"Yes, surely, please your royal grace," replied the priest. "At least that was the name which his attendants gave to the noble and courageous knight that saved me from the hands of the Rochester shipwrights."
"First," said Wolsey, "give us your name, and say how you came to fall into the hands of these rebellious shipwrights."
"Alas! your grace," answered the priest, "I am a poor priest of Dartford, my name John Timeworthy; and hearing that these poor misguided men at Rochester were in open rebellion against the government, from lack of knowledge and spiritual teaching, I resolved to go down amongst them and preach to them peace and submission. I will not stay to say how and where I found them; but getting up upon a bench that stood hard by, under an apple-tree, I gathered them round me like a flock of sheep, and began my discourse, saying, 'Woe! woe! woe! Woe unto ye, shipwrights of Rochester, that you should arm yourselves against the king's grace! You are like children, that must fain eat hot pudding, and burn their mouths withal; for ye will cry, and ye will cry, till the sword fall upon you; and then, when Lord Thomas comes down with his men-at-arms, ye will turn about and fly; and the spears will stick in your hinder parts, and ye shall be put to shame: for though he have but hundreds, and ye have thousands, his are all men of the bow and of the spear, and ye know no more of either than a jackass does of the harp and psaltery.' And thereupon, your grace, they that I took for strayed sheep showed themselves to be a pack of ravening wolves, for they haled me down from the bench, and beat me unmercifully, and putting a halter round my neck, led me along to hang me up, as they vowed, in sight of Rochester Castle; when, just as they were dragging me along, more dead than alive, across a little green, the knight, Sir Osborne Maurice, came up, and, as I said, rescued me; and for a surety he is a brave and generous knight, and well deserving your grace's favour."
"By my faith, I have always thought so," said Henry. "What say you now, cardinal? Question him yourself, man."
Wolsey eagerly snatched at the permission, for he plainly saw that the matter was not proceeding to his wish. "Pray, my good Master Timeworthy," said he, "how was it that this Sir Osborne rescued you? Did he put his lance in rest, and charge the whole multitude, and deliver you from their hands?"
"Not so! not so!" cried the priest. "He did far more wisely, for there would have been much blood spilt; but he sent forward one, who seemed to be his shield-bearer, who shook hands with the chief of the rioters, and spoke him fair; and then the knight came forward himself, and spoke to him; and the chief of the rioters cried with a loud voice to his people, that this was not Lord Thomas, as they had thought, but a friend and well-beloved of the good Duke of Buckingham; and it was wonderful how soon the eloquence of that young man worked upon the multitude, and made them let me go. He was, indeed, a youth of a goodly presence, and fair to look upon, and had something noble and commanding in his aspect; and his words moved the rioters in the twinkling of an eye, and made them wholly change their purpose."
Henry's brow, which had cleared during the former part of the priest's narration, now grew doubly dark and cloudy; and he muttered to himself, "Too clear! too clear!" while Wolsey proceeded to question the priest more closely.
"Indeed, your grace," replied he, in answer to the cardinal's more minute questions, "I can tell you no more than I have told; for, as I said, I was more dead than alive all the time, till they gave me up to the knight, and did not hear half that passed."
"And what did you remark after you were with the knight?" demanded Wolsey. "Was there no particular observation made on the whole transaction?"
"Not that I can call to mind," answered the priest. "All I remember is, that they seemed a very merry party, and laughed and joked about it; which I, being frightened, thought almost wicked, God forgive me! for it was all innocency and high blood of youth."