"
"Nay, Bertrand, I fear it as little as you," said she. "Had I my
dearest wish, it would be that we should go together."
"Well answered, fair lady!" cried Sir Nigel. "And very sure I am
that my own sweet wife would have said the same. If the end be
now come, I have had great good fortune in having lived in times
when so much glory was to be won, and in knowing so many valiant
gentlemen and knights. But why do you pluck my sleeve, Alleyne?"
"If it please you, my fair lord, there are in this corner two
great tubes of iron, with many heavy balls, which may perchance
be those bombards and shot of which I have heard."
"By Saint Ives! it is true," cried Sir Bertrand, striding across
to the recess where the ungainly, funnel-shaped, thick-ribbed
engines were standing. "Bombards they are, and of good size. We
may shoot down upon them."
"Shoot with them, quotha?" cried Aylward in high disdain, for
pressing danger is the great leveller of classes. "How is a man
to take aim with these fool's toys, and how can he hope to do
scath with them?"
"I will show you," answered Sir Nigel; "for here is the great box
of powder, and if you will raise it for me, John, I will show you
how it may be used.
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