Men of Iron

  CHAPTER 11

  THE TWO friends kept the secret of the Eyry to themselves for a littlewhile, now and then visiting the old tower to rummage among the lumberstored in the lower room, or to loiter away the afternoon in the windysolitudes of the upper heights. And in that little time, when theancient keep was to them a small world unknown to any but themselves--aworld far away above all the dull matters of every-day life--they talkedof many things that might else never have been known to one another.Mostly they spoke the crude romantic thoughts and desires of boyhood'stime--chaff thrown to the wind, in which, however, lay a few strayseeds, fated to fall to good earth, and to ripen to fruition inmanhood's day.

  In the intimate talks of that time Myles imparted something of hishonest solidity to Gascoyne's somewhat weathercock nature, and toMyles's ruder and more uncouth character Gascoyne lent a tone of hisgentler manners, learned in his pagehood service as attendant upon theCountess and her ladies.

  In other things, also, the character and experience of the one ladhelped to supply what was lacking in the other. Myles was replete withold Latin gestes, fables, and sermons picked up during his school life,in those intervals of his more serious studies when Prior Edward hadpermitted him to browse in the greener pastures of the Gesta Romanorumand the Disciplina Clericalis of the monastery library, and Gascoyne wasnever weary of hearing him tell those marvellous stories culled from thecrabbed Latin of the old manuscript volumes.

  Upon his part Gascoyne was full of the lore of the waiting-room andthe antechamber, and Myles, who in all his life had never known a lady,young or old, excepting his mother, was never tired of lying silentlylistening to Gascoyne's chatter of the gay doings of the castlegentle-life, in which he had taken part so often in the merry days ofhis pagehood.

  "I do wonder," said Myles, quaintly, "that thou couldst ever find thecourage to bespeak a young maid, Francis. Never did I do so, nor evercould. Rather would I face three strong men than one young damsel."

  Whereupon Gascoyne burst out laughing. "Marry!" quoth he, "they beno such terrible things, but gentle and pleasant spoken, and soft andsmooth as any cat."

  "No matter for that," said Myles; "I would not face one such forworlds."

  It was during the short time when, so to speak, the two owned thesolitude of the Brutus Tower, that Myles told his friend of his father'soutlawry and of the peril in which the family stood. And thus it was.

  "I do marvel," said Gascoyne one day, as the two lay stretched in theEyry, looking down into the castle court-yard below--"I do marvel, nowthat thou art 'stablished here this month and more, that my Lord dothnever have thee called to service upon household duty. Canst thou riddleme why it is so, Myles?"

  The subject was a very sore one with Myles. Until Sir James had told himof the matter in his office that day he had never known that his fatherwas attainted and outlawed. He had accepted the change from theirearlier state and the bald poverty of their life at Crosbey-Holt withthe easy carelessness of boyhood, and Sir James's words were the firstto awaken him to a realization of the misfortunes of the house ofFalworth. His was a brooding nature, and in the three or four weeksthat passed he had meditated so much over what had been told him, thatby-and-by it almost seemed as if a shadow of shame rested upon hisfather's fair fame, even though the attaint set upon him was unrighteousand unjust, as Myles knew it must be. He had felt angry and resentfulat the Earl's neglect, and as days passed and he was not noticed in anyway, his heart was at times very bitter.

  So now Gascoyne's innocent question touched a sore spot, and Myles spokewith a sharp, angry pain in his voice that made the other look quicklyup. "Sooner would my Lord have yonder swineherd serve him in thehousehold than me," said he.

  "Why may that be, Myles?" said Gascoyne.

  "Because," answered Myles, with the same angry bitterness in his voice,"either the Earl is a coward that feareth to befriend me, or else he isa caitiff, ashamed of his own flesh and blood, and of me, the son of hisone-time comrade."

  Gascoyne raised himself upon his elbow, and opened his eyes wide inwonder. "Afeard of thee, Myles!" quoth he. "Why should he be afeared tobefriend thee? Who art thou that the Earl should fear thee?"

