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thou mayst escape. This is Saint Andrew's day with us, we are taking our

tithes. "

" But not of the church, then, I trust, my good brother? " said the Prior.

" Of church and lay, " said the Friar; " and therefore, Sir Prior 'facite

vobis amicos de Mammone iniquitatis'--make yourselves friends of the

Mammon of unrighteousness, for no other friendship is like to serve your

turn. "

" I love a jolly woodsman at heart, " said the Prior, softening his tone;

" come, ye must not deal too hard with me--I can well of woodcraft,

and can wind a horn clear and lustily, and hollo till every oak rings

again--Come, ye must not deal too hard with me. "

" Give him a horn, " said the Outlaw; " we will prove the skill he boasts

of. "

The Prior Aymer winded a blast accordingly. The Captain shook his head.

" Sir Prior, " he said, " thou blowest a merry note, but it may not ransom

thee--we cannot afford, as the legend on a good knight's shield hath it,

to set thee free for a blast. Moreover, I have found thee--thou art

one of those, who, with new French graces and Tra-li-ras, disturb the

ancient English bugle notes. --Prior, that last flourish on the recheat

hath added fifty crowns to thy ransom, for corrupting the true old manly

blasts of venerie. "

" Well, friend, " said the Abbot, peevishly, " thou art ill to please with

thy woodcraft. I pray thee be more conformable in this matter of my

ransom. At a word--since I must needs, for once, hold a candle to the

devil--what ransom am I to pay for walking on Watling-street, without

having fifty men at my back? "

" Were it not well, " said the Lieutenant of the gang apart to the

Captain, " that the Prior should name the Jew's ransom, and the Jew name

the Prior's? "

" Thou art a mad knave, " said the Captain, " but thy plan

transcends! --Here, Jew, step forth--Look at that holy Father Aymer,

Prior of the rich Abbey of Jorvaulx, and tell us at what ransom we

should hold him? --Thou knowest the income of his convent, I warrant

thee. "

" O, assuredly, " said Isaac. " I have trafficked with the good fathers,

and bought wheat and barley, and fruits of the earth, and also much

wool. O, it is a rich abbey-stede, and they do live upon the fat, and

drink the sweet wines upon the lees, these good fathers of Jorvaulx. Ah,

if an outcast like me had such a home to go to, and such incomings by

the year and by the month, I would pay much gold and silver to redeem my

captivity. "

" Hound of a Jew! " exclaimed the Prior, " no one knows better than thy own

cursed self, that our holy house of God is indebted for the finishing of

our chancel--"

" And for the storing of your cellars in the last season with the due

allowance of Gascon wine, " interrupted the Jew; " but that--that is small

matters. "

" Hear the infidel dog! " said the churchman; " he jangles as if our holy

community did come under debts for the wines we have a license to

drink, 'propter necessitatem, et ad frigus depellendum'. The circumcised

villain blasphemeth the holy church, and Christian men listen and rebuke

him not! "

" All this helps nothing, " said the leader. --" Isaac, pronounce what he

may pay, without flaying both hide and hair. "

" An six hundred crowns, " said Isaac, " the good Prior might well pay to

your honoured valours, and never sit less soft in his stall. "

" Six hundred crowns, " said the leader, gravely; " I am contented--thou

hast well spoken, Isaac--six hundred crowns. --It is a sentence, Sir

Prior. "

" A sentence! --a sentence! " exclaimed the band; " Solomon had not done it

better. "

" Thou hearest thy doom, Prior, " said the leader.

" Ye are mad, my masters, " said the Prior; " where am I to find such a

sum? If I sell the very pyx and candlesticks on the altar at Jorvaulx,

I shall scarce raise the half; and it will be necessary for that purpose

that I go to Jorvaulx myself; ye may retain as borrows [44] my two

priests. "

" That will be but blind trust, " said the Outlaw; " we will retain thee,

Prior, and send them to fetch thy ransom. Thou shalt not want a cup of

wine and a collop of venison the while; and if thou lovest woodcraft,

thou shalt see such as your north country never witnessed. "

" Or, if so please you, " said Isaac, willing to curry favour with the

outlaws, " I can send to York for the six hundred crowns, out of certain

monies in my hands, if so be that the most reverend Prior present will

grant me a quittance. "

" He shall grant thee whatever thou dost list, Isaac, " said the Captain;

" and thou shalt lay down the redemption money for Prior Aymer as well as

for thyself. "

" For myself! ah, courageous sirs, " said the Jew, " I am a broken and

impoverished man; a beggar's staff must be my portion through life,

supposing I were to pay you fifty crowns. "

