It chanced that the soldier looked up and saw the questioning glance which the young clerk threw upon him. He raised his flagon and drank to him, with a merry flash of his white teeth.
À toi, mon garçon![54] he cried. Hast surely never seen a man-at-arms, that thou shouldst stare so?
I never have, said Alleyne frankly, though I have oft heard talk of their deeds.
By my hilt! cried the other, if you were to cross the narrow sea you would find them as thick as bees at a tee-hole. Couldst not shoot a bolt down any street of Bordeaux, I warrant, but you would pink archer, squire or knight. There are more breastplates than gaberdines to be seen, I promise you.
And where got you all those pretty things? asked Hordle John, pointing at the heap in the corner.
Where there is as much more waiting for any brave lad to pick it up. Where a good man can always earn a good wage, and where he need look upon no man as his paymaster, but just reach his hand out and help himself. Aye, it is a goodly and a proper life. And here I drink to mine old comrades, and the saints be with them! A rouse all together, mes enfants[55], under pain of my displeasure! To Sir Claude Latour and the White Company!
Sir Claude Latour and the White Company! shouted the travellers, draining off their goblets.
Well quaffed, mes braves[56]! It is for me to fill your cups again, since you have drained them to my dear lads of the white jerkin. Holà! mon ange[57], bring wine and ale.
How runs the old stave?
Well drink all together
To the grey goose feather
And the land where the grey goose flew.
He roared out the catch in a harsh unmusical voice, and ended with a shout of laughter. I trust that I am a better bowman than a minstrel, said he.
Methinks I have some remembrance of the lilt, remarked the gleeman, running his fingers over the strings. Hoping that it will give thee no offence, most holy sir with a vicious snap at Alleyne and with the kind permit of the company, I will even venture upon it.
At the time he was lost in admiration at the deft way in which the jongleur disguised the loss of his two missing strings, and the lusty, hearty fashion in which he trolled out his little ballad of the outland bowmen, which ran in some such fashion as this:
What of the bow?
The bow was made in England:
Of true wood, of yew-wood,
The wood of English bows;
So men who are free
Love the old yew-tree
And the land where the yew-tree grows.
What of the cord?
The cord was made in England:
A rough cord, a tough cord,
A cord that bowmen love;
So well drain our jacks
To the English flax
And the land where the hemp was wove.
What of the shaft?
The shaft was cut in England:
A long shaft, a strong shaft,
Barbed and trim and true;
So well drink all together
To the grey goose feather
And the land where the grey goose flew.
What of the men?
The men were bred in England:
The bowmen the yeomen
The lads of dale and fell.
Heres to you and to you!
To the hearts that are true
And the land where the true hearts dwell.
Well sung, by my hilt! shouted the archer in high delight. Many a night have I heard that song, both in the old war-time and after, in the days of the White Company, when Black Simon of Norwich would lead the stave, and four hundred of the best bowmen that ever drew string would come roaring in upon the chorus. I have seen old John Hawkwood, the same who has led half the Company into Italy, stand laughing in his beard as he heard it, until his plates rattled again. But to get the full smack of it ye must yourselves be English bowmen, and be far off upon an outland soil.
Whilst the song had been singing Dame Eliza and the maid had placed a board across two trestles, and had laid upon it the knife, the spoon, the salt, the tranchoir of bread[58], and finally the smoking dish which held the savoury supper. The archer settled himself to it like one who had known what it was to find good food scarce; but his tongue still went as merrily as his teeth.
It passes me, he cried, how all you lusty fellows can hide scratching your backs at home when there are such doings over the seas. Look at me what have I to do? It is but the eye to the cord, the cord to the shaft, and the shaft to the mark. There is the whole song of it. It is but what you do yourselves for pleasure upon a Sunday evening at the parish village butts.
And the wage? asked a labourer.
You see what the wage brings, he answered. I eat of the best, and I drink deep. I treat my friend, and I ask no friend to treat me. I clap a silk gown on my girls back. Never a knights lady shall be better betrimmed and betrinketed. How of all that, mon garçon? And how of the heap of trifles that you can see for yourselves in yonder corner? They are from the South French, every one, upon whom I have been making war. By my hilt! camarades, I think that I may let my plunder speak for itself.
It seems indeed to be a goodly service, said the tooth-drawer.
Tête bleue![59] yes, indeed. Then there is the chance of a ransom. Why, look you, in the affair at Brignais, some four years back, when the companies slew James of Bourbon, and put his army to the sword, there was scarce a man of ours who had not count, baron, or knight. Peter Karsdale, who was but a common country lout newly brought over, with the English fleas still hopping under his doublet, laid his great hands upon the Sieur Amaury de Chatonville, who owns half Picardy, and had five thousand crowns out of him, with horse and harness. Tis true that a French wench took it all off Peter as quick as the Frenchman paid it; but what then? By the twang of string! it would be a bad thing if money was not made to be spent; and how better than on woman eh, ma belle?
It would indeed be a bad thing if we had not our brave archers to bring wealth and kindly customs into the country, quoth Dame Eliza, on whom the soldiers free and open ways had made a deep impression.
À toi, ma chérie![60] said he, with his hand over his heart. Holà! there is la petite peeping from behind the door. À toi, aussi, ma petite! Mon Dieu![61] but the lass has a good colour!
There is one thing, fair sir, said the Cambridge student in his piping voice, which I would fain that you would make more clear. As I understand it, there was a peace made at the town of Brétigny some six years back between our most gracious monarch and the King of the French. This being so, it seems most passing strange that you should talk so loudly of war and of companies when there is no quarrel between the French and us.
Meaning that I lie, said the archer, laying down his knife.
May heaven forefend[62]! cried the student hastily. Magna est veritas sed rara[63], which means in the Latin tongue that archers are all honourable men. I come to you seeking knowledge, for it is my trade to learn.