All being completely ordered and arranged, the chapter broke up, and within an hour the monks were leaving as rapidly as boys leave school when breaking-up day comes, but not quite so joyously. They strove to attract as little attention as possible, and, in most cases, travelled in the ordinary dress of the country.
Father Cuthbert and the Benedictines who were to accompany him on his return---so much more speedy than had been antic.i.p.ated--were already prepared to start, when, to their surprise, Alfred could not be found.
Alfred was at that moment in the cell of Dunstan, with whom he had obtained, not without great trouble, another brief interview.
"G.o.d bless you, my son," said Dunstan, "and render unto you according to all you have done for His glory this day, and restore you your brother safe in body and soul!"
But it was not merely for a blessing that Alfred had sought the abbot.
"Father," he said, "if I have happily been of service to you, I ask but one favour in return; one brother has sought your life, let the other remain with you as a bodyguard."
"But your father?"
"I am satisfied that I am but speaking as he would have me speak."
"But you will become an exile."
"Gladly, if I can but serve you, father."
"But, my child, I have no means of support for you abroad; as monks we shall find hospitality in every Benedictine house, but you are only a layman."
"Then, father, I but ask you to allow me to accompany you to the coast."
"I grant it, my son, for I believe G.o.d inspires the wish. Be it as you desire, but one of your serfs must accompany you; it would not be safe to travel home alone."
So Father Cuthbert and the Benedictines started back to Aescendune without Alfred, bearing Dunstan"s explanation of the matter to the half-bereaved father whose faith, they feared, would be sorely tried, and leaving Oswy to be his companion.
It was now drawing near nightfall, and the abbey was almost deserted; all the pilgrims had left with the monks, although many of them would willingly have put their trust in the arm of flesh and remained to fight for Dunstan against his temporal foes, even as he--so they piously believed--routed their spiritual enemies. In that vast abbey there were now but six persons--Dunstan, Guthlac, Alfred, the lay brother Osgood, Oswy, and a guide who knew all the bypaths of the country.
Desolate and solitary indeed seemed the huge pile of untenanted buildings as the evening breeze swept through them. The last straggler had gone; Dunstan was still in his cell arranging or destroying certain papers, the guide and lay brothers held six strong and serviceable horses in the courtyard below, near the open gate, impatient to start, and blaming secretly the dilatoriness of their great chieftain. They watched the sun as he sank lower and lower in the western sky, and thought of the woods and forests they must traverse, frequented by wolves, and sometimes by outlaws whom they dreaded far more. Still Dunstan did not appear.
Alfred and Guthlac, on a watchtower above, gazed on the plain stretched before them. Mile after mile it extended towards that forest where the enemy was now known to lurk, and they watched each road, nay, each copse and field, with jealous eye, lest it should conceal an enemy. Ofttimes the shadow of some pa.s.sing cloud, as it swept over moor or mere, was taken for an armed host; ofttimes the wind, as it sighed amongst the trees and blew the dried leaves. .h.i.ther and thither, seemed to carry the warning "An enemy is near."
At length danger seemed to show itself plainly: just as the sun set, a dark shadow moved from a distant angle of the forest on the plain beneath, and the words "The enemy!" escaped simultaneously from Alfred and Guthlac as the setting sun seemed reflected upon spear and sword, flashing in a hundred points as they caught the reflection of the departing luminary.
Alfred, at the prior"s desire, hurried to the chamber of Dunstan.
"Father," he said, "the enemy are near. They have left the forest."
"That is four miles in distance: there will be time for me to finish this letter to my brother of Abingdon."
"But, father, their horses may be fleeter than ours."
"We are under G.o.d"s protection: I am sure we shall not be overtaken: be at peace, my son."
Poor Alfred felt as if his faith were very sorely tried indeed, but he strove to acquiesce.
It was now quite dark, and the ears of the would-be fugitives were strained to catch the sounds which should warn them of approaching danger.
