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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7678.txt b/7678.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6925d1f --- /dev/null +++ b/7678.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1617 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Harold, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Book 7. +#106 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Harold, Book 7. + The Last Of The Saxon Kings + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7678] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 8, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAROLD, BY LYTTON, BOOK 7 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger + + + + + +BOOK VII. + + +THE WELCH KING. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +The sun had just cast his last beams over the breadth of water into +which Conway, or rather Cyn-wy, "the great river," emerges its winding +waves. Not at that time existed the matchless castle, which is now +the monument of Edward Plantagenet, and the boast of Wales. But +besides all the beauty the spot took from nature, it had even some +claim from ancient art. A rude fortress rose above the stream of +Gyffin, out of the wrecks of some greater Roman hold [159], and vast +ruins of a former town lay round it; while opposite the fort, on the +huge and ragged promontory of Gogarth, might still be seen, forlorn +and grey, the wrecks of the imperial city, destroyed ages before by +lightning. + +All these remains of a power and a pomp that Rome in vain had +bequeathed to the Briton, were full of pathetic and solemn interest, +when blent with the thought, that on yonder steep, the brave prince of +a race of heroes, whose line transcended, by ages, all the other +royalties of the North, awaited, amidst the ruins of man, and in the +stronghold which nature yet gave, the hour of his doom. + +But these were not the sentiments of the martial and observant Norman, +with the fresh blood of a new race of conquerors. + +"In this land," thought he, "far more even than in that of the Saxon, +there are the ruins of old; and when the present can neither maintain +nor repair the past, its future is subjection or despair." + +Agreeably to the peculiar uses of Saxon military skill, which seems to +have placed all strength in dykes and ditches, as being perhaps the +cheapest and readiest outworks, a new trench had been made round the +fort, on two sides, connecting it on the third and fourth with the +streams of Gyffin and the Conway. But the boat was rowed up to the +very walls, and the Norman, springing to land, was soon ushered into +the presence of the Earl. + +Harold was seated before a rude table, and bending over a rough map of +the great mountain of Penmaen; a lamp of iron stood beside the map, +though the air was yet clear. + +The Earl rose, as De Graville, entering with the proud but easy grace +habitual to his countrymen, said, in his best Saxon: + +"Hail to Earl Harold! William Mallet de Graville, the Norman, greets +him, and brings him news from beyond the seas." + +There was only one seat in that bare room--the seat from which the +Earl had risen. He placed it with simple courtesy before his visitor, +and leaning, himself, against the table, said, in the Norman tongue, +which he spoke fluently: + +"It is no slight thanks that I owe to the Sire de Graville, that he +hath undertaken voyage and journey on my behalf; but before you impart +your news, I pray you to take rest and food." + +"Rest will not be unwelcome; and food, if unrestricted to goats' +cheese, and kid-flesh,--luxuries new to my palate,--will not be +untempting; but neither food nor rest can I take, noble Harold, before +I excuse myself, as a foreigner, for thus somewhat infringing your +laws by which we are banished, and acknowledging gratefully the +courteous behavior I have met from thy countrymen notwithstanding." + +"Fair Sir," answered Harold, "pardon us if, jealous of our laws, we +have seemed inhospitable to those who would meddle with them. But the +Saxon is never more pleased than when the foreigner visits him only as +the friend: to the many who settle amongst us for commerce--Fleming, +Lombard, German, and Saracen--we proffer shelter and welcome; to the +few who, like thee, Sir Norman, venture over the seas but to serve us, +we give frank cheer and free hand." + +Agreeably surprised at this gracious reception from the son of Godwin, +the Norman pressed the hand extended to him, and then drew forth a +small case, and related accurately, and with feeling, the meeting of +his cousin with Sweyn, and Sweyn's dying charge. + +The Earl listened, with eyes bent on the ground, and face turned from +the lamp; and, when Mallet had concluded his recital, Harold said, +with an emotion he struggled in vain to repress: + +"I thank you cordially gentle Norman, for kindness kindly rendered! +I--I--" The voice faltered. "Sweyn was very dear to me in his +sorrows! We heard that he had died in Lycia, and grieved much and +long. So, after he had thus spoken to your cousin, he--he----Alas! O +Sweyn, my brother!" + +"He died," said the Norman, soothingly; "but shriven and absolved; and +my cousin says, calm and hopeful, as they die ever who have knelt at +the Saviour's tomb!" + +Harold bowed his head, and turned the case that held the letter again +and again in his hand, but would not venture to open it. The knight +himself, touched by a grief so simple and manly, rose with the +delicate instinct that belongs to sympathy, and retired to the door, +without which yet waited the officer who had conducted him. + +Harold did not attempt to detain him, but followed him across the +threshold, and briefly commanding the officer to attend to his guest +as to himself, said: "With the morning, Sire de Granville, we shall +meet again; I see that you are one to whom I need not excuse man's +natural emotions." + +"A noble presence!" muttered the knight, as he descended the stairs; +"but he hath Norman, at least Norse, blood in his veins on the distaff +side.--Fair Sir!"--(this aloud to the officer)--"any meat save the +kid-flesh, I pray thee; and any drink save the mead!" + +"Fear not, guest" said the officer; "for Tostig the Earl hath two +ships in yon bay, and hath sent us supplies that would please Bishop +William of London; for Tostig the Earl is a toothsome man." + +"Commend me, then, to Tostig the Earl," said the knight; "he is an +earl after my own heart." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +On re-entering the room, Harold drew the large bolt across the door, +opened the case, and took forth the distained and tattered scroll: + +"When this comes to thee, Harold, the brother of thy childish days +will sleep in the flesh, and be lost to men's judgment and earth's woe +in the spirit. I have knelt at the Tomb; but no dove hath come forth +from the cloud,--no stream of grace hath re-baptised the child of +wrath! They tell me now--monk and priest tell me--that I have atoned +all my sins; that the dread weregeld is paid; that I may enter the +world of men with a spirit free from the load, and a name redeemed +from the stain. Think so, O brother!--Bid my father (if he still +lives, the dear old man!) think so;--tell Githa to think it; and oh, +teach Haco, my son, to hold the belief as a truth! Harold, again I +commend to thee my son; be to him as a father! My death surely +releases him as a hostage. Let him not grow up in the court of the +stranger, in the land of our foes. Let his feet, in his youth, climb +the green holts of England;--let his eyes, resin dims them, drink the +blue of her skies! When this shall reach thee, thou in thy calm, +effortless strength, wilt be more great than Godwin our father. Power +came to him with travail and through toil, the geld of craft and of +force. Power is born to thee as strength to the strong man; it +gathers around thee as thou movest; it is not thine aim, it is thy +nature, to be great. Shield my child with thy might; lead him forth +from the prison-house by thy serene right hand! I ask not for +lordships and earldoms, as the appanage of his father; train him not +to be rival to thee:--I ask but for freedom, and English air! So +counting on thee, O Harold, I turn my face to the wall, and hush my +wild heart to peace!" + +The scroll dropped noiseless from Harold's hand. + +"Thus," said he, mournfully, "hath passed away less a life than a +dream! Yet of Sweyn, in our childhood, was Godwin most proud; who so +lovely in peace, and so terrible in wrath? My mother taught him the +songs of the Baltic, and Hilda led his steps through the woodland with +tales of hero and scald. Alone of our House, he had the gift of the +Dane in the flow of fierce song, and for him things lifeless had +being. Stately tree, from which all the birds of heaven sent their +carol; where the falcon took roost, whence the mavis flew forth in its +glee,--how art thou blasted and seared, bough and core!