p-light a
shock of blazing red hair which fringed a steel cap high above the heads
of the crowd. "Here is John, and Aylward, too! Help us, comrades, for
there is wrong being done to this maid and to the old man."

"Hola, mon petit," said the old bowman, pushing his way through the
crowd, with the huge forester at his heels. "What is all this, then?
By the twang of string! I think that you will have some work upon your
hands if you are to right all the wrongs that you may see upon this side
of the water. It is not to be thought that a troop of bowmen, with the
wine buzzing in their ears, will be as soft-spoken as so many young
clerks in an orchard. When you have been a year with the Company
you will think less of such matters. But what is amiss here? The
provost-marshal with his archers is coming this way, and some of you may
find yourselves in the stretch-neck, if you take not heed."

"Why, it is old Sam Aylward of the White Company!" shouted the
man-at-arms. "Why, Samkin, what hath come upon thee? I can call to mind
the day when you were as roaring a blade as ever called himself a free
companion. By my soul! from Limoges to Navarre, who was there who would
kiss a wench or cut a throat as readily as bowman Aylward of Hawkwood's
company?"

"Like enough, Peter," said Aylward, "and, by my hilt! I may not have
changed so much. But it was ever a fair loose and a clear mark with me.
The wench must be willing, or the man must be standing up against me,
else, by these ten finger bones I either were safe enough for me."

A glance at Aylward's resolute face, and at the huge shoulders of Hordle
John, had convinced the archers that there was little to be got by
violence. The girl and the old man began to shuffle on in the crowd
without their tormentors venturing to stop them. Ford and Alleyne
followed slowly behind them, but Aylward caught the latter by the
shoulder.

"By my hilt! camarade," said he, "I hear that you have done great things
at the Abbey to-day, but I pray you to have a care, for it was I who
brought you into the Company, and it would be a black day for me if
aught were to befall you."

"Nay, Aylward, I will have a care."

"Thrust not forward into danger too much, mon petit. In a little time
your wrist will be stronger and your cut more shrewd. There will be some
of us at the 'Rose de Guienne' to-night, which is two doors from the
hotel of the 'Half Moon,' so if you would drain a cup with a few simple
archer