Grant Allen - "An African Millionaire"

John Morley - "Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3)"

Various - "Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864"

J. W. Powell - "Canyons of the Colorado"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

At Agincourt

G >> G. A. Henty >> At Agincourt




"I was thinking that myself, Sir Eustace," his esquire said. "That is the
worst of being on the defence; one sees such chances but cannot avail
one's self of them."

In the castle everything was quiet, and all those not on duty were already
asleep. Along the wall watchers stood at short intervals peering into the
darkness, but the main body there were also stretched on the wall with
their arms by their side until required to be up and doing. Now that Sir
Eustace was himself at the gate his esquire went round the walls at short
intervals to be sure that the men on watch were vigilant. Presently a loud
cry was heard from the corner of the moat away to the right.

"Go and see what is doing, Guy," Sir Eustace said, "and bring me news."

Guy ran along to the angle of the wall. Here one of the archers was
posted.

"What is it, Dickon?"

"A man crept up to that corner opposite, Master Guy. I could not have
sworn to him, it is so pesky dark, but I thought there was something
moving there and shot almost at a venture, for I could scarce see the end
of my arrow; but it hit there or thereabouts, for I heard him shout. A
moment later he was on his feet and running. I could see him more plainly
then, so I shot again, and over he went. I fancy that in the morning you
will see my arrow sticking up somewhere between his shoulder-blades,
though there is no saying precisely, for a nicety of shooting is not to be
looked for in the dark,"

"You have done very well, Dickon. Keep your eyes open; we may be sure
there are more than one of these fellows about."

Guy hurried back with the news.

"That is good," said Sir Eustace, "and it was just as well that the archer
did not kill him outright with his first arrow, the cry will show any of
his comrades who may be about that they had best keep their distance from
the walls."

A minute's silence followed, and then Long Tom said, "There is another has
had his lesson, Sir Eustace. I heard a bow twang across there, and as
there was no cry you may be sure that the shaft sped straight, and that
the man had no time to utter one."

"He may have been missed altogether, Tom."

"Missed altogether! no indeed, Sir Eustace, there is no fear of that.
There is not one of the men on the wall who would miss a man whose figure
he could make out at fifty yards' distance, and they would scarce see them
until they were as close as that. No, my lord, I would wager a month's pay
that when morning dawns there is a dead man lying somewhere in front of
the outwork."

"Now, Guy, you had best go up to your room and lie down until daylight,"
Sir Eustace said. "There will be naught doing to-night, and unless I am
mistaken, we shall be busy from sunrise till sunset. I shall myself lie
down for a couple of hours presently, and then send John Harpen to rest
till daylight. Long Tom, see that you yourself and all your men take a
short sleep by turns; we shall need your eyes to be open above all others
to-morrow."

Guy promptly obeyed the order. Dame Margaret was still up.

"Is everything quiet, Guy?" she asked as she entered,

"So quiet, my lady, that Sir Eustace has ordered me to bed, and he said
that he himself should come down for a short sleep presently. Two spies
who crawled up have been slain by the archers. Sir Eustace is sure that no
attack will be made before morning."

Then he went into his little room and threw himself onto his pallet.
During the first few minutes he lifted his head several times fancying
that he heard noises; then he fell into a sound sleep and did not awake
until the day dawned.

In a few minutes Guy was on the wall. The night had passed quietly; so far
as was known no fresh attempt at reconnoitring the works had been made,
and as the moon had risen soon after he had gone to bed there was reason
to believe that the fact that the two spies had not returned was so strong
a proof of the vigilance of the garrison, that the enemy had been content
to wait until morning. Just as the sun rose the three knights who had
summoned the castle on the preceding evening appeared on the brow of the
opposite slope, accompanied by a body of men-at-arms, and rode slowly
round the castle. From time to time they halted, and were evidently
engaged in a discussion as to the point at which it could be best
attacked.

"Shall I shoot, my lord?" Long Tom asked. "They are some two hundred and
fifty yards away, but from this height methinks that I could reach them."

