When the bugle sounded, De Bracy was engaged in pressing his suit with
the Saxon heiress Rowena, whom he had carried off under the impression
that she would speedily surrender to his rough wooing. But he found her
[v]obdurate as well as tearful and in no humor to listen to his
professions of devotion. It was, therefore, with some relief that the
free-lance heard the summons at the barbican. Going into the hall of
the castle, De Bracy was presently joined by Bois-Guilbert.
"Where is Front-de-Boeuf!" the latter asked.
"He is [v]negotiating with the Jew, I suppose," replied De Bracy,
coolly; "probably the howls of Isaac have drowned the blast of the
bugle. But we will make the [v]vassals call him."
They were soon after joined by Front-de-Boeuf, who had only tarried to
give some necessary directions.
"Let us see the cause of this cursed clamor," he said. "Here is a letter
which has just been brought in, and, if I mistake not, it is in Saxon."
He looked at it, turning it round and round as if he had some hopes of
coming at the meaning by inverting the position of the paper, and then
handed it to De Bracy.
"It may be magic spells for aught I know," said De Bracy, who possessed
his full proportion of the ignorance which characterized the chivalry of
the period.
"Give it to me," said the Templar. "We have that of the priestly
character that we have some knowledge to enlighten our valor."
"Let us profit by your most reverend knowledge, then," returned De
Bracy. "What says the scroll?"
"It is a formal letter of defiance," answered Bois-Guilbert; "but, by
our Lady of Bethlehem, if it be not a foolish jest, it is the most
extraordinary [v]cartel that ever went across the drawbridge of a
baronial castle."
"Jest!" exclaimed Front-de-Boeuf. "I would gladly know who dares jest
with me in such a matter! Read it, Sir Brian."
The Templar accordingly read as follows:
"I, Wamba, the son of Witless, jester to a noble and free-born man,
Cedric of Rotherwood, called the Saxon: and I, Gurth, the son of
Beowulph, the swineherd--"
"Thou art mad!" cried Front-de-Boeuf, interrupting the reader.
"By Saint Luke, it is so set down," answered the Templar. Then, resuming
his task, he went on: "I, Gurth, the son of Beowulph, swineherd unto the
said Cedric, with the assistance of our allies and confederates, who
make common cause with us in this our feud, namely, the good knight,
called for the present the Black Knight, and the stout yeoman, Robert
Locksley, called Cleve-the-wand: Do you, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, and
your allies and accomplices whomsoever, to wit, that whereas you have,
without cause given or feud declared, wrongfully and by mastery, seized
upon the person of our lord and master, the said Cedric; also upon the
person of a noble and free-born damsel, the Lady Rowena; also upon the
person of a noble and free-born man, Athelstane of Coningsburgh; also
upon the persons of certain free-born men, their vassals; also upon
certain serfs, their born bondsmen; also upon a certain Jew, named
Isaac of York, together with his daughter, and certain horses and mules:
therefore, we require and demand that the said persons be within an hour
after the delivery hereof delivered to us, untouched and unharmed in
body and goods. Failing of which, we do pronounce to you that we hold ye
as robbers and traitors and will wager our bodies against ye in battle
and do our utmost to your destruction. Signed by us upon the eve of
Saint Withold's day, under the great oak in the Hart-hill Walk, the
above being written by a holy man, clerk to God and Saint Dunstan in the
chapel of Copmanhurst."
The knights heard this uncommon document read from end to end and then
gazed upon each other in silent amazement, as being utterly at a loss to
know what it could portend. De Bracy was the first to break silence by
an uncontrollable fit of laughter, wherein he was joined, though with
more moderation, by the Templar. Front-de-Boeuf, on the contrary, seemed
impatient of their ill-timed [v]jocularity.
"I give you plain warning," he said, "fair sirs, that you had better
consult how to bear yourselves under these circumstances than to give
way to such misplaced merriment."
