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"By God's tooth!" he continued, with a
brutal laugh, "you ask me if I am a man of quarterings, and it is
even so, for I am officer to the verderer's court at Lyndhurst.
This thievish leg is to hang at Milton, and the other is already
at Brockenhurst, as a sign to all men of what comes of being
over-fond of venison pasty."
"Faugh!" cried Sir Nigel. "Pass on the other side of the road,
fellow, and let us have the wind of you. We shall trot our
horses, my friends, across this pleasant valley, for, by Our
Lady! a breath of God's fresh air is right welcome after such a
sight."
"We hoped to snare a falcon," said he presently, "but we netted a
carrion-crow. Ma foi! but there are men whose hearts are tougher
than a boar's hide. For me, I have played the old game of war
since ever I had hair on my chin, and I have seen ten thousand
brave men in one day with their faces to the sky, but I swear by
Him who made me that I cannot abide the work of the butcher."
"And yet, my fair lord," said Edricson, "there has, from what I
hear, been much of such devil's work in France.


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