"Ye look quick and active, but make not enough use of your powers, friend Wintour. See how I fought--never still, constantly advancing or retreating. Ye should do the same."
"I see that would be best for a light-armed contest such as this," replied Edgar; "but seeing that knights fight in full armour in battle, with little room or power to advance or retreat, would it not be best for us to learn to stand more to our ground likewise?"
"There is some shrewdness in thy point," responded Aymery with a nod, "but pitched battles are rare, whilst there are many occasions on which a knight fights when not armed cap-à-pie. I am perhaps too prone to rely upon my activity; mayhap it were better if I sometimes fought knee to knee."
"Do you never practise in full armour?" asked Edgar. "I have never had the opportunity, but again it seemeth to me that as we enter a battle or the lists in full armour, we should make it our chiefest aim to become quite accustomed to its weight and hindrance, and to watching our foes through our vizor-slits. Why leave all that to the day of battle, as so many seem to do?"
"Ah! I cannot agree with thee there. Full armour is so irksome that we should never learn the finer strokes of fence. When thou hast felt the weight of it thou wilt the better understand."
Edgar felt unconvinced, but did not care to go on with the discussion, as his knowledge of the subject was so slight that he felt far from sure of his ground. So he turned aside and watched the efforts of some of his other comrades as they engaged in gymnastic exercises or practised with various weapons. It was a sight of absorbing interest to him, and the call to supper when it came found him still reluctant to quit the scene.
"Come, Edgar, put off thy headpiece and jerkin and join us at the board. I warrant thou wilt pronounce the cheer both good and plentiful, for Sir John hath never stinted us of our victuals. Wilt accompany me?"
"Right willingly," cried Edgar, as he threw off his gear and followed the speaker, a sturdy youth named Robert Duplessis, into the next room, where a long table literally groaned beneath the weight of huge rounds of beef and other fare and big jugs of home-brewed ale. Whilst the supper was proceeding, Edgar took an early opportunity of inviting his companion to tell him something of the castle and its inmates.
"Oh, as to the castle, thou art easily enlightened," cried Robert readily enough. "'Twas built in John's reign and, as thou hast seen, is strong enough for anything. It lieth not far from St. Albans and but twenty miles from London town. Sometimes we esquires take horse and ride into the city on pleasure bent, and a right good time we enjoy. Thou shouldst make one of our party the next time we ride thither."
"The exercises I saw just now, and the encounters with sword and axe--are they all the teaching ye get when Sir John is abroad?"