The Childhood of King Erik Menved Part 56

"One word, sir drost," said Henner, in an under-tone. "If you would ride safely to Snoghoi or Kolding to-night, tarry here till I return, or at least allow the road to stand open for good friends. Run, Aase!

Time presses!"

"What meanest thou, old man?" inquired Drost Peter, impatiently.

But he received no answer; for, with a few tremendous bounds, aided by his staff, in the manner of the old Frisians, the tall pilgrim had suddenly disappeared in the gloom. Shortly after, the strokes of an oar were heard on the river, northward of the gate, and a glimpse was caught of a boat running down the stream towards the castle with incredible rapidity.

At the instant the old man disappeared, little Aase also sprang nimbly from Skirmen's arms, and was quickly out of sight; but as Skirmen fancied he heard her footsteps on the bridge leading to the Lower-dam, he mounted his norback, and was about to follow her, when his master called him loudly and impatiently the other way. "Come, Skirmen, let us forward. Henner is half crazed, and I cannot wait here to please his whimsies. You may open the gate for the old man, if he again comes," he added, turning to the burgher-guard; "or, should any one inquire for me, do not detain him."

So saying, he rode off hastily. Skirmen followed him with a downcast heart, and looking back every minute after his dear Aase, to whom he had scarcely had time to give a farewell kiss but in the faint starlight he saw only the gloomy archway, and a long mailed hand projecting threateningly from its walls.

"What means that hideous hand, dear master, on the town-gate there?" he inquired, as a pretext for lingering a little longer, while he continued gazing on the path by which Aase had disappeared.

"The hand is placed there as a terror to transgressors of the laws,"

replied the drost, relaxing his speed, as he looked behind. "Whoever, by forestalling, causes a scarcity in the town, loses his hand. But if I mistake not, Skirmen, it is another hand, less stiff and cold, thou art now looking after. Thou wouldst once more take leave of thy little Aase? Well, she is a fair maiden, and one day shall be thy wife. When we have restored peace to the land, I shall care for your welfare. But meanwhile banish all such weaknesses, and be strong. I dare not take a single step from my appointed course, even for the sake of her who is dearer to me than all."

"True: but you are now both travelling in the same direction, and perhaps you may meet her at Kolding. But thanks, n.o.ble sir, for your care for us," added Skirmen, "although lands and wealth I require not.

Aase only desires that I should, like you, be a doughty knight, and do you and our young king honour. Ride on, sir: I shall not longer detain you. Our Lord may yet permit me to see my dear little Aase again." He hastily pa.s.sed his hand over his eyes, and set spurs to his norback.

As they rode rapidly forward, Drost Peter tried to conjecture what the warning of old Henner could mean, and why he had requested the town-gate to be left open.

"It was thoughtless, Skirmen," he observed, "to humour the whim of the old man about the gate. If the fellows you spoke of be traitors on our track, we have ourselves opened the way for them to follow us."

Shortly after, they heard the sound of horses' hoofs behind them. They turned, and in the twilight perceived a troop of hors.e.m.e.n approaching.

"Let us turn aside, sir," said Skirmen: "it is certainly the men in cowls."

About an hundred paces behind them, and running into the wood to the right, was a by-road, down which the suspicious troop disappeared.

"They have business elsewhere," said the drost, taking his hand from his sword.--"Let us on!"

They resumed their journey at a brisk trot.

"Perhaps they prefer meeting us at the outlet of the wood," observed Skirmen. "We have still the start; but it were most advisable, I think, to return to Rypen for aid. It was not for nothing that old Henner begged us to tarry."

"Nay, we shall use our advantage," said the drost, in a tone of decision, as he spurred his horse: "if they be foes, they are in a condition to overtake Jomfru Inge before us, and who knows what her twelve troopers are good for?"

After a sharp gallop they reached the outlet of the wood, where the road became very narrow, and inclosed on both sides by steep banks.

