Maid Marian, the Forest Queen, being a companion to 'Robin Hood.'

Chapter I. The Forest Maiden

" I could find in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel, and to cry like a woman." As You Like Ir. ' Who will believe thee ? My vouoh against you, and my place i' the state Will so your accusation overweigh, That you shall stifle in your own report And smell of calumny. I have began ; Aud now 1 give my sensual race the rein." Measure for Measure, There were many sweet spots in Sherwood Forest in the twelfth century. Art had not done as much to destroy, in her vain attempt to beautify, as she accomplishes in this the era of refinement. Nature had bestowed on Man a glorious heritage in the rich and picturesque plantations which constituted the main locality of our story, and Man, in the fulness of his gratitude, had left untouched the rich and fanciful dispositions of his Be nefactor, save where the absolute necessities of existence forced him to use ' the axe, or where his foot had trodden paths upon the velvet sward in his needful peregrinations or in the exercise decreed by health.

The land, indeed, was not the common property of so ciety. Governmeot, originally arranged by man for his own protection, had become a vast monopoly, and even the rude forests were declared the appanages of royalty. True, the savage wolf, once the tyrant of the woods of England, had been expelled, and herds of graceful deer roamed, unmo lested of their ancient foe ; but these innocent denizens of the jungle, were, like tha soil, the property of the jnonarcb, and the highest penalties were attached to their de struction — not, be it observed, for their own takes, but to gratify the selfishness of their proprietor. In times when Monarchs could scarcely read, and state affairs engaged less of their attention - (lj than at the present day, the chase was their chief pastime, and as the game 4s abundant and always to be reached by the fleet hound, the swift horse or the swifter arrow, there was no occasion for those savage battues in which modern sportsmen of the highest degree occasionally indulge. 1 bus the forest nearly maintained its primitive aspect, presenting to he eye of the over of Nature a thousand picturesque beauties which are rarely to be met with now a-days even by the industrious painter, who, on business though s intent, per forms fatiguing pilgrimages to the sylvan domains.

Here, a thick and tangled coppice displayed the richness and the fantastic dispositions of the vegetable world While the oak, in its ancient majesty, spread its vast and protecting branches across the humbler members of the arborial tribe ; these hnked them selves to the mighty monarch by an infinite variety of creepers and parasites which threw their leaved tendrils around the massive trunks in elegant iestoons. Anon a cluster of birch and saplings, or a row of hardy elms, skirted a green mantled glade, spangled with daisies and cowslips, and other wild gems from Flora's exhaustless cabinet. Now a rippling brook murmured through the coverts, or dashed in frolicsome mood over the pebbly obstructions forced from their bed of earth, until it reached a miniature mead, when, spreading its course, the stream ran clear and limpid, offering pure beverage to the thirsty stag, and a refreshing lavatory to the tired traveller.

It was in one of these diminutive lawns, and on the smooth bank of a rhrystaline rivulet, that, at the opening of our story, a figure reclined, shaded from the fierce beams of the summer's sun hy the spreading branches of an umorageous wild chesnut tree. Although the green tunic, the russet boot and the close fitting hose — the broad felt hat, and the black hackle plucked from an eagle's wing — the bugle, the staff, and the couteau de chasse, or hunting knife, would have denoted a man, and he a lawless forest ranger ; the face, the delicate limbs, the rich ringlets which covered the hand on which the small head reclined, left no doubt that the recumbent form was that of one of the opposite sex. Never did the chisel of ihe Greek sculptor delineate a more exquisite nymph; unattired she had been a study for a Naiad or a Grace.

" What ihough the sun with ardent frown, Had slightly tiogcd her cheek with brown, The sportive toil, which, short and light. Had dyed her glowing hue so bright, Served, ton, in hastitr swell to show Short glimpses of a breast of snow ; What though no rule of courLly grace To measured mood had trained her |.ace, A foot more liuht, a step more true, Ne'er from the heath flower dashed the dew; E'en tl.e slight harebell raised its head, Elastic from her airy tread : What though upon her speech there hung The accents of the forest tongu-, Those silver sounds, so soft, 90 dear, The list'ner held his breath to hear." With her eyes cast upon the silvery stream, whose soft music relieved the Utter stillness of the noontide, the maiden appeared wwpped in meditation ; and, sooth to say, the hour, the scene, were admirably suited to the contemplative mood.

