Wager of Battle: A Tale of Saxon Slavery in Sherwood Forest

  CHAPTER II.

  THE GOOD SERVICE.

  "'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good green wood, When mavis and merle are singing; When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry, And the hunter's horn is ringing."

  LADY OF THE LAKE.

  There is something exceedingly singular in the depth of almostpalpable silence which seems to fall upon a tract of woodland country,on the sudden cessation of a full cry of stag-hounds; which cry has initself, apart from its stirring harmony of discords, something ofcheerfulness and sociality, conveyed by its sound, even to the lonelywayfarer.

  Although, during that hush of the woods, the carol of the birds, thehum of insects, the breezy voice of the tree-tops, the cooing of theringdove, the murmur of falling waters, and all the undistinguishedharmonies of nature, unheard before, and drowned in that loudbrattling, sound forth and fill the listener's ear, yet they disturbit not, nor seem to dissipate, but rather to augment, the influence ofthe silence.

  Kenric had not the educated sentiments which lead the most highlycivilized of men to sympathize most deeply with the beautiful soundsand sights of nature. Yet still, as is mostly the case with dwellersin the forest or on the wild mountain tops, he had a certain untutoredeye to take in and note effects--an unlearned ear with which toreceive pleasant sounds, and acquire a fuller pleasure from them thanhe could perfectly comprehend or explain to his own senses. And now,when the tumult of the chase had fallen asleep, he leaned against thegnarled and mossy trunk, with his boar-spear resting listlesslyagainst his thigh, and a quiet, meditative expression replacing on hisgrave, stern features the earnest and excited gaze, with which he hadwatched the approach of the hunt.

  The check, however, lasted not long; the clear, shrill challenge of afavorite hound soon rose from the woodlands, accompanied by loudcheers, "Taro, Taro, tantaro!" and followed by the full crash of thereassembled pack, as they rallied to their leader, and struck again onthe hot and steaming scent.

  Nearer and nearer came the cry, and ever and anon uprose, distant andmellow, the cadenced nourishes of the clear French horns, giving newlife to the trackers of the deer, and filling the hearts of the riderswith almost mad excitement. Ere long, several cushats might be seenwheeling above the tree-tops, disturbed from their procreant cradlesby the progress of the fierce din below them. A moment afterward,dislodged from their feeding-grounds along the boggy margin of theIdle, a dozen woodcock flapped up from the alder-bushes near thebrink, and came drifting along before the soft wind, on their feeblywhistling pinions, and, fluttering over the head of the watcher,dropped into the shelter of the dingle in his rear, with its thickshade of varnished hollies. The next instant, a superb red deer, withhigh branching antlers, leaped with a mighty spring over and partlythrough the crashing branches of the thicket, and swept with long,graceful bounds across the clear savanna. A single shout, "Tayho!"announced the appearance of the quarry in the open, and awakened aresponsive clangor of the horns, which, all at once, sounded their gaytantivy, while the sharp, redoubled clang of the whips, and the criesof "arriere! arriere!" which succeeded, told Kenric that the varletsand attendants of the chase were busy stopping the slow hounds, whoseduty was accomplished so soon as the stag was forced into the field;and which were now to be replaced by the fleet and fiery alans, usedto course and pull down the quarry by dint of downright strength andspeed.

  The stretch of green savanna, of which I have spoken as running alongthe northern margin of the Idle, below the wooded ridges of the lowerhills, could not have been less than four miles in length, and wastraversed by two sandy paths, unguarded by any fence or hedge-row,which intersected each other within a few hundred yards of the belt ofunderwood, whence the hunted deer had broken covert. At this point ofintersection, known as the Four-Lane-Ends, a general term in Yorkshirefor such cross-roads, stood a gigantic oak, short-boughed, but of vastdiameter, with gnarled and tortuous branches sweeping down almost tothe rank greensward which surrounded it, and concealing any person whostood within their circumference, as completely as if he were withinan artificial pavilion.

