CHAPTER XVIII
THE KING'S LEVY
The king's booth stood apart from the rest; it was not much larger, butproperly thatched with straw, and the wide doorway hung with purplecurtains. Two standards stood beside it; one much higher than the other.The tallest bore the ensign of the kingdom; the lesser, the king's ownprivate banner as a knight. A breastwork encircled the booth, enclosinga space about seventy yards in diameter, with a fosse, and stakes soplanted as to repel assailants. There was but one gateway, opposite thegeneral camp, and this was guarded by soldiers fully armed. A knight onhorseback in armour, except his helmet, rode slowly up and down beforethe gate; he was the officer of the guard. His retainers, some thirty orforty men, were drawn up close by.
A distance of fifty yards intervened between this entrenchment and thecamp, and was kept clear. Within the entrenchment Felix could see anumber of gentlemen, and several horses caparisoned, but from theabsence of noise and the fact that every one appeared to walk daintilyand on tiptoe, he concluded that the king was still sleeping. The streamran beside the entrenchment, and between it and the city; the king'squarters were at that corner of the camp highest up the brook, so thatthe water might not be fouled before it reached him.
The king's levy, however, did not seem to be hereabouts, for the boothsnearest the head-quarters were evidently occupied by great barons, asFelix easily knew from their banners. There was here some littleappearance of formality; the soldiery were not so noisy, and there wereseveral officers moving among them. He afterwards discovered that thegreater barons claimed the right to camp nearest the king, and that theking's levy was just behind their booths. But unable to discover theplace, and afraid of losing his liberty if he delayed longer, Felix,after hesitating some time, determined to apply direct to the guard atthe gate of the circular entrenchment.
As he crossed the open ground towards it, he noticed that the king'squarters were the closest to the enemy. Across the little stream weresome corn-fields, and beyond these the walls of the city, scarcely halfa mile distant. There was no outpost, the stream was but a brook, andcould be crossed with ease. He marvelled at the lack of precaution; buthe had yet to learn that the enemy, and all the armies of the age, wereequally ignorant and equally careless.
With as humble a demeanour as he could assume, Felix doffed his cap andbegan to speak to the guard at the gateway of the entrenchment. Thenearest man-at-arms immediately raised his spear and struck him with thebutt. The unexpected blow fell on his left shoulder, and with such forceas to render it powerless. Before he could utter a remonstrance, asecond had seized his boar-spear, snapped the handle across his knee,and hurled the fragments from him. Others then took him by the shouldersand thrust him back across the open space to the camp, where they kickedhim and left him, bruised, and almost stupefied with indignation. Hisoffence was approaching the king's ground with arms in his hands.
Later in the afternoon he found himself sitting on the bank of thestream far below the camp. He had wandered thither without knowing wherehe was going or what he was doing. His spirit for the time had beencrushed, not so much by the physical brutality as by the repulse to hisaspirations. Full of high hopes, and conscious of great ideas, he hadbeen beaten like a felon hound.
From this spot beside the brook the distant camp appeared verybeautiful. The fluttering banners, the green roofs of the booths (offerns and reeds and boughs), the movement and life, for bodies of troopswere now marching to and fro, and knights in gay attire riding onhorseback, made a pleasant scene on the sloping ground with the forestat the back. Over the stream the sunshine lit up the walls of thethreatened city, where, too, many flags were waving. Felix came somewhatto himself as he gazed, and presently acknowledged that he had only hadhimself to blame. He had evidently transgressed a rule, and hisignorance of the rule was no excuse, since those who had any right to bein the camp at all were supposed to understand it.
He got up, and returning slowly towards the camp, passed on his way thedrinking-place, where a groom was watering some horses. The man calledto him to help hold a spirited charger, and Felix mechanically did as hewas asked. The fellow's mates had left him to do their work, and therewere too many horses for him to manage. Felix led the charger for himback to the camp, and in return was asked to drink. He preferred food,and a plentiful supply was put before him. The groom, gossiping as heattended to his duties, said that he always welcomed the beginning of awar, for they were often half starved, and had to gnaw the bones, likethe dogs, in peace. But when war was declared, vast quantities ofprovisions were got together, and everybody gorged at their will. Thevery dogs battened; he pointed to half a dozen who were tearing a rawshoulder of mutton to pieces. Before the campaign was over, those verydogs might starve. To what "war" did Felix belong? He replied to theking's levy.
The groom said that this was the king's levy where they were; but underwhose command was he? This puzzled Felix, who did not know what to say,and ended by telling the truth, and begging the fellow to advise him, ashe feared to lose his liberty. The man said he had better stay where hewas, and serve with him under Master Lacy, who was mean enough in thecity, but liked to appear liberal when thus consorting with knights andgentlemen.
