No More Learning

"To horse, and forward! " ordered Cedric.

"It is indeed full time," said the Saxon prince Athelstane, who
accompanied Cedric, "for if we ride not faster, the preparations for our
supper will be altogether spoiled. "

The travelers, however, used such speed as to reach the convent of Saint
Withold's before the apprehended evil took place. The abbot, himself of
ancient Saxon descent, received the noble Saxons with the profuse
hospitality of their nation, wherein they indulged to a late hour. They
took leave of their reverend host the next morning after they had shared
with him a [v]sumptuous breakfast, which Athelstane particularly
appreciated.

The superstitious Saxons, as they left the convent, were inspired with a
feeling of coming evil by the behavior of a large, lean black dog,
which, sitting upright, howled most piteously when the foremost riders
left the gate, and presently afterward, barking wildly and jumping to
and fro, seemed bent on attaching itself to the party.

"In my mind," said Athelstane, "we had better turn back and abide with
the abbot until the afternoon. It is unlucky to travel where your path
is crossed by a monk, a hare, or a howling dog, until you have eaten
your next meal. "

"Away! " said Cedric impatiently; "the day is already too short for our
journey. For the dog, I know it to be the cur of the runaway slave
Gurth, a useless fugitive like its master. "

So saying and rising at the same time in his stirrups, impatient at the
interruption of his journey, he launched his [v]javelin at poor Fangs,
who, having lost his master, was now rejoicing at his reappearance. The
javelin inflicted a wound upon the animal's shoulder and narrowly missed
pinning him to the earth; Fangs fled howling from the presence of the
enraged [v]thane. Gurth's heart swelled within him, for he felt this
attempted slaughter of his faithful beast in a degree much deeper than
the harsh treatment he had himself received. Having in vain raised his
hand to his eyes, he said to Wamba, the jester, who, seeing his master's
ill humor, had prudently retreated to the rear, "I pray thee, do me the
kindness to wipe my eyes with the skirt of thy mantle; the dust offends
me, and these bonds will not let me help myself one way or another. "

Wamba did him the service he required, and they rode side by side for
some time, during which Gurth maintained a moody silence. At length he
could repress his feelings no longer.

"Friend Wamba," said he, "of all those who are fools enough to serve
Cedric, thou alone hast sufficient dexterity to make thy folly
acceptable to him. Go to him, therefore, and tell him that neither for
love nor fear will Gurth serve him longer. He may strike the head from
me--he may scourge me--he may load me with irons--but henceforth he
shall never compel me either to love or obey him. Go to him and tell him
that Gurth renounces his service. "

"Assuredly," replied Wamba, "fool as I am, I will not do your fool's
errand. Cedric hath another javelin stuck into his girdle, and thou
knowest he doth not always miss his mark. "

"I care not," returned Gurth, "how soon he makes a mark of me. Yesterday
he left Wilfred, my young master, in his blood. To-day he has striven to
kill the only other living creature that ever showed me kindness. By
Saint Edward, Saint Dunstan, Saint Withold, and every other saint, I
will never forgive him! "

At noon, upon the motion of Athelstane, the travelers paused in a
woodland shade by a fountain to repose their horses and partake of some
provisions with which the hospitable abbot had loaded a [v]sumpter mule.
Their repast was a pretty long one; and the interruption made it
impossible for them to hope to reach Rotherwood without traveling all
night, a conviction which induced them to proceed on their way at a more
hasty pace than they had hitherto used.

The travelers had now reached the verge of the wooded country and were
about to plunge into its recesses, held dangerous at that time from the
number of outlaws whom oppression and poverty had driven to despair and
who occupied the forests in such large bands as could easily bid
defiance to the feeble police of the period. From these rovers, however,
Cedric and Athelstane accounted themselves secure, as they had in
attendance ten servants, besides Wamba and Gurth, whose aid could not be
counted upon, the one being a jester and the other a captive. It may be
added that in traveling thus late through the forest, Cedric and
Athelstane relied on their descent and character as well as their
courage. The outlaws were chiefly peasants and [v]yeomen of Saxon
descent, and were generally supposed to respect the persons and property
of their countrymen.

Before long, as the travelers journeyed on their way, they were alarmed
by repeated cries for assistance; and when they rode up to the place
whence the cries came, they were surprised to find a horse-litter placed
on the ground. Beside it sat a very beautiful young woman richly dressed
in the Jewish fashion, while an old man, whose yellow cap proclaimed him
to belong to the same nation, walked up and down with gestures of the
deepest despair and wrung his hands.

When he began to come to himself out of his agony of terror, the old
man, named Isaac of York, explained that he had hired a bodyguard of
six men at Ashby, together with mules for carrying the litter of a sick
friend. This party had undertaken to escort him to Doncaster. They had
come thus far in safety; but having received information from a
wood-cutter that a strong band of outlaws was lying in wait in the woods
before them, Isaac's [v]mercenaries had not only taken to flight, but
had carried off the horses which bore the litter and left the Jew and
his daughter without the means either of defense or of retreat. Isaac
ended by imploring the Saxons to let him travel with them. Cedric and
Athelstane were somewhat in doubt as to what to do, but the matter was
settled by Rowena's intervention.

