With Ring of Shield

  Produced by Al Haines

  Cover art]

  [Frontispiece: Knox Magee]

  WITH RING OF SHIELD

  "_On he came, and, to my great surprise and pleasure, struck he my shield with the sharp point of his lance_.

  "_Ah! my brave sons, ye all do know the pleasure 'tis when, with ring of shield, ye are informed an enemy hath come to do ye battle_."

  BY KNOX MAGEE

  _Illustrated by_ F. A. CARTER

  GEORGE J. McLEOD

  _PUBLISHER ---- TORONTO_

  COPYRIGHT, 1900

  BY

  R. F. FENNO & COMPANY

  CONTENTS

  I. Sir Frederick Harleston II. The Maidens III. A First Brush with the Enemy IV. The Taking of Berwick V. From Berwick to Windsor VI. The King's Gifts VII. The Ball at the Castle VIII. The Duel IX. The King's Death X. I am Sent to Ludlow XI. Some Happenings at Windsor XII. Gloucester Shows his Hand XIII. The Flight from the Palace XIV. I Reach Westminster XV. Michael and Catesby XVI. My Dangerous Position XVII. At the Sanctuary XVIII. Richard Triumphs XIX. A Message is Sent to Richmond XX. Before the Tournament XXI. The Tournament XXII. A Midnight Adventure XXIII. The Arrest XXIV. In the Tower XXV. Michael and I XXVI. The House with the Flag XXVII. The Field of Bosworth XXVIII. Conclusion

  Illustrations

  Knox Magee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_

  "Both our lances flew into a thousand pieces."

  "The signal was then given."

  "I am to blame, and I alone should suffer."

  "Always remember thy mother and this, her advice."

  "Ha, thou blond varmint."

  "I climbed wearily to the top."

  "Come on, ye pack of cowards."

  With Ring of Shield

  CHAPTER I

  SIR FREDERICK HARLESTON

  In these days, when the air is filled with the irritating, peevishsounds of chattering gossips, which tell of naught but the scandals ofa court, where Queens are as faithless as are their lives brief,methinks it will not be amiss for me to tell a story of more martialdays, when gossips told of armies marching and great battles fought,with pointed lance, and with the bright swords' flash, and with thelusty ring of shield.

  Now, my friend Harleston doth contend, that peace and quiet, withoutthe disturbing clamour of war's dread alarms, do help to improve themind, and thus the power of thought is added unto. This, I doubt not,is correct in the cases of some men; but there are others, to whompeace and quiet do but bring a lack of their appreciation. I grantthat to such a mind as Harleston's, peaceful and undisturbed meditationare the fields in which they love to stroll, and pluck, with tenderhand, and thought-bowed head, the most beautiful and most rare offlowers: but then, such even-balanced brains as his are few and farbetween; and even he, so fond of thought and study, did love to dash,with levelled lance and waving plumes, against the best opponent, andhurl him from his saddle.

  And there is Michael, which ever thinks the same as do myself, andlongs for fresh obstacles to lay his mighty hand upon and crush, as hewould a reed.

  It is of those bygone days of struggle and deep intrigue that I nowshall write. I do hope that some of ye--my sons and grandsons--may,after I am laid to rest, have some worthy obstacles to overcome, inorder that ye may the better enjoy your happiness when it is allottedunto you. Still do I pray, with my old heart's truest earnestness,that no one of my blood may have as great trials as I went through; butin which I had the noble assistance and sympathy of the best friendsever man was blest with. I shall now tell of my meeting with the firstof these, and later in the tale I shall tell ye of the other.

  I, Walter Bradley, then a faithful servant of his Majesty King EdwardIV, was sitting one evening in my room at the palace of the aforesaidKing, at Windsor, engaged in the examination of some of mine arms, tomake sure that my servants had put them all in proper order for ourexpedition into Scotland, with the King's brother, the Duke ofGloucester. A knock came at my door and, upon opening, I beheld LordHastings, then the Chancellor of the Kingdom, and at his side agentleman which I had not before seen. This stranger was a man ofsplendid physique, about mine own height; long, light brown, wavinghair; blue eyes, that looked me fairly in mine own; sharp features; andyet, with all his look of unbending will, and proud bearing, he had akindly expression in his honest eyes.

