatever of the Welsh disturbing us here."
Having obtained the permission, Beorn and Wulf returned to the fires oftheir men.
"We are to have the honour of furnishing the guards to-night, Osgod. Tellthe men that Gurth relies upon our watchfulness. We don't want arepetition of the surprise we had from the Bretons. It will be but a shortnight's watch. 'Tis nine now, and by four it will be broad daylight.Beorn's men and ours will march a hundred yards out from the camp. Half canlie down to sleep at once, the other half we can post as sentries andrelieve them at half-past twelve. An attack if it comes will come from thefront, therefore we will post the men twenty or thirty yards apart alongthere, and for some distance round the flanks. One of us will remain withthe party that lies down, so as to be in readiness to lead them at onceagainst any point attacked, the other will move round and round to see thatthe sentries are vigilant."
"That is good news to me," Osgod said. "Methinks that affair in the Bretonwood has shaken my courage, for I have been looking at those trees in frontof us, and wondering whether the Welsh are gathering there, and thinkinghow it would be with all these raw levies if they came down upon usto-night It went hard for a bit with the Normans, tried soldiers thoughthey were, but I would not trust these levies to stand for a moment, forthey hold the Welsh in mighty respect."
The men cheerfully took their arms and fell in. They considered it acompliment that they had been chosen to furnish the first guard. Beorn'smen, with a portion of Wulf's, were to furnish the first line of sentries.The two young thanes, accompanied by Osgod, went round with them and postedthem, after giving them strict injunctions to be watchful and vigilant.
"These savages," Beorn said, "will creep up through the grass asnoiselessly as cats, so you must keep your ears as well as your eyes wellopen; and if you hear but the breaking of a twig challenge at once. Then,if they rise, shout the alarm at the top of your voice,
and do the whole ofyou run back to us here if the cry comes from the front, if from eitherflank hurry to that spot, and we shall do the same from here; but becareful not to rouse the camp by a false alarm, for if you do, instead ofgaining credit we shall become the jest of the whole force."
When the sentries were placed, Beorn, with the leader of his band, began togo the rounds, while Wulf and Osgod returned to their party.
"You can sleep, master, while I watch beside you," Osgod said. "I could notsleep if I lay down, for I have got the yells of those Bretons in my ears,and could not close an eye."
"Very well, Osgod; in that case I may as well take a nap."
He was soon sound asleep, and remained so until Osgod touched him. He satup in a moment.
"By the stars it is past midnight, my lord, and it is time for us torelieve Beorn's party." The men were at once called to their feet, and therelief effected.
"If an attack comes," Wulf said, as with Osgod he proceeded to walkbackwards and forwards along the line of sentries, "I fancy it will be justbefore daybreak. Many of them may come from long distances, and theirleader would wait until the last moment in order to gather as large a forcetogether as possible. Besides, men sleep heaviest at that time, and theywould reckon that hour as best for a surprise." As they walked theyfrequently paused to listen intently, and though once or twice they thoughtthey heard distant sounds, these might be caused by the passage of a wildanimal through the bushes. The sentries were all vigilant. It was the firsttime that the Sussex lads had been in face of an enemy, and the stillnessof the night, the sombre forest in front of them, and the possibility of asavage and unknown foe lurking there, kept them thoroughly on the alert.Once or twice Wulf and Osgod went forward to examine some bush that hadseemed to the imagination of a sentry to have moved, but in each case thealarm was groundless.
"It must be nearly three o'clock now, Osgod," Wulf said at last. "Anotherhalf hour will decide it. I shall be glad when the morning comes, for thiswork is trying, and I keep on fancying I hear noises."
"I fancy so too," Osgod said. "It seems to me like a sort of whisper orrustling of leaves."
"That is just what it seems to me, Osgod. Let us stay where we are. We arejust in the centre of the line now."
"There are certainly sounds, my lord. I thought it was fancy before, but Iam sure now."
"I hear something," Wulf said. "It comes from the front. Run round to theright and bring the sentries from that flank and post them in the intervalsof those in front, while I do the same on the left."
