‘Very good,’ said the King; ‘I will be glad to have you with me, if you think you can stand the march. You shall ride with my own party, as before. But should there be fighting I may have to send you back here before we reach your home. However, I am in hopes that the Duke’s forces will surrender as soon as we lay siege to the town.’
‘Doesn’t Your Majesty want to listen to the shell again before we go?’ asked Giles. ‘You might hear something that would be useful.’
The King took it and held it to his ear, listening for a moment.
‘The noise, the confusion, are greater than ever,’ he said. ‘My own army’s talk and turmoil are now added to the Duke’s. I can make nothing out clearly and I may not wait, for there is not a moment to lose. I hope to catch the wasps in the nest before they have a chance to get out and sting. Let us be gone. Do you keep the shell. If your lame friend and others know you are with the King, it may be you’ll hear news or gossip that will give us better help, even though it be about yourself.’
The King then left the room and, with Giles close upon his heels, went clattering down a winding stone staircase that seemed almost to have no bottom. At last it led them out into a wide courtyard. Here, in the grey of daybreak, were many men and horses. The men, for the most part, were moving swiftly about—almost silently but for a sharp order here and there given in a low voice; while the horses stood waiting, the breath from their nostrils showing plainly in the damp of the early air. Giles was disappointed not to see either his own beautiful Midnight among them, or the King’s swift Africa. But instantly he knew that, of course, they would still be resting from the long march of the day and night before.
In a very few minutes they had mounted new horses, fresh and well-groomed. Giles was up behind the same sturdy retainer; and before he put his arms about the man’s waist he made sure that the shell, which was bringing him such strange fortune, was safe in his pocket.
The ride back to Giles’s native town was far less exciting than had been the journey away from it. And it did not take nearly so long; for the return was made openly by the best and shortest roads. The King had been very wise in wasting no time. The Duke had not yet had a chance to prepare for any fighting far from his own castle. And the march seemed more like a visiting tour made by the new and well-loved King than anything to do with war. He was greeted and cheered at every hamlet he went through. And if folks wondered at the great masses of archers that went ahead of him and the huge army of men-at-arms that followed him behind, they felt that he had a right to move his troops when and where he wished, and bothered their heads no further about it.
Even when the Duke’s own lands were entered, things remained very quiet. Guessing that the common people themselves had no knowledge of the plot against them, the King had given the strictest orders that the troops should hurt no one. And not so much as a duck was stolen or an apple picked from the orchards while the King’s soldiers passed. Here again no enemy troops were sighted; though Count Godfrey did persuade the King to keep his nobles massed close about him on the march, for fear of a sudden attack from some hidden quarter.
It was when they were within sight of the town, and evening was at hand, that the King at last gave orders for a general halt and called a council of war. All his oldest officers gathered round him while many of the scouts who had been sent ahead were called in.
It was now learned that the Duke and his army were by no means in agreement. His Majesty’s sudden march had entirely upset his enemy’s plans. The troops that the Duke had ordered out to stop the advance had not been as willing to take up arms against their King as had been expected. For one thing, the Duke had not had time enough to persuade his officers to take part in such rebellion and disloyalty; and for another, his soldiers, seeing this enormous army arriving at their very gates, feared that victory was hardly possible over such a force, all prepared in battle order and so near at hand. For these reasons, the scouts reported, all the Duke’s troops had remained within the town, where there was great confusion. Many had already laid down their arms and had sworn they would not fight against the King for anybody or any reward. While the rest were running about within the walls, without leaders or order, wondering what was going to happen next.