Nevertheless, he raised the umbril of his helmet to cool his faceas he waited the coming of his opponent. He turned his eyesupward to the row of seats on the scaffolding above, and even inthe restless, bewildering multitude of strange faces turnedtowards him recognized those that he knew: the Prince of Wales,his companions of the Scotland Yard household, the Duke ofClarence, the Bishop of Winchester, and some of the noblemen ofthe Earl of Mackworth's party, who had been buzzing about thePrince for the past month or so. But his glance swept over allthese, rather perceiving than seeing them, and then rested upon asquare box-like compartment not unlike a prisoner's dock in thecourtroom of our day, for in the box sat his father, with theEarl of Mackworth upon one side and Sir James Lee upon the other.
The blind man's face was very pale, but still wore its usualexpression of calm serenity--the calm serenity of a blind face.
The Earl was also very pale, and he kept his eyes fixedsteadfastly upon Myles with a keen and searching look, as thoughto pierce to the very bottom of the young man's heart, anddiscover if indeed not one little fragment of dryrot of fear oruncertainty tainted the solid courage of his knighthood.
Then he heard the criers calling the defendant at the fourcorners of the list: "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! William Bushy Brookhurst,Earl of Alban, come to this combat, in which you be enterprisedthis day to discharge your sureties before the King, theConstable, and the Marshal, and to encounter in your defenceMyles Falworth, knight, the accepted champion upon behalf ofGilbert Reginald Falworth, the challenger! Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Letthe defendant come!"So they continued calling, until, by the sudden turning of allfaces, Myles knew that his enemy was at hand.
Then presently he saw the Earl and his attendants enter the outergate at the west end of the barrier; he saw the Constable andMarshal meet him; he saw the formal words of greeting pass; hesaw the Constable raise the umbril of the helmet. Then the gateopened, and the Earl of Alban entered, clad cap-a-pie in a fullsuit of magnificent Milan armor without juppon or adornment ofany kind. As he approached across the lists, Myles closed theumbril of his helmet, and then sat quite still and motionless,for the time was come.
So he sat, erect and motionless as a statue of iron, half hearingthe reading of the long intricately- worded bills, absorbed inmany thoughts of past and present things. At last the readingended, and then he calmly and composedly obeyed, under thedirection of his attorney, the several forms and ceremonies thatfollowed; answered the various official questions, took thevarious oaths. Then Gascoyne, leading the horse by the bridle-rein, conducted him back to his station at the east end of thelists.
As the faithful friend and squire made one last and searchingexamination of arms and armor, the Marshal and the clerk came tothe young champion and administered the final oath by which heswore that he carried no concealed weapons.
The weapons allowed by the High Court were then measured andattested. They consisted of the long sword, the short sword, thedagger, the mace, and a weapon known as the hand-gisarm, orglave- lot--a heavy swordlike blade eight palms long, a palm inbreadth, and riveted to a stout handle of wood three feet long.
The usual lance had not been included in the list of arms, thehand-gisarm being substituted in its place. It was a fearful andmurderous weapon, though cumbersome, Unhandy, and ill adapted forquick or dexterous stroke; nevertheless, the Earl of Alban hadpetitioned the King to have it included in the list, and inanswer to the King's expressed desire the Court had adopted it inthe stead of the lance, yielding thus much to the royal wishes.
Nor was it a small concession. The hand-gisarm had been a weaponvery much in vogue in King Richard's day, and was now nearly ifnot entirely out of fashion with the younger generation ofwarriors. The Earl of Alban was, of course, well used to theblade; with Myles it was strange and new, either for attack or indefence.
With the administration of the final oath and the examination ofthe weapons, the preliminary ceremonies came to an end, andpresently Myles heard the criers calling to clear the lists. Asthose around him moved to withdraw, the young knight drew off hismailed gauntlet, and gave Gascoyne's hand one last final clasp,strong, earnest, and intense with the close friendship of youngmanhood, and poor Gascoyne looked up at him with a face ghastlywhite.
Then all were gone; the gates of the principal list and that ofthe false list were closed clashing, and Myles was alone, face toface, with his mortal enemy.