"It would be useless," Sir Eustace said; "you could hit them, I doubt not,
but you would not pierce their armour at this distance, and it is as well
that they should not know how far our bows will carry until we are sure of
doing execution when we shoot; besides I would rather that they began the
fight. The quarrel is not one of my seeking, and I will leave it to them
to open the ball. It is true that they did so last night by sending their
spies here, but we have balanced that account. Moreover, if they are to
attack, the sooner the better. They may have gained news from Sir Hugh of
the coming here of the English archers and the men-at-arms, but if they
have not done so we shall have a rare surprise in store for them."

After the knights had made a circuit of the castle they retired, and
presently a dense mass of men appeared from behind the brow on which the
cottages they had burned had stood.

"They have bundles of faggots, Sir Eustace!" Guy exclaimed.

"So they have, Guy! Your eye is a good one. It seemed to me that the
outline was a strange one, but doubtless it is as you say--that each man
has a faggot on his shoulder. It is evident that they intend, in the first
place, to assault the postern, and have brought the faggots to fill up the
ditch."

Then he turned to the gunners at the cannon.

"Lay your pieces so as to bear on them when they come half-way down the
hill," he said, "and shoot when they are fairly in the line of fire. Take
the same orders, Guy, to the men working the ballistas and mangonels on
the wall. Tell them not to loose their machines until after the guns are
fired. If the fellows take to flight, tell them not to waste their
missiles; if they advance, let them be sure that they are well within
range before they shoot."

With loud shouts the enemy came down the slope. When they were half-way
down the two guns roared out, and their shot ploughed two lanes in the
crowded body. There was a movement of retreat, but the three knights and
several others threw themselves in front, waving their swords and
shouting, and the Orleanists rallied and moved forward, but at a much
slower pace than before. They had gone but a short distance when the
arrows of the archers in the outwork and the bolts of the cross-bows
worked by the men-at-arms there, began to fall among them. So true was the
aim of the archers that scarce a shaft was wasted. At the distance at
which they were shooting they did not aim at the knights, whose vizors and
coats of mail could not have been pierced, but shot at the commonalty,
whose faces and throats were for the most part unprotected. Man after man
fell, and the cross-bow bolts also told heavily upon the crowd. They had
come down but a short distance farther when Long Tom, and the archers with
him on the wall, began to send their arrows thick and fast, and the
machines hurled heavy stones with tremendous force among them. A moment
later the French broke and fled up the slope again, leaving some fifty of
their number stretched on the ground. The knights followed more slowly.
When they reached the crest a group of them gathered around Sir Clugnet de
Brabant.

"By my faith," the latter said bitterly, "we have reckoned without our
host, Sir Knights. We came to shear, but in good sooth we seem more likely
to go back shorn. Truly those knaves shoot marvellously; scarce an arrow
went astray."

"As I mentioned to you, Sir Clugnet," Sir Hugh de Fruges said, "Sir
Eustace brought with him from England five-and-twenty bowmen, and I heard
tell from men who had seen them trying their skill at targets that they
were in no wise inferior to those with whom we have before had to deal to
our cost."

"Truly ye did so, Sir Hugh; but the matter made no impression upon my
mind, except as a proof that the knight's inclinations were still with
England, and that it were well that his castle were placed in better
keeping; but in truth these fellows shoot marvellously, both for strength
and trueness of aim. I marked as we came back that of the men we passed
lying there, nigh all those who had been struck with arrows were hit in
the face or throat, and yet the distance must have been over a hundred and
fifty yards."

"I can answer for the force," one of the others said, "for a shaft struck
me fairly on the chest, and hurled me to the ground as if it had been the
shock of a lance, and it is well my mail was of the best work of Milan;
but nevertheless the arrow broke two of the links; if the distance had
been shorter, I doubt not that it would have slain me. Well, what shall we
do next, gentlemen? For very shame we cannot with eight thousand men march
away having accomplished nothing. The question is, where shall our next
attack be delivered?"

"Methinks," another knight said, "we delivered our attack too rashly. Had
I known that there were English archers there I should have advised
waiting until nightfall, and I think that it would be best to do so now.
If we take our fellows up while there is light they will suffer so much
from the stings of these wasps that they will soon lose heart. The knaves
shoot not only straight and strong, but they shoot so fast that though, as
you say, there may be but twenty-five of them, the air seemed full of
arrows, and had you told us that there were two hundred archers shooting,
I should have thought the estimate a reasonable one."