--smit by the +lightning and consumed by the worm!" + +He paused, and, though none were by, he long shaded his brow with his +hand. + +"Now," thought he, as he rose and slowly paced the chamber, "now to +what lives yet on earth--his son! Often hath my mother urged me in +behalf of these hostages; and often have I sent to reclaim them. +Smooth and false pretexts have met my own demand, and even the +remonstrance of Edward himself. But, surely, now that William hath +permitted this Norman to bring over the letter, he will assent to what +it hath become a wrong and an insult to refuse; and Haco will return +to his father's land, and Wolnoth to his mother's arms." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Messire Mallet de Graville (as becomes a man bred up to arms, and +snatching sleep with quick grasp whenever that blessing be his to +command) no sooner laid his head on the pallet to which he had been +consigned, than his eyes closed, and his senses were deaf even to +dreams. But at the dead of the midnight he was wakened by sounds that +might have roused the Seven Sleepers--shouts, cries, and yells, the +blast of horns, the tramp of feet, and the more distant roar of +hurrying multitudes. He leaped from his bed, and the whole chamber +was filled with a lurid bloodred air. His first thought was that the +fort was on fire. But springing upon the settle along the wall, and +looking through the loophole of the tower, it seemed as if not the +fort but the whole land was one flame, and through the glowing +atmosphere he beheld all the ground, near and far, swarming with men. +Hundreds were swimming the rivulet, clambering up dyke mounds, rushing +on the levelled spears of the defenders, breaking through line and +palisade, pouring into the enclosures; some in half-armour of helm and +corselet--others in linen tunics--many almost naked. Loud sharp +shrieks of "Alleluia!" [160] blended with those of "Out! out! Holy +crosse!" [161] He divined at once that the Welch were storming the +Saxon hold. Short time indeed sufficed for that active knight to case +himself in his mail; and, sword in hand, he burst through the door, +cleared the stairs, and gained the hall below, which was filled with +men arming in haste. + +"Where is Harold?" he exclaimed. + +"On the trenches already," answered Sexwolf, buckling his corslet of +hide. "This Welch hell hath broke loose." + +"And you are their beacon-fires? Then the whole land is upon us!" + +"Prate less," quoth Sexwolf; "those are the hills now held by the +warders of Harold: our spies gave them notice, and the watch-fires +prepared us ere the fiends came in sight, otherwise we had been lying +here limbless or headless. Now, men, draw up, and march forth." + +"Hold! hold!" cried the pious knight, crossing himself, "is there no +priest here to bless us? first a prayer and a psalm!" + +"Prayer and psalm!" cried Sexwolf, astonished, "an thou hadst said ale +and mead, I could have understood thee.--Out! Out!--Holyrood, +Holyrood!" + +"The godless paynims!" muttered the Norman, borne away with the crowd. + +Once in the open space, the scene was terrific. Brief as had been the +onslaught the carnage was already unspeakable. By dint of sheer +physical numbers, animated by a valour that seemed as the frenzy of +madmen or the hunger of wolves, hosts of the Britons had crossed +trench and stream, seizing with their hands the points of the spears +opposed to them, bounding over the corpses of their countrymen, and +with yells of wild joy rushing upon the close serried lines drawn up +before the fort. The stream seemed literally to run gore; pierced by +javelins and arrows, corpses floated and vanished, while numbers, +undeterred by the havoc, leaped into the waves from the opposite +banks. Like bears that surround the ship of a sea-king beneath the +polar meteors, or the midnight sun of the north, came the savage +warriors through that glaring atmosphere. + +Amidst all, two forms were pre-eminent: the one, tall and towering, +stood by the trench, and behind a banner, that now drooped round the +stave, now streamed wide and broad, stirred by the rush of men--for +the night in itself was breezeless. With a vast Danish axe wielded by +both hands, stood this man, confronting hundreds, and at each stroke, +rapid as the levin, fell a foe. All round him was a wall of his own-- +the dead. But in the centre of the space, leading on a fresh troop of +shouting Welchmen who had forced their way from another part, was a +form which seemed charmed against arrow and spear. For the defensive +arms of this chief were as slight as if worn but for ornament: a small +corselet of gold covered only the centre of his breast, a gold collar +of twisted wires circled his throat, and a gold bracelet adorned his +bare arm, dropping gore, not his own, from the wrist to the elbow. He +was small and slight-shaped--below the common standard of men--but he +seemed as one made a giant by the sublime inspiration of war. He wore +no helmet, merely a golden circlet; and his hair, of deep red (longer +than was usual with the Welch), hung like the mane of a lion over his +shoulders, tossing loose with each stride. His eyes glared like the +tiger's at night, and he leaped on the spears with a bound. Lost a +moment amidst hostile ranks, save by the swift glitter of his short +sword, he made, amidst all, a path for himself and his followers, and +emerged from the heart of the steel unscathed and loud-breathing; +while, round the line he had broken, wheeled and closed his wild men, +striking, rushing, slaying, slain. + +"Pardex, this is war worth the sharing," said the knight. "And now, +worthy Sexwolf, thou shalt see if the Norman is the vaunter thou +deemest him. Dieu nous aide! Notre Dame!--Take the foe in the rear." +But turning round, he perceived that Sexwolf had already led his men +towards the standard, which showed them where stood the Earl, almost +alone in his peril. The knight, thus left to himself, did not +hesitate:--a minute more, and he was in the midst of the Welch force, +headed by the chief with the golden panoply. Secure in his ring mail +against the light weapons of the Welch, the sweep of the Norman sword +was as the scythe of Death. Right and left he smote through the +throng which he took in the flank, and had almost gained the small +phalanx of Saxons, that lay firm in the midst, when the Cymrian +Chief's flashing eye was drawn to his new and strange foe, by the roar +and the groan round the Norman's way; and with the half-naked breast +against the shirt of mail, and the short Roman sword against the long +Norman falchion, the Lion King of Wales fronted the knight. + +Unequal as seems the encounter, so quick was the spring of the Briton, +so pliant his arm, and so rapid his weapon, that that good knight (who +rather from skill and valour than brute physical strength, ranked +amongst the prowest of William's band of martial brothers) would +willingly have preferred to see before him Fitzosborne or Montgommeri, +all clad in steel and armed with mace and lance, than parried those +dazzling strokes, and fronted the angry majesty of that helmless brow. +Already the strong rings of his mail had been twice pierced, and his +blood trickled fast, while his great sword had but smitten the air in +its sweeps at the foe; when the Saxon phalanx, taking advantage of the +breach in the ring that girt them, caused by this diversion, and +recognising with fierce ire the gold torque and breastplate of the +Welch King, made their desperate charge. Then for some minutes the +pele mele was confused and indistinct--blows blind and at random-- +death coming no man knew whence or how; till