NO MAN’S LAND
That day we went on as fast as our legs could carry us. We gauged our
position by the sun. During the morning we kept it in our rear while in
the afternoon we made sure of ourselves by the shine of it (when there
was an opening in the woods) in our faces.
There were no roads that you could speak of—only rutted trails of mud
hardly wide enough for two ox-carts to pass without touching the hubs of
each other’s wheels. Once in a while we saw the hut of a peasant or a
charcoal burner. These we carefully avoided, for we hoped to leave no
sign behind us for our enemies to follow, nor did we wish to fall
stupidly into a trap. Fortunately it was the season of the year when the
nuts were beginning to ripen and we contented ourselves with what we
could get of these.
We slept curled up beside each other at the root of a tree. The next
morning we were on our way again, but I may say with less speed, for our
feet were sore from the unevenness of the ground and our bodies were
stretched and tired from the uncomfortable position in which we had
spent the night.
About noon we halted for a rest. There was a little brook running over
irregular stones down the hill-side where we washed ourselves and drank
of the fresh water. I was sitting on a boulder with my back to a tree as
limp and wearied as an old cloth. My stomach was rumbling and growling
from hunger. I was wishing with all my heart that there would soon be an
end to my difficulties. To amuse myself I picked up a stone and threw it
aimlessly at a tree. It struck the bark with a resounding crack. I threw
another. It missed and went on far beyond. But where it lighted on the
ground, I noticed that it stirred up a cloud of dust like fine ashes and
with it a few scattered sparks—the smouldering remnants of a fire.
I jumped from my rock. I went over to the place to examine it. Sure
enough there was a dying fire on a bare spot among the trees and all
about it were the marks where men had trodden the grass with their heavy
boots. Besides I saw two pieces of the rind of cheese that had been cut
off and thrown away.
“They must have traveled in the night,” I said to Charles. “They’ve
passed us and gone on ahead.”
“There’ll be more of them behind us,” he answered. “We must——”
The words stuck in his throat. He looked far off over my shoulder at
something in the distance. Like a flash he dropped to his hands and
knees. I was about to turn when an arrow whizzed through the air and
sped over his shoulder and fastened itself in the trunk of the nearest
tree. I thought that caution was the best plan to follow so I ducked
likewise. It was a lucky pass, for I had no sooner bent my head when
another arrow whistled past me and shot out into the distance beyond me.
We exchanged no words. There was little need for them. With our heads as
close to the ground as was possible, we made for it into a deeper
section of the woods. In a few seconds a third arrow hummed towards us,
but struck the smooth surface of a rock well to one side.
We were out of shot at last, but the terror we were in gave speed to our
heels. After about a quarter of an hour we drew up, puffing and panting
like tired horses.
“To the south,” said Charles between breaths. “We must hold to the
south.”
I knew what he meant. We had betrayed ourselves by keeping in a straight
line towards the west, for it was the direction where lay the Black
Prince.
We went on again, but now more slowly than before. At almost each step,
one or the other of us turned to see if we were followed. At the same
time our eyes penetrated every bush and behind every tree in search of a
lurking foe. After an hour we could go no further. The pace had been too
hot for us, so we settled ourselves on a stone to rest and collect our
frightened senses.
Hunger like a gnawing pain bore into the pit of my stomach. Since we had
left the island on the morning before, we had eaten no food except the
few nuts that we came upon. A kind of sickening weakness overtook me. My
legs were trembling as though they were made of straw and the soles of
my feet ached as though I were standing over a burning fire.
“If they catch us now,” I said, “it’s all over with me. I can go no
further.”
Charles clapped me on the shoulder and laughed, but it was a laugh that
was meant only to encourage me and had no heart to it.
“We’ll snap our fingers in their faces yet, Henri,” he said. “Look what
we’ve passed through already.”
I only shook my head and stared hopelessly towards the ground.
“We have no weapons,” I replied. “Even the dagger that I was to carry to
the Abbot of Chalonnes is with my clothes at the bottom of the river.”
There was no more said. We were both worn out. We went forward through
the trees. There was no path. Indeed, the ground seemed to have been
trodden now for the first time since the beginning of the world. The
moss was everywhere on the earth. The little unexpected stones, as sharp
as the tips of arrows, cut into our feet. Above all the darkness and
sombreness of the forest was about us like a blanket as gloomy as the
night.
We came upon an irregular rising in the ground. There was a solid piece
of rock as big as an ordinary house, but with no shape to it. All about,
it was cut into crevices. The earth itself broke into risings and
depressions. Parts of it were like an uneven wall of stone with great
blocks of the rock in a rounded line. It seemed as though nature had
begun to build a fortress here, but for some reason or other had left
off.
We climbed in among the boulders and found ourselves on smooth ground
covered with coarse grass and weeds, with great trees over and about us.
Through the middle flowed a stream that had its starting place in a
spring that bubbled up like a fountain from the earth.
For a moment we stood gaping in amazement.
“If we only had a few bows and arrows here,” said Charles, “we could
hold off an army.”
“At any rate,” I answered, “we can hide here and rest. They will think
we have gone on through the woods.”
We turned and faced the great rock which, I said, was as big as a house.
The front of it was like an overhanging shed. Underneath was what seemed
an opening to the mouth of a cavern—dark and smelling of dampness.
Step by step we ventured forward. The ground under our feet grew sticky
like wet clay. The light slowly faded. A mustiness like the odor of the
cellar of an old inn crept into our nostrils. The opening widened and as
we advanced the light was so far gone that we had to feel along the
rough wall with our hands.
Suddenly the wall turned and shut us off. I groped on further and
further in the hope that the opening was only narrowing and not entirely
closed. I was running my fingers from one stone to the other when I felt
something flat. There was no dampness to it and it had the evenness of
smooth wood. I was about to examine it further when my hand touched a
latch.
Like a flash I realized I had come upon a door.
“Charles!” I exclaimed. “We are only at the beginning. There’s another
cave beyond!”
My curiosity scattered all caution to the winds. I gave the latch a
click and shoved on the door. To my surprise it went back on its hinges
as though they were swimming in oil. And I beheld a sight that took my
breath away and made me gasp in amazement.
A light shone in my eyes. It was not bright, but the unexpectedness of
it made it seem like a flash. As soon as my eyes grew accustomed to it,
I saw that it was only a small fire burning in a grate in the far end of
the cave. There was no smoke. By some means or other a draught drew it
upwards through the irregular crevices in the ceiling. I put one foot in
the room and gazed around. It was as large as the common room in an inn,
but scrupulously clean and neat. The floor, which was as smooth as you
could wish, was covered with new straw that cracked with dryness as my
foot touched it. On the walls were pegs driven in between the stones and
from them were hung at least a dozen bows while the quivers filled with
arrows stood beneath.
Charles grasped me by the arm.
“Let’s get away,” he whispered. “We’ve come upon a thieves’ den.”
“If we could lay our hands, each of us, on a bow and a quiver of
arrows,” I said, “we wouldn’t have to run so fast from our enemies.”
“And that’s right,” he agreed. With that he gave me a shove forward.
I went quietly across the floor with Charles at my heels. It was one
step at a time with our eyes always turning towards the door. The warmth
of the place lured me. If I had had my own way, I would have thrown
myself down upon the floor before the fire and have given rest to my
weary legs. As it was, Charles was reaching out for a bow and I had my
hand already on another when a voice shot through my ears like the blast
of a trumpet.
“Gentlemen,” it said, “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been expecting you!”