About sunset Fulk went up to Standard Hill and looked out over the forest. Spread below him, with all the great oaks burgeoning1 into bronze, was a shimmering2 sea of gold meeting a sky of amber3, and from it rose the singing of a thousand birds. About the group of firs on Standard Hill the slanting4 sunlight struck upon the young green growth of the heather, and made it shine like the dust of emeralds scattered5 broadcast over the earth. The yews6 of Nutley hung like a thundercloud across a band of scarlet7, and the distant hills were all soft greys and purples. The western sky was like the mysterious eyes of a woman flushed with love.
Fulk could see nothing stirring on the heathlands, and he turned back to the White Lodge8 in the valley. The day had passed quietly, and he judged that the wagon9 had reached Lewes town in safety, and that on the morrow Peter of Pippinford and his men would be back at the White Lodge. A frail10 smoke spiral went up from the louvre of the hall, and the whole valley was very still save for the singing of the birds in the oak woods on either side of the meadow. The grassland11 itself was a sheet of gold, and the old thorns by the great ditch were white with flower, and wondrous12 fragrant13.
Fulk passed just within the porch to watch an owl14 gliding15 along the edge of the wood; but it so happened that he saw more than an owl. A man in a brown smock came cautiously from behind the trunk of an oak, and stood looking towards the White Lodge, shading his eyes with his hand.
Fulk, motionless in the shadowy porch, called softly to the forester whom he had left on guard in the hall.
“John, bring me my bow.”
No one answered him, and he gave an impatient jerk of the head.
“Fool, are you there?”
There was a long silence—a silence that seemed to hint at a suppressed chuckle17. Fulk turned and went in, searched the hall, the kitchen quarters, the store-room and upper chambers18, but found no John. The fellow had sneaked19 off, and fled into the forest.
Fulk took his bow and a couple of arrows from the table and passed out again into the porch. The man in brown had disappeared from the edge of the oak wood, and in his place stood a figure in a grey frock and hood20, the figure of a grey friar, still as a stone figure in a niche21 over a church door.
Fulk fingered his chin.
“So you are there, my friend. God’s mercy, but I have been bidden to wait for you, and I will wait with a naked sword. Let us see whether any ditch-mender will dare to put a foot over this threshold.”
Passing swiftly from place to place, he closed and fastened every door and shutter22, but left the porch door open. Brown dusk was falling, and the rafters of the hall were lost in gloom. Fulk kicked up the fire, threw on half a faggot and some logs, and the flare23 of the flames as they blazed up were reflected in his eyes. A ringed coat and an open basinet hung on a peg24 above the dais, with a plain black shield and a sword in a blue scabbard. Fulk stood listening a moment before taking down the hauberk. He slipped it on, donned the basinet, and began to fasten the laces to the rings of the chain gorget.
The fire had blazed up brightly, and, taking the shield and sword, Fulk drew a stool near to the hearth25 and sat down to watch and wait. He unsheathed the sword and laid it across his knees. There was no sound that he could hear other than the crackling of the burning wood or the scattering26 of sparks as a log fell. He saw a rat come out of a hole in the wainscoting and go gliding along the wall.
His eyes were fated to serve him sooner than his ears, for he had left the heavy oak door wide open, and in the dark streak27 between the hinge post and the edge of the door he saw something that glistened28. It was the white of a man’s eye peering through the crack, and looking straight at him as he sat beside the fire.
“Hallo, my friend! I see you.”
His voice was sharp and ringing as the stroke of a dagger30 upon steel. The glistening31 eye melted back into the shadows, and he heard whispering voices and a scuffling of feet. There were some twenty men in the courtyard, bunched together like hounds who have come to the mouth of a bear’s cave.
One figure took another by the scruff of the neck and thrust it forward, and persuaded it towards the porch at the point of a sword. Fulk heard a man snarl32 like a dog. Then a mop head came furtively33 round the edge of the door, red eyes blinking anxiously, as though ready to dodge34 a blow.
The head jerked back again, and Fulk heard the murmur35 of voices grow louder. One voice topped the others, and the rest grew silent.
