ake me by the hand without coming in,'
said Gourval. 'And how that?' asked Simon. 'By passing in your hand
through the hole,' said he. 'Nay, my hand is wounded,' quoth Simon, 'and
of such a size that I cannot pass it in.' 'That need not hinder,' said
Gourval, who was hot to be rid of us, 'pass in your left hand.' 'But I
have something for thee, Gourval,' said Simon. 'What then?' he asked.
'There was an English archer who slept here last week of the name of
Hugh of Nutbourne.' 'We have had many rogues here,' said Gourval. 'His
conscience hath been heavy within him because he owes you a debt of
fourteen deniers, having drunk wine for which he hath never paid.
For the easing of his soul, he asked me to pay the money to you as I
passed.' Now this Gourval was very greedy for money, so he thrust forth
his hand for the fourteen deniers, but Simon had his dagger ready and
he pinned his hand to the door. 'I have paid the Englishman's debt,
Gourval!' quoth he, and so rode away, laughing so that he could scarce
sit his horse, leaving mine host still nailed to his door. Such is the
story of the hole which you have marked, and of the smudge upon the
wood. I have heard that from that time English archers have been better
treated in the auberge of Cardillac. But what have we here by the
wayside?"

"It appears to be a very holy man," said Alleyne.

"And, by the rood! he hath some strange wares," cried John. "What are
these bits of stone, and of wood, and rusted nails, which are set out in
front of him?"

The man whom they had remarked sat with his back against a cherry-tree,
and his legs shooting out in front of him, like one who is greatly at
his ease. Across his thighs was a wooden board, and scattered over it
all manner of slips of wood and knobs of brick and stone, each laid
separate from the other, as a huckster places his wares. He was dressed
in a long gray gown, and wore a broad hat of the same color, much
weather-stained, with three scallop-shells dangling from the brim. As
they approached, the travellers observed that he was advanced in years,
and that his eyes were upturned and yellow.

"Dear knights and gentlemen," he cried in a high crackling voice,
"worthy Christian cavaliers, will ye ride past and leave an aged pilgrim
to die of hunger? The sight hast been burned from mine eyes by the sands
of the Holy Land, and I have had neither crust of bread nor cup of wine
these two days past."

"By my hilt! father," said Aylw