Via Crucis: A Romance of the Second CrusadeCrawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
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Via Crucis: A Romance of the Second Crusade
Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
Crusades -- Second, 1147-1149 -- Fiction
He went very cautiously now, setting sentinels at night and sleeping
little himself, so that he might often go alone from post to post and
see that all was well. But the Seljuks never came in the darkness, for
as yet there were not many of them, and they trusted to their bows by
day, when they could see; but they feared to come to close quarters
with the picked swordsmen of the French army. Since they had first
shown themselves, the Christians all rode fully armed in mail and hood,
knights and men-at-arms and young squires alike, with the half-dozen
pack-horses and a few spare mounts in the midst; and good mail was
proof against arrows, but Gilbert wished that he had brought fifty
archers with him, such marksmen as little Alric, his groom.
There was some fighting every day, when he was able to overtake the
swift Seljuks in some narrow place. They fled when they could, but when
they were brought to bay they turned savagely and fought like panthers,
yelling their war-cry: "Hurr! Hurr!" which in the Tartar tongue
signifies: "Kill! Kill!"
But more often the Christians killed them, being stronger men and
better armed, and Gilbert was ever the first to strike; and one day, as
the fiercest of a band of Seljuks rode at him, whirling a crooked sword
and shouting the cry, Gilbert cut off his arm at one stroke and it fell
to the ground with the fist still grasping the scimitar; whereat
Gilbert laughed fiercely and mocked the unbeliever's cry.
"Hurrah! Hurrah!" he shouted, as he rode on.
Then his followers took the cry from him, jeering at their enemies, and
on that morning they let not one escape, but slew them all, saving one
man only, and took the horses that were alive. But from that time, the
Christians began to cry, "Hurrah!" And when men shout to-day, "Hurrah
for the king," they know not that they are crying, "Kill for the king."
But Gilbert saw that the place where this happened was a very dangerous
one, though the entrance to it was broad and pleasant, through a high
valley where there were certain huts in which shepherds dwelt, and
grass and water. Therefore he turned back quickly when the killing was
over, and he took the chief of the guides by the throat, holding his
head down upon the pommel of his saddle, and bade him show a better way
if he would keep his head on his shoulders.
"My lord, there is no other way," cried the man, fright-struck.
"Very well," answered Gilbert, drawing his red sword again. "If there
is no other way, I shall not need you any more, my man."
When the fellow heard the sheath sucking the wet steel, he screamed for
terror, crying out that there was another way. So they rode back to the
entrance of the valley, and the man began to lead them up a steep track
among trees; and above the trees they came to a desolate, stony ridge;
but still they could ride, though it was a very toilsome way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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