Cedric, the Forester

by Bernard Gay Marshall

A half dozen of our bolts hummed through the air at their on-coming line. I was at one of the arrow slits, glad indeed of a fair chance at the Carleton curs, and using as best I might the good steel bow which my father had brought back from the Crusade. Some of our first volley of bolts found their marks, but most flew over their heads or buried themselves in the bundles of branches which served them well as shields. With might and main we loaded and fired again, this time with more effect. One of my bolts felled the leader of the ram-bearers and threw his fellows into confusion. But now the line was at the moat, the fascines were hurled into it, the planks and beams followed helter skelter, and a few of the boldest of their men-at-arms dashed out on the footing thus made.

Now indeed our bolts began doing their work. The fascines gone, the leathern jackets were but the sorriest protection, and at twenty to forty paces hardly a bolt failed to bring down its man. We were firing as fast as we could lay the bolts in groove. All their burdens were in the ditch, but it was not filled enough to allow a crossing. Some of those who had ventured on the planks and branches became foot-caught, slipped through to the water below and perished miserably like thieving rats caught and drowned in a trap of meal strewn on the water of a tub.

The Carleton cross-bowmen could do little against our stone walls pierced with narrow firing slits. Some of their arrows came through, but none of us were injured. Two huge stones, hurled by Alan, the armorer, from the battlements above, came down on the heads of the luckless churls in the moat and helped to scatter the scanty footing. Thrice more had old Marvin dinted with his bolts the armor of the Gray Wolf, who was running up and down behind his men, shouting threats and orders; but still the arrows failed in drawing blood. Two other knights were not so fortunate, for bolts struck them full in the faces, and they were borne from the field by their comrades.

In time, mid curses and threats, old Carleton shouted an order for retreat. It was none too soon, for already half the homespun varlets and men-at-arms, seeing no hope of reaching us, and expecting any moment the fate which was falling on their comrades, were on their way to the shelter of the woods. The Carleton crew recrossed the open ground more quickly than it had come. Twenty or more of their number remained behind, in the ditch or on its bank, and the battering ram lay where its bearers had dropped it when their comrades broke and ran.

TWO HUGE STONES, HURLED BY ALAN THE ARMORER, CAME DOWN ON THE HEADS OF THE LUCKLESS CHURLS IN THE MOAT

Hardly had the last of them disappeared under the oaks when Marvin and Alan appeared in the moat, armed with long-handled pikes. Quickly hauling together some of the planks and beams to make a raft, they began pulling and pushing apart the rest of the matter which had been meant to form a crossing. There had not been enough of the brush and lumber for the Carleton purpose but could they place as much more in the same spot, it might make them a footway. We who guarded them from above and stood ready to give warning of any new attack were able to tell them over and again that none of our enemies were showing their heads. So holpen, the old soldiers made a thorough piece of work, and in half an hour had hauled out all the planks and beams and so scattered the brush bundles that they would be of little use to the attackers should they find stomachs for another assault.

That night was a weary one for all of us. The camp fires of the Carleton robbers made a kind of circle about our place and gave us warning of how close they made the siege. My mother gave orders that half her men should lie down to sleep, though with their arms beside them, while she and Marvin often made the rounds to be sure of the watchfulness of the others. She would have had me go to my bed like a very child; but I begged it as a boon to share the watch, to which prayer she most unwillingly gave ear. That night I could not have slept in the downiest of couches, e’en with the softest music of well-played lutes. There was men’s work afoot; and ours were all too few. At midnight the sleepers were awakened and the watch changed; but always we three remained on guard.

The night was quiet, even so; and so was the whole of the day that followed. Beyond bowshot on the open ground, we could see the groups of our enemies and watch the sentries pacing their beats. Nearer at hand on the wooded side, we could hear from time to time the calls of men and the strokes of axes.

In the afternoon my mother found a few hours for sleep, leaving Marvin, who seemed to have no need for rest, in charge. Our old soldier and worthy lieutenant had told her that the siege might last for weeks, and that it would be folly for her to wear out her strength in its very beginning. To this good advice I made bold to add my urging. Dame Franklin had followed her mistress everywhere, bringing her food and drink when of herself she would have forgotten, and trying always to place herself between Lady Mountjoy and her enemies.