Meanwhile the Squire and the armorer sat with their heads touching
and the old suit of mail with its gorget of overlapping plates
laid out across their knees. Again and again old Wat shrugged his
shoulders, as one who has been asked to do more than can be
demanded from mortal man. At last, at a suggestion from the
Squire, he leaned back in his chair and laughed long and loudly in
his bushy beard, while the Lady Ermyntrude glared her black
displeasure at such plebeian merriment. Then taking his fine
chisel and his hammer from his pouch of tools, the armorer, still
chuckling at his own thoughts, began to drive a hole through the
center of the steel tunic.
VIII. HOW THE KING HAWKED ON CROOKSBURY HEATH
The King and his attendants had shaken off the crowd who had
followed them from Guildford along the Pilgrims' Way and now, the
mounted archers having beaten off the more persistent of the
spectators, they rode at their ease in a long, straggling,
glittering train over the dark undulating plain of heather.
In the van was the King himself, for his hawks were with him and
he had some hope of sport. Edward at that time was a well-grown,
vigorous man in the very prime of his years, a keen sportsman, an
ardent gallant and a chivalrous soldier. He was a scholar too,
speaking Latin, French, German, Spanish, and even a little
English.
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