FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   >>   >|  
wood without traveling all night, a conviction which induced them to proceed on their way at a more hasty pace than they had hitherto used. The travelers had now reached the verge of the wooded country and were about to plunge into its recesses, held dangerous at that time from the number of outlaws whom oppression and poverty had driven to despair and who occupied the forests in such large bands as could easily bid defiance to the feeble police of the period. From these rovers, however, Cedric and Athelstane accounted themselves secure, as they had in attendance ten servants, besides Wamba and Gurth, whose aid could not be counted upon, the one being a jester and the other a captive. It may be added that in traveling thus late through the forest, Cedric and Athelstane relied on their descent and character as well as their courage. The outlaws were chiefly peasants and [v]yeomen of Saxon descent, and were generally supposed to respect the persons and property of their countrymen. Before long, as the travelers journeyed on their way, they were alarmed by repeated cries for assistance; and when they rode up to the place whence the cries came, they were surprised to find a horse-litter placed on the ground. Beside it sat a very beautiful young woman richly dressed in the Jewish fashion, while an old man, whose yellow cap proclaimed him to belong to the same nation, walked up and down with gestures of the deepest despair and wrung his hands. When he began to come to himself out of his agony of terror, the old man, named Isaac of York, explained that he had hired a bodyguard of six men at Ashby, together with mules for carrying the litter of a sick friend. This party had undertaken to escort him to Doncaster. They had come thus far in safety; but having received information from a wood-cutter that a strong band of outlaws was lying in wait in the woods before them, Isaac's [v]mercenaries had not only taken to flight, but had carried off the horses which bore the litter and left the Jew and his daughter without the means either of defense or of retreat. Isaac ended by imploring the Saxons to let him travel with them. Cedric and Athelstane were somewhat in doubt as to what to do, but the matter was settled by Rowena's intervention. "The man is old and feeble," she said to Cedric, "the maiden young and beautiful, their friend sick and in peril of his life. We cannot leave them in this extremity. Let the men unload two o
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Cedric
 

litter

 

outlaws

 

Athelstane

 

travelers

 
friend
 
feeble
 

descent

 
beautiful
 

traveling


despair

 

terror

 
matter
 

Rowena

 
settled
 

explained

 
bodyguard
 
proclaimed
 

belong

 

maiden


yellow

 

nation

 

intervention

 

unload

 

deepest

 

gestures

 

walked

 

flight

 

carried

 

mercenaries


imploring

 
retreat
 

daughter

 

horses

 

escort

 
Doncaster
 

undertaken

 
defense
 

travel

 
safety

extremity
 

cutter

 
strong
 
Saxons
 

information

 

received

 
carrying
 

easily

 
defiance
 

police