"See ye not," said Myles one day, when the Knights of the Rosewere gathered in the Brutus Tower--"see ye not that they grow asbad as ever? An we put not a stop to this overmastery now, itwill never stop.""Best let it be, Myles," said Wilkes. "They will kill thee anthou cease not troubling them. Thou hast bred mischief enow forthyself already.""No matter for that," said Myles; "it is not to be borne thatthey order others of us about as they do. I mean to speak to themto-night, and tell them it shall not be."He was as good as his word. That night, as the youngsters wereshouting and romping and skylarking, as they always did beforeturning in, he stood upon his cot and shouted: "Silence! List tome a little!" And then, in the hush that followed-- "I want thosebachelors to hear this: that we squires serve them no longer, andif they would ha' some to wait upon them, they must get themotherwheres than here. There be twenty of us to stand againstthem and haply more, and we mean that they shall ha' service ofus no more."Then he jumped down again from his elevated stand, and an uproarof confusion instantly filled the place. What was the effect ofhis words upon the bachelors he could not see. What was theresult he was not slow in discovering.
The next day Myles and Gascoyne were throwing their daggers for awager at a wooden target against the wall back of the armorer'ssmithy. Wilkes, Gosse, and one or two others of the squires weresitting on a bench looking on, and now and then applauding a morethan usually well-aimed cast of the knife. Suddenly that impishlittle page spoken of before, Robin Ingoldsby, thrust his shockhead around the corner of the smithy, and said: "Ho, Falworth!
Blunt is going to serve thee out to-day, and I myself heard himsay so. He says he is going to slit thine ears." And then he wasgone as suddenly as he had appeared.
Myles darted after him, caught him midway in the quadrangle, andbrought him back by the scuff of the neck, squalling andstruggling.
"There!" said he, still panting from the chase and seating theboy by no means gently upon the bench beside Wilkes. "Sit thouthere, thou imp of evil! And now tell me what thou didst mean bythy words anon--an thou stop not thine outcry, I will cut thythroat for thee," and he made a ferocious gesture with hisdagger.
It was by no means easy to worm the story from the mischievouslittle monkey; he knew Myles too well to be in the least afraidof his threats. But at last, by dint of bribing and coaxing,Myles and his friends managed to get at the facts. The youngsterhad been sent to clean the riding-boots of one of the bachelors,instead of which he had lolled idly on a cot in the dormitory,until he had at last fallen asleep. He had been awakened by theopening of the dormitory door and by the sound of voices--amongthem was that of his taskmaster. Fearing punishment for hisneglected duty, he had slipped out of the cot, and hidden himselfbeneath it.
Those who had entered were Walter Blunt and three of the olderbachelors. Blunt's companions were trying to persuade him againstsomething, but without avail. It was--Myles's heart thrilled andhis blood boiled--to lie in wait for him, to overpower him bynumbers, and to mutilate him by slitting his ears--a disgracefulpunishment administered, as a rule, only for thieving andpoaching.
"He would not dare to do such a thing!" cried Myles, with heavingbreast and flashing eyes.
"Aye, but he would," said Gascoyne. "His father, Lord ReginaldBlunt, is a great man over Nottingham way, and my Lord would notdare to punish him even for such a matter as that. But tell me,Robin Ingoldsby, dost know aught more of this matter? Pritheetell it me, Robin. Where do they propose to lie in wait forFalworth?""In the gate-way of the Buttery Court, so as to catch him when hepasses by to the armory," answered the boy.
"Are they there now?" said Wilkes.
"Aye, nine of them," said Robin. "I heard Blunt tell Mowbray togo and gather the others. He heard thee tell Gosse, Falworth,that thou wert going thither for thy arbalist this morn to shootat the rooks withal.""That will do, Robin," said Myles. "Thou mayst go."And therewith the little imp scurried off, pulling the lobes ofhis ears suggestively as he darted around the corner.
The others looked at one another for a while in silence.
"So, comrades," said Myles at last, "what shall we do now?""Go, and tell Sir James," said Gascoyne, promptly.
"Nay," said Myles, "I take no such coward's part as that. I sayan they hunger to fight, give them their stomachful."The others were very reluctant for such extreme measures, butMyles, as usual, carried his way, and so a pitched battle wasdecided upon. It was Gascoyne who suggested the plan which theyafterwards followed.
Then Wilkes started away to gather together those of the Knightsof the Rose not upon household duty, and Myles, with the others,went to the armor smith to have him make for them a set of kniveswith which to meet their enemies-- knives with blades a footlong, pointed and double- edged.
The smith, leaning with his hammer upon the anvil, listened tothem as they described the weapons.
"Nay, nay, Master Myles," said he, when Myles had ended bytelling the use to which he intended putting them. "Thou artgoing all wrong in this matter. With such blades, ere this battleis ended, some one would be slain, and so murder done. Then thefamily of him who was killed would haply have ye cited, andmayhap it might e'en come to the hanging, for some of they boysha' great folkeys behind them. Go ye to Tom Fletcher, MasterMyles, and buy of him good yew staves, such as one might break ahead withal, and with them, gin ye keep your wits, ye may holdyour own against knives or short swords. I tell thee, e'en thoughmy trade be ****** of blades, rather would I ha' a good stoutcudgel in my hand than the best dagger that ever was forged."Myles stood thoughtfully for a moment or two; then, looking up,"Methinks thou speaketh truly, Robin," said he; "and it were illdone to have blood upon our hands."
