Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott

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Here the Jew paused again, and looked at the
last zecchin, intending, doubtless, to bestow it upon
Gurth. He weighed it upon the tip of his finger,
and made it ring by dropping it upon the table.
Had it rung too flat, or had it felt a hair's breadth
too light, generosity had carried the day; but, unhappily
for Gurth, the chime was full and true, the
zecchin plump, newly coined, and a grain above
weight. Isaac could not find in his heart to part
with it, so dropt it into his purse as if in absence of
mind, with the words, ``Eighty completes the tale,
and I trust thy master will reward thee handsomely.
---Surely,'' he added, looking earnestly at the bag,
``thou hast more coins in that pouch?''

Gurth grinned, which was his nearest approach
to a laugh, as he replied, ``About the same quantity
which thou hast just told over so carefully.''
He then folded the quittance, and put it under his
cap, adding,---``Peril of thy heard, Jew, see that
this be full and ample!'' He filled himself unbidden,
a third goblet of wine, and left the apartment
without ceremony.

``Rebecca,'' said the Jew, ``that Ishmaelite hath
gone somewhat beyond me. Nevertheless his master
is a good youth---ay, and I am well pleased that
he hath gained shekels of gold and shekels of silver,
even by the speed of his horse and by the strength
of his lance, which, like that of Goliath the Philistine,
might vie with a weaver's beam.''

As he turned to receive Rebecca's answer, he
observed, that during his chattering with Gurth, she
had left the apartment unperceived.

In the meanwhile, Gurth had descended the stair,
and, having reached the dark antechamber or hall,
was puzzling about to discover the entrance, when
a figure in white, shown by a small silver lamp
which she held in her hand, beckoned him into a
side apartment. Gurth had some reluctance to obey
the summons. Rough and impetuous as a wild
boar, where only earthly force was to be apprehended,
he had all the characteristic terrors of a
Saxon respecting fawns, forest-fiends, white women,
and the whole of the superstitions which his ancestors
had brought with them from the wilds of Germany.
He remembered, moreover, that he was in
the house of a Jew, a people who, besides the other
unamiable qualities which popular report ascribed
to them, were supposed to be profound necromancers
and cabalists. Nevertheless, after a moment's
pause, he obeyed the beckoning summons of the
apparition, and followed her into the apartment
which she indicated, where he found to his joyful
surprise that his fair guide was the beautiful Jewess
whom he had seen at the tournament, and a short
time in her father's apartment.

She asked him the particulars of his transaction
with Isaac, which he detailed accurately.

``My father did but jest with thee, good fellow,''
said Rebecca; ``he owes thy master deeper kindness
than these arms and steed could pay, were
their value tenfold. What sum didst thou pay my
father even now?''

``Eighty zecchins,'' said Gurth, surprised at the
question.

``In this purse,'' said Rebecca, ``thou wilt find a
hundred. Restore to thy master that which is his
due, and enrich thyself with the remainder. Haste
---begone---stay not to render thanks! and beware
how you pass through this crowded town, where
thou mayst easily lose both thy burden and thy
life.---Reuben,'' she added, clapping her hands together,
``light forth this stranger, and fail not to
draw lock and bar behind him.''
Reuben, a dark-brow'd and black-bearded Israelite,
obeyed her summons, with a torch in his hand;
undid the outward door of the house, and conducting
Gurth across a paved court, let him out through
a wicket in the entrance-gate, which he closed behind
him with such bolts and chains as would well
have become that of a prison.

``By St Dunstan,'' said Gurth, as he stumbled
up the dark avenue, ``this is no Jewess, but an angel
from heaven! Ten zecchins from my brave young
master---twenty from this pearl of Zion---Oh, happy
day!---Such another, Gurth, will redeem thy
bondage, and make thee a brother as free of thy
guild as the best. And then do I lay down my
swineherd's horn and staff, and take the freeman's
sword and buckler, and follow my young master to
the death, without hiding either my face or my name.''

CHAPTER XI

_1st Outlaw_. Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about you;
If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you.
_Speed_. Sir, we are undone! these are the villains
That all the travellers do fear so much.
_Val_. My friends,---
_1st Out_. That's not so, sir, we are your enemies.
_2d Out_. Peace! we'll hear him.
_3d Out_. Ay, by my beard, will we;
For he's a proper man.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona_.

The nocturnal adventures of Gurth were not yet
concluded; indeed he himself became partly of that
mind, when, after passing one or two straggling
houses which stood in the outskirts of the village,
he found himself in a deep lane, running between
two banks overgrown with hazel and holly, while
here and there a dwarf oak flung its arms altogether
across the path. The lane was moreover much rutted
and broken up by the carriages which had recently
transported articles of various kinds to the
tournament; and it was dark, for the banks and
bushes intercepted the light of the harvest moon.

