Leaving the brutal officer and his companions to sleep off the fumes
of the wine they had imbibed, we must return to the dungeon where, in
darkness and in gloom, sat Albert Maurice, the young burgher of Ghent;
whom, perhaps, the reader may have already recognised in the prisoner
of Maillotin du Bac.
The silent agony of impotent indignation preyed upon his heart more
painfully even than the dark and fearful anticipations of the future,
which every circumstance of his situation naturally presented to his
mind. Wronged, oppressed, trampled on; insulted by base and ungenerous
men, whose minds were as inferior to his own as their power was
superior; he cared less for the death that in all probability awaited
him, than for the degradation he already suffered, and for the
present and future oppression of his country, his order, and his
fellow-creatures, to which his hopes could anticipate no end, and for
which his mind could devise no remedy. Whatever expectation Fancy
might sometimes, in her wildest dreams, have suggested to his hopes,
of becoming the liberator of his native land, and the general
benefactor of mankind--dreams which he had certainly entertained,
though he had never acted upon them--they were all extinguished at
once by his arrest, and the events which he knew must follow.
The arrest had taken place, indeed, while engaged in no pursuit which
the most jealous tyranny could stigmatize as even seditious. He had
visited Namur with no idea of entering France--a country on which the
Duke of Burgundy looked with suspicious eyes--but simply for the
purpose of transacting the mercantile business which his uncle's house
carried on with various traders of that city. Unfortunately, however,
on his return towards Ghent, he had charged himself with several
letters from different citizens of Namur, to persons in his native
place. Both cities were at that time equally disaffected; and amongst
the papers with which he had thus burdened himself, several had
proved, under the unceremonious inspection of Maillotin du Bac, to be
of a nature which might, by a little perversion, be construed into
treason. The immediate cause of his first detention also--the fact of
having protected a woman, insulted by one of the ruffianly soldiers
of the Prevot's band, and of having punished the offender on the
spot--might, as he knew well, by the aid of a little false swearing--a
thing almost as common in those days as at present--be made to take
the semblance of resistance to legitimate authority, and be brought to
prove his connexion with the letters, of which he had been simply the
bearer, unconscious of their contents.
Under such circumstances, nothing was to be expected but an
ignominious death; no remedy was to be found, no refuge presented
itself. Though his fellow-citizens of Ghent might revolt--though his
friends and relations might murmur and complain--revolt and complaint,
he well knew, would only hurry his own fate, and aggravate its
circumstances, without proving at all beneficial to his country.
Had he, indeed, seen the slightest prospect of the indignation which
his death would cause, wakening the people of his native place to such
great, generous, and well-directed exertions, as would permanently
establish the liberties of the land, there was in his own bosom that
mixture of pride, enthusiasm, and patriotism, which would have carried
him to the scaffold with a feeling of triumph rather than degradation.
But when his eye wandered over all those he knew in Ghent--nay, in all
Flanders--and sought to find a man fitted by nature and by
circumstances to lead and direct the struggles of the middle and lower
classes against the tyranny that then oppressed the land, he could
find none, in whose character and situation there were not
disadvantages which would frustrate his endeavours, or render them
more pernicious than beneficial to the country. His own death, he
felt, must extinguish the last hope of the liberty of Flanders, at
least for the time; and neither zeal nor passion could offer anything,
gathered from the prospect before him, to counterbalance, even in the
slightest degree, the natural antipathy of man to the awful separation
of soul and body. On the contrary, every accessory particular of his
fate was calculated to aggravate his distress, by accumulating upon
his head indignities and wrongs. He was to be dragged into his native
town amongst grooms and horse-boys, bound with cords like a common
thief, paraded through the long and crowded streets in mid-day to the
common prison, from whence he was alone to issue for the gibbet or the
block.
Such were the subjects of his contemplation--such were the images that
thronged before his mind's eye, as, with a burning heart and aching
brow, and with a lip that seemed as if some evil angel had breathed
upon it all the fire of his own, he lay stretched upon the straw,
which was the only bed that his gaoler had afforded him.