  That way, winged by terror, bounded the beautiful hart royal; for noless did his ten-tined antlers, with their huge cupped tops denotehim; and, though it presented no real obstacle to his passage, when hesaw the yellow road, winding like a rivulet through the deep grass, hegathered all his feet together, made four or five quick, shortbuck-leaps, and then, soaring into the air like a bird taking wing,swept over it, and alighted ten feet on the hither side, apparentlywithout an effort--a miracle of mingled grace, activity, and beauty.

  As he alighted, he paused a moment, turned his long, swan-like neck,and gazed backward for a few seconds with his large, lustrous,melancholy eyes, until, seeing no pursuers, nor hearing any longer thecrash which had aroused him from his harbor, he tossed his antlersproudly, and sailed easily and leisurely across the gentle green.

  But at this moment, Eadwulf the Red, who was stationed beneath thatvery oak-tree with the first relay of grayhounds, uttered a long,shrill whoop, and casting loose the leashes, slipped the twosnow-white alans on the quarry. The whoop was answered immediately,and, at about half a mile's distance from the spot where the deer hadissued, two princely-looking Norman nobles, clearly distinguishable assuch by their richly-furred short hunting-coats, tight hose, andgolden spurs of knighthood, came into sight, spurring their nobleAndalusian coursers--at that period the fleetest strain in the world,which combined high blood with the capacity to endure the weight of aman-at-arms in his full panoply--to their fullest speed; and followedby a long train of attendants--some mounted, some on foot, huntsmenand verdurers, and yeomen prickers, with falconers, and runningfootmen, some leading alans in the leash, and some with nets andspears for the chase of the wild boar, which still roamed notunfrequent in the woody swamps that intersected the lower grounds andlined many of the river beds of Sherwood.

  It was a gay and stirring scene. The meadow, late so quiet in itsuniform green garniture, was now alive with fluttering plumes, andglittering with many-colored scarfs and cassocks, noble steeds of allhues, blood-bay and golden chestnut, dappled and roan, and gleamyblacks, and one, on which rode the foremost of the noble Normans,white as December's snow; and in the middle of the picture, aroused bythe shouts in his rear, and aware of the presence of his freshpursuers, the superb stag, with his neck far stretched out, and hisgrand antlers pressed close along his back, straining every nerve, andliterally seeming to fly over the level sward; while the snow-whitealans, with their fierce black eyes glowing like coals of fire, andtheir blood-red tongues lolling from their open jaws, breathless andmute, but stanch as vindictive fiends, hung hard upon his traces.

  At first, the hunted stag laid his course upward, diagonally, aimingfor the forest land on the hillside; and although, at first, he hadscarce thirty yards of law, and was, moreover, so nearly matched inspeed by his relentless enemies, that, for many hundred yards, heneither gained nor lost a yard's distance, still he gradually gatheredway, as yards fell into furlongs, furlongs into miles, and drew aheadslowly, but surely, until it appeared almost certain that he must soongain the shelter of the tall timber, where the keen eyes of the alans,impotent of scent, would be worthless in pursuit, and where he mustagain be dislodged by slow hounds, or the chase abandoned.

  Just as he was within fifty yards, however, of the desired covert'sedge, Sir Philip de Morville--for he it was who rode theforemost--raised his bugle to his lips, and sounded it long andshrill, in a most peculiar strain, to which a whoop responded, almostfrom the point for which the stag was making, and, at the same time, asecond brace of alans--one a jet black, and the other a deep-brindledfawn color--darted out, and flew down the gentle slope, right at thehead of the yet unwearied quarry.

  Springing high into air, he instantly made a perfect demivolte, withan angry toss of his antlers, and shot, with redoubled efforts in thecontrary direction, cutting across the very noses of his originalpursuers, which, when they had turned likewise, were brought w
ithinfifty yards of his haunches, and away like an arrow toward the bridgeacross the Idle. From this moment, the excitement of the spectacle wasredoubled; nor could any one, even the coldest of spectators, havelooked on without feeling the blood course, like molten lava, throughhis veins.

