“To tell the good Sir John that you are mending.”
“Nay, bide with me a little longer, Aylward. I can call to mind all that has passed. There was a bickering of small boats, was there not, and I chanced upon a most worthy person and exchanged handstrokes with him? He was my prisoner, was he not?”
“He was, fair sir.”
“And where is he now?”
“Below in the castle.”
A smile stole over Nigel’s pale face. “I know what I will do with him,” said he.
“I pray you to rest, fair sir,” said Aylward anxiously. “The King’s own leech saw you this morning, and he said that if the bandage was torn from your head you would surely die.”
“Nay, good archer, I will not move. But tell me what befell upon the boat?”
“There is little to tell, fair sir. Had this Ferret not been his own squire and taken so long a time to don his harness it is likely that they would have had the better of us. He did not reach the battle till his comrades were on their backs. Him we took to the Marie Rose, because he was your man. The others were of no worth, so we threw them into the sea.”
“The quick and the dead?”