THE ARCHER INTRODUCES HIMSELF.
The Emperor, having removed the stains of travel, followed his host
downstairs to the banquet that had been prepared for him, and both fell
to with an appetite sharpened by a long journey. The white wines of the
Moselle, supplemented by the vintage of the Saar, speedily drove away
all remembrance of the day's fatigue.
After the meal, the Baron, with a re-filled flagon at his elbow,
stretched out his legs and enjoyed to the full the consciousness that he
had been well fed and was comfortably housed, with nothing more arduous
in prospect than an honestly earned night's repose. The young Emperor
looked across at this picture of contentment with a twinkle in his eye.
"Siegfried," he said, "I have a fancy for a moonlight stroll."
The Baron drew in his feet and sat bolt upright, an expression of dismay
coming into his face. The sigh that followed, truly indicated what he
perhaps hesitated to express, that he wished people knew when they were
well off. The Emperor laughed heartily and added, "You may not have
noticed that the moon was nearly full."
"If I had," said the Baron, "I should merely have thanked heaven for it,
resolved to stay indoors and follow her most excellent example. The wine
flagon has more attraction for me than the fullest of moons, and I have
some rare Rhenish in my cellars regarding which I was about to invite
your criticism--a more potent vintage than this of the Saar."
"The Rhenish will be still older when we return, Siegfried."
"Indeed, and that is true, Rodolph. It may have aged so much that our
heirs shall have the enjoyment of drinking it. The man who leaves a
secure door in Treves to stroll by moonlight has no surety of ever
reaching it again. A slit throat is an ill conduit for sound Rhenish."
"Is Treves, then, so turbulent? I thought the Archbishop kept strict
rule."
"Much goes on in Treves that the Archbishop knows nothing of, as our own
presence here is witness. The town is full of soldiers and bravos. There
are many outbreaks in the streets, and a brawl might be fatal to your
plans. We should assuredly be stopped and questioned, and we might have
to trust to our swords."
"You think then, a jaunt in the country would be safer than a moonlight
stroll in the city?"
"I do indeed."
"That tallies exactly with my purpose. Never say again that I disregard
your advice, for it is not your secure door I would leave, but your
insecure window, trusting to find the rope dangling there when we
return. I am anxious to test your ingenious device of exit and entrance.
We shall walk to the river, and you will make me free of your boat and
your fleet horse. It is well that your servants at that small house on
the Moselle should know me, for if I enact the part of your man in a
hurry, it would avail me little to scramble down the city wall, while
you bravely kept the outer door with your sword against the minions of
Arnold, if your own minions by the river refused further means of
escape."
"That is true, but we are safe here for the night and may we not without
prejudice put off further action until to-morrow?"
"There speaks the comforting flagon, Baron. You are too well versed in
siege and surprise not to know that every precaution should be taken,
and that no moment is too soon for doing what reconnoitering there is to
be accomplished. I would not ask you to accompany me, were it not that I
need your introduction in the house by the river."
This brought Siegfried instantly to his feet.
"Where you go, I go, introduction or none. Let us then to the window
before the night grows older."
They mounted the stairs again, and unbolted the swinging window-grate.
The Baron going first, slid swiftly down the rope, and a moment after he
reached the ground, the Emperor followed. Directly under the wall, they
were in the shadow, but the broad plain before them, and the cliffs
beyond, lay distinct in the moonlight. The small riverside hamlet,
towards which they bent their steps, showed here and there a few
twinkling lights, to guide them. The plain was uncultivated, covered
with thick rank grass, which seemed to betoken a marshy nature of the
soil, but the ground was nevertheless firm underfoot. The Baron, as best
knowing the way, took the lead, wading knee-deep in the thick grass, and
was silent, thinking rather of the luxury of bench and wine-laden table
than of the expedition in hand.
The night was very quiet, the stillness being broken, now and then, by
the far-away cry of some sentinel on the wall proclaiming that all was
well, and that peace reigned over Treves, invoking piously a blessing on
the sleeping city--which Christian benediction was a duty resting on all
who kept watch and guard for that Prince of the Church, the Archbishop.
The pair walked in silence as had been arranged, and the first to
violate the compact was the Baron, who stumbling over something, pitched
head-foremost, uttering a good round Rhenish oath as he did so. The
laugh on the Emperor's lips was checked by the sudden springing up, as
if from out the earth, of a man apparently fully armed, who instantly
put himself in a posture of defence. Simultaneously the swords of
Rodolph and Siegfried flashed from their scabbards, and the Baron,
finding the stranger had leaped up between him and his friend, rapidly
executed a semi-circular retreat, and stood at the side of the Emperor,
while the unexpected third, moving as on a pivot, faced Siegfried, with
a stout sword in his hand, making, however, no motion of attack.
