第12章 BOOT AND SADDLE.(4)

Fresnoy and Matthew supported me on either side,and asked me how I found myself;while the other three men,their forms black against the stormy evening sky,sat their horses a few paces in front of me.I was too much dazed at first to see more,and this only in a mechanical fashion;but gradually,my brain grew clearer,and I advanced from wondering who the strangers round me were to recognising them,and finally to remembering what had happened to me.

'Is the horse hurt?'I muttered as soon as I could speak.

'Not a whit,'Fresnoy answered,chuckling,or I was much mistaken.'I am afraid you came off the worse of the two,captain.'

He exchanged a look with the men on horseback as he spoke,and in a dull fashion I fancied I saw them smile.One even laughed,and another turned in his saddle as if to hide his face.I had a vague general sense that there was some joke on foot in which Ihad no part.But I was too much shaken at the moment to be curious,and gratefully accepted the offer of one,of the men to fetch me a little water.While he was away the rest stood round me,the same look of ill-concealed drollery on their faces.

Fresnoy alone talked,speaking volubly of the accident,pouring out expressions of sympathy and cursing the road,the horse,and the wintry light until the water came;when,much refreshed by the draught,I managed to climb to the Cid's saddle and plod slowly onwards with them.

'A bad beginning,'Fresnoy said presently,stealing a sly glance at me as we jogged along side by side,Chize half a league before us,and darkness not far off.

By this time,however,I was myself again,save for a little humming is the head,and,shrugging my shoulders,I told him so.

'All's well that ends well,'I added.'Not that it was a pleasant fall,or that I wish to have such another.'

'No,I should think not,'he answered.His face was turned from me,but I fancied I heard him snigger.

Something,which may have been a vague suspicion,led me a moment later to put my hand into my pouch.Then I understood.Iunderstood too well.The sharp surprise of the discovery was such that involuntarily I drove my spurs into the Cid,and the horse sprang forward.

'What is the matter?'Fresnoy asked.

'The matter?'I echoed,my hand still at my belt,feeling --feeling hopelessly.

'Yes,what is it?'he asked,a brazen smile on his rascally face.

I looked at him,my brow as red as fire.'Oh!nothing --nothing,'I said.'Let us trot on.'

In truth I had discovered that,taking advantage of my helplessness,the scoundrels had robbed me,while I lay insensible,of every gold crown in my purse!Nor was this all,or the worst,for I saw at once that in doing so they had effected something which was a thousandfold more ominous and formidable--established against me that secret understanding which it was my especial aim to prevent,and on the absence of which I had been counting.Nay,I saw that for my very life Ihad only my friend the cutler and my own prudence to thank,seeing that these rogues would certainly have murdered me without scruple had they succeeded in finding the bulk of my money.

Baffled in this,while still persuaded that I had other resources,they had stopped short of that villany--or this memoir had never been written.They had kindly permitted me to live until a more favourable opportunity of enriching themselves at my expense should put them in possession of my last crown!

Though I was sufficiently master of myself to refrain from complaints which I felt must be useless,and from menaces which it has never been my habit to utter unless I had also the power to put them into execution,it must not be imagined that I did not,as I rode on by Fresnoy's side,feel my position acutely or see how absurd a figure I cut in my dual character of leader and dupe.Indeed,the reflection that,being in this perilous position,I was about to stake another's safety as well as my own,made me feel the need of a few minutes'thought so urgent that I determined to gain them,even at the risk of leaving my men at liberty to plot further mischief.Coming almost immediately afterwards within sight,of the turrets of the Chateau of Chize,I told Fresnoy that we should lie the night at the village;and bade him take the men on and secure quarters at the inn.Attacked instantly by suspicion and curiosity,he demurred stoutly to leaving me,and might have persisted in his refusal had I not pulled up,and clearly shown him that I would have my own way in this case or come to an open breach.He shrank,as I expected,from the latter alternative,and,bidding me a sullen adieu,trotted on with his troop.I waited until they were out of sight,and then,turning the Cid's head,crossed a small brook which divided the road from the chase,and choosing a ride which seemed to pierce the wood in the direction of the Chateau,proceeded down it,keeping a sharp look-out on either hand.

It was then,my thoughts turning to the lady who was now so near,and who,noble,rich,and a stranger,seemed,as I approached her,not the least formidable of the embarrassments before me--it was then that I made a discovery which sent a cold shiver through my frame,and in a moment swept all memory of my paltry ten crowns from my head.Ten crowns!Alas!I had lost that which was worth all my crowns put together--the broken coin which the King of Navarre had entrusted to me,and which formed my sole credential,my only means of persuading Mademoiselle de la Vire that I came from him.I had put it in my pouch,and of course,though the loss of it only came home to my mind now,it had disappeared with the rest.

I drew rein and sat for some time motionless,the image of despair.The wind which stirred the naked boughs overhead,and whirled the dead leaves in volleys past my feet,and died away at last among the whispering bracken,met nowhere with wretchedness greater,I believe,than was mine at that moment.