They had but just returned, when they heard a sharp sound like the crackingof a stick a short distance in front. A dozen of the sentries at oncechallenged. In an instant a number of figures sprang to their feet at adistance of some fifty yards in front of them. Then a wild yell was raised,and swarms of men came rushing towards them, while a volley of arrows andjavelins whizzed through the air.
"Fall back on the others, men!" Wulf shouted at the top of his voice, andthe line of sentries rushed back to Beorn's party, who leapt to their feetat the sound of the Welsh war-cry. They had scarce formed in line when theenemy were upon them. They received them with a volley of javelins, andthen shield to shield they withstood the attack They were fighting in theirown way now, and numerous as the Welsh were, they were unable, as they ranup in scattered order, to break through the line.
"Steady, men, steady!" Wulf shouted out from his post in the middle of theline. "Our friends will soon be up. Show a stout front. Do not give way afoot."
In vain the Welshmen, with wild yells, strove to beat back the Saxon line.Their very numbers were a hindrance to them. Those in front pressedforward, so that those behind were unable to use their javelins or arrows.Many creeping between the legs of the fighters of the front rank leapt witha cat-like spring upon the Saxons, and strove to rip them with theirknives, but the light wicker-work shields covered with leather, which hadtaken the place of the solid and heavy ones generally carried by thehousecarls, stood Wulf's followers in good stead; and although many of theshields were penetrated by the knives of the Welsh, they in most caseseffectually screened the bodies of the soldiers.
The lightly-armed Welsh, on the other hand, were hewn down by the longswords of the Saxons in the front rank, while the javelins of those behindthem flew with terrible effect among their assailants. There was, however,no pause in the fury of the attacks of the Welsh, until, with a greatshout, the main body of the Saxons came up, and pressed forward in linewith the little body who had hitherto borne the brunt of the battle, whileon their flank the thane's levies poured in volley after volley of dartsand arrows. The fight ceased as suddenly as it began. The sound of adeep-toned horn rose in the air, whereupon the Welsh instantly abandonedthe struggle, and before the Saxons had time to realize that the fightingwas over, they had disappeared in the forest.
"By St. Peter, young thanes!" Earl Gurth exclaimed as he came up to Wulf'sband, who were panting from their exertions, "you have saved us from agrievous mishap this night. I take shame unto myself that I treated yoursuggestion so lightly; for, by the saints, we should have fared badlyindeed had this wild foe taken us asleep. The thanks of the whole force aredue to you, and I will take care that my brother Harold knows how narrow anescape we have had, and in telling the tale I shall not spare either myselfor the older thanes, who were disposed to mock your proposal to keep guardover the camp, as showing an amount of caution altogether unnecessary. Theattack has been a lesson to me that I shall not forget, and henceforth Ishall select you and your force for any special service requiringwatchfulness and valour."
In going among their men Wulf and Beorn found that but six had fallen, forthe most part under the shower of javelins with which the Welsh hadheralded their attack. Many of the others had received wounds more or lesssevere, but few of them were so badly hurt as to render it necessary toleave them behind. Gurth called the thanes at once to a council. Fresh woodwas thrown on to his fire, and some twenty of the thanes took their placesround it. Wulf and Beorn were specially asked by Gurth to attend. Theattack of the Welsh had shown that they were by no means dismayed at theextent of the preparations for the invasion of their mountains, and thatthe advance must be conducted with the greatest caution and prudence.
"It is well," Gurth said, "that in the absence of Griffith they have manyleaders, and will therefore fight without any general plan. Did their wholeforce fall upon one or other of our columns it might go very hard with it;but we may be sure that each chief will desire to keep his followers byhim, in order to defend his own valleys. Nevertheless, they have shownto-night that they can gather rapidly and in considerable force, and weshall have to root them out piecemeal, and shall not be able to scatter ourforce too widely. I am told that the valley at whose mouth we now arecontains a large number of villages, and to this we must confine ourselvesuntil we have done the work there. I trust that they will oppose usstoutly. In that case we shall have the less trouble with them when wecome to undertake the more difficult task of pursuing them among theirhills."
