The laws in those days were extremely severe, and death was the penalty of those caught plundering.The extreme severity of the laws, however, operated in favour of its breakers, since the sympathy of the people who had little to lose was with them, and unless caught red-handed in the act they could generally escape, since none save those who had themselves been robbed would say aught that would place the pursuers on their traces, or give testimony which would cost the life of a fellow-creature.The citizens of London were loud in their complaints against the discharged soldiers, for it was upon them that the loss mainly fell, and it was on their petitions to the king that the sheriffs of Middlesex and Hertford, Essex, Surrey, and Kent, were generally stirred up to put down the ill-doers.
Sometimes these hunts were conducted in a wholesale way, and the whole posse of a county would be called out.Then all found within its limits who had not land or visible occupation were collected.Any against whom charges could be brought home were hung without more ado, and the rest were put on board ship and sent across the sea to the army.Sometimes, when they found the country becoming too hot for them, these men would take service with some knight or noble going to the war, anxious to take with him as strong a following as might be, and not too particular as to the character of his soldiers.
Walter, being of an adventurous spirit, was sometimes wont of a summer evening, when his work was done, to wander across the marshes, taking with him his bow and arrows, and often bringing home a wild duck or two which he shot in the pools.More than once surly men had accosted him, and had threatened to knock him on the head if they again found him wandering that way; but Walter laughed at their threats, and seeing, that though but an apprentice lad, he might be able to send an arrow as straight to the mark as another, they were content to leave him alone.
One day when he was well-nigh in the heart of the swamp of Lambeth he saw a figure making his way across.The hour was already late and the night was falling, and the appearance of the man was so different from that of the usual denizens of the swamp that Walter wondered what business there might be.Scarcely knowing why he did so, Walter threw himself down among some low brushwood and watched the approaching figure.When he came near he recognized the face, and saw, to his surprise, that it was a knight who had but the day before stopped at the armourer's shop to have two rivets put in his hauberk.He had particularly noticed him because of the arrogant manner in which he spoke.Walter had himself put in the rivets, and had thought, as he buckled on the armour again, how unpleasant a countenance was that of its wearer.He was a tall and powerful man, and would have been handsome had not his eyes been too closely set together; his nose was narrow, and the expression of his face reminded Walter of a hawk.He had now laid aside his helmet, and his figure was covered with a long cloak.
"He is up to no good," Walter said to himself, "for what dealings could a knight honestly have with the ruffians who haunt these swamps.It is assuredly no business of mine, but it may lead to an adventure, and I have had no real fun since I left Aldgate.I will follow and see if I can get to the bottom of the mystery."When he came close to the spot where Walter was lying the knight paused and looked round as if uncertain of his way.For four or five minutes he stood still, and then gave a shout of "Humphrey" at the top of his voice.It was answered by a distant "Hallo!" and looking in the direction from which the answer had come, Walter saw a figure appear above some bushes some four hundred yards distant.The knight at once directed his steps in that direction, and Walter crept cautiously after him.
"A pest upon these swamps and quagmires," the knight said angrily as he neared the other."Why didst not meet me and show me the way through, as before?""I thought that as you had come once you would be able to find your way hither again," the man said."Had I thought that you would have missed it Iwould have come ten times as far, rather than have had my name shouted all over the country.However, there is no one to hear, did you shout thrice as loud, so no harm is done.""I thought I saw a figure a short time since," the knight said.
The man looked round in all directions.
"I see none," he said, "and you may have been mistaken, for the light is waning fast.It were ill for anyone I caught prying about here.But come in, sir knight; my hovel is not what your lordship is accustomed to, but we may as well talk there as here beneath the sky."The two men disappeared from Walter's sight.The latter in much surprise crept forward, but until he reached the spot where he had last seen the speakers he was unable to account for their disappearance.Then he saw that the spot, although apparently a mere clump of bushes no higher than the surrounding country, was really an elevated hummock of ground.Anyone might have passed close to the bushes without suspecting that aught lay among them.In the centre, however, the ground had been cut away, and a low doorway, almost hidden by the bushes, gave access into a half subterranean hut; the roof was formed of an old boat turned bottom upwards, and this had been covered with brown turf.It was an excellent place of concealment, as searchers might have passed within a foot of the bushes without suspecting that aught lay concealed within them.