" The Prior shall judge of that matter, " replied the Captain. --" How say

you, Father Aymer? Can the Jew afford a good ransom? "

" Can he afford a ransom? " answered the Prior " Is he not Isaac of York,

rich enough to redeem the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, who

were led into Assyrian bondage? --I have seen but little of him myself,

but our cellarer and treasurer have dealt largely with him, and report

says that his house at York is so full of gold and silver as is a shame

in any Christian land. Marvel it is to all living Christian hearts that

such gnawing adders should be suffered to eat into the bowels of the

state, and even of the holy church herself, with foul usuries and

extortions. "

" Hold, father, " said the Jew, " mitigate and assuage your choler. I pray

of your reverence to remember that I force my monies upon no one. But

when churchman and layman, prince and prior, knight and priest, come

knocking to Isaac's door, they borrow not his shekels with these uncivil

terms. It is then, Friend Isaac, will you pleasure us in this matter,

and our day shall be truly kept, so God sa' me? --and Kind Isaac, if ever

you served man, show yourself a friend in this need! And when the day

comes, and I ask my own, then what hear I but Damned Jew, and The curse

of Egypt on your tribe, and all that may stir up the rude and uncivil

populace against poor strangers! "

" Prior, " said the Captain, " Jew though he be, he hath in this spoken

well. Do thou, therefore, name his ransom, as he named thine, without

farther rude terms. "

" None but 'latro famosus'--the interpretation whereof, " said the Prior,

" will I give at some other time and tide--would place a Christian

prelate and an unbaptized Jew upon the same bench. But since ye require

me to put a price upon this caitiff, I tell you openly that ye will

wrong yourselves if you take from him a penny under a thousand crowns. "

" A sentence! --a sentence! " exclaimed the chief Outlaw.

" A sentence! --a sentence! " shouted his assessors; " the Christian has

shown his good nurture, and dealt with us more generously than the Jew. "

" The God of my fathers help me! " said the Jew; " will ye bear to the

ground an impoverished creature? --I am this day childless, and will ye

deprive me of the means of livelihood? "

" Thou wilt have the less to provide for, Jew, if thou art childless, "

said Aymer.

" Alas! my lord, " said Isaac, " your law permits you not to know how the

child of our bosom is entwined with the strings of our heart--O Rebecca!

laughter of my beloved Rachel! were each leaf on that tree a zecchin,

and each zecchin mine own, all that mass of wealth would I give to know

whether thou art alive, and escaped the hands of the Nazarene! "

" Was not thy daughter dark-haired? " said one of the outlaws; " and wore

she not a veil of twisted sendal, broidered with silver? "

" She did! --she did! " said the old man, trembling with eagerness, as

formerly with fear. " The blessing of Jacob be upon thee! canst thou tell

me aught of her safety? "

" It was she, then, " said the yeoman, " who was carried off by the proud

Templar, when he broke through our ranks on yester-even. I had drawn my

bow to send a shaft after him, but spared him even for the sake of the

damsel, who I feared might take harm from the arrow. "

" Oh! " answered the Jew, " I would to God thou hadst shot, though the

arrow had pierced her bosom! --Better the tomb of her fathers than the

dishonourable couch of the licentious and savage Templar. Ichabod!

Ichabod! the glory hath departed from my house! "

" Friends, " said the Chief, looking round, " the old man is but a Jew,

natheless his grief touches me. --Deal uprightly with us, Isaac--will

paying this ransom of a thousand crowns leave thee altogether

penniless? "

Isaac, recalled to think of his worldly goods, the love of which, by

dint of inveterate habit, contended even with his parental affection,

grew pale, stammered, and could not deny there might be some small

surplus.

" Well--go to--what though there be, " said the Outlaw, " we will not

reckon with thee too closely. Without treasure thou mayst as well hope

to redeem thy child from the clutches of Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, as

to shoot a stag-royal with a headless shaft. --We will take thee at the

same ransom with Prior Aymer, or rather at one hundred crowns lower,

which hundred crowns shall be mine own peculiar loss, and not light upon

this worshipful community; and so we shall avoid the heinous offence of

rating a Jew merchant as high as a Christian prelate, and thou wilt

have six hundred crowns remaining to treat for thy daughter's ransom.