At the foot of the lady, crouched in an attitude which at once indicated a vigilance superior to the lethargic influences of the heat, might be seen a large and powerful black bloodhound, one of the breed of St. Hubert, more valued for their admirable scent, their courage and fidelity, than their swiftness of foot. The patron saint from whom they took their appellation hunted with St. Eustace, and boars and foxes, rather than deer, were their especial game. How long the gentle maiden had reposed in the attitude in which we hav« found her it boots not to tell. How long she might have remained in that posi tion had not her meditations been suddenly ipterrupted, we are unable to say. Behind her, winding its devious way through a long and tangled thicket, lay a path which conducted to the outskirts of the forest.

It had been formed by the tread of travellers who had shaped their course for Nottingham, after slaking their thirst and laving their limbs in the grateful brook. Marian Fitzwalter or Maid Marian (for it was she to whom the reader has been introduced) was startled from her pensiveness by the sound of foot steps slowly pacing the pathway. The ear of Grimwald, the dog, denoted that he too was aware of the proximity of a stranger, and he at once announced his conviction by a growl, which ripened into a muffled bark, and as the steps grew nearer attained the bold maturity of a prolonged howl. Leaping up and giving tongue in the most approved form of reprehension, he awoke a thousand echoes in his loud protest against the disturbance to which his mistress had been exposed. " Down, sirrah ! down ! or by St. Hubert I'll chastise thee witb a sapling twig !" cried Marian.

The tone, rather than fear of the menace, silenced the alarum, for not even the savage bloodhound is proof against woman's displeasure. " Keep thy tongue for higher purposes. To scare the lowly pilgrim is neither thy province nor thy master's practice. The poor and the pious have right of way, even to the precincts of our bower." And as she said these words Maid Marian rose, and prepared to greet a bearded pilgrim, who now emerged from the path and approached the stream. " Save you, fair sir 1" uttered in low and tremulous tones, were the words with which he accosted our heroine ; " may all bounteous Nature shower upon you ber choicest gifts !" Marian was about to thank his courtesy, but he continued before she had time to shape her acknowledgments : — "And yet, methinks, that form bespeaks thee of another sex!

Is it man or maiden that I presume to address ?" " Or man or maiden boots thee but little, stranger," abruptly answered the Forest Queen. " Thou comest to rest and refresh thee, and the presence of another may be an interruption." And, placing her hat upon her head, and grasping her staff, the maid prepared to move. The Pilgrim clutched the chain of her bugle. " Nay, stay," said he. " I came not to interrupt the repose or meditation of another. There is space for both of us ; resume thy posture, and suffer me to gaze — " He checked himself, but the strange glitter of his eye and the earnestness of his manner awakened the apprehensions of Marian, and she resisted his attempt to detain her. " Let go your hold, sir !" said she, in the tone of one accustomed to command. " It is plain you have discovered my sex, and as the garb is not intended for disguise, 'tis fit you know me at once. 1 am she whom men Maid Marian call — the bride of the brave Lord Huntingdon, now in the Holy Land, fighting by the side of his sovereign lord, the Lion-hearted Richard."

And her bosom swelled and her colour rose as she made the proud announcement. The Pilgrim did not manifest surprise either at her manner or her language. He stood apparently irresolute, bending his eyes upon her with a singular expression, in which admiration and fear were strangely blended. " If," rejoined the palmer, after a pause, " you are really the maiden bride of the out law, how comes it that you are found alone and unattended in this sequestered spot ? I deemed that Marian, of whom report sayeth so much, was ever sur rounded by her merry thieves in Lincoln green." " There must be pauses, sir Pilgrim, even in the merriment and business of the forest lords ; and well would it be for the temporary ruler of England her self — I mean Prince John — were all who are trusted with the dominion of their fellow men to retire occasionally to meditation."

