christchurch, should don hauberk once more
and take the lead of us."
"ah, you would indeed be in luck then," quoth a woodman; "for it
is said that, setting aside the prince, and mayhap good old sir
john chandos, there was not in the whole army a man of such tried
courage."
"it is sooth, every word of it," the archer answered. "i have
seen him with these two eyes in a stricken field, and never did
man carry himself better. mon dieu! yes, ye would not credit it
to look at him, or to hearken to his soft voice, but from the
sailing from orwell down to the foray to paris, and that is clear
twenty years, there was not a skirmish, onfall, sally, bushment,
escalado or battle, but sir nigel was in the heart of it. i go
now to christchurch with a letter to him from sir claude latour
to ask him if he will take the place of sir john hawkwood; and
there is the more chance that he will if i bring one or two
likely men at my heels. what say you, woodman: wilt leave the
bucks to loose a shaft at a nobler mark?"
the forester shook his head. "i have wife and child at emery
down," quoth he; "i would not leave them for such a venture."
you, then, young sir?" asked the archer.
"nay, i am a man of peace," said alleyne edricson. "besides, i
have other work to do."
"peste!" growled the soldier, striking his flagon on the board
until the dishes danced again. "what, in the name of the devil,
hath come over the folk? why sit ye all moping by the fireside,
like crows round a dead horse, when there is man's work to be
done within a few short leagues of ye? out upon you all, as a
set of laggards and hang-backs! by my hilt i believe that the
men of england are all in france already, and that what is left
behind are in sooth the women dressed up in their paltocks and
hosen."
"archer," quoth hordle john, "you have lied more than once and
more than twice; for which, and also because i see much in you to
dislike, i am sorely tempted to lay you upon your back."
"by my hilt! then, i have found a man at last!" shouted the
bowman. "and, 'fore god, you are a better man than i take you
for if you can lay me on my back, mon garcon. i have won the ram
more times than there are toes to my feet, and for seven long
years i have found no man in the company who could make my jerkin
dusty."
"we have had enough bobance and boasting," said hordle john,
rising and throwing off his doublet. "i will show you that there
are better men left in england than ever went thieving to
france."
"pasques dieu!" cried the archer, loosening his jerkin, and
eyeing his foeman over with the keen glance of one who is a judge
of manhood. "i have only once before seen such a body of a man.
by your leave, my red-headed friend, i should be right sorry to
exchange buffets with you; and i will allow that there is no man
in the company who would pull against you on a rope; so let that
be a salve to your pride. on the other hand i should judge that
you have led a life of ease for some months back, and that my
muscle is harder than your own. i am ready to wager upon myself
against you if you are not afeard."
"afeard, thou lurden!" growled big john. "i never saw the face
yet of the man that i was afeard of. come out, and we shall see
who is the better man."
"but the wager?"
"i have nought to wager. come out for the love and the lust of
the thing."
"nought to wager!" cried the soldier. "why, you have that which
i covet above all things. it is that big body of thine that i am
after. see, now, mon garcon. i have a french feather-bed there,
which i have been at pains to keep these years back. i had it at
the sacking of issodum, and the king himself hath not such a bed.
if you throw me, it is thine; but, if i throw you, then you are
under a vow to take bow and bill and hie with me to france, there
to serve in the white company as long as we be enrolled."
"a fair wager!" cried all the travellers, moving back their
benches and trestles, so as to give fair field for the wrestlers.
"then you may bid farewell to your bed, soldier," said hordle
john.
"nay; i shall keep the bed, and i shall have you to france in
spite of your teeth, and you shall live to thank me for it. how
shall it be, then, mon enfant? collar and elbow, or close-lock,
or catch how you can?"
"to the devil with your tricks," said john, opening and shutting
his great red hands. "stand forth, and let me clip thee."
"shalt clip me as best you can then," quoth the archer, moving
out into the open space, and keeping a most wary eye upon his
opponent. he had thrown off his green jerkin, and his chest was
covered only by a pink silk jupon, or undershirt, cut low in the
neck and sleeveless. hordle john was stripped from his waist
upwards, and his huge body, with his great muscles swelling
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