“Mon Dieu! Alleyne, saw you ever so lovely a face?” cried Ford1 as they hurried along together. “So pure, so peaceful, and so beautiful!”
“In sooth, yes. And the hue2 of the skin the most perfect that ever I saw. Marked you also how the hair curled round the brow? It was wonder fine.”
“Those eyes, too!” cried Ford. “How clear and how tender—simple, and yet so full of thought!”
“If there was a weakness it was in the chin,” said Alleyne.
“Nay3. I saw none.”
“It was well curved, it is true.”
“Most daintily so.”
“And yet——”
“What then, Alleyne? Wouldst find flaw in the sun?”
“Well, bethink you, Ford, would not more power and expression have been put into the face by a long and noble beard?”
“Holy Virgin5!” cried Ford, “the man is mad. A beard on the face of little Tita!”
“Tita! Who spoke6 of Tita?”
“Who spoke of aught else?”
“It was the picture of St. Remi, man, of which I have been discoursing7.”
“You are indeed,” cried Ford, laughing, “a Goth, Hun, and Vandal, with all the other hard names which the old man called us. How could you think so much of a smear8 of pigments9, when there was such a picture painted by the good God himself in the very room with you? But who is this?”
“If it please you, sirs,” said an archer10, running across to them, “Aylward and others would be right glad to see you. They are within here. He bade me say to you that the Lord Loring will not need your service to-night, as he sleeps with the Lord Chandos.”
“By my faith!” said Ford, “we do not need a guide to lead us to their presence.” As he spoke there came a roar of singing from the tavern11 upon the right, with shouts of laughter and stamping of feet. Passing under a low door, and down a stone-flagged passage, they found themselves in a long narrow hall lit up by a pair of blazing torches, one at either end. Trusses of straw had been thrown down along the walls, and reclining on them were some twenty or thirty archers12, all of the Company, their steel caps and jacks13 thrown off, their tunics16 open and their great limbs sprawling17 upon the clay floor. At every man's elbow stood his leathern blackjack of beer, while at the further end a hogshead with its end knocked in promised an abundant supply for the future. Behind the hogshead, on a half circle of kegs, boxes, and rude settles, sat Aylward, John, Black Simon and three or four other leading men of the archers, together with Goodwin Hawtayne, the master-shipman, who had left his yellow cog in the river to have a last rouse with his friends of the Company. Ford and Alleyne took their seats between Aylward and Black Simon, without their entrance checking in any degree the hubbub18 which was going on.
“Ale, mes camarades?” cried the bowman, “or shall it be wine? Nay, but ye must have the one or the other. Here, Jacques, thou limb of the devil, bring a bottrine of the oldest vernage, and see that you do not shake it. Hast heard the news?”
“Nay,” cried both the squires20.
“That we are to have a brave tourney.”
“A tourney?”
“Aye, lads. For the Captal du Buch hath sworn that he will find five knights21 from this side of the water who will ride over any five Englishmen who ever threw leg over saddle; and Chandos hath taken up the challenge, and the prince hath promised a golden vase for the man who carries himself best, and all the court is in a buzz over it.”
“Why should the knights have all the sport?” growled23 Hordle John. “Could they not set up five archers for the honor of Aquitaine and of Gascony?”
“Or five men-at-arms,” said Black Simon.
“But who are the English knights?” asked Hawtayne.
“There are three hundred and forty-one in the town,” said Aylward, “and I hear that three hundred and forty cartels and defiances have already been sent in, the only one missing being Sir John Ravensholme, who is in his bed with the sweating sickness, and cannot set foot to ground.”
“I have heard of it from one of the archers of the guard,” cried a bowman from among the straw; “I hear that the prince wished to break a lance, but that Chandos would not hear of it, for the game is likely to be a rough one.”
“Then there is Chandos.”
“Nay, the prince would not permit it. He is to be marshal of the lists, with Sir William Felton and the Duc d'Armagnac. The English will be the Lord Audley, Sir Thomas Percy, Sir Thomas Wake, Sir William Beauchamp, and our own very good lord and leader.”
“Hurrah for him, and God be with him!” cried several. “It is honor to draw string in his service.”
“So you may well say,” said Aylward. “By my ten finger-bones! if you march behind the pennon of the five roses you are like to see all that a good bowman would wish to see. Ha! yes, mes garcons, you laugh, but, by my hilt! you may not laugh when you find yourselves where he will take you, for you can never tell what strange vow24 he may not have sworn to. I see that he has a patch over his eye, even as he had at Poictiers. There will come bloodshed of that patch, or I am the more mistaken.”
“How chanced it at Poictiers, good Master Aylward?” asked one of the young archers, leaning upon his elbows, with his eyes fixed25 respectfully upon the old bowman's rugged26 face.