"The man is old and feeble," she said to Cedric, "the maiden young and
beautiful, their friend sick and in peril of his life. We cannot leave
them in this extremity. Let the men unload two of the sumpter-mules and
put the baggage behind two of the [v]serfs. The mules may transport the
litter, and we have led-horses for the old man and his daughter. "

Cedric readily assented to what was proposed, and the change of baggage
was hastily achieved; for the single word "outlaws" rendered every one
sufficiently alert, and the approach of twilight made the sound yet more
impressive. Amid the bustle, Gurth was taken from horseback, in the
course of which removal he prevailed upon the jester to slack the cord
with which his arms were bound. It was so negligently refastened,
perhaps intentionally, on the part of Wamba, that Gurth found no
difficulty in freeing his arms altogether, and then, gliding into the
thicket, he made his escape from the party.

His departure was hardly noticed in the apprehension of the moment. The
path upon which the party traveled was now so narrow as not to admit,
with any sort of convenience, above two riders abreast, and began to
descend into a dingle, traversed by a brook, the banks of which were
broken, swampy, and overgrown with dwarf willows. Cedric and Athelstane,
who were at the head of their [v]retinue, saw the risk of being attacked
in this pass, but neither knew anything else to do than hasten through
the defile as fast as possible. Advancing, therefore, without much
order, they had just crossed the brook with a part of their followers,
when they were assailed, in front, flank, and rear at once, by a band of
armed men. The shout of a "White dragon! Saint George for merry
England! " the war cry of the Saxons, was heard on every side, and on
every side enemies appeared with a rapidity of advance and attack which
seemed to multiply their numbers.

Both the Saxon chiefs were made prisoners at the same moment. Cedric,
the instant an enemy appeared, launched at him his javelin, which,
taking better effect than that which he had hurled at Fangs, nailed the
man against an oak-tree that happened to be close behind him. Thus far
successful, Cedric spurred his horse against a second, drawing his sword
and striking with such inconsiderate fury that his weapon encountered a
thick branch which hung over him, and he was disarmed by the violence of
his own blow. He was instantly made prisoner and pulled from his horse
by two or three of the [v]banditti who crowded around him. Athelstane
shared his captivity, his bridle having been seized and he himself
forcibly dismounted long before he could draw his sword.

The attendants, embarrassed with baggage and surprised and terrified at
the fate of their master, fell an easy prey to the assailants; while the
Lady Rowena and the Jew and his daughter experienced the same
misfortune.

Of all the train none escaped but Wamba, who showed upon the occasion
much more courage than those who pretended to greater sense. He
possessed himself of a sword belonging to one of the domestics, who was
just drawing it, laid it about him like a lion, drove back several who
approached him, and made a brave though ineffectual effort to succor his
master. Finding himself overpowered, the jester threw himself from his
horse, plunged into a thicket, and, favored by the general confusion,
escaped from the scene of action.

Suddenly a voice very near him called out in a low and cautious tone,
"Wamba! " and, at the same time, a dog which he recognized as Fangs
jumped up and fawned upon him. "Gurth! " answered Wamba with the same
caution, and the swineherd immediately stood before him.

"What is the matter? " he asked. "What mean these cries and that clashing
of swords? "

"Only a trick of the times," answered Wamba. "They are all prisoners. "

"Who are prisoners? "

"My lord, and my lady, and Athelstane, and the others. "

"In the name of God," demanded Gurth, "how came they prisoners? and to
whom? "

"They are prisoners to green [v]cassocks and black [v]vizors," answered
Wamba. "They all lie tumbled about on the green, like the crab-apples
that you shake down to your swine. And I would laugh at it," added the
honest jester, "if I could for weeping. "

He shed tears of unfeigned sorrow.

Gurth's countenance kindled. "Wamba," he said, "thou hast a weapon and
thy heart was ever stronger than thy brain. We are only two, but a
sudden attack from men of resolution might do much. Follow me! "

"Whither, and for what purpose? " asked the jester.

"To rescue Cedric. "

"But you renounced his service just now. "

"That," said Gurth, "was while he was fortunate. Follow me. "

As the jester was about to obey, a third person suddenly made his
appearance and commanded them both to halt. From his dress and arms
Wamba would have conjectured him to be one of the outlaws who had just
assailed his master; but, besides that he wore no mask, the glittering
baldric across his shoulders, with the rich bugle horn which it
supported, as well as the calm and commanding expression of his voice
and manner, made the jester recognize the archer who had won the prize
at the tournament and who was known as Locksley.

"What is the meaning of all this? " the man demanded. "Who are they that
rifle and ransom and make prisoners in these forests? "

"You may look at their cassocks close by," replied Wamba, "and see
whether they be thy children's coats or no, for they are as like thine
own as one green pea-pod is like another. "

"I will learn that presently," returned Locksley: "and I charge ye, on
peril of your lives, not to stir from this place where ye stand until I
have returned. Obey me, and it shall be the better for you and your
masters. Yet stay; I must render myself as like these men as possible. "

So saying, he drew a [v]vizard from his pouch, and, repeating his
charges to them to stand fast, went to reconnoitre.

