Robert Louis Stevenson 2 страница
| “Now, mark me, mine host,” Sir Daniel said, “follow but mine orders, and I shall be your good lord ever. I must have good men for head boroughs, and I will have Adam-a-More high constable; see to it narrowly. If other men be chosen, it shall avail you nothing; rather it shall be found to your sore cost. For those that have paid rent to Walsingham I shall take good measure — you among the rest, mine host.”
“Good knight,” said the host, “I will swear upon the cross of Holywood I did but pay to Walsingham upon compulsion. Nay, bully knight, I love not the rogue Walsinghams; they were as poor as thieves, bully knight. Give me a great lord like you. Nay; ask me among the neighbours, I am stout for Brackley.”
“It may be,” said Sir Daniel, dryly. “Ye shall then pay twice.”
The innkeeper made a horrid grimace; but this was a piece of bad luck that might readily befall a tenant in these unruly times, and he was perhaps glad to make his peace so easily.
“Bring up yon fellow, Selden!” cried the knight.
And one of his retainers led up a poor, cringing old man, as pale as a candle, and all shaking with the fen fever.
“Sirrah,” said Sir Daniel, “your name?”
“An’t please your worship,” replied the man, “my name is Condall — Condall of Shoreby, at your good worship’s pleasure.”
“I have heard you ill reported on,” returned the knight. “Ye deal in treason, rogue; ye trudge the country leasing; y’ are heavily suspicioned of the death of severals. How, fellow, are ye so bold? But I will bring you down.”
“Right honourable and my reverend lord,” the man cried, “here is some hodge-podge, saving your good presence. I am but a poor private man, and have hurt none.”
“The under-sheriff did report of you most vilely,” said the knight. “‘Seize me,’ saith he, ‘that Tyndal of Shoreby.’”
“Condall, my good lord; Condall is my poor name,” said the unfortunate.
“Condall or Tyndal, it is all one,” replied Sir Daniel, coolly. “For, by my sooth, y’ are here and I do mightily suspect your honesty. If ye would save your neck, write me swiftly an obligation for twenty pound.”
“For twenty pound, my good lord!” cried Condall. “Here is midsummer madness! My whole estate amounteth not to seventy shillings.”
“Condall or Tyndal,” returned Sir Daniel, grinning, “I will run my peril of that loss. Write me down twenty, and when I have recovered all I may, I will be good lord to you, and pardon you the rest.”
“Alas! my good lord, it may not be; I have no skill to write,” said Condall.
“Well-a-day!” returned the knight. “Here, then, is no remedy. Yet I would fain have spared you, Tyndal, had my conscience suffered. Selden, take me this old shrew softly to the nearest elm, and hang me him tenderly by the neck, where I may see him at my riding. Fare ye well, good Master Condall, dear Master Tyndal; y’ are post-haste for Paradise; fare ye then well!”
“Nay, my right pleasant lord,” replied Condall, forcing an obsequious smile, “an ye be so masterful, as doth right well become you, I will even, with all my poor skill, do your good bidding.”
“Friend,” quoth Sir Daniel, “ye will now write two score. Go to! y’ are too cunning for a livelihood of seventy shillings. Selden, see him write me this in good form, and have it duly witnessed.”
And Sir Daniel, who was a very merry knight, none merrier in England, took a drink of his mulled ale, and lay back, smiling.
Meanwhile, the boy upon the floor began to stir, and presently sat up and looked about him with a scare.
“Hither,” said Sir Daniel; and as the other rose at his command and came slowly towards him, he leaned back and laughed outright. “By the rood!” he cried, “a sturdy boy!”
The lad flushed crimson with anger, and darted a look of hate out of his dark eyes. Now that he was on his legs, it was more difficult to make certain of his age. His face looked somewhat older in expression, but it was as smooth as a young child’s; and in bone and body he was unusually slender, and somewhat awkward of gait.
“Ye have called me, Sir Daniel,” he said. “Was it to laugh at my poor plight?”
“Nay, now, let laugh,” said the knight. “Good shrew, let laugh, I pray you. An ye could see yourself, I warrant ye would laugh the first.”
“Well,” cried the lad, flushing, “ye shall answer this when ye answer for the other. Laugh while yet ye may!”