"If you propose to fight me together," said the stranger, quietly,
"permit me to stoop unscathed for my pike, but if you are content to
fall upon me one at a time, I shall be happy to meet you as I am,
although you have the advantage of the longer blade."
"What need to fight at all?" asked the Emperor. "We are no enemies of
thine."
"If, as I take it, you are marauders seeking gain from belated
wayfarers, it is but honest to tell you that, in case of victory, which
is doubtful, seeing you are but two and Germans at that, there is little
to be picked from me but hard knocks, or, given a proper distance, a
well-placed shaft which you would find harder to digest than anything
you have taken inwardly this some time past. I say this but in the way
of fair dealing as between man and man, to prevent after disappointment,
and not as prejudicing a fair encounter should your inclination tend in
that direction."
"Fellow, we are no marauders, but peaceable merchants from Treves."
"Then the merchandise you deal in must pertain to combat, for you came
more deftly by your blades than any yard-stick-handler I have met with
in all my wanderings. I know a well-hung weapon when I see it, ready for
thrust or parry, yet carried with seeming carelessness, as if nothing
were further from your minds than either assault or defence."
"You are a shrewd fellow," said the Emperor. "Why lie you here in
ambush?"
"It is no ambush other than one to capture sleep, which I had in thrall
when your comrade trod on my stomach and straightway rescued and put to
flight my drowsy prisoner."
"And can a man of your ability provide yourself with no better bed than
one in the high grass by the side of the Moselle?"
"There is little to complain of in the bed, my Lord, for I take you to
be no merchant, but a person of quality. A bed is but a place in which
to sleep, and where slumber comes, the bed has served its purpose. I
have before now laid down my head within walls and under roof in
circumstances of such uncertainty that a man slept at the risk of a slit
throat, while here the bed is wide with no danger of falling out, having
good fighting ground, if one is molested, and ample space for flight
should opposition over-match me. There is small fault to find with such
a resting-place."
"You are easily contented, but surely you should have a cloak to ward
off, partly at least, the dews of night."
"A cloak, my Lord, although I admit its comfort, hampers a man suddenly
awakened; still I should doubtless succumb to its temptations did I not
need it for the protection of a weapon that I love even more than the
pampering of my own body."
Saying this, the man stooped and lifted from the ground a cloak which he
unfolded drawing from cover an unstrung bow somewhat longer than
himself. Resting one end on the ground against his foot, and bending the
upper part over his shoulder, he deftly slipped the loop of the cord
into its notch, and twanged the string, making it give forth a musical
note that vibrated melodiously in the still air.
"There, my Lord, is a one-stringed harp, which sings of sudden death and
nothing else. Were it as good at arm's length as it is at stone's throw,
I should cumber myself with no other weapon; but it is as delicate and
capricious as a woman, and must be taken care of. So in the dampness of
the river valley I wrap it in my cloak to keep the moisture from it."
"I should think so tender a weapon would be of little use in the rough
and tumble of actual war."
"There speaks the unenlightened German! A slender shaft like this, two
hundred years ago, killed a king and lost my country to the Normans. The
German swine are as gross in their killing as in their eating. They
appreciate not delicacy in death, but must needs mutilate the image of
their Creator, slicing him with huge two-handed swords, or battering his
head with battle-axe, but a gentle arrow, truly sped, passing daintily
through an enemy, dipping its fleecy wing in the red core of his heart,
leaving little mark to attest its passage, and furnishing thereby a
corpse that is a delight to look upon, gives no pleasure to this
uncivilised people."
"You forget, fellow, that you are speaking to Germans, and also that we
have had the cross-bow for centuries, as well as instruments not
dissimilar to thine," cried the Baron, with natural indignation at the
bowman's strictures.
"Hush, Siegfried," whispered the Emperor, "let him babble on. Surely the
conceit of the rascal shows he comes from England."
"I am a free man," continued the archer, calmly, "and am used to speak
my mind, but I seek not to shirk responsibility for my words. If any,
hearing me, take just offence at the tenour of my expressions, I shall
not deny him opportunity for satisfaction, under the equitable rule that
the victor enter into possession, not thereafter to be disputed, of the
belongings of the conquered. On these terms therefore I shall be pleased
to uphold against you, sir, the truth of my remarks about the German
people, your friend seeing fair combat betwixt us."