At length they fancied they heard sounds arise from the plain before them: suppressed noises, such as must unavoidably be made by a force on its pa.s.sage; and Alfred again sought the cell of Dunstan, yet dared not enter, urgent though the emergency seemed.
At this moment he was startled by a demoniacal burst of laughter, which seemed to fill the corridor in which he waited with exultant joy.
What could it be? he felt as if he had never heard such laughter before --so terrible, yet so boisterous.
A moment of dread silence, and then it began again, and filled each corridor and chamber.
At that moment Dunstan came forth, and saw the pale face of Alfred.
"It is only the devil," he said "we are not ignorant of his devices.
"O Satan! thou that wert once an angel in heaven, art thou reduced to bray like a jacka.s.s?" [xxii]
Again the exultant peal resounded.
"Be at peace," said the abbot; "thou rejoicest at my departure; I shall soon return to defy thee and thy allies."
And the laughter ceased.
"We must lose no time," he said; "the moment is at hand."
Locking each door behind him, he reached the party in the courtyard, and each person mounted in a moment; then they pa.s.sed under the great archway. Oswy had remained behind one moment to lock the great gates, and then they all rode forth boldly into the darkness.
They pa.s.sed rapidly in a direction at right angles to that in which their pursuers were approaching, and at the distance of a mile they halted for one moment to ascertain the cause of a great uproar which suddenly arose. It was not difficult to divine its cause: it was the heating of axes and hammers on the great outer door of the monastery.
"It will occupy them nearly an hour," said Dunstan, "and we shall be far far away before they have succeeded in effecting an entrance."
So they rode on rapidly into the night. Before them lay the Foss Way, the road was good and well known to them, the moon was shining brightly, and their spirits rose with the excitement and the exertion. Onward! Onward!
CHAPTER XII. AT HIS WORST.
The unhappy Elfric had indeed fallen from his former self before he reached the depth at which our readers have just seen him, joining with Redwald in the unhallowed enterprise so happily frustrated, if indeed it were yet frustrated, by his own brother.
But when his father had returned to Aescendune alone, Elfric felt that home ties were shattered, and that he had nothing but the royal favour to depend upon, so he yielded to the wishes of King Edwy in all points.
Immediately after his coronation, the reckless and ill-advised Edwy had married Elgiva, [xxiii] in defiance of the ban of the Church, and then had abandoned himself to the riotous society and foolish counsels of young n.o.bles vainer than those who cost Rehoboam so large a portion of his kingdom. Amongst these Elfric was soon conspicuous and soon a leader. His spirit and physical courage far beyond his years excited their admiration, and in return they taught him all the mysteries of evil which were yet unknown to him.
Under such influences both the king and his favourite threw off all outward semblance even of religion, and only sought the means of enjoyment. Redwald ministered without reserve or restraint to all their pleasures, and under his evil influence Edwy even found occasion to rob and plunder his own grandmother, a venerable Saxon princess, in order that he might waste the ill-gotten substance in riotous living.
Yet there was a refinement in his vice: he did not care for coa.r.s.e sensual indulgence to any great extent; his wickedness was that of a sensitive cultivated intellect, of a highly-wrought nervous temperament.
Unscrupulous--careless of truth--contemptuous of religion--yet he had all that attraction in his person which first endeared him to Elfric, whom he really loved. Alas! his love was deadly as the breath of the upas tree to his friend and victim. When the first measures of vengeance were taken against Dunstan, with the concurrence of wicked but able ministers of state, Redwald was selected as the agent who should bribe the thanes, and begin the course of conduct which should eventually lead to the destruction of the enemy of the king. He had only waited till the temper of the times seemed turned against Dunstan (he judged it wrongly); and the king seemed secure against every foe ere he planned the expedition we have introduced to our readers.
We will now resume the thread of our narrative.
When the band of soldiers, headed by Redwald, had gained the gates of the monastery, they found them, as we have seen, firmly locked and barred.
"Blow your horns; rouse up these sleepy monks to some purpose," said Redwald. "Why, they have not a light about the place."