Page:A C Doyle - The White Company.djvu/444

408 as was his dress, the dainty golden spurs which twinkled upon his heels proclaimed his knighthood, while a long seam upon his brow and a scar upon his temple gave a manly grace to his refined and delicate countenance. His comrade was a large red-headed man upon a great black horse, with a huge canvas bag slung from his saddle-bow, which jingled and clinked with every movement of his steed. His broad brown face was lighted up by a continual smile, and he looked slowly from side to side with eyes which twinkled and shone with delight. Well might John rejoice, for was he not back in his native Hampshire, had he not Don Diego's five thousand crowns rasping against his knee, and above all was he not himself squire now to Sir Alleyne Edricson, the young Socman of Minstead, lately knighted by the sword of the Black Prince himself, and esteemed by the whole army as one of the most rising of the soldiers of England?

For the last stand of the Company had been told throughout Christendom wherever a brave deed of arms was loved, and honours had flowed in upon the few who had survived it. For two months Alleyne had wavered betwixt death and life, with a broken rib and a shattered head, yet youth and strength and a cleanly life were all upon his side, and he awoke from his long delirium to find that the war was over, that the Spaniards and their allies had been crushed at Navaretta, and that the prince had himself heard the tale of his ride for succour, and had come in person to his bedside to touch his shoulder with his sword, and to ensure that so brave and true a man should die, if he could not live, within the order of chivalry. The instant that he could set foot to ground, Alleyne had started in search of his lord, but no word could he hear of him, dead or alive, and he had come home now sad-hearted in the hope of raising money upon his estates and so starting upon his quest once more. Landing at London he had hurried on with a mind full of care, for he had heard no word from Hampshire since the short note which had announced his brother's death.