Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603 -- Fiction; Historical fiction
It was very dark then, but those rievers were skilful men, and whilst
the Young Lovell spoke with Adam Hogarth they had that great door open
and began to drive out the cattle that came willingly enough in the
darkness, but it was dangerous work because of the horns. One hundred
and forty-seven steers were there and nineteen cows with calves, as well
as over a dozen heifers. Whilst these came out an old man at a window
above that door came with a crock of boiling water and poured it out.
It fell on no man, but on the backs of several bullocks that stampeded
into the night and came amongst the men-at-arms that were upon
horseback. This caused some confusion and the Young Lovell bade light a
torch or two, and indeed there were some torches lit in that lower barn
so that it showed like an illuminated caravan beneath the black shape of
the tower. The stars were very fine and it was very dark just before the
dawn. All the while cries went up from the women and children in the
tower; so that the night was unquiet.
Then that old man came again to the window to pour out boiling water,
but there was a little light behind him from the fire that he had used
for the heating. The Young Lovell had a bowman ready and that man
loosed an arrow. It sped invisible through the night and went in that
old man’s mouth and killed him there, so that he never poured any more
water. The Young Lovell said that was very well shot, considering the
darkness of the night, and he gave that bowman two French crowns for
having done it.
Then Adam Hogarth loosed off a demi-saker that he had in an upper room.
He aimed it at the Young Lovell who stood upon a little mound with a
torch flaring near him. But that bullet went a shade wide, nevertheless
it killed a steer, striking that beast on the cheek beside the eye.
Then the Young Lovell bade put out the torches and commanded his bowmen
to direct a stream of arrows against all the windows that were on that
side of the tower, so that though that demi-saker sent out once more its
stream of flame and spoke hoarsely, that was the last of it. For the
rest of that work they could see well enough without torches; it
consisted in taking mounds of hay into that barn, and when it was half
filled they poured water and fat upon it so as to damp it, and a little
tar. Then into that mass they cast three or four torches and so they
watched it smoulder. Of flame there was very little, but the smoke and
stench in verity were insupportable, and that filtered into the upper
part of the tower.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account