discipline and steadfast +order (which the Saxons kept, as by mechanism, through the discord) +obstinately prevailed. The wedge forced its way; and, though reduced +in numbers and sore wounded, the Saxon troop cleared the ring, and +joined the main force drawn up by the fort, and guarded in the rear by +its wall. + +Meanwhile Harold, supported by the band under Sexwolf, had succeeded +at length in repelling farther reinforcements of the Welch at the more +accessible part of the trenches; and casting now his practised eye +over the field, he issued orders for some of the men to regain the +fort, and open from the battlements, and from every loophole, the +batteries of stone and javelin, which then (with the Saxons, unskilled +in sieges,) formed the main artillery of forts. These orders given, +he planted Sexwolf and most of his band to keep watch round the +trenches; and shading his eye with his hand, and looking towards the +moon, all waning and dimmed in the watchfires, he said, calmly, "Now +patience fights for us. Ere the moon reaches yon hill-top, the troops +of Aber and Caer-hen will be on the slopes of Penmaen, and cut off the +retreat of the Walloons. Advance my flag to the thick of yon strife." + +But as the Earl, with his axe swung over his shoulder, and followed +but by some half-score or more with his banner, strode on where the +wild war was now mainly concentred, just midway between trench and +fort, Gryffyth caught sight both of the banner and the Earl, and left +the press at the very moment when he had gained the greatest +advantage; and when indeed, but for the Norman, who, wounded as he +was, and unused to fight on foot, stood resolute in the van, the +Saxons, wearied out by numbers, and falling fast beneath the javelins, +would have fled into their walls, and so sealed their fate,--for the +Welch would have entered at their heels. + +But it was the misfortune of the Welch heroes never to learn that war +is a science; and instead of now centering all force on the point most +weakened, the whole field vanished from the fierce eye of the Welch +King, when he saw the banner and form of Harold. + +The Earl beheld the coming foe, wheeling round, as the hawk on the +heron;--halted, drew up his few men in a semicircle, with their large +shields as a rampart, and their levelled spears as a palisade; and +before them all, as a tower, stood Harold with his axe. In a minute +more he was surrounded; and through the rain of javelins that poured +upon him, hissed and glittered the sword of Gryffyth. But Harold, +more practised than the Sire de Graville in the sword-play of the +Welch, and unencumbered by other defensive armour (save only the helm, +which was shaped like the Norman's,) than his light coat of hide, +opposed quickness to quickness, and suddenly dropping his axe, sprang +upon his foe, and clasping him round with his left arm, with the right +hand griped at his throat: + +"Yield and quarter!--yield, for thy life, son of Llewellyn!" + +Strong was that embrace, and deathlike that gripe; yet, as the snake +from the hand of the dervise--as a ghost from the grasp of the +dreamer, the lithe Cymrian glided away, and the broken torque was all +that remained in the clutch of Harold. + +At this moment a mighty yell of despair broke from the Welch near the +fort: stones and javelins rained upon them from the walls, and the +fierce Norman was in the midst, with his sword drinking blood; but not +for javelin, stone, and sword, shrank and shouted the Welchmen. On +the other side of the trenches were marching against them their own +countrymen, the rival tribes that helped the stranger to rend the +land: and far to the right were seen the spears of the Saxon from +Aber, and to the left was heard the shout of the forces under Godrith +from Caer-hen; and they who had sought the leopard in his lair were +now themselves the prey caught in the toils. With new heart, as they +beheld these reinforcements, the Saxons pressed on; tumult, and +flight, and indiscriminate slaughter, wrapped the field. The Welch +rushed to the stream and the trenches; and in the bustle and +hurlabaloo, Gryffyth was swept along, as a bull by a torrent; still +facing the foe, now chiding, now smiting his own men, now rushing +alone on the pursuers, and halting their onslaught, he gained, still +unwounded, the stream, paused a moment, laughed loud, and sprang into +the wave. A hundred javelins hissed into the sullen and bloody +waters. "Hold!" cried Harold the Earl, lifting his hand on high, "No +dastard dart at the brave!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The fugitive Britons, scarce one-tenth of the number that had first +rushed to the attack,--performed their flight with the same Parthian +rapidity that characterised the assault; and escaping both Welch foe +and Saxon, though the former broke ground to pursue them, they gained +the steeps of Penmaen. + +There was no further thought of slumber that night within the walls. +While the wounded were tended, and the dead were cleared from the +soil, Harold, with three of his chiefs, and Mallet de Graville, whose +feats rendered it more than ungracious to refuse his request that he +might assist in the council, conferred upon the means of terminating +the war with the next day. Two of the thegns, their blood hot with +strife and revenge, proposed to scale the mountain with the whole +force the reinforcements had brought them, and put all they found to +the sword. + +The third, old and prudent, and inured to Welch warfare, thought +otherwise. + +"None of us," said he, "know what is the true strength of the place +which ye propose to storm. Not even one Welchman have we found who +hath ever himself gained the summit, or examined the castle which is +said to exist there." [162] + +"Said!" echoed De Graville, who, relieved of his mail, and with his +wounds bandaged, reclined on his furs on the floor. "Said, noble sir! +Cannot our eyes perceive the towers?" + +The old thegn shook his head. "At a distance, and through mists, +stones loom large, and crags themselves take strange shapes. It may +be castle, may be rock, may be old roofless temples of heathenesse +that we see. But to repeat (and, as I am slow, I pray not again to be +put out in my speech)--none of us know what, there, exists of defence, +man-made or Nature-built. Not even thy Welch spies, son of Godwin, +have gained to the heights. In the midst lie the scouts of the Welch +King, and those on the top can see the bird fly, the goat climb. Few +of thy spies, indeed, have ever returned with life; their heads have +been left at the foot of the hill, with the scroll in their lips,-- +'Dic ad inferos--quid in superis novisti.' Tell to the shades below +what thou hast seen in the heights above." + +"And the Walloons know Latin!" muttered the knight; "I respect them!" + +The slow thegn frowned, stammered, and renewed: + +"One thing at least is clear; that the rock is well nigh +insurmountable to those who know not the passes; that strict watch, +baffling even Welch spies, is kept night and day; that the men on the +summit are desperate and fierce; that our own troops are awed and +terrified by the belief of the Welch, that the spot is haunted and the +towers fiend-founded. One single defeat may lose us two years of +victory. Gryffyth may break from the eyrie, regain what he hath lost, +win back our Welch allies, ever faithless and hollow. Wherefore, I +say, go on as we have begun. Beset all the country round; cut off all +supplies, and let the foe rot by famine--or waste, as he hath done +this night, his strength by vain onslaught and sally." + +"Thy counsel is good," said Harold, "but there is yet something to add +to it, which may shorten the strife, and gain the end with less +sacrifice of life. The defeat of tonight will have humbled the +spirits of the Welch; take them yet in the hour of despair and +disaster. I wish, therefore, to send to their outposts a nuncius, +with these terms: 'Life and pardon to all who lay down arms and +surrender.'" + +"What, after such havoc and gore?" cried one of the thegns. + +"They defend their own soil," replied the Earl simply: "had not we +done the same?" + +"But the rebel Gryffyth?" asked the old thegn, "thou canst not accept +him again as crowned sub-king of Edward?" + +"No," said the Earl, "I propose to exempt