Chapter 11. Ralph Gets Tit For Tat

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_ CHAPTER ELEVEN. RALPH GETS TIT FOR TAT

Ralph Darley's first step was to get his right hand beside his left, and his feet once more upon the ledge, but the ivy gave way a little more at this movement, and he paused. But not for long. Another danger was at hand.

Moved by the boldness of the lad's efforts to escape, and in dread lest he might be successful, the leader of the four men, after a short consultation with the others, who tried to dissuade him, began to wade cautiously forward till the water grew too deep for him, and then creeping sidewise, he climbed on to the smooth wall, and began to imitate the course taken by Ralph; but before he had gone many yards, one of his companions shouted:

"You'll go down, and be swep' away, and sucked in."

This checked him and made him hesitate, but rousing his courage again, he once more began to edge along the shelf below the surface, and this spurred the fugitive on to make another effort.

This time he caught at the ivy, which gave way a little more, but still held, and by moving cautiously, Ralph managed to get his feet upon the ledge. The next minute he had found another prominence below water, raised his foot to it, and caught at a rough bit of the stone above the ivy, stood firm, drew himself a little higher, and by a quick scramble, got a foot now on the ivy stem and his hands in the crack above, just as the growth yielded to his foot, dropped into the stream, and was swept away, leaving the lad hanging by his cramped fingers.

But though the ivy was gone, the crevice in which it had grown remained, and in another few seconds Ralph's toes were in it, and the weight off his hands.

He rested, and looked down-stream, to see that the man was steadily approaching, but the lad felt safe now. The ivy was gone, and the enemy could not possibly get farther along the ledge than the spot from whence he had slipped.

Cheered by this, Ralph began to climb again, finding the task easier, and the next minute he had hold of the tough stem of the hawthorn; and heedless of the thorns, dragged himself up into it, stood upright, reached another good, strong hand-hold, and then stepped right up on to a broad shelf of grass-grown limestone. The men uttered a fierce shout, and their leader, seeing now that his task was hopeless, began to retire and join his companions.

Ralph watched him for a few moments, and then began to climb again, finding this part of the slope easy, for great pieces of stone were piled up, and made fast by the bushes which grew amongst them, hiding the fugitive from the sight of those below, and raising his hopes as he found how easily he could get up. Twice over he heard shouts and their echoes from the opposite side, but he was too busy to heed them, and soon felt confident enough to sit down in a niche, half-way up the cliff, and rest for a few minutes.

"Horribly wet," he said to himself; "fishing-rod broken and lost, fish-can gone, and--ah! I did not expect that," for he found that shoes, hose, and creel were safe. "Glad I shall take the fish home after all."

He listened: all was still. Then he peered down, but he could see nothing save the bushes and trees on the other side; even the river was invisible from where he sat; and getting his breath now after his exertions, he turned, and began to look upward.

Ralph was born somewhere about three miles from where he sat, but he had inadvertently wandered into a part that was perfectly unfamiliar to him, the feud between the two families having resulted in its being considered dangerous for either side to intrude within the portion of the rugged mountainous land belonging to the other.

Still, the lad had some notion of the bearings of the cliff hills from seeing them at a distance, and he rapidly came to a conclusion as to which would be the best course for him to take to avoid the occupants of the Black Tor; but when any one is flurried he is liable to make mistakes, and much more likely when deep in a tangle of pathless wood, and listening for the steps of those who are seeking to make him a prisoner.

According to Ralph's calculations, the narrow gap which led eastward to the edge of the huge hollow in which the narrow, roughly conical mass of limestone rose crowned with the Eden Castle, lay away to his left; and as he had in climbing kept on bearing to the right, he was perfectly certain that he had passed right over the men in the river. He felt, therefore, that he had nothing to do but keep steadily on in the same course, always mounting higher at every opportunity of doing so unseen, until close to the top, when he could keep along the edge unseen till well on his way homeward, and then take to the open downs above.