From the village were heard the distant sounds
of revelry, mixed occasionally with loud laughter,
sometimes broken by screams, and sometimes by
wild strains of distant music. All these sounds, intimating
the disorderly state of the town, crowded
with military nobles and their dissolute attendants,
gave Gurth some uneasiness. ``The Jewess was
right,'' he said to himself. ``By heaven and St
Dunstan, I would I were safe at my journey's end
with all this treasure! Here are such numbers, I
will not say of arrant thieves, but of errant knights
and errant squires, errant monks and errant minstrels,
errant jugglers and errant jesters, that a
man with a single merk would be in danger, much
more a poor swineherd with a whole bagful of zecchins.
Would I were out of the shade of these infernal
bushes, that I might at least see any of St
Nicholas's clerks before they spring on my shoulders.''

Gurth accordingly hastened his pace, in order to
gain the open common to which the lane led, but
was not so fortunate as to accomplish his object.
Just as he had attained the upper end of the lane,
where the underwood was thickest, four men sprung
upon him, even as his fears anticipated, two from
each side of the road, and seized him so fast, that
resistance, if at first practicable, would have been
now too late.---``Surrender your charge,'' said one
of them; ``we are the deliverers of the commonwealth,
who ease every man of his burden.''

``You should not ease me of mine so lightly,''
muttered Gurth, whose surly honesty could not be
tamed even by the pressure of immediate violence,
---``had I it but in my power to give three strokes
in its defence.''

``We shall see that presently,'' said the robber;
and, speaking to his companions, he added, ``bring
along the knave. I see he would have his head
broken, as well as his purse cut, and so be let blood
in two veins at once.''

Gurth was hurried along agreeably to this mandate,
and having been dragged somewhat roughly
over the bank, on the left-hand side of the lane,
found himself in a straggling thicket, which lay betwixt
it and the open common. He was compelled
to follow his rough conductors into the very depth
of this cover, where they stopt unexpectedly in an
irregular open space, free in a great measure from
trees, and on which, therefore, the beams of the
moon fell without much interruption from boughs
and leaves. Here his captors were joined by two
other persons, apparently belonging to the gang.
They had short swords by their sides, and quarter-staves
in their hands, and Gurth could now observe
that all six wore visors, which rendered their occupation
a matter of no question, even had their former
proceedings left it in doubt.

``What money hast thou, churl?'' said one of
the thieves.

``Thirty zecchins of my own property,'' answered
Gurth, doggedly.

``A forfeit---a forfeit,'' shouted the robbers; ``a
Saxon hath thirty zecchins, and returns sober from
a village! An undeniable and unredeemable forfeit
of all he hath about him.''

``I hoarded it to purchase my freedom,'' said
Gurth.

``Thou art an ass,'' replied one of the thieves
``three quarts of double ale had rendered thee as
free as thy master, ay, and freer too, if he be a
Saxon like thyself.''

``A sad truth,'' replied Gurth; ``but if these
same thirty zecchins will buy my freedom from
you, unloose my hands, and I will pay them to you.''

``Hold,'' said one who seemed to exercise some
authority over the others; ``this bag which thou
bearest, as I can feel through thy cloak, contains
more coin than thou hast told us of.''

``It is the good knight my master's,'' answered
Gurth, ``of which, assuredly, I would not have
spoken a word, had you been satisfied with working
your will upon mine own property.''

``Thou art an honest fellow,'' replied the robber,
``I warrant thee; and we worship not St Nicholas
so devoutly but what thy thirty zecchins may yet
escape, if thou deal uprightly with us. Meantime
render up thy trust for a time.'' So saying, he
took from Gurth's breast the large leathern pouch,
in which the purse given him by Rebecca was enclosed,
as well as the rest of the zecchins, and then
continued his interrogation.---``Who is thy master?''

``The Disinherited Knight,'' said Gurth.

``Whose good lance,'' replied the robber, ``won
the prize in to-day's tourney? What is his name
and lineage?''

``It is his pleasure,'' answered Gurth, ``that they
be concealed; and from me, assuredly, you will
learn nought of them.''

``What is thine own name and lineage?''

``To tell that,'' said Gurth, ``might reveal my
master's.''
``Thou art a saucy groom,'' said the robber, ``but
of that anon. How comes thy master by this gold?
is it of his inheritance, or by what means hath it
accrued to him?''