“Nay, now, good cousin,” replied Sir Daniel, with some earnestness, “think not that I mock at you, except in mirth, as between kinsfolk and singular friends. I will make you a marriage of a thousand pounds, go to! and cherish you exceedingly. I took you, indeed, roughly, as the time demanded; but from henceforth I shall ungrudgingly maintain and cheerfully serve you. Ye shall be Mrs. Shelton — Lady Shelton, by my troth! for the lad promiseth bravely. Tut! ye will not shy for honest laughter; it purgeth melancholy. They are no rogues who laugh, good cousin. Good mine host, lay me a meal now for my cousin, Master John. Sit ye down, sweetheart, and eat.”
“Nay,” said Master John, “I will break no bread. Since ye force me to this sin, I will fast for my soul’s interest. But, good mine host, I pray you of courtesy give me a cup of fair water; I shall be much beholden to your courtesy indeed.”
“Ye shall have a dispensation, go to!” cried the knight. “Shalt be well shriven, by my faith! Content you, then, and eat.”
But the lad was obstinate, drank a cup of water, and, once more wrapping himself closely in his mantle, sat in a far corner, brooding.
In an hour or two, there rose a stir in the village of sentries challenging and the clatter of arms and horses; and then a troop drew up by the inn door, and Richard Shelton, splashed with mud, presented himself upon the threshold.
“Save you, Sir Daniel,” he said.
“How! Dickie Shelton!” cried the knight; and at the mention of Dick’s name the other lad looked curiously across. “What maketh Bennet Hatch?”
“Please you, sir knight, to take cognisance of this packet from Sir Oliver, wherein are all things fully stated,” answered Richard, presenting the priest’s letter. “And please you farther, ye were best make all speed to Risingham; for on the way hither we encountered one riding furiously with letters, and by his report, my Lord of Risingham was sore bested, and lacked exceedingly your presence.”
“How say you? Sore bested?” returned the knight. “Nay, then, we will make speed sitting down, good Richard. As the world goes in this poor realm of England, he that rides softliest rides surest. Delay, they say, begetteth peril; but it is rather this itch of doing that undoes men; mark it, Dick. But let me see, first, what cattle ye have brought. Selden, a link here at the door!”
And Sir Daniel strode forth into the village street, and, by the red glow of a torch, inspected his new troops. He was an unpopular neighbour and an unpopular master; but as a leader in war he was well-beloved by those who rode behind his pennant. His dash, his proved courage, his forethought for the soldiers’ comfort, even his rough gibes, were all to the taste of the bold blades in jack and salet.
“Nay, by the rood!” he cried, “what poor dogs are these? Here be some as crooked as a bow, and some as lean as a spear. Friends, ye shall ride in the front of the battle; I can spare you, friends. Mark me this old villain on the piebald! A two-year mutton riding on a hog would look more soldierly! Ha! Clipsby, are ye there, old rat? Y’ are a man I could lose with a good heart; ye shall go in front of all, with a bull’s eye painted on your jack, to be the better butt for archery; sirrah, ye shall show me the way.”
“I will show you any way, Sir Daniel, but the way to change sides,” returned Clipsby, sturdily.
Sir Daniel laughed a guffaw.
“Why, well said!” he cried. “Hast a shrewd tongue in thy mouth, go to! I will forgive you for that merry word. Selden, see them fed, both man and brute.”
|
| The knight re-entered the inn.
“Now, friend Dick,” he said, “fall to. Here is good ale and bacon. Eat, while that I read.”
Sir Daniel opened the packet, and as he read his brow darkened. When he had done he sat a little, musing. Then he looked sharply at his ward.
“Dick,” said he, “Y’ have seen this penny rhyme?”
The lad replied in the affirmative.
“It bears your father’s name,” continued the knight; “and our poor shrew of a parson is, by some mad soul, accused of slaying him.”
“He did most eagerly deny it,” answered Dick.
“He did?” cried the knight, very sharply. “Heed him not. He has a loose tongue; he babbles like a jack-sparrow. Some day, when I may find the leisure, Dick, I will myself more fully inform you of these matters. There was one Duckworth shrewdly blamed for it; but the times were troubled, and there was no justice to be got.”