The Pilgrim moved uneasily, muttering to himself, " 'Tis well ; then she is sometimes alone and unprotected" — he slightly coughed and added — " How knowest thou that the Prince, of whom thou speakest so irreverently, does not spend some hours in devotion ? How knowest thou he hath not his orisons and penances, his sacrifices and his solitude i" . "Nay, for that matter, he may have all; but little, I wot, is his soul van taged thereby. His princely sacrifices are offered up to the heathen god ot wine ; his penances are involuntary mortifications at the failure of his schemes ; and as to his orisons, with no better spiritual guide than the drunken Abbot of St. Michael's, I doubt if there be much virtue in his praying.' " Damsel," said the Pilgrim, wincing, " it is ill for one of loyal tendencies to hear so much scandal of the high and puissant ; and but that thy beauty sancti fies libels, which even John himself might listen to with patience, I might— although but an humble subject like thyself— arrest thee for these scandals, and — " .

" And if thou didst, one blast of this bugle would bring around me hve score of merrie men who would make rare sport of the Palmer's daring, and try if yon outstretching branch could bear the weight of his superloyal body !" The Palmer started. But his self-possession quickly returning, he retorted in a half-jocular tone, " But ere thy lawless band could come to thy rescue, what wouldst thou do to avert the wrath of a devoted subject ?" " What !" ejaculated Marian : " Why, show him a fair pair of heels, and leave him to Grimwald's mercies !" saying which, she plunged one end of her staff into the middle of the stream, and supporting herself upon the other, sprang across to the opposite bank with a " Hey, boy !" to the dog, who at once seized upon the pilgrim's cloak. Marian had scarcely planted her foot upon the bank, than she applied her lips to the bugle, and blew a shrill note of summons to her henchmen.

The Pilgrim, evidently alarmed at the possible consequences of the arrival of the lady's reinforcements, at once threw off his cloak, and unwittingly dis playing the close fitting dress of a man of rank, he turned and rushed with incredible speed down the pathway by which he had come. The hound, quitting his grasp of the mantle, was about to follow the fugitive, but Marian peremptorily called him off. Little John, the stalwart Lieutenant of the outlaw, Robin, was the first to reach the glade and join his mistress. " What now, fair lady, what may be amiss?" asked he, his ready hand instinctively drawing an arrow from his quiver. " Nothing, nothing — the danger 's past. Bid the men resume their coverts, and come to me again." Little John waved back the foresters as they severally answered the appeal, passing a word of explanation to the nearest, who communicated it to the latest comers.

The outlaws were not sorry to be allowed to resume their positions in the cool retreats of the forest : — though, as we have seen, prompt to encounter danger, in whatever form it might threaten their liege lady, they loved the dolce far niente — the pleasure of doing nothing — for which the Italian lazzaroni are so famous. When Little John had returned to Marian's side, she explained to him all that had happened. Little John hinted his suspicions that the Pilgrim was a mere impostor, who, in that guise, had sought an interview with the Queen of the Wood. " By my fay," said the Herculean yeoman, " it is well for him that I was not an ear witness of his rough wooing. There is a chance yet, however: — perhaps he may try again." " Let us hope not, friend," replied Marian ; " yet I am not without my fearsv and this it is that makes me solicitous for my lord's return.

Methinks he lingers long in Palestine, and forgets his poor sylvan love." " My life on't, no !" fervently exclaimed Little John : " the Earl is neither a traitor to his affections nor his duty. For the time, the former give place to the latter, but they will soon change places, and then hey for the merry days in the woodland!" »ndX,fc y ? C°me!l SIghed Marian" "l t>7 '0 keep a stout heart and fit my bearing to my suit, but woman's nature struggles to be uppermost and sooner or later I sear will accomplish a victory. Come, to our repeat™ And she slowly walked into the thicket, followed by her trusty Lieutenant.

