mere, in four shots each cut every
strand of her hempen anchor-cord, so that she well-nigh came upon
the rocks."
"good shooting, i' faith rare shooting!" said black simon. "but i
have seen you, johnston, and you, samkin aylwart, and one or two
others who are still with us, shoot as well as the best. was it
not you, johnston, who took the fat ox at finsbury butts against
the pick of london town?"
a sunburnt and black-eyed brabanter had stood near the old
archers, leaning upon a large crossbow and listening to their
talk, which had been carried on in that hybrid camp dialect which
both nations could understand. he was a squat, bull-necked man,
clad in the iron helmet, mail tunic, and woollen gambesson of his
class. a jacket with hanging sleeves, slashed with velvet at the
neck and wrists, showed that he was a man of some consideration,
an under-officer, or file-leader of his company.
"i cannot think," said he, "why you english should be so fond of
your six-foot stick. if it amuse you to bend it, well and good;
but why should i strain and pull, when my little moulinet will do
all for me, and better than i can do it for myself?"
"i have seen good shooting with the prod and with the latch,"
said aylward, "but, by my hilt! camarade, with all respect to you
and to your bow, i think that is but a woman's weapon, which a
woman can point and loose as easily as a man."
"i know not about that," answered the brabanter, "but this i
know, that though i have served for fourteen years, i have never
yet seen an englishman do aught with the long-bow which i could
not do better with my arbalest. by the three kings! i would
even go further, and say that i have done things with my arbalest
which no englishman could do with his long-bow."
"well said, mon gar.," cried aylward. "a good cock has ever a
brave call. now, i have shot little of late, but there is
johnston here who will try a round with you for the honor of the
company."
"and i will lay a gallon of jurancon wine upon the long-bow,"
said black simon, "though i had rather, for my own drinking, that
it were a quart of twynham ale."
"i take both your challenge and your wager," said the man of
brabant, throwing off his jacket and glancing keenly about him
with his black, twinkling eyes. "i cannot see any fitting mark,
for i care not to waste a bolt upon these shields, which a
drunken boor could not miss at a village kermesse."
"this is a perilous man," whispered an english man-at-arms,
plucking at aylward's sleeve. "he is the best marksman of all
the crossbow companies and it was he who brought down the
constable de bourbon at brignais, i fear that your man will come
by little honor with him."
"yet i have seen johnston shoot these twenty years, and i will
not flinch from it. how say you, old warhound, will you not have
a flight shot or two with this springald?"
"tut, tut, aylward," said the old bowman. " my day is past, and
it is for the younger ones to hold what we have gained. i take
it unkindly of thee, samkin, that thou shouldst call all eyes
thus upon a broken bowman who could once shoot a fair shaft. let
me feel that bow, wilkins! it is a scotch bow, i see, for the
upper nock is without and the lower within. by the black rood!
it is a good piece of yew, well nocked, well strung, well waxed,
and very joyful to the feel. i think even now that i might hit
any large and goodly mark with a bow like this. turn thy quiver
to me, aylward. i love an ash arrow pierced with cornel-wood for
a roving shaft."
"by my hilt! and so do i," cried aylward. "these three gander-
winged shafts are such."
"so i see, comrade. it has been my wont to choose a saddle-
backed feather for a dead shaft, and a swine-backed for a smooth
flier. i will take the two of them. ah! samkin, lad, the eye
grows dim and the hand less firm as the years pass."
"come then, are you not ready?" said the brabanter, who had
watched with ill-concealed impatience the slow and methodic
movements of his antagonist.
"i will venture a rover with you, or try long-butts or hoyles,"
said old johnston. "to my mind the long-bow is a better weapon
than the arbalest, but it may be ill for me to prove it."
"so i think," quoth the other with a sneer. he drew his moulinet
from his girdle, and fixing it to the windlass, he drew back the
powerful double cord until it had clicked into the catch. then
from his quiver he drew a short, thick quarrel, which he placed
with the utmost care upon the groove. word had spread of what
was going forward, and the rivals were already surrounded, not
only by the english archers of the company, but by hundreds of
arbalestiers and men-at-arms from the bands of ortingo and la
nuit, to the latter of which the brabanter belonged.
"there is a mark yonder on the hill," sai
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