Gryffyth alone from the +pardon, with promise, natheless, of life if he give himself up as +prisoner; and count, without further condition, on the King's mercy." +There was a prolonged silence. None spoke against the Earl's +proposal, though the two younger thegns misliked it much. + +At last said the elder, "But hast thou thought who will carry this +message? Fierce and wild are yon blood-dogs; and man must needs +shrive soul and make will, if he will go to their kennel." + +"I feel sure that my bode will be safe," answered Harold: for Gryffyth +has all the pride of a king, and, sparing neither man nor child in the +onslaught, will respect what the Roman taught his sires to respect-- +envoy from chief to chief--as a head scatheless and sacred." + +"Choose whom thou wilt, Harold," said one of the young thegns, +laughing, "but spare thy friends; and whomsoever thou choosest, pay +his widow the weregeld." + +"Fair sirs," then said De Graville, "if ye think that I, though a +stranger, could serve you as nuncius, it would be a pleasure to me to +undertake this mission. First, because, being curious as concerns +forts and castles, I would fain see if mine eyes have deceived me in +taking yon towers for a hold of great might. Secondly, because that +same wild-cat of a king must have a court rare to visit. And the only +reflection that withholds my pressing the offer as a personal suit is, +that though I have some words of the Breton jargon at my tongue's +need, I cannot pretend to be a Tully in Welch; howbeit, since it seems +that one, at least, among them knows something of Latin, I doubt not +but what I shall get out my meaning!" + +"Nay, as to that, Sire de Graville," said Harold, who seemed well +pleased with the knight's offer, "there shall be no hindrance or let, +as I will make clear to you; and in spite of what you have just heard, +Gryffyth shall harm you not in limb or in life. But, kindly and +courteous Sir, will your wounds permit the journey, not long, but +steep and laborious, and only to be made on foot?" + +"On foot!" said the knight, a little staggered, "Pardex! well and +truly, I did not count upon that!" + +"Enough," said Harold, turning away in evident disappointment, "think +of it no more." + +"Nay, by your leave, what I have once said I stand to," returned the +knight; "albeit, you may as well cleave in two one of those +respectable centaurs of which we have read in our youth, as part +Norman and horse. I will forthwith go to my chamber, and apparel +myself becomingly--not forgetting, in case of the worst, to wear my +mail under my robe. Vouchsafe me but an armourer, just to rivet up +the rings through which scratched so felinely the paw of that well- +appelled Griffin." + +"I accept your offer frankly," said Harold, "and all shall be prepared +for you, as soon as you yourself will re-seek me here." + +The knight rose, and though somewhat stiff and smarting with his +wounds, left the room lightly, summoned his armourer and squire, and +having dressed with all the care and pomp habitual to a Norman, his +gold chain round his neck, and his vest stiff with broidery, he re- +entered the apartment of Harold. The Earl received him alone, and +came up to him with a cordial face. "I thank thee more, brave Norman, +than I ventured to say before my thegns, for I tell thee frankly, that +my intent and aim are to save the life of this brave king; and thou +canst well understand that every Saxon amongst us must have his blood +warmed by contest, and his eyes blind with national hate. You alone, +as a stranger, see the valiant warrior and hunted prince, and as such +you can feel for him the noble pity of manly foes." + +"That is true," said De Graville, a little surprised, "though we +Normans are at least as fierce as you Saxons, when we have once tasted +blood; and I own nothing would please me better than to dress that +catamaran in mail, put a spear in its claws, and a horse under its +legs, and thus fight out my disgrace at being so clawed and mauled by +its griffes. And though I respect a brave knight in distress, I can +scarce extend my compassion to a thing that fights against all rule, +martial and kingly." + +The Earl smiled gravely. "It is the mode in which his ancestors +rushed on the spears of Caesar. Pardon him." + +"I pardon him, at your gracious request," quoth the knight, with a +grand air, and waving his hands; "say on." + +"You will proceed with a Welch monk--whom, though not of the faction +of Gryffyth, all Welchmen respect--to the mouth of a frightful pass, +skirting the river; the monk will bear aloft the holy rood in signal +of peace. Arrived at that pass, you will doubtless be stopped. The +monk here will be spokesman; and ask safe-conduct to Gryffyth to +deliver my message; he will also bear certain tokens, which will no +doubt win the way for you." + +"Arrived before Gryffyth, the monk will accost him; mark and heed well +his gestures, since thou wilt know not the Welch tongue he employs. +And when he raises the rood, thou,--in the mean while, having artfully +approached close to Gryffyth,--wilt whisper in Saxon, which he well +understands, and pressing the ring I now give thee into his hand, +'Obey, by this pledge; thou knowest Harold is true, and thy head is +sold by thine own people.' If he asks more thou knowest nought." + +"So far, this is as should be from chief to chief," said the Norman, +touched, "and thus had Fitzosborne done to his foe. I thank thee for +this mission, and the more that thou hast not asked me to note the +strength of the bulwark, and number the men that may keep it." + +Again Harold smiled. "Praise me not for this, noble Norman--we plain +Saxons have not your refinements. If ye are led to the summit, which +I think ye will not be, the monk at least will have eyes to see, and +tongue to relate. But to thee I confide this much;--I know already, +that Gryffyth's strongholds are not his walls and his towers, but the +superstition of our men, and the despair of his own. I could win +those heights, as I have won heights as cloudcapt, but with fearful +loss of my own troops, and the massacre of every foe. Both I would +spare, if I may." + +"Yet thou hast not shown such value for life, in the solitudes I +passed," said the knight bluntly. + +Harold turned pale, but said firmly, "Sire de Graville, a stern thing +is duty, and resistless is its voice. These Welchmen, unless curbed +to their mountains, eat into the strength of England, as the tide +gnaws into a shore. Merciless were they in their ravages on our +borders, and ghastly and torturing their fell revenge. But it is one +thing to grapple with a foe fierce and strong, and another to smite +when his power is gone, fang and talon. And when I see before me the +faded king of a great race, and the last band of doomed heroes, too +few and too feeble to make head against my arms,--when the land is +already my own, and the sword is that of the deathsman, not of the +warrior,--verily, Sir Norman, duty releases its iron tool, and man +becomes man again." + +"I go," said the Norman, inclining his head low as to his own great +Duke, and turning to the door; yet there he paused, and looking at the +ring which he had placed on his finger, he said, "But one word more, +if not indiscreet--your answer may help argument, if argument be +needed. What tale lies hid in this token?" + +Harold coloured and paused a moment, then answered: + +"Simply this. Gryffyth's wife, the lady Aldyth, a Saxon by birth, +fell into my hands. We were storming Rhadlan, at the farther end of +the isle; she was there. We war not against women; I feared the +license of my own soldiers, and I sent the lady to Gryffyth. Aldyth +gave me this ring on parting; and I bade her tell Gryffyth that +whenever, at the hour of his last peril and sorest need, I sent that +ring back to him, he might hold it the pledge of his life." + +"Is this lady, think you, in the stronghold with her lord?" + +"I am not sure, but I fear yes," answered Harold. + +"Yet one word: And if Gryffyth refuse, despite all warning?" + +Harold's eyes drooped. + +"If so, he dies; but not by the Saxon sword. God and our lady speed +you!