“It befell at the Moat House?” Dick ventured, with a beating at his heart.
“It befell between the Moat House and Holywood,” replied Sir Daniel, calmly; but he shot a covert glance, black with suspicion, at Dick’s face. “And now,” added the knight, “speed you with your meal; ye shall return to Tunstall with a line from me.”
Dick’s face fell sorely.
“Prithee, Sir Daniel,” he cried, “send one of the villains! I beseech you let me to the battle. I can strike a stroke, I promise you.”
“I misdoubt it not,” replied Sir Daniel, sitting down to write. “But here, Dick, is no honour to be won. I lie in Kettley till I have sure tidings of the war, and then ride to join me with the conqueror. Cry not on cowardice; it is but wisdom, Dick; for this poor realm so tosseth with rebellion, and the king’s name and custody so changeth hands, that no man may be certain of the morrow. Toss-pot and Shuttle-wit run in, but my Lord Good-Counsel sits o’ one side, waiting.”
With that, Sir Daniel, turning his back to Dick, and quite at the farther end of the long table, began to write his letter, with his mouth on one side, for this business of the Black Arrow stuck sorely in his throat.
Meanwhile, young Shelton was going on heartily enough with his breakfast, when he felt a touch upon his arm, and a very soft voice whispering in his ear.
“Make not a sign, I do beseech you,” said the voice, “but of your charity tell me the straight way to Holywood. Beseech you, now, good boy, comfort a poor soul in peril and extreme distress, and set me so far forth upon the way to my repose.”
“Take the path by the windmill,” answered Dick, in the same tone; “it will bring you to Till Ferry; there inquire again.”
And without turning his head, he fell again to eating. But with the tail of his eye he caught a glimpse of the young lad called Master John stealthily creeping from the room.
“Why,” thought Dick, “he is a young as I. ‘Good boy’ doth he call me? An I had known, I should have seen the varlet hanged ere I had told him. Well, if he goes through the fen, I may come up with him and pull his ears.”
Half an hour later, Sir Daniel gave Dick the letter, and bade him speed to the Moat House. And, again, some half an hour after Dick’s departure, a messenger came, in hot haste, from my Lord of Risingham.
“Sir Daniel,” the messenger said, “ye lose great honour, by my sooth! The fight began again this morning ere the dawn, and we have beaten their van and scattered their right wing. Only the main battle standeth fast. An we had your fresh men, we should tilt you them all into the river. What, sir knight! Will ye be the last? It stands not with your good credit.”
“Nay,” cried the knight, “I was but now upon the march. Selden, sound me the tucket. Sir, I am with you on the instant. It is not two hours since the more part of my command came in, sir messenger. What would ye have? Spurring is good meat, but yet it killed the charger. Bustle, boys!”
By this time the tucket was sounding cheerily in the morning, and from all sides Sir Daniel’s men poured into the main street and formed before the inn. They had slept upon their arms, with chargers saddled, and in ten minutes five-score men-at-arms and archers, cleanly equipped and briskly disciplined, stood ranked and ready. The chief part were in Sir Daniel’s livery, murrey and blue, which gave the greater show to their array. The best armed rode first; and away out of sight, at the tail of the column, came the sorry reinforcement of the night before. Sir Daniel looked with pride along the line.
“Here be the lads to serve you in a pinch,” he said.
“They are pretty men, indeed,” replied the messenger. “It but augments my sorrow that ye had not marched the earlier.”
“Well,” said the knight, “what would ye? The beginning of a feast and the end of a fray, sir messenger;” and he mounted into his saddle. “Why! how now!” he cried. “John! Joanna! Nay, by the sacred rood! where is she? Host, where is that girl?”
“Girl, Sir Daniel?” cried the landlord. “Nay, sir, I saw no girl.”
“Boy, then, dotard!” cried the knight. “Could ye not see it was a wench? She in the murrey-coloured mantle — she that broke her fast with water, rogue — where is she?”
“Nay, the saints bless us! Master John, ye called him,” said the host. “Well, I thought none evil. He is gone. I saw him — her — I saw her in the stable a good hour agone; ‘a was saddling a grey horse.”
“Now, by the rood!” cried Sir Daniel, “the wench was worth five hundred pound to me and more.”
