de ma vie! see to
that one in the doorway! i will go speak to her. but whom have
we here?"
"is there an archer here hight sam aylward?" asked a gaunt man-
at-arms, clanking up to them across the courtyard.
"my name, friend," quoth the bowman.
"then sure i have no need to tell thee mine," said the other.
"by the rood! if it is not black simon of norwich!" cried
aylward. "a mon coeur, camarade, a mon coeur! ah, but i am
blithe to see thee!" the two fell upon each other and hugged
like bears.
"and where from, old blood and bones?" asked the bowman.
"i am in service here. tell me, comrade, is it sooth that we
shall have another fling at these frenchmen? it is so rumored in
the guard-room, and that sir nigel will take the field once
more."
"it is like enough, mon gar., as things go."
"now may the lord be praised!" cried the other. "this very night
will i set apart a golden ouche to be offered on the shrine of my
name-saint. i have pined for this, aylward, as a young maid
pines for her lover."
"art so set on plunder then? is the purse so light that there is
not enough for a rouse? i have a bag at my belt, camarade, and
you have but to put your fist into it for what you want. it was
ever share and share between us."
"nay, friend, it is not the frenchman's gold, but the frenchman's
blood that i would have. i should not rest quiet in the grave,
coz, if i had not another turn at them. for with us in france it
has ever been fair and honest war--a shut fist for the man, but a
bended knee for the woman. but how was it at winchelsea when
their galleys came down upon it some few years back? i had an
old mother there, lad, who had come down thither from the
midlands to be the nearer her son. they found her afterwards by
her own hearthstone, thrust through by a frenchman's bill. my
second sister, my brother's wife, and her two children, they
were but ash-heaps in the smoking ruins of their house. i will
not say that we have not wrought great scath upon france, but
women and children have been safe from us. and so, old friend,
my heart is hot within me, and i long to hear the old battle-cry
again, and, by god's truth i if sir nigel unfurls his pennon,
here is one who will be right glad to feel the saddle-flaps under
his knees."
"we have seen good work together, old war-dog," quoth aylward;
"and, by my hilt! we may hope to see more ere we die. but we are
more like to hawk at the spanish woodcock than at the french
heron, though certes it is rumored that du guesclin with all the
best lances of france have taken service under the lions and
towers of castile. but, comrade, it is in my mind that there is
some small matter of dispute still open between us."
" 'fore god, it is sooth!" cried the other; "i had forgot it.
the provost-marshal and his men tore us apart when last we met."
"on which, friend, we vowed that we should settle the point when
next we came together. hast thy sword, i see, and the moon
throws glimmer enough for such old night-birds as we. on guard,
mon gar.! i have not heard clink of steel this month or more."
"out from the shadow then," said the other, drawing his sword.
"a vow is a vow, and not lightly to be broken."
"a vow to the saints," cried alleyne, "is indeed not to be set
aside; but this is a devil's vow, and, simple clerk as i am, i am
yet the mouthpiece of the true church when i say that it were
mortal sin to fight on such a quarrel. what! shall two grown men
carry malice for years, and fly like snarling curs at each
other's throats?"
"no malice, my young clerk, no malice," quoth black simon, "i
have not a bitter drop in my heart for mine old comrade; but the
quarrel, as he hath told you, is still open and unsettled. fall
on, aylward!"
"not whilst i can stand between you," cried alleyne, springing
before the bowman. "it is shame and sin to see two christian
englishmen turn swords against each other like the frenzied
bloodthirsty paynim."
"and, what is more," said hordle john, suddenly appearing out of
the buttery with the huge board upon which the pastry was rolled,
"if either raise sword i shall flatten him like a shrovetide
pancake. by the black rood! i shall drive him into the earth,
like a nail into a door, rather than see you do scath to each
other."
" 'fore god, this is a strange way of preaching peace," cried
black simon. "you may find the scath yourself, my lusty friend,
if you raise your great cudgel to me. i had as lief have the
castle drawbridge drop upon my pate."
"tell me, aylward," said alleyne earnestly, with his hands
outstretched to keep the pair asunder, "what is the cause of
quarrel, that we may see whether honorable settlement may not be
arrived at?"
the bowman looked down at his feet and then up at the moons
"parbleu!"
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