As was then customary, a clerk was called in, and an indenture drawn up, specifying the terms on which the young knight was to serve in the Burgundian force, the number of the men-at-arms and archers which he was to bring into the field, the pay they were to receive, the arms and horses with which they were to appear, and even the Burgundian cloaks, or huques, which they were to wear. A copy was taken and signed by each party; and fortunate it was for Richard of Woodville, that the young Count suggested this precaution. The usual clauses regarding prisoners were added, reserving the persons of kings and princes of the blood from those whom the young knight might put to ransom as his lawful captives; but the Count specifically renounced his right to the third of the winnings of the war, which was not unusually reserved to the great leader with whom any knight or squire took service. All these points being settled, Richard of Woodville hurried back to the inn, called the Shield of Burgundy, where he and his men were lodged, and prepared to accompany the Count to Ghent. When he returned to the castle, with his men mounted and armed, he found the court-yard full of knights, nobles, and soldiery, all ready to set out at the appointed hour; and for a time he fancied that the young Prince might be going to Ghent with a larger force than the good citizens, jealous of their privileges, would be very willing to receive; but, as soon as the trumpet sounded, and the whole force marched out over the drawbridge into the streets of Lille, the seven or eight hundred men, of which the party consisted, separated into different bands, and each took its own road. One pursued its way towards Amiens, another towards Tournay, another towards Cassel, another towards Bethune, another towards Douay; and the Count and his train, reduced to about a hundred men, rode on in the direction of Ghent, which city they reached about four o'clock upon the following day. Except the Lord of Croy, between whom and the young Englishman a good deal of intimacy had arisen, the Count de Charolois was accompanied by no other gentleman of knightly rank but Richard of Woodville; and, as that high military station placed him who filled it on a rank with princes, those two gentlemen were the young Count's principal companions on the road to Ghent, and received from him a fuller intimation of his father's designs and purposes than had been communicated to them before they quitted Lille. All seemed smiling on the fortunes of Richard of Woodville; the path to wealth and renown was open before him, and he might be pardoned for giving way to all the bright visions and glowing expectations of youth. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE FRIEND ESTRANGED.