  It was no longer a stern chase, where the direct speed only of therival and hostile animals was brought into play; for, as the stagturned to the left about, the black and brindled alans, which had beenstarted at his head, were thrown by the movement some thirty yardswide on his right quarter; while the white dogs, who had pursued himso savagely from the beginning, were brought to a position nearlyequidistant on his left flank.

  Henceforth it was a course of fleet bounds, short turns, and windingsof wonderful agility; and at this instant a new spectator, orspectatress rather, was added to the scene.

  This was a young girl of some sixteen or seventeen years, at theutmost, beautifully formed, and full of easy grace and symmetry, whocame careering down the road, from the direction of the castle, asfast as the flying bounds of a beautiful red roan Arab--with mane andtail of silver, scarcely larger or less fleet than the deer in theplain below--could carry her.

  Her face and features were not less beautiful than her form; thelatter would have been perfectly Grecian and classical but for theslightest possible upward turn in the delicate thin nose, whichimparted an arch, half-saucy meaning to her rich, laughing face. Hereyes were clear, bright blue, with long, dark lashes, a purecomplexion, ripe, crimson lips, and a flood of dark auburn tresses,which had escaped from the confinement of her purple velvet bonnet,and flowed on the light breeze in a flood of glittering ringlets,completed her attractions.

  Her garb was the rich attire peculiar to her age, rank, and the periodof which we write--the most picturesque, perhaps, and appropriate toset off the perfections of a female figure of rare symmetry, that everhas been invented. A closely-fitting jacket, following every curve andsinuous line of her beauteous shape, of rich green velvet, furreddeeply at the cape and cuffs with white swansdown, and bordered at thehips by a broad band of the same pure garniture; loose-flowing skirts,of heavy sendal of the same hue, a crimson velvet shoulder-beltsupporting a richly-embroidered hawking-pouch, a floating plume ofwhite ostrich feathers, and a crimson-hooded merlin on her wrist, withgolden bells and jesses, completed her person's adornment; andcombined, with the superb housings and velvet headstall of herexquisite palfrey, to form a charming picture.

  So rapidly did she ride, that a single page--a boy of ten or twelveyears, who followed her--spurring with all his might, could scarcelykeep her in sight; and, as she careered down toward the bridge, whichshe had almost reached, was lost to view in the valley immediatelybehind the ridge, the southern slope of which she was descending.

  The stag, by this time, which had been aiming hitherto to cross theroad on which she was galloping, had been turned several times by thefresh relay of alans, which were untired and unimpaired of speed, andhad been thus edged gradually away from the road and bridge, towardthe white dogs, which were now running, as it is technically termed,_cunning_, laying up straight ahead, on a parallel line, andalmost abreast with the deer. Now they drew forward, shot ahead, andpassed him. At once, seeing his peril, he wheeled on his haunches,and, with a desperate last effort, headed once more for the road,striving, for life! for life! to cut across the right-hand couple ofdeer grayhounds; but, fleet as he was, fleeter now did they showthemselves, and once more he was forced to turn, only to find thewhite dogs directly in his path.

  One, the taller and swifter of the two, was a few yards in advance ofthe other, and, as the stag turned full into his foaming jaws, sprangat its throat with a wild yell. But the deer bounded too, and boundedhigher than the dog, and, as they met in mid air, its keen,sharp-pointed hoofs struck the brave staghound in the chest, andhurled him to the ground stunned, if not lifeless. Four strides more,and he swept like a swallow over a narrow reach of the little river;and then, having once more brought the three surviving hounds directlyastern, turned to the westward along the river shore, and canteringaway lightly, no longer so hard pressed, seemed likely to make hisescape toward a broad belt of forest, which lay some mile and a halfthat way, free from ambuscade or hidden peril.