“Sir knight,” observed the messenger, with bitterness, “while that ye are here, roaring for five hundred pounds, the realm of England is elsewhere being lost and won.”
“It is well said,” replied Sir Daniel. “Selden, fall me out with six cross-bowmen; hunt me her down. I care not what it cost; but, at my returning, let me find her at the Moat House. Be it upon your head. And now, sir messenger, we march.”
And the troop broke into a good trot, and Selden and his six men were left behind upon the street of Kettley, with the staring villagers.
CHAPTER II — IN THE FEN
It was near six in the May morning when Dick began to ride down into the fen upon his homeward way. The sky was all blue; the jolly wind blew loud and steady; the windmill-sails were spinning; and the willows over all the fen rippling and whitening like a field of corn. He had been all night in the saddle, but his heart was good and his body sound, and he rode right merrily.
The path went down and down into the marsh, till he lost sight of all the neighbouring landmarks but Kettley windmill on the knoll behind him, and the extreme top of Tunstall Forest far before. On either hand there were great fields of blowing reeds and willows, pools of water shaking in the wind, and treacherous bogs, as green as emerald, to tempt and to betray the traveller. The path lay almost straight through the morass. It was already very ancient; its foundation had been laid by Roman soldiery; in the lapse of ages much of it had sunk, and every here and there, for a few hundred yards, it lay submerged below the stagnant waters of the fen.
About a mile from Kettley, Dick came to one such break in the plain line of causeway, where the reeds and willows grew dispersedly like little islands and confused the eye. The gap, besides, was more than usually long; it was a place where any stranger might come readily to mischief; and Dick bethought him, with something like a pang, of the lad whom he had so imperfectly directed. As for himself, one look backward to where the windmill sails were turning black against the blue of heaven — one look forward to the high ground of Tunstall Forest, and he was sufficiently directed and held straight on, the water washing to his horse’s knees, as safe as on a highway.
Half-way across, and when he had already sighted the path rising high and dry upon the farther side, he was aware of a great splashing on his right, and saw a grey horse, sunk to its belly in the mud, and still spasmodically struggling. Instantly, as though it had divined the neighbourhood of help, the poor beast began to neigh most piercingly. It rolled, meanwhile, a blood-shot eye, insane with terror; and as it sprawled wallowing in the quag, clouds of stinging insects rose and buzzed about it in the air.
|
| "Увы!" Подумал Дик, "может бедный парень погиб? Существует его лошадь, наверняка - храбрый серый! Нет, товарищ, если будешь призывать мне так жалобно, я сделаю все, человек может помочь тебе. Думаешь ли не лежат там утопить на несколько дюймов! "
И сделал готовы его арбалет, и положить ссору в голове существа.
Дик поехал после этого акта прочный милосердия, несколько отрезвил духом, и внимательно о нем при любом знаке его менее счастливым предшественника в пути. "Я был бы я осмелился сказать ему дальше", подумал он, "Я боюсь, что он уже был выкидыш в омут».
И так же, как он был так думать, воскликнул голос на его имя от дамбы стороне, и, глядя через плечо, он увидел лицо этого парня пиринг из скопления камыша.
"Неужели и вы там?", Сказал он, сдерживая дюйма "Вы лежал так близко в камышах, что я прошел мимо. Я видел вашу лошадь bemired, и положил его от агонии; которые, по моему правде! вы были более милосердны гонщик, вы сделали сами. Но выйдет из вашего укрытия. Здесь не будет ни беспокоить вас ".
"Нет, хороший мальчик, у меня нет руки, ни умения использовать их, если у меня было," ответил другой, выходя вперед на пути.
"Почему меня называют мальчика?" Воскликнул Дик. "Y" не, я TRow, старший из нас двое. "
"Хорошая мастер Шелтон," сказал другой, "прошу простить меня. У меня нет ни малейшего намерения оскорбить. Скорее я бы всячески умоляю вашу нежность и милость, ибо я теперь хуже превзошел чем когда-либо, потеряв свой путь, мой плащ и мою бедную лошадь. Чтобы иметь верховой езды стержень и шпоры, и никогда не лошадь, чтобы сидеть на! И прежде, чем все ", добавил он, глядя с сожалением на его одежде -" раньше всех, чтобы быть так sorrily запятнали "
"Тут!" Воскликнул Дик. "Неужели ты возражаете ныряя? Кровь раны или пыли движения - вот украшение мужчины ".