``By his good lance,'' answered Gurth.---``These
bags contain the ransom of four good horses, and
four good suits of armour.''

``How much is there?'' demanded the robber.

``Two hundred zecchins.''

``Only two hundred zecchins!'' said the bandit;
``your master hath dealt liberally by the vanquished,
and put them to a cheap ransom. Name those
who paid the gold.''

Gurth did so.

``The armour and horse of the Templar Brian
de Bois-Guilbert, at what ransom were they held?
---Thou seest thou canst not deceive me.''

``My master,'' replied Gurth, ``will take nought
from the Templar save his life's-blood. They are
on terms of mortal defiance, and cannot hold courteous
intercourse together.''

``Indeed!''---repeated the robber, and paused
after he had said the word. ``And what wert thou
now doing at Ashby with such a charge in thy custody?''

``I went thither to render to Isaac the Jew of
York,'' replied Gurth, ``the price of a suit of armour
with which he fitted my master for this tournament.''

``And how much didst thou pay to Isaac?---
Methinks, to judge by weight, there is still two
hundred zecchins in this pouch.''

``I paid to Isaac,'' said the Saxon, ``eighty zecchins,
and he restored me a hundred in lieu thereof.''

``How! what!'' exclaimed all the robbers at
once; ``darest thou trifle with us, that thou tellest
such improbable lies?''

``What I tell you,'' said Gurth, ``is as true as
the moon is in heaven. You will find the just sum
in a silken purse within the leathern pouch, and separate
from the rest of the gold.''

``Bethink thee, man,'' said the Captain, ``thou
speakest of a Jew---of an Israelite,---as unapt to
restore gold, as the dry sand of his deserts to return
the cup of water which the pilgrim spills upon
them.''

``There is no more mercy in them,'' said another
of the banditti, ``than in an unbribed sheriffs officer.''

``It is, however, as I say,'' said Gurth.

``Strike a light instantly,'' said the Captain; ``I
will examine this said purse; and if it be as this
fellow says, the Jew's bounty is little less miraculous
than the stream which relieved his fathers in
the wilderness.''

A light was procured accordingly, and the robber
proceeded to examine the purse. The others
crowded around him, and even two who had hold of
Gurth relaxed their grasp while they stretched their
necks to see the issue of the search. Availing himself
of their negligence, by a sudden exertion of
strength and activity, Gurth shook himself free of
their hold, and might have escaped, could he have
resolved to leave his master's property behind him.
But such was no part of his intention. He wrenched
a quarter-staff from one of the fellows, struck
down the Captain, who was altogether unaware of
his purpose, and had wellnigh repossessed himself
of the pouch and treasure. The thieves, however,
were too nimble for him, and again secured both
the bag and the trusty Gurth.

``Knave!'' said the Captain, getting up, ``thou
hast broken my head; and with other men of our
sort thou wouldst fare the worse for thy insolence.
But thou shalt know thy fate instantly. First let
us speak of thy master; the knight's matters must
go before the squire's, according to the due order
of chivalry. Stand thou fast in the meantime---
if thou stir again, thou shalt have that will make
thee quiet for thy life---Comrades!'' he then said,
addressing his gang, ``this purse is embroidered
with Hebrew characters, and I well believe the
yeoman's tale is true. The errant knight, his master,
must needs pass us toll-free. He is too like
ourselves for us to make booty of him, since dogs
should not worry dogs where wolves and foxes are
to be found in abundance.''

``Like us?'' answered one of the gang; ``I
should like to hear how that is made good.''

``Why, thou fool,'' answered the Captain, ``is
he not poor and disinherited as we are?---Doth he
not win his substance at the sword's point as we
do?---Hath he not beaten Front-de-Buf and
Malvoisin, even as we would beat them if we could?
Is he not the enemy to life and death of Brian de
Bois-Guilbert, whom we have so much reason to
fear? And were all this otherwise, wouldst thou
have us show a worse conscience than an unbeliever,
a Hebrew Jew?''

``Nay, that were a shame,'' muttered the other
fellow; ``and yet, when I served in the band of
stout old Gandelyn, we had no such scruples of
conscience. And this insolent peasant,---he too, I
warrant me, is to be dismissed scatheless?''

``Not if _thou_ canst scathe him,'' replied the Captain.
---``Here, fellow,'' continued he, addressing
Gurth, ``canst thou use the staff, that thou starts
to it so readily?''

``I think,'' said Gurth, ``thou shouldst be best
able to reply to that question.''

