"
Oswald saw that his horse was carefully saddled. He procured from his
uncle a piece of cloth; and, removing the spearhead, wrapped this round
the head of the shaft, until it formed a ball the size of his fist.
This he whitened thickly with chalk.
In a few minutes Sinclair, who was the heaviest and strongest of the
esquires, rode out into the courtyard in full armour. Sir Henry, with
his own esquires, and several of the gentlemen of the earl's household,
came down; and Hotspur laughed at the contrast presented by the two
combatants: the one a mass of steel, with shield and lance, on a
warhorse fully caparisoned; the other a slight, active-looking figure,
with but little defensive armour, on a rough pony which had scarce an
ounce of superfluous flesh.
"Now, gentlemen," he said, "we may be engaged in warfare with the
Scots, before long; and you will here have an opportunity of seeing the
nature of border fighting. The combat may seem to you ridiculously
unequal, but I know the moss trooper, and I can tell you that, in a
single combat like this, activity goes far to counterbalance weight and
armour. You remember how Robert Bruce, before Bannockburn, mounted on
but a pony, struck down Sir Robert Bohun, a good knight and a powerful
one.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105