第 8 页

of words? Shall we show before the face of Christendom that the knights

of the cross are unable to avoid flying at each other's throats, even

while on their way to wrest the holy sepulchre from the infidel? No,

sirs, you must lay aside your feuds, and must promise me and my good

brother here that you will keep the peace between you until this war is

over. Whose fault it was that the quarrel began I know not. It may be

that my Lord of Brabant was discourteous. It may be that the earl here

was too hot. But whichever it be, it matters not."

"The quarrel, sire," said Sir Jacquelin, "arose from a dispute between

our pages, who were nigh coming to blows in your Majesty's presence. I

desired the earl to chide the insolence of his varlet, and instead of so

doing he met my remarks with scorn."

"Pooh, pooh," said King Richard, "there are plenty of grounds for quarrel

without two nobles interfering in the squabbles of boys. Let them fight;

it will harm no one. By-the-bye, your Majesty," he said, turning to the

King of France with a laugh, "if the masters may not fight, there is no

reason in the world why the varlets should not. We are sorely dull for

want of amusement. Let us have a list to-morrow, and let the pages fight

it out for the honour of their masters and their nations."

"It were scarce worth while to have the lists set for two boys to fight,"

said the King of France.

"Oh, we need not have regular lists," said King Richard. "Leave that

matter in my hands. I warrant you that if the cockerels are well plucked,

they will make us sport. What say you, gentlemen?"

The Brabant noble at once assented, answering that he was sure that his

page would be glad to enter the lists; and the earl gave a similar

assent, for he had not noticed how great was the discrepancy between the

size of the future combatants.

"That is agreed, then," said King Richard joyously. "I will have a piece

of ground marked out on the edge of the camp to-morrow morning. It shall

be kept by my men-at-arms, and there shall be a raised place for King

Phillip and myself, who will be the judges of the conflict. Will they

fight on foot or on horse?"

"On foot, on foot," said the King of France. "It would be a pity that

knightly exercises should be brought to scorn by any failure on their

part on horseback. On foot at least it will be a fair struggle."

"What arms shall they use?" the Brabant knight asked.

"Oh, swords and battle-axes, of course," said King Richard with a laugh.

"Before you go," King Phillip said, "you must shake hands, and swear

to let the quarrel between you drop, at least until after our return.

If you still wish to shed each other's blood, I shall offer no

hindrance thereto."

The earl and Count Jacquelin touched each other's hands in obedience to

the order, went out of the tent together, and strode off without a word

in different directions.

"My dear lad," the Earl of Evesham said on entering his tent where his

page was waiting him, "this is a serious business. The kings have

ordered this little count and myself to put aside our differences till

after the Crusade, in accordance with our oath. But as you have no wise

pledged yourself in the same fashion, and as their Majesties fell

somewhat dull while waiting here, it is determined that the quarrel

between me, and between you and the count's page, shall be settled by a

fight between you in the presence of the kings."

"Well, sir," Cuthbert said, "I am glad that it should be, seeing the

varlet insulted me without cause, and purposely upset the cup over me."

"What is he like?" the earl asked. "Dost think that you are a

fair match?"

"I doubt not that we are fair match enough," Cuthbert said. "As you know,

sir, I have been well trained to arms of all kinds, both by my father and

by the men-at-arms at the castle, and could hold my own against any of

your men with light weapons, and have then no fear that this gawky loon,

twenty years old though he seems to be, will bring disgrace upon me or

discredit upon my nation."

"If thou thinkest so," the earl said, "the matter can go on. But had it

been otherwise, I would have gone to the king and protested that the

advantage of age was so great that it would be murder to place you in the

list together."

"There is," Cuthbert said, "at most no greater difference between us than

between a strong man and a weak one, and these, in the ordeal of battle,

have to meet in the lists. Indeed I doubt if the difference is so great,

for if he be a foot taller than I, methinks that round the shoulders I

should have the advantage of him."

"Send hither my armourer," the earl said; "we must choose a proper suit

for you. I fear that mine would be of little use; but doubtless there are

some smaller suits among my friends."

"The simpler and lighter the better," Cuthbert said. "I'd rather have a

light coat of mail and a steel cap, than heavy armour and a helmet that

would press me down and a visor through which I could scarcely see. The

lighter the better, for after all if my sword cannot keep my head, sooner

or later the armour would fail to do so too."

The armourer speedily arrived, and the knights and followers of the earl

being called in and the case stated, there was soon found a coat of fine

linked mail, which fitted Cuthbert well. As to the steel cap, there was

no difficulty whatever.

"You must have a plume at least," the earl said, and took some feathers

from his own casque and fastened them in. "Will you want a light sword

and battle-axe?"

"No," Cuthbert said, "my arms are pretty well used to those of the

men-at-arms. I could wield my father's sword, and that was a heavy one."

The lightest of the earl's weapons were chosen, and it was agreed that

all was now ready for the conflict to-morrow.

In the morning there was a slight bustle in the camp.

The news that a fight was to take place between an English and a Brabant

page, by the permission of the Kings of England and France, that their

Majesties were to be present, and that all was to be conducted on regular

rules, caused a stir of excitement and novelty in the camp.

Nowhere is life duller than among a large body of men kept together for

any time under canvas, and the thought of a combat of this novel kind

excited general interest.

In a meadow at a short distance from the camp, a body of King Richard's

men-at-arms marked off an oval space of about an acre. Upon one side of

this a tent was pitched for the kings, and a small tent was placed at

each end for the combatants. Round the enclosure the men-at-arms formed

the ring, and behind them a dense body of spectators gathered, a place

being set aside for nobles, and others of gentle blood.