The silence below was encouraging, and in spite of being compelled often to creep beneath the bushes, and here and there descend to avoid some perpendicular piece of rock, he got on, so that he grew more and more satisfied that he had escaped, and had nothing to do but persevere, and be well out of what had promised to be a very awkward predicament. His clothes clung to his back, and his legs were terribly scratched, while one of his feet was bleeding; but that was a trifle which he hardly regarded.

Just before him was a steeper bit than usual, and he hesitated about trying to climb it; but the way up or down seemed to promise no better, so taking advantage of the dense cover afforded by the trees, he steadily attacked the awkward precipice, the dwarf trees helped him with their gnarled trunks, and he mastered the ascent, found himself higher up than he had expected, crawled a step or two farther, and arrived the next minute at the brink of a deep chasm, while to the left, not a couple of hundred yards away, rose the castle-crowned Black Tor.

He shrank back the next instant, and a feeling of confusion came over him. He could hardly understand how it was, but directly after it was forced upon his understanding that he had been quite wrong in his bearings; that when he began to climb, the Black Tor lay to his right instead of his left, and that, instead of going into safety, he had been making straight for the most dangerous place.

To go on was impossible, for the cliff beneath him was overhanging; to go to the left was equally vain; and to descend or return was in all probability to walk right into the arms of his pursuers.

Once more he cautiously advanced his head between the bushes to look out, but the prospect was not encouraging. There, fifty or sixty feet away, was the fellow cliff to that upon which he lay, split apart by some terrible convulsion of nature; and once there he could have made for home, but there was no way of passing the opening save by descending right to the river's bank, and he felt pretty certain that he could not do this without being seen.

Still it was the only course, and his choice was open to him--to lie in hiding till the darkness came, many hours later, or boldly descend.

To lie there in the shadow with his wet clothes clinging to him was not a pleasant prospect, but it seemed the only one feasible under the circumstances; and he concluded that this was what he would do, wishing the while that he dared go and lie right out in the sunshine.

He had hardly thought this, when a hot thrill ran through him, for from somewhere below there came the sharp bark of a dog, and a voice rose cheering the animal on, and then shouted: "Close in, all of you: he's up here somewhere. Dog's got his scent."

Then voices answered with hails from different parts, and Ralph's next movement was to crawl forward again to the very edge of the precipice, look over, and seek for a place where he might perhaps descend.

But again he saw that it was utterly hopeless, and nerved now by his despair, he began to descend through the fringe of scrub oak and beech, close to the chasm, so as to get down to the river, where he meant to plunge in, and cross by wading or swimming to the other side.

But there is no hiding from the scent of a dog. Ralph had not gone down half-a-dozen yards before the dog gave tongue again, and kept on barking, coming nearer and nearer, and more rapidly as the scent grew hotter: while before another dozen yards were passed the lad had to seize the first block of stone he could lift, and turn at bay, for the dog had sighted him and rushed forward, as if to leap at his throat.

There is many a dog, though--perhaps taught by experience--that will face a staff, but shrink in the most timid manner from a stone; and it was so here. At the first threatening movement made by Ralph, the dog stopped short, barking furiously, and the lad glanced downward once more. But to proceed meant to turn his back upon his four-footed enemy, which would have seized him directly.

There was nothing then to be done but face it, and he prepared to hurl his missile, but, to the lad's despair, the second dog, which had been silent, now rushed up, and he had to keep them both off as he stood at bay, the new-comer being more viciously aggressive than the first.

"I can't help it: I must make a dash for freedom," thought Ralph; and, raising his stone higher, he hurled it at the bigger dog, which avoided it by bounding aside. Then turning, he dashed downward, right into the arms of a man.

There was a sharp struggle, and the latter was getting worsted, being lower down, and having to bear the shock of Ralph's weight in the bound, but the next moment unexpectedly the lad felt himself seized from behind, two more men came panting up, and, utterly mastered, he found himself upon his back, with one enemy seated upon his chest, another holding his arms outspread, and the others his legs, thoroughly spread-eagled upon the sloping rock.

