CHAPTER XXII
WAGER OF BATTLE
The knights had moved slowly out from their pavilions on either side,and now stood waiting the order to charge. My Lord Maxwell sat by theside of the Lady Sybilla, and held the truncheon, the casting down ofwhich was to part the combatants and end the fight. The three knightson the southern or Earl's side were a singular contrast to theiropponents. Two of them, the Earl William and his cousin Hugh, were nomore than boys in years, though already old in military exercises; thethird, Alan Fleming of Cumbernauld, was a strong horseman andexcellent with his lance, though also slender of body and moredistinguished for dexterity than for power of arm. Yet he was destinedto lay a good lance in rest that day, and to come forth unshamed.
The Avondale party were to the eye infinitely the stronger, that iswhen knights only were considered. For James Douglas was little lessthan a giant. His jolly person and frank manners seemed to fill allthe field with good humour, and from his station he cried challengesto his cousin the Earl and defiances to his brother Hugh, with thatbroad rollicking wit which endeared him to the commons, to whom"Mickle Lord Jamie" had long been a popular hero.
"Bid our Hugh there rin hame for his hippen clouts lest he make ofhimself a shame," he cried; "'tis not fair that we should have tofight with babes."
"Mayhap he will be as David to your Goliath, thou great gomeril!"replied the Earl with equal good humour, seeing his cousin Hugh blushand fumble uncomfortably at his arms.
Then to the lad himself he said: "Keep a light hand on your rein, agood grip at the knee, and after the first shock we will ride roundthem like swallows about so many bullocks."
The other two Avondale knights, William Douglas and the Marshal deRetz, were also large men, and the latter especially, clothed in blackarmour and with the royal ermines of Brittany quartered on his shield,looked a stern and commanding figure.
The squires were well matched. These fought on foot, armed accordingto custom with sword, axe, and dagger--though Sholto would much havepreferred to trust to his arrow skill even against the plate of theknights.
The trumpets blew their warning from the judge's gallery. The sixopposing knights laid their lances in rest. The squires leaned alittle forward as if about to run a race. Lord Maxwell raised histruncheon. The trumpets sounded again, and as their stirring_taran-tara_ rang down the wide strath of Dee, the riders spurredtheir horses into full career. It so chanced that, as they had stood,James of Avondale was opposite the Earl, each being in the midst aswas their right as leaders. The Master of Avondale opposed his brotherHugh, and the Marshal de Retz couched spear against young AlanFleming. In this order they started to ride their course. But at thelast moment, instead of riding straight for his man, the Frenchmanswerved to the left, and, raising his lance high in the air, he threwit in the manner of his country straight at the visor bars of theyoung Earl of Douglas. The spear of James of Avondale at the same timetaking him fair in the middle of his shield, the double assault causedthe young man to fall heavily from his saddle, so that the crashsounded dully over the field.
"Treachery! Treachery!--A foul false stroke! A knave's device!" criednine-tenths of those who were crowded about the barriers. "Stop thefight! Kill the Frenchman!"
"Not so," cried Lord Maxwell, "they were to fight as best they could,and they must fight it to the end!"
And this being a decision not to be gainsaid, the combat proceeded onvery unequal terms. Sholto, who had been eagerly on the stretch tomatch himself with the squire of James of Avondale, the young knightof the Bass, found himself suddenly astride of his lord's body anddefending himself against both the French ambassador and his squirePoitou, who had simultaneously crossed over to the attack. For theMarshal de Retz, if not in complete defiance of the written rule ofchivalry, at least against the spirit of gallantry and the rules ofthe present tourney, would have thrust the Earl through with his spearas he lay, crying at the same time, "A outrance! A outrance!" toexcuse the foulness of his deed.
It was lucky for himself that he did not succeed, for, undoubtedly,the Douglases then on the field would have torn him to pieces for whatthey not unnaturally considered his treachery. As it was, theresounded a mighty roar of anger all about the barriers, and the crowdpressed so fiercely and threateningly that it was as much as thearchers could do to keep them within reasonable bounds.
"Saints' mercy!" puffed stout Ninian Halliburton, "let us get out ofthis place. I am near bursen. Haud off there, varlet, ken ye not thatI am a Bailie of Dumfries? Keep your feet off the tail o' my brownvelvet gown. It cost nigh upon twenty silver shillings an ell!"
"A Douglas! A Douglas! Treachery! Treachery!" yelled a wild Minnigaffman, thrusting a naked brand high into the air within an inch of theburgess's nose. That worthy citizen almost fell backwards in dismay,and indeed must have done so but for the pressure of the crowd behindhim. He was, therefore, much against his will compelled to keep hisplace in the front rank of the spectators.
"Well done, young lad," cried the crowd, seeing Sholto ward and strikeat Poitou and his master, "God, but he is fechtin' like the black deilhimself!"
"It will be as chancy for him," cried the wild Minnigaff hillman, "forI will tear the harrigals oot o' Sholto MacKim if onything happen tothe Earl!"
