Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/139

 forced to leave my horse below while I mounted upwards, till I had laid my foot on two thousand steps, and stood before the northern gate; and blew my horn before the drawbridge that I might have entrance. The which without question or delay was granted me, and I came through a broad and sunny street, planted with trees and established with high-built houses, to the market place before the great spire, and here the people bought and sold, and played at tables and flew enormous kites shaped in the similitude of dragons and birds of ravine, and monstrous creatures: and on a high seat sat the king of that city clothed in blood-red vestments, holding a golden rod; and there was his court before him. To the king himself I showed my quest, and told him all my desire; and when I had finished he answered: 'You could have chosen no better place, Sir Knight, than my fair town of Ladders; for we have here an example of splendid constancy, and this you shall see presently.' Then he called ten men-at-arms, and whispered apart to their captain, who beckoned me to follow him. This did I, and we went out of the square down a narrow alley, till we came to a door-way and this being opened showed a winding stair rising from it. But I would not go up as the captain asked me, for I had had enough of mounting; whereupon he and his soldiers fell on me all at once and grasped my head and throat and body and arms and legs so that I could not stir; then one bound my hands and 'climb' they said and I had no choice for the spears of that city have sharp points. And when I