The next morning the advance began, and they had proceeded but a shortdistance when the Welsh again poured down upon them. This time the forcewas prepared for the attack, and although the Welsh fought obstinately,they were driven back without much difficulty. As soon as the attack ceasedGurth gave the order for pursuit, and the housecarls held their coursestraight up the valley at full speed, while the levies swarmed up thehillsides to prevent the Welsh from rallying and attacking in flank. Thetroops now felt the benefit of the abandonment of their heavy armour andweapons, and pressed so hotly upon the flying Welsh that they entered thefirst village with them. For a time the natives turned and foughtdesperately in defence of their homes, but they were unable to withstandthe skill and discipline of the Saxon troops, and the measure that they hadso frequently dealt out to the Saxon villagers now fell on them. No quarterwas given. Every man, woman, and child was slaughtered, and the housesgiven to the flames. Village after village was captured and burnt, but ther
esistance became fainter and fainter, and the last three villages at thehead of the valley were found to be entirely deserted. Then, just as thesun set, the force bivouacked for the night, the horns calling in thescattered levies, who gradually rejoined them.
The next morning the force was broken up into five or six columns, eachhaving a proportion of the regular soldiers and a body of the levies. Thesepenetrated side valleys and climbed the hills. In many cases theyencountered resistance, stones being rolled down upon them, and the Welshdefending strong barricades of felled trees. But everywhere the Saxons weresuccessful, and day after day continued the work, until at the end of fivedays they were able to move where they would without encountering anyresistance. The force now marched forward from the head of the valley,crossed a range of hills, and descended into another valley. They had nowgrown more confident in themselves, and while a third of the forceproceeded to lay waste the valley, the rest, broken up into small columns,ascended the hills on either side, carrying fire and sword into everyhamlet they came upon.
Several of the fortalices of the Welsh chiefs, perched on almostinaccessible eminences, gave great trouble, and were only taken afterserious loss. One day Beorn and Wulf, with their own following and twohundred and fifty light-armed levies, were despatched by Gurth to Porthwyn,a stronghold belonging to a powerful chief named Llewellyn ap Rhys.
"It is, from all I hear," he said, "a very strong place, and will requireall our force to capture it. Indeed it is reported to be so strong that itmay be necessary to leave it unmolested until we form a junction withHarold, and can besiege it regularly. It would not do to make anunsuccessful attack, for that would raise the spirits of the Welsh. Allthat I wish of you is to obtain a view of the castle from all sides ifpossible, to bring me back an exact account of its defences, and to give meyour opinion as to our chances of capturing it if we decide to lay siege toit."
Porthwyn was forty miles distant, and Beorn and Wulf determined to marchsome thirty of these, and then to push forward at daybreak so as to obtaina view of the fortress in the early morning. They took with them a Welshboy as a guide. He had been spared in the last village captured, and hadbeen told that his life depended upon his guiding them faithfully. Theplaces of ten men who had fallen during the various fights had been filledup by an equal number of Gurth's own housecarls. The seventy soldiers keptwith their leaders and the guide, the levies spreading out on either side.
Two of the irregulars who spoke a little Welsh accompanied the young thanesto question the guide if necessary. The march was a heavy one. At timesthey passed through thick forests in the valleys and on the lowerhillsides, at times crossed over bare hills, on whose summits the groundwas frequently so boggy that the men had to march with the greatestcaution. The guide, a sullen lad with matted hair, whose only attire was asheep-skin, was several times questioned sharply as to whether he wascertain of the way. He answered in monosyllables, saying that he knew everyfoot of the road, and indeed he never hesitated for a moment.
"I suppose he is right," Wulf said, "although I thought it lay more to thewest than we are going, but we have wound about so among these forests andhills that I am quite confused. There is one comfort, Beorn, if the guideproves treacherous and we lose ourselves altogether, we have but to set ourfaces to the rising sun and we shall find ourselves back on the border, forI am sure that we could not retrace our steps to Gurth's camp."
The sun was just setting when they found themselves on a bare plateau onthe crest of a range of hills higher than any they had before crossed.