"Got you now," said the leader of the little party. "You, Tom, we can manage him.--Get out, will you, dogs!--Here, take them with you. Run to the mine hut, and get some rope to tie him. Be as smart as you can. The master'll give us something decent for a job like this."

The man addressed called the dogs to him, and was unwillingly obeyed, but a few stones thrown by the rest overcame the animals' objections, and they trotted off, leaving the prisoner relapsed into a sulky silence; his captors chatted pleasantly together about his fate, banteringly telling him that for certain he would be hung over the castle wall.

Ralph paid no heed to what was said, and after a time the men grew tired of their banter, and began to wonder among themselves whether their companion would say anything to those whom he might meet.

"He'll like enough be doing it," said the leader. "I tilled him to fetch a rope, and if he does anything else, he'll hear of it from me. What we wants is to take our prisoner up proper to the master, and get our reward."

Then they began muttering in a low voice among themselves, taking care that their prisoner should not hear, as he lay upon his back, staring straight up at the blue sky, and thinking of how soon it had come upon him to be suffering Mark Eden's reverse.

At last a hail came from below, and the man panted breathlessly up to them, throwing down a coil of thin rope, with which, after turning him over upon his face, the men, in spite of his struggles, tightly and cruelly tied their prisoner's arms behind him, and then his ankles and knees. They were about to lift him up, when there was a sharp barking heard again.

"Here, you, Tom," cried the leader, who had been most savage in dragging the knots as tightly as possible, "I told you to take those dogs back."

"Well, so I did. I didn't bring 'em."

"They've come all the same," cried the other. "Well, it don't matter now. Perhaps Buzz wants a taste of these here naked legs."

The dog barked close at hand now.

"Here, you, jump up, before he has you," cried the leader brutally; and then he stared wonderingly, for there was a sharp rustling amongst the bushes, and the dog sprang out to them, closely followed by Mark Eden, who cried in wonder:

"Why, hallo: then this is what Buzz meant! Whom have you got there?"

The men drew back, and Mark stooped, as the dog barked violently, turned the prisoner over, and once more the two enemies were gazing curiously in each other's eyes.

Ralph did not flinch, but a dull feeling of despair ran through him as he saw Mark Eden's face light up, his eyes flashing, and a smile of triumph playing about his lips.

Mark did not speak for a time. Then he turned his back upon the prisoner.

"Do you know who this is?" he said to the men.

"Oh yes, Master Mark, we know him. Don't you? It's young Darley, from below there. We was having a bit of a ramble 'fore going down in the mine, and we'd got the dogs, to see if there was any chance of a rabbit pie for supper; but they didn't find one; they found his nabbs here instead. We had to hold the dogs' muzzles to keep 'em quiet till he'd got by."

"What was he doing?"

"Wading, and ketching our trout. We let him go right up to the deep water, down below where the narrows are, and we thought we'd trapped him; but somehow he managed to scramble up the side and get up here, so we set the dogs on, and they run him down. Look here, Master Mark; he'd got all these trout. Fine 'uns too."

The man opened Ralph's creel, and held it out for Mark to see, the lad nodding at the sight.

"Know'd where the good uns was."

"And what were you going to do with him?" said Mark quietly.

"We had to ketch him first," said the man, with a savagely stupid grin. "And he give us a lot o' trouble, and we thought best thing to do was to tie a stone to his neck and pitch him in one of the holes. But Tom, here, said the master wouldn't like it, and seeing he was a Darley, might like to make a sample of him, or keep him down in the mine to work. So we tied him tight, and was going to swing him between us, and carry him up to the gateway for the master to see. Then you come."

Mark made no sign of either satisfaction or anger, but stood thinking for a minute or so, before turning again to where Ralph lay gazing straight up to the sky, waiting for whatever fate might be his, and setting his teeth hard in the firm determination to die sooner than ask for mercy from the cruel young savage who stood before him with what seemed to be a malicious grin upon his face.

And as he lay, Ralph thought of his school life, and all that had passed there, and how strange it was that in the wild part of Midland England there, amongst the mountains of the Peak, people could still be so savage as to be able to follow their own wills to as great an extent as did the barons and feudal chiefs of a couple of hundred years before.

