three-fingered man," I said, with a kind of scorn.
"What!" cried he. "To St Aubyn-le-cauf? That is not far from the forest
of Arques."
"True," said I coolly.
"And the King may be at this moment in the extremity of danger," he
cried. "What you will do I know not, but as for me, I go straight to
Biron and ask him to gather a troop and ride out instantly to defend the
King."
"And be snubbed for your pains," said I, telling him then of the
warnings I had already given. "We should be admirable laughing-stocks
for the camp," I added, "did we discover a mare's nest again."
This had some weight with both of them, for a Frenchman of all men loves
not to appear ridiculous. We concluded then to say nothing as yet to
Biron, but to ride across the river, we three together, and see for
ourselves the manner of Lameray's hunting. Within a few minutes we set
forth, and as we descended the further side of the bridge of Archelles,
we perceived far away a cloud of dust on the road that skirted the
forest, and it moved in the direction of St Aubyn-le-cauf. It was
plainly caused by a numerous body of horsemen, and the same thought
flashed in the minds of all of us: Monsieur de Lameray's hunting
expedition was a mere blind, and he was now riding to seize the King.
That very instant I set spurs to my horse and galloped down the road
that ran alongside the river, which would bring me to the chateau sooner
than Lameray, I hoped, even though he had the start of me, he following
a more winding road, and remoter from the camp. The King should at
least be warned, and if this third time he slighted the warning, or it
were proved needless--well, I could but swallow my chagrin, and resolve
to mind my own business for the future. My two companions galloped after
me, but I soon began to outstrip them, my steed being a noble beast of
Arab strain, and, indeed, the envy of the camp. Seeing them left
behind, so that they could not hope to be first with the news, I turned
in my saddle and called to Martigny that he might now go to Biron, and
let him bring out a company if he chose. Martigny, who was in some
dudgeon, as I could see, because he could not overtake me, reined up and
turned back towards the camp; but Raoul held on his course, and he being
my particular friend, I allowed him to come up with me, and we galloped
on together. I was glad of his company, for he knew of a short cut
across the fields, and we sped on, leaping walls and ditches at some
peril of our horses' knees, until we breasted a hillock, and saw the
chateau lying amid its gardens half a mile away. And at that same
moment, far to the left, we caught the glint of the setting sun upon a
line of steel helmets, making at full speed towards the same goal as
ourselves. Luckily we were nearer, and putting our horses to a fierce
gallop down the slope, we came betimes to the chateau, where we expected
to find the King.
But when we entered there was no man there, and we were thinking that we
had had our ride for nought, when, looking from a window, we saw Henry's
white plume nodding among his company as he approached leisurely from
the direction of Dampierre. 'Twas plain he had no suspicion of danger,
and I was in a ferment lest Lameray should fall upon him before he could
gain what shelter the chateau afforded. I ran out immediately and leapt
upon my horse's back, and flew like the wind to meet the King. As soon
as I came to him I poured out my news in a breathless flood, and he
laughed right heartily; but at this Rosny clutched at his bridle, and
saying sternly, "Are you mad, Sire?" he made his own horse gallop,
fairly lugging the King's along with him.
"Can we defend the garden?" Rosny whispered to me as I rode close beside
him. I reminded him that the walls were ruinous and there was no gate,
and he pressed his lips together and frowned with that fixed look he had
when confronted by a difficulty. We said no more, and presently coming
to the garden wall at the back, we found Raoul there, having opened a
small wicket-gate for us, and he cried to us to haste, Lameray being not
a quarter-mile up the lane. We passed through one by one, the gate
being not wide enough for two--eleven of us in all--and then Henry, who,
careless and pleasure-loving as he was, was yet quick in counsel and
swift in action, asked whether the great door was open. When Raoul said
it was, the King bade us all ride our horses after him up the steps into
the great hall, the which we had but just done, Rosny being the last to
enter, when Lameray and his men came pouring through the gateway from
the lane. We slammed the door in great haste, and slid the bolts, the
King with great readiness commanding some to bolt the shutters of the
windows also, and to see what could be done to defend every part of the
house. And having given this order he removed his hat and his purple
cloak and set them on the table in the very room where I had seen the
men, and catching sight of me as I slipped a bar into its place at the
window, he swore his customary oath, and said, very pleasantly but with
a touch of malice--
"I shall owe you something for making me sweat, my good Rudd, if this
turns out to be another of your hallucinations."
