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Rh set Pedro upon the throne of Spain. It is my purpose to start this very day for Dax upon the Adour, where he hath now pitched his camp.'

The face of the Gascon darkened, and his eyes flashed with resentment. 'For me,' he said, 'I care little for this war, and I find the life which I lead a very joyous and pleasant one. I will not go to Dax.'

'Nay, think again, Sir Claude,' said Sir Nigel gently; 'for you have ever had the name of a true and loyal knight. Surely you will not hold back now when your master hath need of you.'

'I will not go to Dax,' the other shouted.

'But your devoir—your oath of fealty?'

'I say that I will not go.'

'Then, Sir Claude, I must lead the Company without you.'

'If they will follow,' cried the Gascon, with a sneer. 'These are not hired slaves, but free companions, who will do nothing save by their own good wills. In very sooth, my Lord Loring, they are ill men to trifle with, and it were easier to pluck a bone from a hungry bear than to lead a bowman out of a land of plenty and of pleasure.'

'Then I pray you to gather them together,' said Sir Nigel, 'and I will tell them what is in my mind; for if I am their leader they must to Dax, and if I am not, then I know not what I am doing in Auvergne. Have my horse ready, Alleyne; for, by Saint Paul! come what may, I must be upon the homeward road ere mid-day.'

A blast upon the bugle summoned the bowmen to counsel, and they gathered in little knots and groups around a great fallen tree which lay athwart the glade. Sir Nigel sprang lightly upon the trunk, and stood with blinking eye and firm lips looking down at the ring of upturned warlike faces.

'They tell me, bowmen,' said he, 'that ye have grown so fond of ease and plunder and high living that ye are not to be moved from this pleasant country. But, by Saint Paul!