CHAPTER II
A SKIRMISH IN THE DARK
Thoroughly drenched and chilled, the two adventurers returned to theirposition in the gorse.
"I pray Heaven that Capper make good speed!" said Dick. "I vow a candleto St. Mary of Shoreby if he come before the hour!"
"Y' are in a hurry, Master Dick?" asked Greensheve.
"Ay, good fellow," answered Dick; "for in that house lieth my lady, whomI love, and who should these be that lie about her secretly by night?Unfriends for sure!"
"Well," returned Greensheve, "an John come speedily, we shall give agood account of them. They are not two score at the outside--I judge soby the spacing of their sentries--and, taken where they are, lying sowidely, one score would scatter them like sparrows. And yet, MasterDick, an she be in Sir Daniel's power already, it will little hurt thatshe should change into another's. Who should these be?"
"I do suspect the Lord of Shoreby," Dick replied. "When came they?"
"They began to come, Master Dick," said Greensheve, "about the time yecrossed the wall. I had not lain there the space of a minute ere Imarked the first of the knaves crawling round the corner."
The last light had been already extinguished in the little house whenthey were wading in the wash of the breakers, and it was impossible topredict at what moment the lurking men about the garden wall might maketheir onslaught. Of two evils, Dick preferred the least. He preferredthat Joanna should remain under the guardianship of Sir Daniel ratherthan pass into the clutches of Lord Shoreby; and his mind was made up,if the house should be assaulted, to come at once to the relief of thebesieged.
But the time passed, and still there was no movement. From quarter of anhour to quarter of an hour the same signal passed about the garden wall,as if the leader desired to assure himself of the vigilance of hisscattered followers; but in every other particular the neighbourhood ofthe little house lay undisturbed.
Presently Dick's reinforcements began to arrive. The night was not yetold before nearly a score of men crouched beside him in the gorse.
Separating these into two bodies, he took the command of the smallerhimself, and entrusted the larger to the leadership of Greensheve.
"Now, Kit," said he to this last, "take me your men to the near angle ofthe garden wall upon the beach. Post them strongly, and wait till thatye hear me falling on upon the other side. It is those upon the seafront that I would fain make certain of, for there will be the leader.The rest will run; even let them. And now, lads, let no man draw anarrow; ye will but hurt friends. Take to the steel, and keep to thesteel; and if we have the uppermost, I promise every man of you a goldnoble when I come to mine estate."
Out of the odd collection of broken men, thieves, murderers, and ruinedpeasantry, whom Duckworth had gathered together to serve the purposes ofhis revenge, some of the boldest and the most experienced in war hadvolunteered to follow Richard Shelton. The service of watching SirDaniel's movements in the town of Shoreby had from the first beenirksome to their temper, and they had of late begun to grumble loudlyand threaten to disperse. The prospect of a sharp encounter and possiblespoils restored them to good humour, and they joyfully prepared forbattle.
Their long tabards thrown aside, they appeared, some in plain greenjerkins, and some in stout leathern jacks; under their hoods many worebonnets strengthened by iron plates; and for offensive armour, swords,daggers, a few stout boar-spears, and a dozen of bright bills, put themin a posture to engage even regular feudal troops. The bows, quivers,and tabards were concealed among the gorse, and the two bands setresolutely forward.
Dick, when he had reached the other side of the house, posted his sixmen in a line, about twenty yards from the garden wall, and tookposition himself a few paces in front. Then they all shouted with onevoice, and closed upon the enemy.
These, lying widely scattered, stiff with cold, and taken at unawares,sprang stupidly to their feet, and stood undecided. Before they had timeto get their courage about them, or even to form an idea of the numberand mettle of their assailants, a similar shout of onslaught sounded intheir ears from the far side of the enclosure. Thereupon they gavethemselves up for lost, and ran.
In this way the two small troops of the men of the Black Arrow closedupon the sea front of the garden wall, and took a part of the strangers,as it were, between two fires; while the whole of the remainder ran fortheir lives in different directions, and were soon scattered in thedarkness.
For all that, the fight was but beginning. Dick's outlaws, although theyhad the advantage of the surprise, were still considerably outnumberedby the men they had surrounded. The tide had flowed in the meanwhile;the beach was narrowed to a strip; and on this wet field between thesurf and the garden wall, there began, in the darkness, a doubtful,furious, and deadly contest.
The strangers were well armed; they fell in silence upon theirassailants; and the affray became a series of single combats. Dick, whohad come first into the mellay, was engaged by three; the first he cutdown at the first blow, but the other two coming upon him hotly he wasfain to give ground before their onset. One of these two was a hugefellow, almost a giant for stature, and armed with a two-handed sword,which he brandished like a switch. Against this opponent, with his reachof arm and the length and weight of his weapon, Dick and his bill werequite defenceless; and had the other continued to join vigorously in theattack, the lad must have indubitably fallen. This second man, however,less in stature and slower in his movements, paused for a moment to peerabout him in the darkness, and to give ear to the sounds of the battle.