Templars love the glitter of silver shekels as well as the sparkle

of black eyes. --Hasten to make thy crowns chink in the ear of De

Bois-Guilbert, ere worse comes of it. Thou wilt find him, as our scouts

have brought notice, at the next Preceptory house of his Order. --Said I

well, my merry mates? "

The yeomen expressed their wonted acquiescence in their leader's

opinion; and Isaac, relieved of one half of his apprehensions, by

learning that his daughter lived, and might possibly be ransomed, threw

himself at the feet of the generous Outlaw, and, rubbing his beard

against his buskins, sought to kiss the hem of his green cassock. The

Captain drew himself back, and extricated himself from the Jew's grasp,

not without some marks of contempt.

" Nay, beshrew thee, man, up with thee! I am English born, and love no

such Eastern prostrations--Kneel to God, and not to a poor sinner, like

me. "

" Ay, Jew, " said Prior Aymer; " kneel to God, as represented in the

servant of his altar, and who knows, with thy sincere repentance and due

gifts to the shrine of Saint Robert, what grace thou mayst acquire for

thyself and thy daughter Rebecca? I grieve for the maiden, for she is of

fair and comely countenance, --I beheld her in the lists of Ashby. Also

Brian de Bois-Guilbert is one with whom I may do much--bethink thee how

thou mayst deserve my good word with him. "

" Alas! alas! " said the Jew, " on every hand the spoilers arise against

me--I am given as a prey unto the Assyrian, and a prey unto him of

Egypt. "

" And what else should be the lot of thy accursed race? " answered

the Prior; " for what saith holy writ, 'verbum Domini projecerunt, et

sapientia est nulla in eis'--they have cast forth the word of the

Lord, and there is no wisdom in them; 'propterea dabo mulieres eorum

exteris'--I will give their women to strangers, that is to the Templar,

as in the present matter; 'et thesauros eorum haeredibus alienis',

and their treasures to others--as in the present case to these honest

gentlemen. "

Isaac groaned deeply, and began to wring his hands, and to relapse into

his state of desolation and despair. But the leader of the yeomen led

him aside.

" Advise thee well, Isaac, " said Locksley, " what thou wilt do in this

matter; my counsel to thee is to make a friend of this churchman. He is

vain, Isaac, and he is covetous; at least he needs money to supply his

profusion. Thou canst easily gratify his greed; for think not that I am

blinded by thy pretexts of poverty. I am intimately acquainted, Isaac,

with the very iron chest in which thou dost keep thy money-bags--What!

know I not the great stone beneath the apple-tree, that leads into

the vaulted chamber under thy garden at York? " The Jew grew as pale as

death--" But fear nothing from me, " continued the yeoman, " for we are

of old acquainted. Dost thou not remember the sick yeoman whom thy fair

daughter Rebecca redeemed from the gyves at York, and kept him in

thy house till his health was restored, when thou didst dismiss him

recovered, and with a piece of money? --Usurer as thou art, thou didst

never place coin at better interest than that poor silver mark, for it

has this day saved thee five hundred crowns. "

" And thou art he whom we called Diccon Bend-the-Bow? " said Isaac; " I

thought ever I knew the accent of thy voice. "

" I am Bend-the-Bow, " said the Captain, " and Locksley, and have a good

name besides all these. "

" But thou art mistaken, good Bend-the-Bow, concerning that same

vaulted apartment. So help me Heaven, as there is nought in it but some

merchandises which I will gladly part with to you--one hundred yards

of Lincoln green to make doublets to thy men, and a hundred staves of

Spanish yew to make bows, and a hundred silken bowstrings, tough, round,

and sound--these will I send thee for thy good-will, honest Diccon, an

thou wilt keep silence about the vault, my good Diccon. "

" Silent as a dormouse, " said the Outlaw; " and never trust me but I am

grieved for thy daughter. But I may not help it--The Templars lances are

too strong for my archery in the open field--they would scatter us like

dust. Had I but known it was Rebecca when she was borne off, something

might have been done; but now thou must needs proceed by policy. Come,

shall I treat for thee with the Prior? "

" In God's name, Diccon, an thou canst, aid me to recover the child of my

bosom! "

" Do not thou interrupt me with thine ill-timed avarice, " said the

Outlaw, " and I will deal with him in thy behalf. "

He then turned from the Jew, who followed him, however, as closely as

his shadow.

" Prior Aymer, " said the Captain, " come apart with me under this tree.

