"
"By my hilt, yes!" muttered Aylward; "she is yellow as a kite's
claw, and would carry as many men as there are pips in a
pomegranate."
"It is as well," remarked Terlake; "for methinks, my fair lord,
that we are not the only ones who are waiting a passage to
Gascony. Mine eye catches at times a flash and sparkle among
yonder houses which assuredly never came from shipman's jacket or
the gaberdine of a burgher."
"I can also see it," said Alleyne, shading his eyes with his
hand. "And I can see men-at-arms in yonder boats which ply
betwixt the vessel and the shore. But methinks that we are very
welcome here, for already they come forth to meet us."
A tumultuous crowd of fishermen, citizens, and women had indeed
swarmed out from the northern gate, and approached them up the
side of the moor, waving their hands and dancing with joy, as
though a great fear had been rolled back from their minds. At
their head rode a very large and solemn man with a long chin and
a drooping lip. He wore a fur tippet round his neck and a heavy
gold chain over it, with a medallion which dangled in front of
him.
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