We have a rare store of shafts ready,
and they will find that their cross-bowmen are of little use against
picked English archers, even though there be but twenty-five of us in
all."
"You know very well, Long Tom, that you would have come over here whether
there was any chance of your drawing your bow on a Frenchman or not."
"That is true enough, Master Guy. Our lady wanted some bowmen, and I, who
have been born and bred on the estate, was of course bound to go with her.
Then you see, Master Guy, haven't I taught you to use the bow and the
quarter-staff, and carried you on my shoulder many a score of times when
you were a little lad and I was a big boy? It would not have been natural
for you to have gone out with a chance of getting into a fight without my
being there to draw a shaft when you needed it. Why, Ruth Gregory, whose
sworn bachelor you know I am, would have cried shame on me if I had
lingered behind. I told her that if I stayed it would be for her sake, and
you should have seen how she flouted me, saying that she would have no
tall lout hiding behind her petticoats, and that if I stayed, it should
not be as her man. And now I must be off to my supper, or I shall find
that there is not a morsel left for me."
The gates of the castle were closed that night, but it was not considered
necessary to lower the drawbridge. Two sentries were posted at the work
beyond the moat, and one above the gate, besides the watcher at the top of
the keep.
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