Harding’s Luck, E. Nesbit [summer reads .TXT] 📗

The treasure was found and its hiding-place marked. Now he would find Edred and Elfrida, and they would go back. Whether he was Lord of Arden or no, it was he and no other who had restored the fallen fortunes of that noble house.

He turned to go the way his cousins had gone. He could see the men-at-arms crowding in the archway of the great gate tower. From a window to his right a lady leaned, pale with terror, and with her were Edred and Elfrida⁠—he could just see their white faces. He made for the door below that window. But it was too late. That dull, thudding sound came again, and this time it was followed by a great crash and a great shouting. The blue sky showed through the archway where the tall gates had been and under the arch was a mass of men shouting, screaming, struggling, and the gleam of steel and the scarlet of brave blood.

Dickie forgot all about the door below the window, forgot all about his cousins, forgot that he had found the treasure and that it was now his business to get himself and the others safely back to their own times. He only saw the house he loved broken into by men he hated; he saw the men he loved spending their blood like water to defend that house.

He drew the little sword that hung at his side and shouting “An Arden! an Arden!” he rushed towards the swaying, staggering melee. He reached it just as the leader of the attacking party had hewn his way through the Arden men and taken his first step on the flagged path of the courtyard. The first step was his last. He stopped, a big, burly fellow in a leathern coat and steel round cap, and looked, bewildered, at the little figure coming at him with all the fire and courage of the Ardens burning in his blue eyes. The big man laughed, and as he laughed Dickie lunged with his sword⁠—the way his tutor had taught him⁠—and the little sword⁠—no tailor’s ornament to a Court dress, but a piece of true steel⁠—went straight and true up into the heart of that big rebel. The man fell, wrenching the blade from Dickie’s hand.

A shout of fury went up from the enemy. A shout of pride and triumph from the Arden men. Men struggled and fought all about him. Next moment Dickie’s hands were tied with a handkerchief, and he stood there breathless and trembling with pride.

“I have killed a man,” he said; “I have killed a man for the King and for Arden.”

They shut him up in the fuel shed and locked the door. Pride and anger filled him. He could think of nothing but that one good thrust for the good cause. But presently he remembered.

He had brought his cousins here⁠—he must get them back safely. But how? On a quiet evening on the road Beale had taught him how to untie hands tied behind the back. He remembered the lesson now and set to work⁠—but it was slow work. And all the time he was thinking, thinking. How could he get out? He knew the fuel shed well enough. The door was strong, there was a beech bar outside. But it was not roofed with tile or lead, as the rest of the Castle was. And Dickie knew something about thatch. Not for nothing had he watched the men thatching the oast-house by the Medway. When his hands were free he stood up and felt for the pins that fasten the thatch.

Suddenly his hands fell by his side. Even if he got out, how could he find his cousins? He would only be found by the rebels and be locked away more securely. He lay down on the floor, lay quite still there. It was despair. This was the end of all his cleverness. He had brought Edred and Elfrida into danger, and he could not get them back again. His anger had led him to defy the Roundheads, and to gratify his hate of them he had sacrificed those two who trusted him. He lay there a long time, and if he cried a little it was very dark in the fuel house, and there was no one to see him.

He was not crying, however, but thinking, thinking, thinking, and trying to find some way out, when he heard a little scratch, scratching on the corner of the shed. He sat up and listened. The scratching went on. He held his breath. Could it be that someone was trying to get in to help him? Nonsense, of course it was only a rat. Next moment a voice spoke so close to him that he started and all but cried out.

“Bide where you be, lad, bide still; ’tis only me⁠—old Mouldiwarp of Arden. You be a bold lad, by my faith, so you be. Never an Arden better. Never an Arden of them all.”

“Oh, Mouldiwarp, dear Mouldiwarp, do help me! I led them into this⁠—help me to get them back safe. Do, do, do!”

“So I will, den⁠—dere ain’t no reason in getting all of a fluster. It ain’t fitten for a lad as ’as faced death same’s what you ’ave,” said the voice. “I’ve made a liddle tunnel for ’e⁠—so I ’ave⁠—’ere in dis ’ere corner⁠—you come caten wise crose the floor and you’ll feel it. You crawl down it, and outside you be sure enough.”

Dickie went towards the voice, and sure enough, as the voice said, there was a hole in the ground, just big enough, it seemed, for him to crawl down on hands and knees.

“I’ll go afore,” said the Mouldiwarp, “you come arter. Dere’s naught to be afeared on, Lord Arden.”

“Am I really Lord Arden?” said Dickie, pausing.

“Sure’s I’m alive you be,” the mole answered; “yer uncle’ll tell it you with all de lawyer’s reasons tomorrow morning as sure’s sure. Come along, den. Dere