CHAPTER I
THE HOUSE BY THE SHORE
Months had passed away since Richard Shelton made his escape from thehands of his guardian. These months had been eventful for England. Theparty of Lancaster, which was then in the very article of death, hadonce more raised its head. The Yorkists defeated and dispersed, theirleader butchered on the field, it seemed, for a very brief season in thewinter following upon the events already recorded, as if the House ofLancaster had finally triumphed over its foes.
The small town of Shoreby-on-the-Till was full of the Lancastrian noblesof the neighbourhood. Earl Risingham was there, with three hundredmen-at-arms; Lord Shoreby, with two hundred; Sir Daniel himself, high infavour, and once more growing rich on confiscations, lay in a house ofhis own, on the main street, with three score men. The world had changedindeed.
It was a black, bitter cold evening in the first week of January, with ahard frost, a high wind, and every likelihood of snow before themorning.
In an obscure alehouse in a by-street near the harbour, three or fourmen sat drinking ale and eating a hasty mess of eggs. They were alllikely, lusty, weather-beaten fellows, hard of hand, bold of eye; andthough they wore plain tabards, like country ploughmen, even a drunkensoldier might have looked twice before he sought a quarrel in suchcompany.
A little apart before the huge fire sat a younger man, almost a boy,dressed in much the same fashion, though it was easy to see by hislooks that he was better born, and might have worn a sword had the timesuited.
"Nay," said one of the men at the table, "I like it not. Ill will comeof it. This is no place for jolly fellows. A jolly fellow loveth opencountry, good cover, and scarce foes; but here we are shut in a town,girt about with enemies; and, for the bull's-eye of misfortune, see ifit snow not ere the morning."
"'Tis for Master Shelton there," said another, nodding his head towardsthe lad before the fire.
"I will do much for Master Shelton," returned the first; "but to come tothe gallows for any man--nay, brothers, not that!"
The door of the inn opened, and another man entered hastily andapproached the youth before the fire.
"Master Shelton," he said, "Sir Daniel goeth forth with a pair of linksand four archers."
Dick (for this was our young friend) rose instantly to his feet.
"Lawless," he said, "ye will take John Capper's watch.--Greensheve,follow with me.--Capper, lead forward. We will follow him this time, anhe go to York."
The next moment they were outside in the dark street, and Capper, theman who had just come, pointed to where two torches flared in the windat a little distance.
The town was already sound asleep; no one moved upon the streets, andthere was nothing easier than to follow the party without observation.The two link-bearers went first; next followed a single man, whose longcloak blew about him in the wind; and the rear was brought up by thefour archers, each with his bow upon his arm. They moved at a briskwalk, threading the intricate lanes and drawing nearer to the shore.
"He hath gone each night in this direction?" asked Dick, in a whisper.
"This is the third night running, Master Shelton," returned Capper, "andstill at the same hour and with the same small following, as though hisend were secret."
Sir Daniel and his six men were now come to the outskirts of thecountry. Shoreby was an open town, and though the Lancastrian lords wholay there kept a strong guard on the main roads, it was still possibleto enter or depart unseen by any of the lesser streets or across theopen country.
The lane which Sir Daniel had been following came to an abrupt end.Before him there was a stretch of rough down, and the noise of thesea-surf was audible upon one hand. There were no guards in theneighbourhood, nor any light in that quarter of the town.
Dick and his two outlaws drew a little closer to the object of theirchase, and presently, as they came forth from between the houses, andcould see a little farther upon either hand, they were aware of anothertorch drawing near from another direction.
"Hey," said Dick, "I smell treason."
Meanwhile Sir Daniel had come to a full halt. The torches were stuckinto the sand, and the men lay down, as if to await the arrival of theother party.
This drew near at a good rate. It consisted of four men only--a pair ofarchers, a varlet with a link, and a cloaked gentleman walking in theirmidst.
"Is it you, my lord?" cried Sir Daniel.
"It is I, indeed; and if ever true knight gave proof I am that man,"replied the leader of the second troop; "for who would rather not facegiants, sorcerers, or pagans, than this pinching cold?"
"My lord," returned Sir Daniel, "beauty will be the more beholden,misdoubt it not. But shall we forth? for the sooner ye have seen mymerchandise, the sooner shall we both get home."
"But why keep ye her here, good knight?" inquired the other. "An she beso young, and so fair, and so wealthy, why do ye not bring her forthamong her mates? Ye would soon make her a good marriage, and no need tofreeze your fingers and risk arrow-shots by going abroad at suchuntimely seasons in the dark."
"I have told you, my lord," replied Sir Daniel, "the reason thereofconcerneth me only. Neither do I purpose to explain it further. Sufficeit, that if ye be weary of your old gossip, Daniel Brackley, publish itabroad that y' are to wed Joanna Sedley, and I give you my word ye willbe quit of him right soon. Ye will find him with an arrow in his back."
Meantime the two gentlemen were walking briskly forward over the down;the three torches going before them, stooping against the wind andscattering clouds of smoke and tufts of flame, and the rear brought upby the six archers.
Close upon the heels of these Dick followed. He had, of course, heard noword of this conversation; but he had recognised in the second of thespeakers old Lord Shoreby himself, a man of an infamous reputation, whomeven Sir Daniel affected, in public, to condemn.
Presently they came close down upon the beach. The air smelt salt; thenoise of the surf increased; and here, in a large walled garden, therestood a small house of two stories, with stables and other offices.
The foremost torch-bearer unlocked a door in the wall, and, after thewhole party had passed into the garden, again closed and locked it onthe other side.