Skirmen was a short distance in advance of his master, when he suddenly wheeled about, and rode back.

"The hollow way is intercepted, sir," he cried. "And see, yonder come the same troops again from the wood."

Drost Peter halted, looked around him, and drew his sword. "So much the worse!" he exclaimed: "they have us in a trap. But we shall not suffer ourselves to be caught like rats. Thy norback can climb like a cat, Skirmen: ride up the height, then, and sound thy horn. If Henner brings us aid, he will hear it, and hasten on. With G.o.d's a.s.sistance I can manage to keep the fellows at bay for an hour. Quick, now!"

With much reluctance at leaving his master in this extremity, Skirmen obeyed; and patting the neck of his norback, he soon reached the top of the steep bank.

In the meanwhile the hors.e.m.e.n were approaching from both sides; but before they could exhibit any hostile intention the horn of Skirmen resounded loudly from the bank above. Both troops paused, apparently surprised; but when they perceived only the single hornblower on the height, they pressed forward rapidly, and had nearly surrounded the drost, who, however, succeeded in placing his back to the steep bank.

He now first perceived whom he had before him; and recognised in the band that came from the town the pretended coffin-bearers, with their cowls over their faces, and long drawn swords in their hands. The other band wore the same suspicious dress; and they numbered altogether more than twenty, all on horseback. They maintained a profound silence, and seemed to expect the drost to throw down his sword and surrender.

"Speak, fellows! what would you with me?" he shouted, brandis.h.i.+ng his sword on every side: "the first who advances, dies. If you be soldiers, say under whose orders you act, that I may know the traitor; and if there be a spark of honour in you, you will engage me singly, man to man. But if you are robbers and highwaymen, expect no booty from me.

b.l.o.o.d.y crowns are all you shall get, so long as I can wield my sword."

They answered not, but continued to press closer round him, none daring first to begin the attack; for Drost Peter, as weapon-master of the young king, was well known and generally feared for his skill with the sword. In the meanwhile, the horn of Skirmen continued to sound l.u.s.tily, and was now answered by another from the direction of Rypen.

"Now, by Satan! quick! dead or alive!" cried a rough voice from among the disguised hors.e.m.e.n, three of whom at once rushed in upon the drost.

One instantly fell wounded, the two others, and as many more as could press forward, warmly continuing the a.s.sault. Drost Peter vigorously defended himself, and kept them at bay, the violent plunging and rearing of his steed preventing their blows from reaching him. The irritated a.s.sa.s.sins, perceiving this, wounded the n.o.ble animal, which rushed furiously into the midst of them, and fell.

Drost Peter lay for an instant on one knee, hemmed in on all sides by the troopers, who threatened to crush him beneath their horses' hoofs.

He still retained his sword, although the blood streamed over his fingers from a wound in his arm. By a flourish of his weapon he succeeded in driving back the horses, and once more regained his feet.

At the same instant, Skirmen, who perceived the critical position of his master, darted his squire's sword from the bank above, and the leader of the gang rolled from his saddle, mortally wounded. The whole troop then sprang from their horses, to overpower the unaided knight by their united strength; but ere they could accomplish this, the blast of the horn, in answer to Skirmen's, sounded close at hand. The maskers, whom the fall of their leader seemed to have embarra.s.sed, looked behind, and caught sight of a well-armed troop of hors.e.m.e.n, headed by a heavy knight on a white horse, who, with drawn sword, approached at full gallop.

"The count from Kiel!--the one-eyed count!" cried one of the cowls; and, as if by a thunderbolt, the whole band was scattered.

Abandoning the drost, and springing on their horses, in an instant they all disappeared, except the two who lay wounded on the road, and whose horses, with vacant saddles, followed the others.

Count Gerhard on his white steed, with Henner Friser and the Holstein troopers, came up while Skirmen, with much solicitude, was binding up his master's right arm.

"The fiend!" cried Count Gerhard, springing from his horse, "have we come too late?"