The dungeon was all in darkness; for, either from carelessness or
design, no light had been left with him. But could his face have been
seen, notwithstanding the agonizing thoughts that thrilled through his
bosom, none of those wild contortions would there have been traced,
which affect weaker beings under the like pangs. His hand was pressed
sometimes firmly upon his brow, as if to hold the throbbing veins from
bursting outright; and sometimes he bit his under lip unconsciously,
or shut his teeth hard, striving to prevent the despair which mastered
his heart from announcing its dominion by a groan. His eye might have
been seen full of keen anguish, and the bright red flushing of his
cheek might have told how strongly the body sympathized with the pangs
of the mind; but all that the clearest light could have displayed
would have been an effort to repress what was passing within, not the
weakness of yielding to it. He lay quite still, without one voluntary
movement--he suffered not his limbs to writhe--he tossed not to and
fro, in the restlessness of agony--but remained quiet, if not
tranquil, though full of deep, bitter, burning, voiceless thoughts.
Thus hour passed after hour--for the wings of time, as they fly
through the night of despair, are as rapid as when they cut the
mid-day sky of joy. Thus hour passed after hour, from the time that
the brutal Prevot closed the door of the dungeon; and the prisoner
could scarcely believe that the castle clock was right, when
eleven--midnight--one o'clock, chimed rapidly one after another, each
leaving, between itself and the last, an interval that seemed but of a
few minutes.
The single stroke upon the bell--that, echoing through the long,
solitary, and now silent passages and courts of the castle, passed
unheeded by the sleeping guests, and only told to the watchful warder,
or the sentry, that the first hour of a new day was gone--had scarcely
sounded upon the ear of Albert Maurice when a new noise called his
attention. It was a harsh, heavy, grating sound, as of some weighty
body pushed slowly over a rough surface; and it appeared so near that
his eye was immediately turned towards the door of the dungeon,
expecting to see it open. It moved not, however: the sound still went
on; and he now perceived that it did not come from that side of the
cell.
The apartment itself was a low-roofed, massive chamber, just below the
surface of the earth; and seemed to be partly excavated from the rock
on which the castle stood, partly formed by the solid foundations of
the building. A single window, or spiracle, of about twelve inches in
diameter, passed upwards through the thick masonry, to the external
air beyond: and one of those short, massive pillars, which we
sometimes see in the crypts of very ancient churches, standing in the
centre, supported the roof of the dungeon, and apparently the basement
of the castle itself; under the tremendous weight of which, a fanciful
mind might have conceived the column to be crushed down; so broad and
clumsy were its proportions, in comparison with those of the rudest
Tuscan shaft that ever upheld a portico.
From behind this pillar, the sounds that the prisoner heard appeared
to proceed; and he might have imagined that some human being, confined
in a neighbouring chamber, sought to communicate with him through the
walls, had it not happened that he had caught the words of the Lord of
Hannut in the morning; when, in speaking with Maillotin du Bac, that
nobleman had declared that all the dungeons of the castle were
untenanted. Still the noise continued, becoming more and more distinct
every moment; and as, leaning on his arm upon his couch of straw, he
gazed earnestly towards the other side of the vault, a single bright
ray of light burst suddenly forth upon the darkness, and, streaming
across the open space, painted a long perpendicular pencil of yellow
brightness upon the wall close beside him.
Albert Maurice started upon his feet; and perceived, to his surprise,
the ray he beheld issued, beyond all doubt, from the body of the
pillar itself. The reputed commune of the Lord of Hannut with the
beings of another world, his dark and mysterious studies, and the
extraordinary fulfilment which many of his astrological predictions
were reported to have met with, had often reached the ear of Albert
Maurice; but his mind was too enlightened to be credulous, at least,
to that extent to which credulity was generally carried in that age.
All the fearful circumstances, too, of his new situation had hitherto
blotted out from his memory the rumours he had heard; and when he had
entered the castle of Hannut, he looked upon it merely as a place of
temporary confinement, from which he was to be led to ignominy and
death. Now, however, when he beheld with his own eyes a beam of light,
doubly bright from the darkness around, breaking forth from the face
of the solid masonry, without any obvious cause or means, all that he
had heard rose to remembrance, and without absolutely giving credit to
the different tales which he thus recalled, he was certainly startled
and surprised; and held his breath, with a feeling of awe and
expectation, as he gazed on the spot whence that mysterious ray seemed
to proceed.