But the captain of the guard, light as a feather, had easily avoidedthe thrust of the marshal's spear, taking it at an angle and turningit aside with his shield. Then, springing up behind him, he pulled theFrench knight down to the ground with the hook of his axe, by thattrick of attack which was the lesson taught once for all to the Scotsof the Lowlands upon the stricken field of the Red Harlaw.
The marshal fell heavily and lay still, for he was a man of feeblebody, and the weight of his armour very great.
"Slay him! Slay him!" yelled the people, still furious at what, notwithout reason, they considered rank treachery.
Sholto recovered himself, and reached his master only in time to findPoitou bending over Earl Douglas with a dagger in his hand.
With a wild yell he lashed out at the Breton squire, and Sholto's axestriking fair on his steel cap, Poitou fell senseless across the bodyof Douglas.
"Well done, Sholto MacKim--well done, lad!" came from all the barrier,and even Ninian Halliburton cried: "Ye shall hae a silken doublet forthat!" Then, recollecting himself, he added, "At little mair than costprice!"
"God in heeven, 'tis bonny fechtin!" cried the man from Minnigaff."Oh, if I could dirk the fause hound I wad dee happy!"
And the hillman danced on the toes of the Bailie of Dumfries and shookthe barriers with his hand till he received a rap over the knucklesfrom the handle of a partisan directed by the stout arms of Andro thePenman.
"Haud back there, heather-besom!" cried the archer, "gin ye want everagain to taste 'braxy'!"
Over the rest of the field the fortune of war had been somewhatvarious. William of Douglas had unhorsed his brother Hugh at the firstshock, but immediately foregoing his advantage with the mostchivalrous courtesy, he leaped from his own horse and drew his sword.
On the right Alan Fleming, being by the marshal's action suddenlydeprived of his opponent, had wheeled his charger and borne downsideways upon James of Douglas, and that doughty champion, not havingfully recovered from the shock of his encounter with the Earl, andbeing taken from an unexpected quarter, went down as much to his ownsurprise as to that of the people at the barriers, who had looked uponhim as the strongest champion on the field.
It was evident, therefore, that, in spite of the loss of their leader,the Earl's party stood every chance to win the field. For not only wasAlan Fleming the only knight left on horseback, but Malise MacKim haddisposed of the laird of Stra'ven, squire to William of Avondale,having by one mighty axe stroke beaten the Lanarkshire man down to hisknees.
"A Douglas! A Douglas!" shouted the populace; "now let them have it!"
And the adherents of the Earl were proceeding to carry out thisintent, when my Lord Maxwell unexpectedly put an end to the combat bythro
wing down his truncheon and proclaiming a drawn battle.
"False loon!" cried Sholto, shaking his axe at him in the extremity ofhis anger, "we have beaten them fairly. Would that I could get atthee! Come down and fight an encounter to the end. I will take anyMaxwell here in my shirt!"
"Hold your tongue!" commanded his father, briefly, "what else can yeexpect of a border man but broken faith?"
The archers of the guard rushed in, as was their duty, and separatedthe remaining combatants. Hugh and his brother William fought it tothe last, the younger with all his vigour and with a fierce energyborn of his brother James's taunts, William with the calm courtesy andforbearance of an old and assured knight towards one who has yet hisspurs to win.
The stunned knights and squires were conveyed to their severalpavilions, where the Earl's apothecaries were at once in attendance.William of Douglas was the first to revive, which he did almost assoon as the laces of his helm had been undone and water dashed uponhis face. His head still sang, he declared, like a hive of bees, butthat was all.
He bent with the anxiety of a generous enemy over the unconscious formof the Marshal de Retz, from whom they were stripping his armour. Atthe removal of the helmet, the strange parchment face with itsblue-black stubbly beard was seen to be more than usually pale anddrawn. The upper lip was retracted, and a set of long white teethgleamed like those of a wild beast.
The apothecary was just commencing to strip off the leathernunder-doublet from the ambassador's body to search for a wound, whenPoitou, his squire, happened to open his eyes. He had been laid uponthe floor, as the most seriously wounded of the combatants, thoughbeing the least in honour he fell to be attended last.
Instantly he cried out a strange Breton word, unintelligible to allpresent, and, leaping from the floor, he flung himself across the bodyof his master, dashing aside the astonished apothecary, who had onlytime to discern on the marshal's shoulder the scar of a recentcautery before Poitou had restored the leathern under-doublet to itsplace.
"Hands off! Do not touch my master. I alone can bring him to. Leavethe room, all of you."
"Sirrah!" cried the Earl, sternly, striding towards him, "I will teachyou to speak humbly to more honourable men."
"My lord," cried Poitou, instantly recalled to himself, "believe me, Imeant no ill. But true it is that I only can recover him. I have oftenseen him taken thus. But I must be left alone. My master hath ablemish upon him, and one great gentleman does not humiliate anotherin the presence of underlings. My Lord Douglas, as you love honour,bid all to leave me alone for a brief space."
"Much cared he for honour, when he threw the lance at my master!"growled Sholto. "Had I known, I would have driven my bill-point sixinches lower, and then would there have been a most satisfactoryblemish in the joining of his neck-bone."