Extract from To the Ends of the World

Plymouth, England

November 1569

…"I cannot look," Nan gasped, tugging at Ellyn's cloak with one hand while raising the other to her face, though Ellyn noticed, at a glance, that Nan's eyes were peering from between the spread of her wrinkled fingers. Again Ellyn took Nan's arm.

"We can go," she murmured hopefully.

"No… Oh no!" Nan exclaimed, fingers dropping into her open mouth.

Shrieks multiplied above groans as Clouterson strained against his chain, head down, mighty shoulders bulging. The links quivered while the stake shuddered. Ellyn felt sorry for the two dogs left alive. One was bleeding badly where skin and an ear had been almost ripped from its head; the second was favouring a damaged paw.

This contest would soon be over, Ellyn thought with some relief. The bear always won. Bears were expensive. If a dog showed any likelihood of seriously injuring a bear, then a man would intervene to fend the dog off. A dog made its owner money by being the last to survive. She knew the rules, despite her lack of experience, and she had already decided she had no wish to know more. Only the mastiff with the wounded paw was left moving around in the pit. Clouterson was dealing with the other in a frenzy of tearing.

The limping dog had a pale golden coat and the black muzzle of all mastiffs, but it was smaller than most. It kept close to the pit wall, nose pointing to the bear as if chances might be scented, though Ellyn realized it was probably doomed.

"Clouterson," the crowd chanted. "Kill him!"

Nan sucked on her gums. The bear turned. With a ferocious growl he sprang for the last dog, driving against the chain. The dog skipped forward and doubled back. A hatch in the pit wall opened for the dog to make an escape. Clouterson lurched, claws flashing first one way, then the other, wrenching at the stake.

"Marry!" Nan screeched, shuffling to her feet.

Gasps of horror came from the crowd. People stood and fell back. Ellyn watched in amazement as Clouterson rammed against the wall, trailing chain and stake as if they were light as feathers. This should not be happening, she thought. The dog leapt up onto the side of the pit, not through the hatch. Clouterson rose to his hind legs, and Ellyn saw that at any moment he would be running wild among the people. The man with the pole was striking his flanks, but the bear was goaded not cowed. Clouterson drew back as if preparing to jump. Piercing screams inflamed the panic. Those closest to the bear were diving from him in terror, while those further away were pressing forward to see more. Liveried attendants were caught in the crush. A few spectators pitched in with whatever they could use. The bear lunged for the bound as the dog sprang out.

"God-a-mercy!" Nan cried.

Ellyn looked round for a means of escape. The steps remained accessible and she sidled toward them, but Nan did not budge.

"It cannot be!" Nan croaked.

The bear was spraying blood. Ellyn stared over a heaving mass of bent backs and craning heads to see the dog swinging off the ground, jaws clamped around the great bear's throat, and Clouterson swaying at the edge of the ring, balanced precariously on top of the wall, rearing to stand, forepaws flailing, while men pushed against him with sticks at his chest. Suddenly the bear toppled backwards and crashed into the pit. The dog landed on top, still clinging on.

A stunned hush settled over crowd and corpse. The first man to move quickly led the dog to the hatch. Good, Ellyn thought.

Her attention turned to the spectators who had helped hold the bear back. One of them looked up.

"Will Doonan! That be Will Doonan!" Nan tugged furiously at Ellyn's sleeve.

Ellyn turned aside and pulled Nan with her. She had seen him well enough: blood-spattered and with his blond hair loose, wearing the same cape and tar-stained jerkin she had noticed at their last encounter the day before. Ellyn pushed down the steps, towing Nan by the hand, and fervently hoped she had not been recognized as well...