第 二 章 · Chapter 2

. Chapter 2

From the time the family escaped from Falworth Castle that midwinter

night to the time Myles was sixteen years old he knew nothing of the

great world beyond Crosbey-Dale. A fair was held twice in a twelvemonth

at the market-town of Wisebey, and three times in the seven years old

Diccon Bowman took the lad to see the sights at that place. Beyond these

three glimpses of the outer world he lived almost as secluded a life as

one of the neighboring monks of St. Mary's Priory.

Crosbey-Holt, their new home, was different enough from Falworth or

Easterbridge Castle, the former baronial seats of Lord Falworth. It was

a long, low, straw-thatched farm-house, once, when the church lands were

divided into two holdings, one of the bailiff's houses. All around were

the fruitful farms of the priory, tilled by well-to-do tenant holders,

and rich with fields of waving grain, and meadow-lands where sheep and

cattle grazed in flocks and herds; for in those days the church lands

were under church rule, and were governed by church laws, and there,

when war and famine and waste and sloth blighted the outside world,

harvests flourished and were gathered, and sheep were sheared and cows

were milked in peace and quietness.

The Prior of St. Mary's owed much if not all of the church's prosperity

to the blind Lord Falworth, and now he was paying it back with a haven

of refuge from the ruin that his former patron had brought upon himself

by giving shelter to Sir John Dale.

I fancy that most boys do not love the grinding of school life--the

lessons to be conned, the close application during study hours. It is

not often pleasant to brisk, lively lads to be so cooped up. I wonder

what the boys of to-day would have thought of Myles's training. With him

that training was not only of the mind, but of the body as well, and for

seven years it was almost unremitting. “Thou hast thine own way to

make in the world, sirrah,” his father said more than once when the boy

complained of the grinding hardness of his life, and to make one's way

in those days meant a thousand times more than it does now; it meant not

only a heart to feel and a brain to think, but a hand quick and strong

to strike in battle, and a body tough to endure the wounds and blows in

return. And so it was that Myles's body as well as his mind had to be

trained to meet the needs of the dark age in which he lived.

Every morning, winter or summer, rain or shine he tramped away six long

miles to the priory school, and in the evenings his mother taught him

French.

Myles, being prejudiced in the school of thought of his day, rebelled

not a little at that last branch of his studies. “Why must I learn that

vile tongue?” said he.

“Call it not vile,” said the blind old Lord, grimly; “belike, when thou

art grown a man, thou'lt have to seek thy fortune in France land, for

England is haply no place for such as be of Falworth blood.” And in

after-years, true to his father's prediction, the “vile tongue” served

him well.

As for his physical training, that pretty well filled up the hours

between his morning studies at the monastery and his evening studies

at home. Then it was that old Diccon Bowman took him in hand, than whom

none could be better fitted to shape his young body to strength and his

hands to skill in arms. The old bowman had served with Lord Falworth's

father under the Black Prince both in France and Spain, and in long

years of war had gained a practical knowledge of arms that few could

surpass. Besides the use of the broadsword, the short sword, the

quarter-staff, and the cudgel, he taught Myles to shoot so skilfully

with the long-bow and the cross-bow that not a lad in the country-side

was his match at the village butts. Attack and defence with the lance,

and throwing the knife and dagger were also part of his training.

Then, in addition to this more regular part of his physical training,

Myles was taught in another branch not so often included in the military

education of the day--the art of wrestling. It happened that a fellow

lived in Crosbey village, by name Ralph-the-Smith, who was the greatest

wrestler in the country-side, and had worn the champion belt for three

years. Every Sunday afternoon, in fair weather, he came to teach Myles

the art, and being wonderfully adept in bodily feats, he soon grew so

quick and active and firm-footed that he could cast any lad under twenty

years of age living within a range of five miles.

“It is main ungentle armscraft that he learneth,” said Lord Falworth one

day to Prior Edward. “Saving only the broadsword, the dagger, and the

lance, there is but little that a gentleman of his strain may use.

Neth'less, he gaineth quickness and suppleness, and if he hath true

blood in his veins he will acquire knightly arts shrewdly quick when the

time cometh to learn them.”

But hard and grinding as Myles's life was, it was not entirely without

pleasures. There were many boys living in Crosbey-Dale and the village;

yeomen's and farmers' sons, to be sure, but, nevertheless, lads of his

own age, and that, after all, is the main requirement for friendship in

boyhood's world. Then there was the river to bathe in; there were the

hills and valleys to roam over, and the wold and woodland, with their

wealth of nuts and birds'-nests and what not of boyhood's treasures.

