The Life And Death Of Richard Yea And Nay Volume 91 - Maurice Hewlett (i wanna iguana read aloud txt) 📗
- Author: Maurice Hewlett
Book online «The Life And Death Of Richard Yea And Nay Volume 91 - Maurice Hewlett (i wanna iguana read aloud txt) 📗». Author Maurice Hewlett
'The King Came To Me Very Early In The Morning Of Saints Primus And
Felician, While I Yet Lay In My Bed. "Milo, Milo," Said He, "What Must I
Do To Be Saved?" He Was Very White And Wild, Shaking All Over. I Said,
"Dear Master, Save Thy People. On All Sides They Cry To Thee--From
England, From Normandy, From Anjou, From Joppa Also, And Acre. There Is
No Lack Of Entreaty." He Shook His Head. "Here," He Said, "I Can Do No
More. God Is Against Me, The Work Too Holy For Such A Wretch." "Lord," I
Said, "We Are All Wretches, Heaven Save Us! If Your Grace Is Held Off
God's Inheritance, You Can At Least Hold Others From Your Own. Here, May
Be, You Took A Charge Too Heavy; But There, At Home, The Charge Was Laid
Upon You. Renouncing Here, You Shall Gain There. It Cannot Be
Otherwise." I Believed In What I Said; But He Gripped The Caps Of His
Knees And Rocked Himself About. "They Have Beaten Me, Milo. Saint-Pol,
Burgundy, Beauvais--I Am Bayed By Curs. What Am I, Milo?" "Sire," I
Said, "Your Father's Son. As They Bayed The Old Lion, So They Bay The
Young." He Gaped At Me, Open-Mouthed. "By God. Milo," He Said, "I Bayed
Him Myself, And Believed That He Deserved It." "Lord," I Answered, "Who
Am I To Judge A Great King? For My Part I Never Believed That Monstrous
Sin Was Upon Him." Here He Jumped Up. "I Am Going Home, Milo," He Said;
"I Am Going Home. I Am Going To My Father's Tomb. I Will Do Penance
There, And Serve My People, And Live Clean. Look Now, Milo, Shrive Me If
Thou Hast The Power, For My Need Is Great." The Thought Was Blessed To
Him. He Confessed His Sins Then And There, All A Huddle Of Them, Weeping
So Bitterly That I Should Have Wept Myself Had I Not Been Ready Rather
To Laugh And Crack My Fingers To See The Breaking Up Of His Long And
Deadly Frost. Before I Shrived Him, Moreover, I Dared To Speak Of Madame
Jehane, How He Had Now Lost Her For Ever, And Why; How She Was Now At
Last A Man's Wife, And That By Her Own Deliberate Will; And How Also He
Must Do His Duty By The Queen. To All Of Which He Gave Heed And Promises
Of Quiet Endurance. Then I Shrived Him, And That Very Morning Gave Him
The Lord's Sacred Body In The Church Of The Sepulchre. I Believed Him
Sane; And So For A Long Time He Was, As He Testified By Deeds Of
Incredible Valour.'
It Was Not Long After This That The Fleet Put Out To Sea, Shaping Course
For Acre. Message After Message Came In From Beleaguered Joppa; But King
Richard Paid Little Heed To Them, Pending The Issue Of New Treating With
Saladin. He Certainly Sailed With A Single Eye On Acre. But Joppa Lay On
His Course, And It Is Probable, He Being What He Was, That The Sight Of
No Means To Do Great Deeds Made Great Deeds Done. When His Red Galley
Sighted Joppa, Standing In For The Purpose, All Seemed Over With The
Doomed City. This, No Doubt (Since His Mood Was Hot), Urged Him To One
Of Those Impossible Acts, 'Incredible Deeds Of Valour,' As Milo Calls
Them, For Which His Name Lives, While Those Of Many Better Kings Are
Forgotten.