"Shall we stay, Gurth? " asked Wamba; "or shall we give him [v]leg-bail?
In my foolish mind, he had all the equipage of a thief too much in
readiness to be himself a true man. "

"Let him be the devil," said Gurth, "an he will. We can be no worse for
waiting his return. If he belongs to that party, he must already have
given them the alarm, and it will avail us nothing either to fight or
fly. "

The yeoman returned in the course of a few minutes.

"Friend Gurth," he said, "I have mingled among yon men and have learned
to whom they belong, and whither they are bound. There is, I think, no
chance that they will proceed to any actual violence against their
prisoners. For three men to attack them at this moment were little else
than madness; for they are good men of war and have, as such, placed
sentinels to give the alarm when any one approaches. But I trust soon to
gather such a force as may act in defiance of all their precautions. You
are both servants, and, as I think, faithful servants of Cedric the
Saxon, the friend of the rights of Englishmen. He shall not want English
hands to help him in this extremity. Come then with me, until I gather
more aid. "

So saying, he walked through the wood at a great pace, followed by the
jester and the swineherd. The three men proceeded with occasional
converse but, for the most part, in silence for about three hours.
Finally they arrived at a small opening in the forest, in the center of
which grew an oak-tree of enormous magnitude, throwing its twisted
branches in every direction. Beneath this tree four or five yeomen lay
stretched on the ground, while another, as sentinel, walked to and fro
in the moonlight.

Upon hearing the sound of feet approaching, the watch instantly gave the
alarm, and the sleepers as suddenly started up and bent their bows. Six
arrows placed on the string were pointed toward the quarter from which
the travelers approached, when their guide, being recognized, was
welcomed with every token of respect and attachment.

"Where is the miller? " was Locksley's first question.

"On the road toward Rotherham. "

"With how many? " demanded the leader, for such he seemed to be.

"With six men, and good hope of booty, if it please Saint Nicholas. "

"Devoutly spoken," said Locksley. "And where is Allan-a-Dale? "

"Walked up toward the [v]Watling Street, to watch for the Prior of
Jorvaulx. "

"That is well thought on also," replied the captain. "And where is the
friar? "

"In his cell. "

"Thither will I go," said Locksley. "Disperse and seek your companions.
Collect what force you can, for there's game afoot that must be hunted
hard and will turn to bay. Meet me here at daybreak. And stay," he
added; "I have forgotten what is most necessary of the whole. Two of you
take the road quickly toward Torquilstone, the castle of
[v]Front-de-Boeuf. A set of gallants, who have been [v]masquerading in
such guise as our own, are carrying a band of prisoners thither. Watch
them closely, for, even if they reach the castle before we collect our
force, our honor is concerned to punish them, and we will find means to
do so. Keep a good watch on them, therefore, and despatch one of your
comrades to bring the news of the yeomen thereabouts. "

The men promised obedience and departed on their several errands.
Meanwhile, their leader and his two companions, who now looked upon him
with great respect as well as some fear, pursued their way to the chapel
where dwelt the friar mentioned by Locksley. Presently they reached a
little moonlit glade, in front of which stood an ancient and ruinous
chapel and beside it a rude hermitage of stone half-covered with ivy
vines.

The sounds which proceeded at that moment from the latter place were
anything but churchly. In fact, the hermit and another voice were
performing at the full extent of very powerful lungs an old
drinking-song, of which this was the burden:

Come, trowl the brown bowl to me,
Bully boy, bully boy;
Come trowl the brown bowl to me:
Ho! jolly Jenkin, I spy a knave drinking;
Come trowl the brown bowl to me.

"Now, that is not ill sung," said Wamba, who had thrown in a few of his
own flourishes to help out the chorus. "But who, in the saint's name,
ever expected to have heard such a jolly chant come from a hermit's cell
at midnight? "

"Marry, that should I," said Gurth, "for the jolly Clerk of Copmanhurst
is a known man and kills half the deer that are stolen in this walk. Men
say that the deer-keeper has complained of him and that he will be
stripped of his [v]cowl and [v]cope altogether if he keep not better
order. "

While they were thus speaking, Locksley's loud and repeated knocks had
at length disturbed the [v]anchorite and his guest, who was a knight of
singularly powerful build and open, handsome face, and in black armor.

"By my beads," said the hermit, "here come other guests. I would not for
my cowl that they found us in this goodly exercise. All men have
enemies, sir knight; and there be those malignant enough to construe the
hospitable refreshment I have been offering to you, a weary traveler,
into drinking and gluttony, vices alike alien to my profession and my
disposition. "

"Base [v]calumniators! " replied the knight. "I would I had the
chastising of them. Nevertheless, holy clerk, it is true that all have
their enemies; and there be those in this very land whom I would rather
speak to through the bars of my helmet than bare-faced. "

"Get thine iron pot on thy head, then, sir knight," said the hermit,
"while I remove these pewter flagons. "

He struck up a thundering [v]_De profundis clamavi_, under cover of
which he removed the apparatus of their banquet, while the knight,
laughing heartily and arming himself all the while, assisted his host
with his voice from time to time as his mirth permitted.