Once he gained a triumph that for many a day was very sweet under the

tongue of his memory. As was said before, he had been three times to the

market-town at fair-time, and upon the last of these occasions he had

fought a bout of quarterstaff with a young fellow of twenty, and had

been the conqueror. He was then only a little over fourteen years old.

Old Diccon, who had gone with him to the fair, had met some cronies of

his own, with whom he had sat gossiping in the ale-booth, leaving Myles

for the nonce to shift for himself. By-and-by the old man had noticed

a crowd gathered at one part of the fair-ground, and, snuffing a fight,

had gone running, ale-pot in hand. Then, peering over the shoulders of

the crowd, he had seen his young master, stripped to the waist, fighting

like a gladiator with a fellow a head taller than himself. Diccon was

about to force his way through the crowd and drag them asunder, but a

second look had showed his practised eye that Myles was not only holding

his own, but was in the way of winning the victory. So he had stood with

the others looking on, withholding himself from any interference and

whatever upbraiding might be necessary until the fight had been brought

to a triumphant close. Lord Falworth never heard directly of the

redoubtable affair, but old Diccon was not so silent with the common

folk of Crosbey-Dale, and so no doubt the father had some inkling of

what had happened. It was shortly after this notable event that Myles

was formally initiated into squirehood. His father and mother, as was

the custom, stood sponsors for him. By them, each bearing a lighted

taper, he was escorted to the altar. It was at St. Mary's Priory, and

Prior Edward blessed the sword and girded it to the lad's side. No

one was present but the four, and when the good Prior had given the

benediction and had signed the cross upon his forehead, Myles's mother

stooped and kissed his brow just where the priest's finger had drawn the

holy sign. Her eyes brimmed bright with tears as she did so. Poor

lady! perhaps she only then and for the first time realized how big her

fledgling was growing for his nest. Henceforth Myles had the right to

wear a sword.

Myles had ended his fifteenth year. He was a bonny lad, with brown face,

curling hair, a square, strong chin, and a pair of merry laughing

blue eyes; his shoulders were broad; his chest was thick of girth; his

muscles and thews were as tough as oak.

The day upon which he was sixteen years old, as he came whistling home

from the monastery school he was met by Diccon Bowman.

“Master Myles,” said the old man, with a snuffle in his voice--“Master

Myles, thy father would see thee in his chamber, and bade me send thee

to him as soon as thou didst come home. Oh, Master Myles, I fear me that

belike thou art going to leave home to-morrow day.”

Myles stopped short. “To leave home!” he cried.

“Aye,” said old Diccon, “belike thou goest to some grand castle to

live there, and be a page there and what not, and then, haply, a

gentleman-at-arms in some great lord's pay.”

“What coil is this about castles and lords and gentlemen-at-arms?” said

Myles. “What talkest thou of, Diccon? Art thou jesting?”

“Nay,” said Diccon, “I am not jesting. But go to thy father, and then

thou wilt presently know all. Only this I do say, that it is like thou

leavest us to-morrow day.”

And so it was as Diccon had said; Myles was to leave home the very

next morning. He found his father and mother and Prior Edward together,

waiting for his coming.

“We three have been talking it over this morning,” said his father, “and

so think each one that the time hath come for thee to quit this poor

home of ours. An thou stay here ten years longer, thou'lt be no more fit

to go then than now. To-morrow I will give thee a letter to my kinsman,

the Earl of Mackworth. He has thriven in these days and I have fallen

away, but time was that he and I were true sworn companions, and

plighted together in friendship never to be sundered. Methinks, as I

remember him, he will abide by his plighted troth, and will give thee

his aid to rise in the world. So, as I said, to-morrow morning thou

shalt set forth with Diccon Bowman, and shall go to Castle Devlen, and

there deliver this letter which prayeth him to give thee a place in his

household. Thou mayst have this afternoon to thyself to make read such

things as thou shalt take with thee. And bid me Diccon to take the gray

horse to the village and have it shod.”

Prior Edward had been standing looking out of the window. As Lord

Falworth ended he turned.

“And, Myles,” said he, “thou wilt need some money, so I will give thee

as a loan forty shillings, which some day thou mayst return to me an

thou wilt. For this know, Myles, a man cannot do in the world without

money. Thy father hath it ready for thee in the chest, and will give it

thee to-morrow ere thou goest.”

Lord Falworth had the grim strength of manhood's hard sense to upbear

him in sending his son into the world, but the poor lady mother had

nothing of that to uphold her. No doubt it was as hard then as it is

now for the mother to see the nestling thrust from the nest to shift for

itself. What tears were shed, what words of love were spoken to the only

man-child, none but the mother and the son ever knew.

The next morning Myles and the old bowman rode away, and no doubt to

the boy himself the dark shadows of leave-taking were lost in the golden

light of hope as he rode out into the great world to seek his fortune.