At the same time, the sound continued, and gradually, as it went on,
the light expanded and grew more and more diffused. At length, it
became evident, that a part of the massy column, about two feet from
the ground, was opening in a perpendicular direction, slowly but
steadily; and that the light issued from the aperture left by the
rolling back, on either side, of two of the large stones which
appeared to form a principal part of the shaft. For the first few
minutes, the vacancy did not extend to a hand's breadth in wideness,
though to about three feet in height, and nothing could be seen
beyond, but the light pouring forth from within. A minute more,
however, so much increased the aperture, that Albert Maurice could
perceive a gauntleted hand, and an arm clothed in steel, turning
slowly round in the inside what seemed to be the winch of a wheel. The
form, to which this hand and arm belonged, was for some time concealed
behind the stone; but, as the opening became larger, the blocks
appeared to move with greater facility, and, at length, rolling back
entirely, displayed to the eyes of the prisoner a narrow staircase in
the heart of the pillar, with the head, arms, and chest of a powerful
man, covered with armour. Beside him stood a complicated piece of
machinery; by the agency of which, two of the large stones, forming
the shaft of the column, were made to revolve upon the pivots of iron,
that connected them with the rest of the masonry; and in a bracket, on
the stairs, was fixed the burning torch, which afforded the light that
now poured into the dungeon.
Albert Maurice stood gazing in no small surprise. The feeling of
awe--which, however near akin to fear, was not fear--that he had felt
on first perceiving the light, was now succeeded by other sensations;
and, had there been the slightest resemblance between the personal
appearance of the man who stood before him, and that of Maillotin du
Bac, or any of his band, he would have supposed that the purpose of
the Prevot was to despatch him in prison; an event which not
unfrequently took place, in the case of prisoners whose public
execution might be dangerous to the tranquillity of the state.
Totally different, however, in every respect, was the person whom he
now beheld; for, though his form could not well be distinguished under
the armour by which he was covered, yet that armour itself was a
sufficient proof, at least to Albert Maurice, that the stranger was in
no way connected with the band of the Prevot. Every plate of his mail
was painted of a deep, leafy green; and even his helmet, which was
without crest or plume, and the visor of which was down, was of the
same forest colour. In other respects he seemed a tall, powerful man,
formed equally for feats of activity and strength.
Little time was allowed the prisoner for making further observations;
for as soon as the stones had been rolled back as far as their
construction permitted, the unexpected visitor at once sprang into the
dungeon; though the young burgher remarked at the same time, that a
leap which would have made any other arms clang, with a noise
sufficient to awaken the whole castle, produced no sound from those of
his new visitor.
The mechanical means which he had used to procure an entrance had, at
once, banished all superstitious fancies from the mind of Albert
Maurice, nor did even his noiseless tread recall them. The young
burgher, however, still looked upon the man-at-arms with some feelings
of doubt and astonishment; though his own presence in the dungeon was
far from seeming to surprise this nocturnal visitor, who, advancing
directly towards him, clasped his arm, saying, in a low voice, "Follow
me!"
Albert Maurice paused, and gazed upon the stranger--over whose green
armour the flashing red light of the torch cast a fitful and
unpleasant glare--with a glance of suspicion and hesitation; but his
irresolution was removed at once, by the other demanding, in the same
clear and distinct, but low tone, "Can you be worse than you are
here?"
"Lead on," he replied; "I follow you."
