Great Britain -- History -- Medieval period, 1066-1485 -- Juvenile fiction; Guilds -- Juvenile fiction; Middle Ages -- Juvenile fiction
Excavation went on during the following days until all the pavements of
the old Roman house had been cleared. The two others were larger but not
so fine as the first they had uncovered. One was of stone blocks laid
in a sort of checkerboard pattern, and the other of mosaic in a
conventional pattern of black and gray and brown and red. They found
that under these floors there was an open space about two feet high.
The tiled floor which was covered with the mosaic was supported by a
multitude of dwarf pillars of stone and brick. This space, although they
did not know it, was the hypocaust or heating chamber of the colonial
Roman house, and had been kept filled with hot air from a furnace. Beams
of wood and heaps of tiles indicated that there had been an upper storey
of wood. This in fact was the case, the Romans having a strong objection
to sleeping on the ground floor.
Now there was no more doubt that Cold Harbor might be made into a
well-appointed tavern. With a little masonry to reenforce them the
walls would form a base for a half-timbered house roofed with tiles from
Wilfrid's pottery. The largest room would be the general guest-room in
which the tables would be set for all comers, and those who could not
afford better accommodation might sleep there on benches or on the
floor. For guests of higher station, especially those who had ladies in
their party, private chambers and dining-rooms would be provided. Master
Gay intended to furnish a suite for himself and any of his friends who
came that way.
“And by the way,” said Guy suddenly, “Cold Harbor will never do for a
name. What shall you call the inn, Martin?”
Bouvin snapped his fingers. “I have thought and thought until my head
goes to split. I would call it Boulogne Harbor, but there is no picture
you could make of that.”
“'Mouth' is the English for harbor,” suggested Wilfrid. “But all the
country people would call it 'Bull-and-Mouth.”
Padraig began sketching with a bit of charcoal on the broken wall. “Make
it that and I'll paint the sign for ye. 'Bull-and-Mouth'--every hungry
man will see the meaning o' that.”
With a dozen strokes he sketched a huge mouth about to swallow a bull.
This, done with a fine show of color, became the sign of the tavern.
Martin never tired of explaining the pun to those who asked. Even before
the guest-rooms were finished, travelers began arriving, drawn by the
fame of Martin's savory and succulent dishes. Pilgrims, merchants,
knights, squires, showmen, soldiers, minstrels, scholars,
sea-captains--they came and came again. Almost every subject in
church or state, from Peter's pence to the Third Crusade, from the
Constitutions of Clarendon to clipped money, was discussed at Martin's
tables, with point and freedom. Cold Harbor entered upon a new life and
became part of the foundation of a new empire.
GALLEY SONG
Amber, copper, jet and tin,
Anklet, bracelet, necklace, pin,--
That is the way the trades begin
Over the pony's back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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