Dick and his men were thus excluded from any further following, unlessthey should scale the wall and thus put their necks in a trap.
They sat down in a tuft of furze and waited. The red glow of the torchesmoved up and down and to and fro within the enclosure, as if thelink-bearers steadily patrolled the garden.
Twenty minutes passed, and then the whole party issued forth again uponthe down; and Sir Daniel and the baron, after an elaborate salutation,separated and turned severally homeward, each with his own following ofmen and lights.
As soon as the sound of their steps had been swallowed by the wind, Dickgot to his feet as briskly as he was able, for he was stiff and achingwith the cold.
"Capper, ye will give me a back up," he said.
They advanced, all three, to the wall; Capper stooped, and Dick, gettingupon his shoulders, clambered on to the copestone.
"Now, Greensheve," whispered Dick, "follow me up here; lie flat uponyour face, that ye may be the less seen; and be ever ready to give me ahand if I fall foully on the other side."
And so saying, he dropped into the garden.
It was all pitch dark; there was no light in the house. The windwhistled shrill among the poor shrubs, and the surf beat upon the beach;there was no other sound. Cautiously Dick footed it forth, stumblingamong bushes, and groping with his hands; and presently the crisp noiseof gravel underfoot told him that he had struck upon an alley.
Here he paused, and taking his crossbow from where he kept it concealedunder his long tabard, he prepared it for instant action, and wentforward once more with greater resolution and assurance. The path ledhim straight to the group of buildings.
All seemed to be sorely dilapidated: the windows of the house weresecured by crazy shutters; the stables were open and empty; t
here was nohay in the hayloft, no corn in the corn-box. Any one would have supposedthe place to be deserted; but Dick had good reason to think otherwise.He continued his inspection, visiting the offices, trying all thewindows. At length he came round to the sea-side of the house, andthere, sure enough, there burned a pale light in one of the upperwindows.
He stepped back a little way, till he thought he could see the movementof a shadow on the wall of the apartment. Then he remembered that inthe stable his groping hand had rested for a moment on a ladder, and hereturned with all despatch to bring it. The ladder was very short, butyet, by standing on the topmost round, he could bring his hands as highas the iron bars of the window; and, seizing these, he raised his bodyby main force until his eyes commanded the interior of the room.
Two persons were within: the first he readily knew to be Dame Hatch; thesecond, a tall and beautiful and grave young lady, in a long,embroidered dress--could that be Joanna Sedley? his old wood companion,Jack, whom he had thought to punish with a belt?
He dropped back again to the top round of the ladder in a kind ofamazement. He had never thought of his sweetheart as of so superior abeing, and he was instantly taken with a feeling of diffidence. But hehad little opportunity for thought. A low "Hist!" sounded from close by,and he hastened to descend the ladder.
"Who goes?" he whispered.
"Greensheve," came the reply, in tones similarly guarded.
"What want ye?" asked Dick.
"The house is watched, Master Shelton," returned the outlaw. "We are notalone to watch it; for even as I lay on my belly on the wall I saw menprowling in the dark, and heard them whistle softly one to the other."
"By my sooth," said Dick, "but this is passing strange! Were they notmen of Sir Daniel's?"
"Nay, sir, that they were not," returned Greensheve; "for if I have eyesin my head, every man-Jack of them weareth me a white badge in hisbonnet, something chequered with dark."
"White, chequered with dark?" repeated Dick. "Faith, 'tis a badge I knownot. It is none of this country's badges.--Well, an that be so, let usslip as quietly forth from this garden as we may; for here we are in anevil posture for defence. Beyond all question there are men of SirDaniel's in that house, and to be taken between two shots is abeggarman's position. Take me this ladder; I must leave it where Ifound it."
They returned the ladder to the stable, and groped their way to theplace where they had entered.
Capper had taken Greensheve's position on the cope, and now he leaneddown his hand, and, first one and then the other, pulled them up.
Cautiously and silently they dropped again upon the other side; nor didthey dare to speak until they had returned to their old ambush in thegorse.
"Now, John Capper," said Dick, "back with you to Shoreby, even as foryour life. Bring me instantly what men ye can collect. Here shall be therendezvous; or if the men be scattered and the day be near at handbefore they muster, let the place be something farther back, and by theentering in of the town. Greensheve and I lie here to watch. Speed ye,John Capper, and the saints aid you to despatch!--And now, Greensheve,"he continued, as soon as Capper had departed, "let thou and I go roundabout the garden in a wide circuit. I would fain see whether thine eyesbetrayed thee."
Keeping well outwards from the wall, and profiting by every height andhollow, they passed about two sides, beholding nothing. On the thirdside the garden wall was built close upon the beach, and to preserve thedistance necessary to their purpose, they had to go some way down uponthe sands. Although the tide was still pretty far out, the surf was sohigh, and the sands so flat, that at each breaker a great sheet of frothand water came careering over the expanse, and Dick and Greensheve madethis part of their inspection wading, now to the ankles, and now as deepas to the knees, in the salt and icy waters of the German Ocean.
Suddenly, against the comparative whiteness of the garden wall, thefigure of a man was seen, like a faint Chinese shadow, violentlysignalling with both arms. As he dropped again to the earth, anotherarose a little farther on and repeated the same performance. And so,like a silent watch-word, these gesticulations made the round of thebeleaguered garden.
"They keep good watch," Dick whispered.
"Let us back to land, good master," answered Greensheve. "We stand heretoo open; for, look ye, when the seas break heavy and white out therebehind us, they shall see us plainly against the foam."
"Ye speak sooth," returned Dick. "Ashore with us, right speedily."