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +On the height called Pen-y-Dinas (or "Head of the City") forming one +of the summits of Penmaen-mawr, and in the heart of that supposed +fortress which no eye in the Saxon camp had surveyed [163], reclined +Gryffyth, the hunted King. Nor is it marvellous that at that day +there should be disputes as to the nature and strength of the supposed +bulwark, since, in times the most recent, and among antiquaries the +most learned, the greatest discrepancies exist, not only as to +theoretical opinion, but plain matter of observation, and simple +measurement. The place, however, I need scarcely say, was not as we +see it now, with its foundations of gigantic ruin, affording ample +space for conjecture; yet, even then, a wreck as of Titans, its date +and purpose were lost in remote antiquity. + +The central area (in which the Welch King now reclined) formed an oval +barrow of loose stones: whether so left from the origin, or the relics +of some vanished building, was unknown even to bard and diviner. +Round this space were four strong circumvallations of loose stones, +with a space about eighty yards between each; the walls themselves +generally about eight feet wide, but of various height, as the stones +had fallen by time and blast. Along these walls rose numerous and +almost countless circular buildings, which might pass for towers, +though only a few had been recently and rudely roofed in. To the +whole of this quadruple enclosure there was but one narrow entrance, +now left open as if in scorn of assault; and a winding narrow pass +down the mountain, with innumerable curves, alone led to the single +threshold. Far down the hill, walls again were visible; and the whole +surface of the steep soil, more than half way in the descent, was +heaped with vast loose stones, as if the bones of a dead city. But +beyond the innermost enclosure of the fort (if fort, or sacred +enclosure, be the correcter name), rose, thick and frequent, other +mementos of the Briton; many cromlechs, already shattered and +shapeless; the ruins of stone houses; and high over all, those +upraised, mighty amber piles, as at Stonehenge, once reared, if our +dim learning be true, in honour to Bel, or Bal-Huan [164], the idol of +the sun. All, in short, showed that the name of the place, "the Head +of the City," told its tale; all announced that, there, once the Celt +had his home, and the gods of the Druid their worship. And musing +amidst these skeletons of the past, lay the doomed son of Pen-Dragon. + +Beside him a kind of throne had been raised with stones, and over it +was spread a tattered and faded velvet pall. On this throne sat +Aldyth the Queen; and about the royal pair was still that mockery of a +court which the jealous pride of the Celt king retained amidst all the +horrors of carnage and famine. Most of the officers indeed +(originally in number twenty-four), whose duties attached them to the +king and queen of the Cymry, were already feeding the crow or the +worm. But still, with gaunt hawk on his wrist, the penhebogydd (grand +falconer) stood at a distance; still, with beard sweeping his breast, +and rod in hand, leant against a projecting shaft of the wall, the +noiseless gosdegwr, whose duty it was to command silence in the King's +hall; and still the penbard bent over his bruised harp, which once had +thrilled, through the fair vaults of Caerleon and Rhaldan, in high +praise of God, and the King, and the Hero Dead. In the pomp of gold +dish and vessel [165] the board was spread on the stones for the King +and Queen; and on the dish was the last fragment of black bread, and +in the vessel full and clear, the water from the spring that bubbled +up everlastingly through the bones of the dead city. + +Beyond this innermost space, round a basin of rock, through which the +stream overflowed as from an artificial conduit, lay the wounded and +exhausted, crawling, turn by turn, to the lips of the basin, and happy +that the thirst of fever saved them from the gnawing desire of food. +A wan and spectral figure glided listlessly to and fro amidst those +mangled, and parched, and dying groups. This personage, in happier +times, filled the office of physician to the court, and was placed +twelfth in rank amidst the chiefs of the household. And for cure of +the "three deadly wounds," the cloven skull, or the gaping viscera, or +the broken limb (all three classed alike), large should have been his +fee [166]. But feeless went he now from man to man, with his red +ointment and his muttered charm; and those over whom he shook his lean +face and matted locks, smiled ghastly at that sign that release and +death were near. Within the enclosures, either lay supine, or stalked +restless, the withered remains of the wild army. A sheep, and a +horse, and a clog, were yet left them all to share for the day's meal. +And the fire of flickering and crackling brushwood burned bright from +a hollow amidst the loose stones; but the animals were yet unslain, +and the dog crept by the fire, winking at it with dim eyes. + +But over the lower part of the wall nearest to the barrow, leant three +men. The wall there was so broken, that they could gaze over it on +that grotesque yet dismal court; and the eyes of the three men, with a +fierce and wolfish glare, were bent on Gryffyth. + +Three princes were they of the great old line; far as Gryffyth they +traced the fabulous honours of their race, to Hu-Gadarn and Prydain, +and each thought it shame that Gryffyth should be lord over him! Each +had had throne and court of his own; each his "white palace" of peeled +willow wands--poor substitutes, O kings, for the palaces and towers +that the arts of Rome had bequeathed your fathers! And each had been +subjugated by the son of Llewellyn, when, in his day of might, he re- +united under his sole sway all the multiform principalities of Wales, +and regained, for a moment's splendour, the throne of Roderic the +Great. + +"Is it," said Owain, in a hollow whisper, "for yon man, whom heaven +hath deserted, who could not keep his very torque from the gripe of +the Saxon, that we are to die on these hills, gnawing the flesh from +our bones? Think ye not the hour is come?" + +"The hour will come, when the sheep, and the horse, and the dog are +devoured," replied Modred, "and when the whole force, as one man, will +cry to Gryffyth, 'Thou a king!--give us bread!'" + +"It is well," said the third, an old man, leaning on a wand of solid +silver, while the mountain wind, sweeping between the walls, played +with the rags of his robe,--"it is well that the night's sally, less +of war than of hunger, was foiled even of forage and food. Had the +saints been with Gryffyth, who had dared to keep faith with Tostig the +Saxon." + +Owain laughed, a laugh hollow and false. + +"Art thou Cymrian, and talkest of faith with a Saxon? Faith with the +spoiler, the ravisher and butcher? But a Cymrian keeps faith with +revenge; and Gryffyth's trunk should be still crownless and headless, +though Tostig had never proffered the barter of safety and food. +Hist! Gryffyth wakes from the black dream, and his eyes glow from +under his hair." + +And indeed at this moment the King raised himself on his elbow, and +looked round with a haggard and fierce despair in his glittering eyes. + +"Play to us, Harper; sing some song of the deeds of old!" The bard +mournfully strove to sweep the harp, but the chords were broken, and +the note came discordant and shrill as the sigh of a wailing fiend. + +"O King!" said the bard, "the music hath left the harp." + +"Ha!" murmured Gryffyth, "and Hope the earth! Bard, answer the son of +Llewellyn. Oft in my halls hast thou sung the praise of the men that +have been. In the halls of the race to come, will bards yet unborn +sweep their harps to the deeds of thy King? Shall they tell of the +day of Torques, by Llyn-Afangc, when the princes of Powys fled from +his sword as the clouds from the blast of the wind? Shall they sing, +as the Hirlas goes round, of his steeds of the sea, when no flag came +in sight of his prows between the dark isle of the Druid [167] and the +green pastures of Huerdan? [168] Or the towns that he fired, on the +lands of the Saxon, when Rolf and the Nortbmen ran fast from his +javelin and spear? Or say, Child of Truth, if all that is told of +Gryffyth thy King shall be his woe and his shame?" + +The bard swept his hand over his eyes, and answered: + +"Bards unborn shall sing of Gryffyth the son of