Men say thou dost love wine, and a lady's smile, better than beseems thy

Order, Sir Priest; but with that I have nought to do. I have heard, too,

thou dost love a brace of good dogs and a fleet horse, and it may well

be that, loving things which are costly to come by, thou hatest not a

purse of gold. But I have never heard that thou didst love oppression or

cruelty. --Now, here is Isaac willing to give thee the means of pleasure

and pastime in a bag containing one hundred marks of silver, if thy

intercession with thine ally the Templar shall avail to procure the

freedom of his daughter. "

" In safety and honour, as when taken from me, " said the Jew, " otherwise

it is no bargain. "

" Peace, Isaac, " said the Outlaw, " or I give up thine interest. --What say

you to this my purpose, Prior Aymer? "

" The matter, " quoth the Prior, " is of a mixed condition; for, if I do a

good deal on the one hand, yet, on the other, it goeth to the vantage

of a Jew, and in so much is against my conscience. Yet, if the Israelite

will advantage the Church by giving me somewhat over to the building

of our dortour, [45] I will take it on my conscience to aid him in the

matter of his daughter. "

" For a score of marks to the dortour, " said the Outlaw, --" Be still, I

say, Isaac! --or for a brace of silver candlesticks to the altar, we will

not stand with you. "

" Nay, but, good Diccon Bend-the-Bow" --said Isaac, endeavouring to

interpose.

" Good Jew--good beast--good earthworm! " said the yeoman, losing

patience; " an thou dost go on to put thy filthy lucre in the balance

with thy daughter's life and honour, by Heaven, I will strip thee of

every maravedi thou hast in the world, before three days are out! "

Isaac shrunk together, and was silent.

" And what pledge am I to have for all this? " said the Prior.

" When Isaac returns successful through your mediation, " said the Outlaw,

" I swear by Saint Hubert, I will see that he pays thee the money in good

silver, or I will reckon with him for it in such sort, he had better

have paid twenty such sums. "

" Well then, Jew, " said Aymer, " since I must needs meddle in this matter,

let me have the use of thy writing-tablets--though, hold--rather than

use thy pen, I would fast for twenty-four hours, and where shall I find

one? "

" If your holy scruples can dispense with using the Jew's tablets, for

the pen I can find a remedy, " said the yeoman; and, bending his bow, he

aimed his shaft at a wild-goose which was soaring over their heads, the

advanced-guard of a phalanx of his tribe, which were winging their way

to the distant and solitary fens of Holderness. The bird came fluttering

down, transfixed with the arrow.

" There, Prior, " said the Captain, " are quills enow to supply all the

monks of Jorvaulx for the next hundred years, an they take not to

writing chronicles. "

The Prior sat down, and at great leisure indited an epistle to Brian

de Bois-Guilbert, and having carefully sealed up the tablets, delivered

them to the Jew, saying, " This will be thy safe-conduct to the

Preceptory of Templestowe, and, as I think, is most likely to accomplish

the delivery of thy daughter, if it be well backed with proffers of

advantage and commodity at thine own hand; for, trust me well, the

good Knight Bois-Guilbert is of their confraternity that do nought for

nought. "

" Well, Prior, " said the Outlaw, " I will detain thee no longer here than

to give the Jew a quittance for the six hundred crowns at which thy

ransom is fixed--I accept of him for my pay-master; and if I hear that

ye boggle at allowing him in his accompts the sum so paid by him, Saint

Mary refuse me, an I burn not the abbey over thine head, though I hang

ten years the sooner! "

With a much worse grace than that wherewith he had penned the letter to

Bois-Guilbert, the Prior wrote an acquittance, discharging Isaac of York

of six hundred crowns, advanced to him in his need for acquittal of his

ransom, and faithfully promising to hold true compt with him for that

sum.

" And now, " said Prior Aymer, " I will pray you of restitution of my mules

and palfreys, and the freedom of the reverend brethren attending upon

me, and also of the gymmal rings, jewels, and fair vestures, of which

I have been despoiled, having now satisfied you for my ransom as a true

prisoner. "

" Touching your brethren, Sir Prior, " said Locksley, " they shall have

present freedom, it were unjust to detain them; touching your horses

and mules, they shall also be restored, with such spending-money as may

enable you to reach York, for it were cruel to deprive you of the means

of journeying. --But as concerning rings, jewels, chains, and what else,

you must understand that we are men of tender consciences, and will

not yield to a venerable man like yourself, who should be dead to the

vanities of this life, the strong temptation to break the rule of his

foundation, by wearing rings, chains, or other vain gauds. "

" Think what you do, my masters, " said the Prior, " ere you put your hand

on the Church's patrimony--These things are 'inter res sacras', and

I wot not what judgment might ensue were they to be handled by laical

hands. "

" I will take care of that, reverend Prior, " said the Hermit of

Copmanhurst; " for I will wear them myself. "

