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