THE BLACK RIDERS
The next day we jogged along, and many were our advices and admonitions
to the Prince to return. For we were now on the borders of his kingdom,
and from indications which met us on the journeying we knew that the
Black Riders were abroad. For in one place we came to a burned cottage
and the tracks of driven cattle; in another upon a dead forest guard,
with his green coat all splashed in splotches of dark crimson, a sight
which made the Prince clinch his hands and swear. And this also kept him
pretty silent for the rest of the day.
It was about evening of this second day, and we had come to the top of a
little swell of hills, when suddenly beneath us we heard the crackling of
timbers and saw the pale, almost invisible flames beginning to devour a
thriving farm-house at our feet. There were swarms of men in dark armor
about it, running here and there, clapping straw and brushwood to
hay-ricks and byre doors.
"The Black Riders of Duke Casimir," I cried; "down among the bushes and
let them not see us! We must go back. If they so much as suspected the
Prince they would slay us every one."
But ere we had time to flee half a dozen of their scouts came near us,
and, observing our horses and excellent accoutrement, they raised a cry.
There was nothing for it but the spurs on the heels of our boots. So
across the smooth, well-turfed country we had it, and in spite of our
beasts' weariness we made good running. And while we fled I considered
how best to serve the Prince.
"There is a monastery near by," said I, "and the head thereof is a good
friend of ours. Let us, if possible, gain that shelter, and cast
ourselves on the kindness of the good Abbot Tobias."
"Aye," said the Prince, urging his horse to speed, "but will we ever
get there?"
Then I called myself all the stupid-heads in the world, because I had not
refused to go a foot with the Prince on such a mad venture, and so put
our future and that of the Princedom of Plassenburg in such peril.
But there at last were the gray walls and high towers of the Abbey of
Wolgast. Our pursuers were not yet in sight, so we rode in at the gate
and cast our bridles to a lay brother of the order, crying imperiously
for instant audience of the Abbot.
As soon as my friend Tobias saw us he threw up his hands in a rapture of
welcome. But I soon had him advertised of our great danger. Whereupon he
went directly to the window of his chamber of reception and looked out on
the court-yard.
"Ring the abbey bell for full service," he commanded; "throw open the
outer gates and great doors, and lead these horses to the secret crypt
beneath the mortuary chapel."
For the Abbot Tobias was a man of the readiest resource, and in other
circumstances would have made a good soldier.
He hurried us off to the robing-rooms, and made us put on monastic and
priestly garments over our several apparels. Never, Got wot, had I
expected that I should be transformed into a rope-girt praying clerk. But
so it was. I was given a square black cap and a brown robe, and sent to
join the lay brethren. For my hair grew thick as a mat on top and there
was no time to tonsure it.
Now, Dessauer being bald and quite practicable as to his topknot, they
endued him with the full dress of a monk. But at that time I saw not what
was done with the Prince. For my conductor, a laughing, frolicsome lad,
came for me and carried me off all in good faith, telling me the while
that he hoped we should lodge together. There were, he whispered, certain
very fair and pleasant-spoken maids just over the wall, that which you
could climb easily enough by the branches of the pear-tree that grew
contiguous at the south corner.
As we hurried towards the chapel, the monks were streaming out of
their cells in great consternation, grumbling like soldiers at an
unexpected parade.
"What hath gotten into our old man?" said one. "Hath he overeaten at
mid-day refection, and so is not able to sleep, that he cannot let honest
men enjoy greater peace than himself?"
"What folly!" cried another; "as if we had not prayers enough, without
cheating the Almighty by knocking him up at uncanonical hours!"
"And the choir summoned, and full choral service, no less! Not even a
respectable saint's day--no true churchman indeed, but some heretic of
a Greek fellow!" quoth a third.
Nevertheless, obediently enough they made their way as the bell clanged,
and the throng filed into their places most reverently. It was a pleasant
sight. I came into rank unobtrusively at the back, among the rustling and
nudging lay brethren. In other circumstances it would have amused me to
see the grave faces they turned towards the altar, and to hear all the
while the confused scuffling as they trod on each other's toes, trying
whose skin was the tenderest or whose sandal soles were the thickest. One
or two even tried conclusions with me, but once only. For the first who
adventured got a stamp from my riding-boot which caused him to squeal out
like a stuck pig, and but for the waking thunder of the organ might have
gotten him a month's penance in addition. So after that my toes were left
severely alone among the lay brethren.
