The White Company/Chapter XXIV

by Arthur Conan Doyle

CHAPTER XXIV

HOW A CHAMPION CAME FORTH FROM THE EAST

The Bordeaux lists were, as has already been explained, situated upon the plain near the river upon those great occasions when the tilting-ground in front of the Abbey of St. Andrew's was deemed to be too small to contain the crowd. On the eastern side of this plain the country-side sloped upwards, thick with vines in summer, but now ridged with the brown bare enclosures. Over the gently rising plain curved the white road which leads inland, usually flecked with travellers, but now with scarce a living form upon it, so completely had the lists drained all the district of its inhabitants. Strange it was to see so vast a concourse of people, and then to look upon that broad, white, empty highway which wound away, bleak and deserted, until it narrowed itself to a bare streak against the distant uplands.

Shortly after the contest had begun, anyone looking from the lists along this road might have remarked, far away in the extreme distance, two brilliant and sparkling points which glittered and twinkled in the bright shimmer of the winter sun. Within an hour these points had become clearer and nearer, until they might be seen to come from the reflection from the head-pieces of two horsemen who were riding at the top of their speed in the direction of Bordeaux. Another half-hour had brought them so close that every point of their bearing and equipment could be discerned. The first was a knight in full armour, mounted upon a brown horse with a white blaze upon breast and forehead. He was a short man of great breadth of shoulder, with vizor closed, and no blazonry upon his simple white surcoat or plain black shield. The other, who was evidently his squire and attendant, was unarmed save for the helmet upon his head, but bore in his right hand a very long and heavy oaken spear which belonged to his master. In his left hand the squire held not only the reins of his own horse but those of a great black war-horse fully harnessed, which trotted along at his side. Thus the three horses and their two riders rode swiftly to the lists, and it was the blare of the trumpet sounded by the squire as his lord rode into the arena which had broken in upon the prize-giving and drawn away the attention and interest of the spectators.

'Ha, John!' cried the prince, craning his neck, 'who is this cavalier, and what is it that he desires?'

'On my word, sire,' replied Chandos, with the utmost surprise upon his face, 'it is my opinion that he is a Frenchman.'

'A Frenchman!' repeated Don Pedro. 'And how can you tell that, my Lord Chandos, when he has neither coat-armour, crest, nor blazonry?'

'By his armour, sire, which is rounder at elbow and at shoulder than any of Bordeaux or of England. Italian he might be were his bassinet more sloped, but I will swear that those plates were welded betwixt this and Rhine. Here comes his squire, however, and we shall hear what strange fortune hath brought him over the marches.'

As he spoke the attendant cantered up the grassy enclosure, and pulling up his steed in front of the royal stand, blew a second fanfare upon his bugle. He was a raw-boned, swarthy-cheeked man, with black bristling beard and a swaggering bearing. Having sounded his call, he thrust the bugle into his belt, and pushing his way betwixt the groups of English and of Gascon knights, he reined up within a spear's length of the royal party.

'I come,' he shouted in a hoarse thick voice, with a strong Breton accent, 'as squire and herald from my master, who is a very valiant pursuivant-of-arms, and a liegeman to the great and powerful monarch, Charles, king of the French. My master has heard that there is jousting here, and prospect of honourable advancement, so he has come to ask that some English cavalier will vouchsafe for the love of his lady to run a course with sharpened lances with him, or to meet him with sword, mace, battle-axe, or dagger. He bade me say, however, that he would fight only with a true Englishman, and not with any mongrel who is neither English nor French, but speaks with the tongue of the one, and fights under the banner of the other.'

'Sir!' cried De Clisson, with a voice of thunder, while his countrymen clapped their hands to their swords. The squire, however, took no notice of their angry faces, but continued with his master's message.

'He is now ready, sire,' he said, 'albeit his destrier has travelled many miles this day, and fast, for we were in fear lest we come too late for the jousting.'

'Ye have indeed come too late,' said the prince, 'seeing that the prize is about to be awarded; yet I doubt not that one of these gentlemen will run a course for the sake of honour with this cavalier of France.'