"Ask him how far we are from Porthwyn," Wulf said to the interpreter.
"He says twelve miles, my lord."
"Then when we get across this flat, which looks full two miles wide, wewill camp in the first valley we come to."
As they advanced the ground became more and more boggy, and the troops hadto move carefully, stepping from one tussock of coarse grass to another,the intervals being filled with black slimy mud.
"Ask him if this gets deeper," Beorn said angrily, "for if it does so weare like to be all swallowed up. I believe he must be leading us wrong."
Osgod had charge of the boy, and was walking close beside him. As thequestion was put by the interpreter the boy muttered that he knew the way.The man turned to translate his answer to Beorn, when there was a suddenshout. At the moment that Osgod was making a long step from one tuft toanother the boy stooped and caught his foot, and with a roar of surpriseand fury Osgod fell head-foremost into the morass. At the same moment thelad darted away with a yell of defiance, leaping from tuft to tuft with theagility of a hare. Several of the men started after him, but unaccustomedto the treacherous bog four or five were immersed in it to their waistbefore they had gone a dozen paces.
"Shoot! shoot!" Beorn shouted, and a dozen javelins were thrown, but theboy was almost beyond distance, and his rapid and irregular movementsrendered it well-nigh impossible to take aim with any accuracy. Most of thejavelins flew wide of him, and he was soon beyond reach. Osgod waswell-nigh smothered before he could be rescued, and some of the other menwere only hauled out with the greatest difficulty. Three or four of themost active men were sent forward, but presently returned with the newsthat the bog became worse.
"The sun has already set," Wulf said, "and if darkness catches us here ourplight will be a bad one. Let us retrace our steps at once, Beorn."
It was with great difficulty that they made their way back to firm ground.By the time they did so darkness had fallen.
"This is a bad business altogether, Beorn," Wulf said. "In the first placewe have lost our guide; in the second place we have no idea where we are,for we may for aught we know have been going in the wrong direction all thetime; and, besides this, the boy will raise the country against us, and inthe morning we may be attacked by an overwhelming force."
"What do you think we had better do, Wulf?"
"Well, I should say we had better, in the first place, retrace our steps tothe valley, there we will light fires and cook the meat we have broughtwith us. Then I should say we had best march for some hours. It matters notin what direction so that we get as far as possible from here."
As Beorn could suggest nothing better, Wulf's counsel was carried out.Supper was cooked and eaten in the forest, and after two hours for rest,for the march had been a very fatiguing one, they started. The night wasmoonless, and in the shadow of the trees the darkness was intense. Thehousecarls kept together, moving as closely as possible to each other. Thelevies were ordered to follow them.
After proceeding for two hours, Wulf said, "Let us halt and see if we areall together." The housecarls halted, but when he went to the rear Wulfcould see no signs of the irregulars.
"Let no man speak or move," he said, "I want to listen."
But no sound broke the stillness of the wood.
"How foolish of Oswald and Edred," he said to Beorn.
"We told them to follow with their levies close behind us, and they musthave allowed them to fall to the rear. However, they can't be far behind."
They waited for half an hour, but the silence continued unbroken.
"Do you shout, Osgod," Wulf said; "they ought to hear miles away on a stillnight like this."
Osgod--who had scarcely spoken since his fall, so furious was he at havingbeen outwitted by a boy, and having not only allowed him to escape, butbeing himself rolled in the mire--raised his voice in a tremendous shout.All listened intently, but no answering sound came back.
"They must have gone altogether wrong," Wulf said. "You know that wecrossed a streamlet that ran into this brook soon after we started. Theymust have followed that up, thinking we had done so, and have gone up someother valley. What is to be done, Beorn?"