Before I could frame my lips to any reply, there was a hammering at the
great door and a voice demanding admittance.
"Ask him what brings him here," said the King to Rosny, who went
accordingly to the porter's wicket beside the door, and opening the
shutter demanded to know who knocked and what his errand was. Spying
through a loophole of the shutter of my window I saw that the space in
front of the chateau was thronged with horsemen, in number full sixty,
all armed and accoutred.
"'Tis I, the Baron de Lameray," cried the full harsh voice.
"And your errand, Monsieur de Lameray?" said Rosny.
"That, with your leave, Monsieur de Rosny, is for the ears of my master
the King alone."
"Tell him he may come in--alone," said the King, with a chuckle.
Rosny delivered the message, adding of his own motion that the door
should not be opened until the baron had removed his men beyond the
wall. At this, Lameray broke forth in indignation, demanding to know
whether the King mistrusted him, and Rosny vouchsafing no answer, he
stood for a space gnawing his lip, and then, casting a sharp and furious
glance over the front of the house, the which was shuttered in all its
lower part, he turned swiftly about and led his men out through the
gateway. The King laughed, and bade us throw open the shutters, and
when Rosny began to remonstrate with him he smote his thigh and cried,
"Ventre-saint-gris! Dost think I will be mewed up here as though I were
a craven?" Accordingly we opened the shutters, and the King began to
march up and down the floor, expecting Monsieur de Lameray to return on
foot. And within a minute we saw the baron coming alone through the
gateway, and the King commanded that the door should be opened to him;
but before this could be done, Raoul de Torcy ran down-stairs from an
upper room whence he had been watching all that passed outside, and
cried that the men, having tethered their horses in the copse beyond the
lane (the same where I had left my horse on that night) were creeping
round the wall towards the back of the house. And then Henry's face
took on a wonderful sternness, and bidding Rosny still leave the door
closed, he sent all of us but two to keep a watch upon the back until he
should summon us. He called to me as I was going, and said, "I will
borrow one of your pistols, my friend," being unarmed save for his
sword.
We went to take up our posts, I directing myself with Raoul to the
window through which I had made an entrance. 'Twas plain we could not
defend it, for the shutters as well as the window itself hung loose upon
their hinges. We therefore determined to quit that room and raise a
barricade against its door that opened into the great hall. We were
hauling tables and chairs to set against it when we heard Lameray again
speaking through the porter's wicket, saying that his errand brooked no
delay, and asking that the King would himself come to the door and speak
with him.
"Open the door and let him in," cried the King, with a smile.
Rosny began to draw the bolts, but at the same instant there was a
marvellous heavy thud upon the back door, whose timbers groaned and
creaked, and as Raoul and I ran to it to see whether its fastenings
would hold we heard a shot, and immediately afterwards the slamming of
the shutter of the porter's wicket, and some one cried that Lameray had
fired at Rosny, who, however, expecting something of the sort, had kept
himself out of harm's way and was not touched. 'Twas plain that Lameray
and his ruffians were resolved to put all to the hazard, and I doubt not
that the Duke of Mayenne had promised them a very great reward if they
should either kill the King or take him alive. And I own I quaked with
fear lest they should accomplish their purpose, for we were but eleven,
and they sixty or more, and the defences of the place were so paltry
that it would be nothing short of a miracle if we kept them out.
By this time the shutters of the front windows had been closed and
fastened again, so that the house was in darkness save for a little
light that came from the upper floor. While some of our party were
hasting to pile barricadoes against the doors leading into the hall,
their work being greatly incommoded by the presence of the horses, I
bethought me that we might do some damage among the enemy by firing at
them out of an upper window. Accordingly I ran up the stairs by myself,
and found that there was but one window opening on the back of the
house, where the attack was being made, Lameray knowing very well that
this side was not able to withstand a stout assault. I stood at the
window for a little to comprehend what was proceeding beneath, and saw a
crowd of men gathered about the door, and others entering the window
into the room I had crossed on my way to the hall. Then, bending
forward, I fired my pistol into the midst of the throng, which instantly
fell apart, one man dropping to the ground, and Lameray shouting to the
rest to save themselves and enter by the window. They did his bidding,
but very soon I saw some issue forth and seize upon one of the broken
statues that strewed the garden, and this they proceeded to carry
through the window into the room, designing, as I guessed, to employ it
as a battering ram against the inner door. I had charged my pistol
again, and firing just as the last of the men entered, I was lucky
enough to hit his right arm, which fell useless at his side.
