The king and his party rode on to Clipstone Palace. The attendant to
whom the spy had been consigned hastily summoned a bailiff, to whom he
made over his charge, and then galloped off to overtake the party. And
Walter Skinner, hardly understanding what had come to pass, was left
behind in Newark.
The king had thought to spend a week of pleasure at Clipstone, but the
intelligence brought by the spy changed his plans. Of all his barons he
hated Lord De Aldithely most. He would have struck at him more quickly
and forcibly but for Lord De Aldithely's great popularity, and his own
somewhat cowardly fear. And now here was the son escaped. And suddenly
the evil temper of the king blazed forth so that his attendants, in so
far as they dared, shrank from him.
The king waited not to reach Clipstone, but turning to two of his
attendants he said: "Go thou, De Skirlaw, and thou, De Kellaw, to De
Aldithely Castle. Put spurs to your horses and tarry not. See what is
come to pass and bring me word again."
De Skirlaw and De Kellaw galloped off; and the king, shortly after
coming to Clipstone, entered his private apartments and excluded the
party from them.
"There is treachery somewhere," he said to himself, aloud, "and the
guilty shall not escape me. Why, what is this Josceline but a boy of
fourteen? And what is his mother but a woman? And do they both bid
successful defiance to me, the king? I will have their castle down over
their heads, and no counsels shall longer prevent me from doing it.
Without the boy and his mother the father is sure aid to Louis. And
where De Aldithely goeth, there goeth victory."
"Nay, not alway, my liege," responded a voice.
The king started, and turned to see one of his courtiers, more bold
than the rest, who had quietly entered the chamber.
"I knew not of thy presence, De Kirkham," he said. "What sayest thou?"
"I say that victory is not alway with De Aldithely since he is a
fugitive and his son a wanderer, and his castle in thy power."
"True. Thou sayest true," responded the king, after a pause. "Thou dost
ever bolster up my failing courage. And I will have this silly boy, if
the madman I did put in custody spake true. Yea, I will have him,
though I set half England on the chase. His father is my enemy. And
shall the son defy me? I will hale him to a dungeon, and so I tell
thee, De Kirkham."
It was not a long ride to De Aldithely castle for those who need
neither skulk nor hide, and the messengers of the king were at Selby
ere nightfall. Here they determined to rest and go on the next morning.
They heard no news in the town; nor did they see anything until they
came to the castle itself. Birds of prey were screaming above the moat
near the postern, and there was a stillness about the place that would
have argued desertion if the flag had not still floated from one of the
towers.
"I like not this stillness," said De Skirlaw.
"It hath a menacing air," observed De Kellaw.
A while the two waited in the outskirts of the wood near the cleared
place about the castle. Then said De Skirlaw, "I go forward boldly to
the bridge and summon the warder in the king's name."
"I go with thee," agreed De Kellaw.
So briskly the two rode forth from the shelter of the wood and up to
the entrance, where De Skirlaw loudly wound his horn. But there was no
response. He wound it again. And still there came no answer.
"Seest thou no man upon the walls?" asked De Skirlaw, scanning the
heights with eyes somewhat near-sighted.
"I see no one," responded the hawk-eyed De Kellaw.
"Let us skirt the castle," proposed De Skirlaw, after a short pause.
"I am ready," responded De Kellaw.
Then together the two began their tour of examination. And the first
thing they noted was the dam which William Lorimer and his men had
constructed, and which the old warder had broken before he himself
wandered forth from the castle, thus letting the water which had filled
the rear part of the moat escape. From this point they rode back toward
the entrance and, looking down into the moat, saw that it was dry.
Turning again toward the postern, they noted the drawbridge there, and
wondered to see it down. "The postern gate is also ajar," observed De
Kellaw. The two now drew nearer and came even to the edge of the moat.
They looked in, but saw only bones and armor; for kites and eagles had
been at work, and nothing more remained of those who had perished there
in the waters.
"Some strange thing hath happened here, and wind of it is not yet gone
abroad," said De Skirlaw.
"Yea," agreed De Kellaw. "Darest thou venture across this bridge and in
at the postern gate?"
"I dare," responded De Skirlaw. Dismounting, the two secured their
horses by stakes driven into the earth, and then, on foot, crossed the
bridge.
Inside the baileys all was deserted. The stables were empty. No
footsteps but their own could be heard. No guard paced the walls. No
warder kept watch. There was only silence and emptiness in the great
hall, and no living creature was anywhere.
"Here be a mystery," said De Skirlaw. "I will not be the one to try to
unravel it. Let us away to the king and say what we have seen."
"Ay, and brave his wrath by so doing," returned De Kellaw; "for, since
he cannot lay hands on those that have disappointed him, he will lay
hands on us that bring him word of the matter. To be near to the king,
if thou be not a liar or a cajoler, is to stand in a dangerous place."
"Yea," answered De Skirlaw, "thou art right; but we needs must return.
So let us set out."
While the king raged, Walter Skinner, left behind at Newark in charge
of the bailiff, had speedily recovered his complacency.
"I have seen the king and spoken with him," he thought. "True, he did
laugh right insultingly in my face, but that may be the way of kings;
and even so will I laugh in the face of Richard Wood when next I see
him, for he hath no hope of preferment and seeketh only his money
reward. Therefore is he a base cur and fit only to be laughed to
scorn."
When the scullions served him his dinner in the room where he was held
prisoner, he looked upon them haughtily, and bade them mind what they
did and how they did it. "For I shall not alway be served here by such
as ye," he said.