"What devil's [v]matins are you after at this hour? " demanded a voice
from outside.

"Heaven forgive you, sir traveler! " said the hermit, whose own noise
prevented him from recognizing accents which were tolerably familiar to
him. "Wend on your way, in the name of God and Saint Dunstan, and
disturb not the devotions of me and my holy brother. "

"Mad priest," answered the voice from without; "open to Locksley! "

"All's safe--all's right," said the hermit to his companion.

"But who is he? " asked the Black Knight. "It imports me much to know. "

"Who is he? " answered the hermit. "I tell thee he is a friend. "

"But what friend? " persisted the knight; "for he may be a friend to thee
and none of mine. "

"What friend? " replied the hermit; "that now is one of the questions
that is more easily asked than answered. "

"Well, open the door," ordered the knight, "before he beat it from its
hinges. "

The hermit speedily unbolted his portal and admitted Locksley, with his
two companions.

"Why, hermit," was the yeoman's first question as soon as he beheld the
knight, "what boon companion hast thou here? "

"A brother of our order," replied the friar, shaking his head; "we have
been at our devotions all night. "

"He is a monk of the church militant," answered Locksley; "and there be
more of them abroad. I tell thee, friar, thou must lay down the
[v]rosary and take up the [v]quarter-staff; we shall need every one of
our merry men, whether clerk or layman. But," he added, taking a step
aside, "art thou mad--to give admittance to a knight thou dost not know?
Hast thou forgotten our agreement? "

"Good yeoman," said the knight, coming forward, "be not wroth with my
merry host. He did but afford me the hospitality which I would have
compelled from him if he had refused it. "

"Thou compel! " cried the friar. "Wait but till I have changed this gray
gown for a green cassock, and if I make not a quarter-staff ring twelve
upon thy pate, I am neither true clerk nor good woodsman. "

While he spoke thus he stript off his gown and appeared in a close
buckram doublet and lower garment, over which he speedily did on a
cassock of green and hose of the same color.

"I pray thee [v]truss my points," he said to Wamba, "and thou shalt have
a cup of sack for thy labor. "

"[v]Gramercy for thy sack," returned Wamba; "but thinkest thou that it
is lawful for me to aid you to transmew thyself from a holy hermit into
a sinful forester? "

So saying, he accommodated the friar with his assistance in tying the
endless number of points, as the laces which attached the hose to the
doublet were then termed.

While they were thus employed, Locksley led the knight a little apart
and addressed him thus: "Deny it not, sir knight, you are he who played
so glorious a part at the tournament at Ashby. "

"And what follows, if you guess truly, good yeoman? "

"For my purpose," said the yeoman, "thou shouldst be as well a good
Englishman as a good knight; for that which I have to speak of concerns,
indeed, the duty of every honest man, but is more especially that of a
true-born native of England. "

"You can speak to no one," replied the knight, "to whom England, and
the life of every Englishman, can be dearer than to me.
"

"I would willingly believe so," said the woodsman; "and never had this
country such need to be supported by those who love her. A band of
villains, in the disguise of better men than themselves, have become
masters of the persons of a noble Englishman named Cedric the Saxon,
together with his ward and his friend, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, and
have transported them to a castle in this forest called Torquilstone. I
ask of thee, as a good knight and a good Englishman, wilt thou aid in
their rescue? "

"I am bound by my vow to do so," replied the knight; "but I would
willingly know who you are who request my assistance in their behalf? "

"I am," said the forester, "a nameless man; but I am a friend of my
country and my country's friends. Believe, however, that my word, when
pledged, is as [v]inviolate as if I wore golden spurs. "

"I willingly believe it," returned the knight. "I have been accustomed
to study men's countenances, and I can read in thine honesty and
resolution. I will, therefore, ask thee no farther questions but aid
thee in setting at freedom these oppressed captives, which done, I trust
we shall part better acquainted and well satisfied with each other. "

When the friar was at length ready, Locksley turned to his companions.

"Come on, my masters," he said; "tarry not to talk. I say, come on: we
must collect all our forces, and few enough shall we have if we are to
storm the castle of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf. "


II

While these measures were taking in behalf of Cedric and his companions,
the armed men by whom the latter had been seized hurried their captives
along toward the place of security, where they intended to imprison
them. But darkness came on fast, and the paths of the wood seemed but
imperfectly known to the [v]marauders. They were compelled to make
several long halts and once or twice to return on their road to resume
the direction which they wished to pursue. It was, therefore, not until
the light of the summer morn had dawned upon them that they could travel
in full assurance that they held the right path.

