e letter which
aylward had brought him gave him powers which he was not slow to
use. in it sir claude latour, the gascon lieutenant of the white
company, assured him that there remained in his keeping enough to
fit out a hundred archers and twenty men-at-arms, which, joined
to the three hundred veteran companions already in france, would
make a force which any leader might be proud to command.
carefully and sagaciously the veteran knight chose out his men
from the swarm of volunteers. many an anxious consultation he
held with black simon, sam aylward, and other of his more
experienced followers, as to who should come and who should stay.
by all saints' day, however ere the last leaves had fluttered to
earth in the wilverley and holmesley glades, he had filled up his
full numbers, and mustered under his banner as stout a following
of hampshire foresters as ever twanged their war-bows. twenty
men-at-arms, too, well mounted and equipped, formed the cavalry
of the party, while young peter terlake of fareham, and walter
ford of botley, the martial sons of martial sires, came at their
own cost to wait upon sir nigel and to share with alleyne
edricson the duties of his squireship.
yet, even after the enrolment, there was much to be done ere the
party could proceed upon its way. for armor, swords, and lances,
there was no need to take much forethought, for they were to be
had both better and cheaper in bordeaux than in england. with
the long-bow, however, it was different. yew staves indeed might
be got in spain, but it was well to take enough and to spare with
them. then three spare cords should be carried for each bow,
with a great store of arrow-heads, besides the brigandines of
chain mail, the wadded steel caps, and the brassarts or arm-
guards, which were the proper equipment of the archer. above
all, the women for miles round were hard at work cutting the
white surcoats which were the badge of the company, and adorning
them with the red lion of st. george upon the centre of the
breast. when all was completed and the muster called in the
castle yard the oldest soldier of the french wars was fain to
confess that he had never looked upon a better equipped or more
warlike body of men, from the old knight with his silk jupon,
sitting his great black war-horse in the front of them, to hordle
john, the giant recruit, who leaned carelessly upon a huge black
bow-stave in the rear. of the six score, fully half had seen
service before, while a fair sprinkling were men who had followed
the wars all their lives, and had a hand in those battles which
had made the whole world ring with the fame and the wonder of the
island infantry.
six long weeks were taken in these preparations, and it was close
on martinmas ere all was ready for a start. nigh two months had
alleyne edricson been in castle twynham--months which were fated
to turn the whole current of his life, to divert it from that
dark and lonely bourne towards which it tended, and to guide it
into freer and more sunlit channels. already he had learned to
bless his father for that wise provision which had made him seek
to know the world ere he had ventured to renounce it.
for it was a different place from that which he had pictured --
very different from that which he had heard described when the
master of the novices held forth to his charges upon she ravening
wolves who lurked for them beyond the peaceful folds of beaulicu.
there was cruelty in it, doubtless, and lust and sin and sorrow;
but were there not virtues to atone, robust positive virtues
which did not shrink from temptation, which held their own in all
the rough blasts of the work-a-day world? how colorless by
contrast appeared the sinlessness which came from inability to
sin, the conquest which was attained by flying from the enemy!
monk-bred as he was, alleyne had native shrewdness and a mind
which was young enough to form new conclusions and to outgrow old
ones. he could not fail to see that the men with whom he was
thrown in contact, rough-tongued, fierce and quarrelsome as they
were, were yet of deeper nature and of more service in the world
than the ox-eyed brethren who rose and ate and slept from year's
end to year's end in their own narrow, stagnant circle of
existence. abbot berghersh was a good man, but how was he better
than this kindly knight, who lived as simple a life, held as
lofty and inflexible an ideal of duty, and did with all his
fearless heart whatever came to his hand to do? in turning from
the service of the one to that of the other, alleyne could not
feel that he was lowering his aims in life. true that his gentle
and thoughtful nature recoiled from the grim work of war, yet in
those days of martial orders and militant brotherhoods there was
no gulf fixed betwixt the priest and the soldier. the man of god
a
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