Even so they did with a hearty good will: thereupon Osberne spake and
said, after he had a word with [the Knight] Sir Medard, apart: "All ye
my men, I have but this to say to you: I hold you trusty and valiant,
and men unlike to fight soft. But this I know of you, as of all other
of us Dalesmen, that ye are most wont to go each after his own will,
and it is well-nigh enough to put a man off from doing a thing if
another man say to him, Do it. Now this manner ye must change, since
ye are become men-at-arms, and if I bid you go to the right or the
left, ye need think of nought but which is your right hand and which
the left; though forsooth I wot well that some of ye be so perverse
that even that debate may lead you into trouble and contention. Now
look to it that ye may not all be captains, and they that try it, so
long as I be over you, are like to wend into wild weather. Now
stouthearts, and my friends, it is now a little past high noon; and we
shall abide here no longer than tomorrow morn, and at daybreak we
shall be on our way to Eastcheaping, wherefore that time have yet got
to see to your weapons and array, and to say farewell, such of you as
be not too far off, to your kindred and wives and sweethearts. And now
let all we do our best when we come among the edges, so that hereafter
one man may say to another: Thou art as valiant as the Dalesmen when
they fought in the war of Eastcheaping."
Then all men gave a great shout, and were well-nigh weeping-ripe for
high heart and for love of him, though a minute before their faces
were all agrin, so wise and valiant and kind they deemed his words and
the manner of his speaking.
Therewith the Mote brake up, and the men were busy arraying them for
departure: and as for Osberne, he had his hands full of work, in
giving and taking commandments, and in learning from Sir Medard the
beginnings of the lore of battle; so that what hopes he had of making
his way to the trysting-place once more were speedily swept aside. And
the next morning betimes they set out together, the Dalesmen and the
Eastcheapers, in all good fellowship, and in two days' time came to
Eastcheaping; and they were lodged full well by the crafts-masters of
the good town. But Sir Medard took Osberne with him up into the Castle
and guested him there, that he might the closer teach him his new
craft, and an apt scholar he found. Also from the morrow after their
coming, the captain, by bidding of the Porte, furnished and arrayed
the Dalesmen with weapons, as long spears and good swords and bows and
arrows, and jacks and sallets and shields, and they went out into the
mead under the Castle to be better assured thereby, and fell to
learning how best to handle their weapons. And both their captains and
they themselves deemed it best that they should fight a-foot; for
though they were good horsemen after their fashion, they would have to
learn all in the craft of fighting a-horseback.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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