Llewellyn. But the +song shall not dwell on the pomp of his power, when twenty sub-kings +knelt at his throne, and his beacon was lighted in the holds of the +Norman and Saxon. Bards shall sing of the hero, who fought every inch +of crag and morass in the front of his men,--and on the heights of +Penmaen-mawr, Fame recovers thy crown!" + +"Then I have lived as my fathers in life, and shall live with their +glory in death!" said Gryffyth; "and so the shadow hath passed from my +soul." Then turning round, still propped upon his elbow, he fixed his +proud eye upon Aldyth, and said gravely, "Wife, pale is thy face, and +gloomy thy brow; mournest thou the throne or the man?" + +Aldyth cast on her wild lord a look of more terror than compassion, a +look without the grief that is gentle, or the love that reveres; and +answered: + +"What matter to thee my thoughts or my sufferings? The sword or the +famine is the doom thou hast chosen. Listening to vain dreams from +thy bard, or thine own pride as idle, thou disdainest life for us +both: be it so; let us die!" + +A strange blending of fondness and wrath troubled the pride on +Gryffyth's features, uncouth and half savage as they were, but still +noble and kingly. + +"And what terror has death, if thou lovest me?" said he. + +Aldyth shivered and turned aside. The unhappy King gazed hard on that +face, which, despite sore trial and recent exposure to rough wind and +weather, still retained the proverbial beauty of the Saxon women--but +beauty without the glow of the heart, as a landscape from which +sunlight has vanished; and as he gazed, at the colour went and came +fitfully over his swarthy cheeks whose hue contrasted the blue of his +eye and the red tawny gold of his shaggy hair. + +"Thou wouldst have me," he said at length, "send to Harold thy +countryman; thou wouldst have me, me--rightful lord of all Britain-- +beg for mercy, and sue for life. Ah, traitress, and child of robber- +sires, fair as Rowena art thou, but no Vortimer am I! Thou turnest in +loathing from the lord whose marriage-gift was a crown; and the sleek +form of thy Saxon Harold rises up through the clouds of the carnage." + +All the fierce and dangerous jealousy of man's most human passion-- +when man loves and hates in a breath--trembled in the Cymrian's voice, +and fired his troubled eye; for Aldyth's pale cheek blushed like the +rose, but she folded her arms haughtily on her breast, and made no +reply. + +"No," said Gryffyth, grinding teeth, white [169] and strong as those +of a young hound. "No, Harold in vain sent me the casket; the jewel +was gone. In vain thy form returned to my side; thy heart was away +with thy captor: and not to save my life (were I so base as to seek +it), but to see once more the face of him to whom this cold hand, in +whose veins no pulse answers my own, had been given, if thy House had +consulted its daughter, wouldst thou have me crouch like a lashed dog +at the feet of my foe! Oh Shame! shame! shame! Oh worst perfidy of +all! Oh sharp--sharper than Saxon sword or serpent's tooth, is--is--" + +Tears gushed to those fierce eyes, and the proud King dared not trust +to his voice. + +Aldyth rose coldly. "Slay me if thou wilt--not insult me. I have +said, 'Let us die!'" + +With these words, and vouchsafing no look on her lord, she moved away +towards the largest tower or cell, in which the single and rude +chamber it contained had been set apart for her. + +Gryffyth's eye followed her, softening gradually as her form receded, +till lost to his sight. And then that peculiar household love, which +in uncultivated breasts often survives trust and esteem, rushed back +on his rough heart, and weakened it, as woman only can weaken the +strong to whom Death is a thought of scorn. + +He signed to his bard, who, during the conference between wife and +lord, had retired to a distance, and said, with a writhing attempt to +smile: + +"Was there truth, thinkest thou, in the legend, that Guenever was +false to King Arthur?" + +"No," answered the bard, divining his lord's thought, for Guenever +survived not the King, and they were buried side by side in the Vale +of Avallon." + +"Thou art wise in the lore of the heart, and love hath been thy study +from youth to grey hairs. Is it love, is it hate, that prefers death +for the loved one, to the thought of her life as another's?" A look +of the tenderest compassion passed over the bard's wan face, but +vanished in reverence, as he bowed his head and answered: + +"O King, who shall say what note the wind calls from the harp, what +impulse love wakes in the soul--now soft and now stern? But," he +added, raising his form, and, with a dread calm on his brow, "but the +love of a king brooks no thought of dishonour; and she who hath laid +her head on his breast should sleep in his grave." + +"Thou wilt outlive me," said Gryffyth, abruptly. "This carn be my +tomb!" + +"And if so," said the bard, "thou shalt sleep not alone. In this carn +what thou lovest best shall be buried by thy side; the bard shall +raise his song over thy grave, and the bosses of shields shall be +placed at intervals, as rises and falls the sound of song. Over the +grave of two shall a new mound arise, and we will bid the mound speak +to others in the fair days to come. But distant yet be the hour when +the mighty shall be laid low! and the tongue of thy bard may yet chant +the rush of the lion from the toils and the spears. Hope still!" + +Gryffyth, for answer, leant on the harper's shoulder, and pointed +silently to the sea, that lay, lake-like at the distance, dark-studded +with the Saxon fleet. Then turning, his hands stretched over the +forms that, hollow-eyed and ghost-like, flitted between the walls, or +lay dying, but mute, around the waterspring. His hand then dropped, +and rested on the hilt of his sword. + +At this moment there was a sudden commotion at the outer entrance of +the wall; the crowd gathered to one spot, and there was a loud hum of +voices. In a few moments one of the Welch scouts came into the +enclosure, and the chiefs of the royal tribes followed him to the carn +on which the King stood. + +"Of what tellest thou?" said Gryffyth, resuming on the instant all the +royalty of his bearing. + +"At the mouth of the pass," said the scout, kneeling, "there are a +monk bearing the holy rood, and a chief, unarmed. And the monk is +Evan, the Cymrian, of Gwentland; and the chief, by his voice, seemeth +not to be Saxon. The monk bade me give thee these tokens" (and the +scout displayed the broken torque which the King had left in the grasp +of Harold, together with a live falcon belled and blinded), "and bade +me say thus to the King: Harold the Earl greets Gryffyth, son of +Llewellyn, and sends him, in proof of good will, the richest prize he +hath ever won from a foe; and a hawk, from Llandudno;--that bird which +chief and equal give to equal and chief. And he prays Gryffyth, son +of Llewellyn, for the sake of his realm and his people, to grant +hearing to his nuncius." + +A murmur broke from the chiefs--a murmur of joy and surprise from all, +save the three conspirators, who interchanged anxious and fiery +glances. Gryffyth's hand had already closed, while he uttered a cry +that seemed of rapture, on the collar of gold; for the loss of that +collar had stung him, perhaps more than the loss of the crown of all +Wales. And his heart, so generous and large, amidst all its rude +passions, was touched by the speech and the tokens that honoured the +fallen outlaw both as foe and as king. Yet in his face there was +still seen a moody and proud struggle; he paused before he turned to +the chiefs. + +"What counsel ye--ye strong in battle, and wise in debate?" said he. + +With one voice all, save the Fatal Three, exclaimed: "Hear the monk, O +King!" + +"Shall we dissuade?" whispered Modred to the old chief, his +accomplice. + +"No; for so doing, we shall offend all:--and we must win all." + +Then the bard stepped into the ring. And the ring was hushed, for +wise is ever the counsel of him whose book is the human heart. + +"Hear the Saxons," said he, briefly, and with an air of command when +addressing others, which contrasted strongly his tender respect to the +King; "hear the Saxons, but not in these walls. Let no man from the +foe see our strength or our weakness. We are still mighty and +impregnable, while our dwelling is in the realm of the Unknown. Let +the King, and his officers of state, and his chieftains of battle, +descend to the pass. And behind, at the distance, let the spearmen +range from cliff to cliff, as a ladder of steel; so will their numbers +seem the greater." + +"Thou speakest well," said the King. + +Meanwhile the knight and the monk waited below at that terrible pass +[170], which then lay between mountain and river, and over which the +precipices frowned, with a sense of horror and weight. Looking up, +the knight murmured: + +"With those stones and crags to roll down on a marching army, the +place well defies storm and assault; and a hundred on the height would +overmatch thousands below." + +He then turned to address a few words, with all the far-famed courtesy +of Norman and Frank, to the Welch guards at the outpost. They were +picked men; the strongest and best armed and best fed of the group. +But they shook their heads and answered not, gazing at him fiercely, +and showing their white teeth, as dogs at a bear before they are +loosened from the band. + +"They understand me not, poor languageless savages!" said Mallet de +Graville, turning to the monk, who stood by with the lifted rood; +"speak to them in their own jargon." + +"Nay," said the Welch monk, who, though of a rival tribe from South +Wales, and at the service of Harold, was esteemed throughout the land +for piety and learning, "they will not open mouth till the King's +orders come to receive or dismiss us unheard." + +"Dismiss us unheard!" repeated the punctilious Norman; "even this poor +barbarous King can scarcely be so strange to all comely and gentle +usage, as to put such insult on Guillaume Mallet de Graville. But," +added the knight, colouring, "I forgot that he is not advised of my +name and land; and, indeed, sith thou art to be spokesman, I marvel +why Harold should have prayed my service at all, at the risk of +subjecting a Norman knight to affronts contumelious." + +"Peradventure," replied Evan, "peradventure thou hast something to +whisper apart to the King, which, as stranger and warrior, none will +venture to question; but which from me, as countryman and priest, +would excite the jealous suspicions of those around him." + +"I conceive thee," said De Graville. "And see, spears are gleaming +down the path; and per pedes Domini, yon chief with the mantle, and +circlet of gold on his head, is the cat-king that so spitted and +scratched in the melee last night." + +"Heed well thy tongue," said Evan, alarmed; "no jests with the leader +of men." + +"Knowest thou, good monk, that a facete and most gentil Roman (if the +saintly writer from whom I take the citation reports aright--for, +alas! I know not where myself to purchase, or to steal, one copy of +Horatius Flaccus) hath said 'Dulce est desipere in loco.' It is sweet +to jest, but not within reach of claws, whether of kaisars or cats." + +Therewith the knight drew up his spare but stately figure, and +arranging his robe with grace and dignity, awaited the coming chief. + +Down the paths, one by one, came first the chiefs, privileged by birth +to attend the King; and each, as he reached the mouth of the pass, +drew on the upper side, among the stones of the rough ground. Then a +banner, tattered and torn, with the lion ensign that the Welch princes +had substituted for the old national dragon, which the Saxon of Wessex +had appropriated to themselves [171], preceded the steps of the King. +Behind him came his falconer and bard, and the rest of his scanty +household. The King halted in the pass, a few steps from the Norman +knight; and Mallet de Graville, though accustomed to the majestic mien +of Duke William, and the practised state of the princes of France and +Flanders, felt an involuntary thrill of admiration at the bearing of +the great child of Nature with his foot on his father's soil. + +Small and slight as was his stature, worn and ragged his mantle of +state, there was that in the erect mien and steady eye of the Cymrian +hero, which showed one conscious of authority, and potent in will; and +the wave of his hand to the knight was the gesture of a prince on his +throne. Nor, indeed, was that brave and ill-fated chief without some +irregular gleams of mental cultivation, which under happier auspices, +might have centred into steadfast light. Though the learning which +had once existed in Wales (the last legacy of Rome) had long since +expired in broil and blood, and youths no longer flocked to the +colleges of Caerleon, and priests no longer adorned the casuistical +theology of the age, Gryffyth himself, the son of a wise and famous +father [172], had received an education beyond the average of Saxon +kings. But, intensely national, his mind had turned from all other +literature, to the legends, and songs, and chronicles of his land; and +if he is the best scholar who best understands his own tongue and its +treasures, Gryffyth was the most erudite prince of his age. + +His natural talents, for war especially, were considerable; and judged +fairly--not as mated with an empty treasury, without other army than +the capricious will of his subjects afforded, and amidst his bitterest +foes in the jealous chiefs of his own country, against the disciplined +force and comparative civilisation of the Saxon--but as compared with +all the other princes of Wales, in warfare, to which he was +habituated, and in which chances were even, the fallen son of +Llewellyn had been the most renowned leader that Cymry had known since +the death of the great Roderic. + +So there he stood; his attendants ghastly with famine, drawn up on the +unequal ground; above, on the heights, and rising from the stone +crags, long lines of spears artfully placed; and, watching him with +deathful eyes, somewhat in his rear, the Traitor Three. + +"Speak, father, or chief," said the Welch King in his native tongue; +"what would Harold the Earl of Gryffyth the King?" + +Then the monk took up the word and spoke. + +"Health to Gryffyth-ap-Llewellyn, his chiefs and his people! Thus +saith Harold, King Edward's thegn: By land all the passes are +watched; by sea all the waves are our own. Our swords rest in our +sheaths; but famine marches each hour to gride and to slay. Instead +of sure death from the hunger, take sure life from the foe. Free +pardon to all, chiefs and people, and safe return to their homes,-- +save Gryffyth alone. Let him come forth, not as victim and outlaw, +not with bent form and clasped hands, but as chief meeting chief, with +his household of state. Harold will meet him, in honour, at the gates +of the fort. Let Gryffyth submit to King Edward, and ride with Harold +to the Court of the Basileus. Harold promises him life, and will +plead for his pardon. And though the peace of this realm, and the +fortune of war, forbid Harold to say, 'Thou shalt yet be a king;' yet +thy crown, son of Llewellyn, shall at least be assured in the line of +thy fathers, and the race of Cadwallader shall still reign in Cymry." + +The monk paused, and hope and joy were in the faces of the famished +chiefs; while two of the Traitor Three suddenly left their post, and +sped to tell the message to the spearmen and multitudes above. +Modred, the third conspirator, laid his hand on his hilt, and stole +near to see the face of the King;--the face of the King was dark and +angry, as a midnight of storm. + +Then, raising the cross on high, Evan resumed. + +"And I, though of the people of Gwentland, which the arms of Gryffyth +have wasted, and whose prince fell beneath Gryffyth's sword on the +hearth of his hall--I, as God's servant, the brother of all I behold, +and, as son of the soil, mourning over the slaughter of its latest +defenders--I, by this symbol of love and command, which I raise to the +heaven, adjure thee, O King, to give ear to the mission of peace,--to +cast down the grim pride of earth. And instead of the crown of a day, +fix thy hopes on the crown everlasting. For much shall be pardoned to +thee in thine hour of pomp and of conquest, if now thou savest from +doom and from death the last lives over which thou art lord." + +It was during this solemn appeal that the knight, marking the sign +announced to him, and drawing close to Gryffyth, pressed the ring into +the King's hand, and whispered: + +"Obey by this pledge. Thou knowest Harold is true, and thy head is +sold by thine own people." + +The King cast a haggard eye at the speaker, and then at the ring, over +which his hand closed with a convulsive spasm. And at that dread +instant the man prevailed over the King; and far away from people and +monk, from adjuration and duty, fled his heart on the wings of the +storm--fled to the cold wife he distrusted: and the pledge that should +assure him of life, seemed as a love-token insulting his fall:--Amidst +all the roar of roused passions, loudest of all was the hiss of the +jealous fiend. + +As the monk ceased, the thrill of the audience was perceptible, and a +deep silence was followed by a general murmur, as if to constrain the +King. + +Then the pride of the despot chief rose up to second the wrath of the +suspecting man. The red spot flushed the dark cheek, and he tossed +the neglected hair from his brow. + +He made one stride towards the monk, and said, in a voice loud, and +deep, and slow, rolling far up the hill: + +"Monk, thou hast said; and now hear the reply of the son of Llewellyn, +the true heir of Roderic the Great, who from the heights of Eryri saw +all the lands of the Cymrian sleeping under the dragon of Uther. King +was I born, and king will I die. I will not ride by the side of the +Saxon to the feet of Edward, the son of the spoiler. I will not, to +purchase base life, surrender the claim, vain before men and the hour, +but solemn before God and posterity--the claim of my line and my +people. All Britain is ours--all the island of Pines. And the +children of Hengist are traitors and rebels--not the heirs of +Ambrosius and Uther. Say to Harold the Saxon, Ye have left us but the +tomb of the Druid and the hills of the eagle; but freedom and royalty +are ours, in life and in death--not for you to demand them, not for us +to betray. Nor fear ye, O my chiefs, few, but unmatched in glory and +truth; fear not ye to perish by the hunger thus denounced as our doom, +on these heights that command the fruits of our own fields! No, die +we may, but not mute and revengeless. Go back, whispering warrior; go +back, false son of Cymry--and tell Harold to look well to his walls +and his trenches. We will vouchsafe him grace for his grace--we will +not take him by surprise, nor under cloud of the night. With the +gleam of our spears and the clash of our shields, we will come from +the hill: and, famine-worn as he deems us, hold a feast in his walls +which the eagles of Snowdon spread their pinions to share!" + +"Rash man and unhappy!" cried the monk; "what curse drawest thou down +on thy head! Wilt thou be the murtherer of thy men, in strife +unavailing and vain? Heaven holds thee guilty of all the blood thou +shalt cause to be shed." + +"Be dumb!--hush thy screech, lying raven!" exclaimed Gryffyth, his +eyes darting fire and, his slight form dilating. "Once, priest and +monk went before us to inspire, not to daunt; and our cry, Alleluia! +was taught us by the saints of the Church, on the day when Saxons, +fierce and many as Harold's, fell on the field of Maes-Garmon. No, +the curse is on the head of the invader, not on those who defend +hearth and altar. Yea, as the song to the bard, the CURSE leaps +through my veins, and rushes forth from my lips. By the land they +have ravaged; by the gore they have spilt; on these crags, our last +refuge; below the carn on yon heights, where the Dead stir to hear +me,--I launch the curse of the wronged and the doomed on the children +of Hengist! They in turn shall know the steel of the stranger--their +crown shall be shivered as glass, and their nobles be as slaves in the +land. And the line of Hengist and Cerdic shall be rased from the roll +of empire. And the ghosts of our fathers shall glide, appeased, over +the grave of their nation. But we--WE, though weak in the body, in +the soul shall be strong to the last! The ploughshare may pass over +our cities, but the soil shall be trod by our steps, and our deeds +keep our language alive in the songs of our bards. Nor in the great +Judgment Day, shall any race but the race of Cymry rise from their +graves in this corner of earth, to answer for the sins of the brave!" +[173] + +So impressive the voice, so grand the brow, and sublime the wild +gesture of the King, as he thus spoke, that not only the monk himself +was awed; not only, though he understood not the words, did the Norman +knight bow his head, as a child when the lightning he fears as by +instinct flashes out from the cloud,--but even the sullen and wide- +spreading discontent at work among most of the chiefs was arrested for +a moment. But the spearmen and multitude above, excited by the +tidings of safety to life, and worn out by repeated defeat, and the +dread fear of famine, too remote to hear the King, were listening +eagerly to the insidious addresses of the two stealthy conspirators, +creeping from rank to rank; and already they began to sway and move, +and sweep slowly down towards the King. + +Recovering his surprise, the Norman again neared Gryffyth, and began +to re-urge his mission of peace. But the chief waved him back +sternly, and said aloud, though in Saxon: + +"No secrets can pass between Harold and me. This much alone, take +thou back as answer: I thank the Earl, for myself, my Queen, and my +people. Noble have been his courtesies, as foe; as foe I thank him-- +as king, defy. The torque he hath returned to my hand, he shall see +again ere the sun set. Messengers, ye are answered. Withdraw, and +speed fast, that we may pass not your steps on the road." + +The monk sighed, and cast a look of holy compassion over the circle; +and a pleased man was he to see in the faces of most there, that the +King was alone in his fierce defiance. Then lifting again the rood, +he turned away, and with him went the Norman. + +The retirement of the messengers was the signal for one burst of +remonstrance from the chiefs--the signal for the voice and the deeds +of the Fatal Three. Down from the heights sprang and rushed the angry +and turbulent multitudes; round the King came the bard and the +falconer, and some faithful few. + +The great uproar of many voices caused the monk and the knight to +pause abruptly in their descent, and turn to look behind. They could +see the crowd rushing down from the higher steeps; but on the spot +itself which they had so lately left, the nature of the ground only +permitted a confused view of spear points, lifted swords, and heads +crowned with shaggy locks, swaying to and fro. + +"What means all this commotion?" asked the knight, with his hand on +his sword. + +"Hist!" said the monk, pale as ashes, and leaning for support upon the +cross. + +Suddenly, above the hubbub, was heard the voice of the King, in +accents of menace and wrath, singularly distinct and clear; it was +followed by a moment's silence--a moment's silence followed by the +clatter of arms, a yell, and a howl, and the indescribable shock of +men. + +And suddenly again was heard a voice that seemed that of the King, but +no longer distinct and clear!--was it laugh?--was it groan? + +All was hushed; the monk was on his knees in prayer; the knight's +sword was bare in his hand. All was hushed--and the spears stood +still in the air; when there was again a cry, as multitudinous, but +less savage than before. And the Welch came down the pass, and down +the crags. + +The knight placed his back to a rock. "They have orders to murther +us," he murmured; "but woe to the first who come within reach of my +sword!" + +Down swarmed the Welchmen, nearer and nearer; and in the midst of them +three chiefs--the Fatal Three. And the old chief bore in his hand a +pole or spear, and on the top of that spear, trickling gore step by +step, was the trunkless head of Gryffyth the King. + +"This," said the old chief, as he drew near, "this is our answer to +Harold the Earl. We will go with ye." + +"Food! food!" cried the multitude. + +And the three chiefs (one on either side the trunkless head that the +third bore aloft) whispered, "We are avenged!" + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAROLD, BY LYTTON, BOOK 7 *** + +******* This file should be named 7678.txt or 7678.zip ******* + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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