Chapter II. The

PAYN1MS IN THE HOLY LAND. " Therefore, friends, As far as to the sepulchre of Christ, (Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross We are impressed and engaged to fight) Forthwith a power of English shall we levy, Whose arms were moulded in their mother's womb To chase these Pagans in these holy fields, Over whose acres walked those blessed feet, Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd For our advantage on the bitter cross. SHAKSrEARE, It was night upon the broad and sandy plain which, far as the eye could scan surrounded the City of Acre, in Palestine. The burning heats of the day had given place to a mild atmosphere, rendered somewhat humid by the dews which rapidly sell as soon as the sun had retired behind the western horizon and this agreeable temperature had been succeeded by a dry and chilling wind' which now blew with considerable force from the north east.

Around the town, disposed as nearly as possible in the form of a circle, lay the encampments ot the trench and British armies, not separated as if they belonged to hostile parties but sufficiently intermingled to enable them to co-operate in any great and sudden designs, without, at the same time, utterly breaking the unity of each detachment. * Our story opens m the month of June, 1191. For two years and upwards anterior to this date the Christians assembled in Palestine, for the purpose of releasing Jerusalem from the thraldom and occupation of the Saracens had vainly endeavoured to possess themselves of Acre, or as it was likewise called Ptolemais. The German Emperor Frederic, aided bv continual arrivals of adventurers from the west, inspired by holy zeal and a'desire for military distinction, had made many assaults upon the fortified town ; but the resources of the besieged, who continually molested the Christian army by dashing sallies and attacks under the generalship of Caracos, a chosen captain of Saladin's had protracted the consummation of the enterprise.

Frederic almost began to despair of success, although the holiness of the cause in which he was engaged forbade the Paynims from abandoning all hope of ultimate conquest. But an event had now occurred which gave confidence to the Emperor, and filled the breasts of the Saracens with alarm. Richard Cœur de Lion, the greatest soldier of his time, and Philip of France, a royal warrior of no mean skill, had joined him with large levies of devoted soldiers, and the siege of Acre was renewed with great energy and skill. From one hundred and fifty thousand men, the army of the German Emperor had dwindled to a force of eight thousand 'The artifices of the Greeks, and the power of the Infidels, fatigue, famine, sickness, and the sword, had conspired, in two years, to thin the Christian ranks to this lamentable extent.

Hence the accession of the French and English troops, headed by two such distinguished generals as the Kings of the respective nations was of the highest importance to the interests of the " holy" enterprise To account for the friendly commingling of the camps of Richard and Philip, it is necessary to state that it had been agreed between these Princes that they should act in concert. When Cœur de Lion and his intrepid followers assailed the town, Philip and his knights kept the trenches: when Philip was engaged in the attack, Richard covered his operations and held his men in reserve to secure the assailants from danger. This course of procedure, while it equally divided the labour of the siege, promoted the amicable understanding with which the soldier sovereigns set out, and gave rise to an emulation which was equally ser viceable to the discipline, and favourable to the successes, of both armies.

On the day preceding the night whence our story dates, the business of breaching the walls of Acre by means of catapults and battering rams had fallen to the French. They had contrived, supported by the English bowmen, to effect an opening in the south bastion of the fortress, and at this point the English were to commence the attack on the following day. The night had sped. Silence reigned throughout the camp, save where sentinel challenged sentinel, or the relieving guard tramping from post to post, or the clink of the armourers "accomplishing the knights," or the merry lay of eome gay troubadour, denoted that sleep was still a stranger to the vigilant and excited. There were watch fires and cressets at the end of each row of tents, but the outposts and picquets had dispensed with these indications of their own whereabouts, for the risk to which they were thereby exposed from the nocturnal visitations of the Assassins more than counterbalanced the comfort otherwise derivable from the presence of the crackling faggots.

