The White Company

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The White Company

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The White Company, by Arthur 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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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 call. A swift messenger had the night before sped round to the outlying dependencies of the Abbey, and had left the summons for every monk to be back in the cloisters