"Нет, то, мне нравится его лучше равнину," наблюдал парень. "Но, прошу, как же мне делать? Прошу тебя, добрый мастер Ричард, помоги мне с вашим хорошим адвокатом. Если я не безопасно Голивуд, погиб я ".
"Нет," сказал Дик, демонтаж, «Я дам больше адвоката. Возьмите мою лошадь, и я буду работать некоторое время, и когда я устал, мы будем менять снова, что так, верховая езда и бег, и может пойти быстрее. "
Таким образом, изменение было сделано, и они пошли вперед, как бойко, как они смели на неровной дамбе, Дик с его стороны на колено другого.
"Как вы зовете тебя зовут?" Спросил Дик.
"Позвони мне Джон Мэтчем", ответил парень.
"И то, что сделать вы, чтобы Голивуд?" Продолжал Дик.
"Я ищу убежище от человека, который бы угнетать меня," был ответ. "Хорошая аббат Голивуд является сильной опорой для слабых."
"И как пришли вы с сэром Даниила, мастер Мэтчем?" Преследовал Дик.
"Нет," воскликнул другой, "злоупотреблением силы! Он сделал решение мне насилием от моего собственного места; одели меня в этих сорняков; ездил со мной, пока мое сердце было больно; gibed меня, пока я не мог '' плакал, и когда некоторые из моих друзей преследовали, думая иметь меня назад, хлопает меня в тылу, чтобы стоять их выстрел! Я даже паслись в правой ноге, и ходить, но неубедительно. Нет, там вступает в день между нами, то он должен умный для всех "!
"Неужели ты стрелять на луну с ручной пистолет?" Сказал Дик. "'Это отважный рыцарь, и ныне руку железа. Он догадался, что я сделал или вмешивался вашего полета, она будет идти боль со мной ".
"Да, бедный мальчик," вернулся с другой стороны, "у 'являются его подопечный, я это знаю. К тому же, я тоже, так он говорит, или же он усвоил мой брак - я не WOT справедливо, которые, однако это некоторые ручка угнетать меня ".
"Мальчик снова!" Сказал Дик.
"Нет, то, мне позвонить вам девушка, хорошая Ричард?" Спросил Мэтчем.
"Никогда девушка для меня", ответил Дик. "Я отрекаюсь экипаж из них!"
"Вы говорите по-мальчишески," сказал другой. "Вы думаете, их больше, чем вы притворяться."
"Не я," сказал Дик, решительно. "Они приходят не в моей голове. Чума из них, сказать, что я! Дайте мне, чтобы охотиться и сражаться и пировать, и жить с веселыми лесников. Я никогда не слышал о горничной еще, который был для любой службы, кроме одного только, и она, бедная землеройка, был сожжен для ведьмы и ношение мужской одежды, несмотря на природе ".
Мастер Мэтчем перекрестился с жаром, и, казалось, молиться.
"Какой марки вы?" Спросил Дик.
"Я молюсь за ее духа," ответил другой, с несколько проблемных голосом.
"Для духа ведьмы?" Воскликнул Дик. "Но молиться за нее, в списке у Е; она была лучшей девка в Европе, был этот Жанна д'Арк. Старый Appleyard лучник побежал от нее, по его словам, как если бы она была Mahoun. Нет, она была смелая девчонка ".
"Ну, а, хороший мастер Ричард," возобновил Мэтчем, "вы, как горничных так мало, у 'нет верно естественный человек, потому что Бог создал их двое по замыслу, и принес настоящую любовь в мир, чтобы быть надежда человека и комфорт женщины ".
"Фу!" Сказал Дик. "Y" являются молочно-мокрый ребенок, так заострять внимание на женщин. Вы думаете, что я не быть истинной человек ", спускайтесь на путь, и есть ли в кулаки, бэк-меч или лук и стрелы, я докажу свою мужественность на вашем теле.
"Нет, я не боец", сказал Мэтчем, с нетерпением. "Я имею в виду не черта из преступления. Я имел в виду, но шутка. И если я говорю о женщинах, это потому, что я слышал, вы были жениться ".
