With Ring of Shield

Knox Magee

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• Publié par: niphar
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of With Ring of Shield, by Knox Magee This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: With Ring of Shield Author: Knox Magee Illustrator: F. A. Carter Release Date: June 18, 2010 [EBook #32874] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH RING OF SHIELD *** Produced by Al Haines 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 CHAPTER 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, peevish sounds of chattering gossips, which tell of naught but the scandals of a 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 martial days, when gossips told of armies marching and great battles fought, with pointed lance, and with the bright swords' flash, and with the lusty ring of shield. Now, my friend Harleston doth contend, that peace and quiet, without the disturbing clamour of war's dread alarms, do help to improve the mind, 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 whom peace and quiet do but bring a lack of their appreciation. I grant that to such a mind as Harleston's, peaceful and undisturbed meditation are the fields in which they love to stroll, and pluck, with tender hand, and thought-bowed head, the most beautiful and most rare of flowers: but then, such even-balanced brains as his are few and far between; and even he, so fond of thought and study, did love to dash, with levelled lance and waving plumes, against the best opponent, and hurl him from his saddle. And there is Michael, which ever thinks the same as do myself, and longs for fresh obstacles to lay his mighty hand upon and crush, as he would a reed. It is of those bygone days of struggle and deep intrigue that I now shall 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, in order that ye may the better enjoy your happiness when it is allotted unto 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; but in which I had the noble assistance and sympathy of the best friends ever man was blest with. I shall now tell of my meeting with the first of these, and later in the tale I shall tell ye of the other. I, Walter Bradley, then a faithful servant of his Majesty King Edward IV, was sitting one evening in my room at the palace of the aforesaid King, at Windsor, engaged in the examination of some of mine arms, to make sure that my servants had put them all in proper order for our expedition into Scotland, with the King's brother, the Duke of Gloucester. A knock came at my door and, upon opening, I beheld Lord Hastings, then the Chancellor of the Kingdom, and at his side a gentleman which I had not before seen. This stranger was a man of splendid physique, about mine own height; long, light brown, waving hair; blue eyes, that looked me fairly in mine own; sharp features; and yet, with all his look of unbending will, and proud bearing, he had a kindly expression in his honest eyes. "This is my young friend, Sir Frederick Harleston, just now arrived from 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 his immediate attention, and left us to become better acquainted. Of course the expedition into Scotland was the chiefest subject of our conversation; and I learned from Harleston that he too did intend accompanying the Duke, as the King had that day granted him the desired permission. "And what kind of man is Duke Richard?" asked my new acquaintance, when we 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 kind of man is he inwardly, not physically?" "As for that, I do not care to speak. Thou, no doubt, hast heard of some 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; for I hesitated to express mine own opinion—the which, in this case, was not the most favourable—to one which I had but just met. Remember,