Such thoughts as these had never come to him till after he had left home for school, to find his level. Earlier in his boyhood his father had appeared to him to be chief or king of the district, with a neighbour who was a rival chief or king. He knew that King James ruled the land; but that was England, away from the Peak. There, Sir Morton Darley, knight, was head of all, and the laws of England did not seem to apply anywhere there. Then he had gradually grown more enlightened, and never more so than at the present moment, as he lay bound on the mossy stones, feeling that unless his father came with a strong enough force to rescue him, his fate might even be death. And the result? Would the law punish the Edens for the deed? He felt that they would go free. They were to a pretty good extent outlaws, and the deed would never be known beyond their district. The moors and mountains shut them in. But Sir Morton, Ralph felt, would never sit down quietly. He would for certain attack and try to punish the Edens, and the feud would grow more deadly than ever.

Thoughts like these ran through his brain as he lay there, till the silence was broken by Mark Eden, whose face plainly told of the supreme pleasure he felt in seeing his young enemy humbled thus before him.

"Well," he said at last, "are you not going to beg to be set at liberty?"

Ralph looked at him defiantly.

"No," he said.

"Want to be taken up to the Tor, and hung from the tower as a scarecrow to keep away all the other thieves?"

"What is it to you?" replied Ralph bitterly.

"You came and took our trout," said Mark, with a sneer; and he raised his foot as if tempted to plant it upon the prisoner's chest.

"Yes, I came and caught some trout: but I looked upon the river as free to me, as you thought our cliff was free to you."

"Hah!" cried Mark triumphantly; "I knew you would begin to beg for your life."

"I have not begged," said Ralph coldly. "You spoke to me and I answered."

"Ropes hurt?" said Mark, after a pause, during which he could find nothing else to say.

Ralph smiled.

"Look for yourself," he said. "They don't quite cut to the bone."

"Our mine lads are strong," said Mark proudly. "Strong enough to beat your wretched set of servants if ever they dare come up here."

"So brave and strong that you are glad to hire a gang of ruffianly soldiers to help you," said Ralph scornfully.

"What? Those fellows in rags and rust? Pooh! We would not have them."

Ralph opened his eyes a little wider.

"The Edens want no paid help of that kind. We're strong enough to come and take your place whenever we like; but as you won't be there, it will not matter to you."

"No," said Ralph, who was sick with pain, and faint from the throbbing caused by his bonds.

"But it would be a pity for my father to have you hung as a scarecrow," said Mark mockingly. "I don't like to see such things about. What do you say to going down to work always in our lead-mine?"

"Nothing," said Ralph coldly.

"Better to live in the dark there, on bread and water, than to be killed."

Ralph made no reply, but gazed fixedly in the speaker's eyes.

"Better beg for your life, boy," said Mark, placing his foot now on the prisoner's chest.

"What! of you?" cried Ralph.

"Yes: I might make you my lackey, to wait upon me. That is what the Darleys should do for the Edens."

"You coward!" said Ralph, with his pale face flushing now.

"What!" cried Mark. "Oh yes, call names like a girl. Come: beg for your life."

Ralph's answer was a fierce and scornful look, which told of what he would do if his hands were free. Then for a few moments he struggled, and Mark laughed.

"No good," he said; "our men can tie knots fast enough to hold a Darley."

The men, who stood at a little distance, laughed together in their satisfaction as they eagerly waited to see what was to come. Mark did not keep them long in suspense, for his hand went to the hilt of his sword, which he half drew.

"Now," he said, "beg for your life, Darley."

"Coward!" cried Ralph, in a hoarse whisper.

"Very well," said Mark. "I gave you the chance. You were caught by our men stealing on our land, and you ought to have begged. The Darleys always were beggars and thieves; but you will not. I gave you the opportunity."

He thrust the sword back in its sheath, and let his right hand fall to his side, where a strong knife-like dagger hung by a short chain from his belt, and whipped it out of its case.

"Does for a hunting-knife," he said, with a curious laugh. "My father has killed many a stag with it. Now, are you going to beg for your life?"

