第 3 页

castle, my friends, and let us talk over what can be done to erase your

outlawry and restore you to an honest career again."

Cuthbert returned home tired, but delighted with his day's work, and Dame

Editha was surprised indeed with the tale of adventure he had to tell.

The next morning he went over to the castle, and heard that a grand

council had been held the evening before, and that it had been determined

to attack Wortham Castle and to raze it to the ground.

Immediately on hearing of his arrival, the earl, after again expressing

his gratitude for the rescue of his daughter, asked him if he would go

into the forest and invite the outlaws to join their forces with those of

the castle to attack the baron.

Cuthbert willingly undertook the mission, as he felt that this alliance

would further strengthen the position of the forest men.

When he arrived there was some considerable consultation and discussion

between the outlaws as to the expediency of mixing themselves in the

quarrels between the Norman barons. However, Cnut persuaded them that as

the Baron of Wortham was an enemy and oppressor of all Saxons, it was in

fact their own quarrel that they were fighting rather than that of the

earl, and they therefore agreed to give their aid, and promised to be at

the rendezvous outside the castle to be attacked, soon after dawn next

morning. Cuthbert returned with the news, which gave great satisfaction

to the earl.

The castle was now a scene of bustle and business; armourers were at work

repairing head-pieces and breastplates, sharpening swords and

battle-axes, while the fletchers prepared sheaves of arrows. In the

courtyard a number of men were engaged oiling the catapults, ballistas,

and other machines for hurling stones. All were discussing the chances of

the assault, for it was no easy matter which they had set themselves to

do. Wortham Hold was an extremely strong one, and it needed all and more

than all the machines at their disposal to undertake so formidable an

operation as a siege.

The garrison, too, were strong and desperate; and the baron, knowing what

must follow his outrage of the day before, would have been sure to send

off messengers round the country begging his friends to come to his

assistance. Cuthbert had begged permission of his mother to ask the earl

to allow him to join as a volunteer, but she would not hear of it.

Neither would she suffer him to mingle with the foresters. The utmost

that he could obtain was that he might go as a spectator, with strict

injunctions to keep himself out of the fray, and as far as possible

beyond bow-shot of the castle wall.

It was a force of some 400 strong that issued from the wood early next

morning to attack the stronghold at Wortham. The force consisted of some

ten or twelve knights and barons, some 150 or 160 Norman men-at-arms, a

miscellaneous gathering of other retainers, 200 strong, and some eighty

of the forest men. These last were not to fight under the earl's banner,

but were to act on their own account. There were among them outlaws,

escaped serfs, and some men guilty of bloodshed. The earl then could not

have suffered these men to fight under his flag until purged in some way

of their offences.

This arrangement suited the foresters well.

Their strong point was shooting; and by taking up their own position, and

following their own tactics, under the leadership of Cnut, they would be

able to do far more execution, and that with less risk to themselves,

than if compelled to fight according to the fashion of the Normans.

As they approached the castle a trumpet was blown, and the herald,

advancing, demanded its surrender, stigmatized the Baron of Wortham as a

false knight and a disgrace to his class, and warned all those within

the castle to abstain from giving him aid or countenance, but to submit

themselves to the earl, Sir Walter of Evesham, the representative of

King Richard.

The reply to the summons was a burst of taunting laughter from the walls;

and scarcely had the herald withdrawn, than a flight of arrows showed

that the besieged were perfectly ready for the fray.

Indeed, the baron had not been idle. Already the dispute between himself

and the earl had come to such a point that it was certain that sooner or

later open hostilities would break out.

He had therefore been for some time quietly accumulating a large store

of provisions and munitions of war, and strengthening the castle in

every way.

The moat had been cleaned out, and filled to the brim with water. Great

quantities of heavy stones had been accumulated on the most exposed

points of the walls, in readiness to hurl upon any who might try to

climb. Huge sheaves of arrows and piles of crossbow bolts, were in

readiness, and in all, save the number of men, Wortham had for weeks been

prepared for the siege.

On the day when the attempt to carry off the earl's daughter had failed,

the baron, seeing that his bold stroke to obtain a hostage which would

have enabled him to make his own terms with the earl, had been thwarted,

knew that the struggle was inevitable.

Fleet messengers had been sent in all directions. To Gloucester and

Hereford, Stafford, and even Oxford, men had ridden, with letters to the

baron's friends, beseeching them to march to his assistance.

"I can," he said, "defend my hold for weeks. But it is only by aid

from without that I can finally hope to break the power of this

braggart earl."

Many of those to whom he addressed his call had speedily complied with

his demand, while those at a distance might be expected to reply later to

the appeal.

There were many among the barons who considered the mildness of the Earl

of Evesham towards the Saxons in his district to be a mistake, and who,

although not actually approving of the tyranny and brutality of the Baron

of Wortham, yet looked upon his cause to some extent as their own.

The Castle of Wortham stood upon ground but very slightly elevated above

the surrounding country. A deep and wide moat ran round it, and this

could, by diverting a rivulet, be filled at will.

From the edge of the moat the walls rose high, and with strong flanking

towers and battlements.

There were strong works also beyond the moat opposite to the drawbridge;

while in the centre of the castle rose the keep, from whose summit the

archers, and the machines for casting stones and darts, could command

the whole circuit of defence.

As Cuthbert, accompanied by one of the hinds of the farm, took his post

high up in a lofty tree, where at his ease he could command a view of the

proceedings, he marvelled much in what manner an attack upon so fair a

fortress would be commenced.

"It will be straightforward work to attack the outwork," he said, "but

that once won, I see not how we are to proceed against the castle itself.

