The Fall of the Grand Sarrasin Part 4

"Famine!" said Hugo, grimly.

CHAPTER VIII.

How I was sent forth by my lord abbot to seek the protection of _Duke William_, and of what befell me by the way of the pirates.

That night there was restless sleeping in Vale Castle and but rough quarters, but no a.s.sault nor alarm.

Next morning there was singing of "Non n.o.bis" and "Te Deum" to boot by the brethren a.s.sembled in martial conclave on the open lawn. Their church was destroyed and its beauty perished; but said Abbot Michael--

"Lo, brethren, here be your choir these days, here your House of G.o.d.

See, its pillars are the Lord's, and they fear no sacrilegious hand; see, its arch is the heaven, and its roof the sunlit sky, and for music to our chant hear the lapping of the waves that G.o.d hath set in their bed below." So, with comforting words, did he restore our courage, as we thought sadly of the ruined cloister, whose smoke yet went up pitifully to the sky.

And shortly after these solemn offices I was taken by Hugo to the abbot's presence, in the little chamber he had on the seaward wall.

Very strange and careworn he was.

"Son," he said, greeting me with a sweet dignity, "thou hast done well already in the profession thou hast chosen, as I hear by good report of all, and indeed so comes out in thee the prowess of a n.o.ble race. Thou seest what straits the brethren are in by this blockade and siege?" He pointed seaward and landward. "And that, should help come not, a deadlier enemy than the Sarrasin himself will strive with us--the famine with the sword. Thou knowest all this?"

Now, as he spake, I guessed why he spake thus, and so right boldly I replied, with a straight look in his eyes--

"Ay, my lord, right well I know. Send me, therefore, now, whither thou thinkest well, for succour in this day of extremity!"

His eye brightened at my words, and he and Hugo looked gladly at one another, and Hugo said, with low voice, proudly--

"Our Father, the abbot, hath chosen thee, my esquire, and a proud mission it is, being a.s.sured of thy strength and truth of heart, to be his messenger to our sovereign lord the duke, and to inform him of the dangers of his faithful bedesmen here, and of the arrogance of their foes and his own. To-night thou wilt start on a n.o.ble and knightly enterprise."

"It is, my son," said the abbot, "a path full of danger. But also, as our brother saith, an enterprise both n.o.ble and knightly, for the saving of these men of G.o.d, and the feeble ones that are sheltered in our fold, not alone from death, but from rude insult and sharp pain."

I told my lord that I was indeed willing to accept it, though I loved life full dearly. And he, a.s.suring me that all matters of my setting forth that night were in Brother Hugo's hands, bent over me, and pressing his hands, that trembled the while, on my young head, committed me to G.o.d's care. And I went forth calm and steady with his holy words yet in my ears and a great glory of gladness in my heart, that I, still a lad, was thus chosen for a knight's work.

I was to set out, Hugo told me, at nightfall from a little cove named Bordeaux Bay that lay hard by the Castle. Old Simon Renouf, a wary pilot amid the dangerous rocks and shallows of our seas, was, with one other, to be my comrade, and I was to be clad in the rough dress of the fisher folk in case of capture. We were that night to make for the Isle of Jersey, and craftily to lie hid in a quiet opening in the rocks for the day, and then next day, if the wind were good, to sail to the port of Granville in Normandy.

Now, it was arranged I was to bear no written message to my lord the duke, only a ring of gold hung in a little bag about my neck, that our abbot said would stand me in better stead with William, recalling past services and duties, and would be thought, were I taken by the pirates, but some harmless relic or valued heirloom. Now, the ring had on it but the letter "A," and the motto inscribed around "_Loyal devoir_."

And so at nightfall we went forth from the back side of the Castle, down the steep and rugged path that led at length to the sh.o.r.e of Bordeaux Bay, Brother Hugo, as we went, giving me words of good counsel as to my behaviour before Duke William, impressing on him the insult of these knaves to his high fame as duke, and how I should keep a still tongue if I fell into the hands of the Grand Sarrasin.