The giant still pursued his advantage, and still Dick fled before him,spying for his chance. Then the huge blade flashed and descended, andthe lad, leaping on one side and running in, slashed sideways andupwards with his bill. A roar of agony responded, and before the woundedman could raise his formidable weapon, Dick, twice repeating his blow,had brought him to the ground.
The next moment he was engaged upon more equal terms with his secondpursuer. Here there was no great difference in size, and though the man,fighting with sword and dagger against a bill, and being wary and quickof fence, had a certain superiority of arms, Dick more than made it upby his greater agility on foot. Neither at first gained any obviousadvantage; but the older man was still insensibly profiting by theardour of the younger to lead him where he would; and presently Dickfound that they had crossed the whole width of the beach, and were nowfighting above the knees in the spume and bubble of the breakers. Herehis own superior activity was rendered useless; he found himself more orless at the discretion of his foe; yet a little, and he had his backturned upon his own men, and saw that this adroit and skilful adversarywas bent upon drawing him farther and farther away.
Dick ground his teeth. He determined to decide the combat instantly; andwhen the wash of the next wave had ebbed and left them dry, he rushedin, caught a blow upon his bill, and leaped right at the throat of hisopponent. The man went down backwards, with Dick still upon the top ofhim; and the next wave, speedily succeeding the last, buried him belowa rush of water.
While he was still submerged, Dick forced his dagger from his grasp, androse to his feet victorious.
"Yield ye!" he said. "I give you life."
"I yield me," said the other, getting to his knees. "Ye fight, like ayoung man, ignorantly and foolhardily; but, by the array of the saints,ye fight bravely!"
Dick turned to the beach. The combat was still raging doubtfully in thenight; over the hoarse roar of the breakers steel clanged upon steel,and cries of pain and the shout of battle resounded.
"Lead me to your captain, youth," said the conquered knight. "It is fitthis butchery should cease."
"Sir," replied Dick, "so far as these brave fellows have a captain, thepoor gentleman who here addresses you is he."
"Call off your dogs, then, and I will bid my villains hold," returnedthe other.
There was something noble both in the voice and manner of his lateopponent, and Dick instantly dismissed all fears of treachery.
"Lay down your arms, men!" cried the stranger knight. "I have yieldedme, upon promise of life."
The tone of the stranger was one of absolute command, and almostinstantly the din and confusion of the mellay ceased.
"Lawless," cried Dick, "are ye safe?"
"Ay," cried Lawless, "safe and hearty."
"Light me the lantern," cried Dick.
"Is not Sir Daniel here?" inquired the knight.
"Sir Daniel?" echoed Dick. "Now, by the rood, I pray not. It would goill with me if he were."
"Ill with _you_, fair sir?" inquired the other. "Nay, then, if ye be notof Sir Daniel's party, I profess I comprehend no longer. Wherefore,then, fell ye upon mine ambush? in what quarrel, my young and very fieryfriend? to what earthly purpose? and to make a clear end ofquestioning, to what good gentleman have I surrendered?"
But before Dick could answer, a voice spoke in the darkness from closeby. Dick could see the speaker's black and white badge, and therespectful salute which he addressed to his superior.
"My lord," said he, "if these gentlemen be unfriends to Sir Daniel, itis a pity, indeed, we should have been at blows with them; but it weretenfold greater that either they or we should linger here. The watchersin the house--unless they be all dead or deaf--have heard our hammeringthis quarter-hour agone; instantly they will have signalled to the town;and unless we be the livelier in our departure, we are like to be taken,both of us, by a fresh foe."
"Hawksley is in the right," added the lord. "How please ye, sir? Whithershall we march?"
"Nay, my lord," said Dick, "go where you will for me. I do begin tosuspect we have some ground of friendship, and if, indeed, I began ouracquaintance somewhat ruggedly, I would not churlishly continue. Let usthen, separate, my lord, you laying your right hand in mine; and at thehour and place that ye shall name, let us encounter and agree."
"Y' are too trustful, boy," said the other; "but this time your trust isnot misplaced. I will meet you at the point of day at St. Bride'sCross.--Come, lads, follow!"
The strangers disappeared from the scene with a rapidity that seemedsuspicious; and, while the outlaws fell to the congenial task of riflingthe dead bodies, Dick made once more the circuit of the garden wall toexamine the front of the house. In a little upper loophole of the roofhe beheld a light set; and as it would certainly be visible in town fromthe back windows of Sir Daniel's mansion, he doubted not that this wasthe signal feared by Hawksley, and that ere long the lances of theKnight of Tunstall would arrive upon the scene.
He put his ear to the ground, and it seemed to him as if he heard ajarring and hollow noise from townward. Back to the beach he wenthurrying. But the work was already done; the last body was disarmed andstripped to the skin, and four fellows were already wading seaward tocommit it to the mercies of the deep.
A few minutes later, when there debouched out of the nearest lanes ofShoreby some two score horsemen, hastily arrayed and moving at thegallop of their steeds, the neighbourhood of the house beside the seawas entirely silent and deserted.
Meanwhile Dick and his men had returned to the alehouse of the "Goatand Bagpipes" to snatch some hours of sleep before the morning tryst.