The Story of Viteau

learned man at last made his appearance, he merely remarked that the Captain had kept him longer t

uill with a broad, sharp knife which he took from his belt. "A crow-quill will do very well, or even a quill from a hawk; but I like a long one, like this, which came

efit?" as

he money your mother will send

said

tinued his companion, "I shall t

I should rather have that tha

so, for this I found I must do, otherwise they would never be aware of it; for, not knowing how to write themselves, how could they comprehend that I knew? 'I want to send a messenger back to my castle,' said my good knight, 'and I want him to carry a straight and fair message, which he can not do if I send it by word of mouth. So you must write what I wish to say in a letter to my seneschal, and the messenger shall carry it.' With that, he showed me a little piece of parchment that he had with him, and a phial of ink and a pen, and he bade me sit down and write what he told me to say. I liked not this haste, which gave me no time for study and preparation, and I told him, with due respect, that I could not write unless I had a table on which to lay my parchment. Whereupon he

ave been a sorrowful thing to have fallen from my high place as the most learned person in our company, not to speak of the punishment I might have expected. So I wrote on, making the best words I could devise with the letters at my command, and urging my master to repeat every sentence, so that I should be sure to get it straight and fair; and in that way I learned the whole letter by heart, and read it to him, when I had finished it, so that he was greatly grat

that it would take much time for him to understand the proper slope and indication of the letters, and so the re-enforcements might be sorely hindered in their coming. Therefore it was that I was sent, and I so saved my life; for, shortly after, the battle came off, and, if I had been there, I know I should have been killed, as most of my knight's men were. But I was safe in the castle, and when I went back with the men and the horses and the

seneschal to your l

. "I read it to him out of my head,

that you were a great trickster and

ng how arduous a thing it is to write a letter, so that you may be ready for your difficulties when they come upon you. And now this pen is done, an

I to write on

this afternoon," said Jast

, to be sure, but good enough for its purpose,—and he produced a piece of parchment, completely written over on

t hear to this, for it would argue too great poverty on the part of the cotereaux to send a letter on the back of another, and so

xpedition of the band, which would require nearly all the men; and Michol had said that Louis must be tak

dition, what will your captain say to my mother then? I am not afraid to go, but I do

you, if you keep out of the way. You are to be under my specia

and arrows, and others with long knives, or swords of various descriptions, set out, on foot, for a mar

hese animals, until within a few days previous, had been confined within close bounds, for fear that they should be stolen. But as no evil-disposed persons had been seen for a long time in the neighborhood, the whole herd had been let out into the adjacent woods, where they would thrive much better, during the hot weather, than in their former quarters. Michol had been informed that these hogs were r

se they could lay their hands on,—even boys and borrowed jennets,—and they might not fancy his finding fault with them. He was not afraid of Jasto, with whom he had become very friendly and communicative; but many of the other men looked like fellows whom it would not be at all pleasan

s not far ahead of us. And if that be so, it will make our work easier, for the herdsmen will be far from home and can not call for help. You and I will not go up to the field of battle, but will be posted out

d of a small path through the underbrush, while the rest of the force spread themselves out widely

Jasto, "and many a good meal of

dsmen are not gettin

hey see one of us. And as they can not bring help, there will be no Chri

w Jasto, he stopped for an instant, and then made a rush, endeavoring to pass him. But the robber was too quick to allow that, and he stooped an

ting and wriggling Jest probably wanted his assistance. He then ran up, and, taking hold of the other hind leg of the

pork will be ready to cook or salt down, but this fellow I shall t

ere and there two fellows carried a larger animal between them. Jasto threw his prize across his shoulders, and, although there was a good

stakes and poles, in which he shut up his pig, which was to be thoroughly fatt

until a late hour the next morning; but, as soon as he had had his breakfast an

of his comrades, in cutting up and curing, in various ways, the pork which had been brought in the day before. The band had so much hog-flesh on hand t

d and Jasto was at liberty, Louis set to work

ssed; Jasto continually suggested forcible and high-sounding sentences, containing words which neither Louis nor he could spell; the Captain came several times to the place where the writing was going on, to insist on certain terms of ransom being clearly stated; and nearly all the men in

ust as the sun was setting, and as one of the men called out that the e

m blowing away, and ran to get his supper. While he and the rest of the company were busily eating, Jasto's pig broke out