In vain Cedric [v]expostulated with his guards, who refused to break
their silence for his wrath or his protests. They continued to hurry him
along, traveling at a very rapid rate, until, at the end of an avenue of
huge trees, arose Torquilstone, the hoary and ancient castle of Reginald
Front-de-Boeuf. It was a fortress of no great size, consisting of a
donjon, or large and high square tower, surrounded by buildings of
inferior height. Around the exterior wall was a deep moat, supplied with
water from a neighboring rivulet. Front-de-Boeuf, whose character
placed him often at feud with his neighbors, had made considerable
additions to the strength of his castle by building towers upon the
outward wall, so as to flank it at every angle. The access, as usual in
castles of the period, lay through an arched [v]barbican or outwork,
which was defended by a small turret.

Cedric no sooner saw the turrets of Front-de-Boeuf's castle raise their
gray and moss-grown battlements, glimmering in the morning sun, above
the woods by which they were surrounded than he instantly augured more
truly concerning the cause of his misfortune.

"I did injustice," he said, "to the thieves and outlaws of these woods,
when I supposed such banditti to belong to their bands. I might as
justly have confounded the foxes of these brakes with the ravening
wolves of France! "

Arrived before the castle, the prisoners were compelled by their guards
to alight and were hastened across the drawbridge into the castle. They
were immediately conducted to an apartment where a hasty repast was
offered them, of which none but Athelstane felt any inclination to
partake. Neither did he have much time to do justice to the good cheer
placed before him, for the guards gave him and Cedric to understand that
they were to be imprisoned in a chamber apart from Rowena. Resistance
was vain; and they were compelled to follow to a large room, which,
rising on clumsy Saxon pillars, resembled the [v]refectories and
chapter-houses which may still be seen in the most ancient parts of our
most ancient monasteries.

The Lady Rowena was next separated from her train and conducted with
courtesy, indeed, but still without consulting her inclination, to a
distant apartment. The same alarming distinction was conferred on the
young Jewess, Rebecca, in spite of the entreaties of her father, who
offered money in the extremity of his distress that she might be
permitted to abide with him.

"Base unbeliever," answered one of his guards, "when thou hast seen thy
lair, thou wilt not wish thy daughter to partake it. "

Without further discussion, the old Jew was dragged off in a different
direction from the other prisoners. The domestics, after being searched
and disarmed, were confined in another part of the castle.

The three leaders of the banditti and the men who had planned and
carried out the outrage, Norman knights,--Front-de-Boeuf, the brutal
owner of the castle; Maurice de Bracy, a free-lance, who sought to wed
the Lady Rowena by force and so had arranged the attack, and Brian de
[v]Bois-Guilbert, a distinguished member of the famous order of
[v]Knights Templar,--had a short discussion together and then
separated. Front-de-Boeuf immediately sought the apartment where Isaac
of York tremblingly awaited his fate.

The Jew had been hastily thrown into a dungeon-vault of the castle, the
floor of which was deep beneath the level of the earth, and very damp,
being lower than the moat itself. The only light was received through
one or two loop-holes far above the reach of the captive's hand. These
[v]apertures admitted, even at midday, only a dim and uncertain light,
which was changed for utter darkness long before the rest of the castle
had lost the blessing of day. Chains and shackles, which had been the
portion of former captives, hung rusted and empty on the walls of the
prison, and in the rings of one of these sets of fetters there remained
two moldering bones which seemed those of the human leg.

At one end of this ghastly apartment was a large fire-grate, over the
top of which were stretched some transverse iron bars, half devoured
with rust.

The whole appearance of the dungeon might have appalled a stouter heart
than that of Isaac, who, nevertheless, was more composed under the
imminent pressure of danger than he had seemed to be while affected by
terrors of which the cause was as yet remote and [v]contingent. It was
not the first time that Isaac had been placed in circumstances so
dangerous. He had, therefore, experience to guide him, as well as a hope
that he might again be delivered from the peril.

The Jew remained without altering his position for nearly three hours,
at the end of which time steps were heard on the dungeon stair. The
bolts screamed as they were withdrawn, the hinges creaked as the wicket
opened, and Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, followed by two Saracen slaves of
the Templar, entered the prison.

Front-de-Boeuf, a tall and strong man, whose life had been spent in
public war or in private feuds and broils and who had hesitated at no
means of extending his [v]feudal power, had features corresponding to
his character, and which strongly expressed the fiercer and more evil
passions of the mind. The scars with which his visage was seamed would,
on features of a different cast, have excited the sympathy due to the
marks of honorable valor; but in the peculiar case of Front-de-Boeuf
they only added to the ferocity of his countenance and to the dread
which his presence inspired. The formidable baron was clad in a leathern
doublet, fitted close to his body, which was frayed and soiled with the
stains of his armor. He had no weapon, except a [v]poniard at his belt,
which served to counter-balance the weight of the bunch of rusty keys
that hung at his right side.

The black slaves who attended Front-de-Boeuf were attired in jerkins and
trousers of coarse linen, their sleeves being tucked up above the elbow,
like those of butchers when about to exercise their functions in the
slaughter-house. Each had in his hand a small [v]pannier; and when they
entered the dungeon, they paused at the door until Front-de-Boeuf
himself carefully locked and double-locked it. Having taken this
precaution, he advanced slowly up the apartment toward the Jew, upon
whom he kept his eye fixed as if he wished to paralyze him with his
glance, as some animals are said to fascinate their prey.

