The White Company

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The White Company

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Conan Doyle (#12 in our series by Arthur Conan Doyle)
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Title: The White Company

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Release Date: May, 1997 [EBook #903] [This file was first posted on
September 16, 2003] [Most recently updated: September 16, 2003]
Edition: 12
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE
WHITE COMPANY ***

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Updates and fixes by Carlo Traverso, with further updates and fixes by
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THE WHITE COMPANY
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

CONTENTS.
I. How the Black Sheep came forth from the Fold II. How Alleyne
Edricson came out into the World III. How Hordle John cozened the
Fuller of Lymington IV. How the Bailiff of Southampton Slew the Two
Masterless Men IV. How a Strange Company Gathered at the "Pied
Merlin" VI. How Samkin Aylward Wagered his Feather-bed VII. How
the Three Comrades Journeyed through the Woodlands VIII. The Three
Friends IX. How Strange Things Befell in Minstead Wood X. How
Hordle John Found a Man whom he Might Follow XI. How a Young
Shepherd had a Perilous Flock XII. How Alleyne Learned More than
he could Teach XIII. How the White Company set forth to the Wars
XIV. How Sir Nigel sought for a Wayside Venture XV. How the
Yellow Cog sailed forth from Lepe XVI. How the Yellow Cog fought

the Two Rover Galleys XVII. How the Yellow Cog crossed the Bar of
Gironde XVIII. How Sir Nigel Loring put a Patch upon his Eye XIX.
How there was Stir at the Abbey of St. Andrew's XX. How Alleyne
Won his Place in an Honorable Guild XXI. How Agostino Pisano
Risked his Head XXII. How the Bowmen held Wassail at the "Rose de
Guienne" XXIII. How England held the Lists at Bordeaux XXIV. How
a Champion came forth from the East XXV. How Sir Nigel wrote to
Twynham Castle XXVI. How the Three Comrades Gained a Mighty
Treasure XXVII. How Roger Club-foot was Passed into Paradise
XXVIII. How the Comrades came over the Marches of France XXIX.
How the Blessed Hour of Sight Came to the Lady Tiphaine XXX. How
the Brushwood Men came to the Chateau of Villefranche XXXI. How
Five Men held the Keep of Villefranche XXXII. How the Company
took Counsel Round the Fallen Tree XXXIII. How the Army made the
Passage of Roncesvalles XXXIV. How the Company Made Sport in the
Vale of Pampeluna XXXV. How Sir Nigel Hawked at an Eagle
XXXVI. How Sir Nigel Took the Patch from his Eye XXXVII. How
the White Company came to be Disbanded XXXVIII. Of the
Home-coming to Hampshire

CHAPTER I.
HOW THE BLACK SHEEP CAME FORTH FROM THE FOLD.
The great bell of Beaulieu was ringing. Far away through the forest
might be heard its musical clangor and swell. Peat-cutters on
Blackdown and fishers upon the Exe heard the distant throbbing rising
and falling upon the sultry summer air. It was a common sound in those
parts--as common as the chatter of the jays and the booming of the
bittern. Yet the fishers and the peasants raised their heads and looked
questions at each other, for the angelus had already gone and vespers
was still far off. Why should the great bell of Beaulieu toll when the
shadows were neither short nor long?
All round the Abbey the monks were trooping in. Under the long

green-paved avenues of gnarled oaks and of lichened beeches the
white-robed brothers gathered to the sound. From the vine-yard and the
vine-press, from the bouvary or ox-farm, from the marl-pits and
salterns, even from the distant iron-works of Sowley and the outlying
grange of St. Leonard's, they had all turned their steps homewards. It
had been no sudden