The Country About Joppa Slopes Sharply To The Sea, And Gives Little Or
No Shelter For Ships; But So Quick Is The Slope That A Galley May Ride
Under The Very Walls Of The Town And Take In Provision From The Seaward
Windows. On The Landward Side It Is Dangerously Placed, Seeing That The
Stoop Of The Country Runs From The Mountains To It. The Few Outlying
Forts, The Stone Bridge Over The River, Cannot Be Held Against A
Resolute Foe. When King Richard's Fleet Drew Near Enough To See, It Was
Plain What Had Been Done. The Saracens Had Carried The Outworks; They
Held The Bridge. At Leisure They Had Broached The Walls And Swarmed In.
The Flag On The Citadel Still Flew; Battle Or Carnage Was Raging In The
Streets All About It. Its Fall Was A Matter Of Hours.
Now King Richard Stood On The Poop Of His Galley, Watching All This. He
Saw A Man Come Running Down The Mole Chased By Half A Dozen Horsemen In
Yellow, A Priest By The Look Of Him; You Could See The Gleam Of His
Tonsure As He Plunged. For So He Did, Plunged Into The Sea And Swam For
His Life. The Pursuers Drew Up On The Verge And Shot At Him With Their
Volume 91 Book 2 (The Book Of Nay) Chapter 9 (How King Richard Reaped What Jehane Had Sowed, And The Soldan Was Gleaner) Pg 158Long Bows. They Were Of Saladin's Bodyguard, Fine Marksmen Who Should
Never Have Missed Him. But The Priest Swam Like A Fish, And They Did
Miss Him. King Richard Himself Hooked Him Out By The Gown, And Then
Clipped Him In His Arms Like A Lover. 'Oh, Brave Priest! Oh, Hardy
Heart!' He Cried, Full Of The Man's Bravery. 'Give Him Room There. Let
Him Cough Up The Salt. By My Soul, Barons, I Wish That Any Draught Of
Wine May Be So Glorious Sweet.'
The Priest Sat Up And Told His Tale. The City Was A Shambles; Every Man,
Woman, Or Child Had Been Put To The Sword. Only The Citadel Held Out;
There Was No Time To Lose. No Time Was Lost; For King Richard, In His
Tunic And Breeches As He Was, In His Deck Shoes, Without A Helm,
Unmailed In Any Part, Snatched Up Shield And Axe. 'Who Follows Anjou?'
He Called Out, Then Plunged Into The Sea. Des Barres Immediately
Followed Him, Then Gaston Of Béarn (With A Yell) And The Earl Of
Leicester Neck And Neck; Then The Bishop Of Salisbury, A Stout-Hearted
Prince, Auvergne, Limoges, And Mercadet. These Eight Were All The Men In
Authority That _Trenchemer_ Held, Except Some Clerks, Fat Men Who Loved
Not Water. But As Soon As The Other Ships Saw What Was Afoot, A Man Here
And There Followed His King. The Rest Rowed Closer To The Shore And
Engaged The Saracen Horsemen With Their Archers. Long Before Any Men
Could Be Got Off The Eight Were On Dry Land, And Had Found A Way Into
The Sacked City.
How They Did What They Did The God Of Battles Knows Best; But That They
Did It Is Certain. All Accounts Of The Fray Agree, Bohadin With Vinsauf,
Moslem And Christian Alike. What Pent Rage, What Storm Curbed Up Short,
What Gall, What Mortification, What Smoulder Of Resentment, Bit Into
King Richard, We May Guess Who Know Him. Such It Was As To Nerve His
Arm, Nerve His Following To Be His Lovers, Make Him Unassailable, Make A
Devil Of Him. Not A Devil Of Blind Fury, But A Cold Devil Who Could
Devise A Scope For His Malice, Choose How To Do His Stabbing Work
Wiseliest. Inside The Town Gate They Took Up Close Order, Wedgewise,
Linked And Riveted; A Shield Before, Shields Beside, Richard With His
Double-Axe For The Wedge's Beak. They Took The Steep Street At A Brisk
Pace, Turning Neither Right Nor Left, But Heading Always For The
Citadel, Boring Through And Trampling Down What Met Them. This At First
Was Not Very Much, Only At One Corner A Company Of Nubian Spears Came
Pelting Down A Lane, Hoping To Cut Them Off By A Flank Movement. Richard
Stopped His Wedge; The Blacks Buffeted Into Their Shields With A Shock
That Scattered And Tossed Them Up Like Spray. The Wedge Held Firm; Red
Work For Axe And Swords While It Lasted. They Killed Most Of The
Nubians, Drove Bodily Through The Rabble At Their Heels; Then Into The
Square Of The Citadel They Came. It Was Packed With A Shrieking Horde,
Whose Drums Made The Day A Hell, Whose Great Banners Wagged And Rocked
Like Osiers In A Flood-Water. They Were Trying To Fire The Citadel, And
Some Were Swarming The Walls From Others' Backs. The Square Was Like A
Whirlpool In The Sea, A Sea Of Tense Faces Whose Waves Were Surging Men
And The Flying Wrack Their Gonfanons.