“Aye, Aylward, tell us of it,” cried Hordle John.
“Here is to old Samkin Aylward!” shouted several at the further end of the room, waving their blackjacks in the air.
“Ask him!” said Aylward modestly, nodding towards Black Simon. “He saw more than I did. And yet, by the holy nails! there was not very much that I did not see either.”
“Ah, yes,” said Simon, shaking his head, “it was a great day. I never hope to see such another. There were some fine archers who drew their last shaft27 that day. We shall never see better men, Aylward.”
“By my hilt! no. There was little Robby Withstaff, and Andrew Salblaster, and Wat Alspaye, who broke the neck of the German. Mon Dieu! what men they were! Take them how you would, at long butts28 or short, hoyles, rounds, or rovers, better bowmen never twirled a shaft over their thumb-nails.”
“But the fight, Aylward, the fight!” cried several impatiently.
“Let me fill my jack14 first, boys, for it is a thirsty tale. It was at the first fall of the leaf that the prince set forth29, and he passed through Auvergne, and Berry, and Anjou, and Touraine. In Auvergne the maids are kind, but the wines are sour. In Berry it is the women that are sour, but the wines are rich. Anjou, however, is a very good land for bowmen, for wine and women are all that heart could wish. In Touraine I got nothing save a broken pate30, but at Vierzon I had a great good fortune, for I had a golden pyx from the minster, for which I afterwards got nine Genoan janes from the goldsmith in the Rue4 Mont Olive. From thence we went to Bourges, where I had a tunic15 of flame-colored silk and a very fine pair of shoes with tassels31 of silk and drops of silver.”
“From a stall, Aylward?” asked one of the young archers.
“Nay, from a man's feet, lad. I had reason to think that he might not need them again, seeing that a thirty-inch shaft had feathered in his back.”
“And what then, Aylward?”
“On we went, coz, some six thousand of us, until we came to Issodun, and there again a very great thing befell.”
“A battle, Aylward?”
“Nay, nay; a greater thing than that. There is little to be gained out of a battle, unless one have the fortune to win a ransom32. At Issodun I and three Welshmen came upon a house which all others had passed, and we had the profit of it to ourselves. For myself, I had a fine feather-bed—a thing which you will not see in a long day's journey in England. You have seen it, Alleyne, and you, John. You will bear me out that it is a noble bed. We put it on a sutler's mule33, and bore it after the army. It was on my mind that I would lay it by until I came to start house of mine own, and I have it now in a very safe place near Lyndhurst.”
“And what then, master-bowman?” asked Hawtayne. “By St. Christopher! it is indeed a fair and goodly life which you have chosen, for you gather up the spoil as a Warsash man gathers lobsters34, without grace or favor from any man.”
“You are right, master-shipman,” said another of the older archers. “It is an old bowyer's rede that the second feather of a fenny35 goose is better than the pinion36 of a tame one. Draw on old lad, for I have come between you and the clout37.”
“On we went then,” said Aylward, after a long pull at his blackjack. “There were some six thousand of us, with the prince and his knights, and the feather-bed upon a sutler's mule in the centre. We made great havoc38 in Touraine, until we came into Romorantin, where I chanced upon a gold chain and two bracelets39 of jasper, which were stolen from me the same day by a black-eyed wench from the Ardennes. Mon Dieu! there are some folk who have no fear of Domesday in them, and no sign of grace in their souls, for ever clutching and clawing at another man's chattels40.”
“But the battle, Aylward, the battle!” cried several, amid a burst of laughter.
“I come to it, my young war-pups. Well, then, the King of France had followed us with fifty thousand men, and he made great haste to catch us, but when he had us he scarce knew what to do with us, for we were so drawn41 up among hedges and vineyards that they could not come nigh us, save by one lane. On both sides were archers, men-at-arms and knights behind, and in the centre the baggage, with my feather-bed upon a sutler's mule. Three hundred chosen knights came straight for it, and, indeed, they were very brave men, but such a drift of arrows met them that few came back. Then came the Germans, and they also fought very bravely, so that one or two broke through the archers and came as far as the feather-bed, but all to no purpose. Then out rides our own little hothead with the patch over his eye, and my Lord Audley with his four Cheshire squires, and a few others of like kidney, and after them went the prince and Chandos, and then the whole throng42 of us, with axe43 and sword, for we had shot away our arrows. Ma foi! it was a foolish thing, for we came forth from the hedges, and there was naught44 to guard the baggage had they ridden round behind us. But all went well with us, and the king was taken, and little Robby Withstaff and I fell in with a wain with twelve firkins of wine for the king's own table, and, by my hilt! if you ask me what happened after that, I cannot answer you, nor can little Robby Withstaff either.”
“And next day?”
