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378 'By Saint James! it were better so than to be polluted by his touch,' answered the Spaniard, with his black eyes sparkling with rage and hatred. 'I trust that I am now the prisoner of some honourable knight or gentleman.'

'You are the prisoner of the man who took you, Sir Diego,' answered Sir Nigel. 'And I may tell you that better men than either you or I have found themselves before now prisoners in the hands of archers of England.'

'What ransom, then, does he demand?' asked the Spaniard.

Big John scratched his red head and grinned in high delight when the question was propounded to him. 'Tell him,' said he, 'that I shall have ten cows and a bull too, if it be but a little one. Also a dress of blue sendall for mother and a red one for Joan; with five acres of pasture-land, two scythes, and a fine new grindstone. Likewise a small house, with stalls for the cows, and thirty-six gallons of beer for the thirsty weather.'

'Tut, tut!' cried Sir Nigel, laughing. 'All these things may be had for money; and I think, Don Diego, that five thousand crowns is not too much for so renowned a knight.'

'It shall be duly paid him.'

'For some days we must keep you with us; and I must crave leave also to use your shield, your armour, and your horse.'

'My harness is yours by the law of arms,' said the Spaniard, gloomily.

'I do but ask the loan of it. I have need of it this day, but it shall be duly returned to you. Set guards, Aylward, with arrow on string, at either end of the pass; for it may happen that some other cavaliers may visit us ere the time be come.' All day the little band of Englishmen lay in the sheltered gorge, looking down upon the vast host of their unconscious enemies. Shortly after mid-day, a great uproar of shouting and cheering broke out in the camp, with mustering of men and calling of bugles. Clambering up among the rocks, the companions saw a long rolling cloud of dust along