“Why 'tis heard, forsooth,” said Jocelyn, “and might be heard a mile hence! Chant on, brave Will.”
The Tanner, nothing loth, wiped his mouth, clenched his fists and standing square and rigid, continued:
“How gaily I a-tanning went,
No tanner blithe as I,
No tanner e'er so innocent,
Though here in chains I lie.
Ho derry down,
Hey derry down,
In grievous chains I lie.
“No more, alack, poor Will will tan,
Since Will will, all unwilling,
Though tanner he and proper man,
A gloomy grave be filling.
Hey derry down,
Ho derry down,
A gloomy grave be filling.”
“Now out upon thee, Tanner!” sighed Ranulph. “Here's sad song, a song o' graves, and therefore most unlovely, a song I—Saints and Angels!” he gasped:
And pointed where Sir Pertinax did stand,
The Heart of Crystal shining in his hand.
“The Heart-in-Heart! The Crystal Heart!” cried he,
And crying thus, sank down on bended knee,
While jailers all and scurvy knaves, pell-mell,
Betook them to their marrow-bones as well;
Whereat Sir Pertinax oped wond'ring eyes,
And questioned him 'twixt anger and surprise.
Then answered Ranulph, “Sir, though chained ye go,
Yet to thee we do all obedience owe
By reason of that sacred amulet,
That crystal heart in heart of crystal set:
'For he that holdeth Crystal Heart
Holdeth all and every part,
And by night or eke by day
The Heart-in-Heart all must obey!”'
“Obey?” quoth Pertinax. “Ha! Let us see
If in thy vaunt there aught of virtue be:
For by this Heart of Crystal that I bear,
I charge ye loose the chains the Fool doth wear,
Then off with these accursèd gyves of mine,
Or—”
Ranulph to the warders gave a sign,
And they to work did go with such good speed,
That Joc'lyn soon with Pertinax stood freed,
“Now by my halidome!” quoth Pertinax,
“This talisman methinks no magic lacks,
So knaves, I bid ye—by this magic Heart,
Draw bolt and bar that hence we may depart—”
But now the scurvy knaves made dismal cry.
“Good sir!” they wailed, “Ah, leave us not to die!”
“Aye, by Heav'n's light!” fierce quoth Sir Pertinax,
“Ye're better dead by gibbet or by axe,
Since naught but scurvy, coward rogues are ye,
And so be hanged—be hanged to ye, all three!”
“Knight!” Joc'lyn sighed, “'neath Heaven's light
somewhere
Doth live a dark-eyed maid with black-curled hair—
Her voice is soft and full of sweet allure,
And thou, perchance, one day may humbly woo her;
So these poor rogues now woo their lives of thee,
Show mercy then and mercy find of she.”
At this Sir Pertinax rubbed chin and frowned,
Red grew his cheek, his fierce eyes sought the ground,
Then, even as he thus pinched chin and scowled,
“Loose, then, the dismal knaves!” at last he
growled.
But now grim Ranulph tangled beard tore
And wrung his hands and sighed and groaned and
swore
With loud complaints and woeful lamentations,
With muttered oaths and murmured objurgations,
With curses dire and impious imprecations.
“Beshrew me, masters all!” quoth he. “Now here's ill prank to play a poor hangman, may I ne'er quaff good liquor more, let me languish o' the quartern ague and die o' the doleful dumps if I ever saw the like o' this! For look 'ee now, if I set these three rogues free, how may I hang 'em as hang 'em I must, since I by hanging live to hang again, and if I don't hang 'em whom shall I hang since hang I must, I being hangman? Bethink ye o' this, sirs, and show a little pity to a poor hangman.”
“Why then, mark ye this, hangman,” said Jocelyn, “since on hanging doth thy hangman's reputation hang, then hang thou must; therefore, an ye lack rogue to hang, go hang thyself, so, hanging, shall thy hanging be done with and thou having lived a hangman, hangman die, thus, hangman hanging hangman, hangman hanging shall be hangman still, and being still, thus hanging, shall hang no more.”
“Aye, verily!” quoth Sir Pertinax, “there it is in a nutshell—hangman, be hanged to thee! So off with their fetters, Master Gallows, by Crystal Heart I charge thee!”
Hereupon the scurvy knaves were freed, to their great joy, and following the bold knight, made haste to quit their gloomy dungeon. Reaching the guardroom above, Sir Pertinax called lustily for sword and bascinet, and thereafter chose divers likely weapons for his companions who, with axe and pike and guisarme on shoulder, followed him out into the free air.
Now it was night and very dark, but Gurth, who was a man of the town, brought them by dim and lonely alleys and crooked ways until at last they halted within a certain dark and narrow street.