They stood for some time discussing the best method of attack, and as soon
as they had settled upon it the men were told to scatter. Some were to go
to the farmhouses, and bring up any hides that might be stored there, and
to fetch all the hurdles they could lay hands upon; a portion were to go
to the woods and cut timber for making mantlets and cover, while two
thousand were to remain under arms in case the garrison should make a
sortie.

Within the castle all were in high spirits at the easy repulse of the
first attack.

"Sir Clugnet must have learned from Sir Hugh of my having English archers
and men-at-arms here," Sir Eustace said to his lieutenant, "and yet he
advanced as carelessly and confidently as if he had been attacking a place
defended only by fat Flemish burghers; however, he has had his lesson, and
as it is said he is a good knight, he will doubtless profit by it, and we
shall hear no more of him till after the sun has set. Run up to the top of
the keep, Guy, and bring me back news what they are doing."

In a few minutes the lad returned. "There are two or three thousand of
them, my lord, drawn up in a body beyond the crest; the rest of them are
scattering in various directions."

"That is as I expected," Sir Eustace remarked; "they have gone to prepare
materials for a regular attack. It may be delivered to-night, or may be
delayed for a day or two; however, we shall be ready for them. Jean
Bouvard, do you go round the walls and tell all, save a few as sentries,
to retire until the watchman blows his horn to warn us if they seem to be
gathering for an attack; and do you, Long Tom, give the same orders to
your archers. There is no use wasting the men's strength till the work
begins in earnest. If Sir Clugnet is wise he will march away at once. He
would need heavy machines and cannon to make a breach in our walls, and
even had he an abundance of them it would take him some time to do so. If
he tries again, you may be sure that it will be the work of Sir Hugh de
Fruges, who has no doubt a lively interest in the matter. He is a clever
fellow, and will no doubt do his best to work on the feelings of the other
knights by representing that it would be disgraceful for so large a force
to abandon the enterprise merely because a first hasty attack, delivered
without preparation, had been repulsed. The fact that they have made so
careful an examination of the castle would seem in itself to show that
they intended to renew the attempt in another form if the first onset
failed, and, moreover, the scattering of the force afterwards while the
knights still remained with a large body here points in the same
direction."

Guy on descending from the keep joined Sir Eustace and his wife in their
apartments.

"The lad has borne himself bravely," Sir Eustace said approvingly to his
wife; "he was standing beside me when their shot was bringing down the
dust round our ears, and he neither started nor flinched, though in truth
it was far from pleasant, especially as we had nothing to do but to look
on. It may be next time we shall have sterner fighting, and I doubt not
that he will bear himself well."

"Could I not come up and carry your messages, father?" Henry asked; "I am
not strong like Guy, but I could do that."

"He is too young for it yet, Eustace," Dame Margaret broke in.

"Nay, wife," the knight said gently, "the lad is not too young for such
service. There will be little danger in it, for his head will not show
over the battlements, and it is well that he should learn to hear without
fear the whizz of an arrow or the shock of a great stone from a ballista,
the clash of arms, and the shouting of men. As he says, he is not yet
strong enough to bear arms, but he will learn to brace his nerves and show
a bold front in danger; that is a lesson that cannot be learned too young.
Yes, Henry, you shall be my messenger. If they try an assault to-night,
you shall put on for the first time the steel cap and breastpiece I had
made for you in England; there will be no danger of your being hit by
crossbow bolt or arrow, but there may be splinters of stone flying when a
missile hits the battlement. Take no arms with you, only your dagger; they
would be useless to you, and would hamper your movements in getting past
the men on the wall, or in running up and down the steps leading to it.
Now you had better lie down; both Guy and myself are going to do so. At
sunset, if no alarm comes before, you will be called."

"We must not coddle the boy, Margaret," he said as Guy and Henry went off.
"I know that he is not physically strong as yet, and sorry I am that it
should be so, but he might exert himself more than he does, and he is apt
to think too much of his ailments. I was glad when he volunteered to do
something, for it is at least as well that he should be able to stand fire
even if he cannot learn the use of arms; moreover, it may be that after
once bearing a part in a fray he may incline more warmly to warlike
exercises than he has hitherto done; it may rouse in him a spirit which
has so far been wanting. I have often thought that it would have been
better if Agnes had been the boy and he the girl; she has far more courage
and fire than he has. You remember when that savage bull chased them, how
she saw him first over the stile and got tossed over after him for her
pains?"

