'But others come to take their place,' he added with a sigh. 'It will need all our voices, Master Chapman, to overcome the Devil, so I exhort you to say your prayers.' I promised him I would, feeling a little ashamed that I had misled the good brothers with my show of piety, for my beliefs were as confused then as they still are today, though I suppose, even now, I should claim to be a devout son of Holy Church. But am I? I can only hope that my Maker will understand better than I do myself, when I finally stand before Him on the great Day of Judgement.
I shouldered my pack, said my adieus, and set off in the direction of the West Gate, stopping to buy three meat pies for my dinner from a pie-shop on the way. Once through the archway and past the gate-house, I walked until I reached the nearest crossing of the Severn.
By the time it reaches Gloucester, the Severn has narrowed, and there are several bridges which span its width. I chose the nearest crossing to the city, entering almost at once the outskirts of the forest which clothe the opposite banks. This is a strange, wild area, primeval trees enclosing an elemental and barbaric world, set apart from civilization. Tin is mined in the forest, and the small communities are a law unto themselves, holding their own courts and meting out far harsher penalties to offenders than any which the King at Westminster could devise. You can, as I discovered, ride for hours without seeing a soul, yet with the constant feeling that eyes are watching your every move. And when, at last, you do come face to face with one of the inhabitants, the men are frightening creatures, with blanched skin and stunted growth, like troglodytes sprung from the bowels of the earth to stare about them with blinking and hostile eyes.
It was late afternoon, and darkness was falling rapidly.
I began to be afraid. I was alone and on foot, with only my cudgel for protection, hungry and lost. With what confidence I had marched into the forest a few hours earlier! Why had I not paused to think that I did not know my route? I had assumed that I should soon come upon habitations, that there would be other wayfarers beside myself, that the forest paths would bear the tracks of many feet, making them easy to follow between one village and another. But the Forest of Dean is not like that; you need a guide who knows its labyrinthine ways. I have been back once or twice in the years since then, but never again have I attempted to cross the forest on my own.
I began to suspect that I was going round in circles, the several trees I passed had a familiar look, particularly the large oak with a scar upon its think; but, search as I might, I could not discover the track by which! had entered the woodlands, and which passed between quiet homesteads clustered near the bridge. At last, shivering and icy cold, I wrapped myself in my cloak and curled up against the trunk of the oak, my stomach so empty that it hurt. I could hear small, nocturnal rustlings among the undergrowth, and the distant cry of a fox, up and hunting from its lair. I gripped my cudgel, taking a certain amount of comfort from the smooth feel of the wood in my palm. And the foliage above me was so dense that no rain could penetrate the leaves.
In spite of my discomfort, I must have fallen into an uneasy sleep, for I remember dreaming; a stupid, nonsensical dream, a jumble of the past week's events. After chasing me through the streets of Gloucester, the hooded man had just caught me by the shoulder, which he was vigorously shaking, when I came cleanly and suddenly awake. Someone was crouching over me, a small, bloodless face illuminated by the light from a lantern held in a thin, white hand. The voice which spoke in my ear was hoarse, as though speech was an art which my rescuer had not quite mastered.
'You're lost, Master.'
'Yes,' I agreed. 'I am.'
"You alone?' When I nodded, the man continued, 'You shouldn't be out on your own this time o' night, in the forest. You'd best come along with me. My woman'll feed ee and give ee shelter, if you don't mind lyin' in with the animals.'
'I've done it before now,' I answered gratefully, scrambling stiffly to my feet. My companion also straightened up, but came no higher than midway between my shoulder and my elbow. 'But you can't live near here. There are no dwellings anywhere about.'
The man laughed, a rusty, creaking sound. 'You're wrong there, Master.'
And I was, for we seemed to have been walking no time at all when I found myself in the centre of a circle of cottages. How we got there, I never knew, for it was now completely dark; and I speculated fruitlessly on how nearly I must have approached the settlement more than once that day, without being aware of its existence. My guide led me forward to one of the houses which, in the frail glow from his lantern, I could see were made of daub and wattle with turf roofs, smoke rising through holes in the middle. Inside, there was a beaten-earth floor, a central hearth, a bed of dried brushwood and animal pelts, a rough table, two three-legged stools, and a pig and a goat in a wooden pen. A small, half-naked girl and boy were already asleep beneath the pile of skins, and did not wake at our entry. A woman, as etiolated as her man, was kneeling beside the fire, stirring the contents of an iron pot, set among the burning logs.
She glanced up, her pale eyes widening in alarm as I towered above her. But she quickly got over her fright, getting to her feet and eyeing me suspiciously. 'Where did he come from?'
'Lost in the forest.' My host dragged forward one of the stools. 'Sit down, Master. Woman, he's cold and hungry. Give him to eat?
His wife, or so I presumed her to be, fetched a wooden bowl from a stack on the table and ladled me out some stew. I have no idea what was in it — hare, perhaps, with herbs and vegetables — but it was the most delicious meal I have ever eaten. I was ravenous, it is true, but the flavour was unequalled by anything I have ever tasted either before or since. The woman watched silently while her husband and I ate our fill, replenishing my bowl as it emptied, until I was eventually forced to hold up a regretful hand. Only then did she get her own supper. Later, she made me a bed close to the animal pen, by taking more brushwood from a pile in the comer, and throwing on top of it one of the pelts which covered the sleeping children. Without a word, she and the man climbed in beside their offspring and, in moments, were sound asleep.
I went outside, relieved myself, then fell on my own bed fully clothed, expecting to lie awake for hours. But I was so tired that neither the smell of the goat nor the snortings of the pig could prevent me from being asleep within minutes.
A blast of icy air woke me, and I sat up on my pile of brushwood to see my friend of the night before reentering the hut with a pail of water. It was still pitch-black outside, but there was a general atmosphere of bustle which told me it was morning. As I picked the twigs from my clothes and ran an exploratory hand across two days' growth of beard, my host poured the water into the iron pot and set about lighting the fire.