Afterwards the minstrels danced and played a rude play, and inthe evening a miracle show was performed on a raised platform inthe north hall.
For a week afterwards the castle was fed upon the remains of thegood things left from that great feast, until everyone grew toloathe fine victuals, and longed for honest beef and mustardagain.
Then at last in that constant change the winter was gone, andeven the lads who had enjoyed its passing were glad when thewinds blew warm once more, and the grass showed green in sunnyplaces, and the leader of the wild-fowl blew his horn, as theywho in the fall had flown to the south flew, arrow-like,northward again; when the buds swelled and the leaves burst forthonce more, and crocuses and then daffodils gleamed in the greengrass, like sparks and flames of gold.
With the spring came the out-door sports of the season; amongothers that of ball--for boys were boys, and played at ball evenin those faraway days--a game called trap-ball. Even yet in someparts of England it is played just as it was in Myles Falworth'sday, and enjoyed just as Myles and his friends enjoyed it.
So now that the sun was warm and the weather pleasant the game oftrap-ball was in full swing every afternoon, the play-groundbeing an open space between the wall that surrounded the castlegrounds and that of the privy garden--the pleasance in which theladies of the Earl's family took the air every day, and uponwhich their apartments opened.
Now one fine breezy afternoon, when the lads were shouting andplaying at this, then their favorite game, Myles himself was atthe trap barehanded and barearmed. The wind was blowing frombehind him, and, aided perhaps by it, he had already struck threeof four balls nearly the whole length of the court--an unusualdistance-- and several of the lads had gone back almost as far asthe wall of the privy garden to catch any ball that might chanceto fly as far as that. Then once more Myles struck, throwing allhis strength into the blow. The ball shot up into the air, andwhen it fell, it was to drop within the privy garden.
The shouts of the young players were instantly stilled, andGascoyne, who stood nearest Myles, thrust his hands into hisbelt, giving a long shrill whistle.
"This time thou hast struck us all out, Myles," said he. "Therebe no more play for us until we get another ball."The outfielders came slowly trooping in until they had gatheredin a little circle around Myles.
"I could not help it," said Myles, in answer to their grumbling.
"How knew I the ball would fly so far? But if I ha' lost theball, I can get it again. I will climb the wall for it.""Thou shalt do naught of the kind, Myles," said Gascoyne,hastily. "Thou art as mad as a March hare to think of such aventure! Wouldst get thyself shot with a bolt betwixt the ribs,like poor Diccon Cook?"Of all places about the castle the privy garden was perhaps themost sacred. It was a small plot of ground, only a few rods longand wide, and was kept absolutely private for the use of theCountess and her family. Only a little while before Myles hadfirst come to Devlen, one of the cook's men had been foundclimbing the wall, whereupon the soldier who saw him shot himwith his cross bow. The poor fellow dropped from the wall intothe garden, and when they found him, he still held a bunch offlowers in his hand, which he had perhaps been gathering for hissweetheart.
Had Myles seen him carried on a litter to the infirmary asGascoyne and some of the others had done, he might have thoughttwice before venturing to enter the ladies' private garden. As itwas, he only shook his stubborn head, and said again, "I willclimb the wall and fetch it."Now at the lower extremity of the court, and about twelve orfifteen feet distant from the garden wall, there grew apear-tree, some of the branches of which overhung into the gardenbeyond. So, first making sure that no one was looking that way,and bidding the others keep a sharp lookout, Myles shinned upthis tree, and choosing one of the thicker limbs, climbed outupon it for some little distance. Then lowering his body, he hungat arm's-length, the branch bending with his weight, and slowlylet himself down hand under hand, until at last he hung directlyover the top of the wall, and perhaps a foot above it. Below himhe could see the leafy top of an arbor covered with a thickgrowth of clematis, and even as he hung there he noticed thebroad smooth walks, the grassy terrace in front of the Countess'sapartments in the distance, the quaint flower-beds, the yew-treestrimmed into odd shapes, and even the deaf old gardener workingbare-armed in the sunlight at a flower-bed in the far corner bythe tool-house.
The top of the wall was pointed like a house roof, andimmediately below him was covered by a thick growth of greenmoss, and it flashed through his mind as he hung there that maybeit would offer a very slippery foothold for one dropping upon thesteep slopes of the top. But it was too late to draw back now.
Bracing himself for a moment, he loosed his hold upon the limbabove. The branch flew back with a rush, and he dropped, strivingto grasp the sloping angle with his feet. Instantly thetreacherous slippery moss slid away from beneath him; he made avain clutch at the wall, his fingers sliding over the coldstones, then, with a sharp exclamation, down he pitched bodilyinto the garden beneath! A thousand thoughts flew through hisbrain like a cloud of flies, and then a leafy greenness seemed tostrike up against him. A splintering crash sounded in his ears asthe lattice top of the arbor broke under him, and with one finalclutch at the empty air he fell heavily upon the ground beneath.
He heard a shrill scream that seemed to find an instant echo;even as he fell he had a vision of faces and bright colors, andwhen he sat up, dazed and bewildered, he found himself face toface with the Lady Anne, the daughter of the house, and hercousin, the Lady Alice, who clutching one another tightly, stoodstaring at him with wide scared eyes.