Then came the high procession, at which the monks and all stood up. In
front there were the incense-bearers and acolytes, then officers whose
names, not being convent-bred nor yet greatly given to church-craft, I
did not know. Then after them came two men who walked together, at the
sight of whom the' jaws of all the monks dropped, and they stood so
infinitely astonished that no power was left in them. For, instead of
one, two mitred abbots entered in full canonical attire--golden mitre and
green, golden-headed staff, red embroidered robes lined with green. These
two paced solemnly in abreast, and sat down upon twin thrones.
"The Abbot of St. Omer!" whispered one of the lay brothers, naming one of
the most famous abbeys in Europe, and the word flew round like lightning.
Whether he had been instructed or not what to say I do not know. But at
all events I saw the tidings run round the circle of the choir, overleap
the boundary stall, and even reach the officiating priests, who inclined
an eager ear to catch it, and passed the word one to another in the
intervals of the chanted sentences.
Then the news was drowned in the thunder of the anthem, and the organ
dominating all. Everything was strange to me, but most strange the
practice of the lay brothers, who chanted bravely indeed in tune, but who
(for the words set in the chorals) substituted other sentiments of a kind
not usually found in service-books.
"He looks a stout and be-e-e-fy o-o-old fel-low, this A-a-a-bot of St.
Omer, don't you think? Glory, glo-o-ry. Takes his meals well, likes his
qu-a-a-art of Rhenish or his Burgundy to swell his jolly paunch.
A-a-a-men!"
Or, as it might be: "Are you coming--are you coming o-o-out to-night?
There will be-ee, good compan-ee-ee. Dancing and deray--lots of pretty
girls; no proud churls. Ten by the clock, when the doors all lock. As it
was in the beginning, is now, ever shall be, world without end,
A-a-a-men!"
These were, of course, only the lay brothers, and I hope the friars were
better behaved. I decided, however, that for the sake of my respect for
religion, I should ask Dessauer. Because I saw even the Abbot Tobias lean
smilingly over to Abbot Prince Karl, and I marvelled what they spoke
about. Not that I had long to wonder, for through the open door of the
chapel there streamed a dismal host of invaders from the Wolfmark--black
Hussars of Death, in dark armor, with white skeletons painted over them,
all charnel-house ribs and bones in hideous and ridiculous array--which
was one of Duke Casimir's devices to frighten children, and no doubt
these scarecrows frightened many of these. Specially when these villanous
companies were recruited from all the wild bandits of the Mark, and never
punished for any atrocity, but, on the contrary, rather encouraged in
evil-doing in order to spread the terror of their name.
Yet, when they came rushing in, even the cavaliers of death were daunted
by the sight which met them. And as the solemn service proceeded, amid
the thunder of the great organ pressing, throbbing against the roof and
reverberating along the floor, hands stole to heads, helmets were lifted,
and half-forgotten fear of Holy Church stirred in many a wicked and
outcast heart. Some of the foremost, with their blades half-drawn,
appeared to waver whether or no they should even yet stay the service
with the bloody sword.
But as the monks calmly chanted, and the solemn responses were given, a
stillness stole over the vociferous babble within the great open doors.
Higher and higher the voices of the choir mounted, breaking a way to
heaven. Awe sat on every fierce face, and when the Abbot Tobias arose to
pronounce the benediction, the other stood up beside him, and the
Hussars of Death knelt awe-stricken before the two mitred dignitaries of
the Church.
Without a murmur they arose and slunk away without so much as
searching the abbey, and so departed on their errands, leaving us safe
and unharmed.
Then, when the three of us were again united in the private rooms of the
Abbot Tobias, that hearty ecclesiastic shook us all by the hand and said,
"Good friends, we are well out of that. Nay, no thanks! My monks are not
a bit the worse of a little additional exercise to keep them humble and
lean. Nor is God the less well pleased that we have sought him in time of
need--as Prince and Abbot, as well as soldier and peasant, require."
These being the only words of genuine piety I had heard within the walls
of the monastery, I thought more of the Abbot Tobias from that moment
that he was not ashamed to speak them in the presence of Prince and
Councillor of State, as well as before a rough soldier like myself.