``Nay, by my troth, thou gavest me a round
knock,'' replied the Captain; ``do as much for this
fellow, and thou shalt pass scot-free; and if thou
dost not---why, by my faith, as thou art such a
sturdy knave, I think I must pay thy ransom myself.
---Take thy staff, Miller,'' he added, ``and keep
thy head; and do you others let the fellow go, and
give him a staff---there is light enough to lay on
load by.''

The two champions being alike armed with quarter-staves,
stepped forward into the centre of the
open space, in order to have the full benefit of the
moonlight; the thieves in the meantime laughing,
and crying to their comrade, ``Miller! beware thy
toll-dish.'' The Miller, on the other hand, holding
his quarter-staff by the middle, and making it flourish
round his head after the fashion which the
French call _faire le moulinet_, exclaimed boastfully,
``Come on, churl, an thou darest: thou shalt feel
the strength of a miller's thumb!''

``If thou best a miller,'' answered Gurth, undauntedly,
making his weapon play around his head
with equal dexterity, ``thou art doubly a thief,
and I, as a true man, bid thee defiance.''

So saying, the two champions closed together,
and for a few minutes they displayed great equality
in strength, courage, and skill, intercepting and
returning the blows of their adversary with the most
rapid dexterity, while, from the continued clatter
of their weapons, a person at a distance might have
supposed that there were at least six persons engaged
on each side. Less obstinate, and even less
dangerous combats, have been described in good
heroic verse; but that of Gurth and the Miller
must remain unsung, for want of a sacred poet to
do justice to its eventful progress. Yet, though
quarter-staff play be out of date, what we can in
prose we will do for these bold champions.

Long they fought equally, until the Miller began
to lose temper at finding himself so stoutly opposed,
and at hearing the laughter of his companions,
who, as usual in such cases, enjoyed his vexation.
This was not a state of mind favourable to
the noble game of quarter-staff, in which, as in ordinary
cudgel-playing, the utmost coolness is requisite;
and it gave Gurth, whose temper was
steady, though surly, the opportunity of acquiring
a decided advantage, in availing himself of which
he displayed great mastery.

The Miller pressed furiously forward, dealing
blows with either end of his weapon alternately,
and striving to come to half-staff distance, while
Gurth defended himself against the attack, keeping
his hands about a yard asunder, and covering
himself by shifting his weapon with great celerity,
so as to protect his head and body. Thus did he
maintain the defensive, making his eye, foot, and
hand keep true time, until, observing his antagonist
to lose wind, he darted the staff at his face
with his left hand; and, as the Miller endeavoured
to parry the thrust, he slid his right hand down to
his left, and with the full swing of the weapon
struck his opponent on the left side of the head,
who instantly measured his length upon the green
sward.

``Well and yeomanly done!'' shouted the robbers;
``fair play and Old England for ever! The
Saxon hath saved both his purse and his hide, and
the Miller has met his match.''

``Thou mayst go thy ways, my friend,'' said the
Captain, addressing Gurth, in special confirmation
of the general voice, ``and I will cause two of my
comrades to guide thee by the best way to thy master's
pavilion, and to guard thee from night-walkers
that might have less tender consciences than
ours; for there is many one of them upon the amble
in such a night as this. Take heed, however,''
he added sternly; ``remember thou hast refused to
tell thy name---ask not after ours, nor endeavour
to discover who or what we are; for, if thou makest
such an attempt, thou wilt come by worse fortune
than has yet befallen thee.''

Gurth thanked the Captain for his courtesy, and
promised to attend to his recommendation. Two of
the outlaws, taking up their quarter-staves, and desiring
Gurth to follow close in the rear, walked
roundly forward along a by-path, which traversed
the thicket and the broken ground adjacent to it.
On the very verge of the thicket two men spoke to
his conductors, and receiving an answer in a whisper,
withdrew into the wood, and suffered them to pass
unmolested. This circumstance induced Gurth to
believe both that the gang was strong in numbers,
and that they kept regular guards around their place
of rendezvous.

When they arrived on the open heath, where
Gurth might have had some trouble in finding his
road, the thieves guided him straight forward to the
top of a little eminence, whence he could see, spread
beneath him in the moonlight, the palisades of the
lists, the glimmering pavilions pitched at either
end, with the pennons which adorned them fluttering
in the moonbeams, and from which could be heard
the hum of the song with which the sentinels were
beguiling their night-watch.

Here the thieves stopt.

``We go with you no farther,'' said they; ``it
were not safe that we should do so.---Remember
the warning you have received---keep secret what
has this night befallen you, and you will have no
room to repent it---neglect what is now told you,
and the Tower of London shall not protect you
against our revenge.''

