XIII. HOW THE COMRADES JOURNEYED DOWN THE OLD, OLD ROAD
And now the season of the moonless nights was drawing nigh and the
King's design was ripe. Very secretly his preparations were made.
Already the garrison of Calais, which consisted of five hundred
archers and two hundred men-at-arms, could, if forewarned, resist
any attack made upon it. But it was the King's design not merely
to resist the attack, but to capture the attackers. Above all it
was his wish to find the occasion for one of those adventurous
passages of arms which had made his name famous throughout
Christendom as the very pattern and leader of knight-errant
chivalry.
But the affair wanted careful handling. The arrival of any,
reinforcements, or even the crossing of any famous soldier, would
have alarmed the French and warned them that their plot had been
discovered. Therefore it was in twos and threes in the creyers
and provision ships which were continually passing from shore to
shore that the chosen warriors and their squires were brought to
Calais. There they were passed at night through the water-gate
into the castle where they could lie hidden, unknown to the
townsfolk, until the hour for action had come.
Nigel had received word from Chandos to join him at "The Sign of
the Broom-Pod" in Winchelsea. Three days beforehand he and
Aylward rode from Tilford all armed and ready for the wars.
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