At the head of their line rode Hugo de Barre, bearing De Coucy's banner; while, armed something like a Brabançois, but more heavily, with the place of his favourite mare supplied by a strong black horse. Gallon the fool rode along the ranks, keeping the greater part of the soldiers in continual merriment. There were, it is true, some ten or twelve of them who knit their brows from under their iron caps at the jongleur as he passed; but the generality of the Brabançois laughed at his jest, or gave it him back again; and, indeed, no one seemed more amused or in better harmony with the mad juggler, than the captain Jodelle himself.
The whole party might consist of about five hundred men; and they moved on slowly, as if not very certain whether they might not be near some unseen enemy. The plain on which we have said they were, was unbroken by any thing in the shape of a hedge, and sufficiently flat to give a view over its whole surface; but, at the same time, the low woods that bordered it here and there might have concealed many thousand men, and the very evenness of the country prevented any view of what was beyond.
"Straight before you, beau sire!" said Savary de Maulèon, pointing forward with his hand. "At the distance of three hours' march, lies the famous city of Tours; and even now, if you look beyond that wood, you will catch a faint glance of the church of the blessed St. Martin. See you not a dark grey mass against the sky, squarer and more stiff in form than any of the trees?"
"I do, I do!--And is that Tours?" cried Arthur, each fresh object awakening in his heart that unaccountable delight with which youth thrills towards novelty--that dear brightness of the mind which, in our young days, reflects all things presented to it with a thousand splendid dazzling rays not their own; but, alas! which too soon gets dimmed and dull, in the vile chafing and rubbing of the world. "Is that Tours?" and his fancy instantly conjured up, and combined with the image of the distant city, a bright whirl of vague and pleasant expectations which, like a child's top, kept dizzily spinning before his eyes, based on an invisible point, and ready to fall on a touch.
"That is Tours, beau sire," replied the knight; "and I doubt not that there, what with all my fair countrymen of Anjou and Poitou, who have already promised their presence, and others who may have come without their promise, you will find knights enough for you to undertake at once some bold enterprise."
Arthur looked to De Coucy, under whose tutelage, as a warrior, Philip Augustus had in some degree placed the inexperienced prince. "Far be it from me," said the knight, "to oppose any bold measure that has the probability of success along with it; but, as a general principle, I think that in a war which is likely to be of long duration, when we expect the speedy arrival of strong reinforcements, and where nothing is to be lost by some delay, it is wise to pause, so as to strike the first strokes with certainty of success; especially where the prince's person may be put in danger by any rash attempt."
"By the blessed St. Martin!" cried Savary de Maulèon, "I thought not to hear the Sire de Coucy recommend timid delay. Fame has, as usual, belied him, when she spoke of his courage as somewhat rash."
De Coucy had, indeed, spoken rather in opposition to the general character of his own mind; but he felt that there was a degree of responsibility attached to his situation, which required the greatest caution, to guard against the natural daring of his disposition. He maintained, therefore, the same coolness in reply to the Poitevin knight, although it cost him some effort to repress the same spirit manifesting itself in his language which glowed warm on his brow.
"Sir Guillaume Savary de Maulèon," replied he, "in the present instance, my counsel to prince Arthur shall be to attempt nothing, till he has such forces as shall render those first attempts certain; and, as to myself, I can but say, that when you and I are in the battle-field, my banner shall go as far, at least, as yours into the midst of the enemies."
"Not a step farther!" said Savary de Maulèon quickly--"not a step farther!"