Dame Margaret nodded. "I am not likely to forget it, Eustace, seeing that
her arm was broken and I had to nurse her for six weeks. Do you know that
she was up on the top of the keep while the fighting was going on? Of
course I was there myself, and she begged so hard to be allowed to remain
with me that I had not the heart to say her nay."

"Was Henry there too?"

"Oh, yes; and shouted with the best of them when the enemy fled over the
hill. Even Charlie was there, and as excited as either of them. Of course,
I had to hold him up sometimes for him to be able to see what was going
on; and he looked rather pale at first, when they opened fire, but he soon
plucked up when he saw that their shot did no damage near us. You see he
is a strong healthy boy; while Henry has always been weak, although I do
not think that he lacks courage."

"He ought not, wife; he comes from a fighting stock on either side. But I
fear that unless he changes greatly he is cut out rather for a monk than a
man-at-arms. And now I will lie down, for you may be sure that I shall not
close an eye to-night. Did you note the banner of Hugh de Fruges with the
others?"

"Yes, and I felt more uncomfortable after seeing it. He is a crafty man,
Eustace."

"He is not a brave one," the knight said scornfully. "I challenged him to
meet me outside in a fair field, and the craven did not answer me, and Sir
Clugnet had to make speech for him and decline the offer."

"You will need all your vigilance, Eustace. I trust that every man within
the walls is faithful to us; but if there be a traitor, be sure that Sir
Hugh will endeavour to plot with him, nay, he may already have done so."

"They would have no chance of making communication with him were there a
dozen of them, wife. Long Tom and his comrades will take good care that
none come near enough for speech."

The day passed away in perfect quiet. From time to time word came down
from the look-out that the scattered soldiers were returning laden with a
great quantity of young trees, wattles, and doors. Dame Margaret kept
watch in her room, and allowed no messengers to enter her husband's
apartments.

"If there be need, I will wake him," she said; "but he knows well enough
what the French have gone for, and there is naught to do until they
advance to the attack."

Guy slept but a short time, and as he frequently started up under the
impression that the horn was sounding an alarm, in the afternoon he got up
and went down into the courtyard. For some time he wandered about in the
quarters occupied by the tenants. These had now settled down; the children
were playing about as unconcernedly as if they had been on their fathers'
farms; women were washing clothes or preparing the evening meal over
little charcoal fires. A certain quantity of meat had been served out to
each family, and they were therefore doing better than in their own
houses, for meat was a luxury seldom touched by the French peasantry.

Almost all who had entered the castle had brought with them a supply of
herbs and vegetables; these, with a handful or two of coarsely-ground meal
boiled into broth, constituted their usual fare, and the addition of a
portion of meat afforded them great satisfaction. Some of the men were
still asleep, in preparation for a long night's work; others were standing
about talking in little groups; some were on the walls watching with
gloomy faces the smoke wreaths that still rose from what had been their
homes. Ducks, geese, and hens walked about unconcernedly looking for any
stray grains that had passed unnoticed when they had last been fed, and a
chorus of dissatisfied grunting arose from the pigs that had a large pen
in the yard next to the huts. These were still smarting under a sense of
injury excited not only by their removal from their familiar haunts, but
by the fact that most of them had been hastily marked by a clipping of
some kind in the ear in order to enable their owners to distinguish them
from the others. Boys were carrying buckets of water from a well in the
court-yard to the troughs for the cattle and horses, and the men-at-arms
were cleaning their armour and polishing their steel caps.

"Well, Tom, I hope we shall get on as well to-night as we did this
morning," Guy said to the leader of the archers.

"I hope so, Master Guy, but I would rather fight by day than by night; it
is random work when you can neither see your mark nor look straight along
your arrow. If we had a moon we should do well enough, but on these dark
nights skill does not go for much; still, I doubt not that we shall give a
good account of ourselves, for at any rate we shall be able to make them
out before they come to close work. The women have been making a great
store of torches to-day, and that will help us a bit, though I would that
they could be planted fifty yards beyond the moat instead of on the walls,
for although they will be of some use to us they will be of even more to
the enemy. What think you that their plan will be?"

