Geoffrey Montfichet's reason for wishing to be known as the Scarlet
Knight was no idle whimsey, as the others had guessed.
To John's rebellion against his father, Henry of England, the younger
Montfichet had given himself body and soul. The Prince had shown him
kindness, and now that the rebellion had failed, Geoffrey felt it
incumbent upon him to remain with the beaten side, and endeavor to
recover the advantage lost to them. To this end he now journeyed through
the Midlands in many disguises, trying to stir up the outlaws and
robbers of the forests to take up arms with John, under a promise that
the Prince (if successful) would grant them amnesty and a goodly share
of the spoils sure to fall to them.
A spy was to attend at Nottingham Fair to know how matters had
progressed with the outlaws of Sherwood; but, since it was too dangerous
to attempt an open meeting, Geoffrey had arranged a simple code of
signalling, by color.
Did he appear as a knight unknown and disinherited, bound on his arms
and steed with red trappings, the spy, eyeing him from beside the
Sheriff of Nottingham, would know that Will o' th' Green was to be
trusted, and would promptly bear the joyful news to his Royal Master.
Had sad black been the note, John's man would have guessed that friends
were still to seek about Nottingham.
Thus we know that Master Will had more reasons than one for appearing
as a wizard at Nottingham Fair. He had gone here chiefly to bear a
scroll to the Prince's emissary, and to declare fealty to John; but the
affair of the tumblers and Robin's discovery of him had warned Master
Will not to stay over long in the town, so Geoffrey had to depend upon
his plan of appearing as the Scarlet Knight.
The morning broke dull and threateningly over Gamewell. Robin and his
esquire slept late; but no one offered to disturb their slumbers. The
monk knew full well that there was good cause for his pupil's fatigue;
and had set himself to discover the true meaning of it. "Boy," said he
to Robin, "I pray that you do not think upon Nottingham to-day. There
will be a storm and much rain. The mud in the meadows of Nottingham will
surely spoil the bravery of the Fair, and show us too plainly how
trumpery and vain a matter it is."
"For that cause alone will we go, dear friend," retorted Robin. "It will
be a lesson to us. With you beside us to point the moral, much benefit
shall accrue, for sure. Father," Robin added, "come with us now to the
pleasance. There Warrenton is to show me how to notch arrows and pick a
courtly bow."
"I have no great wisdom in the game, boy; yet readily will I go with
you."
The three of them went in search of Warrenton; and found him with the
captain of the foresters.
Dame Fitzooth and the Squire followed later to the pleasance, and there
one and all tried conclusions. Robin soon found that Warrenton could
teach him much; and he was too anxious to excel in the conduct of the
bow to neglect this chance of learning the many secrets of it. "Men
shall talk of you"--Fitzooth's own words to him--always rang in his
heart whenever he drew the cord and fitted ash across yew.
Warrenton took great pleasure in showing Robin some of the tricks in
which he was so perfect; and explained them so well that ere an hour had
gone the lad had learned and mastered them.
"Lording," said the old servant, watching him as he essayed successfully
an exercise shown him but a few minutes before. "Lording, I do not doubt
that you will carry away with you to-day the Sheriff's prize from the
older bowmen of Nottingham! You have a keen eye for it, and your fingers
seem comfortable upon the yew--which is the sign and mark of a good
archer. Now, bear in mind this golden rule: that the feet are to be
placed at true angles, with the line of the mark running, as it were,
fairly through the heels: thus," and he took the position, fitted an
arrow to his bow, and, scarce looking towards the target, flew his shaft
so straightly as to pierce the very center of the bull. "Try now to
notch the arrow," said Warrenton, with pardonable pride.
Robin shook his head and laughed.
"Ay, but you shall make far _better_ than that, lording, an I have the
handling of you!" cried Warrenton. "Now take this bow and these arrows
which I have chosen; and we will set forth for Nottingham. We have an
hour's journey."
On the way to Nottingham, Robin's mind was so full of all that had
lately happened that he lagged behind the others and at last found
himself quite alone.
This was where the road curved through the last of the forest about
Nottingham. Warrenton and Master Ford of the foresters were at a renewed
discussion on longbow against crossbow; and Will Stuteley had become so
interested in the matter as to have poked his little horse between the
others. Robin trotted his steed to come up with them; then, suddenly
spying a brooklet among the trees upon his left hand, found himself
mightily athirst. He slipped from off the back of his grey jennet and
tethered the beast by the roadside.
The brook was fouled near the highroad from the passing of heavy carts
and wagons, so Robin pushed down it into the thicker wood.