  Myles hesitated for a moment or two; wisdom bade him remain silentupon the dangerous topic, but his heart yearned for sympathy andcompanionship in his trouble. "I will tell thee," said he, suddenly,and therewith poured out all of the story, so far as he knew it, to hislistening, wondering friend, and his heart felt lighter to be thus easedof its burden. "And now," said he, as he concluded, "is not this Earla mean-hearted caitiff to leave me, the son of his one-time friend andkinsman, thus to stand or to fall alone among strangers and in astrange place without once stretching me a helping hand?" He waited, andGascoyne knew that he expected an answer.

  "I know not that he is a mean-hearted caitiff, Myles," said he at last,hesitatingly. "The Earl hath many enemies, and I have heard that he hathstood more than once in peril, having been accused of dealings withthe King's foes. He was cousin to the Earl of Kent, and I do rememberhearing that he had a narrow escape at that time from ruin. There bemore reasons than thou wottest of why he should not have dealings withthy father."

  "I had not thought," said Myles, bitterly, after a little pause, "thatthou wouldst stand up for him and against me in this quarrel, Gascoyne.Him will I never forgive so long as I may live, and I had thought thatthou wouldst have stood by me."

  "So I do," said Gascoyne, hastily, "and do love thee more than any onein all the world, Myles; but I had thought that it would make thee feelmore easy, to think that the Earl was not against thee. And, indeed,from all thou has told me, I do soothly think that he and Sir James meanto befriend thee and hold thee privily in kind regard."

  "Then why doth he not stand forth like a man and befriend me and myfather openly, even if it be to his own peril?" said Myles, revertingstubbornly to what he had first spoken.

  Gascoyne did not answer, but lay for a long while in silence. "Knowestthou," he suddenly asked, after a while, "who is this great enemy ofwhom Sir James speaketh, and who seeketh so to drive thy father toruin?"

  "Nay," said Myles, "I know not, for my father hath never spoken of thesethings, and Sir James would not tell me. But this I know," said he,suddenly, grinding his teeth together, "an I do not hunt him out someday and slay him like a dog--" He stopped abruptly, and Gascoyne,looking askance at him, saw that his eyes were full of tears, whereuponhe turned his looks away again quickly, and fell to shooting pebbles outthrough the open window with his finger and thumb.

  "Thou wilt tell no one of these things that I have said?" said Myles,after a while.

  "Not I," said Gascoyne. "Thinkest thou I could do such a thing?"

  "Nay," said Myles, briefly.

  Perhaps this talk more than anything else that had ever passed betweenthem knit the two friends the closer together, for, as I have said,Myles felt easier now that he had poured out his bitter thoughts andwords; and as for Gascoyne, I think that there is nothing so flatteringto one's soul as to be made the confidant of a stronger nature.

  But the old tower served another purpose than that of a spot in whichto pass away a few idle hours, or in which to indulge the confidences offriendship, for it was there that Myles gathered a backing of strengthfor resistance against the tyranny of the bachelors, and it is for thatmore than for any other reason that it has been told how they found theplace and of what they did there, feeling secure against interruption.

  Myles Falworth was not of a kind that forgets or neglects a thing uponwhich the mind has once been set. Perhaps his chief objective sincethe talk with Sir James following his fight in the dormitory had beensuccessful resistance to the exactions of the head of the body ofsquires. He was now (more than a month had passed) looked upon by nearlyif not all of the younger lads as an acknowledged leader in his ownclass. So one day he broached a matter to Gascoyne that had for sometime been digesting in his mind. It was the formation of a secret order,calling themselves the "Knights of the R
ose," their meeting-place to bethe chapel of the Brutus Tower, and their object to be the rightingof wrongs, "as they," said Myles, "of Arthur his Round-table did rightwrongs."

  "But, prithee, what wrongs are there to right in this place?" quothGascoyne, after listening intently to the plan which Myles set forth.

  "Why, first of all, this," said Myles, clinching his fists, as he had ahabit of doing when anything stirred him deeply, "that we set those vilebachelors to their right place; and that is, that they be no longer ourmasters, but our fellows."

