The White Company

e to time Alleyne met other wayfarers, and more than once was overtaken by strings of pack mules and horsemen journeying in the same direction as himself. Once a beggin

ing out of his pouch to prove him a liar. Swiftly as he went, however, he could not escape the curse of the four blessed evangelists which the mendicant howled behind h

th some drink from a stone jar. The chapman broke a rough jest as he passed, and the woman called shrilly to Alleyne to come and join them, on which the man, turning suddenly from mirth to wrath, began to belabor he

and black. Strangest of all was when a brisk tune struck suddenly up and the four legs began to kick and twitter in time to the music. Walking on tiptoe round the bushes, he stood in amazement to see two men bounding about on their heads, while they played, the one a viol and the other a pipe, as merrily and as truly as though they were seated in a

my knight of the sta

her. "Any trifle will serve-a purse

lk. It was in his mind to repeat over the exorcism proper to such attacks; but the two burst out a-l

wed, swarthy man, as brown and supple as a hazel twig. "Why shr

sweet cinnamon?" exclaimed the other, a loose-

d. "When I saw your four legs above the bush I could scar

lleyne's bottle out of his scrip, he deftly knocked the neck off, and poured the half of it down his throat. The rest he handed to his comrade, who drank the wine, and then, to the clerk's increasing amazement, made

at Ringwood. As our art is a very fine and delicate one, however, we cannot let a day go by without exercising ourselves in it, to which end we choose some quiet and sheltered spot where we may break our journey. Here you find us; and we cannot wonder that you, who are new to tumbling,

, bounding about with rigid necks, playing the while in perfect time and tune. It chanced that out of one of the bundles there stuck the end of what the clerk saw to be a cittern, so drawing it forth, he tuned it up and twanged a harmony to the merr

" cried the younger. "Hast

the tune?" a

did but follow t

nd stared at Alleyne with as much

et such a man. Wilt join us and jog on to Ringwood? Thy duties shall be l

t away," said the other, "and a

im first fourpence and then sixpence a day, but he only smiled and shook his head, until at last they fell away from him. Looking back, he saw that the smaller had mounted on the younger's shoulder

ng play of the lights and shadows of life was strangely startling and interesting. A gulf seemed to divide this brisk uncertain existence from the old steady round of work and of prayer which he had left behind him. The few hours that had passed since he s

. The sun lay low in the west upon a purple cloud, whence it threw a mild, chastening light over the wild moorland and glittered on the fringe of forest turning the withered leaves into flakes of dead gold, the brighter for the black depths behind them. To the seeing eye decay is as fair as growth, and death as life. The thought s

ask him whether it was not true that there was a hostel somewhere in those parts which was especially famous for the stewing of eels. The clerk having made answer that he had heard the eels of Sowley well spoken of, the friar sucked in his lips and hurried forward. Close at his heels came three laborers walking abreast, with spade and mattock over their shoulders. They sang some rude chorus right tunefully as they wa

t, he screamed out a curse at him, and sent a jagged flint stone hurtling past his ear. So horrid was the causeless rage of the crooked creature, that the clerk came over a cold thrill, and took to his heels until he was out of shot from stone or word. It seemed to him that in this country of England there was no protection for a man save that which lay in the strength of his own arm and the speed of his own foot. In t

g down the slope upon one side, when he saw an old dame coming towards him upon the other, limping with weariness and leaning heavily upon a stick. When she reached the edge of the stream she stood helpless, looking to right and to left for some ford. Where the path ran down a great stone had been fixed

he, "it is not so ve

the eyes, and though I can see that there is a stone

n with time, he passed across with her. He could not but observe, however, that as he placed

r," said he. "Hast j

I been on the road. I go to my son, who is one of the King's regarders at

you cared for him in his youth

le to reach Brockenhurst to-night, where I may have all that heart can desire; for oh! sir, but my son is a fine man, with a kindly heart of

ere is such bread and cheese as I have left, and here, too, i

d as you have made mine!" She turned away, still mumbling blessings, and Al

an oldish man with a thin beard, a crooked nose, and a broad red smudge from a birth-mark over his temple; the other was a negro, a thing rarely met in England at that day, and rarer still in the quiet southland parts. Alleyne had read of such folk, but had never seen one before, and could scarce

, while the two rogues, black and white, stooped over her, wresting away from her the penny and such other poor trifles as were worth the taking. At the sight of her thin limbs struggling in weak resistance, such a glow of f

his knife tinkle into the roadway, and hopped howling to a safer distance. The second rogue, however, made of sterner stuff, rushed in upon the clerk, and clipped him round the waist with a grip like a bear, shouting the while to his comrade to come round and stab him in the back. At this the negro took heart of grace, and picking up his dagger again he came stealing with prowling step and murderous eye, while the two swayed backwards and forwards, staggering this way and that. In the very midst of the s

ound as though he were lifting the steed instead of it carrying him. In the rapid glance Alleyne saw that he had white doeskin gloves, a curling white feather in his flat velvet cap, and a broad gold, embroidered baldric across his bosom. B

edge of his jerkin. "This is one of them. I know him by that devil's touch upon his brow. Where are your

sir, travelling

from the chancellor of thy college giving thee a permit to beg? Let me see thy lett

need to beg," said Alleyne, who was all o

" the other answered.

ir, I

the law of England and the mouthpiece of his mo

"Truly you came in good time, honored sir," said

re should be a black man. A shipman with St. Anthony's fire, and a black

that side," said Alleyne,

unslinging his bow. "He is in hiding somewhere, for he knew well, bla

less away from me and my posse. Leave that rogue lying. Now stretch out in line, my merry ones, with arrow on string, and I shall show you such sport as only the

ook over the bracken at his enemies, the staring color caught the eye of the bailiff, who broke into a long screeching whoop and spurred forward sword in hand. Seeing himself discovered, the man rushed out from his hiding-place, and boun

l," said one, whose hair

leyne gave a gulp in his throat, for the yellow streak

man sprang high up into the air, and shot out both his arms and his legs, coming down all a-sprawl

on, as they made back for the roadway. "That means a quart of the best malms

ius Pilate, w

e over yonder, but we have scarce leisure to make for them. Draw thy

sir, a boon!" crie

?" asked t

Rose de Gloire,' of Southampton, who did set upon the Flanders merchant and rob him of

" quoth the bailiff sternly. "Thou hast do

hite to the lips at these bloody doi

ath not come to trial, but the trial hath come to him. He hath fled the law and is beyond its pale.

Melita. I bought it for two rose nobles from a shipman who came from the Levant. The boon I crave is that you will place it in my hands and let me die

of the instep, wrapped in a piece of fine sendall, lay a long, dark splinter of wood. The archers do

trust that you will not forget that intercession which you have promised. Bear in mind too, that it is Herward the bailiff for whom you pray, a

drew his sword with a sharp whirr of steel and stept up to the lost man. The clerk hurried away in horror; but, ere he had gone many paces, he heard a sudden, sullen thump, with a choking, whistling sound at the end of it. A minute later the bailiff and four of his men rode past him on their journey back to Southampton, the other two having been chosen as grave-digg