  "This is my young friend, Sir Frederick Harleston, just now arrivedfrom Calais," said Hastings, as they both entered at mine invitation,and he introduced us to each other.

  The Chancellor stayed but until he got our conversation running freely,and then he spoke of some business of state that did demand hisimmediate attention, and left us to become better acquainted.

  Of course the expedition into Scotland was the chiefest subject of ourconversation; and I learned from Harleston that he too did intendaccompanying the Duke, as the King had that day granted him the desiredpermission.

  "And what kind of man is Duke Richard?" asked my new acquaintance, whenwe had at length discussed the other leaders of our forces.

  "Hast thou never seen him?"

  "Ay, I have seen him, though I am unknown to him; but I mean what kindof man is he inwardly, not physically?"

  "As for that, I do not care to speak. Thou, no doubt, hast heard ofsome of his Royal Highness' acts; men must be judged but by their acts,and not by the opinions of such an one as I," I replied cautiously; forI hesitated to express mine own opinion--the which, in this case, wasnot the most favourable--to one which I had but just met. Remember, mydears, those were times in which a silent tongue lived longer than dida loose one.

  Harleston's color heightened, but with a smile, he said:--"Thou art inthe right. 'Twas impertinent of me to ask thee, who know me not, aquestion of that sort. I had forgot that this is England, and notCalais; for there we discuss, freely, the King, as though he were but aplain man."

  The frankness of this man, together with his polite and gentlemanlyspeech, made me to feel ashamed of my caution, so I said:--"DukeRichard hath never been popular with the friends of her Majesty theQueen; though of late he hath made himself liked better by them, thanhe was for many a long day."

  "But he is a valiant soldier, is he not?"

  "Ay, verily, that he is. He is as brave as the lions upon his banner,and besides, he knoweth well the properest way in which to distributehis forces in the field. There it is that the good qualities ofRichard do show up like stars in a deep, dark sky."

  "Then the sky is truly black?" asked Sir Frederick, with a smile.

  I could not help but laugh at the way I had at last unconsciouslyexpressed mine opinion of the Duke, after having declined to do so, buta breathing-space before. I cared not now that I had spoken my mind ofRichard; for the more I looked into the honest face before me, the moredid I trust to his discretion.

  Then our conversation changed to the gossip of the court, of which Itold him all. The only part of this in which he showed interest waswhen I spoke of the King's health.

  "I fear," said he, "that his Majesty's reign is nearing an untimelyend. When a man hath lived the life that the noble Edward hath, andkept up, with unbated vigor, his licentious habits, even when his bodyhath broken down, it doth take but little to blow the candle out. Somemorning we shall awaken to find that Edward IV is dead, and his infantson is our new king."

  "Yes, that is what we must soon expect, for kings must die as well assubjects; especially, as thou most wisely saidst, kings which insistupon living a life of three score and ten years in a trifle more thantwo score."

  "And then God help poor England," said my new acquaintance devoutly.

>   "Why dost thou take such a pessimistic view of the situation in case ofKing Edward's death?" I asked; for the solemn manner in which Harlestonhad last spoken strangely thrilled me.

  He regarded me thoughtfully whilst one might, with leisure, tell ascore, ere he did answer my question; then he said:--"It hath ever beena rule of mine, as it evidently is of yours, to not speak mine opinionsunto strangers; but on the contrary to let the other party speak hismind most freely. I have found this plan to be of exceeding worth inenabling me to gather most useful information, without a payment inreturn."

  I felt my face flush red, and I was about to express, in no mildspeech, mine opinion of his action in thus obtaining from me all theinformation that I did possess, and then, when I did ask him to explainthe meaning of his own remarks, to thus answer me.

  He took no notice of my movement or look, but continued speaking inthat same quiet voice, that never did seem to be disturbed by passion,and yet had in it something of a force that ever made it to commandattention.

  "Many years have I spent in France, and therefore a stranger have Icome to look on as a foreigner. Now that I am returned again unto mynative land methinks that I will let my judgment take the place of mineold rule, and speak out freely to those whom I take to be honest. Theedo I place in this class, which I do regret is very small."