"Front-de-Boeuf has not recovered his temper since his overthrow in the
tournament," said De Bracy to the Templar. "He is cowed at the very idea
of a cartel, though it be from a fool and a swineherd."
"I would thou couldst stand the whole brunt of this adventure thyself,
De Bracy," answered Front-de-Boeuf. "These fellows dared not to have
acted with such inconceivable impudence had they not been supported by
some strong bands. There are enough outlaws in this forest to resent my
protecting the deer. I did but tie one fellow, who was taken red-handed
and in the fact, to the horns of a wild stag, which gored him to death
in five minutes, and I had as many arrows shot at me as were launched in
the tournament. Here, fellow," he added to one of his attendants, "hast
thou sent out to see by what force this precious challenge is to be
supported?"
"There are at least two hundred men assembled in the woods," answered a
squire who was in attendance.
"Here is a proper matter!" said Front-de-Boeuf. "This comes of lending
you the use of my castle. You cannot manage your undertaking quietly,
but you must bring this nest of hornets about my ears!"
"Of hornets?" echoed De Bracy. "Of stingless drones rather--a band of
lazy knaves who take to the wood and destroy the venison rather than
labor for their maintenance."
"Stingless!" replied Front-de-Boeuf. "Fork-headed shafts of a cloth-yard
in length, and these shot within the breadth of a French crown, are
sting enough."
"For shame, sir knight!" said the Templar. "Let us summon our people
and sally forth upon them. One knight--ay, one man-at-arms--were enough
for twenty such peasants."
"Enough, and too much," agreed De Bracy. "I should be ashamed to couch
lance against them."
"True," answered Front-de-Boeuf, drily, "were they black Turks or Moors,
Sir Templar, or the craven peasants of France, most valiant De Bracy;
but these are English yeomen, over whom we shall have no advantage save
what we may derive from our arms and horses, which will avail us little
in the glades of the forest. Sally, saidst thou? We have scarce men
enough to defend the castle. The best of mine are at York; so is your
band, De Bracy; and we have scarce twenty, besides the handful that were
engaged in this mad business."
"Thou dost not fear," said the Templar, "that they can assemble in force
sufficient to attempt the castle?"
"Not so, Sir Brian," answered Front-de-Boeuf. "These outlaws have indeed
a daring captain; but without machines, scaling ladders, and experienced
leaders my castle may defy them."
"Send to thy neighbors," suggested the Templar. "Let them assemble their
people and come to the rescue of three knights, besieged by a jester and
swineherd in the baronial castle of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf!"
"You jest, sir knight," answered the baron; "but to whom shall I send?
My allies are at York, where I should have also been but for this
infernal enterprise."
"Then send to York and recall our people," said De Bracy. "If these
[v]churls abide the shaking of my standard, I will give them credit for
the boldest outlaws that ever bent bow in greenwood."
"And who shall bear such a message?" said Front-de-Boeuf. "The knaves
will beset every path and rip the errand out of the man's bosom. I have
it," he added, after pausing for a moment. "Sir Templar, thou canst
write as well as read, and if we can but find writing materials, thou
shalt return an answer to this bold challenge."
Paper and pen were presently brought, and Bois-Guilbert sat down and
wrote, in the French language, an epistle of the following tenor:
"Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, with his noble and knightly allies and
confederates, receives no defiances at the hands of slaves, bondsmen, or
fugitives. If the person calling himself the Black Knight hath indeed a
claim to the honors of chivalry, he ought to know that he stands
degraded by his present association and has no right to ask reckoning at
the hands of good men of noble blood. Touching the prisoners we have
made, we do in Christian charity require you to send a man of religion
to receive their confession and reconcile them with God; since it is our
fixed intention to execute them this morning before noon, so that their
heads, being placed on the battlements, shall show to all men how
lightly we esteem those who have bestirred themselves in their rescue.
Wherefore, as above, we require you to send a priest to reconcile them
with God, in doing which you shall render them the last earthly
service."
This letter, being folded, was delivered to the squire, and by him to
the messenger who waited without, as the answer to that which he had
brought.