He
therefore decided on leaving Cuthbert Ridley, who, in winter at
least, was scarcely as capable of roughing it as of old, to protect
the castle, with a few old or partly disabled men, who could man the
walls to some degree, therefore it was unlikely that there would be
any attack.
So on a May morning the old, weather-beaten Dacre pennon with its
three crusading scallop-shells, was uplifted in the court, and round
it mustered about thirty men, of whom eighteen had been raised by the
baron, some being his own vassals, and others hired at Sunderland.
The rest were volunteers--gentlemen, their younger sons, and their
attendants--placing themselves under his leadership, either from
goodwill to York and Nevil, or from love of enterprise and hope of
plunder.
CHAPTER XIII--A KNOT
I would mine heart had caught that wound
And slept beside him rather!
I think it were a better thing
Than murdered friend and marriage-ring
Forced on my life together.
E. B. BROWNING, The Romaunt of the Page.
Ladies were accustomed to live for weeks, months, nay, years, without
news of those whom they had sent to the wars, and to live their life
without them. The Lady of Whitburn did not expect to see her husband
or son again till the summer campaign was over, and she was not at
all uneasy about them, for the full armour of a gentleman had arrived
at such a pitch of perfection that it was exceedingly difficult to
kill him, and such was the weight, that his danger in being
overthrown was of never being able to get up, but lying there to be
smothered, made prisoner, or killed, by breaking into his armour.
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