``Good night to you, kind sirs,'' said Gurth; ``I
shall remember your orders, and trust that there is
no offence in wishing you a safer and an honester
trade.''

Thus they parted, the outlaws returning in the
direction from whence they had come, and Gurth
proceeding to the tent of his master, to whom, notwithstanding
the injunction he had received, he
communicated the whole adventures of the evening.

The Disinherited Knight was filled with astonishment,
no less at the generosity of Rebecca, by
which, however, he resolved he would not profit,
than that of the robbers, to whose profession such
a quality seemed totally foreign. His course of reflections
upon these singular circumstances was,
however, interrupted by the necessity for taking
repose, which the fatigue of the preceding day, and
the propriety of refreshing himself for the morrow's
encounter, rendered alike indispensable.

The knight, therefore, stretched himself for repose
upon a rich couch with which the tent was
provided; and the faithful Gurth, extending his
hardy limbs upon a bear-skin which formed a sort
of carpet to the pavilion, laid himself across the
opening of the tent, so that no one could enter
without awakening him.

CHAPTER XII

The heralds left their pricking up and down,
Now ringen trumpets loud and clarion.
There is no more to say, but east and west,
In go the speares sadly in the rest,
In goth the sharp spur into the side,
There see men who can just and who can ride;
There shiver shaftes upon shieldes thick,
He feeleth through the heart-spone the prick;
Up springen speares, twenty feet in height,
Out go the swordes to the silver bright;
The helms they to-hewn and to-shred;
Out burst the blood with stern streames red.
Chaucer.

Morning arose in unclouded splendour, and ere
the sun was much above the horizon, the idlest or
the most eager of the spectators appeared on the
common, moving to the lists as to a general centre,
in order to secure a favourable situation for viewing
the continuation of the expected games.

The marshals and their attendants appeared next
on the field, together with the heralds, for the purpose
of receiving the names of the knights who intended
to joust, with the side which each chose to
espouse. This was a necessary precaution, in order
to secure equality betwixt the two bodies who
should be opposed to each other.

According to due formality, the Disinherited
Knight was to be considered as leader of the one
body, while Brian de Bois-Guilbert, who had been
rated as having done second-best in the preceding
day, was named first champion of the other band.
Those who had concurred in the challenge adhered
to his party of course, excepting only Ralph de Vipont,
whom his fall had rendered unfit so soon to
put on his armour. There was no want of distinguished
and noble candidates to fill up the ranks
on either side.

In fact, although the general tournament, in
which all knights fought at once, was more dangerous
than single encounters, they were, nevertheless,
more frequented and practised by the chivalry
of the age. Many knights, who had not sufficient
confidence in their own skill to defy a single
adversary of high reputation, were, nevertheless,
desirous of displaying their valour in the general
combat, where they might meet others with whom
they were more upon an equality. On the present
occasion, about fifty knights were inscribed as desirous
of combating upon each side, when the marshals
declared that no more could be admitted, to
the disappointment of several who were too late in
preferring their claim to be included.

About the hour of ten o'clock, the whole plain
was crowded with horsemen, horsewomen, and foot-passengers,
hastening to the tournament; and shortly
after, a grand flourish of trumpets announced
Prince John and his retinue, attended by many of
those knights who meant to take share in the game,
as well as others who had no such intention.

About the same time arrived Cedric the Saxon,
with the Lady Rowena, unattended, however, by
Athelstane. This Saxon lord had arrayed his tall
and strong person in armour, in order to take his
place among the combatants; and, considerably to
the surprise of Cedric, had chosen to enlist himself
on the part of the Knight Templar. The Saxon,
indeed, had remonstrated strongly with his friend
upon the injudicious choice he had made of his
party; but he had only received that sort of answer
usually given by those who are more obstinate
in following their own course, than strong in justifying
it.

His best, if not his only reason, for adhering to
the party of Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Athelstane
had the prudence to keep to himself. Though his
apathy of disposition prevented his taking any
means to recommend himself to the Lady Rowena,
he was, nevertheless, by no means insensible to her
charms, and considered his union with her as a
matter already fixed beyond doubt, by the assent
of Cedric and her other friends. It had therefore
been with smothered displeasure that the proud
though indolent Lord of Coningsburgh beheld the
victor of the preceding day select Rowena as the
object of that honour which it became his privilege
to confer. In order to punish him for a preference
which seemed to interfere with his own suit, Athelstane,
confident of his strength, and to whom his
flatterers, at least, ascribed great skill in arms, had
determined not only to deprive the Disinherited
Knight of his powerful succour, but, if an opportunity
should occur, to make him feel the weight
of his battle-axe.