eather hath not crowed these
twenty years."

"Yet I pray thee, do mine errand to the lord of the castle," answered
the pretended friar; "trust me it will find good acceptance with him,
and the cock shall crow, that the whole castle shall hear him."

"Gramercy," said the warder; "but if I come to shame for leaving my
post upon thine errand, I will try whether a friar's grey gown be proof
against a grey-goose shaft."

With this threat he left his turret, and carried to the hall of the
castle his unwonted intelligence, that a holy friar stood before the
gate and demanded instant admission. With no small wonder he received
his master's commands to admit the holy man immediately; and, having
previously manned the entrance to guard against surprise, he obeyed,
without further scruple, the commands which he had received. The
harebrained self-conceit which had emboldened Wamba to undertake this
dangerous office, was scarce sufficient to support him when he found
himself in the presence of a man so dreadful, and so much dreaded, as
Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, and he brought out his "pax vobiscum", to which
he, in a good measure, trusted for supporting his character, with
more anxiety and hesitation than had hitherto accompanied it. But
Front-de-Boeuf was accustomed to see men of all ranks tremble in his
presence, so that the timidity of the supposed father did not give him
any cause of suspicion.

"Who and whence art thou, priest?" said he.

"'Pax vobiscum'," reiterated the Jester, "I am a poor servant of St
Francis, who, travelling through this wilderness, have fallen among
thieves, (as Scripture hath it,) 'quidam viator incidit in latrones',
which thieves have sent me unto this castle in order to do my ghostly
office on two persons condemned by your honourable justice."

"Ay, right," answered Front-de-Boeuf; "and canst thou tell me, holy
father, the number of those banditti?"

"Gallant sir," answered the Jester, "'nomen illis legio', their name is
legion."

"Tell me in plain terms what numbers there are, or, priest, thy cloak
and cord will ill protect thee."

"Alas!" said the supposed friar, "'cor meum eructavit', that is to
say, I was like to burst with fear! but I conceive they may be--what of
yeomen--what of commons, at least five hundred men."

"What!" said the Templar, who came into the hall that moment, "muster
the wasps so thick here? it is time to stifle such a mischievous brood."
Then taking Front-de-Boeuf a