Facing a Monster
As the song proceeded, the moody lad bent forward to listen with a
visibly brightening face, though in an attitude of reverent awe; for
his first thought was one that would have occurred to any man of that
age in his place—that the voice he heard was that of his patron saint,
or of an angel sent down from heaven to comfort him in his distress.
But ere he could utter the devout thanksgiving that rose to his lips,
he was checked by the sudden appearance of the singer himself.
From the thickets issued a boy about his own age, with a huge faggot of
dead wood on his back. He was barefooted and barelegged, and what
little clothing he had was sorely tattered and soiled; but the
wholesome brown of his tanned face, and the springy lightness of his
step under that heavy burden, told that his rough life agreed with him.
It was plain, however, from the wandering look of his eyes, and the
bird-like restlessness of all his movements, that he was one of the
poor half-witted creatures so numerous then in every part of France,
and pretty common even now in some remote parts of it.
At sight of the young noble (whose grim features had certainly nothing
reassuring in them at the first glance) the simpleton came to a sudden
halt, and looked not a little scared. Nor was this surprising; for so
many and so tyrannical were the privileges claimed by the landed gentry
in an age when all France was divided into beasts of prey called nobles
and beasts of burden called peasants, that (though among the sturdy
Bretons there was happily less of the frightful oppression that
disgraced France proper) this poor lad could not tell that he might not
have committed, by picking up these dry sticks in a wood that virtually
belonged to no one, some offence rendering him liable to punishment;
and punishment was no trifle in the fourteenth century, whether
inflicted by the law or against it.
But ere a word could be spoken on either side, there came a sudden and
startling interruption.
Fully occupied with his supposed enemy in front, the wood-boy knew
nothing of the far worse peril that menaced him from the rear. He never
heard, poor lad, the warning rustle in the thicket behind him, nor saw
the hungry gleam of the cruel greenish-yellow eye that glared at him
through the tangled boughs; but all at once came a crackle and crash of
broken twigs—a fierce yell, a stifled cry, a heavy fall—and the
forest-lad lay face downward on the earth, struggling beneath the
weight of a huge grey wolf, ravenous from its winter fast!
[Illustration: BERTRAND GRAPPLES WITH THE WOLF]
Luckily for the poor boy, the furious beast was hampered for a moment
by the projecting sticks of the huge fagot, on which its first rush had
fallen. But an instant more would have seen the helpless lad fearfully
mangled, if not killed outright, when, just as all seemed over, rescue
came.
The moment the young noble caught sight of the springing monster, he
looked round for the hunting-knife that he had flung down in the grass
and ferns; but not finding it, he whirled up the broken bough like a
flail, and dealt a crushing blow at the wolf’s head with all his might
and main.
Had that blow fallen as it was meant, the brute would never have moved
again; but a quick jerk of the long, gaunt body foiled the stroke,
which, missing its head, hit the fore paw and snapped the bone like a
reed. With a sharp howl of pain, the savage beast let go its prey and
flew at its enemy.
But that sullen, hard-featured lad was one whom no peril, no matter how
sudden and terrific, ever found unprepared. Dropping his now useless
club, he sprang upon the wolf in turn and fastened both hands on its
lean, sinewy throat with a grip like a smith’s vice.
And then began a terrible battle. Over and over rolled boy and beast,
amid snapping twigs and flying dust, the boy throwing his whole force
into the strangling clutch that he still maintained, while the wolf’s
cruel fangs gnashed and snapped close to his throat, and its hot, foul
breath came steaming in his face, and the blood-flecked foam from its
gaping jaws hung upon his hair or fell in clammy flakes on his cheek.
Such a struggle, however, was too furious to last. Little by little the
fire died out of the fierce yellow eyes—the wolfish yells sank into a
low, gasping whine—the monster’s frantic struggles grew fainter and
fainter; the victory was all but won.
But the boy-champion, too, was almost spent with the terrific strain of
this death-grapple, and his numbed fingers were already beginning to
relax the iron grasp which they had so sternly made good till now. One
moment more would have let loose the all-but-conquered enemy, and
sealed the brave lad’s doom; but just then came a flash of steel before
his swimming eyes—a dull thud, like a tap on a padded door—a hoarse,
gurgling gasp—and the wolf lay limp and dead on the trampled earth.
The half-witted boy, recovering from the first stun of his fall, had
seen his rescuer’s peril, and his keen eye had caught the glitter of
the lost knife in the fern. To pounce on it, to snatch it up, to deal
one sure thrust into the wolf’s exposed side, was the work of a moment;
but, quick as he was, he came only just in time.
“I thank thee, friend,” said the young noble, with a quiet dignity far
beyond his years, as he slowly rose to his feet. “St. Yves be my speed,
but yon blow of thine was as good a one as ever was stricken; and had
it been one whit less swift or less sure, methinks it had gone hard
with me. But how fares it with thee? Thou canst scarce have come off
scatheless from the clutch of yon felon beast.”
“I am unharmed, messire; praise be to God and the holy saints,” said
the other, respectfully. “I trow it is I who ought rather to thank your
valiancy, since, but for your aid, my strength had availed nought
against such a beast as this.”
“A grim quarry, in good sooth,” cried the boy-conqueror, scanning with
admiring looks the slain wolf’s sinewy limbs and mighty jaws; “but, be
that as it may, neither man nor beast shall harm a defenceless boy
while I can lift hand to stay it!”