The Jew sat with his mouth agape and his eyes fixed on the savage baron
with such earnestness of terror that his frame seemed literally to
shrink together and diminish in size while encountering the fierce
Norman's fixed and baleful gaze. The unhappy Isaac was deprived not only
of the power of rising to make the [v]obeisance which his fear had
dictated, but he could not even doff his cap or utter any word of
supplication, so strongly was he agitated by the conviction that
tortures and death were impending over him.

On the other hand, the stately form of the Norman appeared to dilate in
magnitude, like that of the eagle, which ruffles up its plumage when
about to pounce on its defenseless prey. He paused within three steps of
the corner in which the unfortunate Hebrew had now, as it were, coiled
himself up into the smallest possible space, and made a sign for one of
the slaves to approach. The black [v]satellite came forward accordingly,
and producing from his basket a large pair of scales and several
weights, he laid them at the feet of Front-de-Boeuf and retired to the
respectful distance at which his companion had already taken his
station.

The motions of these men were slow and solemn, as if there impended over
their souls some [v]preconception of horror and cruelty. Front-de-Boeuf
himself opened the scene by addressing his ill-fated captive.

"Most accursed dog," he said, awakening with his deep and sullen voice
the echoes of the dungeon vault, "seest thou these scales? "

The unhappy Jew returned a feeble affirmative.

"In these very scales shalt thou weigh me out," said the relentless
baron, "a thousand silver pounds, after the just measure and weight of
the Tower of London. "

"Holy Abraham! " returned the Jew, finding voice through the very
extremity of his danger; "heard man ever such a demand? Who ever heard,
even in a minstrel's tale, of such a sum as a thousand pounds of silver?
What human eyes were ever blessed with the sight of so great a mass of
treasure? Not within the walls of York, ransack my house and that of all
my tribe, wilt thou find the [v]tithe of that huge sum of silver that
thou speakest of. "

"I am reasonable," answered Front-de-Boeuf, "and if silver be scant, I
refuse not gold. At the rate of a mark of gold for each six pounds of
silver, thou shalt free thy unbelieving carcass from such punishment as
thy heart has never even conceived in thy wildest imaginings. "

"Have mercy on me, noble knight! " pleaded Isaac. "I am old, and poor,
and helpless. It were unworthy to triumph over me. It is a poor deed to
crush a worm. "

"Old thou mayst be," replied the knight, "and feeble thou mayst be; but
rich it is known thou art. "

"I swear to you, noble knight," said Isaac, "by all which I believe and
all which we believe in common--"

"Perjure not thyself," interrupted the Norman, "and let not thy
obstinacy seal thy doom, until thou hast seen and well considered the
fate that awaits thee. This prison is no place for trifling. Prisoners
ten thousand times more distinguished than thou have died within these
walls, and their fate has never been known. But for thee is reserved a
long and lingering death, to which theirs was luxury. "

He again made a signal for the slaves to approach and spoke to them
apart in their own language; for he had been a crusader in Palestine,
where, perhaps, he had learned his lesson of cruelty. The Saracens
produced from their baskets a quantity of charcoal, a pair of bellows,
and a flask of oil. While the one struck a light with a flint and steel,
the other disposed the charcoal in the large rusty grate which we have
already mentioned and exercised the bellows until the fuel came to a red
glow.

"Seest thou, Isaac," said Front-de-Boeuf, "the range of iron bars above
that glowing charcoal? On that warm couch thou shalt lie, stripped of
thy clothes as if thou wert to rest on a bed of down. One of these
slaves shall maintain the fire beneath thee, while the other shall
anoint thy wretched limbs with oil, lest the roast should burn. Now
choose betwixt such a scorching bed and the payment of a thousand pounds
of silver; for, by the head of my father, thou hast no other [v]option. "

"It is impossible," exclaimed the miserable Isaac; "it is impossible
that your purpose can be real! The good God of nature never made a heart
capable of exercising such cruelty! "

"Trust not to that, Isaac," said Front-de-Boeuf; "it were a fatal error.
Dost thou think that I who have seen a town sacked, in which thousands
perished by sword, by flood, and by fire, will blench from my purpose
for the outcries of a single wretch? Be wise, old man; discharge thyself
of a portion of thy superfluous wealth; repay to the hands of a
Christian a part of what thou hast acquired by [v]usury. Thy cunning may
soon swell out once more thy shriveled purse, but neither leech nor
medicine can restore thy scorched hide and flesh wert thou once
stretched on these bars. Tell down thy [v]ransom, I say, and rejoice
that at such a rate thou canst redeem thyself from a dungeon, the
secrets of which few have returned to tell. I waste no more words with
thee. Choose between thy [v]dross and thy flesh and blood, and as thou
choosest so shall it be. "

"So may Abraham and all the fathers of our people assist me! " said
Isaac; "I cannot make the choice because I have not the means of
satisfying your [v]exorbitant demand! "

"Seize him and strip him, slaves," said the knight.

