CHAPTER VII
Till the set of sun and the dusk of the evening the spy pursued thesearch, now stumbling over a tree root, now catching his foot in astraggling vine, and every now and then sorely struck in the face bythe underbrush through which he pushed his way. But, although he wasonce very near the concealed horses and hound, he found nothing toreward him. The return to the little vale was even more tiresome thanthe journey from it had been. No moon would shine for an hour, and itwas quite dark when he once more reached the oak in which Hugo andHumphrey had stayed all day, but from which they had a few momentsbefore descended.
In climbing the tree, after setting Walter Skinner's horse loose,Humphrey had noticed a hollow in one of the lower branches."Perchance," he said, "a hedgehog may lodge therein. Knowest thou theways of hedgehogs?"
"Nay," returned Hugo, indifferently.
"The lad hath lost heart," said Humphrey to himself, "and all becauseof the words of this little snipe of a king's man and the slowness ofthe journey. I will not seem to see it." Then he continued as if Hugohad displayed the greatest interest: "I will tell thee, then, thathedgehogs have many ways. I warrant thee this king's man knoweth naughtof them, any more than he knoweth the wood. Had he been some men, wehad been caught ere now. I fear him not overmuch. For do but see how heis puffed up with undue pride and importance. And let me tell thee thatundue pride and importance and good sense dwell not in the same skull.We shall therefore have the better of him."
Hugo made no reply, and Humphrey continued cheerfully: "A hedgehog willfind a hollow in a tree, and there he will bide, sleeping all day. Atnight he will come forth. But first he must reach the ground. And thishe will do by rolling into a ball and dropping on the ends of hisspines. If the ground is beneath him, no harm is done. If this king'sman should be beneath him, I think not that he would cry out thatFortune was with him when the spines of the hedgehog stuck into him."
"And how would the king's man be beneath him?" asked Hugo, dully.
"If the hedgehog be in the hollow of that low branch," answeredHumphrey, "and if the king's man should stand under at such time as thehedgehog was ready to drop, then he would be beneath him."
"Yea," observed Hugo. "Many things might come to pass, if thou couldstmake all the plans."
Humphrey did not hear the sarcasm in Hugo's tones. He heard only whathe was pleased to take as a compliment to his own abilities. "Why, Ibelieve thou art right," he answered. "Were I to make the plans, somethat are now at the top would be at the bottom. Thou hast well said.But come. It grows dark. Let us go down ere the king's man come back onhis way to the vale."
Slowly they made their way down. "This perching on trees all day is fitto make an old man of a boy," said Humphrey, as he stepped clumsilyabout on his half-numbed feet.
"Sh!" said Hugo.
Humphrey instantly stood still in the darkness and listened. Weary andslow steps were approaching. They came nearer, and directly under theoak they ceased, for the spy, his pompous manner quite gone, hadstopped to rest a little. And now a rustling in the branches above washeard. Eagerly the spy looked up and strained his eyes to see."Josceline! son of Lord De Aldithely!" he called, "I arrest thee in theking's name. Thou darest not oppose me. Yield thyself, and come down!"
And just then the hedgehog which Humphrey had surmised might be in thehollow, moved a little farther along on the branch, rustling the leavesas he did so. In the darkness the face of the spy was still turnedupward. He had forgotten that he was alone and unaided. And he thoughtonly of getting hold of the boy he sought.
"Come down!" he repeated. "Come down, I say! Make no dallying!"
And then the hedgehog rolled himself into a ball and came down plumpinto the face of Walter Skinner.
"Ugh! what have we here?" sputtered the spy, starting back.
Hugo and Humphrey did not wait for him to discover, but stepping softlyaway they went to the thicket, where the hungry animals gave them awarm welcome, and where they thoroughly enjoyed the first meal they hadhad since morning. Their supper eaten, Humphrey untied horses andhound, to lead them to water.
"Thou wilt be caught," objected Hugo, nervously.
"Not I," returned Humphrey, easily. "I fear not the spy to-night. If heheareth aught, he will think another hedgehog about to drop upon him.Come thou with me and see."
Hugo obediently rose from the couch of boughs where he had thrownhimself, and took the thong of willow from Humphrey's hand to leadFleetfoot. The serving-man was right. So far as Walter Skinner wasconcerned they had no more to fear that night. His face was lacerated;and by the time Hugo and Humphrey started from the thicket he haddiscovered the loss of his horse. It had been better for him if hisdrinking-horn, from which he now took copious draughts, had been lostalso.