"Я жениться!" Дик воскликнул. "Ну, это первое, что я слышу от него. На кого же я выйти замуж? "
"Один Джоан Седли," ответил Мэтчем, окраска. "Это дело рук сэра Дэниэла; он имеет деньги, чтобы получить от обеих сторон, и, в самом деле, я слышал бедную девку оплакивать себя жалобно матча. Кажется, она в своем уме, либо distasted к жениху ".
"Ну! брак как смерть, он приходит ко всем, "сказал Дик, с отставкой. "И она оплакивала себя? Я Молитесь же теперь, видите, как трансфер сообразительные эти девочки: оплакивать себя до этого она видела меня! Должен ли я жалеть себя? Не я ли я быть жениться, я женюсь сухими глазами! Но если вы знаете ее, прошу, о том, что пользу она? справедливым или фол? И она сварливая или приятным? "
"Нет, что имеет значение это?", Сказал Мэтчем. "У 'жениться, вы можете, но жениться. Какие вопросы фол или справедливо? Это будет, но игрушек. Y 'нет молокосос, мастер Ричард, вы будете жениться с сухими глазами, так или иначе ".
"Это хорошо сказал:" ответил Шелтон. "Маленькая Я стоечно."
"Ваша дама жена, как иметь приятный господин", сказал Мэтчем.
"Она имеет господин Небо сделал ее для" Дик. "Это TRow там быть и хуже, а также лучше."
"Ах, бедные девка!" Воскликнул другой.
"А почему так бедны?" Спросил Дик.
"Для того, чтобы жениться на мужчину древесины," ответил его собеседник. "О мне, для деревянного мужа!"
"Я думаю, что быть человеком из дерева, действительно," сказал Дик, "тащиться, преследующее это время вы едете мою лошадь, но это хорошо дерево, я TRow."
"Хорошо Дик, прости меня," воскликнул другой. "Нет, у 'являются лучшим сердце в Англии, я, но рассмеялся. Прости меня сейчас, сладкий Дик ".
"Нет, не дурак слова," не ответил Дик, немного смущает теплом своего спутника. "Никакого вреда не будет сделано. Я не обидчивый, хвалить святых ".
И в этот момент ветер, который дул прямо за ними, как они пошли, принесли им грубую расцвет трубача сэра Дэниэла.
"Чу!" Сказал Дик, "в фанфары звука могут."
"Да," сказал Мэтчем, "они нашли свой рейс, и теперь я unhorsed!", И он стал бледным как смерть.
"Нет, то, что приветствие!" Дик. "Y" имеют давнюю старт, и мы около парома. И это я, мне кажется, что я unhorsed. "
"Увы, я принимаются!" Воскликнул беглеца. "Дик, добрый Дик, умоляю вы мне помочь, но немного!"
"Почему, сейчас, что с тобою?" Сказал Дик. "Мне кажется, я могу помочь вам очень явно. Но мое сердце прощения за столь бездуховной собрата! И смотрите вы здесь, Джон Мэтчем - Sith Джон Мэтчем тебя зовут - я, Ричард Шелтон, прилив, что betideth, что бы то ни увидите вы в безопасности в Голивуд. Святые так сделать, чтобы меня снова, если я по умолчанию вас. Приходите, забрать меня доброе сердце, сэр бело-лицо. Путь улучшает здесь; стимулировать мне лошадь. Перейти быстрее! быстрее! Нет, против не для меня, я могу работать, как олень ".
Так, с лошадь рысью трудно, и Дик работает легко вместе, они пересекли оставшуюся часть болота, и вышли на берегу реки по хижине перевозчику в.
|
|
CHAPTER III — THE FEN FERRY
The river Till was a wide, sluggish, clayey water, oozing out of fens, and in this part of its course it strained among some score of willow-covered, marshy islets.
It was a dingy stream; but upon this bright, spirited morning everything was become beautiful. The wind and the martens broke it up into innumerable dimples; and the reflection of the sky was scattered over all the surface in crumbs of smiling blue.
A creek ran up to meet the path, and close under the bank the ferryman’s hut lay snugly. It was of wattle and clay, and the grass grew green upon the roof.