There was no reply, and the men took a step or two forward.

"Go back!" cried Mark fiercely; and the men obeyed.

Mark bent over the prisoner, with the mocking laugh intensifying.

"Too much of a coward to beg for your life," he said: "well, I'm too much of a coward to make you see it taken. There!"

With a quick movement, he turned Ralph over upon his face, thrust the point of the dagger beneath the line where the cut would tell best, and the prisoner's wrists were free; another quick cut divided the rope which drew his elbows together, and then the knees and ankles followed, the strained hemp easily parting at the touch of the keen blade, and Ralph Darley was free.

"Why, Master Mark," cried the chief man of the party in astonishment, "what you doing of?"

"Can't you see, idiot?" cried Mark, with a fierce snap.

"But what's the good of our ketching and tying on him?" cried the man addressed as Tom, in an ill-used tone.

"Say another word, you brute, and I'll have you tied as you tied him," cried Mark fiercely.

"Well, I dunno what Sir Eddard'll say when he knows."

"What he says he'll say to me," cried Mark. "You fellows ought to be in the mine by now. Go back to your work."

The youth stood pointing down the steep slope, and an angry murmur of opposition arose; but the men began to move off, only to be called back just as Ralph rose painfully to his feet.

"Come here," cried Mark. "Pick up those pieces of rope."

"Who's going to take them back to the mine?" said the leader, in an ill-used tone. "What's Dan Rugg going to say? Noo rope too."

"Tell him I cut it," said Mark imperiously. "You take it back."

The man picked up the pieces, and Tom quietly took up the creel from where it lay, half hidden by a tuft of fern fronds, to begin moving off with the trout. But Mark let him get a few steps away before following with a rush and a kick which sent the man on his face. Then, as he struggled up, angry and threatening, the lad snatched the creel from his hands.

"The Edens are not thieves," he said fiercely--"only when they want a few young ravens," he added, turning with a mocking laugh to Ralph; and once more the two lads stood gazing in each other's eyes for a few moments, the rustling made by the departing men and the murmur of their voices rising from below.

Then, imitating Ralph's action of the last time they met, he pointed down to the river, and said, with a mocking laugh:

"It's my turn now. The Darleys are not the only ones who know how to treat a fallen enemy. Your creel, sir; and you are welcome to our trout."

Ralph took the basket without a word, and without taking his eyes from Mark's, while it seemed as if each lad was fighting hard not to be the first to let his glance sink before the other's.

Then Ralph raised the lid of the creel, and began to take out the fish, but hesitated, and laid them back. To have thrown them on the ground seemed to him contemptible and mean.

"Now go," said Mark. "You and I are straight, sir. Next time we meet I hope you will wear your sword."

Ralph hesitated, and remained standing in the same place; his eyes looking as if he wanted to speak, but no words would come; and at last he turned and took a step to go, but his numbed feet and ankles gave way beneath him, and he tottered, and would have fallen, had not Mark involuntarily sprung forward and caught him in his arms.

Ralph laughed painfully.

"Let me sit down on the enemy's ground for a few minutes," he said. "Your men have left me no use in my limbs."

Mark gently let him down; and, faint with pain, the cold sweat breaking out in great drops all over his brow, Ralph said feebly, smiling the while:

"Not straight yet, Master Eden. I am in your debt now."

Then a deathly feeling of sickness came over him; trees, rocks, and sunny sky were dim, and glided before his eyes till all was darkness, for how long he could not tell.

When he opened his eyes again the sickly feeling still troubled him, but he could not understand why. It was like awakening from some troubled dream, and full consciousness came back slowly. Then, by degrees, he grasped the fact that his head was resting on a tuft of heath, and bracken fronds shaded him from the sun. His wrists throbbed with sharp-shooting pains, which ran right up beyond his elbows. There were pains, too, about his knees and ankles, and there was something else which he could not make out, till he looked towards his feet, to see that some one was seated a little below him on the sharp slope, with back half-turned to him, and his bare legs across his lap, chafing the ankles gently, first one and then the other, over and over again.

