A Dream of John Ball; and, A King's Lesson Read online

  CHAPTER V

  THEY HEAR TIDINGS OF BATTLE AND MAKE THEM READY

  He left off as one who had yet something else to say; and, indeed, Ithought he would give us some word as to the trysting-place, andwhither the army was to go from it; because it was now clear to me thatthis gathering was but a band of an army. But much happened beforeJohn Ball spoke again from the cross, and it was on this wise.

  When there was silence after the last shout that the crowd had raised awhile ago, I thought I heard a thin sharp noise far away, somewhat tothe north of the cross, which I took rather for the sound of a trumpetor horn, than for the voice of a man or any beast. Will Green alsoseemed to have heard it, for he turned his head sharply and then backagain, and looked keenly into the crowd as though seeking to catch someone's eye. There was a very tall man standing by the prisoner on thehorse near the outskirts of the crowd, and holding his bridle. Thisman, who was well-armed, I saw look up and say something to theprisoner, who stooped down and seemed to whisper him in turn. The tallman nodded his head and the prisoner got off his horse, which was acleaner-limbed, better-built beast than the others belonging to theband, and the tall man quietly led him a little way from the crowd,mounted him, and rode off northward at a smart pace.

  Will Green looked on sharply at all this, and when the man rode off,smiled as one who is content, and deems that all is going well, andsettled himself down again to listen to the priest.

  But now when John Ball had ceased speaking, and after another shout,and a hum of excited pleasure and hope that followed it, there wassilence again, and as the priest addressed himself to speaking oncemore, he paused and turned his head towards the wind, as if he heardsomething, which certainly I heard, and belike every one in the throng,though it was not over-loud, far as sounds carry in clear quietevenings. It was the thump-a-thump of a horse drawing near at ahand-gallop along the grassy upland road; and I knew well it was thetall man coming back with tidings, the purport of which I could wellguess.

  I looked up at Will Green's face. He was smiling as one pleased, andsaid softly as he nodded to me, "Yea, shall we see the grey-goose flythis eve?"

  But John Ball said in a great voice from the cross, "Hear ye thetidings on the way, fellows! Hold ye together and look to your gear;yet hurry not, for no great matter shall this be. I wot well there islittle force between Canterbury and Kingston, for the lords are lookingnorth of Thames toward Wat Tyler and his men. Yet well it is, well itis!"

  The crowd opened and spread out a little, and the men moved about init, some tightening a girdle, some getting their side arms more withinreach of their right hands, and those who had bows stringing them.

  Will Green set hand and foot to the great shapely piece of polished redyew, with its shining horn tips, which he carried, and bent it with noseeming effort; then he reached out his hand over his shoulder and drewout a long arrow, smooth, white, beautifully balanced, with a barbediron head at one end, a horn nock and three strong goose feathers atthe other. He held it loosely between the finger and thumb of hisright hand, and there he stood with a thoughtful look on his face, andin his hands one of the most terrible weapons which a strong man hasever carried, the English long-bow and cloth-yard shaft.

  But all this while the sound of the horse's hoofs was growing nearer,and presently from the corner of the road amidst the orchards broke outour long friend, his face red in the sun near sinking now. He wavedhis right hand as he came in sight of us, and sang out, "Bills andbows! bills and bows!" and the whole throng turned towards him andraised a great shout.

  He reined up at the edge of the throng, and spoke in a loud voice, sothat all might hear him:

  "Fellows, these are the tidings; even while our priest was speaking weheard a horn blow far off; so I bade the sergeant we have taken, andwho is now our fellow-in-arms, to tell me where away it was that therewould be folk a-gathering, and what they were; and he did me to witthat mayhappen Sir John Newton was stirring from Rochester Castle; or,maybe, it was the sheriff and Rafe Hopton with him; so I rode off whatI might towards Hartlip, and I rode warily, and that was well, for as Icame through a little wood between Hartlip and Guildstead, I saw beyondit a gleam of steel, and lo in the field there a company, and a pennonof Rafe Hopton's arms, and that is blue and thereon three silver fish:and a pennon of the sheriff's arms, and that is a green tree; andwithal another pennon of three red kine, and whose they be I knownot."[1]

  "There tied I my horse in the middle of the wood, and myself I creptalong the dyke to see more and to hear somewhat; and no talk I heard totell of save at whiles a big knight talking to five or six others, andsaying somewhat, wherein came the words London and Nicholas Bramber,and King Richard; but I saw that of men-at-arms and sergeants theremight be a hundred, and of bows not many, but of those outlandarbalests maybe a fifty; and so, what with one and another of servantsand tipstaves and lads, some three hundred, well armed, and themen-at-arms of the best. Forsooth, my masters, there had I been but aminute, ere the big knight broke off his talk, and cried out to themusic to blow up, 'And let us go look on these villeins,' said he; andwithal the men began to gather in a due and ordered company, and theirfaces turned hitherward; forsooth, I got to my horse, and led him outof the wood on the other side, and so to saddle and away along thegreen roads; neither was I seen or chased. So look ye to it, mymasters, for these men will be coming to speak with us; nor is thereneed for haste, but rather for good speed; for in some twenty or thirtyminutes will be more tidings to hand."

  By this time one of our best-armed men had got through the throng andwas standing on the cross beside John Ball. When the long man haddone, there was confused noise of talk for a while, and the throngspread itself out more and more, but not in a disorderly manner; thebowmen drawing together toward the outside, and the billmen formingbehind them. Will Green was still standing beside me and had hold ofmy arm, as though he knew both where he and I were to go.

