The Brethren | Page 8

Also they wished to be at home by supper-time, lest the old
knight, Sir Andrew D'Arcy, the father of Rosamund and the uncle of
the orphan brethren, should grow anxious, and perhaps come out to
seek them.

For the half of an hour or more they rode along the edge of the Saltings,
for the most part in silence that was broken only by the cry of curlew
and the lap of the turning tide. No human being did they see, indeed,
for this place was very desolate and unvisited, save now and again by
fishermen. At length, just as the sun began to sink, they approached the
shore of Death Creek--a sheet of tidal water which ran a mile or more
inland, growing ever narrower, but was here some three hundred yards
in breadth. They were well mounted, all three of them. Indeed,
Rosamund's horse, a great grey, her father's gift to her, was famous in
that country-side for its swiftness and power, also because it was so
docile that a child could ride it; while those of the brethren were
heavy-built but well-trained war steeds, taught to stand where they
were left, and to charge when they were urged, without fear of shouting
men or flashing steel.
Now the ground lay thus. Some seventy yards from the shore of Death
Creek and parallel to it, a tongue of land, covered with scrub and a few
oaks, ran down into the Saltings, its point ending on their path, beyond
which were a swamp and the broad river. Between this tongue and the
shore of the creek the track wended its way to the uplands. It was an
ancient track; indeed the reason of its existence was that here the
Romans or some other long dead hands had built a narrow mole or
quay of rough stone, forty or fifty yards in length, out into the water of
the creek, doubtless to serve as a convenience for fisher boats, which
could lie alongside of it even at low tide. This mole had been much
destroyed by centuries of washing, so that the end of it lay below water,
although the landward part was still almost sound and level.
Coming over the little rise at the top of the wooded tongue, the quick
eyes of Wulf, who rode first--for here the path along the border of the
swamp was so narrow that they must go in single file--caught sight of a
large, empty boat moored to an iron ring set in the wall of the mole.
"Your fishermen have landed, Rosamund," he said,"and doubtless gone
up to Bradwell."
"That is strange," she answered anxiously,"since here no fishermen
ever come." And she checked her horse as though to turn.

"Whether they come or not, certainly they have gone," said Godwin,
craning forward to look about him; so, as we have nothing to fear from
an empty boat, let us push on."
On they rode accordingly, until they came to the root of the stone quay
or pier, when a sound behind them caused them to look back. Then
they saw a sight that sent the blood to their hearts, for there behind
them, leaping down one by one on to that narrow footway, were men
armed with naked swords, six or eight of them, all of whom, they noted,
had strips of linen pierced with eyelet holes tied beneath their helms or
leather caps, so as to conceal their faces.
"A snare! a snare!" cried Wulf, drawing his sword. "Swift! follow me
up the Bradwell path!" and he struck the spurs into his horse. It
bounded forward, to be dragged next second with all the weight of his
powerful arm almost to its haunches. "God's mercy!" he cried, "there
are more of them!" And more there were, for another band of men
armed and linen-hooded like the first, had leapt down on to that
Bradwell path, amongst them a stout man, who seemed to be unarmed,
except for a long, crooked knife at his girdle and a coat of ringed mail,
which showed through the opening of his loose tunic.
"To the boat!" shouted Godwin, whereat the stout man laughed--a light,
penetrating laugh, which even then all three of them heard and noted.
Along the quay they rode, since there was nowhere else that they could
go, with both paths barred, and swamp and water on one side of them,
and a steep, wooded bank upon the other. When they reached it, they
found why the man had laughed, for the boat was made fast with a
strong chain that could not be cut; more, her sail and oars were gone.
"Get into it," mocked a voice; "or, at least, let the lady get in; it will
save us the trouble of carrying her