The assistants, taking their directions more from the baron's eye and
hand than his tongue, once more stepped forward, laid hands on the
unfortunate Isaac, plucked him up from the ground, and holding him
between them, waited the hard-hearted baron's further signal. The
unhappy man eyed their countenances and that of Front-de-Boeuf in the
hope of discovering some symptoms of softening; but that of the baron
showed the same cold, half-sullen, half-sarcastic smile, which had been
the prelude to his cruelty; and the savage eyes of the Saracens, rolling
gloomily under their dark brows, evinced rather the secret pleasure
which they expected from the approaching scene than any reluctance to be
its agents. The Jew then looked at the glowing furnace, over which he
was presently to be stretched, and, seeing no chance of his tormentor's
relenting, his resolution gave way.

"I will pay," he said, "the thousand pounds of silver--that is, I will
pay it with the help of my brethren, for I must beg as a mendicant at
the door of our synagogue ere I make up so unheard-of a sum. When and
where must it be delivered? " he inquired with a sigh.

"Here," replied Front-de-Boeuf. "Weighed it must be--weighed and told
down on this very dungeon floor. Thinkest thou I will part with thee
until thy ransom is secure? "

"Then let my daughter Rebecca go forth to York," said Isaac, "with your
safe conduct, noble knight, and so soon as man and horse can return, the
treasure--" Here he groaned deeply, but added, after the pause of a few
seconds,--"the treasure shall be told down on this floor. "

"Thy daughter! " said Front-de-Boeuf, as if surprised. "By Heavens,
Isaac, I would I had known of this! I gave yonder black-browed girl to
Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, to be his prisoner. She is not in my power. "

The yell which Isaac raised at this unfeeling communication made the
very vault to ring, and astounded the two Saracens so much that they let
go their hold of the victim. He availed himself of his freedom to throw
himself on the pavement and clasp the knees of Front-de-Boeuf.

"Take all that you have asked," said he--"take ten times more--reduce me
to ruin and to beggary, if thou wilt--nay, pierce me with thy poniard,
broil me on that furnace, but spare my daughter! Will you deprive me of
my sole remaining comfort in life? "

"I would," said the Norman, somewhat relenting, "that I had known of
this before. I thought you loved nothing but your money-bags. "

"Think not so vilely of me," returned Isaac, eager to improve the moment
of apparent sympathy. "I love mine own, even as the hunted fox, the
tortured wildcat loves its young. "

"Be it so," said Front-de-Boeuf; "but it aids us not now. I cannot help
what has happened or what is to follow. My word is passed to my comrade
in arms that he shall have the maiden as his share of the spoil, and I
would not break it for ten Jews and Jewesses to boot. Take thought
instead to pay me the ransom thou hast promised, or woe betide thee! "

"Robber and villain! " cried the Jew, "I will pay thee nothing--not one
silver penny will I pay thee unless my daughter is delivered to me in
safety! "

"Art thou in thy senses, Israelite? " asked the Norman sternly. "Hast thy
flesh and blood a charm against heated iron and scalding oil? "

"I care not! " replied the Jew, rendered desperate by paternal affection;
"my daughter is my flesh and blood, dearer to me a thousand times than
those limbs thy cruelty threatens. No silver will I give thee unless I
were to pour it molten down thy [v]avaricious throat--no, not a silver
penny will I give thee, [v]Nazarene, were it to save thee from the deep
damnation thy whole life has merited. Take my life, if thou wilt, and
say that the Jew, amidst his tortures, knew how to disappoint the
Christian. "

"We shall see that," said Front-de-Boeuf; "for by the blessed [v]rood
thou shalt feel the extremities of fire and steel! Strip him, slaves,
and chain him down upon the bars. "

In spite of the feeble struggles of the old man, the Saracens had
already torn from him his upper garment and were proceeding totally to
disrobe him, when the sound of a bugle, twice winded without the castle,
penetrated even to the recesses of the dungeon. Immediately after voices
were heard calling for Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeuf. Unwilling to be
found engaged in his hellish occupation, the savage baron gave the
slaves a signal to restore Isaac's garment; and, quitting the dungeon
with his attendants, he left the Jew to thank God for his own
deliverance or to lament over his daughter's captivity, as his personal
or parental feelings might prove the stronger.


III

When the bugle sounded, De Bracy was engaged in pressing his suit with
the Saxon heiress Rowena, whom he had carried off under the impression
that she would speedily surrender to his rough wooing. But he found her
[v]obdurate as well as tearful and in no humor to listen to his
professions of devotion. It was, therefore, with some relief that the
free-lance heard the summons at the barbican. Going into the hall of
the castle, De Bracy was presently joined by Bois-Guilbert.

"Where is Front-de-Boeuf! " the latter asked.

"He is [v]negotiating with the Jew, I suppose," replied De Bracy,
coolly; "probably the howls of Isaac have drowned the blast of the
bugle. But we will make the [v]vassals call him. "

They were soon after joined by Front-de-Boeuf, who had only tarried to
give some necessary directions.

"Let us see the cause of this cursed clamor," he said. "Here is a letter
which has just been brought in, and, if I mistake not, it is in Saxon. "

He looked at it, turning it round and round as if he had some hopes of
coming at the meaning by inverting the position of the paper, and then
handed it to De Bracy.

