n hasten to the spot; though the quarrel might be
purely a private one, yet should it happen between the retainers of two
nobles, the friends of each would be sure to strike in, and serious frays
would arise before the marshal of the camp with his posse could arrive to
interfere. Sometimes indeed these quarrels became so serious and
desperate that alliances were broken up and great intentions frustrated
by the quarrels of the soldiery.

Here and there, on elevated platforms, or even on the top of a pile of
tubs, were friars occupied in haranguing the soldiers, and in inspiring
them with enthusiasm for the cause upon which they were embarked. The
conduct of their listeners showed easily enough the motives which had
brought them to war. Some stood with clasped hands and eager eyes
listening to the exhortations of the priests, and ready, as might be
seen from their earnest gaze, to suffer martyrdom in the cause. More,
however, stood indifferently round, or after listening to a few words
walked on with a laugh or a scoff; indeed preaching had already done all
that lay in its power. All those who could be moved by exhortations of
this kind were there, and upon the rest the discourses and sermons were
thrown away.

Several times in the course of his stroll round the camp Cuthbert
observed the beginnings of quarrels, which were in each case only checked
by the intervention of some knight or other person in authority coming
past, and he observed that these in every instance occurred between men
of the English and those of the French army.

Between the Saxon contingent of King Richard's army and the French
soldiers there could indeed be no quarrel, for the Saxons understood no
word of their language; but with the Normans the case was different, for
the Norman-French, which was spoken by all the nobles and their retainers
in Britain, was as nearly as possible the same as that in use in France.

It seemed, however, to Cuthbert, watching narrowly what was going on,
that there existed by no means a good feeling between the men of the
different armies; and he thought that this divergence so early in the
campaign boded but little good for the final success of the expedition.

When he returned to the tent the earl questioned him as to what he had
seen, and Cuthbert frankly acknowledged that it appeared to him that the
feeling between the men of the two armies was not good.

"I have been," the earl said, "to the royal camp, and fro