We found Simon Renouf and Jacques de la Mare waiting for us in their small fis.h.i.+ng-smack which I knew so well, having so often sailed with them as boy and lad, and well they loved me, as did all the fishers of Grande Havre and St. Sampson. But now, as Jacques took the tiller, old Simon bade me handle the sail, as though I were indeed that which I appeared, a raw hand learning seaman's craft. Right manfully I took up my task, and in a moment the dark sail ran up the mast, Simon undid the fastening and pushed off, and with Jacques cunningly guiding us from the rocks, the boat stole noiselessly from the bay, coasting northward for a s.p.a.ce to get away from the Moorish s.h.i.+ps that still lay outside, and then, aided by a dim white mist that lay upon the face of the waters and a chill night-breeze, we bore away to the south of Herm and Jethou, whose craggy sides loomed black and terrible as we sailed by.

Presently the wind fell, and we lay well-nigh becalmed, and the moon came out, and we could see now the high walls of Sark and the steep side of Brecquou, and slowly we approached thither. So we ran straight to Jersey. The moon set presently, and we made little way, and with the light of breaking dawn we entered a small creek, wherein the water lay calm and still. When the boat was in safety we clambered upon the rocks, and among them Simon showed a little cave overhung with green streaming plants that indeed was a pleasant place, with all manner of coloured sea-plants clinging to the wall, that the light as it entered played upon. Here we ate of the good store that lay in the boat's locker, and a rare draught of wine washed down the food and refreshed our spirits, and then Simon bade me lie down and rest, and as the sun began to climb up and make all the sea glisten along its crest, I lay down and slept, and awaked not till he had climbed far up into the sky. But when I awoke old Simon Renouf still sat by the cave-mouth, gazing out to sea from under his looming brows, and I thought he sat there like some great eagle by its eyrie keeping watch over its young. And such indeed he was, an eagle soaring high in fidelity, and my guardian to the death, as in the end it appeared.

Now, as evening drew near, Simon showed us that with an early start that night, with good weather as the wind lay, we would make the Norman coast ere morning, and creep along as we might to Port Granville by daylight.

But alas! that night we had but just shot out of our hermitage amid the rocks, and were giving great heed to the perilous pa.s.sage withal, when, as we rounded a sudden shelve of rock, we met almost face to face a great s.h.i.+p that was making across our course. And I feared that the worst would hap, for she was of the same build as the fleet of Le Grand Sarrasin. Did they see us lying in now close by the rock? We could not tell for a moment, but then there was no doubt. A shout rang out, and a voice bidding us come aside.

What could men so bidden do? To sail forth were hopeless. This great craft would overhaul us of an instant. To coast along the sh.o.r.e were perilous and must end in capture. For a moment Simon hesitated, and then ran our boat into the creek again.

"See, lads," he said, "here we must stand. The land is more friendly than the water. Yet I have prayed oft to die on the sea, when my time came."

We climbed on to the rocks, and he handed us a cutla.s.s apiece and a knife such as seamen use, and he pointed to a square ledge of rock, that but one could enter upon at a time, since a thick jagged wall protected half the front.

"Stay, Simon," said I, "art sure she is a pirate?"

"Ay, lad, sure," he said; "none but a pirate so hails peaceable fisher craft"

"Simon," I said, "why not give in? Why should you and the lad die for me?"

The old man laid his rugged hand upon me, and the sun lit up with a rich light his red beard as he spoke.

"Have not the Brethren taught thee a word called 'Duty,' lad?" he slowly said, "a word for me, that was born a poor fisherman in the calling of the Lord's Apostles, as well as for thee born of a great house."

"Then it is thy duty thus to do?" I said, perceiving that naught could move him, and that indeed a n.o.ble strain within him forbade him to be moved.

"Ay, lad," said he, "and may we all, thou, Jacques, and I, old though I be, do our duty right well this morn!"

