martin valliant was as restless as a dog whose master had gone out and left him chained to his kennel.
his activities were various and many that morning. he took off his arm-plates, covered his breast-plate with a sack, and completed the walling up of the kitchen gateway. the defense of the causeway and the bridge exercised him still further, and he built a rough ladder and stage to one of the loopholes of the gate-house, so that a man with a bow could command the bridge. the matter of archery piqued him to try what skill he had left. he raised the roof stone of the cellar, searched out a bow and some arrows, and going up on the leads of the tower, tried shooting at a bush on the far side of the mere. five arrows missed the mark, but the sixth got home. and this testing of his skill taught him something of value, in that he discovered the tower to be the right and proper place for a watchman. he could scan the woods, the whole of the valley, and the island, and see into nearly every corner of the ruined house itself. the battlements were breast high, and gave good cover for a man with a bow.
his armor was beginning to sit heavy on him, for he was raw to it; but as to humoring his body, that was a surrender that he refused to make. he returned to the courtyard, took his sword, and practiced striking and thrusting at an imaginary mark. it was a “hand and a half” sword, heavy, and long in the blade, but very finely balanced. to martin it felt no heavier than a willow wand; he played with it half the morning, cutting off the heads of nettles, learning to judge his distances and the sweep of a full-armed blow. from time to time he climbed the tower and took a view of the woods and the valley.
the sun stood at noon when martin valliant caught his first glimpse of the lord of troy’s gentry. he was on the leads of the tower and looking toward the great beech wood when he saw a man skulking under the trees. the fellow wore the troy livery of green and silver, and carried a cross-bow on his shoulder.
martin kept very still, and the steel of his helmet may have toned with the gray stone of the battlements, for the man with the cross-bow did not appear to see him. he came out from the wood shade into the open, and stood awhile looking at the island and the house. then he put a horn to his lips and blew a short blast.
martin was still asking himself whether the man was an enemy or a friend, when swartz and his troop came riding out of the beech wood. the sun flashed on their breast-plates and helmets, and on the points of their spears. swartz, mounted on a roan horse, and wearing a tabard of green and silver, rode a little ahead of his men.
martin crouched low, watching them. he had no doubt now as to whence these gentry had come and as to what their business was. they were from troy castle, adventurous rogues, the scum of the yorkist armies, for roger bland had good cause to keep a crowd of bullies around him. he was no born lord; men had not served his father before him; the fealty sworn to him was lip service; he paid with gold for such faith as men would sell.
this bunch of spears came trotting across the grassland, their horses’ hoofs beating the golden pollen from the flowers. they reined in about a hundred paces from the mere, and sat in a half circle, scanning the newly built gate and the bridge, things that betrayed that woodmere was not deserted.
swartz gave an order, and two men pricked away and posted themselves at either end of the mere. the rest dismounted; two who carried cross-bows wound up the winches and stood with the bolts ready on the cord. one of them marked down martin on the tower, and calling to swartz, pointed out what he saw.
swartz rode nearer, staring upwards under his hand. nor did martin play at hide-and-seek. the men had seen him; the game had begun.
“hullo, there! open, in the name of the king!”
martin kept silent.
“hullo! you on the tower, let the bridge down and open the gate, or we shall have to break it for you.”
martin was not to be drawn. his eyes kept watch while his thought went racing through the woods toward mellis. had she been taken? and even if they had not taken her, her peril was still very desperate. she might come riding out of the beech wood and betray herself to these men. they were well mounted, and her old brown horse would stand no chance in such a chase. he sweated at the very thought of her being dragged down by this rough pack.
swartz was still shouting, but his voice seemed a long way off. martin caught the words, but they had no more significance than the scolding of a fish-wife. if he could only get to mellis, warn her! but the futility of such a plan was self-apparent directly he considered it. if he swam the mere he would have to swim it naked; he would be seen, and either be killed or captured. no; salvation did not lie that way. he remembered her charge to him, “keep good guard,” and the charge helped him to a decision. it was his affair to keep these men out of woodmere, and to hold the place, if one man could hold it against ten.
swartz had given over shouting. he shook his fist at the tower, and rode down boldly to examine the bridge. there was no passage that way without much labor; swartz saw that plainly, and rode back again to his men.
but he was an old “free-lance,” and very determined. he meant to enter woodmere before sunset, or know the reason why.
“pounds and littlejohn, you two men can swim. off with your harness and clothing; take poniards with you, and see what is to be found over yonder.”
the men looked glum.
“thunder, get to it, you dogs! are you afraid of a girl and a monk? you can run fast enough naked, if the monk puts the fear of god into you.”
the two fellows began to strip, and martin saw how the first assault threatened him. he had his bow and half a dozen arrows with him, and there was no hesitation in his eyes.
he saw the two men come haltingly toward the mere, while their fellows roared jests at them.
“lord, but jack pounds has last year’s shirt on him.”
“yoicks, see littlejohn mincing like a girl! more spunk, thomas!”
“don’t frighten the lady, jack! be gentle.”
the men waded into the shallows, and took the water together, swimming side by side with their poniards between their teeth. martin had his chance and took it, though he shot rather to discourage than to kill. the arrow struck the water a yard from littlejohn’s head.
shouts went up from the gentry who were watching. one of the cross-bowmen let fly, and the bolt struck the stone coping behind which martin was sheltering himself.
he heard swartz cursing, and shaking his fist, for the two swimmers had lost all stomach for so bald and naked an adventure. they had turned back, and were splashing toward the shallows.
swartz met them on the bank, and threatened them with the flat of his sword.
“you craven swine!”
he was not loved because of his stern temper.
“swim the foul pond yourself!” said one of them. “we are not paid to be speared like fish.”
swartz’s blood was up and his ambition kindled. roger bland did not grudge gold to those who served him well, and swartz saw that the luck was with him, and that he might capture the prize before de lisle or rich could come to share it. so he sat down before woodmere, had the horses taken back into the shade, and posted his two cross-bowmen to mark the house. swartz was an old campaigner, and always carried a hatchet slung to his saddle; it would serve in this crisis. he sent six of his men into the woods to fell trees, while he himself rode his horse at a walk around and around the mere, preferring to trust his own eyes when a trap had to be watched.
martin could have shot at him, but he respected swartz’s courage. these gentlemen were not to be scared away by a few arrows; they were taking the business in hand with methodical seriousness, and the outlook was not hopeful. yet martin was conscious of a feeling of grim elation; his wits were taut as a bow string; he had thrown himself with a cool head and steady eyes into the great game of war.
swartz’s purpose soon explained itself. the men came down from the woods, carrying the trunks of young trees, till they had a dozen or more, stacked ready at the end of the causeway. they were going to throw a bridge across the gap, batter the gate down, and take the place by assault.
martin knelt on the leads of the tower, rubbing his chin, and watching the menace taking shape. he was thinking hard, how he could best meet the attack; whether he should try to hold the gate against them, or make his stand in the tower.
happening to glance at the great beech wood, he saw something that drove every other thought out of his head. mellis was there, looking down on the place from behind the trunk of a beech tree. for a moment or two her white face and green gown remained in view, and then vanished into the wood’s gloom.
martin felt his heart beating hard under his ribs. he looked at swartz and the men. they were intent on the work they had in hand; they had not seen mellis.