The machines that the earl has will scarcely hurl stones strong enough

even to knock the mortar from the walls. Ladders are useless where they

cannot be planted; and if the garrison are as brave as the castle is

strong, methinks that the earl has embarked upon a business that will

keep him here till next spring."

There was little time lost in commencing the conflict.

The foresters, skirmishing up near to the castle, and taking advantage

of every inequality in the ground, of every bush and tuft of high grass,

worked up close to the moat, and then opened a heavy fire with their

bows against the men-at-arms on the battlements, and prevented their

using the machines against the main force now advancing to the attack

upon the outwork.

This was stoutly defended. But the impetuosity of the earl, backed as it

was by the gallantry of the knights serving under him, carried all

obstacles.

The narrow moat which encircled this work was speedily filled with great

bundles of brushwood, which had been prepared the previous night. Across

these the assailants rushed.

Some thundered at the gate with their battle-axes, while others placed

ladders by which, although several times hurled backwards by the

defenders, they finally succeeded in getting a footing on the wall.

Once there, the combat was virtually over.

The defenders were either cut down or taken prisoners, and in two hours

after the assault began, the outwork of Wortham Castle was taken.

This, however, was but the commencement of the undertaking, and it had

cost more than twenty lives to the assailants.

They were now, indeed, little nearer to capturing the castle than they

had been before.

The moat was wide and deep. The drawbridge had been lifted at the instant

that the first of the assailants gained a footing upon the wall. And now

that the outwork was captured, a storm of arrows, stones, and other

missiles was poured into it from the castle walls, and rendered it

impossible for any of its new masters, to show themselves above it.

Seeing that any sudden attack was impossible, the earl now directed a

strong body to cut down trees, and prepare a movable bridge to throw

across the moat.

This would be a work of fully two days; and in the meantime Cuthbert

returned to the farm.

CHAPTER III.

THE CAPTURE OF WORTHAM HOLD.

Upon his return home, after relating to his mother the events of the

morning's conflict, Cuthbert took his way to the cottage inhabited by an

old man who had in his youth been a mason.

"Have I not heard, Gurth," he said, "that you helped to build the Castle

of Wortham?"

"No, no, young sir," he said; "old as I am, I was a child when the

castle was built. My father worked at it, and it cost him, and many

others, his life."

"And how was that, prithee?" asked Cuthbert.

"He was, with several others, killed by the baron, the grandfather of the

present man, when the work was finished."

"But why was that, Gurth?"

"We were but Saxon swine," said Gurth bitterly, "and a few of us more or

less mattered not. We were then serfs of the baron. But my mother fled

with me on the news of my father's death. For years we remained far away,

with some friends in a forest near Oxford. Then she pined for her native

air, and came back and entered the service of the franklin."

"But why should your mother have taken you away?" Cuthbert asked.

"She always believed, Master Cuthbert, that my father was killed by the

baron, to prevent him giving any news of the secrets of the castle. He

and some others had been kept in the walls for many months, and were

engaged in the making of secret passages."

"That is just what I came to ask you, Gurth. I have heard something of

this story before, and now that we are attacking Wortham Castle, and the

earl has sworn to level it to the ground, it is of importance if possible

to find out whether any of the secret passages lead beyond the castle,

and if so, where. Almost all the castles have, I have been told, an exit

by which the garrison can at will make sorties or escape; and I thought

that maybe you might have heard enough to give us some clue as to the

existence of such a passage at Wortham."

The old man thought for some time in silence, and then said,--

"I may be mistaken, but methinks a diligent search in the copse near the

stream might find the mouth of the outlet."

"What makes you think that this is so, Gurth?"

"I had been with my mother to carry some clothes to my father on the last

occasion on which I saw him. As we neared the castle I saw my father and

three other of the workmen, together with the baron, coming down from the

castle towards the spot. As my mother did not wish to approach while the

baron was at hand, we stood within the trees at the edge of the wood, and

watched what was being done. The baron came with them down to the bushes,

and then they again came out, crossed the river, and one of them cut some

willows, peeled them, and erected the white staves in a line towards the

castle. They walked for a bit on each side, and seemed to be making

calculations. Then they went back into the castle, and I never saw my

father again."

"Why did you not go in at once according to your intention?"

"Because my mother said that she thought some important work was on

hand, and that maybe the baron would not like that women should know

aught of it, for he was of suspicious and evil mind. More than this I

know not. The castle had already been finished, and most of the masons

discharged. There were, however, a party of serfs kept at work, and also

some masons, and rumour had it that they were engaged in making the

secret passages. Whether it was so or not I cannot say, but I know that

none of that party ever left the castle alive. It was given out that a

bad fever had raged there, but none believed it; and the report went

about, and was I doubt not true, that all had been killed, to preserve

the secret of the passage."

Cuthbert lost no time in making use of the information that he had

gained.

Early next morning, at daybreak, he started on his pony to Wortham.

As he did not wish the earl or his followers to know the facts that

he had learned until they were proved, he made his way round the camp

of the besiegers, and by means of his whistle called one of the

foresters to him.

"Where is Cnut?" he asked.

"He is with a party occupied in making ladders."

"Go to him," Cuthbert said, "and tell him to withdraw quietly and

make his way here. I have an important matter on which I wish to

speak to him,'"

Cnut arrived in a few minutes, somewhat wondering at the message. He

brightened greatly when Cuthbert told him what he had learned.

"This is indeed important," he said. "We will lose no time in searching

the copse you speak of. You and I, together with two of my most trusty

men, with axes to clear away the brush, will do. At present a thing of

this sort had best be kept between as few as may be."

They started at once and soon came down upon the stream.