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.
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