"We crossed that streamlet half an hour after starting," Beorn said, "andas we have spent half an hour here they must have by this time marched upit two-hours' journey, and if we retrace our steps to that point they willhave got an hour and a half farther away; besides, they may have gone backwhen th
ey missed us. There is no saying which way to look for them. I thinkwe had better go on as before. In the morning we shall be able to see thenature of the country, but to look for people who may be miles and milesaway, when one cannot see one's own hand, would be but lost time andlabour, and methinks we shall have need to husband all our strength beforewe get out of the scrape into which we have fallen. If the two thanes hadobeyed orders and kept closer this would not have happened. They have lostus by their own carelessness, and must manage as they can. We shall haveall our work to do to look out for ourselves. Seventy men lost in the heartof these savage hills, which by to-morrow morning will swarm with Welsh,have but a poor chance of ever seeing the English border again."
"It is not so bad as that, Beorn. I do not say that we are not in anunpleasant position, but at any rate we are a great deal better off than wewere when we were driving headlong on to the coast of Normandy, or whenthere were but three of us in the midst of the Bretons. They have to findus in the first place, and it will need a good many of them to overcome uswhen they do. I fancy that we are very near the head of this valley, theground is rising rapidly. I propose that we push on now till the treescease, and lie down there till morning breaks, and then cross the next hillso as to find shelter in some other valley before the sun is fairly up.From the top of the hill we may get a general view of the country, andshall have some idea as to the course to take. We must first of all try tofind a native who can tell us which is the direction of Porthwyn and howfar it lies away. Our orders are to reconnoitre it and that must be donebefore there is any question of return. Even if I were absolutely alone, Iwould carry out that order."
Beorn was silent for a minute, and then said doubtfully, "Perhaps you areright, Wulf; but when Gurth gave us the order he gave us more than threehundred men to carry it out, and we have now but seventy."
By this time they were on their way up the valley, followed by their men.
"The fact that two hundred and fifty men have left us really makes thematter easier than it would otherwise have been," Wulf said. "Of course ourguide carried the news of our coming straight to Porthwyn, and it is likeenough that fires are at present blazing on the hills. The larger divisionis more likely to be seen than ours, and to be attacked, and we shall haveall the more chance of getting up unobserved. I sincerely trust that thethanes, when they discover that they have lost us, will at once lead theirmen back to Gurth's camp. In that case they may escape before the Welsh canassemble and attack them; and as it would naturally be supposed that assoon as we had lost our guide we retreated in a body, the Welsh willimagine that there is no occasion for further vigilance."
"You are always too full of arguments for me, Wulf," Beorn laughed; "and ifyou have made up your mind to go on, it is not of the least use my sayinganything against it; so have your own way."
At last the forest became less dense, and when they reached its edge theylay down. Wulf slept for two or three hours, and then roused himself andwaited for the first sign of dawn. It was a heavy responsibility, forthough Beorn was of equal rank with himself he always gave way to hisopinion. He thought over whether it would not be better that Beorn shouldmarch with all speed with the force to the east, and that he himself withOsgod and perhaps two other men should make their way to Porthwyn; alreadythe Welsh might be out all over the mountains, and it was the larger bodythat would be likely to be discovered and attacked. The Welsh would knowthat on such a dark night, and in a strange country, they could not havegot a very long distance from the bog where the guide had escaped fromthem, and the valley at whose head he now was would be the first place tobe searched. However, he did not like severing himself from the men who hadmarched under his banner from Steyning, and he finally determined that thewhole should stay together. It was about half-past two when he roused theband, and they at once started up the bare hillside.
"As it gets lighter," he said, "scatter and proceed singly. We shall befar less likely to be noticed by anyone at a distance than if we marchtogether in a solid body. We must travel as fast as possible, so as to getunder shelter again before the sun is really up."
The men were all by this time well accustomed to climbing and hardened byexercise, and at a rapid pace they breasted the hill, although it was insome places exceedingly steep. By the time they reached its crest there waslight enough to permit of a view of the country round. In all directionshills rose around them, bare and brown, and the growing light in the skyshowed that the east lay behind them. After waiting for a minute or two torecover breath, they proceeded at a brisk trot. They met with no bogs ofimportance, and after running for a mile the ground began to slopedownwards again, and they saw below them a wooded valley, similar to thatwhich they had left. By this time the hilltops were all lit up by therising sun. The spot where they stood, however, was still in shadow, andin scattered order they ran rapidly down the hillside until they reachedthe cover of the trees.