Dick went to the door and opened it. Within, upon a foul old russet cloak, the ferryman lay stretched and shivering; a great hulk of a man, but lean and shaken by the country fever.
“Hey, Master Shelton,” he said, “be ye for the ferry? Ill times, ill times! Look to yourself. There is a fellowship abroad. Ye were better turn round on your two heels and try the bridge.”
“Nay; time’s in the saddle,” answered Dick. “Time will ride, Hugh Ferryman. I am hot in haste.”
“A wilful man!” returned the ferryman, rising. “An ye win safe to the Moat House, y’ have done lucky; but I say no more.” And then catching sight of Matcham, “Who be this?” he asked, as he paused, blinking, on the threshold of his cabin.
“It is my kinsman, Master Matcham,” answered Dick.
“Give ye good day, good ferryman,” said Matcham, who had dismounted, and now came forward, leading the horse. “Launch me your boat, I prithee; we are sore in haste.”
The gaunt ferryman continued staring.
“By the mass!” he cried at length, and laughed with open throat.
Matcham coloured to his neck and winced; and Dick, with an angry countenance, put his hand on the lout’s shoulder.
“How now, churl!” he cried. “Fall to thy business, and leave mocking thy betters.”
Hugh Ferryman grumblingly undid his boat, and shoved it a little forth into the deep water. Then Dick led in the horse, and Matcham followed.
“Ye be mortal small made, master,” said Hugh, with a wide grin; “something o’ the wrong model, belike. Nay, Master Shelton, I am for you,” he added, getting to his oars. “A cat may look at a king. I did but take a shot of the eye at Master Matcham.”
“Sirrah, no more words,” said Dick. “Bend me your back.”
They were by that time at the mouth of the creek, and the view opened up and down the river. Everywhere it was enclosed with islands. Clay banks were falling in, willows nodding, reeds waving, martens dipping and piping. There was no sign of man in the labyrinth of waters.
“My master,” said the ferryman, keeping the boat steady with one oar, “I have a shrew guess that John-a-Fenne is on the island. He bears me a black grudge to all Sir Daniel’s. How if I turned me up stream and landed you an arrow-flight above the path? Ye were best not meddle with John Fenne.”
“How, then? is he of this company?” asked Dick.
“Nay, mum is the word,” said Hugh. “But I would go up water, Dick. How if Master Matcham came by an arrow?” and he laughed again.
“Be it so, Hugh,” answered Dick.
“Look ye, then,” pursued Hugh. “Sith it shall so be, unsling me your cross-bow — so: now make it ready — good; place me a quarrel. Ay, keep it so, and look upon me grimly.”
“What meaneth this?” asked Dick.
“Why, my master, if I steal you across, it must be under force or fear,” replied the ferryman; “for else, if John Fenne got wind of it, he were like to prove my most distressful neighbour.”
“Do these churls ride so roughly?” Dick inquired. “Do they command Sir Daniel’s own ferry?”
“Nay,” whispered the ferryman, winking. “Mark me! Sir Daniel shall down. His time is out. He shall down. Mum!” And he bent over his oars.
They pulled a long way up the river, turned the tail of an island, and came softly down a narrow channel next the opposite bank. Then Hugh held water in midstream.
“I must land you here among the willows,” he said.
“Here is no path but willow swamps and quagmires,” answered Dick.
“Master Shelton,” replied Hugh, “I dare not take ye nearer down, for your own sake now. He watcheth me the ferry, lying on his bow. All that go by and owe Sir Daniel goodwill, he shooteth down like rabbits. I heard him swear it by the rood. An I had not known you of old days — ay, and from so high upward — I would ‘a’ let you go on; but for old days’ remembrance, and because ye had this toy with you that’s not fit for wounds or warfare, I did risk my two poor ears to have you over whole. Content you; I can no more, on my salvation!”
Hugh was still speaking, lying on his oars, when there came a great shout from among the willows on the island, and sounds followed as of a strong man breasting roughly through the wood.
“A murrain!” cried Hugh. “He was on the upper island all the while!” He pulled straight for shore. “Threat me with your bow, good Dick; threat me with it plain,” he added. “I have tried to save your skins, save you mine!”