"Pass through," said his visitor, pointing with his hand to the
aperture in the column. Albert Maurice again hesitated: but a moment's
reflection upon the hopelessness of his situation--the inefficacy of
resistance, even if anything evil were meditated against him--together
with the thought, that it were better to die, murdered in a prison,
than to be exposed as a spectacle to the multitude by public
execution, mingled with a strong hope, that relief was at hand, though
he knew not whence that relief might come--made him cast away all
doubts; and, stepping over the mass of stone, below the aperture, he
found himself in a staircase only sufficiently large to admit the
ascent or descent of one person at a time. The secret entrance, which
it afforded to that dungeon, seemed its only object; for, to all
appearance, it was carried up no farther through the column; the space
above being occupied by the machinery for moving the blocks of stone.
"Descend a few steps," said the stranger, "that I may close the
passage." And as soon as he found himself obeyed, he also entered the
gap; and applying the full strength of his powerful arm to the winch
which moved the machinery, he succeeded, in a few minutes, in rolling
the heavy blocks so exactly back into their places in the masonry,
that not even in the inside could it be seen that they did not form a
part of the wall of the staircase.
When this was accomplished, he said, in the same abrupt manner in
which he had before spoken, "Go on!" and then followed the prisoner,
holding the torch as far before him as possible, to let the other see
the way as he descended step by step. After having proceeded for about
fifteen or twenty yards, Albert Maurice found his further progress
opposed by a strong oaken door, but it was unlocked; and having pushed
it open by the desire of his conductor, he stepped forth into a small
vaulted chamber, not unlike in shape the dungeon he had just left. The
light of another torch which was burning there, however, displayed
various objects strewed about in different parts of the room, which
showed him at once that the purposes to which it was applied were very
different from those of the cell above. Several cloaks and gowns were
piled upon a bench close to the door; and across them leaned, with one
end resting on the floor, a common pike or reiter's lance, and a large
two-handed sword. A barrel of wine, or some other liquor, occupied one
corner of the apartment; and in the midst was placed a table, on which
stood a large leathern bottle, or _bottiau_, with two or three
drinking horns.
Sitting on a bench at the far end of this table, on which his head and
arms rested, was a man apparently sound asleep. He was armed all but
his head, which was covered alone by its own long tangled black hair;
but his armour was of a very different kind from that of the stranger
who had guided Albert Maurice thither, consisting alone of one of
those light suits of body mail, which were called brigandines; and the
common use of which, amongst the lawless soldiers of the day, had
acquired for them the name of brigands. The general hue of his whole
dress, however, was green, like his companion's, and Albert Maurice
was soon led to conceive, that he was in the hands of a party of those
bold adventurers, who in that part of the country had succeeded the
schwarz reiters, or black horsemen, and had obtained, from the general
colour of their dress, the title of green riders. It is true that the
latter had displayed, upon all occasions, a much more generous and
noble spirit than their predecessors, whose sole trade was blood and
carnage. As they abstained totally from plundering the peasants, and
directed their attacks in general against persons who were in some way
obnoxious to the better part of the population, the green riders were
far from unpopular throughout the country. Many of them were known to
show themselves familiarly at village feasts and merry-makings; and
upon the borders of France and Flanders, their general name had been
changed, from these circumstances, into that of _Les Verts Gallants_,
though it seemed that their principal leader was more particularly
distinguished by this appellation. Nor was the acquisition of this
pleasant title the only effect of their popularity, which produced for
themselves a much more beneficial result, by making both peasant and
burgher, and even many of the feudal lords themselves, anxious to
connive at the escape of the green riders, whenever they were pursued
by superior bodies of troops.
Into the hands of some one of their parties Albert Maurice now clearly
saw that he had fallen; and as the sort of romantic life which they
led had caused a thousand stories to be spread concerning them--some
strange and extraordinary enough, but none more common than that of
their finding access into towns and castles without any visible
means--their connexion with the dwelling of the Lord of Hannut
required no explanation to the young citizen.
The moment he had entered the chamber which we have just described,
the Vert Gallant, as we shall henceforth term the person who had led
Albert Maurice thither, closed the heavy door which cut off the
communication with the staircase, and locked and barred it with no
small precaution. Advancing towards the table, he shook the slumberer
by the shoulder, who, starting up, merely required a sign to place
himself in the position of a sentry, at the mouth of a dark passage
which led from the other side of the chamber.
