The Prince and the Page: A Story of the Last Crusade

ore than law,

of myself u

life, helping t

and keep al

honour, mercy,

sabel,

aid Richard, leaning over a bundle of cloa

shields, and the graceful white sails were filled by a gay breeze that sent the good ship dancing over the crested w

he plight of great p

d the bark, but her sp

t, and among others t

hu

ted himself in consequence of the outrageous exactions and acts of insolence perpetrated by the young Montforts. He had indeed received a disabling wound while fighting

oofs had sufficed to tame his sturdy obstinacy. The other pages had teased, fagged, and bullied him to their hearts' content, without disturbing his determination to go his own way; and his only friend and protector had been Richard, whom, under the name of Fowen, he took for a genuine Englishman, and loved with all his heart. If anything would ever cure him of

y the fleet that had brought the crusaders of France and Sicily, whom they hoped to join in the conquest and conversion of Tunis. On arriving at Aigues Mortes, they had found that the French King had already sailed for Sicily; and following him thither, learnt that his brothe

with them! There must be a goodly force. Yonder are two

silent?" growled one of the muf

returned Richard in an awe-struck voice; "the

spoken, though Richard had not known him to be so near; then sitting up, he came to a fuller view: "Hm-it looks ill

lady who had lost her husband in a former Crusade, and had ever since been a sort of high-born head nurse in the palace. A Danish skald, who had once been at the English court, had said that she seemed to have eaten her namesake's apple of immortality, without her apple of beauty, for no one could ever remember to have seen her other than a tiny dried-up old witch, with keen gray eyes, a sharp tongue, an ev

he tossing is all but over; here is Richar

he gulf, but my Lord of Gloucester has sent me to report

s writing materials. "Fear not, mi Dona, I will return anon

is stifling cabin," said Eleanor. "O would that we had

selves," said the Prince. "My good uncle of France would

or nothing that a single pyot came and rocked up his ill-omened tail while we were taking horse for this exp

e somewhat affected by the list of omens, "I know you have a horse-

brother come off safe, and find the blessed princes at home well and sound? Would that we were out of thi

s muffler over her somewhat dishevelled locks; but Eleanor seeing that her

ve been destroyed, for to the new-comers the bay appeared inclosed by spits of sand, though there was a rising ground in front that cut off the view. In the centre of the bay was a low sandy islet, covered with remains of masonry, and with a fort in the midst. On this was mounted the French banner, but likewise drooping; and all around it lay th

ese captain in graver garb sat at the helm, and as they came alongside, a whisper, almost a shudder, seemed to thrill upwards from the boat to the crew, and through them to the passengers, "Il Re!" "il Re santo," "il Re di Franc

er, had been the guiding friend and noble pattern denied to him in his father; and Eleanor, intrusted to his uncle's care during the troubles of England, a maiden wife in her first years of womanhood, had been formed and moulded by that holy and upright influence. To both the loss was as that of a father; and the murmur among the sailors was to them as a voice saying,

that deadly sickness, fever, and plague had raged in the camp. The Papal Legate w

ch s

es of him; but the little one-he had been carri

or; "true Cross-bearer, born in one

y?" demanded Edwar

very day of his brot

had seen how matters s

Tunis, and intended to

e could bear

ting till his horse could be set ashore. He committed to the Earl of Gloucester the charge of encamping his men on the island, left a message with him for his brother

nd sometimes moaning. All Richard could do was to beg the groom specially attached to the pages' service, to have a care of the little fellow, and get hi

brow the Trojan prince had beheld the rising city in the valley-the English prince came on its desolation. Yet nature had made the vale lovely-green with well-watered verdure, fields of beauteous gr

agments of the huge stones of the old Phoenicians, intermixed with the friezes and sculptures of Graecising Rome, and the whole fabric in the graceful Saracenic taste; while completing the strange mixture of periods, another o

ng up the hill, who had been ordered off to meet him on the first intelligenc

re was one who hid his face and wept aloud as he exc

ard could say, as with tears in his eyes he held out his

harles of Anjou was all-powerful with the court of Rome, and in crusading matters Louis deemed it right absolutely to surrender to the ecclesiastical power all that judgment which had made him so prudent and wise a king at home, while his crusades were lamentable failures. Thus in him it had been a piece of obedient self-denial not to press forward to the Holy Sepulchre; but to land in this malarious bay to fulfil aims that, had he but used his common sense, he would have seen to be merely those of private ambition. There it had been on

from the fi

ir lords, their

at of the Greek Emperor Michael Palaeologos, come to set before him

lt the purpos

hands crossed upon his breast, and the words, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" entered no

u to my Lord the Kin

cel

h bitter sternness; "t

buried their noses in the hot sandy soil. A strange rushing roaring sound passed over them; there was a sense of intense suffocation, then of heat, pricking, and irritation. The Provencals were rising; and the Prince and his page doing the same, shook off a plentiful load of sand, and beheld, car

quire nearest him, as he strove to clear his

," quoth the squire; "i

there tracks of mosaic pavement; of temples to Dido or Anna peeping forth beneath either the luxuriant vegetation or the heavy sand-drifts; or columns of the new Carthage lying veiled by ac

es; and passing between them, they came into the principal chamber, marble-floored, and with a divan of cushions round it; but full in the midst of the room lay a coffin, covered with the lilied banner, and the standard of the Cross; the crowned helmet, good sword, knightly spurs, and cross-marked shield lying upon it; solemn forms in armour guarded it,

d the best and purest schemes planned by the highest souls fall over like a crested wave and become lost? So it had been, he would have said, with the Round Table under Arthur, so with England's

lacrymis, in ex

flebant mitten

t cum exultatione port

1

were washed away, and their true purpose was accepted, both waiting the harvest when their works should follow them, and it should have been made manif

owered the visor of the helmet, and eyes, nose, and a part of the cheeks were visible. Richard looked up, and they were those of his father! was it a delusion of his fancy? He closed his eyes and looked again. Again it was th

choly, and he crossed himself and knelt down near Edward to await the conclusion of his devotions. Edward, who knelt absorbed in grief, with his cloak partly over his face, apparently did not perceive him, and after two or three unheeded endeavours at attracting not

owed his bead and with grave courtesy exchanged greetings with Charles of Anjou,

t Philippe had just dropped asleep under

d come to my apartments, where I will set before you the necessities that have l

already late, and I must take order that my troops mingle not where contagion

ich betokened that his fierce indignation and overpowering grief were scarcely rest

d at once, and Richard was obliged to follow without a moment's opportunity of m

e one side the valley of Carthage, on the other the bay, he made an exclamation which Richard took for a summons, and he came up asking if he were

an work the wreck, my

e-two alone-did it fare better with them? One was the good Bishop of Lincoln-the other thou knowst, Richard! Well, one goes after another-first good Bishop Grostete, then the Lo

ght I saw my father's face under a visor-one

er little, and loved each other less, in life. That's all at an end now! Well, back to our camp to make the best of the world they have left behind them!" And then in a tone that Richar