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