" A piercing wind, this," said Hubert Foley to his fellow sentinel Geoffrey Storwood, as they passed each other in the lonely round. " Methinks a flagon of ale in the hostelry of old Gilbert of Laleham were more to my taste than drafts of cold air in the maidaun of a heathen town." " It is a nipping air," answered Storwood ; " but where would be the virtue of the enterprise if it had not some attendant hardships ? He in whose cause we fight endured more — much more — for the sake of a sinful world, than we, who are but the humble instruments of Saracenic chastisement." Hubert was silenced, for however much his military ardour went in advance of his pious zeal, it was not the fashion with the Soldiers of the Cross to admit the true springs of their motive for joining the expedition. " Right," he rejoined, after a pause ; " it should be our pride to suffer.

By my halidome, I could receive a flesh wound without a murmur ; and even a mortal stroke would come with a relish if I could only see the infidel hand which inflicted it stricken off before I died." " That is the right sort of feeling to cherish, comrade," said Geoffrey ; " and who knows but to-morrow may test its sincerity? There will be bloody noses and cracked crowns ere the sun again sets upon our camp." "God speed the dayl" chorussed Hubert. "It is the British turn to morrow, and strange will it be if the breach made by Philip's men do not pro vide an entrance for stouter warriors." " To do them justice," said Geoffrey, " they worked right well. Yet did it something gall me to see their pennons scaring the glittering crescent and veiling the broad green standard of the Prophet's followers."

" What 1 — hast sympathies with the Saracen ?" asked Foley, in a tone of surprise. __, " Sympathies '.—Gad's me ! — no ; but I sickened that it was not the merry banner of St. George which thus extorted the homage of the Mahometan. Dignify the feeling with the name of emulation, or degrade it with the appel lation of jealousy, I freely own I cannot see the flag of St. Denis fluttering under the walls of Acre without disagreeable emotions." " Nonsense, Geoffrey Storwood ; turn and turn about is only fair. If I had a miud to be sarcastic, I could now retort your reproof. "Remember the Cause, and away with all unworthy sentiments. Let us show the proud whipsters, in to-morrow's fray, how petty is the flouting of the French silk in comparison with the triumphant waving of the ever-glorious flag of merry England."

Another pause ensued, and the sentinels continued their walk. After the -apse of a few minutes, Geoffrey resumed — " Hist, comrade." Hubert approached. " Thou knowest I am slow to sus pect treachery — slower still to believe in ghosts and hobgoblins, yet something I have just now seen makes me fancy that we are about to be the sport of one or the other." Hubert was all attention, for, though a gentleman by birth and habit, his long acquaintance with military life had given him a taste for adventure which rather encouraged credulity. Had he lived in later times he would have upheld Don Quixote, and believed, with him, that windwills were giants, and flocks of sheep bodies of armed men. " Dost thou not behold," continued Geoffrey, " a bush some twenty yards in front of my post ?" Hubert stooped to the ground to get the object betwixt him and the horizon.

" Clear enough, good Geoffrey ; and what of that same bush ?" " It was not there before. Twenty times have I approached that spot this very night, and never saw it yet." " Perhaps," hinted Hubert, " you never walked in that direction r" " If not precisely towards the object, at least sufficiently near to have seen it had it been there. I am convinced some supernatural power is at work, or one of the Old Man's creatures is at some new stratagem." Hubert laughed. "A queer form, methinks, for ghost or Assassin to take. No, comrade, this is only an instance of that rapid vegetation for which these warm countries are so celebrated. The night breeze has fanned the lowly plant into an expansive shrub," and he turned to pursue his round. Scarcely, how ever, had he gone ten paces, when he, too, started and suddenly came to a halt.

" Nay," quoth he, " Geoffrey is surely right, for here is another accursed bush sprung into vitality within these few minutes," and he called to his comrade to hasten to his side. But Geoffrey was now too well satisfied of the proximity of danger to quit his post. Steadily keeping his eyes upon the shrub, he had marked its irregular oscillation, and was sensible that it still advanced upon him, until after the lapse of a few minutes it had come within a spear's length of the sentinel. Geoffrey could endure it no longer. " Whoe'er thou art," he exclaimed aloud, " be thou man or devil, goblin, or spirit of grace, I command thee, stand !" and he poised his lance. No answer proceeding from the bush, and its sudden eleva tion giving him assurance of the presence of an enemy, the intrepid soldier made a vigorous thrust at the moving object.