“By my faith! we did not tarry long, but we hied back to Bordeaux, where we came in safety with the King of France and also the feather-bed. I sold my spoil, mes garcons, for as many gold-pieces as I could hold in my hufken, and for seven days I lit twelve wax candles upon the altar of St. Andrew; for if you forget the blessed when things are well with you, they are very likely to forget you when you have need of them. I have a score of one hundred and nineteen pounds of wax against the holy Andrew, and, as he was a very just man, I doubt not that I shall have full weigh and measure when I have most need of it.”
“Tell me, master Aylward,” cried a young fresh-faced archer at the further end of the room, “what was this great battle about?”
“Why, you jack-fool, what would it be about save who should wear the crown of France?”
“I thought that mayhap it might be as to who should have this feather-bed of thine.”
“If I come down to you, Silas, I may lay my belt across your shoulders,” Aylward answered, amid a general shout of laughter. “But it is time young chickens went to roost when they dare cackle against their elders. It is late, Simon.”
“Nay, let us have another song.”
“Here is Arnold of Sowley will troll as good a stave as any man in the Company.”
“Nay, we have one here who is second to none,” said Hawtayne, laying his hand upon big John's shoulder. “I have heard him on the cog with a voice like the wave upon the shore. I pray you, friend, to give us 'The Bells of Milton,' or, if you will, 'The Franklin's Maid.'”
Hordle John drew the back of his hand across his mouth, fixed his eyes upon the corner of the ceiling, and bellowed45 forth, in a voice which made the torches flicker46, the southland ballad47 for which he had been asked:—
The franklin he hath gone to roam,
The franklin's maid she bides48 at home,
But she is cold and coy and staid,
And who may win the franklin's maid?
There came a knight22 of high renown49
In bassinet and ciclatoun;
On bended knee full long he prayed,
He might not win the franklin's maid.
There came a squire19 so debonair50
His dress was rich, his words were fair,
He sweetly sang, he deftly51 played:
He could not win the franklin's maid.
There came a mercer wonder-fine
With velvet52 cap and gaberdine;
For all his ships, for all his trade
He could not buy the franklin's maid.
There came an archer bold and true,
With bracer guard and stave of yew53;
His purse was light, his jerkin frayed54;
Haro, alas55! the franklin's maid!
Oh, some have laughed and some have cried
And some have scoured56 the country-side!
But off they ride through wood and glade57,
The bowman and the franklin's maid.
A roar of delight from his audience, with stamping of feet and beating of blackjacks against the ground, showed how thoroughly58 the song was to their taste, while John modestly retired59 into a quart pot, which he drained in four giant gulps60. “I sang that ditty in Hordle ale-house ere I ever thought to be an archer myself,” quoth he.
“Fill up your stoups!” cried Black Simon, thrusting his own goblet61 into the open hogshead in front of him. “Here is a last cup to the White Company, and every brave boy who walks behind the roses of Loring!”
“To the wood, the flax, and the gander's wing!” said an old gray-headed archer on the right.
“To a gentle loose, and the King of Spain for a mark at fourteen score!” cried another.
“To a bloody62 war!” shouted a fourth. “Many to go and few to come!”
“With the most gold to the best steel!” added a fifth.
“And a last cup to the maids of our heart!” cried Aylward. “A steady hand and a true eye, boys; so let two quarts be a bowman's portion.” With shout and jest and snatch of song they streamed from the room, and all was peaceful once more in the “Rose de Guienne.”
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1
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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6
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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7
discoursing
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| 演说（discourse的现在分词形式） | |
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smear
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| v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑 | |
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9
pigments
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| n.（粉状）颜料( pigment的名词复数 )；天然色素 | |
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10
archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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13
jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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14
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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15
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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17
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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squires
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| n.地主，乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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21
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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22
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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23
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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24
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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28
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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pate
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| n.头顶；光顶 | |
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31
tassels
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| n.穗( tassel的名词复数 )；流苏状物；（植物的）穗；玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 )；使抽穗， （为了使作物茁壮生长）摘去穗状雄花；用流苏装饰 | |
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32
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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34
lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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35
fenny
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| adj.沼泽的；沼泽多的；长在沼泽地带的；住在沼泽地的 | |
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36
pinion
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| v.束缚；n.小齿轮 | |
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37
clout
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| n.用手猛击；权力，影响力 | |
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38
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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39
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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40
chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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41
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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42
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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43
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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44
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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45
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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46
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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47
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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48
bides
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| v.等待，停留( bide的第三人称单数 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临 | |
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49
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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50
debonair
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| adj.殷勤的，快乐的 | |
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51
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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52
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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53
yew
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| n.紫杉属树木 | |
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54
frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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56
scoured
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| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
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57
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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58
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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59
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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60
gulps
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| n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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61
goblet
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| n.高脚酒杯 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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