"Nay, verily," replied the first scullion, "thou sayest true. Thou art
more like to be served in one of the dungeons, if so be thou be served
at all."
"Why, what meanest thou by that last, sirrah?" demanded the little man,
strutting up and down and frowning.
"I did but mean that thou mayest shortly journey to that land where
there is neither eating nor drinking," was the reply.
"Thou meanest that I may shortly die?" asked Walter Skinner,
contemptuously.
"Yea," was the answer.
"Why, so must thou. So must Richard Wood. So must the king himself,"
said Walter Skinner. "But thou hast learned here so near the court to
speak Norman fashion, and go round about the matter; and so thou
speakest of journeys, and a land where there is neither eating nor
drinking. Moreover, thou didst speak of dungeons. I would have thee
know that they be no fit subjects of conversation in my presence. Have
I not served the king? And shall I not therefore have preferment? Speak
not of dungeons, and the country where there is neither eating nor
drinking to me." And, seating himself, the pompous little man began to
eat his dinner heartily. When he had finished, the first scullion came
alone to take away the dishes.
"Thou art a very big little fool," he said, with a compassionate
glance, "and so I bid thee prepare thyself for any fate. Thou must know
that what thou saidst to the king did anger him. Thou didst bring him
ill news, and the bearer of ill news he will punish."
Walter Skinner now showed some alarm; but he soon recovered himself.
"Why, how now, sirrah?" he said. "I did not bid the young lord
Josceline flee; but when he did flee I did give chase. And wherefore
should I be punished for that? Had I remained in the tree near the
castle, then indeed the king had had cause for anger."
The scullion still looked at him pityingly. "By thine own showing," he
said, "thou art but the king's spy, hired by Sir Thomas De Lany, no
doubt. Spies have not preferment when their task is done, because,
though the king doth take their work, he hateth them that perform it."
And now Walter Skinner stared in bewilderment. "Thou art but a
scullion," he said at last. "And how knowest thou of Sir Thomas?"
"I am not what I seem," replied the scullion. "Wert thou sound in thy
wits I would have said naught to thee, because then thou wouldst not
have been here; but I like not to see one infirm of intellect run into
calamity."
"And dost thou say of me that I be not sound in my wits?" demanded
Walter Skinner, indignantly.
"Why, thou art either unsound of wit or a knave," was the calm
response. "Only fool or knave doeth dirty work for another, even though
that other be the king. And now, if thou wilt escape, I will help thee
to it."
"I have had great toils," said Walter Skinner, with a manner which
would have been ponderous in a man twice his size. "I have met a
hedgehog. I have lost two horses. I have been planted in the mire like
a rush. I have now come hither on a wind-broken and spring-halt horse,
for which I did pay a price to a thief. And now thou sayest that for
all this which I have undergone in the service of the king I shall have
not preferment but a dungeon or death."
"Yea," was the calm rejoinder, "I say it; for where is the young lord?
Knowest thou?"
"Nay," answered Walter Skinner, slowly.
"That is all that the king careth for of thee. That thou hast let him
escape thee is all that he will note. And thy life will, mayhap, answer
for it. All will depend on the greatness of his rage."
The little man looked in fright at the scullion, whom even his
inexperienced eyes could now see was no scullion as he stood there in
dignity awaiting the decision of the prisoner. "I will go with thee,"
he said, in a tremble. "But do I go on the wind-broken and spring-halt
Black Tom of Lincoln?"
"That, Black Tom of Lincoln!" cried the mysterious scullion, laughing.
"Thou hast once more been made a fool of. I have many times seen Black
Tom. But thou shalt not go on the beast thou camest on. I will furnish
thee another, for it must seem that thou didst escape on foot. Seek no
more for the young lord. Flee into hiding and remain there. Dost thou
promise me so to do?"
"Yea," was the prompt answer. "I promise."
He in the disguise of the scullion smiled, and bidding Walter Skinner
follow him, led the way by secret passages until they came out unseen
into a small court, where stood a horse ready saddled and bridled. The
little man's guide bade him mount, and, opening a small door in the
wall, motioned him to ride through it and away.
"My liege, the king," he said, as he watched the spy making all speed
on his way, "thou wilt learn nothing of the flight of Josceline De
Aldithely from thy late prisoner. And may confusion wait on all thy
plans."
Walter Skinner had been gone over night, and the second day of his
flight was well begun when the king, impatient over the slowness of De
Skirlaw and De Kellaw, sent from Clipstone to Newark to have the spy
brought before him. In haste the bailiff went to the room where he had
placed him, and no prisoner was there. No prisoner was anywhere in the
castle or in the town, as the frightened officer discovered after a
diligent search. Only the afflicted horse upon which he had arrived
remained in one of the stables. And with this word the unfortunate
officer hastened on his way to the king. Near the gate, as he went out
of Newark, he met one of the courtiers who bore a strong resemblance to
him who had, in the guise of a scullion, set Walter Skinner at liberty.
"Thou art frightened, worthy bailiff," he said. "But do thou only put a
brave front on it and all may yet go well. Be careful to say and ever
repeat that the man was mad, and not only mad, but cunning, and so hath
made off, leaving his horse behind him."
The bailiff responded with a grateful look. "Thou art ever kind, my
lord," he said. "And mayhap the man is dead. If he knew not the way, he
may be dead, or caught by robbers. I will say that he may be dead also,
and I hope he may be."