"The kind of fortune that is with him, I should not wish to be withme," observed Humphrey, when they had returned safely to the thicket."I will now to sleep and see what sort of a dream cometh."
Much cheered in spirit, Hugo also lay down to sleep. His courage cameback, and he felt that let the journey take as long as it would he wasequal to it.
The moon had now risen, and by its light Richard Wood, the other spy,and his borrowed men-at-arms came riding through one of the glades ofthe forest southward to the vale. Richard Wood had not the overweeningvanity of Walter Skinner; he had not taken his borrowed men-at-armsinto his confidence concerning the king's plans in order to make itappear that he stood high in counsel; neither had he revealed the nameof the lad they sought. The men-at-arms had, therefore, all threeremained with him, and were as eager as he on the chase. They werepushing on now to the vale to camp for the night, because they couldfind there both grass and water. And, in the same spot where WalterSkinner had slept before, they came upon a figure reclining in fullsight in the moonlight.
"There lieth one of them," said a man-at-arms, "but I see not theother."
"Thou mayest be sure the other is not far off," observed the second.
"Thou shalt see how quickly I will awake him out of sleep," cried thethird, as he spurred his horse toward him and pricked him sharply withthe point of his lance.
"Ugh!" grunted the half-drunken Walter Skinner. "But I have had enoughof hedgehogs for one night." And he sat up sleepily.
"And is it thou, Walter Skinner?" exclaimed Richard Wood.
"Why, who should it be?" answered Walter Skinner, peevishly.
"Thou art a brave pursuer!" said Richard Wood. "Where be thy men-at-arms?and where is thy horse?"
"My men-at-arms are returned to their master," replied Walter Skinner,while those of Richard Wood drew near to learn the whereabouts of theircompanions. "As for my horse, I wot not what is become of him."
"And wherefore did thy men-at-arms play thee false?" demanded RichardWood.
"Softly!" replied Walter Skinner, his small, cracked voice more crackedthan usual. "Ask me not so many questions if thou wouldst not see medead before thee."
Richard Wood regarded him sternly. "Thou must be moonstruck," he saidat length. "When ever heard any one of a man dying of the questionsasked of him?"
"Thou mistakest my meaning," returned Walter Skinner, a trace of hispomposity returning. "Thou askest me questions. If I answer thee false,I lie. If I answer thee true, I die. And truly, death were not muchworse than this lacerated face of mine."
"Why, how now!" demanded Richard Wood. "How camest thy face lacerated?"
"One Master Hedgehog of this forest hath paid me his attentions tooclosely."
For a moment Richard Wood was silent. Then he said: "Answer me truly. Itbehooveth me to know the truth in this matter. Why did thy men-at-armsleave thee?"
"I did but let fall the king's purpose toward the young lord, and namehis father, De Aldithely, and they fell off from me as I had beenmyself a murderer. Bade me uphold their lying speech that I had no needof their services on pain of death, and so left me."
And now one of the men-at-arms spoke. "We be not knaves," he said. "Wehad not thought to lead the youth to d
eath, but to honorable captivityfor a brief while. Nor did we know the lad ye seek was son to DeAldithely. Wherefore we also leave ye, and if ye say why, your livesshall answer for it. We have no mind to be marks for the king'svengeance. He that would crush the Archdeacon of Norwich with a cope oflead will have no mercy on a man-at-arms that thwarted him. Wherefore,say why we left ye, if ye think best." And, riding a little way off,all three encamped by themselves for the night.
"It seemeth that the best way to earn hatred and contempt is to servethis King John," remarked Richard Wood, thoughtfully.
"Ay, and the attention of hedgehogs also," returned Walter Skinner,thickly. "And the loss of horse and food, and the loss of the quarryalso, if we strike not the trail again. And though we have not theservice of the men-at-arms, be sure we shall pay for it as if we had itto their master. I would I had a troop of mercenaries to rent out. Itwere easier than such scouring of the country as this. Moreover we doexceed our office. The king said not to me, 'Walter Skinner, scour thecountry.' Nay, the king said naught to me on the matter. 'Twas hisfavorite, Sir Thomas De Lany, that bade me watch the castle from thetree; and there might I be now in comfort, if this hare-brained youthhad not run away. He should have stayed at the castle till the comingof Robert Sadler and the troop. My face had not been thus lacerated hadthe youth known his duty and done it."