"I should say that they are intending to march forward covered by mantlets
of wattles and hides. They will plant them near the edge of the moat, and
throw up some earthworks to shelter them and their machines; no doubt they
will use the doors they have fetched from all the farmhouses for the same
purpose."

"The doors will be more to the point, certainly," the bowman said. "As to
their hides and wattles, at fifty yards I will warrant our arrows go
through them as if they were paper; but I cannot say as much about stout
oaken doors--that is a target that I have never shot against; I fear that
the shock would shiver the shafts. The mantlets too would serve them to
some purpose, for we should not know exactly where they were standing
behind them. As for their machines, they cannot have many of them."

"They had something like a score of waggons with them, Tom; these would
carry the beams for half a dozen big ballistas; besides, they have their
cannon."

"I don't make much account of the cannon," the archer said; "they take
pretty nearly an hour to load and fire them, and at that rate, however
hard a shot may hit, it would be some time before they wrought much damage
on the walls. It is the sound more than the danger that makes men afraid
of the things, and, for my part, I would not take the trouble of dragging
them about. They are all very well on the walls of a castle, though I see
not that even there they are of great advantage over the old machines. It
is true that they shoot further, but that is of no great use. It is when
the enemy come to attack that you want to kill them, and at fifty yards I
would kill more men with my shafts in ten minutes than a cannon would do
with a week's firing. I wonder they trouble to carry them about with them,
save that folks are not accustomed to their noise yet, and might open
their gates when they see them, while they would make a stout defence if
they had only ballistas and mangonels to deal with. I suppose when they
have got the shelters close to the moat they will bring up planks to throw
across."

"Yes, no doubt they will try that, Tom; but the moat is over wide for
planks, and I think it more likely that they will have provided themselves
with sacks, and filled them with earth, so as to make a passage across
with them."

"As to the planks not being long enough, Master Guy, they could get over
that easy enough. They would only have to send three or four swimmers
across the moat, then thrust long beams over for those who had crossed to
fix firmly, and then lay short planks across them."

"So they would, Tom; I did not think of that. Well, at any rate, I expect
they will manage to get across the moat somehow and plant ladders against
the wall."

"And we shall chuck them down again," Tom said.

"They won't care much for that. But as long as they cannot knock a breach
in the walls I warrant that we can hold them."




CHAPTER IV

A FATAL ACCIDENT


As soon as the sun had set, the defenders gathered on the walls. Fires had
already been lighted there and cauldrons of water and pitch suspended over
them, and sacks of quicklime placed in readiness to be emptied; great
piles of stone were placed at short intervals.

"As long as they attack at only one or two places," Sir Eustace said to
his wife, "I am quite confident that we shall repulse them. If they attack
at a dozen they may succeed, as we should only have a couple of archers
and six or seven men-at-arms at each point, besides a score or so of the
vassals. I have no doubt that these will fight stoutly, for the sight of
their burning homes has roused them, and each man is longing to get a blow
at those who have wrought them so much damage. Still, thirty men are but a
small party to beat back an assault by hundreds. However, if they carry
the outside wall they will have the second to deal with, and there we
shall stand much thicker together, and they cannot attack from many
points, while if we are driven into the keep, we shall be stronger still.
Have you seen that the women and children are ready to retire into the
keep as soon as the assault begins?"

"I have been round myself and given orders," Dame Margaret said. "I have
told them that the inner gate will be closed as soon as fighting begins,
and that those who do not come in before that must remain outside, or else
mount to the walls and cross the bridges, for that on no account will the
gates be opened again."

"That is well, Margaret. I am now about to station two men-at-arms on the
inner wall at the end of each of the three bridges, so that they may be
ready on the instant to turn the catches and let the bridges fall behind
our men as they rush across. The tenants have already driven as many more
of their best horses and cattle into the inner court as can find standing
room, so that their loss may be as small as possible. If the outer wall is
carried, I have no great fear that the second wall will be taken; the
plunderers who form the mass of Sir Clugnet's force will have had enough
and more than enough of fighting by the time that they capture the outer
one. Whatever happens, do not show yourself on the walls to-night, and see
that the children do not leave their beds; you can do naught, and will see
but little in the dark. To-morrow morning, wife, I will leave you free to
go among the soldiers and give them encouragement as may be needed, but
for to-night, I pray you stir not out. I will send Henry from time to time
to let you know how matters go."

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