A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's InsurrectionHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
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A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Tyler's Insurrection, 1381 -- Juvenile fiction
A quarter of an hour's walking brought them to the tent occupied by Sir
Hugh and his followers. A light was still burning there, and they heard
voices within.
"May we enter?" Edgar said, as he slightly opened the flap of the tent.
"Surely, that must be the voice of Sir Edgar Ormskirk!" Sir Hugh
exclaimed.
"It is I, sure enough, and with me is Sir Albert De Courcy and my brave
man-at-arms."
As he spoke he stepped into the tent. Two knights were there, and they
and Sir Hugh advanced with outstretched hands to meet the new-comers.
"Welcome back, welcome back!" Sir Hugh exclaimed, in a tone of emotion.
"My brave knights, I and my two comrades here have to thank you for our
lives, for, although in truth I know naught about it, I have heard from
Sir Thomas Vokes and Sir Tristram Montford how you brought the band to
our assistance, and how you kept the enemy at bay, while this good
fellow of yours bore me down the ladder on his shoulder; while from
those who escaped afterwards we heard how you both, with but two or
three others, kept the foe back, and gave time for the rest to jump
from the walls or slide down the ladders. But your faces are blue, and
your teeth chattering!"
"We have had to swim three ditches, and the ice having formed pretty
thickly, it was no child's work."
"First, do you each drain a goblet of wine," Sir Hugh said, "and then
to your tent. All your things are untouched. Knights, will you go with
them and rub them down till their skin glows, and then wrap them up in
blankets?" He called, and two servants came in. "Heat three bottles of
wine in a bowl with plenty of spices," he said, "and carry it to these
knights' tent, and take a portion to the tent of their men-at-arms for
the use of this good fellow. See that your comrades rub you down," he
said to Hal. "They will be glad indeed to see you back; for, although
we heard from a prisoner that the two knights were alive, we knew not
whether any others had been taken with them. Tell Hawkins to light two
torches at once and fix them in the knights' tent, and put two others
in that of the men-at-arms. Mind, Sir Edgar, once between the blankets,
you stay there till morning. Your story will keep until then."
After throwing off their wet clothes, and being rubbed down until they
glowed, Edgar and Albert were soon covered up in blankets, and after
drinking the hot spiced wine, soon fell asleep. In the morning they
related their story to Sir Hugh Calverley and the other two knights.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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