Thus, like the sad presaging raven, that tolls

The sick man's passport in her hollow beak,

And in the shadow of the silent night

Doth shake contagion from her sable wings;

Vex'd and tormented, runs poor Barrabas,

With fatal curses towards these Christians.

--Jew of Malta

The Disinherited Knight had no sooner reached his pavilion, than squires

and pages in abundance tendered their services to disarm him, to bring

fresh attire, and to offer him the refreshment of the bath. Their zeal

on this occasion was perhaps sharpened by curiosity, since every one

desired to know who the knight was that had gained so many laurels, yet

had refused, even at the command of Prince John, to lift his visor or

to name his name. But their officious inquisitiveness was not gratified.

The Disinherited Knight refused all other assistance save that of his

own squire, or rather yeoman--a clownish-looking man, who, wrapt in a

cloak of dark-coloured felt, and having his head and face half-buried

in a Norman bonnet made of black fur, seemed to affect the incognito

as much as his master. All others being excluded from the tent, this

attendant relieved his master from the more burdensome parts of his

armour, and placed food and wine before him, which the exertions of the

day rendered very acceptable.

The Knight had scarcely finished a hasty meal, ere his menial announced

to him that five men, each leading a barbed steed, desired to speak with

him. The Disinherited Knight had exchanged his armour for the long robe

usually worn by those of his condition, which, being furnished with a

hood, concealed the features, when such was the pleasure of the

wearer, almost as completely as the visor of the helmet itself, but the

twilight, which was now fast darkening, would of itself have rendered

a disguise unnecessary, unless to persons to whom the face of an

individual chanced to be particularly well known.

The Disinherited Knight, therefore, stept boldly forth to the front of

his tent, and found in attendance the squires of the challengers, whom

he easily knew by their russet and black dresses, each of whom led

his master's charger, loaded with the armour in which he had that day

fought.

"According to the laws of chivalry," said the foremost of these men, "I,

Baldwin de Oyley, squire to the redoubted Knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert,

make offer to you, styling yourself, for the present, the Disinherited

Knight, of the horse and armour used by the said Brian de Bois-Guilbert

in this day's Passage of Arms, leaving it with your nobleness to retain

or to ransom the same, according to your pleasure; for such is the law

of arms."




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