Edgar the Ready: A Tale of the Third Edward's Reign

by W. P. Shervill

Dismounting, Edgar hastily assisted the lad to rise, and then for the first time saw that he was a cripple. One of his legs was apparently somewhat shorter than the other, and the limb itself was partially withered.

"Come, lad, let me take thee to thy home," said Edgar gently. "These brutes shall molest thee no more."

"Thank you, sir," gasped the boy gratefully, as he tried to struggle to his feet. "But I have no home save this court. I fear, too, that I cannot stand."

"Tell me which is thy house. I will carry thee and lay thee on thy bed."

"This is where I live when he will let me," said the lad, indicating the house into which his assailant had disappeared. "But do not tarry here, sir, or thou wilt be attacked. Quick, I hear them calling to one another, and if thou wouldst escape alive, thou must go at once."

"Nay, lad, I cannot leave thee thus. After the rough shaking I have given them I fear the ruffians will illtreat thee worse than before. Come, I will mount and carry thee out of this den before me."

Springing into the saddle, Edgar stooped and lifted the lad, placing him in the saddle before him. Then, sword in hand, he rode down the court straight to the entrance, where he could see men gathering armed with knives, clubs, and stones. A volley of missiles sang through the air as he approached, and, bending before the storm, Edgar charged full into the enemy. The men scattered as he bore down upon them, some dodging into doorways and others throwing themselves down flat against the walls. But as he passed, knives darted out from this side and that, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Edgar could avoid them. Emerging into the alley he found it thick with men hurrying to the scene. The whole district seemed to have been aroused, and the instant he appeared a howl of execration went up, followed almost instantly by another and heavier volley of stones.

Setting spurs to his horse, Edgar again darted full at the crowd. The men were now too numerous to avoid him, and a dozen were flung headlong to the ground, whilst several more fell back with heads ringing from blows given sharply with the flat of the sword. Though bleeding from several cuts inflicted by the stones, Edgar had almost won through to safety when suddenly, just as he was striking at a man who had tried to hamstring his horse on his right, a ruffian on his left, more determined than his fellows, sprang close up and buried a dagger in the animal's side. The poor beast gave a convulsive spring and then sank to the ground where it lay writhing in agony. As the horse fell beneath him, Edgar took the cripple lad in his arms. It needed but a glance to tell him that his horse was doomed, and his ears told him as surely that his own life was in equal peril did he not make good his escape without an instant's loss of time.

A closed door was by him, and he kicked it open with one foot. Springing in, he closed it after him. The sound of the shrieking horde outside was momentarily deadened, but, as he rushed along the passage to the back of the house, the door flew violently open again, and a wave of sound with a note so fierce and cruel swept in that most men, even in those martial days, would have been completely unnerved.

A door led from the passage into a yard at the back of the house, and through this Edgar sped with his burden as rapidly as he could. The yard was separated from the next by a low wall, and over this he pressed, making for the door at the back of the house opposite to him. This door, however, was fast, and was too strongly made to be readily battered down; so without a moment's hesitation Edgar sprang at the single-shuttered window on the ground floor. Placing the cripple lad down for a moment, he seized a corner of the shutter with both hands, and, exerting all his strength, tore it bodily away. Flinging it to the ground with a clatter, he again lifted the cripple lad, placed him on the sill, and leaped up after him. Not until then did he pause to glance inside the room, but now he saw that it contained four men, who had evidently been drinking and playing at cards when disturbed by the sudden wrenching of the shutter from off its hinges.