"I cannot demean myself by fighting with a fellow of your quality."
"Those are high words to be spoken by an honest merchant, the progeny of
a yard-stick, a class over which we men-at-arms hold ourselves the
superior. In a fair field all men, bearing arms, willing to submit to
the arbitration thereof, are considered equal. King William, perhaps
with some justice surnamed the Conqueror, questioned not the quality of
a yeoman who hotly beset him at the battle of Hastings, but honoured the
man by cleaving him to the midriff with his battle-axe, the which is
held in high esteem by the yeoman's descendants to this day. But
touching the use of the long bow, I grant that you may well make some
demur regarding unproven statements, if you have seen no better examples
of its merits than is shown by your German archers, who lazily prefer
the cumbrous cross-bow with a stake upright in the ground to steady it,
necessitating thus a clumsy equipment hardly more portable than a
catapult itself, whereas this fibrous length of toughened yew can be
held lightly in the outstretched left hand, and given but the skill
behind it, will nip you off a dozen men while the cross-bow villain is
planting his marvellous engine. But let the arrow sing its own praises.
You see yonder sentinel pacing back and forth in the moonlight on the
wall near the gate. I will wing you a shaft through him, and he will
never know whence comes the summons to a less contentious world."
Saying this, the bowman placed an arrow on the string with much
deliberation and was about to raise his weapon when Rodolph and
Siegfried, with simultaneous movement, sprang between the unconscious
victim and the foreigner.
"Good Heavens! What are you setting out to do?" cried the Emperor.
"Would you slay an innocent man, and bring a hornet's nest unnecessarily
about our ears?"
"The hornets would not know whither to fly. The man would drop inside
the wall most likely, or outside perchance, but no one could tell from
which direction the shaft had sped, or whether it was let loose from
city or country. I hold no malice against the sentinel, but merely
offered this example in proof of what I spoke. Indeed I myself would be
the only one put to inconvenience by the shot, for you carry no bow and
it is likely they would see by the shaft when they got it, that it
differs from those in use hereabouts, for the Germans have small skill
in arrow-making; besides I did myself twice these last two days
endeavour to gain entrance to that stupid city, hoping to win
appointment to the Archbishop's train, and may have mentioned something
to the guardsmen at the gate of my own merit with the bow-string, but
they, on both occasions, refused admission unless I were provided with
passports, the which, of course, I could not show."
"Why do you travel, or expect admittance to a walled town without papers
of identification?"
"You have asked me many questions and answered none, excepting that
about your occupation, which I take to be devoid of truth,--nay, no
offence is meant, for I hold it each man's privilege to lie to any
chance wayfarer as may suit his purpose, and I myself never cling to
truth longer than my necessity serves. Are you then adherents of the
Archbishop and have you any influence with his Lordship such as might
bend him to look with favour on my desire for employment?"
"We are not known to the Archbishop, therefore have no influence with
him. I come from Frankfort and my friend from the Rhine. We are but
visitors here, and so in some measure similar to yourself."
"I take that to be well and truly answered. I shall deal with you in
equal honesty. My papers would be small recommendation to Arnold von
Isenberg, for they truly show that in his last campaign I fought
manfully against him. But peace being unfortunately declared, I am now
in want of occupation. Know you of any noble in need of an unerring bow
and a courageous heart at threepence a day, with victualling, and such
lodgment as a man, who cares not where he sleeps, may require?"
"I have no need of such a warrior," replied the Baron, "but a man,
expert at ridding the world of his fellow-creatures, would find more to
do in the turbulent valley of the Rhine than in the more peaceful vale
of the Moselle. Here the nobles are awed by the Archbishop, and when he
is not in arms, the country rests, but on the Rhine the Barons are at
continual feud and there is no strong hand to restrain them."
"You forget the Emperor," said Rodolph, in a tone of mild reproach.
"He, alas! has gone to fight the Saracens," answered the Baron, with
calm mendacity.
"Ah, would he had taken me with him," sighed the archer. "I have heard
that Eastern bowmen have much skill in the art, and I would like to have
tried conclusions with some of them. In truth, I had thought of going to
Frankfort when I heard some rumour of the Emperor's departure. As there
is little use in knocking at the door of Treves I will on the morrow set
my face down the Moselle toward the Rhine, in hope of falling among a
less peaceably inclined people. And now, my Lords, as it seems we can be
of little use to each other, I will, if it please you, go once more to
my interrupted sleep and allow you to proceed on your interrupted
journey."
The archer, as he said this, unstrung his bow, and carefully wrapped it
once more in his cloak. With little ceremony he prepared to lie down on
the grassy couch from which he had risen.