But his weapon simply became entangled in the branches, for the figure of a man was instantly seen running towards the fortress, leaving his temporary cover a trophy for the astonished Christian. Meanwhile, Hubert, whose quicker perception and larger experience of ruses de guerre assured him of the vicinity of a foe, had retreated a few paces from the bush in his front, and dropping his tall figure to the earth, stealthily crept towards the suspicious neighbour, covered by his lance and target. Then, when sufficiently near to hear the breathing of his furtive adversary, he sud denly exclaimed, " God and St.. George ;" and with one well-directed thrust pinned an assassin to the earth. "Allah il Illah !" screamed the Saracen; and the blood spouted from his heart's core. Geoffrey was instantly at his com rade's side.

He asked no questions. That they had been saved from murder hy their own vigilance and daring was evident. The condition of their treacherous visitant, moreover, explained how other less watchful sentinels had come by their deaths. Shouting at the top of his voice, while Hubert, with drawn faulchion, knelt upon the body of the dying man, Geoffrey soon brought a handful of the nearest guard to the spot. The story was soon told. " Bring the wretch away," said Sir Wilfrid Cotherstone, who commanded thc guard. " Bring him away, and if there be a spark of life left in him he shall be impaled and flayed alive in company with the accursed Jew who sold us the poisoned flour. Bring him away." " Under favor, Sir Knight," said Hubert, whose achievement had given him right of speech towards his superior, " I opine that it were better to carry the craven before our royal master, that he may question make of him as to the positions and resources of the enemy — " " What ! to be cajoled and cheated by the accursed thief, as hostile to the Paynim as he is foe to truth?

No.no!" said Sir Wilfrid, " the stake and the searing-irons for the Old Man's chicks. Bear him away." Two stout men relieved Hubert of his charge and lifted the Assassin from the ground. With one convulsive effort the wretch seized his dagger and would have plunged it into the bowels of his assailant. But nature had sped her course. His vital spark was extinguished in the spasmodic movement and he fell back a corpse without uttering a groan. " Cast his carcase to the earth," said Sir Wilfrid, " and leave it a prey to the carrion crow and the famished jackal. It will whet their appetite for the feast we shall provide for them within the town to-morrow." And the guard, after relieving the two sentinels, returned to their tent. The incident we have described was only one of many of a similar kind which occurred during the siege.

The Assassins were important allies of the Saracens, acting a part corresponding with that performed by light infantry in the present day, or, more aptly, like that of the guerillas in Spanish wars, or the Goorkhas in the wars in Northern India. In crafty expedient they were unmatched by the Red Indian of the Prairie ; in boldness and courage they had no competitors. The term assassin, which, from their sanguinary pro ceedings, has become the denotative of a stealthy murderer, was not in their case an opprobrious epithet; it simply indicated the followers or people of an Asiatic Prince who was caUed The Old Man of the Mountain, and who had acquired such an ascendancy over liis fanatical subjects that they paid the most implicit deference to his commands, esteemed assassination meritorious when sanctified by his mandate, courted danger, and even certain death in the execution of bis orders, and fancied that when they sacrificed their lives for his sake the highest joys of Paradise were the infallible reward of their devoted obedience.

It was the custom of thia Prince, says the first of British historians, when he imagined himself injured, to dispatch secretly some of his subjects against the aggressor; to charge him with the execution of his revenge, to instruct them in every art of disguising their purpose; and no precaution was sufficient to guard any man, however prompt, against the attempts of these subtle and determined ruffians. The greatest monarch stood in awe of the Prince of the Assassins. To approach the camp of the Allied Army of Christians, screened by a bush after the manner of Macduff's soldiers, who stripped Birnam Wood to cover their advance, and then to fall upon the sentries, was a stratagem that had been found very successful and unattended with risk. The darkness of the nights, the resemblance of the screen to a natural shrub, the slow, silent, and almost imperceptible manner in which the approach was effected, invariably threw the soldiers off their guard.