'And as to the prize, sire,' quoth Sir Nigel, 'I am sure that I speak for all when I say this French knight hath our leave to bear it away with him if he can fairly win it.'

'Bear word of this to your master,' said the prince, 'and ask him which of these five Englishmen he would desire to meet. But stay; your master bears no coat-armour, and we have not yet heard his name.'

'My master, sire, is under vow to the Virgin neither to reveal his name nor to open his vizor until he is back upon French ground once more.'

'Yet what assurance have we,' said the prince, 'that this is not some varlet masquerading in his master's harness, or some caitiff knight, the very touch of whose lance might bring infamy upon an honourable gentleman?'

'It is not so, sire,' cried the squire earnestly. 'There is no man upon earth who would demean himself by breaking a lance with my master.'

'You speak out boldly, squire,' the prince answered; 'but unless I have some further assurance of your master's noble birth and gentle name I cannot match the choicest lances of my court against him.'

'You refuse, sire?'

'I do refuse.'

'Then, sire, I was bidden to ask you from my master whether you would consent if Sir John Chandos, upon hearing my master's name, should assure you that he was indeed a man with whom you might yourself cross swords without indignity.'

'I ask no better,' said the prince.

'Then I must ask, Lord Chandos, that you will step forth. I have your pledge that the name shall remain ever a secret, and that you will neither say nor write one word which might betray it. The name is——' He stooped down from his horse and whispered something into the old knight's ear which made him start with surprise, and stare with much curiosity at the distant knight, who was sitting his charger at the further end of the arena.

'Is this indeed sooth?' he exclaimed.

'It is, my lord, and I swear it by St. Ives of Brittany.'

'I might have known it,' said Chandos, twisting his moustache, and still looking thoughtfully at the cavalier.

'What then, Sir John?' asked the prince.

'Sire, this is a knight whom it is indeed great honour to meet, and I would that your grace would grant me leave to send my squire for my harness, for I would dearly love to run a course with him.'

'Nay, nay, Sir John, you have gained as much honour as one man can bear, and it were hard if you could not rest now. But I pray you, squire, to tell your master that he is very welcome to our court, and that wines and spices will be served him if he would refresh himself before jousting.'

'My master will not drink,' said the squire.

'Let him then name the gentleman with whom he would break a spear.'

'He would contend with these five knights, each to choose such weapons as suit him best.'

'I perceive,' said the prince, 'that your master is a man of great heart and high of enterprise. But the sun already is low in the west, and there will scarce be light for these courses. I pray you, gentlemen, to take your places, that we may see whether this stranger's deeds are as bold as his words.'

The unknown knight had sat like a statue of steel looking neither to the right nor to the left during these preliminaries. He had changed from the horse upon which he had ridden, and bestrode the black charger which his squire had led beside him. His immense breadth, his stern composed appearance, and the mode in which he handled his shield and his lance, were enough in themselves to convince the thousands of critical spectators that he was a dangerous opponent. Aylward, who stood in the front row of the archers with Simon, big John, and others of the Company, had been criticising the proceedings from the commencement with the ease and freedom of a man who had spent his life under arms and had learned in a hard school to know at a glance the points of a horse and his rider. He stared now at the stranger with a wrinkled brow and the air of a man who is striving to stir his memory.

'By my hilt! I have seen the thick body of him before to-day. Yet I cannot call to mind where it could have been. At Nogent belike, or was it at Auray? Mark me, lads, this man will prove to be one of the best lances of France, and there are no better in the world.'

'It is but child's play, this poking game,' said John. 'I would fain try my hand at it, for, by the black rood! I think that it might be amended.'

'What, then, would you do, John?' asked several.

'There are many things which might be done,' said the forester thoughtfully. 'Methinks that I would begin by breaking my spear.'

'So they all strive to do.'

'Nay, but not upon another man's shield. I would break it over my own knee.'

'And what the better for that, old beef and bones?' asked Black Simon.

'So I would turn what is but a lady's bodkin of a weapon into a very handsome club.'

'And then, John?'