Since I could now do no more above, I hastened back to the hall, and
knew by the shouts and the blows upon the door that the enemy were
making a very vigorous assault upon it. I knew that the timbers could
not long endure so mighty a battering, and the barricado that we had
raised against it would prove itself a very sorry defence. But the
King, who was perfectly calm, and wore as serene a countenance as if he
were playing a sett at tennis, stood in the midst of the hall, speaking
brief words of cheer; and ever and anon our little party fired their
pistols through the door, setting the muzzles close to the timber, not
without effect, as we knew by the groans and cries from without. There
came answering shots, the enemy desisting from their battering for this
purpose, and first a horse near me screamed most pitifully, and then the
Sieur de Langres gave one choking sigh, and fell at the King's feet with
a bullet in his breast.
[Illustration: THE SIEUR DE LANGRES GAVE ONE CHOKING SIGH, AND FELL AT
THE KING'S FEET]
"Courage, my friends!" cried the King. "They have us in a trap, but they
shall not get us until we have slain four for one."
"Navarre! Navarre!" we shouted in consort, the hall ringing with our
cries, and from beyond the door we heard confused shouts of "Guise!
Mayenne! Lameray!"
I observed that Rosny stood in front of the King, to protect him, which
the King remarking, he plucked Rosny by the sleeve and said, in a gay
and easy tone, "Nay, nay, mon cher, what says the Psalmist? 'The Lord
is my shield and buckler.' Wouldst usurp the prerogative of the
Almighty?" Rosny stepped aside at the King's urging, and I told him
that Martigny had ridden back to warn the Marshal de Biron, and if we
could only hold out for yet a little, I made no doubt the marshal would
come with a troop sufficient to put our enemies to the rout. But at that
moment, as if to mock my words, there was a loud crack, and we knew that
the woodwork of the door was giving way. By good hap a heavy table
stood at the place where the board was splintered, so that it was not
driven in; and four of our party firing together through the door, we
heard cries of pain mingled with the jubilant shouts which had hailed
this breach in our defences.
But it was very plain that we could resist but little longer, and unless
Biron should come within a few minutes, our case would be desperate
indeed. In a fever of trouble I strove to think of some way whereby we
might save the King, for I believed then, and I know now, that the loss
of so great a man would have been a sore calamity for France and the
world. And as I beat my wits on this matter, on a sudden I chanced to
remember Henry's hat and cloak that lay on the table in the great salon,
and a device rushed into my mind. I durst not tell the King, who would
assuredly have forbid it; but I drew Rosny aside, and whispered it to
him. A light beamed upon his troubled face, and he bade me go, but
secretly, lest the King should observe me. Accordingly I sought my
friend Raoul, and desired him to draw the bolts of the great door as
silently as might be, and to be ready to throw it open at a word. And
then I crept into the salon, and taking the plumed hat and cloak from
the table I donned them, and returned into the hall. Meanwhile Rosny
had informed the King that Biron had been warned, and had led him up the
stairs to a window in the front of the house, whence they might overlook
a great space of the country and peradventure spy the marshal coming.
The way being thus cleared for me, I mounted my horse, there in the
hall, and giving Raoul the word, he flung the door open, and I dashed
out, my horse leaping the steps at one stride.