Finding that now the stream ran pure and limpid, Robin flung himself
flat among the bracken and rushes, and dipped his face in the cool
water. He drank heartily, and lay there for a while in lazy content, hid
by the undergrowth and bracken.
A whinnying from his jennet warned him at length that he must push on
with speed if he intended to rejoin the others ere Nottingham gate was
reached. Robin turned himself about, preparatory to rising, then hastily
shrank back into the shelter afforded by the ferns.
Two men approached noiselessly through the forest. They carried bows and
were clad in russet brown. Robin, in that brief glimpse, recognized two
of Master Will's free-booting band.
The outlaws walked side by side in earnest conversation. Their
mutterings were at first unintelligible to Robin; but, by hazard, they
paused close to where he lay hid. Young Fitzooth knew that he would have
small chance with these fellows should they espy him.
Said one, an evil-looking man, with a dirty grizzled beard: "Our Will
seems to me, friend Roger, to be of open heart towards this youngling.
He has given him the key of the forest at first word, as if the place
were free to all. Had _you_ the knowledge of it so soon, Roger? Tell me,
lad."
He spoke sneeringly and with meaning. Robin strained his ears to
distinguish the other's reply. "Friend," said Number Two, at last, and
speaking in a smooth, milky sort of way, "friend, I would rather counsel
you to adopt a persuasive argument with the Scarlet Knight, should we
chance on him. I would have no violence done, an it may be avoided,
being a man opposed to lawlessness in heart, as you know. It is my
eternal misfortune which has brought me to this life."
"Tush! 'tis for murder of an old man at York! I know your story, Roger;
seek not to impose upon me."
"He was a Jew, dear friend, and did grievously provoke me. But we have a
matter in hand. This man has doubtless been sent in to spy upon us. I
have no belief in the faith of these Norman nobles. Further, he has upon
his head a goodly sum of money, as I well know. Wherefore, if chance
should yield him to our hands, it would seem right and proper that we
should bind him."
"Ay, hard and fast, Roger. You have it."
"Bind him with a vow, Micah, but not with ropes and wickedness. Yet
should your dagger inadvertently prick him----"
"Be sure that it will, Roger. Some inward voice warns me that it will."
The other made a sign to the last speaker to speak more quietly. Robin
cocked his ears in vain, but he had heard enough to show him that the
shadow of a great evil was stalking behind his cousin, and without
further thought decided that he must save him.
The two villains stood together a plaguey time perfecting their plans,
and Robin dared scarcely breathe. Once, when he attempted to wriggle his
way through the bracken, at the first sound of movement both men had
become utterly silent, showing that they had heard and waited to hear
again.
"A squirrel, friend," said the one called Roger at last, and Robin took
heart again.
However, knowing that presently they must espy his jennet tethered by
the road, Robin became desperate. He writhed his body snake-like through
the ferns until he came to the edge of the brook; then, covered by the
noise of the falling water, essayed to creep up the course of the
stream.
The distance from the road could scarcely have been two hundred ells,
but it seemed to Robin more like to a league. He got his feet and legs
wet and bemired; and cut his hands over the rocks about the brook. Yet
he came nearer and nearer still to the roadway without having given
alarm.
Robin saw at length the close turf which bordered the road, and spied
his little grey horse. Forthwith he rose to his feet and made a bold
dash for it.
The jennet was untethered and Robin upon its back in a flash; then the
lad heard the whizz of an arrow past him. He bent his head down close to
the neck of his jennet and whispered a word into its ear. The little
mare, shaking herself suddenly to a gallop, understood; and now began a
race between bow and beast.
These outlaws were no common archers, for sure. Twice did their shafts
skim narrowly by Robin and his flying steed; the third time a sudden
pricking told the youth that he was struck in the back.
He had no time for thought of pain. Everything depended on the beast
under him. He pressed his legs softly but firmly against her streaming
sides.
She was more swift in the end than the cruel arrows. Robin saw the
countryside flashing by him through a cloud of dust; saw that Nottingham
gate was reached; that a party with surprised faces watched his furious
approach. The little mare swayed and rolled as she went, and Robin came
to the ground, with the outlaw's arrow still in him. He was conscious
that someone ran to him and lifted him tenderly: he perceived dimly,
through circling blackness, the anxious face of Stuteley.
"Are you hurt, dear master?" he seemed to see, rather than hear, him
say.
Then Stuteley, Nottingham, and reason fled swiftly together, and the day
became as night.