"Why, how makest thou all this?" demanded Richard Wood, contemptuously."The king careth not whose hand delivereth the youth, so that he bedelivered. That we have not already caught him is the fault of thyselfalone. Hadst thou but held thy tongue, we had had with us to-night sixmen-at-arms, and had, erelong, run down the game. In the morning I goto Hubert le Falconer and hire from him six more--three for thee, andthree for me. Then do thou be silent as to the king's purpose, and thismischief of thy making may be repaired. Thou mayest look as if thouwert bursting with wisdom, if it please thee, but see that thou give noenlightening word to thy followers."
"Ay, thou mayest lay the burden of all mishaps on me," returned WalterSkinner, pettishly. "But I promise not that I will speak no word, if itseemeth to me best to speak. It is not every one in the king's employ.Not every one is out scouring the country for a lord's son. And if onemay not speak of his honors, why hath he them?"
"Honors!" exclaimed Richard Wood, with contempt. "There be few wouldcall such work as thine an honor. To skulk, to spy, to trap another tohis destruction, why, that is what most call knaves' work, and he whodoth it is despised. Yea, even though he do it for a king."
"Thy loss doth set but sourly on thy stomach, Richard Wood," saidWalter Skinner, stubbornly. "It is an honor to serve the king. Ay, eventhough he be a bad one like this. And, I say, if one is not to speak ofhonors, why hath he them?"
"For other people to see, varlet. What others _see_ of thy_honors_, as thou callest them, they can mayhap endure. But whenthou pratest of thy honors, thou dost but enrage them. Wilt thou giveme thy word to be silent?"
"Nay, that will I not," retorted Walter Skinner. "I be as good a man asthou, and not a bear in leading. When I will to speak, I speak; whetherit be of the king's matters or my own."
"Thou hast said," returned Richard Wood, rising. "In the morning I hirethree men-at-arms from Hubert le Falconer for myself. Pursue thou thechase as seemeth thee best. We hunt no more in company."
With the first morning light the men-at-arms mounted their horsesand rode toward Doncaster, Richard Wood rode north to seek his neededmen-at-arms from Hubert le Falconer, and only Walter Skinner was lefthorseless and breakfastless in the vale. He had no mind to remainthere in that condition, and so betook himself to the nearest priory,confident that, in the king's name, he could there procure both foodand a horse, and perhaps a leech to ease his wounded face.
Hugo and Humphrey were also early astir, the serving-man performing hismorning tasks with such a particularly cheerful air that Hugo smiledand inquired, "Hadst thou a dream last night?"
"Ay," answered Humphrey, in triumph. "I say not with that little spy,'Aha, Fortune! thou art with me,' and then go out to meet a hedgehog.But this I say, that I did dream of bees and of following them, whichbetokeneth gain or profit. And therefore go we not toward Doncaster."
"Why not toward Doncaster down this Brockadale?" asked Hugo.
"The vale is well enough," replied Humphrey, "but it extendeth only twomiles after all. We must make haste to-day. I do remember that twospies did pursue us at the beginning. It may be that the other hathneither lost his horse nor met a hedgehog to discourage him. And,moreover, what is to hinder him from having three men-at-arms to hishelp like his fellow? Nay, Hugo, we go not through the vale, but makewe what haste we may through short cuts and little used paths."
"And whither do we go?" asked Hugo.
"I will tell thee that we seek the marshy Isle of Axholme to the eastof the river Don. There will be room therein for us to hide away, andthere no king's men will look for us moreover."
"Why?" asked Hugo.
"Why, lad?" repeated Humphrey. "Why, because they will not. Will aking's man trust himself in such a boggy place? Nay. Moreover, I fellin with this one that hath so lately followed us at Ferrybridge, whichis a sure sign that we should meet the other at Doncaster."
"But--" began Hugo.
"I tell thee," interrupted Humphrey, "I did dream of bees and offollowing them. We go straight to this Isle of Axholme. Vex me nomore."
Hugo opened his mouth to remonstrate still further, but, happening toremember his determination not to oppose Humphrey except throughnecessity, he closed it again. Seeing which, Humphrey regarded himapprovingly, and even went to the length of expressing his approbationin words.
"Thou art learning to keep thyself under," he said. "Thou hast but justopened thy mouth to speak and shut it again with thy words unsaid. Whenone hath no knack at dreams to help him on, the best thing for him isthe power to shut his mouth. An open mouth maketh naught but trouble.Thou didst wish to see more of the vale, and so thou shalt. Thou shaltsee so much of it as thou canst while the horses and hound drink theirfill before starting."