  Gascoyne shook his head. He hated clashing and conflict above allthings, and was for peace. Why should they thus rush to thrustthemselves into trouble? Let matters abide as they were a little longer;surely life was pleasant enough without turning it all topsy-turvy.Then, with a sort of indignation, why should Myles, who had only comeamong them a month, take such service more to heart than they who hadendured it for years? And, finally, with the hopefulness of so many ofthe rest of us, he advised Myles to let matters alone, and they wouldright themselves in time.

  But Myles's mind was determined; his active spirit could not brookresting passively under a wrong; he would endure no longer, and now ornever they must make their stand.

  "But look thee, Myles Falworth," said Gascoyne, "all this is not tobe done withouten fighting shrewdly. Wilt thou take that fighting uponthine own self? As for me, I tell thee I love it not."

  "Why, aye," said Myles; "I ask no man to do what I will not do myself."

  Gascoyne shrugged his shoulders. "So be it," said he. "An thou hastappetite to run thy head against hard knocks, do it i' mercy's name! Ifor one will stand thee back while thou art taking thy raps."

  There was a spirit of drollery in Gascoyne's speech that rubbed againstMyles's earnestness.

  "Out upon it!" cried he, his patience giving way. "Seest not that Iam in serious earnest? Why then dost thou still jest like Mad Noll, myLord's fool? An thou wilt not lend me thine aid in this matter, say soand ha' done with it, and I will bethink me of somewhere else to turn."

  Then Gascoyne yielded at once, as he always did when his friend lost histemper, and having once assented to it, entered into the scheme heartand soul. Three other lads--one of them that tall thin squire EdmundWilkes, before spoken of--were sounded upon the subject. They alsoentered into the plan of the secret organization with an enthusiasmwhich might perhaps not have been quite so glowing had they realized howvery soon Myles designed embarking upon active practical operations.One day Myles and Gascoyne showed them the strange things that theyhad discovered in the old tower--the inner staircases, the windingpassage-ways, the queer niches and cupboard, and the black shaft of awell that pierced down into the solid wall, and whence, perhaps, the oldcastle folk had one time drawn their supply of water in time of siege,and with every new wonder of the marvellous place the enthusiasm of thethree recruits rose higher and higher. They rummaged through the lumberpile in the great circular room as Myles and Gascoyne had done, and atlast, tired out, they ascended to the airy chapel, and there sat coolingthemselves in the rustling freshness of the breeze that came blowingbriskly in through the arched windows.

  It was then and there that the five discussed and finally determinedupon the detailed plans of their organization, canvassing the names ofthe squirehood, and selecting from it a sufficient number of bold anddaring spirits to make up a roll of twenty names in all.

  Gascoyne had, as I said, entered into the matter with spirit, andperhaps it was owing more to him than to any other that the projectcaught its delightful flavor of romance.

  "Perchance," said he, as the five lads lay in the rustling stillnessthrough which sounded the monotonous and ceaseless cooing of thepigeons--"perchance there may be dwarfs and giants and dragons andenchanters and evil knights and what not even nowadays. And who knowsbut that if we Knights of the Rose hold together we may go forth intothe world, and do battle with them, and save beautiful ladies, andhave tales and gestes written about us as they are writ about the SevenChampions and Arthur his Round-table."

  Perhaps Myles, who lay silently listening to all that was said, was theonly one who looked upon the scheme at all in the light of real utility,but I think that even with him the fun of the matter outweighed theserious part of the business.

  So it was that the Sacred Order of the Twenty Knights of the Rosecame to be initiated. They appointed a code of secret passwords andcountersigns which were very difficult to remember, and which were onlyused when they might excite the curiosity of the other and uninitiatedboys by their mysterious sound. They elected Myles as their Grand HighCommander, and held secret meetings in the ancient tower, where manymysteries were soberly enacted.

  Of course in a day or two all the body of squires knew nearly everythingconcerning the Knights of the Rose, and of their secret meetings inthe old tower. The lucky twenty were the objects of envy of all not sofortunate as to be included in this number, and there was a marked airof secrecy about everything they did that appealed to every romanticnotion of the youngsters looking on. What was the stormy outcome of itall is now presently to be told.