“Do not some of these fellows of our company come from Bordeaux; and have they not left it of late to follow the English banner?”

“Ay, verily,” answered Roger quickly.  “There be some of them who came forth thence expressly to fight under the young knight of De Brocas.  The name of De Brocas is as dear to many of those Gascon soldiers as that of Navailles is hated and cursed.”

“Send then to me one of those fellows who best knows the city,” said Gaston; and in a few more minutes a trooper rode up to his side.

“Good fellow,” said Gaston, “if thou knowest well you city whither we are bound, tell me if thou hast heard aught of one Father Paul, who has been sent to many towns in this and other realms by his Holiness the Pope, to restore amongst the Brethren of his order the forms and habits which have fallen something into disuse of late?  I heard a whisper as we passed through the city a week back now that he was there.  Knowest thou if this be true?”

“It was true enow, Sir Knight, a few days back,” answered the man, “and I trow you may find him yet at the Cistercian Monastery within the city walls.  He had but just arrived thither ere the English ships came, and men say that he had much to do ere he sallied forth again.”

“Good,” answered Gaston, in a tone of satisfaction; and when the trooper had dropped back to his place again, the young knight turned to his brother and said cheerily: 

“Courage, good lad; keep but up thy heart, my brother, for I have heard good news for thee.  Father Paul is in the city of Bordeaux, and it is in his kindly charge that I will leave thee ere I go to England with my tale to lay before the King.”

Raymond was almost too far spent to rejoice over any intelligence, however welcome; yet a faint smile crossed his face as the sense of Gaston’s words penetrated to his understanding.  It was plain that there was no time to lose if they were to get him to some safe shelter before his strength utterly collapsed, and long before Bordeaux was reached he had proved unable to keep his seat in the saddle, and a litter had been contrived for him in which he could lie at length, carried between four of the stoutest horsemen.

They were now in more populous and orderly regions, where the forest was thinner and townships more frequent.  The urgent need for haste had slightly diminished, and though still anxious to reach their destination, the party was not in fear of an instant attack from a pursuing foe.

The Navailles would scarce dare to fall upon the party in the neighbourhood of so many of the English King’s fortified cities; and before the sun set they hoped to be within the environs of Bordeaux itself —­ a hope in which they were not destined to be disappointed.