I will believe no such thing of you, for I can readily see that you are all very valiant men, who would scorn to live here in peace when your prince hath so great a venture before him. Ye have chosen me as a leader, and a leader I will be if ye come with me to Spain; and I vow to you that my pennon of the five roses shall, if God give me strength and life, be ever where there is most honour to be gained. But if it be your wish to loll and loiter in these glades, bartering glory and renown for vile gold and ill-gotten riches, then ye must find another leader; for I have lived in honour, and in honour I trust that I shall die. If there be forest men or Hampshire men amongst ye, I call upon them to say whether they will follow the banner of Loring.'
'Here's a Romsey man for you!' cried a young bowman with a sprig of evergreen set in his helmet.
'And a lad from Alresford!' shouted another.
'And from Milton!'
'And from Burley!'
'And from Lymington!'
'And a little one from Brockenhurst!' shouted a huge-limbed fellow who sprawled beneath a tree.
'By my hilt! lads,' cried Aylward, jumping upon the fallen trunk, 'I think that we could not look the girls in the eyes if we let the prince cross the mountains and did not pull string to clear a path for him. It is very well in time of peace to lead such a life as we have had together, but now the war-banner is in the wind once more, and, by these ten finger-bones! if he go alone, old Samkin Aylward will walk beside it.'
These words from a man so popular as Aylward decided many of the waverers, and a shout of approval burst from his audience.
'Far be it from me,' said Sir Claude Latour suavely, 'to persuade you against this worthy archer, or against Sir Nigel Loring: yet we have been together in many ventures, and perchance it may not be amiss if I say to you what I think upon the matter.'
