Adventure Magazine Cover — page 80: what you’re looking at

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72 “Aye, lord, I know him!” exclaimed the Turcople. ‘A valiant fighter and a singer of brave songs!” “So? My heart warms to him. My father loved him, and that means much. What say you, Ali, shall we journey to Antioch?” Ali shrugged his shoulders. “Wherever you say, lordling. It mat- ters not to me.” Matteo’s eye glistened. “You are sure you wish to follow an un- known adventurer, a lord without a name? You heard what Messer Renier called me? And you are a good fighting man, Ali. You may have excellent terms from any lord—or the Templars or Hospitalers will retain you.” “You are my lord,” returned Ali dog- gedly. ‘In ill luck or good luck, I follow you. You are your father’s son.”’ “Then let us on to Antioch. ’Tis a far journey.” CHAPTER VII HOW MATTEO BECAME A JONGLEUR BY THE Jordan ford they met a foison of Hospitalers from Jericho, who had been dispatched to verify the rumors brought in by excited Poulani villeins, of a Saracen raid. To the knight in command Matteo told his story, and then pushed on with a message to the lord prior at Jericho. “We ride with every spear,” exclaimed the prior before Matteo had completed the tale of Nerak’s loss. “’Tis unlikely the paynims will await us, but at least we will pursue them into the desert. How comes it Messer de Chappes hath sent us no word? Is he safe? Perchance the Saracens have slain him, too.” “Nay,” answered Matteo bitterly, ‘his hold is safe. I passed it. But he regarded my father as an enemy.” The prior pursed his lips, the while a lay brother buckled on his armor. “St. John aid us! ’Tis inconceivable a Christian knight would watch another perish in jealousy! Guard your words, youth.” Matteo bowed his head. “You asked, lord. I answered.” “Aye, and speak not so to others less mindful of your grief than]. You area lad, unspurred. Messer de Chappes is a great lord. Make no more enemies than you can help. But enough! I hear the trum- Adventure pets of the brethren sounding in the court. Do you bide here so long as may be con- venient and take such rest and refreshment as you need.” He clanked into the corridor, and Matteo swallowed hard. “°?Tis so,” muttered Matteo to himself. “Even as de Chappes hath said, who will take my word against his?” He raised his clenched fist in a gesture of denunciation. “But let him bide! Aye, let him bide! I shall not always be young and powerless. My time will come, and when it doth I will crush him under the desert sand.” The boy’s tense muscles quivered with the force of his hatred, but he regained his self-control as the prior’s lay servitor reen- tered the room to announce the preparation of a meal. He guided Matteo to a private chamber in the guest-wing of the comman- dery, and left the boy to himself. Ali already had been made comfortable in the quarters assigned to the commonalty. Matteo rested the remainder of that day and through the night, and, to say truth, his vigorous youth reacted swiftly to a sufh- ciency of sleep and food. He set out upon his journey again in the morning with a heart that was really clamoring to be gay, although whenever Ali or some incident of the road distracted his attention he strove the harder to concentrate his hatred against de Chappes and Achmet-ibn-Musa and the Emir El-Afdel. But try as he might to keep the frown on his face, there were moments when he joyed in the sunlight, in the soft wind upon his face and the strange sights they met, for he had never wandered so far afield. They rode by way of Nablus, and in the dusk of evening came to Karoon by the Horan brook. There was no monastery near by, and the travelers turned, as a matter of course, to the hospitality of the castle. In the outer court, a squire met them, and appointed a man-at-arms to show Ali to the stables, then conducted Matteo to the great hall, where the trestle- tables were spread for the lord’s company. Matteo and his guide took their places above the salt on the benches reserved for the squires and castle priests, and when the lord and his lady entered and sat at the high board on the dais, they fell to upon the ample provender of beef, fowls, leeks, pasties and wine. As they ate, Matteo was plied with questions, and the narration of (© DOOK S CO