King Richard Saw How Matters Lay In This Horrible Hive; These Men Could
Not Fight So Close. Cavalry Can Do Nothing In A Dense Mass Of Foot,
Bowmen Cannot Shoot Confined; Spearmen Against Swords Are Little Worth,
Javelins Sped Once. So Much He Saw, And Also The Straining Crowd, The
Lifted, Threatening Arms, The Stretched Necks About The Citadel. 'O
Lord, The Heathen Are Come Into Thine Inheritance. At The Word, Sirs,
Cleave A Way.' And Then He Cried Above The Infernal Riot, 'Save, Holy
Sepulchre! Save, Saint George!' And The Wedge Drove Into The Thick Of
Them.
This Work Was Butcher's Work, Like Sawing Through Live Flesh. Too Much
Blood In The Business: After A While The Haft Of The King's Axe Got
Rotten With It, And At A Certain Last Blow Gave Way And Bent Like A
Volume 91 Book 2 (The Book Of Nay) Chapter 9 (How King Richard Reaped What Jehane Had Sowed, And The Soldan Was Gleaner) Pg 159Pulpy Stock. He Helped Himself To A Beheaded Mameluke's Scimitar, And
Did His Affair With That. Once, Twice, Thrice, And Four Times They
Furrowed That Swarm Of Men; Nothing Broke Their Line. Richard Himself
Was Only Cut In The Feet, Where He Trod On Mailed Bodies Or Broken
Swords; The Others (Being Themselves In Mail) Were Without Scathe. They
Held The Square Until The Count Of Champagne Came Up With Knights And
Pisan Arbalestiers, And Then The Day Was Won. They Drove Out The
Invaders; On The Templars' House They Ran Up The English Dragon-Flag.
King Richard Rested Himself.
Two Days Later A Pitched Battle Was Fought On The Slopes Above Joppa.
Saladin Met Richard For The Last Time, And The Melek Worsted Him. Our
King With Fifteen Knights Played The Wedge Again When His Enemy Was
Packed To His Taste; And This Time (Being Known) With Less Carnage. But
The Left Wing Of The Invading Army Re-Entered The Town, The Garrison Had
A Panic. Richard Wheeled And Scoured Them Out At The Other End; So They
Perished In The Sea. Men Say, Who Saw Him, That He Did It Alone. So
Terrible A Name He Had With The Saracens, This May Very Well Be. There
Had Never Been Seen, Said They, Such A Fighter Before. Like Sheep They
Huddled At His Sight, And Like Sheep His Onset Scattered Them. 'Let God
Arise,' Says Milo With A Shaking Pen: 'And Lo! He Arose. O Lion In The
Path, Who Shall Stand Up Against Thee?'
He Drove Saladin Into The Hills, And Set Him Manning Once More The
Watch-Towers Of Jerusalem. But He Had Reached His Limit; Sickness
Fastened On Him, And On The Ebb Of His Fury Came Lagging Old Despair.
For A Week He Lay In His Bed Delirious, Babbling Breathless Foolish
Things Of Jehane And The Dark Tower,
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