At the hour fixed the Kings of England and France arrived together. King

Richard was evidently in a state of high good humour, for he preferred

the clash of arms and the sight of combat to any other pleasure.

The King of France, on the other hand, looked grave. He was a far wiser

and more politic king than Richard; and although he had consented to the

sudden proposal, yet he felt in his heart that the contest was a foolish

one, and that it might create bad feeling among the men of the two

nationalities whichever way it went. He had reserved to himself the right

of throwing down the baton when the combat was to cease, and he

determined to avail himself of this right, to put a stop to the conflict

before either party was likely to sustain any deadly injury.

When the monarchs had taken their places the trumpeters sounded their

trumpets, and the two combatants advanced on foot from their ends of the

lists. A murmur of surprise and dissatisfaction broke from the crowd.

"My Lord of Evesham," the king said angrily to the earl, who with Count

Jacquelin was standing by the royal party, "thou shouldst have said that

the difference between the two was too great to allow the combat to be

possible. The Frenchman appears to be big enough to take your page under

his arm and walk off with him."

The difference was indeed very striking. The French champion was arrayed

in a full suit of knightly armour--of course without the gold spurs which

were the distinguishing mark of that rank--and with his helmet and lofty

plume of feathers he appeared to tower above Cuthbert, who, in his

close-fitting steel cap and link armour, seemed a very dwarf by the side

of a giant.

"It is not size, sire, but muscle and pluck will win in a combat like

this. Your Majesty need not be afraid that my page will disgrace me. He

is of my blood, though the kinship is not close. He is of mixed Saxon and

Norman strain, and will, believe me, do no discredit to either."

The king's brow cleared, for in truth he was very proud of his English

nationality, and would have been sorely vexed to see the discomfiture of

an English champion, even though that champion were a boy.

"Brother Phillip," he said, turning to the king, "I will wager my gold

chain against yours on yonder stripling."

"Methinks that it were robbery to take your wager," the King of France

said. "The difference between their bulk is disproportionate. However, I

will not baulk your wish. My chain against yours."

The rule of the fight was that they were to commence with Swords, but

that either could, if he chose, use his battle-axe.

The fight need scarcely be described at length, for the advantage was all

one way. Cuthbert was fully a match in strength for his antagonist,

although standing nigh a foot shorter. Constant exercise, however, had

hardened his muscles into something like steel, while the teaching that

he had received had embraced all that was then known of the use of arms.

Science in those days there was but little of; it was a case rather of

hard, heavy hitting, than of what we now call swordsmanship.

With the sword Cuthbert gained but slight advantage over his adversary,

whose superior height enabled him to rain blows down upon the lad, which

he was with difficulty enabled to guard; but when the first paroxysm of

his adversary's attack had passed, he took to the offensive, and drove

his opponent back step by step. With his sword, however, he was unable to

cut through the armour of the Frenchman, but in the course of the

encounter, guarding a severe blow aimed at him, his sword was struck from

his hand, and he then, seizing his axe, made such play with it that his

foe dropped his own sword and took to the same weapon.

In this the superior height and weight of his opponent gave him even a

greater advantage than with the sword, and Cuthbert knowing this, used

his utmost dexterity and speed to avoid the sweeping blows showered upon

him. He himself had been enabled to strike one or two sweeping strokes,

always aiming at the same place, the juncture of the visor with the

helmet. At last the Frenchman struck him so heavy a blow that it beat

down his guard and struck his steel cap from his head, bringing him to

the knee. In an instant he was up, and before his foe could be again on

guard, he whirled his axe round with all its force, and bringing it just

at the point of the visor which he had already weakened with repeated

blows, the edge of the axe stove clean through the armour, and the page

was struck senseless to the ground.

A great shout broke from the English portion of the soldiery as Cuthbert

leant over his prostrate foe, and receiving no answer to the question "Do

you yield?" rose to his feet, and signified to the squire who had kept

near that his opponent was insensible.

King Richard ordered the pursuivant to lead Cuthbert to the royal

enclosure.

"Thou art a brave lad and a lusty," the king said, "and hast borne thee

in the fight as well as many a knight would have done. Wert thou older, I

would myself dub thee knight; and I doubt not that the occasion will yet

come when thou wilt do as good deeds upon the bodies of the Saracens as

thou hast upon that long-shanked opponent of thine. Here is a gold chain;

take it as a proof that the King of England holds that you have sustained

well the honour of his country; and mark me, if at any time you require a

boon, bring or send me that chain, and thou shall have it freely. Sir

Walter," he said, turning to the earl, "in this lad thou hast a worthy

champion, and I trust me that thou wilt give him every chance of

distinguishing himself. So soon as thou thinkst him fit for the knightly

rank I myself will administer the accolade."

CHAPTER VIII.

REVENGE.

After his interview with the king, Cuthbert was led to his tent amid the

hearty plaudits of the English troops.

His own comrades flocked round him; the men of the greenwood headed by

Cnut, were especially jubilant over his victory.

"Who would have thought," said the tall forester, "that the lad who but a

short time ago was a child, should now have sustained the honour of the

country? We feel proud of you, Cuthbert; and trust us some day or other

to follow wherever you may lead, and to do some deed which will attain

for you honour and glory, and to show that the men of Evesham are as

doughty as any under King Richard's rule."

"You must be wary, Cuthbert," the earl said to him that evening. "Believe

me that you and I have made a foe, who, although he may not have the

power, has certainly the will to injure us to the death. I marked the eye

of Count Jacquelin during the fight, and again when you were led up to

the king. There was hatred and fury in his eye. The page too, I hear, is

his own nephew, and he will be the laughing-stock of the French camp at

having been conquered by one so much younger than himself. It will be

well to keep upon your guard, and not go out at night unattended. Keep