  At this turn of the chase, fiercer was the excitement, and wilderwaxed the shouting and the bugle blasts of the discomfited followersof the chase, none of whom were nearer to the bridge than a full halfmile. But so animated was the beautiful young lady, whose face hadflushed crimson, and then turned ashy pale, with the sudden excitementof that bold exploit of dog and deer, that she clapped her handsjoyously together, unhooding and casting loose her merlin, thoughwithout intention, in the act, and crying, gayly, "Well run, braveHercules! well leaped, brave Hart o' Grease;" and, as she saw thehunters scattered over the wide field, none so near to the sport asshe, she flung her arm aloft, and with her pretty girlish voice set upa musical whoop of defiance.

  Now, at the very moment when the deer's escape seemed almost more thancertain--as often is the case in human affairs, no less thancervine--"a new foe in the field" changed the whole aspect of thecase. The great brindled gray deerhound, which had lain thus farpeaceful by Kenric's side, seeing what had passed, sprang out of thefern, unbidden, swam across the Idle in a dozen strokes, and once moreheaded the hunted deer.

  The young girl was now within six horses' length of the bridge, whenthe deer, closely pursued by its original assailants, and findingitself now intercepted by Kenric's dog "Kilbuck" in front, turned onceagain in the only direction now left it, and wheeled across the bridgeat full speed, black with sweat, flecked with white foam-flakes, itstongue hanging from its swollen jaws, its bloodshot eyeballs almoststarting from its head, mad with terror and despair. All at once, theArab horse and the gorgeous trappings of the rider glanced across itsline of vision; fire seemed, to the affrighted girl, to flash from itsglaring eyes, as it lowered its mighty antlers, and charged with afierce, angry bray.

  Pale as death, the gallant girl yet retained her courage and herfaculties; she pulled so sharply on her left rein, striking thepalfrey on the shoulder with her riding-rod, that he wheeled short onhis haunches, and presented his right flank to the infuriated deer,protecting his fair rider by the interposition of his body.

  No help was nigh, though the Norman nobles saw her peril, and spurredmadly to the rescue; though Kenric started from his lair with aportentous whoop, and, poising his boar spear, rushed down, in thehope to turn the onset to himself. But it was too late; and, strong aswas his hand, and his eyes steady, he dared not to hurl such a weaponas that he held, in such proximity to her he would defend.

  With an appalling sound, a soft, dead, crushing thrust, the terriblebrow antlers were plunged into the defenseless flanks of the poorpalfrey; which hung, for a second on the cruel prongs, and then, witha long, shivering scream, rolled over on its side, with collapsedlimbs, and, after a few convulsive struggles, lay dead, with thelovely form of its mistress rolled under it, pale, motionless, withthe long golden hair disordered in the dust, and the blue eyes closed,stunned, cold, and spiritless, at least, if not lifeless.

  Attracted by the gay shoulder-belt of the poor girl, again the savagebeast stooped to gore; but a strong hand was on his antler, and a keenknife-point buried in his breast. Sore stricken he was, yet, notslain; and, rearing erect on his hind legs, he dealt such a storm ofblows from his sharp hoofs, each cutting almost like a knife, aboutthe head and shoulders of his dauntless antagonist, as soon hurledhim, in no better condition than she, beside the lady he had risked somuch to rescue.

  Then the dogs closed and seized him, and savage and appalling was thestrife of the fierce brutes, with long-drawn, choking sighs, andthrottling yells, as they raved, and tore, and stamped, and battled,over the prostrate group.

  It was a fearful sight that met the eyes of the first comer. He wasthe Norman who had ridden second in the chase, but now, havingoutstripped his friendly rival in the neck-or-nothing skurry thatsucceeded, thundered the f
irst into the road, where the dogs were nowmangling the slaughtered stag, and besmearing the pale face of thesenseless girl with blood and bestial foam.

  To spring from his saddle and drop on his knees beside her, was but amoment's work.

  "My child! my child! they have slaughtered thee. Woe! woe!"