'Then I would take the other's spear into my arm or my leg, or where it pleased him best to put it, and I would dash out his brains with my club.'

'By my ten finger-bones! old John,' said Aylward, 'I would give my feather-bed to see you at a spear-running. This is a most courtly and gentle sport which you have devised.'

'So it seems to me,' said John seriously. 'Or, again, one might seize the other round the middle, pluck him off his horse and bear him to the pavilion, there to hold him to ransom.'

'Good!' cried Simon, amid a roar of laughter from all the archers round. 'By Thomas of Kent! we shall make a camp-marshal of thee, and thou shalt draw up rules for our jousting. But, John, who is it that you would uphold in this knightly and pleasing fashion?'

'What mean you?'

'Why, John, so strong and strange a tilter must fight for the brightness of his lady's eyes or the curl of her eyelash, even as Sir Nigel does for the Lady Loring.'

'I know not about that,' said the big archer, scratching his head in perplexity. 'Since Mary hath played me false, I can scarce fight for her.'

'Yet any woman will serve.'

'There is my mother, then,' said John. 'She was at much pains at my upbringing, and, by my soul! I will uphold the curve of her eye-lashes, for it tickleth my very heart-root to think of her. But who is here?'

'It is Sir William Beauchamp. He is a valiant man, but I fear that he is scarce firm enough upon the saddle to bear the thrust of such a tilter as this stranger promises to be.'

Aylward's words were speedily justified, for even as he spoke the two knights met in the centre of the lists. Beauchamp struck his opponent a shrewd blow upon the helmet, but was met with so frightful a thrust that he whirled out of his saddle and rolled over and over upon the ground. Sir Thomas Percy met with little better success, for his shield was split, his vambrace torn, and he himself wounded slightly in the side. Lord Audley and the unknown knight struck each other fairly upon the helmet; but while the stranger sat as firm and rigid as ever upon his charger the Englishman was bent back to his horse's cropper by the weight of the blow and had galloped half-way down the lists ere he could recover himself. Sir Thomas Wake was beaten to the ground with a battle-axe—that being the weapon which he had selected—and had to be carried to his pavilion. These rapid successes, gained one after the other over four celebrated warriors, worked the crowd up to a pitch of wonder and admiration. Thunders of applause from the English soldiers, as well as from the citizens and peasants, showed how far the love of brave and knightly deeds could rise above the rivalries of race.

'By my soul! John,' cried the prince, with his cheek flushed and his eyes shining, 'this is a man of good courage and great hardiness. I could not have thought that there was any single arm upon earth which could have overthrown these four champions.'

'He is indeed, as I have said, sire, a knight from whom much honour is to be gained. But the lower edge of the sun is wet, and it will be beneath the sea ere long.'

'Here is Sir Nigel Loring, on foot and with his sword,' said the prince. 'I have heard that he is a fine swordsman.'

'The finest in your army, sire,' Chandos answered. 'Yet I doubt not that he will need all his skill this day.'

As he spoke, the two combatants advanced from either end in full armour with their two-handed swords sloping over their shoulders. The stranger walked heavily and with a measured stride, while the English knight advanced as briskly as though there was no iron shell to weigh down the freedom of his limbs. At four paces distance they stopped, eyed each other for a moment, and then in an instant fell to work with a clatter and clang as though two sturdy smiths were busy upon their anvils. Up and down went the long shining blades, round and round they circled in curves of glimmering light, crossing, meeting, disengaging, with flash of sparks at every parry. Here and there bounded Sir Nigel, his head erect, his jaunty plume fluttering in the air, while his dark opponent sent in crashing blow upon blow, following fiercely up with cut and with thrust, but never once getting past the practised blade of the skilled swordsman. The crowd roared with delight as Sir Nigel would stoop his head to avoid a blow, or by some slight movement of his body allow some terrible thrust to glance harmlessly past him. Suddenly, however, his time came. The Frenchman, whirling up his sword, showed for an instant a chink betwixt his shoulder-piece and the rerebrace which guarded his upper arm. In dashed Sir Nigel, and out again so swiftly that the eye could not follow the quick play of his blade, but a trickle of blood from the stranger's shoulder, and a rapidly widening red smudge upon his white surcoat, showed where the thrust had taken effect. The wound was, however, but a slight one, and the Frenchman was about to renew his onset, when, at a sign from the prince, Chandos threw down his bâton, and the marshals of the lists struck up the weapons and brought the contest to an end.

