"There is that in the song Messer Matteo was singing that makes my heart ache all the more, Messer Hugh," he said. "An it please you, let us sing and talk of arms and battle, for I have many sad thoughts I would forget." "Well spoken, Ralph," applauded Matteo. "That is the proper spirit for such a venture as ours. Of arms and battles, of sieges and splendid deeds, then, shall we debate and sing. Hark ye to this." And leaning back in his saddle, he raised his voice in the full-throated burden of a Burgundian tilting song, savage and challenging, punctuated with the crashing of chargers, the blasts of the heralds' trumpets and the clash of armour. This brought Ralph out of the dumps, and for the rest of that day they rode carefree, finding entertainment in the sights of the roadside and in discussion of future plans. At night they lay at the castle of a knight who was a distant cousin of Hugh's. So they journeyed for three days, and in the afternoon of the third day they reached Hastings port, and from the uplands behind the town saw the blue waters of the Narrow Seas rolling before them. "It looks to be a vast deal of water," said Ralph dubiously. "There is an end to the land hereabouts, 'twould seem. I doubt me there is more water than land." "Art frighted, Ralph?" mocked Matteo. "Take heart, man, for an you could see a few miles farther you would find the water giving way to land again. Straight ahead of you is France, and it is a country that could take your England into one corner of it and still have enough over to make a puissant realm." "That I do not believe, saving your grace," retorted Ralph. "Bigger than England? Sure, and he does but taunt me, Messer Hugh?" "Not so, Ralph," replied Hugh, smiling. "You have yet to learn that our England is but a little sliver of land beside the bulk of the world. We shall soon be riding over countries as large as Messer Matteo says--into which you could slip all England and Scotland, too--ay, and wild Ireland--and not diminish materially the power of their lords." "It must be a big place, this world," said Ralph, in an awe-struck voice. "It is," rejoined Matteo. "Do but wait until you have seen the snow mountains beyond France, Ralph. That is a sight like none other. You would not believe me if I told you of it. Rivers of ice and snow and mountains that reach beyond the sky." "God save us!" muttered Ralph devoutly. As they rode into the town, Matteo's keen eyes examined the vessels in the harbour. "There is little shipping," he said with disappointment. "See, there are no more than two of a size to venture across the Narrow Seas." He pointed to a high-built cog, with flapping purple sails, that rode close inshore, and to a long, lean craft, low in the waist, with a single mast supporting a slanting yard.