“Why so?” asked both at once, while the other two guards came round from the farther side of the tower to listen.
“Marry, the only foe within reach is already overthrown. Ye know we went forth on a foray yester-morn; and our hap was to light on a whole troop of these dainty Frenchmen, riding in hot haste toward the town, and every man with a bag of meal slung to his saddle, thinking belike to catch us napping, and get through to the hungry town with their baker’s ware!”
The listening Englishmen gave an angry growl.
“But they reckoned without their host, for we fell upon them in right English fashion, and when we got among these meal-carriers, St. George! but we baked them a cake that they little relished! None escaped save the few we spared for ransom; and I have here two good war-steeds sent by our captain as a gift to stout Sir Nicholas, whom Heaven long preserve to command us!”
The narrator spoke loudly and rapidly, almost as if trying to drown some tell-tale sound; and so he was, though it would have needed a very quick ear to catch, amid the timbers that supported the formidable tower, a faint scraping, like the working of a well-oiled saw!
But even had they heard it, the English would hardly have heeded it, so taken up were they with the news of the supposed victory, and the noble horses that were its trophies, around which they pressed with a true English interest in a horse.
“They be goodly beasts, in truth,” said one; “but I trow we have many a better nag in merry Yorkshire.”
“Nay, there thou speak’st without warrant, Hal,” cried a second. “See this black, what bone and sinew he hath! and what breadth too! Marry, he might bear Guy of Warwick, or Bevis of Hampton, armed at all points!”
Just then a faint clink, as of metal, was heard from the engine; and the strange horseman started slightly, and shot a nervous glance at it, unseen by the rest.
“Hark! what sound was that?” cried an archer.