"If I cannot give you employment," began the Baron, "I can at least
offer you a more comfortable sleeping-place than the one in which I have
been the means of disturbing you. We are going to my house on the river,
and I think my servant can provide you with a heap of straw where you
will have a roof over your head. Then you can proceed on your way down
the river unmolested in the morning."
"Indeed," answered the bowman, indifferently, "in so far as the roof and
the straw are concerned I would not travel a shaft's flight to secure
them. I can sleep refreshingly wherever my head touches pillow, be it
earth, stone, or straw, but if your generosity advances itself so far as
to include a yard of beef and a stoup of wine I will not say I shall
altogether and in spite of proper persuasions, refuse."
"I am unacquainted with the present condition of my servant's larder,
but as he looks to his own provender at my expense, I doubt not he will
be well provided, and the chance may strike you as worth the risk of a
brief walk."
For answer the archer thrust his short hanger into the leathern sheath
prepared for it, which hung at his belt, lifted his cloak-enveloped bow,
and also a long pike, and thus accoutred signified his readiness to
follow them.
They marched in file, the Baron leading and the archer bringing up the
rear, reaching without further adventure the margin of the swift flowing
Moselle, then proceeded along its bank until they came to the first
house in the small hamlet of Zurlauben, where the procession paused, and
its leader rapped lightly at the door of the dark dwelling. The only
response was the baying of a hound within, and the low neigh of a horse
in the adjoining outhouse. A louder knock merely resulted in a deeper
bay from the hound.
"He is perhaps asleep," said the Baron. "The rascal keeps early hours."
"More likely he is absent," suggested the Emperor.
The two went partly round the house, which was built with half of it
resting on the river bank, while the other half was supported by piles
rising from the water. This lower portion was enclosed, and had a door
that allowed the skiff to be taken in or out. The Baron, noticing that
the water door was ajar, pushed it further open with his sword, and
bending over, endeavoured to peer inside, as well as the darkness would
allow him.
"The boat is gone," he said; "the fellow evidently fancies a moonlight
row. I shall hold some account with him when he returns."
"I think he owes you an explanation," replied Rodolph. "It would be
somewhat inconvenient were the Archbishop's troops after us, and we
desired to escape by the water."
The Baron said nothing, but his black looks boded ill for the absent
menial.
"Some apology is due to the archer for a postponed supper," continued
Rodolph. "Let us quit this muddy spot and discharge that duty, in the
hope that his conversation may strengthen our patience while we wait."
They climbed up the bank and came again to the front of the house, where
they found the bowman fully accoutred, sitting with his back against the
wall, his head inclined on one shoulder, sound asleep. The moonlight
shone upon him, and he snored gently.
"His peaceful slumber is certainly a mark of confidence in his host.
Blessed is he who can sleep when he wills," said the Emperor, looking
down upon him. "If the fellow's skill at all equals his boasting, I
might do worse than send him to Frankfort, to instruct a band of archers
that would give good account of themselves in time of trouble."
"To whom in Frankfort could you send him, and whom should the bowman
name as his sponsor when he arrived there? If he said he was sent by a
worthy merchant in Treves, I doubt if he would receive much attention
when his journey was completed."
"That is true," returned Rodolph. "I fear I must part company with him
when we have fed him. Still I should like to see some sample of his
skill before we dismiss him."
"That is easily tested if he does not shrink from the trial. On the
other side of the river I see rising and flying further up first one
heron, and then another, from which I surmise that my rascal is working
his way homeward in the skiff along the further shore, where the current
is slackest. He seems to be disturbing the birds and so this some time
back I have noted his slow progress. If our archer can wing you one of
these long-legged fowls, we may well believe he could have surprised the
sentinel."
"Hey, bowman," continued the Baron, stirring up the sleeper with his
foot, "I hear my servant coming and we will be in presently. But first
we would like to hear the hum of your bow-string, if your skill has not
deserted you since you had sinister designs on the sentinel above the
gate."
The archer had sprung to his feet, wide-awake, the moment he felt a
touch upon his body.
"You can hardly expect me to bring down a man on Treves' wall from
here," he said, casting his eye toward the city. "My shaft does not live
in the air longer than one may slowly count a score. Nevertheless I am
willing to try, although I cannot guarantee a pleasurable result."