The enemy were all at the rear part of the house, so that there was none
to see me as I galloped at a headlong pace towards the lane. But as I
passed the stables they caught sight of me, as I designed they should,
and then there was such a yell of consternation and rage as I had never
heard before. A shot flew after me, but fell short, and in a trice I
swept through the gateway, wheeled suddenly to the left, and set my
horse to an easy canter, for it was not part of my plan to gallop clean
away. I heard the shouts of the men as they swarmed after me, and
turning in my saddle, yet keeping my face pretty well concealed, I saw
them scurry into the copse where their horses were tethered, Lameray
first among them. The dusk of evening and an autumn haze hung over the
ground, so that I had good hope they would be deceived by the plume and
the cloak, and not observe that the form thus clad was not that of Henry
of Navarre, but of his humble servant Christopher Rudd.
I had ridden but a few hundred yards up the lane when they came dashing
out of the copse after me, Lameray again the first. And now that I had
drawn them into pursuit, as I had purposed, I gave my good horse his
head, and galloped on at a round pace. Soon I left the lane, leaping
the hedge into a field, not for easiness of going, but to entice the
enemy after me, and thereby give the King the opportunity of riding
forth with his party and reaching camp before me. The hunt followed my
lead with excellent witlessness; taking a flying look at them I
perceived that nearly every man of them was joining in the chase; and my
blood tingles now, old man as I am, when I remember the joy that leapt
in my veins as I rode, springing over hedges and ditches, the pack in
full cry after me. Verily I believe that my horse was as merry as I
myself, though he may have wondered where was the fox, not knowing that
I myself was the quarry of that hunt.
My steed, as I have said, was the envy of the camp, and at the pace
whereto I set him he soon outdistanced all the pursuers save only
Lameray, who bestrode a fine roan but little less in value than my own
horse. One by one the others dropt off, but he still kept within the
same distance of me, and I wondered whether he would have the temerity
to pursue me up to the very skirts of the camp and perchance into the
arms of Biron. Glancing over my shoulder (yet careful to shield my face
with my arm), I saw that a dyke I had just leapt had been too much for
every one of my pursuers but him, and recollecting his insolency towards
me, and the attempt on my life, and above all, his slur upon my
swordsmanship, I resolved to try conclusions with him, and prove upon
his body the foul traitor he was. Accordingly I put my horse at a low
wall, barely clearing an unexpected ditch that lay beyond it, and
reining up, wheeled about and awaited my enemy a dozen yards upon the
further side. He came up at a wild and reckless pace, and, traitor
though he was, I could not but admire the dexterity of his manage as he
leapt the wall at the very place of my crossing. Seeing me biding for
him, with no care now to shroud my countenance, he drew his sword at the
moment of leaping, and came at me in a fury. But his horse lost a
little speed in taking the ditch, and since I set spurs to mine as soon
as Lameray's alighted, we met with a mighty shock, and my steed being
lighter than his was forced back upon his haunches. In this manner I
escaped the point of his sword outthrust towards me, and causing my
horse to swerve, I heard Lameray's snarl of rage as he was carried a few
paces beyond. In a twinkling he was about, and lifting his sword high
above his head, he brought it down with a vehement stroke that, had it
touched me, would assuredly have cleft my head in twain, or my arm from
the shoulder. But my good steed answered perfectly to the pressure of
my heel upon his flank, and swerving, saved me by a hair's breadth. And
then, at the same moment that I heard a great shouting far away, I
lunged swiftly, and by good hap my point entered his throat. With one
dreadful sob he fell backwards over the crupper, and the traitor was no
more.
[Illustration: RAISING HIS SWORD HIGH ABOVE HIS HEAD, HE BROUGHT IT DOWN
WITH A VEHEMENT STROKE]
It needs not to tell how Biron, with three-score of his choicest
cavaliers, rode out from camp with Martigny, having lost some little
time in saddling, and came full upon a portion of Lameray's troop just
as they returned to the lane. The King and his little band having
sallied forth, and being on the further side of them, they were shut up
as in a vice, and full two-score of them were slain. Nor does it become
me to relate all that King Henry said to me when he sought me out, I
having ridden straight into Arques when I had taken Lameray's sword as a
trophy. I might, if I chose, write myself the Baron de St Aubyn in the
peerage of France, since thus royally did the King see fit to reward me;
but having been born an Englishman I have no great love for outlandish
titles, though, maybe, if I enjoyed a marquis's rank I might not be so
squeamish. Go to my cabinet yonder; there you will find, set together
in one place, a white plume, a cloak, and a sword. These the King was
pleased to give me. Peradventure in years to come, when your grandsons
visit you, you will set these relics in state before them, and tell over
again the story of the lonely chateau and the Baron de Lameray.
