The Conqueror Read online

  ‘Lord, this is no jesting matter,’ De Toeni said seriously. ‘We fear that our ships have been intercepted by Harold’s fleet.’

  The Duke said: ‘My good Ralph, I had certain tidings at Dives that the English fleet had been forced to put back into London to revictual. Send me my valet, and do not think you see a wolf at every turn.’

  He came out of his cabin presently to find the barons gathered in an anxious group in the stern, trying to catch some glimpse of the sister vessels. He laughed at them, and they jumped round to find that he was munching his breakfast. He had a hunk of cold venison in one hand, and some cocket-bread in the other, and bit into each alternately.

  D’Albini started towards him. ‘Seigneur, I implore you, let us turn back! We are defenceless here, and indeed we are sure there has been a mischance.’

  The Duke said with his mouth full: ‘O faint heart, what abodement do you fear now? There has been no mischance; we have but outstripped the other vessels.’ His eye fell upon a sailor who was standing at some distance and watching him in great awe. He took another bite of the venison, tearing the meat away from the gristle with his strong teeth, and summoned up the man with a jerk of his head.

  Thrust forward by his comrades, the sailor advanced nervously and knelt.

  ‘My man,’ said the Duke, ‘you cannot serve me in that posture. Up with you to that masthead, and let me know what you can see.’ He watched the sailor climb up the rigging, thrust the last morsel of bread into his mouth, and brushed his hands together to be rid of the crumbs.

  D’Albini touched his arm. ‘Beau sire, it pleases you to be merry, but we, your servants, are much alarmed for your safety.’

  ‘I perceive that you are,’ said the Duke. He looked up at the masthead, and called: ‘Well, fellow. What tidings?’

  ‘Lord, I see only sky and sea!’ shouted the sailor.

  ‘Then we will heave-to,’ said the Duke. He looked up again. ‘When you see more than that, my man, you shall come and tell me.’

  ‘Seigneur!’ D’Albini sounded despairing.

  ‘Come to my cabin, Néel,’ said the Duke, taking Saint-Sauveur by the arm. ‘We will play a game of chess together, you and I.’

  At noon the Duke’s dinner was spread upon a trestle-table on the deck. Several of his barons had no appetite, but the Duke ate heartily of some freshly-caught eels stewed in brewet, followed by hashed porpoise in frumenty, and brawn served with chibolls and Lombard mustard.

  The Mora rocked lazily on the swell of the waters; at the masthead the sailor gave a sudden shout, and came clambering down to tell the Duke he could espy four vessels upon the horizon.

  The Duke tossed him a gold piece. ‘You have sharp eyes, my friend. Keep a watch for more of my ships.’

  FitzOsbern had started up from the table to gaze out across the water. ‘I can see nothing,’ he said.

  ‘You will see soon enough,’ said the Duke, and bordered a pasty with his own hands, and began to eat it.

  It was not long before the sailor came down from aloft in a great excitement. ‘Lord, I see a forest of masts and sails!’ he declared.

  ‘Do you indeed?’ said the Duke, licking his fingers. ‘Well, come, FitzOsbern. Let us try the power of our own eyes.’

  A couple of hours later, the fleet having drawn up close, the Mora set sail again, and bore for England.

  The line of coast came into sight in the late afternoon, and grew gradually more distinct. Chalk cliffs gleamed very white across the sea; the men who crowded in the bows of the ships could soon see green trees, and a few squat dwellings. No hostile craft appeared to bar the fleet’s approach, nor was there any visible sign of life on the shore. The Mora pulled in to Pevensey and ran up on to the shelving beach.

  The men-at-arms would have leaped ashore straightway, but were called to order by their leaders, and drew hastily into two ranks. The Duke passed down the line, set his hand on Raoul de Harcourt’s shoulder, and sprang lightly on to the bulwark. He measured the distance, and jumped. A horrified groan went up. He had missed his footing in the shallow water, and fell half-in, half-out of the sea.

  ‘Ill omen! Ill omen! God aid, he has fallen!’

  The Duke was up in a flash, and turning showed his hands grasping sand and pebbles. His confident voice checked the dismay. ‘Normans, I have taken seisin of England!’ he cried.

  Four

  The Normans disembarked at various coves and beaches along the coast between Pevensey and Hastings.

  Pevensey was deserted, and fires smouldering in the hearths told that the inhabitants must have fled at sight of the fleet. A camp was formed, surrounded by a ditch and a palisade of stakes driven into the ground. The Duke next ordered one of his wooden castles to be erected on a slight eminence commanding the harbour; and while this was doing he occupied his time in surveying the countryside, to the considerable alarm of his friends. The same fearlessness which had prompted his rashest exploits long years ago at Meulan still possessed him. Accompanied by a mere handful of his knights he would sometimes be absent from his camp for many hours together. He found the country very wild, with treacherously marshy valleys, and hills covered with dense woodland. The roads were often impassable, and so full of ruts and swamps that riding was a danger. There were wolves and bears in the forests, and very often herds of wild cattle could be seen moving across the valleys.

  The country was sparsely populated, whole tracts being folc-land, belonging to the state; but a collection of small towns and hamlets were dotted along the coast. These seemed to be void of any soldiery, but the Norman barons, seeing their lord ride out day after day attended by no more than twenty of his knights, lived in constant dread of his death at the hands of the sullen peasantry. Once, when at dusk he had not returned to the camp, a party led by Hugh de Montfort set out to search for him, and met him at last tramping towards them on foot, with FitzOsbern‚Äôs hauberk as well as his own upon his shoulders, not in the least tired, but laughing at his Seneschal‚Äôs exhaustion, and as cool as though he walked for his pleasure in his own Norman fields.

  Hugh de Montfort relieved him of the extra hauberk, and said severely: ‚ÄòBeau sire, do you never think how the inhabitants of this land might set upon you?‚Äô

  ‚ÄòNo, Hugh, never,‚Äô the Duke answered cheerfully.

  His expeditions soon showed him that a more convenient base than Pevensey would be Hastings, several leagues to the east. This town commanded the London road, and its natural harbour was better fitted for the shelter of the fleet. Leaving a garrison at Pevensey, the Duke led his host eastward, and ordered the half of his ships to sail round to lie under Hastings‚Äô white cliffs. His second castle was then erected upon a mound enclosed by a stockade. It consisted of a single wooden tower. A moat was dug round the foot of the mound, and a large levelled space beyond formed a bailey, where sheds were put up to house men and horses. An outer ditch with a fenced bank upon the counterscarp surrounded the whole, and a smaller tower protected the drawbridge.

  Men were still at work on this building when a messenger reached the Duke from one Robert, a man of Norman birth dwelling not far from the coast. He brought greetings, and a letter laboriously written on sheets of cotton-paper. This contained tidings of great import. Tostig and Hardrada, wrote the Duke‚Äôs well-wisher, had landed in the north, and defeated the young Earls Edwine and Morkere in a pitched battle at Fulford, near to York. Harold, gathering the thegnhood and the huscarles to his standard, had marched north two weeks before the Duke‚Äôs landing, and meeting the invaders at Stamford Bridge on the twenty-fifth day of September had defeated and slain both Tostig and Hardrada, and practically annihilated the whole of their army. The writer went on to inform Duke William that couriers had fled hot-foot to York, where Harold lay, to convey the tidings that the Normans had landed, and he advised William not to stir from his entre