  "Fellows," quoth the captain from the cross, "belike this stour shallnot live to be older than the day, if ye get not into a plump togetherfor their arbalestiers to shoot bolts into, and their men-at-arms tothrust spears into. Get you to the edge of the crofts and spread outthere six feet between man and man, and shoot, ye bowmen, from thehedges, and ye with the staves keep your heads below the level of thehedges, or else for all they be thick a bolt may win its way in."

  He grinned as he said this, and there was laughter enough in the throngto have done honour to a better joke.

  Then he sung out, "Hob Wright, Rafe Wood, John Pargetter, and thou WillGreen, bestir ye and marshal the bowshot; and thou Nicholas Woodyershall be under me Jack Straw in ordering of the staves. Gregory Tailorand John Clerk, fair and fine are ye clad in the arms of the Canterburybailiffs; ye shall shine from afar; go ye with the banner into thehighway, and the bows on either side shall ward you; yet jump, lads,and over the hedge with you when the bolts begin to fly your way! Takeheed, good fellows all, that our business is to bestride the highway,and not let them get in on our flank the while; so half to the right,half to the left of the highway. Shoot straight and strong, and wasteno breath with noise; let the loose of the bowstring cry for you! andlook you! think it no loss of manhood to cover your bodies with treeand bush; for one of us who know is worth a hundred of those proudfools. To it, lads, and let them see what the grey goose bears betweenhis wings! Abide us here, brother John Ball, and pray for us if thouwilt; but for me, if God will not do for Jack Straw what Jack Strawwould do for God were he in like case, I can see no help for it."

  "Yea, forsooth," said the priest, "here will I abide you my fellows ifye come back; or if ye come not back, here will I abide the foe.Depart, and the blessing of the Fellowship be with you."

  Down then leapt Jack Straw from the cross, and the whole throng set offwithout noise or hurry, soberly and steadily in outward seeming. WillGreen led me by the hand as if I were a boy, yet nothing he said, beingforsooth intent on his charge. We were some four hundred men in all;but
I said to myself that without some advantage of the ground we werelost men before the men-at-arms that long Gregory Tailor had told usof; for I had not seen as yet the yard-long shaft at its work.

  We and somewhat more than half of our band turned into the orchards onthe left of the road, through which the level rays of the low sun shonebrightly. The others took up their position on the right side of it.We kept pretty near to the road till we had got through all the closessave the last, where we were brought up by a hedge and a dyke, beyondwhich lay a wide-open nearly treeless space, not of tillage, as at theother side of the place, but of pasture, the common grazing ground ofthe township. A little stream wound about through the ground, with afew willows here and there; there was only a thread of water in it inthis hot summer tide, but its course could easily be traced by the deepblue-green of the rushes that grew plenteously in the bed. Geese werelazily wandering about and near this brook, and a herd of cows,accompanied by the town bull, were feeding on quietly, their heads allturned one way; while half a dozen calves marched close together sideby side like a plump of soldiers, their tails swinging in a kind ofmeasure to keep off the flies, of which there was great plenty. Threeor four lads and girls were sauntering about, heeding or not heedingthe cattle. They looked up toward us as we crowded into the lastclose, and slowly loitered off toward the village. Nothing looked likebattle; yet battle sounded in the air; for now we heard the beat of thehorse-hoofs of the men-at-arms coming on towards us like the rolling ofdistant thunder, and growing louder and louder every minute; we werenone too soon in turning to face them. Jack Straw was on our side ofthe road, and with a few gestures and a word or two he got his men intotheir places. Six archers lined the hedge along the road where thebanner of Adam and Eve, rising above the grey leaves of theapple-trees, challenged the new-comers; and of the billmen also he kepta good few ready to guard the road in case the enemy should try to rushit with the horsemen. The road, not being a Roman one, was, you mustremember, little like the firm smooth country roads that you are usedto; it was a mere track between the hedges and fields, partlygrass-grown, and cut up by the deep-sunk ruts hardened by the droughtof summer. There was a stack of fagot and small wood on the otherside, and our men threw themselves upon it and set to work to stake theroad across for a rough defence against the horsemen.

  What befell more on the road itself I had not much time to note, forour bowmen spread themselves out along the hedge that looked into thepasture-field, leaving some six feet between man and man; the rest ofthe billmen went along with the bowmen, and halted in clumps of somehalf-dozen along their line, holding themselves ready to help thebowmen if the enemy should run up under their shafts, or to run on tolengthen the line in case they should try to break in on our flank.The hedge in front of us was of quick. It had been strongly plashed inthe past February, and was stiff and stout. It stood on a low bank;moreover, the level of the orchard was some thirty inches higher thanthat of the field and the ditch some two foot deeper than the face ofthe field. The field went winding round to beyond the church, making aquarter of a circle about the village, and at the western end of itwere the butts whence the folk were coming from shooting when I firstcame into the village street.

  Altogether, to me who knew nothing of war the place seemed defensibleenough. I have said that the road down which Long Gregory came withhis tidings went north; and that was its general direction; but itsfirst reach was nearly east, so that the low sun was not in the eyes ofany of us, and where Will Green took his stand, and I with him, it wasnearly at our backs.

  [1] Probably one of the Calverlys, a Cheshire family, one of whom was anoted captain in the French wars.