the clash of and rolling of drums and shouts of those who went and of those who waited from to the dart there was no port which did not send forth its little fleet gay with and as for a joyous festival thus in the season of the days the might of england put forth on to the waters in the ancient and county of there was no lack of leaders or of soldiers for a service which promised either honor or profit in the north the s head of the and the scarlet fish of the de were waving over a strong body of from and forests de was up in the east and sir john de in the west sir de sir thomas west sir de sir arthur sir walter and stout sir were all marching south with from and while from came sir john sir thomas and sir john with a troop of picked men at arms making for their port at greatest of all the however was that at castle for the name and the fame of sir drew toward him the keenest and spirits all eager to serve under so a leader from the new forest and the forest of from the pleasant country which is watered by the the and the young from the ancient all were pushing for to take service under the banner of the five scarlet roses and now could sir have shown the of land which the laws of rank required he might well hare cut bis into a square banner and taken such a following into the field as would supported the dignity of a but poverty was heavy upon him his land was scant his empty and the very castle which covered him the holding of another sore was his heart when he saw rare and war hardened turned away from his gates for the lack of the money which might and pay them yet the letter which had brought him gave him powers which he was not slow to use in it sir the lieutenant of the white company assured him that there remained in his keeping enough to fit out a hundred and twenty men at arms which joined to the three hundred companions already in france would make a force which any leader might be proud to command carefully and the knight chose out his men from the swarm of many an anxious consultation he held with black sam and other of his more experienced followers as to who should come and who should stay by all saints day however ere the last leaves had fluttered to earth in the and he had filled up his full numbers and under his banner as stout a following of as ever their war bows twenty men at arms too well mounted and equipped formed the cavalry of the party while young peter of and walter ford of the martial sons of martial came at their own cost to wait npon sir and to share with the duties of hia yet even after the there was much to be done ere the party could proceed upon its way for swords and there was no need to take much for they were to be had both better and cheaper in than in with the long bow however it was different indeed might be got in spain bat it was well to take enough and to spare with them then three spare should be for bow with a great store of arrow heads besides the of chain mail the steel caps and the or arm guards which were the proper of the above all the women for miles round were hard at work cutting the white which were the of the company and them with the red lion of st george upon the centre of the breast when all was completed and the muster called in the castle yard the oldest soldier of the french wars was fain to confess that he had never looked upon a better equipped or more warlike body of men from the old knight with his silk sitting his great black war horse in the front of them to john the giant who leaned carelessly upon a huge black bow in the rear of the six score fully half had seen service before while a fair were men who had followed the wars all their and had a hand in those battles which had made the whole world ring with the fame and the wonder of the island six long weeks were taken in these preparations and it was close on ere all was ready for a start nigh two months had been in castle � months which were fated to turn the whole current of his life to divert it from that dark and lonely toward which it tended and to guide it into and more channels already he had learned to bless his father for that wise provision which had made him seek to know the world ere he bad ventured to it for it was a different place from that which he had pictured � very different from that which he had heard described when the master of the held forth to his charges upon the wolves who for them beyond the peaceful folds of there was cruelty in it doubtless and lust and sin and sorrow but were there not virtues to robust positive virtues which did not shrink from temptation which held their own in all the rough of the world how color hm by contrast appeared the which came from inability to sin the which was attained by flying from the enemy bred as he was had and a mind which was enough to form new and to old ones he could not fail to see that the men with whom he was thrown in contact rough fierce and as they were were yet of deeper nature and of 