y be lost and gained; for all nations are
brave, and where the brave meets the brave it is he who is crafty and
war-wise who will win the day. The best hound will run at fault if he be
ill laid on, and the best hawk will fly at check if he be badly loosed,
and even so the bravest army may go awry if it be ill handled. There are
not in Christendom better knights and squires than those of the French,
and yet we have had the better of them, for in our Scottish Wars and
elsewhere we have learned more of this same mystery of which I speak."

"And wherein lies our wisdom, honored sir?" asked Nigel. "I also would
fain be war-wise and learn to fight with my wits as well as with my
sword."

Chandos shook his head and smiled. "It is in the forest and on the down
that you learn to fly the hawk and loose the hound," said he. "So also
it is in camp and on the field that the mystery of war can be learned.
There only has every great captain come to be its master. To start he
must have a cool head, quick to think, soft as wax before his purpose
is formed, hard as steel when once he sees it before him. Ever alert he
must be, and cautious also, but with judgment to turn his caution into
rashness where a large gain may be put against a small stake. An eye for
country also, for the trend of the rivers, the slope of the hills, the
cover of the woods, and the light green of the bog-land."

Poor Nigel, who had trusted to his lance and to Pommers to break his
path to glory, stood aghast at this list of needs. "Alas!" he cried.
"How am I to gain all this?--I, who could scarce learn to read or write
though the good Father Matthew broke a hazel stick a day across my
shoulders?"

"You will gain it, fair son, where others have gained it before you. You
have that which is the first thing of all, a heart of fire from which
other colder hearts may catch a spark. But you must have knowledge
also of that which warfare has taught us in olden times. We know,
par exemple, that horsemen alone cannot hope to win against good
foot-soldiers. Has it not been tried at Courtrai, at Stirling, and
again under my own eyes at Crecy, where the chivalry of France went down
before our bowmen?"

Nigel stared at him, with a perplexed brow. "Fair sir, my heart grows
heavy as I hear you. Do you then say that our chivalry can make no head
against archers, billmen and the like?"

"Nay, Nigel, for it has also been very clearly shown that the best
foot-soldiers unsupport