[Illustration: tailpiece to Second Part]
*Interim*
A few days after this notable adventure, the Duke of Mayenne encamped
over against Arques, and made sundry assaults upon King Henry's
entrenchments, being baffled at all points. Then, hearing that new
forces were drawing near from the east, and that five thousand good
English soldiers were upon the sea, he withdrew himself into Picardy,
the King marching close upon his heels up to the very walls of Paris,
the suburbs whereof he took, and gave over to pillage. But winter
coming on, he stayed not to open a siege, but withdrew to Tours,
sallying forth thence when he heard that Mayenne was again afoot. Many
strong places in Normandy yielded themselves up to him, and in the
middle of March in the next year he gave battle to Mayenne at Ivry,
where, when Fortune seemed to be turning against him, he called
cheerfully upon his nobles and gentlemen, and they following him charged
into the thick of the fray, his white plume waving in the midst. And
among the thirty horsemen that came forth with him out of the mellay was
my grandfather, who bore ever after on his neck the scar of a sword cut
dealt him on that glorious day.
After this victory my grandfather accompanied the King in his march upon
Paris, to which city Henry laid siege, straitly shutting it up all that
summer, so that they lacked food, and devoured horses and asses, dogs
and rats, and even little balls of clay and powdered bones. But the
Duke of Parma coming out of the Low Countries with an army of Spaniards,
the King was enforced to strike his camp and haste to meet this doughty
foe. Nevertheless there was no battle betwixt them, for Henry was in no
wise strong enough to match the Duke, nor indeed was he equal to him in
the art of war, though none could be bolder or more daring in the field.
Being therefore outdone, he drew back his forces, and the city was
opened to the Spaniards, who threw into it a plenty of victuals and
lifted the people out of their misery.
It were too long to tell of all the skirmishes, the marchings and
countermarchings, the captures and surprises, wherein my grandfather
bore his part for three years from that time. But in July 1593, the
King professed himself of the Catholic faith, to the joy of the greater
part of the nation, and the confusion of his enemies. City after city
opened its gates to him; by the end of that year France had peace, and
many of the English gentlemen that had fought for the King returned to
their own country, my grandfather being among them. He told me that the
main cause of his return was Queen Elizabeth's displeasure with Henry
for that he had changed his religion, but it is known that the Queen
nevertheless withdrew not her support from him, and methinks my
grandfather himself no longer held him in the same degree of respect,
for he abhorred a turncoat, and I know that he grieved because, as all
men knew, the King forsook his faith without sincerity and for the mere
bauble of a crown. My father was used to remind him how Naaman the
Syrian bowed himself in the house of Rimmon, and is held of many to be
blameless; and how King Henry did in truth by his conversion compose the
French nation to peace and order; whereat my grandfather would cry, "How
now! would you do ill that good may come?" and so put him to silence.
However, having returned to London, my grandfather obtained by the
interest of a noble friend the promise of a place among the Queen's
Guard. Yet it was some while ere he entered into this honourable
office, for being sent by my Lord Burghley upon an errand to Flanders,
he was led by chance, or more truly by the hand of Providence, to employ
his sword in defence of the liberties of the commonweal there. The
Provinces had been struggling for five and twenty years against the
oppression of the Spanish King and his minions, of whom the Duke of Alva
in especial left a name for iron sternness and cruelty. Like as in the
case of King Henry of Navarre, Queen Elizabeth lent aid to the suffering
folk; many of her chiefest men were captains in their army, and became
governors of their towns, and did many right honest and praiseworthy
deeds in their behoof. And among the stories that my grandfather told
me, none pleased me better than this that now follows, wherein he
relates a quaint and pleasant conceit that he devised for the undoing of
a traitor.
*THE THIRD PART*
*CHRISTOPHER RUDD'S ADVENTURE IN THE
LOW COUNTRIES, AND HIS QUAINT
DEVICE OF THE SILVER SHOT*
[Illustration: headpiece to Third Part]
*I*