christchurch, should don hauberk once more

and take the lead of us."

"ah, you would indeed be in luck then," quoth a woodman; "for it

is said that, setting aside the prince, and mayhap good old sir

john chandos, there was not in the whole army a man of such tried

courage."

"it is sooth, every word of it," the archer answered. "i have

seen him with these two eyes in a stricken field, and never did

man carry himself better. mon dieu! yes, ye would not credit it

to look at him, or to hearken to his soft voice, but from the

sailing from orwell down to the foray to paris, and that is clear

twenty years, there was not a skirmish, onfall, sally, bushment,

escalado or battle, but sir nigel was in the heart of it. i go

now to christchurch with a letter to him from sir claude latour

to ask him if he will take the place of sir john hawkwood; and

there is the more chance that he will if i bring one or two

likely men at my heels. what say you, woodman: wilt leave the

bucks to loose a shaft at a nobler mark?"

the forester shook his head. "i have wife and child at emery

down," quoth he; "i would not leave them for such a venture."

you, then, young sir?" asked the archer.

"nay, i am a man of peace," said alleyne edricson. "besides, i

have other work to do."

"peste!" growled the soldier, striking his flagon on the board

until the dishes danced again. "what, in the name of the devil,

hath come over the folk? why sit ye all moping by the fireside,

like crows round a dead horse, when there is man's work to be

done within a few short leagues of ye? out upon you all, as a

set of laggards and hang-backs! by my hilt i believe that the

men of england are all in france already, and that what is left

behind are in sooth the women dressed up in their paltocks and

hosen."

"archer," quoth hordle john, "you have lied more than once and

more than twice; for which, and also because i see much in you to

dislike, i am sorely tempted to lay you upon your back."

"by my hilt! then, i have found a man at last!" shouted the

bowman. "and, 'fore god, you are a better man than i take you

for if you can lay me on my back, mon garcon. i have won the ram

more times than there are toes to my feet, and for seven long

years i have found no man in the company who could make my jerkin

dusty."

"we have had enough bobance and boasting," said hordle john,

rising and throwing off his doublet. "i will show you that there

are better men left in england than ever went thieving to

france."

"pasques dieu!" cried the archer, loosening his jerkin, and

eyeing his foeman over with the keen glance of one who is a judge

of manhood. "i have only once before seen such a body of a man.

by your leave, my red-headed friend, i should be right sorry to

exchange buffets with you; and i will allow that there is no man

in the company who would pull against you on a rope; so let that

be a salve to your pride. on the other hand i should judge that

you have led a life of ease for some months back, and that my

muscle is harder than your own. i am ready to wager upon myself

against you if you are not afeard."

"afeard, thou lurden!" growled big john. "i never saw the face

yet of the man that i was afeard of. come out, and we shall see

who is the better man."

"but the wager?"

"i have nought to wager. come out for the love and the lust of

the thing."

"nought to wager!" cried the soldier. "why, you have that which

i covet above all things. it is that big body of thine that i am

after. see, now, mon garcon. i have a french feather-bed there,

which i have been at pains to keep these years back. i had it at

the sacking of issodum, and the king himself hath not such a bed.

if you throw me, it is thine; but, if i throw you, then you are

under a vow to take bow and bill and hie with me to france, there

to serve in the white company as long as we be enrolled."

"a fair wager!" cried all the travellers, moving back their

benches and trestles, so as to give fair field for the wrestlers.

"then you may bid farewell to your bed, soldier," said hordle

john.

"nay; i shall keep the bed, and i shall have you to france in

spite of your teeth, and you shall live to thank me for it. how

shall it be, then, mon enfant? collar and elbow, or close-lock,

or catch how you can?"

"to the devil with your tricks," said john, opening and shutting

his great red hands. "stand forth, and let me clip thee."

"shalt clip me as best you can then," quoth the archer, moving

out into the open space, and keeping a most wary eye upon his

opponent. he had thrown off his green jerkin, and his chest was

covered only by a pink silk jupon, or undershirt, cut low in the

neck and sleeveless. hordle john was stripped from his waist

upwards, and his huge body, with his great muscles swelling