'It were time to check it,' said the prince smiling, 'for Sir Nigel is too good a man for me to lose, and, by the five holy wounds! if one of those cuts came home I should have fears for our champion. What think you, Pedro?'

'I think, Edward, that the little man was very well able to take care of himself. For my part, I should wish to see so well matched a pair fight on while a drop of blood remained in their veins.'

'We must have speech with him. Such a man must not go from my court without rest or sup. Bring him hither, Chandos, and, certes, if the Lord Loring hath resigned his claim upon this goblet, it is right and proper that this cavalier should carry it to France with him as a sign of the prowess that he has shown this day.'

As he spoke, the knight-errant, who had remounted his war-horse, galloped forward to the royal stand, with a silken kerchief bound round his wounded arm. The setting sun cast a ruddy glare upon his burnished armour, and sent his long black shadow streaming behind him up the level clearing. Pulling up his steed, he slightly inclined his head, and sat in the stern and composed fashion with which he had borne himself throughout, heedless of the applauding shouts and the flutter of kerchiefs from the long lines of brave men and of fair women who were looking down upon him.

'Sir knight,' said the prince, 'we have all marvelled this day at the great skill and valour with which God has been pleased to endow you. I would fain that you should tarry at our court, for a time at least, until your hurt is healed and your horses rested.'

'My hurt is nothing, sire, nor are my horses weary,' returned the stranger in a deep stern voice.

'Will you not at least hie back to Bordeaux with us, that you may drain a cup of muscadine and sup at our table?'

'I will neither drink your wine nor sit at your table,' returned the other. 'I bear no love for you or for your race, and there is naught that I wish at your hands until the day when I see the last sail which bears you back to your island vanishing away against the western sky.'

'These are bitter words, sir knight,' said Prince Edward, with an angry frown.

'And they come from a bitter heart,' answered the unknown knight. 'How long is it since there has been peace in my hapless country? Where are the steadings and orchards and vineyards which made France fair? Where are the cities which made her great? From Provence to Burgundy we are beset by all the prowling hirelings in Christendom, who vend and tear the country which you have left too weak to guard her own marches. Is it not a byword that a man may ride all day in that unhappy land without seeing thatch upon roof or hearing the crow of cock? Does not one fair kingdom content you, that you should strive so for this other one which has no love for you? Pardieu! a true Frenchman's words may well be bitter, for bitter is his lot, and bitter his thoughts as he rides through his thrice unhappy country.'

'Sir knight,' said the prince, 'you speak like a brave man, and our cousin of France is happy in having a cavalier who is so fit to uphold his cause either with tongue or with sword. But if you think such evil of us, how comes it that you have trusted yourself to us without warranty or safe-conduct?'

'Because I knew that you would be here, sire. Had the man who sits upon your right been ruler of this land, I had indeed thought twice before I looked to him for aught that was knightly or generous.' With a soldierly salute, he wheeled round bis horse, and, galloping down the lists, disappeared amid the dense crowd of footmen and of horsemen who were streaming away from the scene of the tournament.

'The insolent villain!' cried Pedro, glaring furiously after him. 'I have seen a man's tongue torn from his jaws for less. Would it not be well, even now, Edward, to send horsemen to hale him back? Bethink you that it may be one of the royal house of France, or at least some knight whose loss would be a heavy blow to his master. Sir William Felton, you are well mounted, gallop after the caitiff, I pray you.'

'Do so, Sir William,' said the prince, 'and give him this purse of a hundred nobles as a sign of the respect which I bear for him; for, by St. George! he has served his master this day even as I would wish liegemen of mine to serve me.' So saying, the prince turned his back upon the king of Spain, and, springing upon his horse, rode slowly homewards to the Abbey of St. Andrew's.