"My eyes, my ears, my mouth are for use solely in my master's interests," replied the man, in the same strange dialect that the others had spoken, except that he used but a few words of French derivation. Reeves could follow the uncouth tongue with very little difficulty--the question of language troubled him but slightly. The two boys, being familiar with Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, found that Walter's speech was more intelligible to them than that of the man who had first hailed them, and who seemed to be a person of position. "Therefore," concluded the former, "I cannot tell you." "I wish I had something to smoke," said Reeves to the lads. "A good meal without a smoke to finish up with is like a concert without the National Anthem--you feel as if something, is wanting." Then, turning to the man, who was still standing rigidly by the fire, he asked: "Can you let me have some tobacco?" Walter shook his head. "I know not what you mean," he replied. "If sleep you require, these tents are at your service." With a gesture Reeves dismissed him. "They are centuries behind the times," he exclaimed. "Very interesting, but confoundedly awkward for some things. Well, lads, we may as well turn in. I think we may sleep without fear of interruption, which is more than we have done for some time now. To-morrow we may learn something more interesting." In a very few minutes the lads were sleeping soundly, but Reeves tossed uneasily upon his soft couch. His mind was full of the strange characters and things he had met. The mediaeval weapons, the garbled language, the absence of the most usual table utensils and (Reeves sighed) tobacco--all pointed to a discovery that would fill the civilized world with astonishment. And he, Arthur Reeves, with the two lads, was to be the herald of momentous tidings! He would have given anything to be in telephonic communication with his editor for one brief hour. He lay and pondered, until the easiness of his bed began to feel uncomfortable. Placing a blanket on the ground, he stretched himself upon the hard couch of Mother Earth, and in less than five minutes he was fast asleep. CHAPTER XI The Mediaeval City THE sun was high in the heavens when the three comrades awoke. Throwing back the flap of the tent, Reeves slipped out. The other tents had been struck, and were already strapped to the backs of small, heavily-limbed horses, while seated on the ground were the five men who had challenged the trio on the previous night. They had divested themselves of their armour, and were engaged in polishing the closely interlocked rings of their hauberks. The Englishman could not help noticing that, although their limbs were powerfully built, and their muscles stood out like lumps of polished stone, their feet were small and well-formed. "Good morrow, stranger," they exclaimed courteously, when they saw that Reeves was astir; and the correspondent, not to be outdone, courteously replied.