"His betters before the tranchoir, lad. Sniff not treason where none is
meant. I have seen him smile in his quiet way because I had looked for
the fourth time towards the carving squire. And indeed to watch
him dallying with a little gobbet of bread, or sipping his cup of
thrice-watered wine, is enough to make a man feel shame at his own
hunger. Yet war and glory, my good friend, though well enough in their
way, will not serve to tighten such a belt as clasps my waist."

"How read you that coat which hangs over yonder galley, Alleyne?" asked
Sir Nigel.

"Argent, a bend vert between cotises dancette gules."

"It is a northern coat. I have seen it in the train of the Percies. From
the shields, there is not one of these vessels which hath not knight or
baron aboard. I would mine eyes were better. How read you this upon the
left?"

"Argent and azure, a barry wavy of six."

"Ha, it is the sign of the Wiltshire Stourtons! And there beyond I see
the red and silver of the Worsleys of Apuldercombe, who like myself are
of Hampshire lineage. Close behind us is the moline cross of the gallant
William Molyneux, and beside it the bloody chevrons of the Norfork
Woodhouses, with the amulets of the Musgraves of Westmoreland. By St.
Paul! it would be a very strange thing if so noble a company were to
gather without some notable deed of arms arising from it. And here is
our boat, Sir Oliver, so it seems best to me that we should go to the
abbey with our squires, leaving Master Hawtayne to have his own way in
the unloading."

The horses both of knights and squires were speedily lowered into a
broad lighter, and reached the shore almost as soon as their masters.
Sir Nigel bent his knee devoutly as he put foot on land, and taking a
small black patch from his bosom he bound it tightly over his left eye.

"May the blessed George and the memory of my sweet lady-love raise high
my heart!" quoth he. "And as a token I vow that I will not take this
patch from my eye until I have seen something of this country of Spain,
and done such a small deed as it lies in me to do. And this I swear upon
the cross of my sword and upon the glove of my lady."

"In truth, you take me back twenty years, Nigel," quoth Sir Oliver, as
they mounted and rode slowly through the water-gate. "After Cadsand,
I deem that the French thought that we were an army of the blind, for
there was scarce a man who had not closed an eye for the greater love
and honor of his l