"Now, Sir Burgher," said the Vert Gallant, approaching Albert Maurice,
"you have penetrated into places which the eye of none of your cast or
craft ever beheld before; and, as you have been led thither solely for
your benefit and safety, you must take a serious oath, for the
security of those who have conferred upon you so great a favour."
"That I will willingly," replied Albert Maurice, "although Heaven only
knows whether it may prove a benefit to me or not."
"Rule yourself by my directions," replied the other, "and fear not for
the result. But first for the oath." So saying, he unsheathed his
sword, and holding up the cross which formed the hilt, before the eyes
of the young burgher, he added, "Swear by this blessed symbol of our
salvation, by your faith in the Saviour who died upon the cross, by
your hope for his aid at your utmost need, by all that you hold dear
upon the earth and sacred beyond the earth, never to reveal, by word,
sign, or token, or in any other manner whatever, anything that you
have seen from the moment that you quitted the dungeon above, or that
you may see as I lead you hence."
"Willingly do I swear," replied Albert Maurice, and he pressed the
hilt of the sword upon his lips. "Nevertheless," he added, "for the
security of all, fair sir, I would rather that, by bandaging my eyes,
you should take from me the means of betraying you, even if I would."
"Hast thou no confidence in thine own honour?" demanded the Vert
Gallant. "If so, by the Lord, I regret that I took the trouble to save
so scurvy a clown!"
The eye of the prisoner flashed, and his cheek grew red; but, after a
moment's pause, he replied, "Not so. It is not that I doubt my own
honour, for I have sworn not to betray you, or to reveal anything that
I may see; and that torture has not yet been invented by the demons
who are permitted to rule so much upon our earth, that could tear from
me one word in violation of that oath. Nevertheless, sir, I would
rather be able to say that I cannot, than that I will not tell, and
therefore I proposed the means at which you scoff without cause."
"Thou art right, and I am wrong, stranger," answered the other. "Be it
so then. With this scarf I will bind up thine eyes. But first," he
added, "take a draught of wine, for thou wilt have to travel far ere
morning."
So saying, he filled one of the horns upon the table to the brim, and
presented it to the young burgher, who drank it off. The Vert Gallant
himself, however, did not unclose the visor of his helmet, to partake
of the beverage he gave to the other. As soon as the citizen had
drained the cup, his guide took the scarf from the bench, and bound it
over his eyes, saying with a light laugh as he did so, "I am clumsy at
the work with these gauntlets on, but better have my fingers busy at
thy temples, than the hangman's busy at thy neck. Now give me thy
hand," he added; "the way is rough, so mind thy footing as we go."
Albert Maurice was now led forward to the mouth of the passage, at
which the other adventurer stood; and he then advanced for some way
over an uneven pavement, till at length he was told that there were
steps to descend. Of these there were about thirty, and he remarked,
as he went down, that the air became very close and oppressive. He
thought, too, that he heard many voices speaking and laughing beyond;
and as he proceeded, it became clear that it was so, for by the time
he and his guide had reached the bottom of the descent, the sound of
merriment burst clear upon his ear. "Now, pause for a moment," said
his companion, and at the same time he struck three hard blows with
his mailed hand, upon what seemed to be a door. All instantly became
silent within, and then a single blow upon the woodwork was struck
from the other side. It was answered in the same manner, by one stroke
more; and the next moment, after some clattering and grating caused by
the turning of more than one key, and by the removing of more than one
large bar, the door was apparently thrown open; and Albert Maurice
could tell, by the freer air which he breathed, that he was led
forward into some apartment of much larger dimensions than any he had
yet seen. No voice was heard; but the sound of moving feet, and of
seats pushed on one side, as well as the steam of wine and dressed
meats, showed clearly that they had now entered some scene of late or
present festivity. The person who had conducted him thither soon let
go his hand, but at the same time he heard his voice, exclaiming,
"Now, unbind his eyes for a few minutes. Have my orders been obeyed?"
While several voices were busily answering this question, by detailing
the despatch of a number of messengers, as it seemed, in different
directions, and for purposes which Albert Maurice could not gather
from what was said, two persons undid the scarf which had been tied
round his head, and he suddenly found himself in a scene which may
need a more detailed description.