CHAPTER IX.

Of our battle on the rocks of _Jersey Isle_, and how _Simon_ gave up his life, and how I was taken captive and brought back.

The pirates had put off in two long-boats, and in a short s.p.a.ce of time entered the creek, and climbed across our boat to sh.o.r.e--if sh.o.r.e it could be called, where the rocks stood broken into such strange and rude shapes, and where the footing amid them was so rough. I had no doubt of their errand, for each man had a great ugly naked weapon in his hand, such as we bore ourselves, only heavier.

Up the cliff they clambered, and soon spied us in our fastness.

"Come out, ye spies," they shouted; "come out, cursed rats, or we will come and slay you where you stand."

Our hearts panted to answer, but we said naught. Then they in a moment changed their tone, and two approaching more civilly, spoke with us almost at the entry of our fast place. Fair words they used, saying that their captain had business of great import with certain stalwart seamen of Jersey that day, and begged us for our own advantage to come down aboard their s.h.i.+p.

"And who is your captain?" curiously asked Renouf.

The rogue dissembled not. "Our captain is Le Grand Geoffroy, Lord of Guernsey, and his _aide-de-camp_, Mahmud le Terrible, is even now on board of yonder craft."

"Then, hark you, Sarrasin dog!" said Simon. "Sooner will we three die on this rock as good men and true to the law of G.o.d and man, than have parley further in anywise with you and your men of blood."

Our civil visitors saw that fair words were of no avail to save fighting, and so they ran back to their fellows, and with a few minutes'

chatter among themselves, half of them climbed up amid the rocks, to drop on us, as we guessed from above, where they might find foothold among the crevices, and the others with determined aspect ran up to us in single line, taking the narrow ledge for their road to our stronghold.

Then began the fray. It was no hard matter for Jacques de la Mare and me at first to stay their attack, for the first comer and the next, struck ere they strove to pa.s.s us, fell down helpless among the rocks below.

But the third, running in quickly, closed with Jacques, and forcing him back, left room for another to close with me, and by this a shout above our heads warned us that the rest would be upon us as it were from the sky. I dimly saw Jacques locked arm to arm and breast to breast with a villain, his equal in strength and stature; and then, as I had seen wrestlers in peaceful times, so each now on that narrow spot, grasping cutla.s.ses the while, strove with all manner of feint and twist and turn to throw his adversary. Close to the side they were, when I saw the thickset pirate swing as easy as a child across Jacques' back. The two clung together for a moment. Jacques struggled to get loose. But the villain clung too well. And so they both fell together into the deep well below. Creux de la Mort the islanders call it to this day.

I sought rather with sword play to strike the villain in my path, and old Simon by my side saw soon his place to strike in, and gave him a deadly stroke. But as he did so the first two rogues dropped from above, and the little narrow ledge of rock, with its far outlook over the waves, and pleasant vision of white surf running over the rocks, and still gulls seated thereon, was soon like h.e.l.l itself, full of dark and evil faces. Now Simon was attacked at back and front, as he stumbled back over the bodies; a great knife was thrust into his back, even as he faced a rogue before his face, and I saw the old faithful soul fall forward, and making a kind of stagger with his arms up, ere he fell, drop into the pool below. So, according to his prayer, he died in the sea, and n.o.bly, as any knight of great fame, was true to death.

Now, what of myself. The villains would not kill me, though this they could have done many times. Yet like a young lion I fought fiercely with my back against the rock, and I know not how many I slashed and cut with my weapon, till, with a swift stroke, one struck it out of my hand, and I seemed at their mercy. But my great knife was in my hand in its place, and with that I hastened another of these evil men to his last account.

And then two, rus.h.i.+ng at me from either side, pinioned me as I stood with a rope, and I, seeing no hope in struggling longer, like a naughty child, let myself be led or carried to their boat, and so taken on board the dark s.h.i.+p, whither they bore me.