"Thou didst not save me, fool!" replied the Brabançois: "'twas king John saved me. I would not owe my life to such a foul fool as thou art, for all that it is worth. The king saved my life to do a great deed of vengeance, which I will accomplish yet before I die," added Jodelle, "and then I'll account with him too, for what I owe him--he shall not be forgot! no, no!" and the plunderer's eyes gleamed as he thought of the fate that the faithless monarch had appointed for him, and connected it with the vague schemes of vengeance that were floating through his own brain.
"Haw, haw!" cried Gallon. "If thou goest not to hell, sire Jodelle, thou art sure t'will not be for lack of thanklessness, to back your fair bevy of gentlemanly vices. John, the gentle, sent thee thy pardon, that thou mightest murder De Coucy for prating of his murdering Arthur,--I know that as well as thou dost; but had my tongue not been quicker than his messenger's horse, thou wouldst soon have been farther on your road to heaven than ever you may be again. Oh rare! How the crows of the Pont de l'Arche must hate me! Haw, haw! vinegar face! didst ever turn milk sour with thy sharp nose?--Hark! Hear you not a distant clatter? Your army is marching down towards the bridge, prince Pumkin," he rambled on; "I'll up into yon tree, and see; for this country is as flat as peas porridge."
So saying. Gallon sprang to the ground, climbed the bank in an instant, and walked up the straight boll of the tree, as easily as if he had been furnished with a ladder; giving a quick glance round, however, every step, to see that Jodelle did not take any advantage of him.
His movements had been so rapid, that with the best intentions thereunto in the world, the coterel could not have injured him in his ascent; and when he was once up, he began to question him on what he saw.
"What do I see?" said Gallon. "Why, when I look that way, I see German asses, and Lorraine foxes, and English curs, and Flanders mules, all marching down towards the river as quietly as may be; and when I look the other way, I perceive a whole band of French monkeys, tripping on gaily without seeing the others; and when I look down there," he continued, pointing to Jodelle, "I see a Provençal wolf, hungry for plunder, and thirsty for blood;" and Gallon began to descend the tree.
As he had spoken, there was a sound of horses heard coming up the road, and Jodelle spurred close up under the bank, as if to catch a glance of the persons who were approaching; but, at the same moment, he quietly drew his sword. Gallon instantly perceived his manœuvre, and attempted to spring up the tree once more.
Ere he could do so, however, Jodelle struck at him; and though he could only reach high enough to wound the tendon of his leg, the pain made the juggler let go his hold, and he fell to the top of the bank, nearly on a level with the face of the coterel, who, rising in his stirrups, with the full lunge of his arm, plunged his sword into his body.
Though mortally wounded, Gallon, without word or groan, rolled down the bank, and clung to the legs of his enemy's horse, impeding the motions of the animal as much as if it had been clogged; while at the same time Jodelle now urged it furiously with the spur; for the sound of coming cavaliers, and the glance of a knight's pennon from behind the turn of the road, at about an hundred yards' distance, showed him that he must either ride on, or take the risk of the party being inimical to his own.
Three times the horse, plunging furiously under the spur, set its feet full on the body of the unfortunate juggler; but still he kept his hold, without a speech or outcry, till suddenly shouting "Haw, haw!--Haw, haw, haw!--The Coucy! the Coucy! Haw, haw!" he let go his hold; and the coterel galloped on at full speed, ascertaining by a single glance, that Gallon's shout announced nothing but the truth.
De Coucy's eyes were quick, however; and his horse far fleeter than that of the coterel. He saw Jodelle, and recognised him instantly; while the dying form of Gallon, and the blood that stained the dry white sand of the road, in dark red patches round about, told their own tale, and were not to be mistaken. Without pausing to clasp his visor, or to brace his shield, the knight snatched his lance from his squire, struck his spurs into the flanks of his charger; and, before Jodelle had reached the other side of the little green, the iron of the spear struck him between the shoulders, and, passing through his plastron as if it had been made of parchment, hurled him from his horse, never to mount again. A shrill cry like that of a wounded vulture, as the knight struck him, and a deep groan as he fell to the ground, were the only sounds that the plunderer uttered more. De Coucy tugged at his lance for a moment, endeavouring to shake it free from the body; but, finding that he could not do so without dismounting, he left it in the hands of his squire, and returned to the spot where Gallon the fool still lay, surrounded by part of the young knight's train.