" Friend, or brother, " said the Prior, in answer to this solution of his

doubts, " if thou hast really taken religious orders, I pray thee to look

how thou wilt answer to thine official for the share thou hast taken in

this day's work. "

" Friend Prior, " returned the Hermit, " you are to know that I belong to

a little diocese, where I am my own diocesan, and care as little for the

Bishop of York as I do for the Abbot of Jorvaulx, the Prior, and all the

convent. "

" Thou art utterly irregular, " said the Prior; " one of those disorderly

men, who, taking on them the sacred character without due cause, profane

the holy rites, and endanger the souls of those who take counsel at

their hands; 'lapides pro pane condonantes iis', giving them stones

instead of bread as the Vulgate hath it. "

" Nay, " said the Friar, " an my brain-pan could have been broken by Latin,

it had not held so long together. --I say, that easing a world of such

misproud priests as thou art of their jewels and their gimcracks, is a

lawful spoiling of the Egyptians. "

" Thou be'st a hedge-priest, " [46] said the Prior, in great wrath,

" 'excommunicabo vos'. "

" Thou be'st thyself more like a thief and a heretic, " said the

Friar, equally indignant; " I will pouch up no such affront before my

parishioners, as thou thinkest it not shame to put upon me, although I

be a reverend brother to thee. 'Ossa ejus perfringam', I will break your

bones, as the Vulgate hath it. "

" Hola! " cried the Captain, " come the reverend brethren to such

terms? --Keep thine assurance of peace, Friar. --Prior, an thou hast not

made thy peace perfect with God, provoke the Friar no further. --Hermit,

let the reverend father depart in peace, as a ransomed man. "

The yeomen separated the incensed priests, who continued to raise their

voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin, which the Prior delivered

the more fluently, and the Hermit with the greater vehemence. The Prior

at length recollected himself sufficiently to be aware that he was

compromising his dignity, by squabbling with such a hedge-priest as the

Outlaw's chaplain, and being joined by his attendants, rode off with

considerably less pomp, and in a much more apostolical condition, so

far as worldly matters were concerned, than he had exhibited before this

rencounter.

It remained that the Jew should produce some security for the ransom

which he was to pay on the Prior's account, as well as upon his own. He

gave, accordingly, an order sealed with his signet, to a brother of his

tribe at York, requiring him to pay to the bearer the sum of a thousand

crowns, and to deliver certain merchandises specified in the note.

" My brother Sheva, " he said, groaning deeply, " hath the key of my

warehouses. "

" And of the vaulted chamber, " whispered Locksley.

" No, no--may Heaven forefend! " said Isaac; " evil is the hour that let

any one whomsoever into that secret! "

" It is safe with me, " said the Outlaw, " so be that this thy scroll

produce the sum therein nominated and set down. --But what now, Isaac?

art dead? art stupefied? hath the payment of a thousand crowns put thy

daughter's peril out of thy mind? "

The Jew started to his feet--" No, Diccon, no--I will presently set

forth. --Farewell, thou whom I may not call good, and dare not and will

not call evil. "

Yet ere Isaac departed, the Outlaw Chief bestowed on him this parting

advice: --" Be liberal of thine offers, Isaac, and spare not thy purse for

thy daughter's safety. Credit me, that the gold thou shalt spare in

her cause, will hereafter give thee as much agony as if it were poured

molten down thy throat. "

Isaac acquiesced with a deep groan, and set forth on his journey,

accompanied by two tall foresters, who were to be his guides, and at the

same time his guards, through the wood.

The Black Knight, who had seen with no small interest these various

proceedings, now took his leave of the Outlaw in turn; nor could he

avoid expressing his surprise at having witnessed so much of civil

policy amongst persons cast out from all the ordinary protection and

influence of the laws.

" Good fruit, Sir Knight, " said the yeoman, " will sometimes grow on a

sorry tree; and evil times are not always productive of evil alone and

unmixed. Amongst those who are drawn into this lawless state, there

are, doubtless, numbers who wish to exercise its license with some

moderation, and some who regret, it may be, that they are obliged to

follow such a trade at all. "

" And to one of those, " said the Knight, " I am now, I presume, speaking? "

" Sir Knight, " said the Outlaw, " we have each our secret. You are welcome

to form your judgment of me, and I may use my conjectures touching you,

though neither of our shafts may hit the mark they are shot at. But as

I do not pray to be admitted into your mystery, be not offended that I

preserve my own. "

" I crave pardon, brave Outlaw, " said the Knight, " your reproof is just.

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