  I was prodigiously surprised that a stranger would thus speak unto meas though I were some disinterested outsider of whom he was speaking.Again did I flush up and commence to attire myself in my dignity; butHarleston's honest and inoffensive look of candor did again disarm me,and he continued, uninterrupted, with his speech.

  "For several years have I been acquainted with my Lord Hastings, whilsthe was the governor of Calais. From him did I learn much of thesituation here; but never did he speak of the characters of those inpower; for Hastings, though a proper man, is still a politician and, assuch, must keep his opinions to himself. It is a pleasure to me thento be permitted to thus discuss the probabilities of England's futurewith one not bound by the bonds of policy."

  I bowed, and he continued:--

  "So far as I can see, if the King dies ere the Prince of Wales be oldenough to take full charge of the government, the people shall beobliged to choose a protector to rule in the young king's stead, untilsuch time as the child doth come unto years of proper judgment."

  "True," I assented.

  "Do then but cast thine eye over the congregation of eager applicantsfor this seat of power, and thou shalt behold one whose advantage overthe others doth raise him to a vast height above their heads, andconsequently his chances of success in this great competition areassured; that one can be no other than Richard, Duke of Gloucester."

  "Ay, truly, there is no other with sufficient power to rule England, incase the King should die."

  "Now if Gloucester doth come thus into power will he not desire to havehis revenge upon those which have ever been his enemies?"

  "'Tis like he will."

  "And will not this lead to uprisings throughout the land? Yea," hecontinued, "we have had one example of the troubles, and bloody warsbrought about through the King dying and leaving a child to grasp withits weakly hands the sceptre and the sword of chastisement. Pray Godwe do not have another, and yet I fear that it will be unavoidable. Ihave expressed mine own poor opinion, without its being prejudiced byany others' thoughts; see whether I shall be right or wrong."

  Now such a view of that which might soon happen had never been taken byme; and yet I had spent several years at court, and thought myself wellacquainted with all the intrigues and possibilities of court life. Andhere was a young man--in fact not older than myself--which had never inhis life lived at court, prophesying as to what the future would bringforth. His words were indeed bold, and yet I could not deny that theywere reasonable, and liable to be fulfilled.

  I now did admire this handsome and thoughtful stranger, and thereforemethought it a duty put upon me to give him some warning that mightserve to keep that well-shaped head, for a little longer space, uponits broad, square shoulders. I therefore said:--

  "Thine opinions, I have a fear, stand in some likelihood of beingproven true; yet do I pray with my full heart that they may be wrong.However, whether thou art right or wrong--the which time willprove--let me now warn thee, which art a stranger here, to keep thosethoughts to thyself. There are those about this place--the more's thepity--whose shoulders are not bent by the weight of honor they carry,but from their habit of holding their ears to the keyhole."

  "Thanks for thy kind intent," he replied. "After I have had somelittle experience at court I do hope that I may acquire the habit ofsmiling whilst, with my dagger, I kill my partner in the conversation.This, I have heard, is the fashion of the Duke of Gloucester; and if Ido prove a true prophet all good courtiers must soon adopt it."

  That night as Harleston was leaving my room I promised to see him earlyin the morning, and show him through the castle and parks.

  As we shook hands at the door I felt as though I had known him forlong, and that we had ever been the best of friends.

  That, my dears, was how I became acquainted with Sir FrederickHarleston, who, since that day, hath ever been close by my side,through many harsh experiences, as well as through many sunny days ofhappiness.

  Now we are sailing, side by side, down the mighty river, travelled byall wearing the fleshly habit. The great unknown sea of oblivion isnow near at hand, and soon we shall both cross the bar and sail forthupon its smooth and peaceful surface.

  But there I go passing over sixty years as lightly as a swallow dothskim the bosom of smooth waters. And indeed the waters o'er which I amskimming are not smooth, but rough and troubled. Come, come, SirWalter, settle down and tell the tale of days before your hair had lostits raven hue. My head, as ye all know, is now well capped with snow;but yet the head itself doth still retain a deal of its wonted fire.