Master Lacy was a merchant of Aisi, an owner of vessels. Like most ofhis fellows, when war came so close home, he was almost obliged to jointhe king's levy. Had he not done so it would have been recorded againsthim as a lack of loyalty. His privileges would have been taken from him,possibly the wealth he had accumulated seized, and himself reduced toslavery. Lacy, therefore, put on armour, and accompanied the king to thecamp. Thus Felix, after all his aspirations, found himself serving asthe knave of a mere citizen.
He had to take the horses down to water, to scour arms, to fetch woodfrom the forest for the fire. He was at the beck and call of all theother men, who never scrupled to use his services, and, observing thathe never refused, put upon him all the more. On the other hand, whenthere was nothing doing, they were very kind and even thoughtful. Theyshared the best with him, brought wine occasionally (wine was scarce,though ale plentiful) as a delicacy, and one, who had dexterously takena purse, presented him with half a dozen copper coins as his share ofthe plunder. Felix, grown wiser by experience, did not dare refuse thestolen money, it would have been considered as the greatest insult; hewatched his opportunity and threw it away.
The men, of course, quickly discovered his superior education, but thatdid not in the least surprise them, it being extremely common forunfortunate people to descend by degrees to menial offices, if once theyleft the estate and homestead to which they naturally belonged. There ascadets, however humble, they were certain of outward respect: onceoutside the influence of the head of the house, and they were worse offthan the lowest retainer. His fellows would have resented any show ofpride, and would speedily have made his life intolerable. As he showednone, they almost petted him, but at the same time expected him to domore than his share of the work.
Felix listened with amazement to the revelations (revelations to him) ofthe inner life of the camp and court. The king's weaknesses, hisinordinate gluttony and continual intoxication, his fits of temper, hisfollies and foibles, seemed as familiar to these grooms as if they haddwelt with him. As for the courtiers and barons, there was not one whosevices and secret crimes were not perfectly well known to them. Vice andcrime must have their instruments; instruments are invariablyindiscreet, and thus secrets escape. The palace intrigues, the intrigueswith other states, the influence of certain women, there was nothingwhich they did not know.
Seen thus from below, the whole society appeared rotten and corrupted,coarse to the last degree, and animated only by the lowest motives. Thisvery gossip seemed in itself criminal to Felix, but he did not at themoment reflect that it was but the tale of servants. Had such languagebeen used by gentlemen, then it would have been treason. As himself ofnoble birth, Felix had hitherto seen things only from the point of viewof his own class. Now he associated with grooms, he began to se
e societyfrom _their_ point of view, and recognised how feebly it was heldtogether by brute force, intrigue, cord and axe, and woman's flattery.But a push seemed needed to overthrow it. Yet it was quite secure,nevertheless, as there was none to give that push, and if any such plothad been formed, those very slaves who suffered the most would have beenthe very men to give information, and to torture the plotters.
Felix had never dreamed that common and illiterate men, such as thesegrooms and retainers, could have any conception of reasons of State, orthe crafty designs of courts. He now found that, though they couldneither writer nor read, they had learned the art of reading man (theworst and lowest side of character) to such perfection that they at oncedetected the motive. They read the face; the very gait and gesture gavethem a clue. They read man, in fact, as an animal. They understood menjust as they understood the horses and hounds under their charge. Everymood and vicious indication in those animals was known to them, and so,too, with their masters.
Felix thought that he was himself a hunter, and understood woodcraft; henow found how mistaken he had been. He had acquired woodcraft as agentleman; he now learned the knave's woodcraft. They taught him ahundred tricks of which he had had no idea. They stripped man of hisdignity, and nature of her refinement. Everything had a blackguard sideto them. He began to understand that high principles and abstracttheories were only words with the mass of men.
One day he saw a knight coolly trip up a citizen (one of the king'slevy) in the midst of the camp and in broad daylight, and quietly cutaway his purse, at least a score of persons looking on. But they wereonly retainers and slaves; there was no one whose word would for amoment have been received against the knight's, who had observed this,and plundered the citizen with impunity. He flung the lesser coins tothe crowd, keeping the gold and silver for himself, and walked offamidst their plaudits.
Felix saw a slave nailed to a tree, his arms put round it so as to claspit, and then nails driven through them. There he was left in his agonyto perish. No one knew what his fault had been; his master had simplytaken a dislike to him. A guard was set that no one should relieve themiserable being. Felix's horror and indignation could not have beenexpressed, but he was totally helpless.
His own condition of mind during this time was such as could not be wellanalysed. He did not himself understand whether his spirit had beenbroken, whether he was really degraded with the men with whom he lived,or why he remained with them, though there were moments when it dawnedupon him that this education, rude as it was, was not without its valueto him. He need not practise these evils, but it was well to know oftheir existence. Thus he remained, as it were, quiescent, and the dayspassed on. He really had not much to do, although the rest put theirburdens upon him, for discipline was so lax, that the loosest attendanceanswered equally well with the most conscientious. The one thing all themen about him seemed to think of was the satisfying of their appetites;the one thing they rejoiced at was the fine dry weather, for, as hismates told him, the misery of camp life in rain was almost unendurable.