“Leave it to me, sirs; I know how to handle a vicious colt.”
Fulk took the measure of the man who stalked insolently36 into the hall. It was the figure of a strapping37 bully38, swaggering, tawdry, dramatic, clad in a scarlet cote-hardie covered with tarnished39 embroidery40, hauberk, and basinet very rusty41, and the blade of his sword, which he carried naked upon his shoulder, jagged like a saw. The red points of his forked beard stuck out like tusks42, for he had a habit of throwing his head well back, and looking at people with an aggressive and staring insolence43.
Fulk scanned him from head to heel; his nostrils44 dilating45 a little, his mouth twitching46 with scorn. He bided47 there silently like a hound of the blood waiting to hear a strange cur snarl at him.
“Master Fulk Ferrers, greeting. I have twenty men at my back, and none of us love John of Gaunt and his creatures. I charge you to throw down that sword of yours, and stand up like a good lad.”
Fulk’s stare was like the thrust of a spear. The doorway49 was full of hairy faces, of brown smocks and fists that held flails50, scythe-blades on poles, clubs, bows, bill-hooks—a boor’s armoury.
“Sir Hacksword, I am much beholden to you. That blade of yours looks as though it had seen wonderful adventures. Step in, knights52 and gentles all; the honour is mine to be visited by so fair a company.”
His scorn struck them like a north wind, and made the swashbuckler’s forked beard thrust itself out more fiercely.
“This sword was hammering the French when you were a mere53 toddler. Have a care lest I come to use the flat of it.”
Fulk rose up and walked over towards the man in red, keeping his eyes on Guy the Stallion’s eyes, and holding his sword on his shoulder.
“Out—out, you dogs!”
“Out!”
“By cock, you young ruffler, I can take blows better than words.”
He had his blow, a flat buffet56 across the face given slantwise with a lightning sweep of the sword-blade. He staggered, jerking up his arms, his nostrils reddening with blood. There was a crowding in of the smocked figures through the doorway, but Guy the Stallion bellowed57 them back.
He sprang towards Fulk with huge and flamboyant59 sweeps of the sword.
And so the fight began.
Fulk had drawn61 back into a corner of the hall where he could hold the ground before him without being taken on the flanks. Guy the Stallion came at him with a swaggering rage, and for the moment the boors held back to watch the tussle62, such a smiting63 together of swords not being seen on every day of the week.
Fulk was as calm as a frosty morning, his face looking serenely64 through all the whirl and pother of the swashbuckler’s blows. Roger Ferrers had been a great man at his weapons, and Fulk had swung a sword with Roger before he was four feet high. He let this swaggerer slash65 as he pleased, guarding himself and smiling into the Stallion’s eyes.
“Strike, my friend, strike harder. You would do better with a bulrush.”
Of a sudden his whole front changed. His chin rose higher, his lips and nostrils grew thin, and his eyes ceased smiling. Blows leapt at Guy like flames, licking him on every side and driving him back. The fight ended with his stumbling and shooting forward under Fulk’s sword, where he lay like a red beetle66, very flat and still.
The men of the door set up a howl of rage, for this tawdry and swaggering bird had made them believe in his crowing. They came pushing in, bunched together, scythe-blades and bills poking67 forward, lusting68 to smite69, yet afraid of that uncompromising sword. Fulk stood with head thrown back, nostrils dilated70, eyes mocking them with a flare of scorn.
“Come, my lords and nobles, come nearer.”
His fierce pride of birth, and his lean valour, awed71 them, though they cursed him and handled their weapons.
“We’ll have his head off before cock-crow.”
“Knock the whelp’s legs from under him with a pole.”
They edged forward in a half circle, encouraging each other, and pointing to the swashbuckler who still lay flat on his face. And since all their eyes were towards Fulk of the Forest, they did not see Isoult of the Rose and Father Merlin standing73 in the doorway.
It was Isoult’s voice that whipped the boors back. They parted and let her through, since she carried a knife, and stabbed at those who faltered74.
“Out, fools, out of the way.”