"We set no such impossibility before the strength of your weapon; what
we desire----"
"Nay, I spoke not of impossibility, but of surety," interrupted the
archer. "I can throw you an arrow high in the air and can guarantee that
it will fall within Treves or not far short of it, but to say definitely
that it will hit such and such a button in a man's doublet at that
distance, would be wild prophecy, for you cannot predict the home-coming
of a descending shaft, from which, as it were, the life and vigour of it
has departed, as you can the unerringness of an arrow sped horizontally,
retaining the message given to it by thumb and fingers until it reaches
the person to whom admonition is thus forwarded through its agency."
While he spoke the archer had unwound the cloak from the bow and now he
strung the weapon with anxious care, after which he plucked a shaft from
the quiver that hung at his back.
"There are herons rising ever and anon from yonder bank. The darkness of
the cliff somewhat obscures them, and they hang not out against the sky
like your soldier on the wall. Nevertheless the moon shines fairly on
them and the distance is less, so I beg of you to show us your skill
upon the body of the next that comes between us and the rocks."
"Now the Fiend fry me on his gridiron," cried the archer, glancing at
the opposite cliffs, "I would rather shoot you ten soldiers than one
bird flapping through the air, for that asks of a bowman the measuring
of the distance the heron will advance from the time the arrow leaves
the string until it coincides with its quarry, the which renders
necessary also the nice adjustment by the eye of the space between
myself and the bird, a difficult enough task in broad day, causing such
a venture in the night to mix more blind chance with marksmanship than
any one not versed in necromancy should be called upon to endure."
"So this is the outcome of your bragging!" cried the Baron, already
angered by the absence of his servant. "You well knew we would allow no
shots at a soldier and so you boasted safely. When a fair mark is
offered you, then come excuses and the making of conditions. I have a
mind, braggart, to lay my sword across your back, or rather a stout
cudgel which would better accord with your condition."
The archer stepped rapidly away from them at this threat and said, with
arrow still notched on the string:
"If you meditate any such breach of a hospitality which I accepted at
your proffer, and not of my own seeking, I would tell you first that I
am a free man, formal engagement having been refused by you, so keep
your cudgels for your laggard who deserves them, as standing thus by his
delay between a hungry man and his meat; while secondly I would inform
you that on the attempt at my chastisement, seeing the same is
unmerited, I would first put this shaft through you and then its mate
into the middle of your comrade, before he could lift foot to help you,
and neither of you would complain of any inaccuracy of aim, swift as
the shafts would follow each other. So advance one or both at your
peril."
"Tush, tush," cried the Emperor, "no one will molest you. While you
chatter the heron escapes. There is one rising even now and will vanish
like his companions unscathed."
The archer turned quickly to the north, his bow hanging almost
horizontally in his left hand. He seemed in no hurry to shoot, but
watched the bird beating the air heavily with its huge wings, its long
legs trailing behind, making seemingly slow and laborious motion across
the moonlit face of the opposite cliff. Suddenly the archer, having to
his satisfaction measured the distance with his eye, straightened
himself, lifted his bow to the perpendicular, drew back the string to
his right ear, and apparently taking no aim, let fly the shaft into the
night. He leaned forward, trying to watch its flight, but none saw the
arrow after it left the bow. The heron, however, with a cry of affright,
plunged downward, and whirled over and over until it struck the water
with a splash.
"Nevertheless," said the archer, in a dissatisfied tone, "'tis no fair
test, and is, like enough, pure accident."
"It is a marvellous shot," cried the Emperor, with enthusiasm, "and such
art is wondrous cheap at threepence a day."
"With lodgment and provender," added the archer, once more unstringing
his bow.
"Here, if your pouch has no hole in the bottom of it, is three months'
pay, which will not come amiss in your journey down the Moselle."
"I thank your Lordship," said the man, taking the money with great
readiness, "this is more to my liking than offers of cudgelling."
"And when you hear that the Emperor has returned to Frankfort I would
strongly advise you to go thither, for he is a lover of good qualities
wherever found. As for the offer of cudgelling, 'twas but a jest, or at
most the outcome of the delay of our custodian."
"Here he is," said the Baron. "I think he will speedily regret his
absence."
Across the moonlit river, in a small boat that drifted sideways rapidly
in the swift current, a man rowed with sturdy strokes. The two who
awaited him stood silently on the bank and watched his approach. The
archer had already seated himself with his back to the wall, and was
snatching a moment's repose.
As the boatman ceased rowing and allowed his craft to float down to its
harbour, the Baron said sternly:
"Get inside as speedily as you may and undo the door. Then I will have a
word with you."
A few moments later there was a rattle of chains and bolts, the door was
thrown open, and gave the visitors a glimpse of a young man with white
face and trembling limbs.