The White Company

deed, early as it was when Dame Eliza began to stir, it seemed that others could be earlier still, for the door was ajar, and the learned student of Cambridge

and the clucking of the hens, which had streamed in through the ope

tooth-drawer and the gleeman called for a cup of small ale apiece, and started off together for Ringwood fair, the old jongleur looking very yellow in the eye and swollen in the face after his overnight potations. The archer, howev

cried to Alleyne, "whither

n is socman there, and I go to bide with him for a

night before. "Say, rather what it is that I owe to thee, good youth. Aye, this is indeed a pied merlin, and wi

ed eye of it!"

d the op

ed wing," adde

the archer, "it is t

he short-spoken Abbot. There was, it would seem, great kindness as well as great wickedness in this world, of which he had heard so little that was good. His hostess would hear nothing of his paying either for

heaped a slice of fish upon Alleyne's tranchoir of bread, "that you could

ulieu if I could not," he answered, "seeing th

ttle popper there, and four hundred and twenty with the great war-bow; yet I can make nothing of this, nor read my own name if you were to set 'Sam Aylward' up against me. In the whole C

hn; "though I was scarce long enough amon

was tied securely with a broad band of purple silk, and firmly sealed at either end with a large red seal. John pored l

y one thing and some another, just as one bowman loves the yew, and a second will not shoot save with the

e way across seas with nought more weighty than a psalm-verse. You have clean overshot the butts this ti

che, chatelain de Biscar, grand seigneur de Montchateau, vavaseur de le renomme Gaston, Comte de Foix, tenant les droits de la haute justice, de la milieu, et de la basse.' Which signifies in our speech: 'To the very powerful and very honorable knight, Sir Nigel Lo

bowman in triumph. "That is

n, examining the parchment again. "Though I

ure him, and the high that you may slay him. That is about the truth of it. But this is the letter which I am to take; and since the platter is cl

Mins

of Midhurst. Yet I have not a word to say against the Hampton men, for there are no better comrades or truer archers in the whole Company than so

ight pleased at the thought o

gold-work, my velvet, my silk, my feather bed, my incense-boat, my ewer, my naping linen, and all the rest of it. I take only the mone

t, good archer. Come when you may,

. I shall be back anon, mon ange. I am a lonely man, my sweeting, and I must settle some day when the wars are over and done. Mayhap you and I--Ah, mechante, mecha

this time back," said

s against the next kermesse. Do not forget Sam Aylward, for his heart shall ever be thine alon

d with the guardsmen, grooms, and yeomen prickers who were attached to the King's hunt. The King himself was staying at Castle Malwood, but several of his suite had been compelled to seek such quarters as they might find in the wooden or wattle-and-daub cottages of the village.

r John Chandos, who is first at the board or in the saddle. Three martlets on a field azure, that must be one of the Luttrells. By the crescent upon it, it should be the second son of old Sir Hugh, who had a bolt through his ankle at the intaking of Romorantin, he having r

they passed the old church, which stood upon a mound at the left-hand side of the village street the door was flung open, and a stream of worshippers wound down the sloping path, coming from the morning mass, all chatt

r before God's own open house? How can

only during the day, but at matins, lauds, and the like, when I could scarce keep my h

to day, eating and drinking, breathing and sleeping. It is only when he raises himself, and concerns himself with the immortal spirit within hi

e any girl, and yet preach like the whol

worthy as I should try to teach another that whi

holy men, but they were of no great account as men-at-arms. There was one, indeed, Sir Peter, who smote out like a true man; but, unless he is belied, he did but clip a varlet's ear, which was no very knightly deed. By these ten finger-bones! had I been there wi

ave summoned legions of archangels from heaven, so what need had He of your poor bow and arrow? B

lion banner waving over us and the red oriflamme in front, amid the shouting of my fellows and the twanging of the strings. But let it be sword, lance, or bolt that strikes me down: fo

. "It is said, though I can scarce bring myself to believe it, that they will send a ball twice

r eight maybe, so he hath no great vantage after all. Yet I will not deny that at the intaking of a town it is well to have good store of bombards. I am told that at

l of blood-marks, sometimes in single drops, and in other places in broad, ru

stricken dee

r hath passed this way this morning; and yet

, mingled with the most dolorous groans, and the voice of a man raised in a high quavering kind of song. The comrades hurried onwa

ground. Behind him walked a smaller man with his hair touched with gray, who was clad in the same white garb. He intoned a long whining rhyme in the French tongue, and at the end of every line he raised a thick cord, all jagged with pellets of lead, and smote his companion across the shoulders until the blood spurted again. Even as the three wayfarers stared, however, there was a sudden change, for the smaller man, having finished his s

r to Alleyne Edricson; but the archer tre

one of them before, for across the water they are as common as gallybaggers. I have heard that there are no English a

ting, bringing down his heavy whip at the end of each line, while the groans of the suf

entre nous

s charogne

rant la g

et sa pi

ris en la

s et tra

chair, vie

ce battons

e the scourge changed hands

of them, "you have beaten enough for to-day. The road is all spotted l

nt to their bloody work once more without heed to the prayers and persuasions which were addressed to them. Finding al

all spilled in hot fight, and I should think twice before I drew it drop by drop as these friars are

ed. "My life has been too quiet

ever yet seen a man who was so stout

is as good as thine or mine but he hath more in his pate than ever you will carry under that tin p

ly men, who have done no sin themselves, suffering so for the sins of

heir whipping and yowling? They are like other friars, I trow, when all is do

ee a poor devil cutting the flesh off his bones; and I should think that he had but a small opinion of me, that he should hope to please me by such pr

ould overthrow seven adversaries in the lists? Yet here are we in the lists of life, and there come the seven black champions against us Sir Pride, Sir Covetousness, Sir Lust, Sir Anger, Sir Gluttony, Sir Envy, and Sir Sloth. Let a man lay those seven low, and he shall have the pri

iant man, but at the battle of Brignais he was spitted through the body by a Hainault man-at-arms. For this we had an excommunication read against the man, when next we saw our holy fat

Pope Urban, the prop and centre of Christendom?" asked Alleyne, much i

nd I am of opinion myself that we might have done better by plundering the palace. His chamberlain and cardinals came forth, as I remember, to ask whether we would take seven thousand crowns with his blessing and a plenary absolution, or the ten thousand with his solemn ban by b

as brightly as ever, and the peaceful red path still wound in front of them through the rustling, yellow-tinted forest, Nature seemed to be too busy with her own concerns to heed the dignity of an outraged pontiff. Yet he felt a sense of weight and reproach within his breast, as though he had sinned