t.

Here and there, a little apart from the main stream of traffic, the
minstrels would take up their position, and playing a gay air, the
soldier lads and lasses would fall to and foot it merrily to the
strains. Sometimes there would be a break in the gayety, and loud
shouts, and perhaps fierce oaths, would rise. Then the maidens would fly
like startled fawns, and men 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