"Time enough to save my life, n.o.ble count," replied Drost Peter, joyfully extending his left hand.

"Why did you proceed in such haste, sir drost?" cried old Henner, gloomily, from his saddle. "Humph!" he added, in a half whisper, after a moment's thought, "it is on the track of a lady's car that you bleed here. You would rather run the risk of that than follow a gray-beard's advice."

"You are right, old man," answered Drost Peter: "youth and the wisdom of old age do not go together. Besides, I was on my lawful road, and on the king's errand; and if you knew that traitors lay in ambush, you should have spoken plainly. Meanwhile, thanks for rede and deed."

When Count Gerhard perceived that his friend was not dangerously hurt, he would have pursued the fugitives into the wood, but the drost restrained him.

"It is useless," he said: "they have flown like chaff before your storm of troopers. A couple of them only remain--let us be content with them.

Here lies their leader, who fell, as if by lightning, without my hand."

"I hit him," cried Skirmen, joyfully, as he completed the bandage on his master's arm. "In three weeks you will again bear your sword, sir; but next time you use it, bid me not make music to your sport."

"Thy music helped me more than mine own good sword, Skirmen, and thou hast the aim of a David," said the drost, extending his hand to him.

They then approached the fallen leader, from whom Skirmen stripped the cowl and cloak, when, in his military buff doublet, they recognised with astonishment one of Duke Waldemar's Sleswick troopers. He died, however, almost immediately, and without uttering a word. The other had a similar doublet under his cloak. He was not mortally wounded; but wore a daring look, and neither threats nor promises could make him speak. They bound up his wound, and set him pinioned upon a horse.

Henner Friser now dismounted from the tall iron-gray horse he had ridden.

"I took your war-steed from the castle-stables, sir drost. You may soon require him," he said, with emphasis. "I shall now go on foot to my grave, and never more set myself on the high horse. I have done it roughly enough in bygone times, I know. Now I have finished with worldly affairs; but I shall say an ave by the Holy Grave, for you and the young king, if I do not fall suddenly into my own on the way. G.o.d and St. Christian be with you, n.o.ble sir!" he added, with unusual emotion. "Fortune is still with you in the midst of misfortune. But be on your guard. If you are not beforehand with the mortal foe, he will be beforehand with you. The crown you guard has not yet reached his head."

Drost Peter mounted his well-known, handsome war-steed, which had remained in the castle-stables since the last tilting-match. Sad, and in silence, he held forth his hand to the old pilgrim.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Count Gerhard, as Henner saluted him also, before departing. "Thou art too sage a carl, Henner, not to make something better than a penitent. I have learned more from thee to-night than from all my scribes and wis.e.m.e.n in my life. Stay with me: thou shalt carry my banner, and sit at my council. From what thou hast told me of my fortune, I should like to know a little more of it."

"It is not well to know too much of that, highborn sir," replied Henner, thoughtfully, shaking his gray head, as he leant upon his pilgrim's staff. "Neither am I a wizard; but the skilled man knows the world, and an old porpoise-hunter can still tell what weather we shall have to-morrow. Our Lord's Book does not lie, and it does not quite require a scribe to understand it. I know," he continued, looking sharply at the count, "that you will get as far with your one honest eye, as your wiliest foe with two; but, for all that, you must no more depend on Fortune than another. She is a bubble that, as you well know, bursts oftenest when it s.h.i.+nes the clearest. I should willingly bear your banner, highborn count, but what a man has promised to our Lord and the Holy Virgin he must abide by. I have a heavy reckoning to make, and death gives not long warning. G.o.d and St. Christian be with you!--Farewell, youth," he said, turning to Skirmen: "I shall answer to thee for Aase, when thou answerest to me and her with thy fidelity and bravery."

Skirmen seized the old man's hand, which he pressed warmly to his lips; but before he could say a word, the old giant had s.n.a.t.c.hed away his hand, and was proceeding with rapid strides on the road to the river.