"It may be magic spells for aught I know," said De Bracy, who possessed
his full proportion of the ignorance which characterized the chivalry of
the period.

"Give it to me," said the Templar. "We have that of the priestly
character that we have some knowledge to enlighten our valor. "

"Let us profit by your most reverend knowledge, then," returned De
Bracy. "What says the scroll? "

"It is a formal letter of defiance," answered Bois-Guilbert; "but, by
our Lady of Bethlehem, if it be not a foolish jest, it is the most
extraordinary [v]cartel that ever went across the drawbridge of a
baronial castle. "

"Jest! " exclaimed Front-de-Boeuf. "I would gladly know who dares jest
with me in such a matter! Read it, Sir Brian. "

The Templar accordingly read as follows:

"I, Wamba, the son of Witless, jester to a noble and free-born man,
Cedric of Rotherwood, called the Saxon: and I, Gurth, the son of
Beowulph, the swineherd--"

"Thou art mad! " cried Front-de-Boeuf, interrupting the reader.

"By Saint Luke, it is so set down," answered the Templar. Then, resuming
his task, he went on: "I, Gurth, the son of Beowulph, swineherd unto the
said Cedric, with the assistance of our allies and confederates, who
make common cause with us in this our feud, namely, the good knight,
called for the present the Black Knight, and the stout yeoman, Robert
Locksley, called Cleve-the-wand: Do you, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, and
your allies and accomplices whomsoever, to wit, that whereas you have,
without cause given or feud declared, wrongfully and by mastery, seized
upon the person of our lord and master, the said Cedric; also upon the
person of a noble and free-born damsel, the Lady Rowena; also upon the
person of a noble and free-born man, Athelstane of Coningsburgh; also
upon the persons of certain free-born men, their vassals; also upon
certain serfs, their born bondsmen; also upon a certain Jew, named
Isaac of York, together with his daughter, and certain horses and mules:
therefore, we require and demand that the said persons be within an hour
after the delivery hereof delivered to us, untouched and unharmed in
body and goods. Failing of which, we do pronounce to you that we hold ye
as robbers and traitors and will wager our bodies against ye in battle
and do our utmost to your destruction. Signed by us upon the eve of
Saint Withold's day, under the great oak in the Hart-hill Walk, the
above being written by a holy man, clerk to God and Saint Dunstan in the
chapel of Copmanhurst. "

The knights heard this uncommon document read from end to end and then
gazed upon each other in silent amazement, as being utterly at a loss to
know what it could portend. De Bracy was the first to break silence by
an uncontrollable fit of laughter, wherein he was joined, though with
more moderation, by the Templar. Front-de-Boeuf, on the contrary, seemed
impatient of their ill-timed [v]jocularity.

"I give you plain warning," he said, "fair sirs, that you had better
consult how to bear yourselves under these circumstances than to give
way to such misplaced merriment. "

"Front-de-Boeuf has not recovered his temper since his overthrow in the
tournament," said De Bracy to the Templar. "He is cowed at the very idea
of a cartel, though it be from a fool and a swineherd. "

"I would thou couldst stand the whole brunt of this adventure thyself,
De Bracy," answered Front-de-Boeuf. "These fellows dared not to have
acted with such inconceivable impudence had they not been supported by
some strong bands. There are enough outlaws in this forest to resent my
protecting the deer. I did but tie one fellow, who was taken red-handed
and in the fact, to the horns of a wild stag, which gored him to death
in five minutes, and I had as many arrows shot at me as were launched in
the tournament. Here, fellow," he added to one of his attendants, "hast
thou sent out to see by what force this precious challenge is to be
supported? "

"There are at least two hundred men assembled in the woods," answered a
squire who was in attendance.

"Here is a proper matter! " said Front-de-Boeuf. "This comes of lending
you the use of my castle. You cannot manage your undertaking quietly,
but you must bring this nest of hornets about my ears! "

"Of hornets? " echoed De Bracy. "Of stingless drones rather--a band of
lazy knaves who take to the wood and destroy the venison rather than
labor for their maintenance. "

"Stingless! " replied Front-de-Boeuf. "Fork-headed shafts of a cloth-yard
in length, and these shot within the breadth of a French crown, are
sting enough. "

"For shame, sir knight! " said the Templar. "Let us summon our people
and sally forth upon them. One knight--ay, one man-at-arms--were enough
for twenty such peasants. "

"Enough, and too much," agreed De Bracy. "I should be ashamed to couch
lance against them. "

"True," answered Front-de-Boeuf, drily, "were they black Turks or Moors,
Sir Templar, or the craven peasants of France, most valiant De Bracy;
but these are English yeomen, over whom we shall have no advantage save
what we may derive from our arms and horses, which will avail us little
in the glades of the forest. Sally, saidst thou? We have scarce men
enough to defend the castle. The best of mine are at York; so is your
band, De Bracy; and we have scarce twenty, besides the handful that were
engaged in this mad business. "

"Thou dost not fear," said the Templar, "that they can assemble in force
sufficient to attempt the castle?