Her voice might have been the sound of the Last Trump75 so far as Guy the Stallion was concerned, for he picked himself up, drew a sleeve across his face, and attempted an unsteady swagger. A crack in his rusty basinet showed where Fulk’s sword had bitten him.
He flourished his sword towards Fulk, but Isoult’s eyes swept him aside.
“Fool, go and wash the blood out of your boasting beard.”
“S’death! I’ll set hell loose!”
“Poor jay, you pecked at a falcon77 and got smitten78. Stand away. I have no patience to listen to your frothing.”
He slunk aside with furious red eyes, while Father Merlin waited in the background, showing his teeth and smoothing his chin.
Isoult passed on towards Fulk, and these two stood confronting each other, the man with the point of his sword resting on the floor and his hands crossed on the pommel. No one but Fulk saw Isoult’s face, or the cry of “Hail, fellow falcon!” in her eyes.
“Master Fulk Ferrers, I charge you, surrender that sword of yours.”
He stared at her mistrustfully, head up, lips set.
“Ah, my friend, I met comrades by the way. Have no fear, Dame Margaret is safe in Lewes town. We let the baggage pass, but tied up your men. And now, since we are too many for you, it is your turn to surrender.”
“Let them take me—if they dare.”
There was the length of the hall between these two and the rest, but Isoult went closer to him, dropping her voice to a whisper:
“Fulk, listen to me. These wretches81 have tasted blood; your men are dead; we could not help it. You might kill the first three, but the rest would drag you down like dogs, and I’ll not suffer it. You cannot fight, because I, Isoult, stand in the way.”
His eyes searched hers.
“You! You are with these vermin?”
“I am, and I am not. But I shall stand between you so that you cannot use your sword nor these Jacks82 their clubs and bills. The grey friar is merciful. You surrender as my prisoner.”
He looked at the floor, frowning and biting his lower lip.
“Come, Messire Fulk”—and her voice had a strange new challenge in it—“come; we change parts for awhile, you and I. And I will not bear to see these bullocks trampling83 you underfoot, for no man’s valour can overcome twenty men. I have my pride, and pride knows its own kith and kin16.”
He raised his eyes suddenly to hers.
“So be it. But when I am swordless——”
“Think you that Father Merlin and I cannot rule these fools?”
“Isoult, you puzzle me.”
She held up a hand.
“No questions. Surrender to me—to Isoult of the Rose. I vow84 that your sword shall be in safe keeping.”
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收听单词发音
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1
burgeoning
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| adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝） | |
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2
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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3
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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6
yews
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| n.紫杉( yew的名词复数 ) | |
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7
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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8
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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9
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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10
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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11
grassland
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| n.牧场，草地，草原 | |
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12
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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13
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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14
owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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15
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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16
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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17
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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18
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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19
sneaked
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| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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20
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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21
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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22
shutter
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| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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23
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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24
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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25
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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26
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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27
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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28
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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30
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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31
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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32
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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33
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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34
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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35
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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36
insolently
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| adv.自豪地，自傲地 | |
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37
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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38
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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39
tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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40
embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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41
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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42
tusks
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| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
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43
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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44
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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45
dilating
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| v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的现在分词 ) | |
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46
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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47
bided
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| v.等待，停留( bide的过去式 )；居住；等待；面临 | |
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48
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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49
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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50
flails
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| v.鞭打( flail的第三人称单数 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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51
ironical
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| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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52
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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53
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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54
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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55
boors
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| n.农民( boor的名词复数 )；乡下佬；没礼貌的人；粗野的人 | |
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56
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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57
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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58
meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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59
flamboyant
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| adj.火焰般的，华丽的，炫耀的 | |
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60
adder
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| n.蝰蛇；小毒蛇 | |
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61
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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62
tussle
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| n.&v.扭打，搏斗，争辩 | |
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63
smiting
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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64
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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65
slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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66
beetle
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| n.甲虫，近视眼的人 | |
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67
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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68
lusting
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| 贪求（lust的现在分词形式） | |
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69
smite
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| v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿 | |
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70
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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73
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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74
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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75
trump
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| n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭 | |
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76
cub
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| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
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77
falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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78
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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79
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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80
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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81
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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82
jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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83
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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