He left off as one who had yet something else to say;and,indeed,I thought he would give us some word as to the trysting-place,and whither the army was to go from it;because it was now clear to me that this gathering was but a band of an army.But much happened before John Ball spoke again from the cross,and it was on this wise.
When there was silence after the last shout that the crowd had raised a while ago,I thought I heard a thin sharp noise far away,somewhat to the north of the cross,which I took rather for the sound of a trumpet or horn,than for the voice of a man or any beast.Will Green also seemed to have heard it,for he turned his head sharply and then back again,and looked keenly into the crowd as though seeking to catch some one's eye.
There was a very tall man standing by the prisoner on the horse near the outskirts of the crowd,and holding his bridle.This man,who was well-armed,I saw look up and say something to the prisoner,who stooped down and seemed to whisper him in turn.
The tall man nodded his head and the prisoner got off his horse,which was a cleaner-limbed,better-built beast than the others belonging to the band,and the tall man quietly led him a little way from the crowd,mounted him,and rode off northward at a smart pace.
Will Green looked on sharply at all this,and when the man rode off,smiled as one who is content,and deems that all is going well,and settled himself down again to listen to the priest.
But now when John Ball had ceased speaking,and after another shout,and a hum of excited pleasure and hope that followed it,there was silence again,and as the priest addressed himself to speaking once more,he paused and turned his head towards the wind,as if he heard something,which certainly I heard,and belike every one in the throng,though it was not over-loud,far as sounds carry in clear quiet evenings.It was the thump-a-thump of a horse drawing near at a hand-gallop along the grassy upland road;and I knew well it was the tall man coming back with tidings,the purport of which I could well guess.
I looked up at Will Green's face.He was smiling as one pleased,and said softly as he nodded to me,"Yea,shall we see the grey-goose fly this eve?"
But John Ball said in a great voice from the cross,"Hear ye the tidings on the way,fellows!Hold ye together and look to your gear;yet hurry not,for no great matter shall this be.I wot well there is little force between Canterbury and Kingston,for the lords are looking north of Thames toward Wat Tyler and his men.Yet well it is,well it is!"The crowd opened and spread out a little,and the men moved about in it,some tightening a girdle,some getting their side arms more within reach of their right hands,and those who had bows stringing them.
Will Green set hand and foot to the great shapely piece of polished red yew,with its shining horn tips,which he carried,and bent it with no seeming effort;then he reached out his hand over his shoulder and drew out a long arrow,smooth,white,beautifully balanced,with a barbed iron head at one end,a horn nock and three strong goose feathers at the other.He held it loosely between the finger and thumb of his right hand,and there he stood with a thoughtful look on his face,and in his hands one of the most terrible weapons which a strong man has ever carried,the English long-bow and cloth-yard shaft.
But all this while the sound of the horse's hoofs was growing nearer,and presently from the corner of the road amidst the orchards broke out our long friend,his face red in the sun near sinking now.He waved his right hand as he came in sight of us,and sang out,"Bills and bows!bills and bows!"and the whole throng turned towards him and raised a great shout.
He reined up at the edge of the throng,and spoke in a loud voice,so that all might hear him:
"Fellows,these are the tidings;even while our priest was speaking we heard a horn blow far off;so I bade the sergeant we have taken,and who is now our fellow-in-arms,to tell me where away it was that there would be folk a-gathering,and what they were;and he did me to wit that mayhappen Sir John Newton was stirring from Rochester Castle;or,maybe,it was the sheriff and Rafe Hopton with him;so I rode off what I might towards Hartlip,and I rode warily,and that was well,for as I came through a little wood between Hartlip and Guildstead,I saw beyond it a gleam of steel,and lo in the field there a company,and a pennon of Rafe Hopton's arms,and that is blue and thereon three silver fish:and a pennon of the sheriff's arms,and that is a green tree;and withal another pennon of three red kine,and whose they be I know not.
"There tied I my horse in the middle of the wood,and myself Icrept along the dyke to see more and to hear somewhat;and no talk I heard to tell of save at whiles a big knight talking to five or six others,and saying somewhat,wherein came the words London and Nicholas Bramber,and King Richard;but I saw that of men-at-arms and sergeants there might be a hundred,and of bows not many,but of those outland arbalests maybe a fifty;and so,what with one and another of servants and tipstaves and lads,some three hundred,well armed,and the men-at-arms of the best.
