"Canst read?" he asked of the Constable. "For this crabbed fist doth sorely try my one eye."
"Nay," replied Sir John Hacket with a grim smile. "Only enough for mine own use, for from my seventh year the sword ever proved a more pleasing companion than a scrawling, musty parchment."
"And canst thou, Sir Raymond?"
"I will try my best, fair sir."
Raymond took the missive and began to read the superscription, written in French: "To the very puissant knight, Sir John de Vienne, seneschal of our town of Calais, greeting."
The body of the letter began by thanking the Governor for his brave resistance, and expressing hopes of being able to speedily succour the besieged. It then confirmed the arrangements, previously made through the Gascon traitor, for a sally, in conjunction with an attempt on the part of the French forces to break the English lines from without. Should the French be unable to carry out their part and attack the English camp, three white lights were to be shown from the ruins of an old mill near Sangatte, and the besieged would then be at liberty to make the best terms they could for the surrender of Calais. The epistle was signed by no less a personage than King Philip of France.
"By St. George, we have them," exclaimed Chandos, striking his fist heavily upon an oaken chest. "Though I would rather that René de Caux were swinging from a gallows in view of the town than lying dead at thy hands in the ruined mill. No matter; this letter must reach the Governor of Calais. Five hundred lances and two thousand archers will suffice to keep the Frenchmen from advancing upon us; and to-morrow night will see three white lights from the old mill at Sangatte."
At nightfall a squire of the Captal de Buche crept cautiously to the postern of the Boulogne Gate, and, representing himself as an emissary of the false René de Caux, handed the fatal letter to the Governor, Sir John de Vienne. The presence of a strong force of Englishmen beyond the dunes of Sangatte prevented the expected French army from occupying the mill and signalling to their friends in the beleaguered city, and the following night three white lights flashed their message of despair to the hitherto undaunted garrison.
Thus the fall of Calais was hastened, but Raymond saw nothing of the final act in the drama, when the heroic Eustace de St. Pierre and his five companions were nearly sacrificed to appease the anger of the English King (Queen Philippa's intercession alone saved their lives), for the young knight was with the five hundred lances that guarded the approach from Boulogne; and on the 6th of August, two days after Edward had taken possession of the town, the Hampshire companies, with whom was Sir Reginald Scarsdale, embarked for the shores of England.