Evening star., 1905-11-04
CHAPTER XVIII.
How the Comrades Came Over the
Marches of France. T.

How the Comrades Came Over the
Marches Of France.
/ After passing Cahors, the party branched
away from the main road. and leaving the
river to the north of them, followed d
smaller track which wound over vast
and desolate plain. This path LED them
amid marshes and woods, until 1t oroughl
them out into glade with broad stream
swifling swiftly down the center OF II.
Through this the horses splashed their way
|. and on the further shore Sir Nlgei an
nounced to them that they were now with
|. in the borders of the land Of France fo-
some miles they still followed the same
lonely track, which led them through a
dense wood and then widening out, curved
down to an open rolling country, such as
they had Travelled between Aiguillon and
Cahors. -
If it were grim and desoiate upon the
English border, however, what can describe
the hideous barrenness of this ten times
harried tract of France? The whole race OF
the country was SCARED and dishgureo:
mottled over with the black blotches Oh
burned farm-steadngs' and and the the gray' been
chateaus Broken fences, crumbling walls'
vineyards Uttered with stones. the shat-
.ered arches Of bridges-look Where you
| might, the signs of ruin ana rapllie me- :
the eye Here and there only, on the
furthest skyline, the gnarled turrets Oh
| castle, or the graceful pinnacles OF cnulcii
or of monastery showed where the lolees
of the sword or Of the spirit had pfese[veu
some small islet of security In this unlVer-
sal flood of misery. Moodily and In silence
the little party rode along the narrow ana
Irregular track, their hearts weighed GOWN
by this far-stretching land or despair. ~
was. indeed a stricken and a blighted coun-
try and a man might have RIDDEN IRON
Auvergne in the north to the marches OF
Folk nor ever seen a smiling village OF
thriving homestead.
From time to time, as they advanced, they
saw strange lean figures scraping ana
scratching amid the weeds and thistles.
who, on sight Of the band OF morse,
| men, threw up their hands ana olsea
in among the brushwood as shy ana
as swift as wild animals. More than
once. however. they came on famihes
by the wayside, who were too weak from
hunger and disease to fly, so that tney
could but sit like hareS on tussock- Win
painting chests and terror In their eyes. so
gaunt were these poor folk, so worn ana
spent-wtth bent and knotted frames, afu
sulIen hopeless, mutinous faces-tnat II
made the young Englishmen heartsick TO
took upon them. Indeed, it seemed as
though all hope and light had gone so far
from them that 1t was not to be brought
back: for when Sir Nigel threw down q
handful of silver among them there came
clutched greedily at the coins, peerlng
ques stioningly at him. and champing WIN
their animal jaws Here and there amid the
brushwood the travellers saw the rude bum
die of sticks which served them as home
more like a fowls nest than the dwelling
place of man. Yet why should they build
and strive when the first adventurer who
passed would set torch to their thatch.
and when their own feudal lord would
wiring from them with blows and
curses the last fruits of their toll? They
sat at the lowest depth of human misery,
and hugged a bitter comfort to their souls
as they realized that they could go no
lower Yet they had still the human gift
of speech and would take council among
themselves In their brushwood novels, glar-
ing with bleared eyes and pointing with
.hin fingers at the great widespread cha
teaus which eat like cancer into the life
of the countryside. When such men, who
are beyond hope and fear. begin In their
dim minds to see the source OF their woes,
| II may be an evil time for those who have
wronged them. The weak man becomes
strong when he has nothing. for then only
can he feel the wild, mad thrill OF despair.
High and strong the chateaus. lowly and
weak the brushwood hut; but God help the
seigneur and his lady when the men of the
brushwood set their hands to the work of
revenge!
| Through such country did the party ride
| for eight or It might be nine miles until
| the sun began to slope down in the west
and their shadows to stream down the road
| in front of them. Wary and careful they
| must be, with watchful eyes to the right
| and left for this was no mans land, and
| their only passports were those which hung
| from their belts Frenchmen and English
| men. Gascon and Provencal, Brabanter
| Tardvenu, Scorcher, Flaver and Free Com
| panion, wandered and struggled over the
| whole of this accursed district. So bare and
| cheerless was the outlook. and so few and
poor the dwellings, that Sir Nigel began
TO have fears as to whether he might find
| food and quarters for his little troop. 1t
was relief to him, therefore, when their
| narrow track opened out upon a larger
road and they saw some little way down
| it square white house with a great bunch
| of holly hung out al the end of stick from
one of the upper windows.
"Ry st Paulr' said he, II am right glad;
| for had feared that we might have neither
provant nor herbergage Ride on. Alleyne.
| and tell this innkeeper that an English
knight with his party will lodge with him
| this night
Alleyne set spurs to his horse and reached
the inn door long bow-shot before his
| companons. Neither varlet nor hostler
! could he seen, so he pushed open the door
and called loudly for the landlord. Three
| times he shouted, but. receiving no reply,
he opened an inner door and advanced into
| the chief guest room of the hostel.
A very cheerful wood fire was sputterins
| and crackingin open CRATE at the further
end of the apartment. At one side of this
fire in high-hacked oak chair, sat lady.
her face turned toward the door. The fire
light played over her features, and Alleyne
thought that he had never seen such queen
Iy power such dignity and strength, upon
q Woman's face She might have been five
and-thirty years of age, with aquiline nose,
| firm and yet sensitive mouth, dark, curving
brows and deep-set eyes which shone and
sparkled with a shifting brilliancy. Beau
| tiful as she was, 1t was not her beauty
which impressed itself upon the beholder;
| it was her strength, her power, the sense of
| cd which hung the broad white
| brow, the decision which lay in the square
I Jaw and delcately nodded chin. chaplet
! of pearls sparked amid her black hair, with
| a gauze of silver network flowing back
| from It over her shoulders; black mantle
| was swathed round her, and she leaned
back in her chair as one who is fresh from
a journey.
In the opposite corner there sat a very
burly and broad-shouldered man. clad in a
black ierkin trimmed with sa BILE with a
black velvet cap with curling white feather
cooked upon the side of his head A flask
of red wine stood at his elbow, and he
seemed to be very much at his ease. for
his feet were stuck up on a stool, and be-
tween his thighs he held dish full of nuts.
These he cracked between his strong white
teeth and chewed in n lesurely way, cast
ing the shells into the blaze. AS Alleyne
gazed in at him he turned his face half
round and cooked his eye at him over his
seemed To the Vpupo h.