The boat ran into a tough thicket of willows with a crash. Matcham, pale, but steady and alert, at a sign from Dick, ran along the thwarts and leaped ashore; Dick, taking the horse by the bridle, sought to follow, but what with the animal’s bulk, and what with the closeness of the thicket, both stuck fast. The horse neighed and trampled; and the boat, which was swinging in an eddy, came on and off and pitched with violence.
“It may not be, Hugh; here is no landing,” cried Dick; but he still struggled valiantly with the obstinate thicket and the startled animal.
A tall man appeared upon the shore of the island, a long-bow in his hand. Dick saw him for an instant, with the corner of his eye, bending the bow with a great effort, his face crimson with hurry.
“Who goes?” he shouted. “Hugh, who goes?”
“’Tis Master Shelton, John,” replied the ferryman.
“Stand, Dick Shelton!” bawled the man upon the island. “Ye shall have no hurt, upon the rood! Stand! Back out, Hugh Ferryman.”
Dick cried a taunting answer.
“Nay, then, ye shall go afoot,” returned the man; and he let drive an arrow.
The horse, struck by the shaft, lashed out in agony and terror; the boat capsized, and the next moment all were struggling in the eddies of the river.
When Dick came up, he was within a yard of the bank; and before his eyes were clear, his hand had closed on something firm and strong that instantly began to drag him forward. It was the riding-rod, that Matcham, crawling forth upon an overhanging willow, had opportunely thrust into his grasp.
“By the mass!” cried Dick, as he was helped ashore, “that makes a life I owe you. I swim like a cannon-ball.” And he turned instantly towards the island.
Midway over, Hugh Ferryman was swimming with his upturned boat, while John-a-Fenne, furious at the ill-fortune of his shot, bawled to him to hurry.
“Come, Jack,” said Shelton, “run for it! Ere Hugh can hale his barge across, or the pair of ’em can get it righted, we may be out of cry.”
And adding example to his words, he began to run, dodging among the willows, and in marshy places leaping from tussock to tussock. He had no time to look for his direction; all he could do was to turn his back upon the river, and put all his heart to running.
Presently, however, the ground began to rise, which showed him he was still in the right way, and soon after they came forth upon a slope of solid turf, where elms began to mingle with the willows.
But here Matcham, who had been dragging far into the rear, threw himself fairly down.
“Leave me, Dick!” he cried, pantingly; “I can no more.”
Dick turned, and came back to where his companion lay.
“Nay, Jack, leave thee!” he cried. “That were a knave’s trick, to be sure, when ye risked a shot and a ducking, ay, and a drowning too, to save my life. Drowning, in sooth; for why I did not pull you in along with me, the saints alone can tell!”
|
Важнейшие способы обработки и анализа рядов динамики Не во всех случаях эмпирические данные рядов динамики позволяют определить тенденцию изменения явления во времени...
|
ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКАЯ МЕХАНИКА Статика является частью теоретической механики, изучающей условия, при которых тело находится под действием заданной системы сил...
|
Теория усилителей. Схема Основная масса современных аналоговых и аналого-цифровых электронных устройств выполняется на специализированных микросхемах...
|
Логические цифровые микросхемы Более сложные элементы цифровой схемотехники (триггеры, мультиплексоры, декодеры и т.д.) не имеют...
|
|
В теории государства и права выделяют два пути возникновения государства: восточный и западный Восточный путь возникновения государства представляет собой плавный переход, перерастание первобытного общества в государство...
Закон Гука при растяжении и сжатии
Напряжения и деформации при растяжении и сжатии связаны между собой зависимостью, которая называется законом Гука, по имени установившего этот закон английского физика Роберта Гука в 1678 году...
Характерные черты официально-делового стиля Наиболее характерными чертами официально-делового стиля являются:
• лаконичность...
|
|
Классификация и основные элементы конструкций теплового оборудования Многообразие способов тепловой обработки продуктов предопределяет широкую номенклатуру тепловых аппаратов...
Именные части речи, их общие и отличительные признаки Именные части речи в русском языке — это имя существительное, имя прилагательное, имя числительное, местоимение...
Интуитивное мышление Мышление — это психический процесс, обеспечивающий познание сущности предметов и явлений и самого субъекта...
|
|
