i have ever found that the lady maude was very
well able to look to her own affairs. since first she could
stamp her little foot, she hath ever been able to get that for
which she craved; and if she set her heart on thee, alleyne, and
thou on her, i do not think that this spanish king, with his
three-score thousand men, could hold you apart. yet this i will
say, that i would see you a full knight ere you go to my daughter
with words of love. i have ever said that a brave lance should
wed her; and, by my soul! edricson, if god spare you, i think
that you will acquit yourself well. but enough of such trifles,
for we have our work before us, and it will be time to speak of
this matter when we see the white cliffs of england once more.
go to sir william felton, i pray you, and ask him to come hither,
for it is time that we were marching. there is no pass at the
further end of the valley, and it is a perilous place should an
enemy come upon us."
alleyne delivered his message, and then wandered forth from the
camp, for his mind was all in a whirl with this unexpected news,
and with his talk with sir nigel. sitting upon a rock, with his
burning brow resting upon his hands, he thought of his brother,
of their quarrel, of the lady maude in her bedraggled riding-
dress, of the gray old castle, of the proud pale face in the
armory, and of the last fiery words with which she had sped him
on his way. then he was but a penniless, monk-bred lad, unknown
and unfriended. now he was himself socman of minstead, the head
of an old stock, and the lord of an estate which, if reduced from
its former size, was still ample to preserve the dignity of his
family. further, he had become a man of experience, was counted
brave among brave men, had won the esteem and confidence of her
father, and, above all, had been listened to by him when he told
him the secret of his love. as to the gaining of knighthood, in
such stirring times it was no great matter for a brave squire of
gentle birth to aspire to that honor. he would leave his bones
among these spanish ravines, or he would do some deed which would
call the eyes of men upon him.
alleyne was still seated on the rock, his griefs and his joys
drifting swiftly over his mind like the shadow of clouds upon a
sunlit meadow, when of a sudden he became conscious of a low,
deep sound which came booming up to him through the fog. close
behind him he could hear the murmur of the bowmen, the occasional
bursts of hoarse laughter, and the champing and stamping of their
horses. behind it all, however, came that low-pitched, deep-
toned hum, which seemed to come from every quarter and to fill
the whole air. in the old monastic days he remembered to have
heard such a sound when he had walked out one windy night at
bucklershard, and had listened to the long waves breaking upon
the shingly shore. here, however, was neither wind nor sea, and
yet the dull murmur rose ever louder and stronger out of the
heart of the rolling sea of vapor. he turned and ran to the camp,
shouting an alarm at the top of his voice.
it was but a hundred paces, and yet ere he had crossed it every
bowman was ready at his horse's head, and the group of knights
were out and listening intently to the ominous sound.
"it is a great body of horse," said sir william felton, "and they
are riding very swiftly hitherwards."
"yet they must be from the prince's army," remarked sir richard
causton, "for they come from the north."
"nay," said the earl of angus, "it is not so certain; for the
peasant with whom we spoke last night said that it was rumored
that don tello, the spanish king's brother, had ridden with six
thousand chosen men to beat up the prince's camp. it may be that
on their backward road they have come this way."
"by st. paul!" cried sir nigel, "i think that it is even as you
say, for that same peasant had a sour face and a shifting eye, as
one who bore us little good will. i doubt not that he has
brought these cavaliers upon us."
"but the mist covers us," said sir simon burley. "we have yet
time to ride through the further end of the pass."
"were we a troop of mountain goats we might do so," answered sir
william felton, "but it is not to be passed by a company of
horsemen. if these be indeed don tello and his men, then we must
bide where we are, and do what we can to make them rue the day
that they found us in their path."
"well spoken, william!" cried sir nigel, in high delight. "if
there be so many as has been said, then there will be much honor
to be gained from them and every hope of advancement. but the
sound has ceased, and i fear that they have gone some other way."
"or mayhap they have come to the mouth of the gorge, and are
marshalling their ranks. hush and hearken! for they are no great
way from us."
the co
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