“It is well spoken, fair son,” said a grave, mild voice from behind;
“and ever mayst thou buckler the weak against the strong, and beat down
the ravening wolves that slaughter the flock of God!”
Both boys looked up with a start, and saw with surprise and secret awe
that, although they had neither seen nor heard any one approach, they
were no longer alone.
Beside them stood a tall, slim figure, clad in the grey frock and cowl
of a monk, and protected from the flints and thorns of the rugged path
only by a pair of torn and dusty sandals.
The stranger’s arms and limbs, so far as his robe left them visible,
seemed wasted almost to a skeleton; and on the hollow face that looked
forth from the shadowy cowl might be plainly read the traces of long
hardship and bitter suffering, and of mental conflicts more exhausting
than either. But on that worn face now rested the sweet and holy
calmness of the peace that passeth all understanding. A kindly smile
played on his thin, delicate lips, and his large, bright eyes were
filled with the loving, pitying tenderness of a guardian angel, though
through it pierced ever and anon a flash of keen and terrible
discernment.
A child would have nestled trustfully to the owner of that face, even
without knowing who he was; a ruffian or a traitor would have slunk
away abashed at the first glimpse of it.
The stranger’s soundless approach, his saintly aspect, and his sudden
appearance at the very moment when the death-struggle ended in victory,
bred in both lads a conviction which the beliefs of that age made quite
natural, and which the boy-noble was not slow to utter aloud.
“Holy father,” said he, with a low and almost timid bow, “art thou my
patron saint, St. Yves of Bretagne? If so, I pray thee to accept mine
unworthy thanks for thy timely aid.”
“Give thy thanks to God, my son, not to the humblest of His servants,”
replied the stranger, in a clear, musical voice, “though, could my aid
have profited thee, assuredly it should not have been lacking. No saint
nor angel am I, but a poor brother of the monastery of Notre Dame de
Secours (Our Lady of Help) in the town of Dinan; and men call me
Brother Michael.”
Hardly had he spoken, when the forest-boy threw himself at his feet,
and kissed his hand, crying joyfully—
“You are he, then, whom they call ‘God’s Pilgrim!’ Give me your
blessing, I pray, holy father, for men say that good follows your steps
wherever you go.”
“God grant the like may be said of us all!” said the monk, earnestly,
as his pale, worn face lighted up with so bright and happy a smile that
it fairly transfigured him for the moment. Then, laying his thin hand
gently on the boy’s bowed head, he blessed him fervently.
As the overjoyed simpleton shambled to his feet again, Brother Michael
turned to the boy-noble, who was eyeing him with undisguised
admiration; for he too had heard the fame of “God’s Pilgrim,” who went
from place to place doing good, and fearing neither pestilence, war,
famine, robbers, nor any other peril, if there was even a chance of
helping and comforting his fellow-men.
“Son,” said he, kindly, “I have told thee my name; wilt thou tell me
thine?”
“Bertrand du Guesclin,” replied the boy, in a tone of sullen dejection,
which showed that he, at least, had no guess how soon the unknown name
that he uttered so despondingly was to echo like a roll of thunder
through the length and breadth of Europe, and to be the symbol of all
that was chivalrous and noble alike with friend and foe.
The monk started slightly, and stood silent for a moment or two, with
knitted brow and compressed lips, as if trying hard to recall some
half-forgotten association connected with the name that he had just
heard.
“Give me thy hand,” said he at last, in a strangely altered voice.
The future hero extended his broad, sinewy hand to the clasp of
Michael’s long, slender fingers; and the monk’s deep, earnest eyes
rested with a penetrating glance on those of young Du Guesclin, which,
as they met his, remained fixed as if unable to turn away.
So the two stood gazing at each other without a word for some moments,
while the young forester looked wonderingly on.
“Give glory to God, my son, for He hath destined thee to great honour,”
said the monk at last, with a solemn earnestness, which showed how
deeply he felt the importance of the strange message that he was
delivering. “The grace of Heaven hath vouchsafed to mine unworthy self
the gift of reading in each face that I see the destiny of him who
bears it; and I read in thine that God hath chosen thee to be the
champion of this distressed land, and to save it from all its foes!”
To any man of that age, the voice of a Churchman was as that of God;
and Bertrand no more thought of doubting the monk’s words than if they
had come down to him from heaven. His heart bounded at the thought that
he, the ill-favoured, the mocked, the despised—he, on whom his own
parents looked down as a shame to them—should be chosen by Heaven
itself for so glorious a task; and it was no disbelief, but sheer
astonishment, that fettered his tongue when he tried to answer.
“_I_ the champion of France?” said he at last, with a look and tone of
joyful amazement.
“Thou and no other,” said the monk, firmly. “Why look’st thou thus
amazed? Is it not told in Holy Writ how the greatest king of God’s
chosen people was at the first but an unknown shepherd-lad, and how he
too was despised by his own kin?”
“Ha! how know’st thou that, holy father?” cried Du Guesclin, starting.
“By the revelation of God,” said Michael, solemnly. “Fare thee well, my
son; be thou strong to do thine appointed work, and to curb thine own
rebellious spirit; for he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. As
for thee, my child,” added he to the half-witted lad, who had watched
this strange scene with ever-growing wonder, “come with me; I have
somewhat to say to thee.”
The wood-boy obeyed like a child; and the next moment boy and monk
vanished amid the trees, while Bertrand remained standing like a statue
on the spot where they had left him, deep in thought.