The apartment in which he stood, if apartment it could be called, was
neither more nor less than an immense cavern, or excavation in the
limestone rock, from which, as it bore evidently the traces of human
labour, it is probable that at some remote period the stone for
constructing one or several large buildings had been hewn out. In
height it might be twenty or five and twenty feet, and in width it was
considerably more; the length was about eighty yards, and the farther
end, on one side, was closed by a wooden partition. Overhead the rock
was left rough and irregular, but the sides, very nearly to the top,
were perpendicular, and tolerably smooth, while the floor, or rather
the ground, had of course been made as level as possible in its
original construction, for the purpose of rolling out the blocks of
stone with greater facility. Extending down the centre of this
spacious apartment was a table, covered with various sorts of food.
The viands which it sustained consisted chiefly of immense masses of
solid meat, amongst which, though beef and mutton bore a certain
share, yet the stag, the wild boar, and the fallow deer, with other of
the forest tenants, had contributed not a little to make up the
entertainment. On either side of this table, which, by the way, was
itself formed of planks, bearing traces of the saw much more evidently
than those of the plane, were ranged an innumerable multitude of
benches, stools, and settles of the same rude description. From these
had risen up, as it seemed, on the entrance of the prisoner and his
companion, the mixed population of the cavern, consisting of nearly
two hundred cavaliers, as sturdy, and, apparently, as veteran as ever
drew sword or mounted horse; and, when the bandage was removed from
the eyes of the young citizen, he found that a number of those whose
habiliments seemed to point them out as the most distinguished, were
thronging round the person who had led him thither.
"John and Nicholas have gone to the west," cried one, "to tell the
band of St. Bavon to keep beyond Ramilies." "Adolph of Sluy," cried
another, "has tidings by this time that he must remain within the
bounds of Liege." "The little monk, too," said an old, white-headed
man, of a florid, healthy complexion, which showed that time had
hitherto wrestled with him nearly in vain, "the little monk, too, is
trotting away on his mule towards Mierdorp, though he complained
bitterly of being obliged to set out before the feast was on the
table, and has carried away, in his wallet, a roasted hare from the
fire, as long as my arm, and a bottle of the old Bonne that we got out
of the cellar of Ambly."
"He shall feast well another time for his pains," replied the Vert
Gallant, moving towards the head of the table, at which a large armed
chair, like a throne, stood vacant, "he shall feast well another time
for his pains, good Matthew; but we must make this stranger taste of
our hospitality while the horses are saddling without. Sit down, Sir
Citizen," he added, turning to Albert Maurice, "sit down, and refresh
yourself before you go;" and he pointed to a vacant seat by his side.
"I thank you, sir," replied the young burgher; "but the grief I have
undergone, and the anxieties I have suffered, have dulled the edge of
appetite with me more than the banquet of a prince could have done;
and I would fain see myself once more upon my road to Ghent, if such
be the fate intended for me."
"Ha! ha!" exclaimed the old man whom we have before noticed. "See what
frail things these townsmen are, that a little anxiety and fear should
take away their appetite; but thou wilt drink, good friend, if thou
wilt not eat. Here, merry men all, fill to the brim, and drink with me
to our noble leader, 'Here's to the Vert Gallant of Hannut!'"
The proposal was like an electric shock to all. Each man started on
his feet, and with loud voice and overflowing cup, drank, "To the Vert
Gallant of Hannut! and may the sword soon restore to him what the
sword took from him!"
"Thank you, my friends, thank you," replied the Vert Gallant, as soon
as their acclamation had subsided; "I drink to you all. May I need
your aid and not find it, when I forget you!" and so saying, he raised
the visor of his helmet sufficiently to allow himself to bring the cup
to his lip. The eye of the young burgher fixed eagerly upon him,
anxious, as may be well supposed, to behold the countenance of a man
holding such an extraordinary station. What was his surprise, however,
when the small degree in which the leader of the green riders suffered
his face to appear, exposed to view the countenance of a negro.