Ralph was quite conscious now, but he did not speak. He lay back there, making no movement, no sign; but a curiously dark look came into his eyes, and his lips quivered a little, grew firm again, and were softened by a smile, while a strange glowing sensation set in about his heart.

Five minutes must have elapsed before Mark Eden turned his head, started as he saw that Ralph's eyes were watching him, and his quiet intent gaze gave place to a frown; his face became scarlet, and he hastily placed his patient's legs upon the ground.

"How long have you been watching me?" he said hotly.

"Only a minute or so. Did I faint?"

"I suppose so," said Mark roughly. "Just like a great girl."

"Yes: very weak of me," said Ralph quietly.

"Yes, very," said Mark. "The brutes tied you too tightly. Try if you can walk now. Get down by the river, and bathe them a bit."

He stood up and thrust his hands behind him, looking at his young enemy scornfully; but the scarlet flush was in his face still, and would make him look as if he were ashamed of what he had been caught doing.

Ralph sat up, and struggled painfully to his feet, turning hot and faint again; but he made a brave effort to be firm, and took a step or two and then stopped, Mark making no effort to assist him. Then stifling a cry of pain, he took another step or two and tottered, when Mark caught his arm.

"You're shamming," he cried angrily.

Ralph's brow wrinkled, and he looked down at his bare legs and feet, raising one a little, painfully, to draw attention to the terribly swollen state of his ankles and knees.

"Shamming!" he said quietly. "Am I? Well, they are not."

Ralph held out first one leg, and then the other, before seating himself again, drawing his hose from his belt, and trying to draw them on; but at the end of a minute the pain from his swollen wrists forced him to give up the task, and he slowly replaced the hose in his belt.

Twice over, unseen by Ralph, his companion made a gesture as if to advance and help him, but he mastered the inclination; and after a while, Ralph sat perfectly still, waiting for the giddy feeling from which he suffered to go off. And at last, feeling a little better, he rose to his feet, bowed distantly, and began to descend the steep slope; but in a few minutes he was clinging to a tree, helpless once more, and he started, as Mark suddenly said, roughly:

"Here; you don't know our cliff: let me show you--"

Ralph was under the impression that he had left Mark Eden quite behind, and his surprise was the greater when he found that his enemy was offering him his arm, and ended by helping him down the remainder of the way to the river, where the injured lad gladly seated himself at the edge upon a stone, which enabled him to lave both feet at once in the clear cool current, to the great comfort and relief of his swollen ankles.

After a time he was able to use his feet, resume his hose and shoes, and rise to start back; but it was awkward to part without some word of thanks, and these were very difficult to say to one who stood by all the time, watching every action, with a mocking smile upon his lips.

But the words had to be said, and making an effort Ralph turned to speak. But before a sound had left his lips, Mark burst out with:

"Going now? Very well. Wait till we meet again. That way, sir. I dare say you know that you can cross the river there?"

Ralph bowed coldly, and took a few steps toward the shallows, before stopping short.

"I must go and thank him for what he has done," he said to himself; and he turned to walk back, but Mark was not visible.

"Master Mark Eden," he cried; but there was no reply, and he cried again, shouting as loud as he could, but there was still no response. And, sick at heart with pain and vexation, Ralph once more stumbled awkwardly along by the river, amongst stone, bramble, and fern, trying to make out where the deep chasm was down into which he had looked, but it was completely hidden by the trees; and, reaching the shallows, he slowly crossed to go homeward on the more open side, which was a far less difficult task, though it necessitated crossing the river again.

But as the lad disappeared among the trees, Mark Eden rose from where he had been hidden behind a pile of fallen blocks, to make his way into the chasm, and then upward to the castle on the Black Tor, frowning very fiercely, and feeling a good deal dissatisfied with himself, though brightening up a little as he began thinking of what was to happen the next time he and Ralph Darley met.

"One couldn't do anything," he said roughly, "till that old business had been put straight." _

Read next: Chapter 12. Baring The White Blade

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